Customer Reviews

New Testament Commentary Survey

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the tradition of C. H. Spurgeon, who penned Commenting and Commentaries over 100 years ago, New Testament scholar Don Carson has produced a resource which is concise, interesting, and immensely user-friendly.

While Carson makes it clear that what is "best" among commentaries "can vary from reader to reader, and that it depends . . . on what kind of information a reader is looking for" [133], his sometimes humorous, often caustic, and always helpful critiques of modern commentaries reflects his belief that "the dominant need is to understand meanings accurately" [15]. His own skill as seasoned exegete of Scripture and his concern for exegetical precision makes this critique of commentaries invaluable.

The book is divided into four sections, the first of which contains "Introductory Notes," in which Carson discusses the need for different types of commentary, followed by brief comments on the merits and demerits of various series of commentaries (comments on individual volumes are in section three), one-volume multi-author commentaries (his highest recommendation being IVP's New Bible Commentary), older commentaries (Lightfoot, Calvin, and Henry are all mentioned positively, with a recommendation that Geoffrey Wilson's Digest of Reformed Comment series published by Banner of Truth be used "in conjunction with major exegetical works" [28]), and one-author sets.

Section two looks very briefly at volumes dealing with New Testament Introduction and New Testament Theology. "Pride of place must go to the mammoth work by Donald Guthrie," according to Carson [33], though he also mentions many others.

Section three is really the meat of the book, in which individual commentaries of every New Testament book are discussed. Carson's method is very helpful and easy to follow. He invariably begins by discussing the most helpful technical commentaries available, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses. Less helpful titles are mentioned briefly, often with strong (and, not unlike Spurgeon, sometimes quite humorous) criticism. Mid-level commentaries are then critiqued, while popular commentaries and sermonic expositions are discussed last. Carson always writes with the preaching pastor in mind and frequently points out factors which will make any given commentary of greater or lesser use in sermon preparation. Section four is a two-page list of "best buys," commentaries that Carson thinks will give you the most out of your money.

Perhaps it would be helpful to give a short digest of Carson's highest recommendations. Among commentaries on Matthew, Carson says that "pride of place should go to the new ICC commentary by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison" [42]. Craig Blomberg, Craig Keener, Leon Morris, and R. T. France also receive positive comments, and I can personally attest that Carson himself (in the EBC) has written a very reliable and useful commentary on this gospel. Among mid-level commentaries, Hendriksen is said to be "a useful, if stodgy, guide for the preacher who will wade through" [45].

On the Gospel of Mark, Carson recommends William Lane's contribution to the NICNT and C. E. B. Cranfield, among others. Among sermonic expositions, R. Kent Hughes receives very positive comments. In fact, Carson generally seems to favor Hughes over either MacArthur or Boice. Carson recommends Darrell L. Bock's two volumes in the BECNT on the gospel of Luke. Leon Morris in the Tyndale series is also mentioned positively, as is Hughes (once again), and Fred Craddock, who Carson says is interesting because he is "a fine homiletician" [57].

The fourth gospel, John, "has been well served . . . during the last half century," says Carson [59]. His top choice for commentaries on the Greek text is C. K. Barrett. Once more, Leon Morris is praised. Carson, himself, has also written a substantial work on this gospel, but with unaffected humility and a touch of dry wit, he says: "Carson's work is rather more difficult for me to assess" [60]! On the popular level, F. F. Bruce is highly recommended, along with Bruce Milne in the BST (a series Carson obviously favors). Regarding Acts, C. K. Barrett gets high marks in the technical realm, John Stott in the popular. (I've read the Stott commentary and it is excellent!) Other mentions include Ben Witherington III, I. Howard Marshall, and Richard Longenecker.

There have probably been more commentaries written on Romans than any other New Testament book. Carson devotes six pages to surveying the best that is out there, of which "probably the best . . . in English is the work of Douglas J. Moo" [72] in the NICNT. Moo is recommended over Thomas Schreiner, Charles Cranfield, and James Dunn. Joseph Fitzmyer, a Catholic scholar, is highly praised as having exegesis which "is often magisterial." "In many of the crucial passages, this work sounds far more Reformed than Catholic," Carson writes [73]. Morris, Murray, and others are all mentioned with appropriate notice of their respective strengths and weaknesses. Stott also is mentioned in a good light, as is Martyn Lloyd-Jones. John Piper's The Justification of God is said to be "the best exegetical and theological discussion of Romans 9" [79].

The Corinthian letters are discussed separately with positive remarks given to F. F. Bruce (on both letters), Anthony Thiselton, Gordon Fee, Craig Blomberg (these three on 1 Corinthians), C. K. Barrett, David Garland, Paul Barnett (NICNT recommended over BST), Colin Cruse, and Scott Hafeman (these last five on 2 Corinthians). Top billing goes to F. F. Bruce on Galatians. Timothy George and John Stott are also recommended.

Peter T. O'Brien is hailed as the one of best exegetes of the prison epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians-Philemon). In fact, Carson says (regarding the Ephesians volume in the Pillar series) that O'Brien "has thoughtfully absorbed and filtered the best material from earlier commentaries, but he has made his own contribution by sticking close to the text, tracing the theological argument with care and precision" [93]. This is quite a compliment, especially coming from Carson! Also positively mentioned on these Epistles are Andrew Lincoln and John Stott (Ephesians), Gordon Fee (Philippians), and David Garland and Murray J. Harris (Colossians/Philippians).

On the Thessalonian letters Carson recommends Charles Wanamaker on the Greek text and F. F. Bruce, for something more accessible. Carson prefers the NICNT installment of Leon Morris over the same author's Tyndale commentary. Stott's expositions of these letters are also recommended (I don't remember any negative comments on Stott, which says much!) William Barclay on Philippians, Colossians, and the Thessalonian letters is said to be "one of the best in the DSB series" [103]. George W. Knight III is in Carson's "must" column when it comes to the Pastorals. "It is cautious, conservative, thoughtful" [107]. There are also favorable comments on William Mounce, Thomas Oden, and Donald Guthrie.

For Hebrews, Carson points us to Harold W. Attridge on the Greek text and William Lane (WBC) for those whose "Greek is weak" [111]. Phillip Hughes and F. F. Bruce are said to complement one another, Hughes giving more history on interpretation. On the popular level, William Barclay, Raymond Brown, and Kent Hughes should be noticed. Douglas Moo has contributed a major work on James in the Pillar series (this series gets pretty good marks throughout Carson's Survey - of course, he is also the general editor!). And an out-of-print work by Gareth L. Reese is also recommended (if it can be found), along with Kent Hughes and J. Alec Motyer.

Paul J. Achtemeier is "the fullest commentary in English on the exegetical level" [118] when it comes to 1 Peter. Scot McKnight gets positive remarks (rather rare for the NIV Application series), as do J. N. D. Kelly and Wayne Grudem. On 2 Peter and Jude, Richard J. Bauckham in the WBC gets first place, hands-down, despite his disbelief in Petrine authorship of 2 Peter. Michael Green also gives "admirable treatment of these two short epistles" [122] in the Tyndale series. John Stott's work on the Letters of John is "one of the most useful conservative commentaries . . . so far as the preacher is concerned" [125].

Finally, on Revelation, Carson says that G. K. Beale writes the commentary that "best combines comprehensiveness with biblical fidelity" [127], though many other commentators (representing various eschatological camps) are mentioned with both positive and negative comments. A helpful index of names is included in the back of the book.

I can't recommend this book highly enough, especially to fellow preachers. It is short and easy to read (I read it in less than half a day) and I've no doubt that there are few scholars whose recommendations (or non-recommendations, and there are lots of those too!) could be more reliable. This new edition of Carson's excellent survey is a book that the preacher who is serious about sound exegesis can scarcely afford to be without. If frequently used, this resource will save both time and money.

There is much to be commended about this book. Nearly every modern commentary written on a New Testament (NT) book is mentioned by Carson. He arranges this book nicely by having a separate section for each NT book in which he lists his favorite commentaries and makes passing comments on others.

While the breadth of this book is enormous, he attempts to list as many commentaries as possible, the depth of Carson's feedback on individual commentaries is lacking. Very few commentaries receive more than one or two sentences of description, while many receive nothing more than a listing of their author, title, and publisher. Rather than seeing a list of 60 commentaries for any given NT book, I would have preferred to see Carson name his 4 or 5 favorites for each book, along with more substantive and thorough reasons for his selections. This would have allowed the reader to be better informed in making our decisions on the best commentaries for our needs. I understand Carson was trying to cover as much ground as possible, but I think the end result of his work fails to enlighten the reader to the extent he would have hoped.

D.A. Carson has given us a piece of his mind concerning the world of New Testament commentaries, and in a surprisingly entertaining fashion. He covers NT introductions, surveys, and theologies, then tells us what he thinks about almost every commentary series that you would know of (and some you don't know of), and goes book-by-book through the NT recommending (and rejecting) which commentaries are worth buying and reading. This resource is a must for all would-be expositors of the Bible.
What makes the book so readable is Carson's fresh and lively style. It is as if he sat down and just punched out a long essay on what he really thought about the resources available for New Testament exposition. His quips and succinct summaries are excellent, and sometimes quite humorous. Besides the glitches stated in the review above by Buddy Boone, this is an excellent work. Admittingly, Carson does not give equal space to all commentaries, but that's fine since all commentaries are not created equally. Of course, the author was probably constrained by the goals and size of the survey, and if you are left wondering what he really recommends about any NT book check the Best Buy section that he includes. If you wish to jump into the world of New Testament study, this is the place to leap (in other words buy the book).

I anxiously awaited the new version of the survey. In the past it has proved to be invaluable in purchasing commentaries. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Not much new work has been done. Many of the comments will sound annoyingly the same...because they are! If you have a previous version save you money and wait for Glynn, he seems to make an effort to stay on top of the publishing world.
I'm disappointed that Carson's name is on this one, I expect more. Either a grad assistant did most of the work or the publisher needed sales.
On the bright side, if this is the first time you've used this survey it is indispensable.

I have always profited from D. A Carson's books, and this new sixth edition of his New Testament Commentary and Reference Survey is a welcome update to a classic.

Carson makes some salient comments about the most high profile commentaries (and occasionally, the NOT so high profile commentaries). His remarks are salty and provocative, he is very complimentary of the ones he thinks are particularly outstanding (Douglas Moo on Romans, Anthony Thiselton on 1 Corinthians, Craig Keener on John, Darrell Bock's two volumes on Luke), and very hard on commentaries that he thinks you should avoid.

Once in a while, Carson seems to contradict himself. For example, he says that the New International Version Application Commentary series is fairly lightweight and is an example of a shallow handling of the word of God (he later acknowledges that the series can be a useful pump primer in the move from text to application), and yet he has high praise for a number of its individual volumes (Scott Hafemann on 2 Corinthians, Craig Keener on Revelation, Douglas Moo on 2 Peter, Jude, Darrell Bock on Luke, David Garland on Colossians), and for some reason, he completely overlooks the not too shallow 1000 page contribution on Matthew by Michael Wilkins.

I also wish that Carson had made mention of Ben Witherington's new commentary on Matthew in the Smith and Helwys series (perhaps Carson did not see it in time, as was the case for missing Andrew Lincoln on John).

Also, I think Carson overrates Keener's work on John a bit; to me, Keener's work on John shares the same weaknesses with his counterpart volume on Matthew; heavy on history and background, lighter on theology and exegesis.

Otherwise, this is the most exciting and zesty survey of NT commentaries money can buy, and Carson's portrayal of these commentaries is spot on the great majority of the time.

One more thing: I feel bad for David DeSilva, who wrote a ringing endorsement of Carson's book on the back cover, and yet some of his books are shredded by Carson.

I hope I stimulated your interest in this little volume, it makes for entertaining reading and is well worth the purchase.

The breadth and depth of D. A. Carson's scholarship is quite amazing, especially if you know the man personally. This is an extremely user friendly and eminently readable guide to New Testament commentaries that you should either own or be aware of if you are serious about approaching the New Testament from a conservative Protestant perspective. Carson, of course, also notes such masterful works of scholarship such as the Hermeneia series as well as the best of Roman Catholic scholarship found in the Sacra Pagina series. His attention to commentary series as well as individual commentaries is quite good and served me well in selecting many that I use.

For serious students of the NT and the well-trained preacher Carson recommends the following as "best buys" and for the most part I would agree with the following, though Carson himself realizes the list is somewhat subjective:

Matthew: W.D. Davies & D.C. Allison or J. Nolland for advanced students; C. Keener; Craig Bloomberg

Mark: R.T. France for advanced students; J. Brooks

Luke: D. Bock or Jon Nolland for advanced students; W.L. Leifeld or L.T. Johnson

John: C. Keener for advanced students; H. Ridderbos; A.J. Koestenberger

Acts: C.K. Barrett for advanced; B. Witherington III; I.H. Marshall

Romans: D.J. Moo in NIC; T. Schreiner; C.E.B. Cranfield for advanced; A. Nygren

1 Corinthians: A. Thiselton; G.D. Fee; D. Garland

2 Corinthians: Murray Harris; D. E. Garland

Galatians: F.F. Bruce; R.N. Longenecker

Ephesians: P.T. O'Brien; H.W. Hoehner; A.T. Lincoln

Philippians: P.T. Obrien; M.Silva; G.D. Fee; M.Bockmuehl

Colossians/Philemon: P.T. O'Brien; J.D.G. Dunn

Thessalonians: C.A. Wanamaker; G. Green

Pastorals: I.H. Marshall; W.D. Mounce; L.T. Johnson; J.D. Quinn and W.C.Wacker; P. Towner

Hebrews: P.Ellingworth; W. Lane; P. Hughes for an historical perspective

James: P.H. Davids in NIGTC or NIBC; D.J. Moo in Pillar; L.T. Johnson

1 Peter: P.J. Achtemeier with some discretion; K.Jobes or P.H.Davids; I.H. Marshall

2 Peter and Jude: R.Bauckham

Johannine Epistles: R.Schnackenburg for advanced; C. Kruce; I.H. Marshall; J.R. Stott

Revelation: G.K. Beale; R.H. Mounce; D.E. Aune for background of the Greco-Roman world

So you decide you want to buy some commentaries. But which ones? The choices can be dizzying. Some focus on theology, others on the Greek, others on the cultural context. Some are for profesionals, some for bible students, some for laypersons. And with many commentaries running upwards of $40 or more, you have to be selective.

D.A. Carson's New Testament Commentary Survey is a useful tool for cutting through the commentary clutter. Carson is the well-respected research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and co-author of probably the most popular introduction to the New Testament. In NTCS, he goes through every book in the New Testament and discusses all of the respective serious commentaries. He is candid about what he sees as the qualities and inadequacies of each. He describes their strengths in different areas, such as exegesis, theology, and cultural understanding. He evaluates their usefulness to different audiences, such as bible students, pastors, interested laypersons. The analysis is interesting and well written. The book is an easy read and avoids being dry or boring.

In addition to discussing the commentaries for each book of the New Testament, Carson discusses books that are not technically commentaries (in that they do not provide verse-by-verse discussion), but which focus on aspects of specific NT books. Carson also mentions the prices of each book discussed. Finally, there is a helpful "best buys" guide in the back that offers his admittedly subjective opinion on what the best values are for the "theological student" and "well-trained preacher."

I would have added another star if the there was a more systematic approach to grading the commentaries in different areas (theology, exegesis, etc.) and for level of skill targetted (academics/those proficient in Greek, laypersons, pastors, theology students, etc.). But even without this the survey is very useful.

Carson does a great job at giving you enough information to make an informed decision on which commentaries to purchase saving the commentary researcher hours of time and money. Those that I've purchased by trusting Carson's critiques have been very helpful and useful. So for that alone his survey is well worth it. But I would consider all his recommendations excellent, if only I was a Calvinist. Carson tends to lean towards and recommend those of his same theological bent, so beware. Instead of Moo & Osborne's commentaries on Romans (both extremely helpful, recommended by Carson, and Calvinists) I should've went with I. Howard Marshall or F.F. Bruce's.

On the one hand I share some reviewers' criticism that the reviews on many books lack sufficient depth to enlighten the reader - sometimes I am at a loss as to which book(s) he is recommending even after re-reading the chapter. In this sense I find its sister publication "OT commentary Survey" by Tremper Longman III, with its star system, to be much more user friendly.

Why then do I give it 5 stars?! Because it gave a few recommendations (sometimes only in a passing reference!) - books that I have not come across anywhere else - that certainly more than justify what I have spent in buying this survey. It won't be fair to the author to name these books and I'll leave the reader to find out from reading this survey.

New Testament Commentary Survey This is a must have for the serious commentary purchaser. For the Bible student that is interested in researching the best commentary for a specific book of the New Testament this survey is invaluable. I have used the 4th and 5th edition and now I am using the 6th edition and I refer to it often. The comments are brief yet clear enough to be able to make an informed decision. And with these reviews and recommendations coming from a scholar at the level of Dr. Carson they can certainly be trusted.