LUKE IN HIS OWN WORDS: A STUDY OF THE LANGUAGE OF LUKE‐ACTS IN GREEK. By JennyRead‐Heimerdinger. London: T&T Clark, 2022. Pp. ix + 248. Hardcover, $125.00.

In this collection, Read-Heimerdinger presents previously published but now revised essays. They have been “re-formatted so as to give a uniform presentation.” The general conclusion at the end of the volume is new. The body of work gathered here aims to show that D (Codex Bezae) might have priority over the so-called Alexandrian text type because it represents the mark of a narrator. But it is not clear why one must envision the D scribe (even if secondary) as necessarily lacking a narrativizing skill/interest. Indeed, there are many such reversible arguments in these essays. For example, at one point (in Chapter four), Read-Heimerdinger suggests that a more emphatic word order is more likely to represent the primary text, pointing to the reception of Mark's gospel in Luke. But if Luke's gospel tones down Mark's more emphatic word order, why is the same Luke responsible for the more emphatic word order of the D text of Acts (as opposed to the less emphatic Alexandrian text)? One is also concerned to find that a study titled “Luke in his Own Words,” incorporating “Luke-Acts” into the subtitle, focuses quite heavily on Acts. Would one not expect to find Luke's redactional imprint, first and foremost, in his use of Mark? Read-Heimerdinger notes that the essays have been “developed [for this re-issue] to incorporate further consideration of [Luke's] Gospel,” but this is not the case with all the essays. This intriguing collection nevertheless deserves close attention and can be enthusiastically recommended to all those interested in the textual tradition of Acts. It certainly opens new possibilities for further research.