Review in: Interpretation
2009 63: 428
Review door: Ross
WagnerGevonden op: http://int.sagepub.com/content/63/4/428.2.full.pdf+html
Philippians:
A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary
by John Reumann Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008.
808 pp. $65.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-0-300-14045-3.
JOHN REUMANN'S IMPRESSIVE commentary harvests the fruit of over thirty
years of research, writing, and teaching on Philippians. In keeping with the
format of the series, Reumann supplies a general introduction followed by a
section-by-section analysis consisting of "Translation," "Notes,"
and "Commentary." The introduction succinctly lays out Reumann's view
that the canonical Letter to the Philippians comprises three originally separate
Pauline letters composed in Ephesus: Letter A (4:10-20), dating from 54 CE.;
Letter Β (1:1-3:1, parts of 4:1-9 and 4:21-23), sent late 54-early 55 from
prison; and Letter C (3:2-21, parts of 4:1-9), written in 55 CE. after Paul's
release. The individual letters, preserved by the Philippian church, would have
been edited into a single missive circa 90-100 CE. The remainder of the
commentary both presumes and further defends this three-letter theory, which of
late is more commonly encountered in continental scholarship than in
English-language commentaries. Reumann rightly recognizes that the most
significant evidence for and against the hypothesis lies within the letter
itself: the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The notes, indexed to individual words, phrases, and clauses, present
dense catalogs of interpretative opinions with copious references to scholarly
literature in English, German, and French. Although the choppy, often
telegraphic, prose makes for laborious reading, these notes, together with the
generous bibliographies, provide an encyclopedic compendium of modern critical
research on Philippians. While Reumann punctuates his recital of scholarly
opinions with brief evaluative comments, it is in the lengthy commentary that
follows every section of notes that his own perspective comes fully into view.
Each of these commentaries falls into two parts. The first examines the
"Forms, Sources, and Traditions" that underlie Paul's letters. In the
second, Reumann discusses the "Meaning and Interpretation" of the
text, considering each passage both in its putative original context, as part
of one of the three (reconstructed) letters of Paul to the Philippians, and in
its current setting as a component of the (composite) canonical letter.
This hefty volume
complements recent commentaries of more modest proportions (e.g., Bockmuehl,
Fowl, and Silva) that offer the reader a clearer sense of the dominant themes
and flow of thought of Philippians considered as a unified whole. A valuable
resource for scholars and students, Reumann's opus stands as a worthy memorial
to an accomplished scholar, beloved teacher, and devoted servant of God.
Ross WAGNER
PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
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