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The Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament presents a balanced synthesis of current ... more The Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament presents a balanced synthesis of current scholarship, enabling readers to interpret Scripture for a complex and pluralistic world. The contributors bring a rich diversity of perspectives to the task of connecting solid historical critical analysis of Scripture with sensitivity to theological, cultural, and interpretive issues arising in our encounter with the text. The contributors represent a broad array of theological commitment - Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and others. The introductory articles and section introductions in the volume discuss the dramatic challenges that have shaped contemporary interpretation of the New Testament. Individual book articles provide an introduction and commentary on key sense units that are explored through the lenses of three critical questions: The Text in its Ancient Context. What did the text probably mean in its original historical and cultural context? The Text in the Interpretive Tradi...

Teaching Theology & Religion, 2013

This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcripti... more This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcription of a panel recorded at the 2010 Society for Biblical Literature conference. The panelists were asked to reflect on William Placher's recently published theological commentary on Mark as an example or test case of how one might use a biblical commentary as a classroom resource. Karl Barth wrote that insofar as their usefulness to pastors goes, most modern commentaries are "no commentary at all, but merely the first step toward a commentary." What value might commentaries have for our students, whether future pastors or undergraduates in the liberal arts? While the panel consisted of teachers of undergraduates as well as theological students, the emphasis of the presentations and subsequent discussion focused mostly on theological formation. Gary Phillips, Wabash College Our topic today is how and whether professors should assign a Bible commentary in their courses. The faculty assembled for our panel come with substantial experience teaching the Bible in undergraduate, seminary, and doctoral programs. The variety of different settings, student populations, and teaching goals presents significant pedagogical challenges and opportunities to instructors, not the least of which is deciding which texts can best advance the teaching and learning work appropriate for the students who study the Bible in those settings. Is the theological commentary an appropriate text for the undergraduate classroom? If so, how might it be deployed and to what student learning end? Because of its genre, does the commentary occupy a privileged and not-to-beinterrogated place in the seminary setting, assumed to be an authoritative word on the Bible, to which teacher and student can appeal to resolve textual ambiguities, answer nagging questions, and settle theological disputes? Does the theological commentary function differently in a doctoral program, as a form of critical, theoretical work used to unsettle and challenge students, to complicate interpretive issues, to mark the impossibility of finalizing conversation about and with texts like the Bible that live in our cultural bones and matter deeply to our identities? What difference does the teaching and learning context make in determining how commentary works and what conversations it promotes? To approach this question somewhat differently, Karl Barth poses a pointed question when he asks: Is the modern commentary even a first step toward commentary and conversation? (The Epistle to the Romans, Oxford University Press, 1968, 6). Barth challenges us to consider what it means for a commentary to be commentary and, for

Anglican Theological Review, 2011

Anglican Theological Review, Oct 1, 2008

The Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament presents a balanced synthesis of current ... more The Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament presents a balanced synthesis of current scholarship, enabling readers to interpret Scripture for a complex and pluralistic world. The contributors bring a rich diversity of perspectives to the task of connecting solid historical critical analysis of Scripture with sensitivity to theological, cultural, and interpretive issues arising in our encounter with the text. The contributors represent a broad array of theological commitment - Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and others. The introductory articles and section introductions in the volume discuss the dramatic challenges that have shaped contemporary interpretation of the New Testament. Individual book articles provide an introduction and commentary on key sense units that are explored through the lenses of three critical questions: The Text in its Ancient Context. What did the text probably mean in its original historical and cultural context? The Text in the Interpretive Tradi...

Teaching Theology & Religion, 2013

This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcripti... more This discussion of the goals and methods of teaching biblical literature is an edited transcription of a panel recorded at the 2010 Society for Biblical Literature conference. The panelists were asked to reflect on William Placher's recently published theological commentary on Mark as an example or test case of how one might use a biblical commentary as a classroom resource. Karl Barth wrote that insofar as their usefulness to pastors goes, most modern commentaries are "no commentary at all, but merely the first step toward a commentary." What value might commentaries have for our students, whether future pastors or undergraduates in the liberal arts? While the panel consisted of teachers of undergraduates as well as theological students, the emphasis of the presentations and subsequent discussion focused mostly on theological formation. Gary Phillips, Wabash College Our topic today is how and whether professors should assign a Bible commentary in their courses. The faculty assembled for our panel come with substantial experience teaching the Bible in undergraduate, seminary, and doctoral programs. The variety of different settings, student populations, and teaching goals presents significant pedagogical challenges and opportunities to instructors, not the least of which is deciding which texts can best advance the teaching and learning work appropriate for the students who study the Bible in those settings. Is the theological commentary an appropriate text for the undergraduate classroom? If so, how might it be deployed and to what student learning end? Because of its genre, does the commentary occupy a privileged and not-to-beinterrogated place in the seminary setting, assumed to be an authoritative word on the Bible, to which teacher and student can appeal to resolve textual ambiguities, answer nagging questions, and settle theological disputes? Does the theological commentary function differently in a doctoral program, as a form of critical, theoretical work used to unsettle and challenge students, to complicate interpretive issues, to mark the impossibility of finalizing conversation about and with texts like the Bible that live in our cultural bones and matter deeply to our identities? What difference does the teaching and learning context make in determining how commentary works and what conversations it promotes? To approach this question somewhat differently, Karl Barth poses a pointed question when he asks: Is the modern commentary even a first step toward commentary and conversation? (The Epistle to the Romans, Oxford University Press, 1968, 6). Barth challenges us to consider what it means for a commentary to be commentary and, for

Anglican Theological Review, 2011

Anglican Theological Review, Oct 1, 2008