Commentaries on Luke

Craddock, Fred B. 1990. Luke. Interpretation. Atlanta: John Knox. A good, pastoral commentary. It is grounded in solid exegesis but aimed at the pastor who needs to preach this material.

Ellis, E. Earle. 1974. The Gospel of Luke. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids and London: Eerdmans and Marshall, Morgan & Scott. A solid, conservative reading of Luke, somewhat dated.

Evans, C. F. 1990. Saint Luke. Trinity Press International New Testament Commentaries. London and Philadelphia: SCM Press and Trinity Press International. A solid, but quite technical commentary from a historical-critical perspective. Many references to Greek words.

Evans, Craig A. 1990. Luke. New International Bible Commentary 3. Peabody: Hendrickson. A knowledgeable but fairly general commentary, somewhat thin in places.

*Fitzmyer, Joseph A. 1981. The Gospel According to Luke. 2 Vols. Anchor Bible 28. New York: Doubleday. By far the best historical critical commentary on Luke. Although now 20 years old many of the observations hold today. There is much reference to Greek, but it is still accessible to the non-user of Greek and is worth looking at for exegetical questions. Fitzmyer is a Roman Catholic and a Jesuit priest.

*Green, Joel B. 1997. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. One of the most up-to-date commentaries on Luke. Green is an evangelical, and sometimes his readings are a bit conservative. However, his interaction with the text is excellent and he is on top of most of the recent secondary literature. It is somewhat technical, but if you are going to purchase a commentary I'd suggest this one will serve you well as a resource.

Johnson, Luke Timothy. 1991. The Gospel of Luke. Sacra Pagina 3. Collegeville: Liturgical Press. A conservative Catholic, Johnson's exegesis is solid and this commentary is very readable.

Marshall, I. Howard. 1978. The Gospel of Luke. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. This commentary by a British evangelical is well respected in the field, although the secondary discussion is dated. Uses Greek but it still accessible.

Nolland, John. 1989-93. Luke. 3 Vols. Word Biblical Commentary 35. Waco: Word. Solid American conservative, evangelical commentary, highly detailed, particularly in its use of the Greek text. Also available electronically on a CD-ROM.

Ringe, Sharon H. 1995. Luke. Westminster Bible Companion. Louisville: Westminster John Knox. A readable, up-to-date commentary that takes a distinctly feminist perspective and pays attention to the social world of the texts. A good balance to the historical critical emphasis of most other commentaries

Talbert, Charles H. 1982. Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel. New York: Crossroad. A readable commentary from a literary critical perspective.

Tannehill, Robert C. 1986. The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation. Vol. 1. The Gospel According to Luke. Philadelphia: Fortress. Takes a thematic approach to the study of Luke's gospel and employs a narrative interpretive method. It is a good read and highlights some important issues in the text, but is not easy to use for consulting concerning a particular verse.

Tannehill, Robert C. 1996. Luke. Abingdon New Testament Commentaries. Nashville: Abingdon. This commentary is a nice blend of historical critical, literary, and social world approaches. Because of this wide range it does not treat passages in depth. However, it is accessible and solid. I have used it as a textbook in a Luke course in the past.

Commentaries on the Acts of the Apostles

Barrett, C. K. 1994. The Acts of the Apostles. International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. A solid but technical (Greek) historical critical commentary. Barrett is always careful and balanced in his approach.

Bruce, F. F. 1988. The Book of the Acts. New International Commentary on the New Testament. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. A conservative, evangelical who is well-respected for his biblical exegesis. He tends to cautiously affirm the veracity of the Acts account.

Conzelmann, Hans. 1987. ActsHermeneia. 2nd edition. Philadelphia: Fortress. A somewhat technical historical critical reading of Acts.

* Fitzmyer, Joseph A. 1998. The Acts of the Apostles. Anchor Bible 31. New York: Doubleday. A recent, thus, up-to-date commentary by the Catholic Jesuit Lukan scholar. Reflects the best of the historical critical approach.

Haenchen, Ernst. 1971. The Acts of the Apostles: A Commentary. Oxford: Blackwell. A technical and well-respected historical critical commentary coming out of the liberal German exegetical tradition.

Johnson, Luke Timothy. 1992. The Acts of the Apostles. Sacra Pagina 5. Collegeville: Liturgical Press. As with his commentary on Luke, Johnson's exegesis is solid and this commentary is very readable.

Luedemann, Gerd. 1987. Early Christianity According to the Traditions in Acts: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Fortress. By employing the historical critical methodology Luedemann attempts to identify for each passage of Acts that which is redactional (i.e., written by Luke), that which comes from tradition, and that which is historically accurate.

Talbert, Charles H. 1997. Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles. New York: Crossroad. A readable commentary from a literary critical perspective.

Tannehill, Robert C. 1990. The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation. Vol. 2. The Acts of the Apostle. Minneapolis: Fortress. Not as valuable as his first volume on the gospel. Tannehill reverts to a section-by-section approach which makes the volume easier to use but loses the strength of the earlier volume's narrative emphasis.

* Witherington III, Ben. 1998. The Acts of the Apostles: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids and Cambridge & Carlisle: Eerdmans & Paternoster. This evangelical commentary is one of the most thorough and up-to-date. While not always (or even often) agreeing with Witherington's conclusions, I find that he lays out the problems and various solutions clearly. He makes good use of historical critical and social-cultural methods and situates the texts in their social worlds.