A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50.

A Commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1:1-9:50. By Francois Bovon. Trans. Christine M. Thomas. Hermeneia. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002. xxxvi and 440 pages. Cloth. $59.00.

This book is a translation of the first volume (1996) of Bovon's ongoing German project on the Gospel of Luke. Three German volumes have appeared to date; a fourth is awaited. Both the strengths and the weaknesses of Luke 1:1-9:50 are tied to the nature of this larger work. On one hand, it is to be commended for the depth of treatment of individual pericopes. The downside is, of course, that one does not have in this one volume access to Bovon's engagement with the complete narrative of Luke, not to mention its continuation in Acts. I assume that Hermeneia is committed to publishing the rest of the volumes of the Lukan commentary.

I was pleasantly surprised by the range of Bovon's interest revealed in this work. Given the precedent of the other volumes that have appeared in this series, one should expect a very thorough historical-critical analysis. This is still clearly the dominant interest of Bovon, but it is not presented in a manner that is insensitive to either the theological or the literary dimensions of the text. Bovon, who now teaches at Harvard Divinity School, is a native French speaker who taught for years in Switzerland. The French exegetical tradition has gone its separate ways in the analysis of textual details and has a long history of stylistic elegance that is often lacking in German and North American academic exegetical treatments. Bovon's treatment of Luke is refreshing because it integrates the presentation of critical details with theological interpretations in ways that are not always predictable to the reader who is better acquainted with these other streams of biblical scholarship.

Although the volume would be a fine occasional resource to pastors, the expense of owning the projected multi-volume work will be prohibitive of all but the most robust book budgets. While recognizing Bovon's careful and elegant work, money perhaps might be more wisely spent on recent investigations that more explicitly privilege the theological and literary aspects of Luke's own two-volume work over its historical dimensions. In following this course, admittedly something of a compromise, current scholarship on Luke might be both more economically and more easily appropriated for parishbased preaching and teaching.

Erik M. Heen

Associate Prof. of New Testament and Greek

Lutheran Theol. Seminary at Philadelphia