Thursday, February 04, 2010

What Timing!

A cause for great gratefulness:

The Pillar Series is my favorite commentary series.
Peter O'Brien is one of my favorite commentators (mainly b/c of his Ephesians contribution).
I'm planning to preach through Hebrews later this year and into next.
Hebrews doesn't have any really good commentaries.

So, you can see why I'm thrilled to hear that the next Pillar volume is Hebrews by PT O'Brien.

4 comments:

Ryan Haider said...

I completely agree about O'Brien. Excellent scholar! But I have to strongly disagree that Hebrews currently has no good commentaries. John Owens massive, redemptive-historical, and exegetical commentary on Hebrews will serve you will as you prepare. And best of all, Owen is doxological, something which is almost always missing today in exegetical commentaries.
God bless in your new series.

pastor justin said...

Ryan,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I plan to consult Owen. But, it is way too thick to actually use as an every week commentary. That thing is massive.

Joshua Owen said...

Justin, I'm glad to hear that you are planning a series through Hebrews. Do you have an outline already in mind for how you will develop this series?

When you say Hebrews does not have any good commentaries, what exactly do you mean? Which ones have you explored? What do you find lacking in them?

I'm curious because I'm also planning a series through Hebrews. I haven't read more than introductory portions in the commentaries, because I want to do my own discourse analysis before consulting others. I'm interested in what you've found. Thanks.
Josh

pastor justin said...

Josh,
I'm glad you are also planning a series through Hebrews. I've got a rough preaching outline. I'm planning about 30-35 messages in Hebrews.

I haven't done any extensive Hebrews commentary work, so I'm certainly not the authority on the subject. I simply meant that none of the commentaries on Hebrews rise to the top.

Bruce is dry and not extensive enough.
Ellingworth (and in my opinion the entire NIGNTC series) is unhelpfully technical and lacks pastoral/preaching flavor. Great for writing an exegetical paper, but not for preaching week in and week out.
Owen is way too in depth.

I look for O'Brien to be just right. Not too long. Not too technical. Pastoral. Dealing with the issues. Focusing on the big picture.

We'll see.