Book Review: INTERPRETING THE PAULINE LETTERS

INTERPRETING THE PAULINE LETTERS: AN EXEGETICAL HANDBOOK

By John D. Harvey, Kregel Academic, Grand Rapids, 2012

This is the first of a series on interpreting the New Testament. In addition to the Pauline letters there will be one on Apocalyptic Literature, Gospels and Acts, and the General letters.

Harvey does a good job on the Epistles of Paul and adds a good persprctive to their understanding. There are five features of this work that I like:

1. It guides the reader from background, interpretation, to application from text to sermon.
2. Each chapter begins with a overview, and ends with a conclusion of the chapter.  This aids the reader in knowing where the chapter is going and where it has been with a brief conclusion.
3. There are very usable charts within the chapters that are understandable.
4. Interspersed in the chapters are listed sources for the reader to consult. For example on translation of the text he gives a number of sources including Greek text, lexicons, and even software.  At the end he list his bibliography in an unusual way—instead of one long lists, he breaks it down into sections, such as: Editions of Greek New Testament, Resources for Textual Criticism, New Testament Commentary Series, Commentaries on Paul’s Epistles, with each book listed and resources listed under each book. I find this refreshing and easy to use. However, his bibliography is somewhat limited, and is one weakness of the book.
5. He also has a glossary at the end for terms an average reader may not understand.

As to the content of the book, I found it reader friendly and easily understandable. He upholds a high view of Scripture. While I enjoyed the book, there were some areas that I found especially worthy: The chapter on The Genre of Paul’s Letters gave me a better understanding of Paul and his epistles in the light of first century communication. His chapter on The Theology of Paul’s Letters centers upon the overall idea of two spheres of human existence—“In Adam” and “In Christ.” For Paul, faith is the means of transferring from one sphere to the other. Then, the chapter on From Text to Sermon should be read by every Pastor. It gives great examples of how to handle the Biblical text for sermons. His guidance is very helpful on how to integrate interpretation into hermetical usefulness. 

This book will be a valuable addition to any library.

 [Thanks to Kregel for providing a free copy of this book for my honest review.]