I recommend the following new books by Eerdmans.
This third volume in the Discovering Biblical Texts series offers readers a compact, up-to-date, and student-friendly introduction to Paul’s letter to the Romans, focusing on its structure, content, theological concerns, key interpretive debates, and historical reception.
Anthony C. Thiselton alerts readers to key issues and questions raised by the text, encouraging in-depth study and a sincere grappling with the theological and historical questions raised by this often-controversial epistle. He pays special attention to the book’s reception and its influence on Christian history and culture, exploring and explaining the approaches and conclusions of a wide range of ancient and modern interpreters.
Pauline Churches and Diaspora Jews
For the past twenty years, John Barclay has researched and written on the social history of early Christianity and the life of Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora. In this collection of nineteen noteworthy essays, he examines points of comparison between the early churches and the Diaspora synagogues in the urban Roman world of the first century.
With an eye to such matters as food, family, money, circumcision, Spirit, age, and death, Barclay examines key Pauline texts, the writings of Josephus, and other sources, investigating the construction of early Christian identity and comparing the experience of Paul’s churches with that of Diaspora Jewish communities scattered throughout the Roman Empire.
Authored by one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars, this commentary on the Acts of the Apostles was originally published in 1996. James Dunn first takes the reader through questions of authorship, audience, date, purpose, and literary structure. He then considers the kind of history writing that we find in the narrative of Acts, delineates the book’s theological teaching, and offers bibliographic comments on sources and selected studies, including work published between 1996 and 2016. This commentary as a whole provides the information and perspective necessary for reading to best effect what Dunn believes is the most exciting book in the New Testament.
In this commentary Andy Johnson engages with the developing interpretive framework of missional hermeneutics to present a theological interpretation of 1 & 2 Thessalonians that aims to help the church more fully participate in the life and mission of the triune God.
After a verse by-verse commentary, Johnson closely examines the theology of the two epistles, focusing especially on the topics of eschatology, holiness, and election in light of his missional reading of 1 and 2 Thessalonians. In his exegetical and theological analyses, Johnson considers canonical concerns, doctrinal commitments, ecclesial practices, proposals from contemporary systematic theology, and insights gleaned from the field of neuroscience regarding personal and community formation, all of which help to clarify and enrich readers’ understanding of various passages.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In