An Introduction to the Study of Luke-Acts

by V. George Shillington

Book Overview

V. George Shillington introduces readers to the text, texture and context of Luke-Acts in this tried and tested introduction, now in its second edition. Using various approaches currently practiced by biblical scholars Shillington outlines the methods of biblical interpretation and then shows how they might be applied to the texts in question.

Through historical criticism Shillington looks at and explains questions of authorship, the time...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0567656411
• ISBN13: 9780567656414
• Release Date: September 2015
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Excellent 'bird's eye view'

This book does not go into any detail about specific passages in Luke-Acts - it is not a commentary or a survey of the text. It does give a handy outline of Luke Acts in the first chapter, but it is only a couple of pages long. This book is focused on helping you to understand the various critical approaches that theologians use in interpreting Luke-Acts. It also gives, throughout, many helpful themes, issues and approaches that unite the text and strongly emphasise that it is a two-volume, but single work. Because of it's focus on historical, exegetic and social critical methods, this is not a book I'd recommend to just get an understanding or overview of Luke-Acts. It is clearly aimed at theology and seminary students, and for them it is a truly brilliant, if not essential, part of their arsenal because it gives you the tools and approaches you absolutely need to exegete the text and critically evaluate what others say about it. Having said that, if you are reading a commentary or survey of Luke or Acts, this text would be an excellent additional read. It will help you to gain a deeper understanding of how scholars approach the text, and it corrects a lot of the misunderstandings and incomplete understandings you can get of either book studying it in isolation. Surveys usually take up Acts as a historical timeline for the rest of the NT. This is fine, I guess, but it seriously obscures it's deep and embryonic relation to the third gospel. As for commentaries, they rarely if ever approach Luke-Acts as a unity, giving each book a separate volume by a separate major author. Once again, the use of a book like this one should be apparent. It is very well written, and flows excellently well, without footnotes or side references to interrupt things (this is, after all, an introduction and does not descend into controversies over any particular passage). It's greatest strength is that it is very up to date with all the latest critical approaches, and fairly evaluates their use and limitations. Obviously, historical criticism gets a very strong showing - redaction criticism not so much because this book is not primarily interested in comparing Luke to the other gospels - it is far more interested in the social and religious themes of Luke that carry across (strikingly!) into Acts. Scholarship has come a long way in fairly evaluating the historical value of Acts in particular, and in recognising the wealth of insight gained by placing Luke and Acts side by side. This book does a truly commendable job bring the fruits of all this to the reader.