Stein brings his well-known abilities as a scholar of the Synoptic Problem and of the teaching of Jesus to bear on Luke’s Gospel. Stein practises what he calls ‘composition criticism’, which has close affinities to redaction criticism. After a brief introduction, each pericope is treated in terms of context and detailed comments on the English text of each verse. There is frequent reference to secondary literature, for the most part in English. Working within the constraints of the documentary hypothesis, Stein arrives at many sane conclusions. For example, he places Luke within the tradition of ancient historians (Lk. 1:1) and rejects most of the more fanciful solutions to exegetical problems (e.g. chiasm as the structure of Luke’s journey to Jerusalem in 9:51–19:27).

---