Handbook on Acts and Paul's Letters

Some commentaries are too dense as they go line-by-line into Scripture interpretation. These are often used by teachers and preachers in their preparation for Bible classes. Others especially the popular one-volume handbooks are too brief, and are useful mainly for a quick overview. This handbook sandwiches between these two ends and gives readers a balanced summary on the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles. The publisher avoids calling this a commentary or an introduction. A handbook is more descriptive name for this, so readers would be poised to see semblance of an introductory text as well as a commentary rolled into one. It looks like an introductory text in terms of its preamble; its outlining; its commentary on broad segments of Scripture; its lack of footnotes and endnotes; and its concise headers to show readers where the author is going. It looks like a conventional commentary in its occasional usage of original language; its many Scriptural cross-references; the abbreviations; and a pretty impressive bibliography. One would easily see that the author tries to maintain a balanced approach to make this handbook more accessible for the layperson and also sufficient to provide a convenient springboard for further research. The handbook is targeted primarily at "lay people, students, pastors, and professors," a pretty general scope I might say.

Each chapter begins with an introduction of the Bible book concerned, followed by title guides to help us read the letter like a big story. The lack of scholarly citations keep distraction to the minimal, though I must confess that I am more comfortable if some references are included, not just for convenience but also for further clarification. Points of applications are not delayed till the end of the chapter but incorporated throughout the book. The best way to use this book is to read it with an open Bible. Not only does it provide a quick reference to what the author is saying, it gives us a chance to look at the text ourselves to compare and contrast what the author says and what the Bible says. Perhaps, we might even be the third voice in the interaction.

As I read the book, I was wonderful it there are conflicts with regard to the original intent of Paul and Theophilus, vs how we are reading the text for our own understanding. Truth is, there will always be a theological bias. In that sense, it is important to remember that this book is more about Schreiner's interpretation of these 14 books of the New Testament. No matter how we spin it, any commentary or handbook will always have a bias toward a certain theological perspective. Having said that, I see Schreiner diligently keeping any bias to a minimum. For example, in the introduction, the author lists several theological landscape instead of putting forth any one view dogmatically. In places where he does not cite any references, he reminds readers that there are more than one perspective. Overall, I am happy to say that there is more exegetical work done to make this book a lightweight inductive Bible study material. The readable language makes up for the lack of colourful illustrations and pictures. It reads like a unified big story and this is particularly helpful for preaching purposes. As a preacher, I appreciate the broad summaries and subtitles in each chapter. Preachers can take either the outlines or the subtitles within each chapter to design a preaching series of the books concerned. Thus, the book is a helpful preaching resource in this regard.

Thomas Schreiner is the James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean of the School of Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has previously taught at Bethel Theological Seminary and Azusa Pacific University.

Rating: 4.25 stars of 5.

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This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.