Luke Macnamara is a graduate of UCD (1994) and of the South-East General Practice Training Scheme (1998). He entered Glenstal Abbey in 1998 and was solemnly professed as a monk in 2003. He taught Greek, French and Science in the Abbey school, while also heading the Special Educational Needs Department 1999–2001 and 2005–2008, serving on the national Task Force on Dyslexia 2000-2001. From 2001-2005 he completed his first cycle Theological Studies at the Institut Catholique in Paris and from 2008-2014 his licentiate and doctoral studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical biblical Institute in Rome. His doctoral thesis entitled '"My Chosen Instrument": The characterisation of Paul in Acts 7:58-15:41' is with the Gregorian Biblical Press and due to be published shortly in the Analecta Biblica series. Since January 2015 he has been lecturing in Sacred Scripture at St Patrick's College, Maynooth.