Customer Reviews

Epistle to the Galatians (Black's New Testament Commentaries)

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This is an outstanding commentary on a book of the New Testament which has so often been mis-contextualized and misconstrued in post-Reformation times...particularly, by Protestants who project their "works" centered image and disdain of Catholicism onto the first century "Jewish" Christian world-view that Paul targets with his polemic in this book. Dunn masterfully unpacks Galatians according to its original milieu, while always conscience and sensitive to the ramifications that misunderstanding this book has had on Christian-Jewish relations over the centuries. His depth and breadth of knowledge, and use of contemporary literature--Josephus, Philo, Apocrypha, Pseudopygrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls--to elucidate Paul's meaning with regard to his present historical circimstances, is very helpful in understanding both the book and the man, Paul, who wrote it. I look forward to reading Dunn's commentary on the Book of Romans.

I for one am glad to have a commentary that thoroughly presents the so-called 'new perspective' from one of this schools top proponents, James Dunn. Whether one agrees with the position or not, all can learn from hearing both sides of the argument. Personally, I am convinced that at least some of the points made by the NP cannot be ignored, while there are others that need further development. All the same, this is one of my favorite commentaries on Galatians.