The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
Keener has accomplished a monumental task in assimilating a vast amount of primary and secondary material on first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman culture and making it accessible to nonspecialist readers. In addition, he displays a wide knowledge of New Testament scholarship (Pauline studies, gospel studies, etc.). To make this commentary useful to a diverse audience, Keener has minimized theological comments and emphasized historical, cultural, and social background. The text is clearly written and fairly free of technical jargon. There are few citations in the text to primary sources (and none to secondary ones), since the author felt they would be cumbersome to lay readers; some readers (the more curious or skeptical ones) may feel shortchanged by the omission of such references. But in light of the overall quality of the commentary, it's a small matter. This volume should be a useful addition to public, academic, and seminary libraries.- Craig W. Beard, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.