N. T. Wright lectures on Colossians

Bishop N. T. Wright was one of the plenary speakers at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship's Following Christ 2008 conference three weeks ago in Chicago.

His lectures were developed from his understanding of Paul's letter to the Colossians. The three lectures (and links to audio presentations of them) were on: Wisdom, Glory, and Virtue.

The Anglican bishop of Durham, England has twice handled Colossians in print. He wrote the commentary on that letter in the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (IVP Academic). He also covered the letter in Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon (Westminster John Knox Press). That series, written under the name Tom Wright, is aimed more at a lay readership.

In 1998, Wright spoke for IVCF at its Following Christ/Shaping Our World conference. His four talks on that occasion (and links to audio presentations of them) were:

• Jesus and the Kingdom
• Jesus and the Cross
• Jesus and God
• Jesus as the World's True Light

Those lectures were developed into the book, The Challenge of Jesus (IVP Press).
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The IVCF Following Christ lectures came from these two websites: 2008, 1998.

High-quality, FREE commentaries

Bible students long on interest, but short on cash, will be happy to know that there are 16 commentaries on New Testament books --- written by noted evangelical scholars --- that are available online for free.

The commentaries, from the IVP New Testament Commentary Series (InterVarsity Press), can be found online at the BibleGateway.com website.

New Testament scholar Donald Carson describes the series this way: "... they are brief, simple, and designed to be immediately nurturing. Quite a few have now appeared, and if several are bland, several others are outstanding (W. Larkin on Acts, I. Howard Marshall on 1 Peter, Linda Belleville on 2 Corinthians, Rodney Whitacre on John)," in New Testament Commentary Survey, 6th ed. (Baker Academic).

Grant Osborne is the series editor, with Haddon Robinson and Stuart Briscoe serving as consulting editors.

The IVPNTC commentaries that are available online are (listed with their author and a link to the work):

• Matthew, Craig Keener
• Luke, Darrell Bock
• John, Rodney Whitacre
• Acts, William Larkin
• 2 Corinthians, Linda Belleville
• Galatians, G. Walter Hansen
• Philippians, Gordon Fee
• Colossians, Robert Wall
• 1 Timothy, Philip Towner
• Titus, Philip Towner
• Philemon, Robert Wall
• James, George Stulac
• 1 John, Marianne Meye Thompson
• 2 John, Marianne Meye Thompson
• 3 John, Marianne Meye Thompson
• Revelation, J. Ramsey Michaels

All of the above may, of course, be purchased in hardcover.

Bibliographic help for commentary buying

There has been an explosion of biblical commentary publishing in the last three decades; so much so, that a buyer needs some help to wade through the sea of availability.

(And, BTW, Peter Davids --- himself a writer of scholarly commentaries --- was interviewed on this blog September 1 concerning the explosion. Read his comments here.)

Over the years I have discovered some bibliographic resources that help me purchase the commentaries I need. Not only do I get guidance on the quality and theological slants of the commentaries, there is the added benefit of saving a lot of money by avoiding less-than-helpful volumes.

Because of the great respect I have for Gordon Fee, I always consult his commentary recommendations listed in the back of his best-selling book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, third edition (Zondervan). Fee recommends the New Testament commentaries, and his co-author, Douglas Stuart, does the same for the Old Testament books. One minor drawback to this resource is that the most recent edition of How to Read ... was published in 2003. The pace of commentary writing is such that recommendations given in 2003 are somewhat dated.

Like Fee and Stuart, Donald Carson and Tremper Longman III are scholars who, in addition to their own commentary writing, provide evaluation of commentaries. Carson's New Testament Commentary Survey (Baker Academic) is now in its sixth edition (2007), and Longman's Old Testament Commentary Survey (Baker Academic) is in its fourth edition (2007).

As far as being current as possible, five Denver Seminary professors help by publishing their recommendations online annually. The Annotated Old Testament Bibliography for 2010 was prepared by Richard Hess, Helene Dallaire, and M. Daniel Carroll Rodas. The New Testament Exegesis Bibliography for 2010 was prepared by Craig Blomberg and William Klein.

Other resources that may be of some help include:

• The late John Glynn's Commentary & Reference Survey (Kregel Publications).
• John Dyer's website, BestCommentaries.com, which collates the evaluations of Longman, Carson, Glynn, and others.
• Wheaton professor John Walton offers his recommendations here
• Recommendations by OT scholar Allen Ross are included at the end of this paper
• Recommendations by OT scholar John Goldingay are included the end of this paper
• Recommendations by OT scholar Ralph Klein can be found here

N. T. Wright: On tongues

Bishop N. T. Wright has this to say about glossolalia (or, speaking in tongues) in his commentary on 1 Corinthians written for lay people:
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"'Tongues' refers to the gift of speech which, through making sounds, and using apparent or even actual languages, somehow bypasses the speaker's conscious mind. Such speech is experienced as a stream of praise in which, though the speaker may not be able to articulate precisely what is being said (a point to which Paul will draw attention later on), a sense of love for God, of adoration and gratitude, wells up and overflows. It is like a private language of love." Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians (Westminster John Knox Press)
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A website featuring the ministry of N. T. Wright can be accessed here.