Customer Reviews

The Letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Captivity Epistles (Eerdman's Socio-rhetorical Series of Commentaries on the New Testament)

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Witherington delivers exactly what the title provides - an excellent socio-rhetorical commentary. He breaks down each letter into its rhetorical components such as exordium, narratio, etc. and delivers quality analysis of the text through that lens. There are a couple of shortcomings: (i) the introductory rhetorical overview between Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon is a bit unorganized (meaning you have to look back and forth to find material on specific letters), and (ii) there are a couple of historical misses like his thought (at 176)that the "putting off/putting on" language of Col. 3:1-17 might be indicative of nude baptismal practices involving the taking off of clothes, walking through the baptismal waters and receiving clean clothes on the other side. There is no real evidence for such practices until the second century and Witherington pegs the author date for Colossians in the first century. Regardless, Witherington's writing style is engaging and his analysis of the text through the lens of rhetoric is thought-provoking. For example, his reasoning for Paul as the author of Colossians based upon an intentional use of Asiatic rhetoric involving repetition and other stylistic features typical of Asiatic rhetoric but different than other Pauline rhetoric is worth the read by itself.
A definite buy for a commentary library.

Ben Witherington is one of today's top scholars. This is yet another excellent commentary by this very gifted scholar. This book is a "must read" for any student of the New Testament. I highly recommend this book.