Customer Reviews

Habakkuk: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries)

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

 

 

Habakkuk is probably the most neglected book in the Bible. It is very hard to find any decent full-length commentary on it. Thus this book fills a gap in the market. However, it cannot be given an unqualified welcome. Most of the information you might hope to find is here, but the organisation is poor and the writing diffuse, making it very hard to find anything. This is particularly true of textual criticism, where a concise display of the evidence similar to that in the Word Bible Commentary series, would be welcome. Anyone interested in the Minor Prophets will have to buy this book, but may still feel unsatisfied.

This commentary is truly monumental. Dr. Andersen provides a comprehensive examination and interpretation of Habakkuk. It discusses (in depth) all the literary concerns, textual issues, interpretive issues, structural issues, translation issues, and many more critical issues in the book. It really deserves 5 Stars in content alone. I give it 4 Stars, however, because there's a certain inaccessibility to this book. What I mean is that discussions sometimes lack clarity and have to be reread. Also, the Anchor Bible format isn't very inviting. This may be unfair to the author, but I'm rating the book itself, which happens to be in the Anchor Bible series.

If you're preaching or teaching from Habakkuk in a confessional setting (e.g. church), this is probably not the most helpful commentary. For the academic study of Habakkuk, however, it is absolutely essential. It's a solid work from a solid reader of biblical texts.