Previous discussions of the Old Testament in Luke-Acts have focused on Luke's use of the Old Testament, i.e., how the Old Testament serves Luke's purpose in writing. This book considers how Luke understands the Old Testament, i.e., how Luke sees himself as faithful to Scripture. Therefore, this book focuses first on Luke's interpretation of the Psalms before turning to Luke's application of the Psalms, and in the process sheds new light on Psalms studies, Lukan studies, and studies of the New Testament use of the Old Testament.

Luke's interpretation is studied in comparison to four different approaches to the Psalter: a historical reading, a cult-functional reading, a predictive reading, and a canonical reading, showing how Luke incorporates elements of each of these interpretive methods. The final chapter turns to the more typical questions of the function and the theological contribution of the psalm references in Luke-Acts.