Survey of New Testament Books 1958

The year 1957 brought a wide variety of books in the field of New Testament studies. Commentaries were numerous, and there were also many critical works of different kinds. Both in the conservative and in the neo-orthodox camps there has been a renewed interest in the study of the Bible, with the result that a great deal of fresh effort has been expended in writing.

A few of the older works have been reproduced, preserving for modern use some that had previously gone out of print. Ellicott’s Commentary, J. A. Alexander’s Commentary on the Book of Acts, and Godet’s work on Romans have all been reprinted by Zondervan. Regardless of their age, much of solid value remains in these older works, and new editions of them should find a ready market.

More On The Scrolls

Two more volumes have been added to the lengthening list of books on the Qumran Scrolls. Krister Stendahl, currently teaching at Harvard Divinity School, has edited a text on The Scrolls and the New Testament. Twelve of the fourteen chapters of this book are articles previously published in scholarly journals, both in English and in German. The essays deal with the possible relation between the teachings of the Qumran Scrolls and the content of the New Testament. Most of them are quite technical, but they are relatively free from hasty speculation and are objective in their viewpoint. The book is published by Harper.

The second, The Dead Sea Scrolls, is by Charles Pfeiffer of Moody Bible Institute (Baker). His treatment is complete and objective, and he makes no wild statements about the relation of the scrolls to Christianity. His work is less technical than that of Stendahl’s book, but better adapted to the needs of the casual reader.

New Critical Works

Among the recent critical works are a few that merit special attention. N. B. Stonehouse’s Paul Before the Areopagus (Eerdmans) is a short miscellany of studies on such topics as “The Areopagus Address,” “Who Crucified Jesus?”, “The Elders and the Living Beings in the Apocalypse,” “Rudolph Bultmann’s Jesus,” and others. Each of these studies deals with some point of contemporary interest in the interpretation of the New Testament, and is characterized by sound scholarship.

Understanding the New Testament by H. C. Kee and F. W. Young (Prentice-Hall) is a combination of New Testament introduction and survey on a popular level. The typography and illustrations are of superb quality, the writing is lucid and interesting, and the careful integration of New Testament history enables the reader to comprehend easily the growth of the church and the development of the New Testament as a written document. The writers are noncommittal on such important doctrines as the virgin birth of Christ and the bodily resurrection, and on many critical questions they take a distinctly liberal view. The general outline of the book is, however, accurate, and provides one of the most coherent accounts of the first century that has been published in recent times.

In contrast to the foregoing book, G. A. Hadjantonianou’s Introduction to the New Testament (Moody Press) is distinctly conservative. It is adapted to the needs of the usual reader who is interested in the subject of how the New Testament came into being. Though conservative in viewpoint, it does not proffer any new solutions for the standing problems of introduction.

The Sources of the Synoptic Gospels: St. Luke and St. Matthew, written by the late Wilfred L. Knox and edited by H. Chadwick (Cambridge) is another attempt to identify the “sources” from which the canonical Gospels drew their material. The editor has utilized materials left by Dr. Knox at the time of his death, and has woven them into a book. He suggests that the non-Markan material in Matthew and Luke does not necessarily come from one document, Q, but that there may have been a number of short tracts used for teaching which the writers of these Gospels combined in their writings. The rejection of a single Q indicates a trend in modern criticism to become increasingly skeptical about the existence of this hypothetical document which, with Mark, has long been supposed to underlie Matthew and Luke. One wonders, however, whether the hypothesis of multiple short tracts is any more likely to be correct. Granting that some of the stories in the Gospels may at times have been used independently in preaching or for illustrative purposes, there is no reason why the testimony of eyewitnesses and the first hand experience of Mark and Matthew may not be equally as acceptable in accounting for the original stuff of the Gospels. Knox did not take a completely rationalistic view of Jesus, nor did he challenge the essential truthfulness of his claim as presented in the Gospels. His theories are, on the whole, more intriguing than convincing.

Barclay’s New Testament Wordbook (Harper) contains a series of selected studies on various key words of the New Testament. It is lexically accurate, and explains in rather simple form the connotations of some of the more colorful or doctrinally important terms. Whether the reader knows Greek or not, he will find it instructive and helpful in theological study.

Flow Of Commentaries

Several sets of commentaries are either being completed or are in process. The last volume of The Interpreter’s Bible on Revelation has been advertised, making the set complete. It is the most massive of modern commentaries. Its introductions are technically thorough, and its expositions are intended to be directly applicable to modern conditions. Its theological slant is distinctly liberal or neo-orthodox, depending upon the individual author. Illustrative material is up to date, but is not always relevant to the Biblical text.

The New International Commentary (Eerdmans), of which Dr. Stonehouse is general editor, is still in process of production. One or two new volumes have been announced for 1958. Its scholarship is one of the best of the evangelical tradition, and the information in it is solidly packed. It is less homiletical and more analytical than most of its rivals.

The newest arrival in American commentaries is Ralph Earle’s work on Mark, the first volume in the new Evangelical Commentary series published by Zondervan. Wesleyan in its theological emphasis, it is admirably adapted to popular use. For pastors and Sunday School teachers it is almost ideal. An annotated bibliography of more than one hundred fifty titles, a brief but clear introductory discussion of the author and origins of the Gospel, and a well-organized outline prepare the reader for the commentary which is based on the American Standard Version. The expositions are concise and informative, leaving technical and scholarly questions to the footnotes.

Two pocket commentaries in the Tyndale series, L. L. Morris on Thessalonians and R. V. G. Tasker on James have appeared (IVF-Tyndale, London, and Eerdmans, U. S.). Another of similar scope, though not of the same series, is J. Schneider on Hebrews. Brief and practical, they go directly to the heart of the text, and are useful aids for the busy student or teacher who wishes to acquire a maximum of help with a minimum of technical detail.

C. K. Barrett’s Commentary on John, originally published in 1955 (SPCK) went through a second printing in 1957. Although a large part of it is devoted to introductory material, the ripeness of its scholarship and the fulness of detail make it one of the strongest commentaries of recent years. Although the author is doubtful of the Johannine authorship of the Fourth Gospel, he is neither careless nor scornful in his treatment of the question. The notes are based on the Greek text, and are intended chiefly for scholars, but there is much in the book that can be profitable to any serious student of the Bible.

C. F. D. Moule’s Commentary on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Colossians and to Philemon begins a new series of the Cambridge Greek Testament to replace the former series edited by J. J. S. Perowne. Modern in format, it crowds into less than 200 pages a surprisingly large amount of information, together with a comprehensive bibliography. It is somewhat less a popular commentary than its predecessor, but it perpetuates the verse-by-verse commentary on the Greek text, and refers frequently to contemporary authors. Its applications are modern and practical.

One of the very best commentaries of the year is Hendriksen’s The Pastoral Epistles (Baker). Not only is the text carefully and reverently treated, but the basic questions underlying it have been analyzed fairly and astutely. Hendriksen makes a good defense of the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals on linguistic grounds; perhaps the best presentation of the conservative view in recent years.

Fresh Translations

New translations are not numerous, but two deserve attention. Kenneth Wuest’s first volume of The Expanded Translation of the Greek New Testament: The Gospels attempts to put into English paraphrase the exact meaning of the underlying Greek original. It is not a smooth literary rendering, nor was it intended to be. It does, however, convey in plain language the connotations of the Greek words that do not appear in ordinary translation, and its author’s effort to be faithful to the original is commendable.

The other, The Book of Revelation, translated by J. B. Phillips, is in some respects quite the opposite of Wuest’s rendering. Phillips’ translations, like the others of the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles that preceded this one, is a casual and easy rendering of Revelation into colloquial English. It reads more smoothly than that of Wuest, and contains some apt renderings, but it is sometimes so free that it does not carry the dignity of the original. Wuest’s work will be appreciated by the Bible student who has no knowledge of Greek, but who wishes to catch some of the flavor that the connotations of the Greek text carry. Phillips’ translation will be enjoyed by the person who seldom reads the Bible, but who might become interested in it if he could read it in modern speech rather than in the older English of the standard versions.

Regardless of the viewpoint of the individual author, it is obvious that the Bible is still a vital object of discussion. Those who disbelieve its truth cannot ignore it; those who believe it find in it inexhaustible wells of truth from which they continually draw fresh resources.

(To the above should be added some mention of Dr. Tenney’s own recent book, Interpreting Revelation [Eerdmans], which one reviewer calls “the best and most dependable handbook setting forth the fundamental facts about the book, its major teachings, and the significance of its symbolism … published in the last quarter-century.”—ED.)

Merrill C. Tenney is Dean of the Graduate School of Wheaton College. He holds the Th.B. degree from Gordon College of Theology, the A.M. from Boston University, and the Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is author of Resurrection Realities (1945), John: the Gospel of Belief (1948), Galatians: the Charter of Christian Liberty (1950), The Genius of the Gospels (1951), The New Testament: An Historical and Analytic Survey (1953), Philippians: The Gospel at Work (1956) and, most recently, Interpreting Revelation (1957).

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