vrijdag 8 februari 2013

Review of: François Bovon, Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50 (Hermeneia), Fortress, 2002; in: Interpretation

François Bovon, Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50 (Hermeneia), Fortress, 2002.

Review in: Interpretation 2003 57: 322
Review door: Blake R. Grangaard
Gevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/57/3/322.2.full.pdf+html

Luke 1: A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50
by François Bovon
Translated by Christine M. Thomas. Edited by Helmut Koester. Hermeneia. Fortress, Minneapolis, 2002.
480 pp. $59.00 (cloth). ISBN 08006-6044-7.

THIS IS A TRANSLATION of the first volume of Bovon's three-volume commentary on Luke, which was first published in the Evangelischkatholischer Kommentar series. In this volume, Bovon comments on the Lukan Gospel from the birth narratives through the Galilean ministry of Jesus. He addresses historical, literary, and theological issues through careful exegesis of the text and with attention to the history of interpretation. The wide range of contemporary and historical commentators with whom Bovon engages is evidenced by an exhaustive bibliography as well as the series's typically detailed footnotes. Bovon regards Luke as "a witness to a particular form of Pauline thought in the second or third generation" (p. 11). Luke "may have been a Macedonian" who wrote "between 80 and 90 C.E." and dedicated his work to Theophilus, a historical person (pp. 8-9). Luke writes "with the care of a historian, the apologetic enthusiasm of a convert, and the earnest appeal of a missionary" to an audience that includes Gentiles, Hellenistic Jews, and "Christians unsettled by rumors" (p. 9). Luke is above all a "theologian of God's word," and though interested in history, he develops his theology in and around personal relationships to Christ, the Word, and the Church (p. xiii).

Pastors and scholars alike will find Bovon's commentary a delight to read and an important resource of the highest academic quality. It is also the work of a believer engaged with scripture. The translator is to be credited for making this a readable commentary.

Bovon comments about Luke 2:1-21, "Luke knows how to make this encounter [between God and humanity] vivid" (p. 93). Bovon does the same.

BLAKE R. GRANGAARD
HEIDELBERG COLLEGE

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