Colossians BNTC

Description

Foster provides the commentary on Colossians in this renowned series of biblical commentaries, under the General Editorship of Professor Morna D. Hooker (Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity Emerita in the University of Cambridge, UK). As with other volumes in the series, the key questions for scholars are scrutinised thoroughly - questions of historicity, the use of historical traditions and sources, the relationship of Colossians to the rest of the New Testament in particular the Pauline letters, authorship, and setting. Foster examines these issues in such a way as to present the heart of the academic debate to a wider audience, as befitting to the series reputation for rigorous commentary, which not only advances the knowledge of students and pastors, but also makes a contribution to the academic discourse in its own right.

Paul Foster is Professor in New Testament at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is author of Community, Law and Mission in Matthew's Gospel, 2004, and editor of The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers (T&T Clark, 2007), and author of The Gospel of Peter: Introduction, Critical Edition and Commentary (2010) - which is now the standard treatment of the text of that non-canonical gospel.

The commentary ... offers a clear and lucid discussion of the text, with careful consideration of textual variants in the Greek manuscript tradition. * Journal for the Study of the New Testament * A valuable contribution to the library of work on the letter ... the book is eminently readable and will be as valuable to a non-academic pastoral readership as it is to scholars. * The Expository Times * An extensive ... detailed and accessible addition to the large volume of writings on this Pauline letter. Foster's very readable style aims not only at a scholarly readership but makes it a valuable resource for pastors and preachers ... This will become an essential reference work for scholars and prove a very useful commentary for preachers to have to hand. It has already displaced my other commentaries on what is one of my favourite Pauline letters. Highly recommended. * ANVIL: Journal of Theology and Mission * This is a fine commentary on Colossians in a widely respected series...[Foster] has produced a well-written and succinct exposition of the text of this theologically rich and historically fascinating letter...I have high regard for this commentary and recommend it. * Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society * This is an admirable addition to a widely respected series. Paul Foster's commentary is highly readable and fully informed by the most recent scholarship on Colossians, and on early Christianity and Greco-Roman society in Asia Minor. Foster's substantial introduction to the letter is a model of clarity and is full of rich historical and theological insight. In the commentary, the engagement with the text is lucid and insightful, carefully weighing alternative views, and always shedding much light on the text. Foster's careful scholarship greatly enhances the reader's understanding of this theologically rich letter to the Colossians. Highly recommended! * Paul Trebilco, University of Otago, New Zealand * Throughout the important introduction and the clear engagement with the text of the letter, Foster's eye is to the real world of the first century. The amount of evidence we have of Colossian society is small. But Foster manages, through a judicious mix of comparative data and a close analysis of the material we have, to generate a sense of a lively religious text addressing a fledgling group of Jesus followers situated within a largely pagan environment. And he has ensured both a harvesting of the latest critical research and an independence of judgement in interpretation. The sweep of the introduction and commentary is interspersed with useful summaries of material distilled into near, distinct tables and lists without compromise to a thoroughly competent handling of the occasional complexities the letter presents. This is a work of immense value to students and pastors, with students also able to mine its contents with profit. * Alan Cadwallader, Australian Catholic University, Australia *