Category Archives: Commentary Survey

“Magisterial,” “Authoritative,” “Weighty,” “Awesome” …

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The title of this blog entry reflects some adjectives describing the first volume of Hossfeld and Zenger’s Hermeneia commentary on the book of Psalms. I realize that I have already flogged this volume (see “Noteworthy Commentary on the Psalms Published“), but I just received my review copy and I am very impressed! This volume has set a new standard for critical, historical, and theological commentaries on the Psalms. It includes bibliography, a fresh translation, detailed textual notes, interaction with past scholarly interpretation, verse-by-verse exposition, as well as a section called “Context, Reception, and Significance.” This last section deals with the relationship of the individual psalm to its place in the Psalter, as well as discussions of the reception of the psalm in the LXX, Targum, and New Testament. Very Impressive! You will want to move aside Dahood, Craigie/Allen/Tate, Kraus and put this volume front and centre!

Frank-Lothar Hossfeld and Erich Zenger. Psalms 2.
Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Fortress, 2005.
Buy from Amazon.ca – Buy from Amazon.com

And, no, I’m not getting any kick-back from the authors or the publisher! It’s just that good! (Although if you buy it from Amazon from my site, I will get a percentage that will go towards the cost of maintaining this site!)

Old Testament Commentary Survey Completed!

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My Old Testament Commentary Survey is now complete. I finished the minor prophets section and uploaded it. So now all of the books of the Protestant Old Testament/Hebrew Bible are included.

Updating this resource has given me new appreciation of the sheer number of good commentaries available in the English language. Even with some 435 commentaries listed, my survey is by no means exhaustive. I believe I have all of the critical commentaries published since the 1960s as well as a few older ones. As far as commentaries for pastors and lay people, I have quite a selection (especially of those with an evangelical orientation), though I recognize that there were a number of series that I didn’t cover exhaustively (or in a few cases at all). I still want to expand my evaluations and include the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books, but I think I will take a bit of a break from it!

If you notice any glaring omissions, please let me know!