While at SBL I discovered the Blackwell Bible Commentaries series and picked up a review copy of one volume, The Pastoral Epistles Through the Centuries, by Jay Twomey. This is a fascinating series. According to the “Series Editors’ Preface:
The Blackwell Bible Commentaries series, the first to be devoted primarily to the reception history of the Bible, is based on the premise that how people have interpreted, and been influenced by, a sacred text like the Bible is often as interesting and historically important as what it originally meant.
The commentaries then do not seek to expound the text but to reveal how the texts have been understood and used. I don’t know any other source that provides this in as extensive a manner. We do have commentary series that survey patristic writers or reformation writers, but this series samples more broadly taking in general literature as well as explicitly theological writings. Thus, in the Pastorals volume Twomey interacts with Chrysostom and Calvin but also Cervantes and Chaucer.
So far I have found this volume to be very interesting. I will look to comment more in the future as I get further into the book. This whole series will be one to watch.
Posted by Ray Van Neste