Customer Reviews

Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 1

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am most happy with "Feasting On The Word." I am not a preacher, but I do help lead worship in my local United Methodist Church and take part in an adult Sunday school class based on the lectionary. I spend an hour a day with each of the scripture selections and find myself marking up the essays as I go. I also find myself learning something new - many somethings, actually - every day and I can not wait to work my way through all 12 volumes so I can start over again. I think I have been waiting for this book for decades.

So far I've been happy with the quality of information and the depth of imagination. I look forward to much more use. The layout is done very well and the writings are diverse and short enough to read quickly.

When I recently moved, I spent an inordinate amount of money transporting my books, although I have fewer than many pastors.

While other reviewers have extolled their value as books, I want to comment specifically on their application (good and bad) within Kindle.

First of all, the table to contents is arranged on a week by week basis, allowing you to go directly to the week you want. Each verse is addressed (from the theological, pastoral, exegetical, and homiletical perspective) before going on to the next verse. In fact, from the Contents, it is totally possible to move directly to the commentary on the specific verse that you are studying.

I love being able to enlarge the text, and since I carry this on my iPad, I love having it available for study. As a pastor who now serves three rural churches, being able to have these anywhere is a HUGE benefit to me.

While my preference would always be things I can copy and paste (keeping my life easier), I have a stand for my iPad next to my computer, and can quickly and easily copy any quotes I am using easier than a book. The note capability on the Kindle makes it easy to mark up my copy with my own notes and highlights so that I can keep track of my thoughts.

If you have considered purchasing this for a Kindle, but are wondering how it would work, I do highly recommend trying this particular commentary as a first try.

This is the first volume to be published of a new commentary series for preachers, organized around the readings of the Revised Common Lectionary.

When completed, the twelve volumes of the series will cover all the Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, along with moveable feasts & high holy days.

For each lectionary text, Hebrew Bible, Psalm, Gospel, and Epistle, preachers will find four brief essays on the exegetical, theological, pastoral, and homiletical challenges of the text.


Each lectionary year (B 2008-2009, C 2009-2010, A 2010-2011) will be treated in four volumes, one for the Advent and Christmas seasons, one for Lent and Easter, and one for each half of Ordinary Time (the season after Epiphany & the 'long green season' after Pentecost).

While the twelve volumes of the series will follow the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary, each volume will contain an index of biblical passages so that non-lectionary preachers may make use of its contents.

Editors of the series are Barbara Brown Taylor, Butman Professor of Religion at Piedmont College in Demorest, Georgia, and David L. Bartlett, Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia.

I enjoy this series on the common lectionary. They present four different ways to look at each reading: theologically, exegetically, pastorally and within sermons so that you can pick any or none of the ideas that you would like. I especially appreciate some of the comments on the historical and religious contexts because it helps me and, by extension, my congregation, understand better where these ideas may have come from.

Four insights side by side for each passage of the Revised Common Lectionary each week. It's my second stop after reading through the Scriptures themselves when I am preaching.

This commentary is well written... convenient (has 4 different takes on each of the texts for the day in one volume)...is listed by lectionary days (so you can carry one book in your car or briefcase for easy study)... The commentary has been enlightening and helpful for sermon preparation and worship preparation. This is my new favorite! It is well worth the money!

I am a tri-vocational, part-time local pastor in the United Methodist Church. Besides my church and my day job, I also serve as a City Councilman for my city-ward. So I keep a fairly busy schedule. I am something of a book-addict and have literally hundreds of books that I will never live long enough to read, including many commentary sets.

This is by far the best set of books that I have come across for sermon preparation. I especially like the commentaries for the homiletically and pastoral perspectives. They are so good at getting the mind working as to how to most effectively relate specifically to my parishioners the scripture text(s) I am going to use for the week. Even if I am not going to use a particular passage in any way during the week, I still like to read the commentary as there is so much to learn in these volumes.

I have followed the lectionary since beginning my church ministry two years ago, but have veered off for the season of Lent. As someone previously mentioned, there is scripture index in the back of each volume, that I have used; and as luck would have it, the text I needed yesterday for the First Sunday in Lent, was in one of the three volumes already issued. I greatly look forward to receiving each volume as they are issued. The price (especially with the Amazon discount) is money well spent.

This Lectionary guide has been written by recognized scholars who have experience in the pulpit. It offers a nice variety of resources for each text. I purchased it as a gift for two of our local ministers; both, are very complimentary.

I was disappointed that this was only part of Year B. I didn't notice that it said Part 1. It will be very helpful when Year B begins.