The Book of Books
ALL four of these books are designed for those known as 'the general reader,' or sometimes 'the ordinary reader,' although the Annotated Bible has in mind also 'the student' of the Bible. The first of them is concerned with the Revised Standard Version, and in view of the growing use of this version both in Church and for private reading it may be considered timely. The Annotated Bible reprints the original preface to the RSV and contains introductions to the Old and New Testaments. There is a useful article on 'How to Read the Bible with Under- standing' and a summary of the most up-to-date information about the peoples and lands of the Bible in a 'Survey.' The article on 'English Ver- sions of the Bible' will find a warm welcome. The introductions to the various books are good ex- amples of what can be done to summarise a vast amount of information in a very few words; the introduction to Isaiah admirably illustrates this. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, as when any reference to scholarly doubts about the Pauline authorship of Ephesians is omitted. This seems justifiable for the general reader, but less so for the student for whom also the work claims to cater. The annotations are admirably done and the cross-references will be of great value to those who wish to understand what they read. One example must suffice: the Marcan version of the Parable of the Sower, with its difficult adaptation of Isaiah vi. 9-10, is at once made clear by the cross-references to Matthew xiii and Luke x. 23-24.
Dr. Neil's One Volume Commentary is a tour de force indeed in content, format and price. He has discovered that many students are more pre- pared to read books about the Bible than to read the Bible itself and so has deliberately set about writing a 'book about the Bible' that could not be read without reading the Bible itself; it is an aid to the study of it. Deliberately omitting all the usual separate essays and detailed treat- ment of questions of authorship and variant readings he has provided a running commentary from Genesis to Revelation. It is a pleasure to find included a section on the Apocrypha, too often treated in Commentaries by Protestant scholars as if it were something rather shady, best omitted. Dr. Neil rightly points out that the Apocrypha is 'the knot which ties the two Testa- ments together and forms the last stage of pre- paration for the Gospel.' There is a useful commentary on The Wisdom of Solomon, but despite the need for brevity the essentially Greek nature of what the writer has to say about the immortality of the soul, and the difference be- tween this and what the New Testament has to say about death and eternal life, should have been made clear. Amongst many admirable achieve- ments the treatment of the stories in Genesis is outstandingly good, and the headings of many pages are just what is wanted. The treatment of Isaiah, however, is disappointing and that of Jeremiah unnecessarily scrappy. More honestly than in most one-volume commentaries no attempt is made to comment on the Psalms; in- stead, we have a useful summary, well illustrated by references, on 'The Message of the Psalms.' Turning to the New Testament, we find a good SPECTATOR, DECEMBER 7, 1962 and carefully balanced 'Introduction to the Fourth Gospel'; the commentary is too brief, but this is not surprising in a work of this compass, and is balanced by a very good one, on Saint Mark's Gospel. When we come to Romans we are urged to use a modern translation 'if we do not want to find ourselves floundering in a morass of words.' Revelation is seen as the Epilogue to the Divine Drama in Three Acts which began with Genesis, answering the question 'What is to happen at the end?' This Commentary as a Whole is a remarkable achievement; the author hopes modestly that 'it will serve as an introduction to deeper study of the Bible.' It is well qualified to do s Professor Beare's book on Saint Paul and his Letters is an expansion of six radio talks 'de- signed as an historical and literary introduction to a body of great literature . . . which has in- fluenced the thought and life of the world.' The book provides an interesting introduction to Saint Paul's Epistles and should enable anyone desir- ing to read them, say in the New English Bible or J. B. Phillips's Letters to Young Churches, to approach them with every chance of understand- ing and profiting from them. The final chaPter, is entitled 'Saint Paul as Spiritual Director' and does not seem to me to have quite come off. This may be due to a difference in our under- standing of what a Spiritual Director is. For Professor Beare he seems to be more the pastor a of a flock, whereas Spiritual Director for me Is essentially one who deals with individual souls' Even on Professor Beare's understanding of the term, however, the chapter would have been much the richer if he had felt able to quote froth the Epistle to the Ephesians. This he cannot do upon as an authentic
for he is 'not able to look i
writing of Saint Paul's.' Dr. Coggan's little book on Saint Paul, Saint
author Luke, Saint John, the uthor of Hebrews and the Seer of Revelation, is mainly a reprint of P°Ptii
lar lectures delivered with an eye to the needs °f ordinary people, who wish to see the relevance IF of the New Testament to their times and cireani. stances, and to be helped in the task of preach k ing and evangelism. Its frequently witty and eve; !I racy style must not mislead us as to the depth and quality of the scholarship which informs it. this certain to help the preachers. Pas
is a book certa _
tors and teachers, for whom it is primarily in tended. GLyN LANDO:
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