After reading Scot McKnight’s The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible, I started into Ed Cyzewski’s Coffeehouse Theology: Reflecting on God in Everyday Life. Both books speak of an approach to scripture that attempts to bridge the gap between the culture in which the culture in which each book of the Bible was written and that of today into which it still speaks. As I reflected today on the nature of scripture an how it interacts with itself, I remembered the view of one Rabbi. The Hebrew Bible (what we refer to as the Old Testament) is divided into three parts — the Law (Torah), the Prophets, and the Writings. The Jewish view is basically that the prophets and writings act as commentary on the Law (the Pentateuch), explaining how to understand it.
Contextualization Within Scripture
The New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament
Scot McKnight’s The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible will be out soon, and reviews are beginning to appear online. I haven’t seen a copy, but the reviews are all good and it promises to be a good resource. Obviously the way in which one approaches the Bible will colour what we exegete from it, but the exegesis can be effected by how we understand that the Bible views itself.
New Testament Commentaries
I noticed Steve Bishop asking, “What do your New Testament Commentaries say about you?” He proceeded to list the applicable volumes in his library. Stuck for a good blog-topic, I decided to do the same in response. Let it be said that I haven’t read all of these, I just tend to pick up used titles here and there where I can. Collecting is part of the fun. ;^) Not all of these are selections I’d particularly recommend, and in some cases I haven’t got what are accepted to be the best work on each book… partly because my library is slowly becoming dated. But for those who are so inclined, give me a few suggestions on what my short-list for acquisitions should include to round out or improve my selection for particular books. For the really brave, feel free to go ahead and suggest what my NT Commentaries say about me…
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