LET’S STUDY LUKE
By Douglas J. W. Milne
Banner of Truth. 400 pages. £9.50
ISBN 0 85151 896 6
This book is a rare gem. It is a commentary written by a theologian for ordinary people!
The author is Principal of the Presbyterian Theological College in Melbourne, Australia. Although it is a commentary for lay people, it is not simplistic or patronising. Douglas Milne writes with a scholar’s economy of words, covering much ground in a small space. He is not afraid to raise difficult and divisive theological, textual, ethical, medical issues. Questions like: ‘Why are the temptations in a different order in Matthew to Luke?’, ‘What about the ethics of drowning a large herd of pigs?’, ‘Isn’t demon-possession psychological?’, ‘Does Jesus heal today?’, ‘These verses are not in the earliest manuscripts, should we consider them part of God’s word?’. With his scholarship he is able to answer them simply and concisely. As a Presbyterian he has a strong emphasis on covenant theology. But he is not merely a theologian, he also has a pastor’s heart. His aim is that God’s word will change our lives. His application is gentle, yet searching and never trite.
