Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Volume 1; Matthew, Mark, Luke

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary

by Clinton E. Arnold (Editor)

An image rich, passage-by-passage commentary that integrates relevant historical and cultural insights, providing a deeper dimension of perspective to the words of the New Testament Discoveries await you that will snap the world of the New Testament into new focus. Things that seem mystifying, puzzling, or obscure will take on tremendous meaning when you view them in their ancient context. With the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary , you'll: In this volume, detailed exegetical notes are combined with background information of the cultural settings that will help you interpret the writings of the first three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. THE ZONDERVAN ILLUSTRATED BIBLE BACKGROUNDS COMMENTARYSERIES Invites you to enter the world of the New Testament with a company of seasoned guides, experts who will help you understand or teach the biblical text more accurately. Features:

Genres: Reference, Biblical Studies

516 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Clinton Arnold (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the Dean and Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Talbot School of Theology.

Dr. Arnold enjoys teaching, speaking and writing on various aspects of the New Testament. He has had a special interest in the historical and cultural setting of the letters of Paul. He is currently serving as the Vice President of the Evangelical Theological Society. Arnold is the editor of the four-volume Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary for which he wrote commentaries on “Acts," "Ephesians” and “Colossians”. He is the general editor of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament for which he has written the volume on “Ephesians.” Arnold has published in Christianity Today and was a regular columnist for Discipleship Journal. His research articles have appeared in such journals as New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, Journal for the Study of the New Testament and the Journal of Psychology and Theology. Arnold, his wife and three boys are vitally involved in their local church.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve found this commentary helpful as I read through the New Testament this year. It’s not a word-by-word guide through each book, but more idea-by-idea. The focus is primarily on the cultural and historical context, which is often enlightening, especially where the culture of first-century Israel is vastly different from my own context. Relevant information from the pseudepigrapha, Josephus, Philo, and other texts from the same time and area as the NT is presented.

Almost every page includes at least one illustration, but I found these not quite so exciting as I might have when this series was originally published, almost twenty years ago. When I see a not-quite-perfect photo of an artifact or location, I just think about how easily I could find hundreds of better photos than that online. I’m glad, of course, that there’s so much more available to me online now, but it means the commentary series has lost just a bit of its distinctive appeal in the years since publication. Still, the book plus online image-searching makes an excellent combination.

The series is edited by Clinton Arnold, but the commentary for each NT book is written by a different author (Matthew: Michael Wilkins; Mark: David Garland; Luke: Mark Strauss).