Endorsements for Luke

Luke (Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary). By Richard Vinson. (Smyth & Helwys, 816 pp., $67.00)

Richard Vinson's commentary on Luke is the most intellectually versatile of any I have ever read. The soundness of his scholarship is a given, though no less to be appreciated for that. What so impresses me by Vinson’s work is its ability to engage so many exegetical questions, both commonplace and rare, while drawing from a fund of knowledge of such depth and breadth for his own cohesive answers. Vinson is as much at home among the literature of Second Temple Judaism as in the modern classics of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Merton. He deploys scholarly research with the same finesse as the popular culture of Garrison Keillor and Monty Python. And yet the connections among these strange bedfellows never feels forced: The exegesis of the scriptural text flows organically from the fertile mind of this mature and accomplished teacher. Kudos to Vinson for offering the pastor, the student, and the scholar a commentary so fresh and so companionable.

-- C. Clifton Black
 Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology
Princeton Theological Seminary


This is a well-informed, engagingly written, and politically sensitive contribution to the contemporary interpretation of Luke. It makes the best of modern critical scholarship widely accessible and immediately relevant. Highly recommended.

-- Dale C. Allison, Jr.
Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament
Exegesis and Early Christianity
Pittsburgh Theological Seminary


With this commentary, Richard Vinson proves himself to be not only a sensitive reader of the Gospel of Luke but also an adventurous and sure guide through its pages. His engaging style of writing and his prophetic comments on the ongoing significance of Luke’s message make this a welcome edition to any pastor’s library.

-- Joel B. Green
 Professor of New Testament Interpretation
Fuller Theological Seminary


Richard B. Vinson writes in a style that is socially and theologically relevant, always aware of his primary audience—pastors and teachers. Supporting, sustaining, and engaging Vinson’s commentary and applications are sound, critical scholarship, knowledge of relevant primary sources, and an awareness of contemporary culture that sorely needs a fresh hearing of Luke’s good news.

-- J. Bradley Chance
 Professor of Religion and Chair
William Jewell College



Vinson offers a remarkably wide-ranging and cutting-edge commentary on Luke’s Gospel as valuable to seasoned scholars as it is accessible to thoughtful ministers and laypersons. This volume attractively combines exegetical precision, social-historical insight and theological conviction with prophetic challenge, cultural engagement, and pastoral sensitivity: “no mean” achievement, as Luke himself might put it.

-- F. Scott Spencer
 Professor of New Testament and Preaching
Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond


Richard Vinson’s commentary on Luke’s Gospel is both accessible and engaging. It shows his strengths as a scholar, thinker, teacher and preacher. He has combined an easily readable approach with excellent provocative research. Those of us who are constantly in need of solid Biblical study that challenges our own thinking, and helps us to prepare in instructing our congregations, will benefit from his work on Luke. Richard makes learning fun, and this commentary confirms what I thought I knew, with what I had never thought of before in reading Luke’s gospel.

-- Reverend Dr. Elizabeth Pugh Mills
 Pastor, Grace Baptist Church
Richmond, Virginia

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