Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0830814914 ISBN 13: 9780830814916

Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press,US, 1998

Synopsis

St. Paul's Letter to the Romans has long been considered the theological high-water mark of the New Testament. It was no less regarded by the ancient church, and patristic interpreters have left us an abundance of valuable comment on Romans. This Ancient Christian Commentary on Romans collects the best and most representative of patristic commentary and homily on Romans, and it brings to the public some valuable material that has hitherto been unavailable in English translation. Outstanding among these commentators is "Ambrosiaster," the name given to the unknown Latin commentator of the late fourth century, whose enduring worth is evident to all who read him. And the extensive commentary by Origen, largely inaccessible to modern readers, is frequently and extensively presented here in English for the first time. These commentators are joined by great figures such as John Chrysostom of Constantinople, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Augustine of Hippo, Theodoret of Cyrus, and several lesser commentators such as Diodore of Tarsus and Didymus the Blind of Alexandria. This commentary on Romans (now in its second edition) provides a rare opportunity to encounter the familiar Pauline exposition of the righteousness of God as it echoes in the great Christian minds and communities of the early church.

About this title

Review

"We are pleased to witness publication of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series. It is most beneficial for us to learn how the ancient Christians, especially the saints of the church who proved through their lives their devotion to God and his Word, interpreted Scripture. Let us heed the witness of those who have gone before us in the faith."--Metropolitan Theodosius, Primate, Orthodox Church in America

"Chronological snobbery--the assumption that our ancestors working without benefit of computers have nothing to teach us--is exposed as nonsense by this magnificent new series. Surfeited with knowledge but starved of wisdom, many of us are more than ready to sit at table with our ancestors and listen to their holy conversations on Scripture. I know I am."--Eugene H. Peterson, James Houston Professor of Spiritual Theology, Regent College

"The Scriptures have been read with love and attention for nearly two thousand years, and listening to the voice of believers from previous centuries opens us to unexpected insight and deepened faith. Those who studied Scripture in the centuries closest to its writing, the centuries during and following persecution and martyrdom, speak with particular authority. The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture will bring to life the truth that we are invisibly surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses."--Frederica Mathewes-Green, Commentator, National Public Radio

"The Ancient Christian Commentary project fills a long overdue need for scholars and students of the church fathers. Professor Oden has pulled together a sterling team of scholars to provide for all of us fresh translations of the Latin and Greek texts of the fathers relating to their interpretation of the Bible and Apocrypha. Such information will prove immeasurable to those of us who have felt inundated by contemporary interpreters and novel theories of the biblical text. We welcome some new insight from the ancient authors in the early centuries of the church. Many thanks to Thomas Oden and the other editors for this unparalleled work which will be the standard for generations."--H. Wayne House, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Michigan Theological Seminary

"Few publishing projects have encouraged me as much as IVP's recently announced Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture with Dr. Thomas Oden serving as general editor. . . . How is it that so many of us who are dedicated to serve the Lord receive seminary educations which omitted familiarity with such incredible students of the Scriptures as St. John Chrysostom, St. Anathasius the Great and St. John of Damascus? I am greatly anticipating the publication of this commentary."--Fr. Peter E. Gillquist, Director, Department of Missions and Evangelism, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

From the Publisher

Classic patristic exegesis of Paul's magnum opus.

For millennia, people of faith have pondered the meaning of Scripture. No book in human history has been the focus of so much interpretation, comment and exposition. Yet tragically the interpretive voices of early church expositors, the luminaries of a vital period of biblical interpretation, have virtually fallen silent in the contemporary study, teaching and discussion of Scripture.

Now the modern church has an unparalleled resource for reading the Scriptures in the light of the early church. Through the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture these interpreters now speak again.

AN UNPRECEDENTED PROJECT

In collaboration with the Ancient Christian Commentary Project at Drew University, InterVarsity Press is pleased to publish the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ACCS). Already four years in development, the first volumes of this series are scheduled for release by InterVarsity Press during summer 1998.

Under the leadership of Thomas C. Oden, general editor, an international team of scholars will produce three or four new volumes every year. When completed, the ACCS will fill twenty-seven volumes encompassing the entire canon of Scripture plus the Apocrypha. In each volume readers will find the Scripture text in English placed in the setting of the finest commentary from the early church.

The ACCS seeks to do for the Christian community what the Talmud did for the Jewish memory of early interpreters of the Torah. It revives the early tradition of the glossa ordinaria, a text artfully elaborated with ancient and seasoned reflections and insights.

A SPIRITUAL HERITAGE

Today's readers of the Bible tend to interpret Scripture primarily through the lenses of modern-day rationalist inquiry. As products of Enlightenment modernity, contemporary readers are often limited by late twentieth-century interpretations of Scripture. Yet this has not always been so. Long before the rise of historical-critical methods of biblical interpretation, the church unabashedly read the Bible through the eyes of faith, with uncommon spiritual and devotional insight. Even Reformation commentators such as Luther or Calvin recognized the sterling value of the writings of early church leaders such as Ambrose or Augustine.

However, today's students of the Bible rarely access these writings. Thomas Oden says, "We have bright, intelligent, articulate New Testament scholars in our seminaries who have never once cracked John Chrysostom's homilies, who wouldn't know how to find them." Many such materials are not readily available to students of the Bible, and some have never been translated into English.

In recent years, many have sensed the need for a Christian faith that is more historically rooted. The ACCS provides an understanding of Scripture that stands in continuity with the pioneering Christians from the early centuries of the church. In the church's pilgrimage to rediscover its ancient Christian heritage, the ACCS is a resource that reconnects the twenty-first century church with the wisdom of the ages.

INTERNATIONAL EXPERTISE

Volume editors of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture together constitute an exceptional team of ecumenical and international patristic scholars. They are reviewing and selecting exegesis and exposition from ancient commentaries as well as the entire range of partristic writings, including sermons, homilies, letters and theological discourses. Material is being gleaned from writings from the second to the eighth centuries, including comments from well-known early church leaders as well as lesser-known commentators, some of which are being translated into English for the first time. In addition, experts in early Christian Coptic and Syriac texts are identifying pertinent exegetical material for inclusion in the commentary.

PIONEERING RESEARCH

This foray into the past has been made possible by the technology of the present. "Prior to the technology of digital search methods and storage techniques, this series could hardly have been thought of, and certainly not accomplished short of a vast army of researchers working by laborious hand-and-paper searches in selected libaries around the world," says Oden. The ACCS project utilizes computerized searches of the ancient Greek and Latin patristic corpus to identify scriptural interpretation from which commentary selections are drawn.

UNIVERSAL SCOPE

Twenty-first century biblical scholars, exegetes, pastors, students and readers of Scripture will gain unequaled access to the finest exegesis of the early Christian centuries, including leading figures such as Athanasius, Augustine, Jerome and John of Damascus. Readers from Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions alike will benefit from the insights of their common Christian ancestors.

The ACCS opens up a long-forgotten passage through post-Enlightenment critical interpretation and bears us along to a fertile valley basking in the sunshine of theological and spiritual interpretation. It provides timely service to the church and the academy by reclaiming classic Christian commentary of the whole canon for a postcritical age.

In the twenty-seven volumes to come, readers are invited into the interpretive world that long nurtured the great pastors, theologians and saints of the early church. Here the salient insight, rhetorical power and consensual exegesis of our early Christian ancestors meets the horizon of the third millennium.

Edition details

• Publisher: Inter-Varsity Press,US
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0830814914
• ISBN 13: 9780830814916
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400
• Editor: Bray Gerald