Apocrypha: Volume 15 (Volume 15)

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture #15

by Sever J. Voicu (Editor), Thomas C. Oden (Editor)

While the canonical status of the Greek and Latin Old Testament texts commented on within this volume has been understood differently within Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox traditions, their longstanding use within the Christian churches makes them worthy of careful study and reflection. As noted in the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, Jerome says that the church reads the Apocrypha "for example of life and instruction of manners." As a result their influence extends well beyond ecclesiastical use to literature, hymnody, music, and art. Their questioned authority has nevertheless affected the choice of books included here, not by a priori judgment but by the paucity of comment from which to choose. None of the early fathers dedicated commentaries to these texts as a whole. Despite the length of 1 and 2 Maccabees and the model they presented for Christian martyrdom, they were rarely cited or commented on. The Wisdom books received the most comment and are those best represented here. In particular, readers will find ample comment on Tobit, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, the Prayer of Azariah, and the Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon (the latter three all found as additions to the Hebrew and Aramaic book of Daniel). Among commentators readers will find Origen, John Chrysostom, Theodoret of Cyr, Hippolytus, Jerome, Augustine, Julius Africanus, Athanasius, Palladius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Clement of Alexandria, Bede, Rabanus Maurus, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Cassiodorus, Ambrose, and others. This Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume presents a worthy feast of patristic comment on these ancient and important texts, some of which is presented here in English translation for the first time.

Genres: Reference, Christian

575 pages, Hardcover

First published July 30, 2010

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great scholarship and formatting; content not that helpful.

[Theron Mathis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently I taught through the books of the Apocrypha at our Adult Sunday School class. This was one of the books I used to help put my notes together. The other was the excellent Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance. Eventually the class lectures led to me writing and publishing The Rest of the Bible, which is a devotional overview of these books.

I have several volumes of this series of commentaries and have mixed feelings about the various volumes. The impetus and intention of this project is admirable and needed, but at times the selected passages and authors seems questionable. Maybe I am asking too much, because the challenge to gather commentary from the various works of the Church Fathers is a daunting one. Of all the volumes I have read, the Genesis volume is by far the best.

The major disappointment with this volume is the lack of any commentary on the books of the Maccabees. Perhaps they are planning a part 2 or including that as a separate book. The Fathers quote Maccabees often, so there is no lack of material.

The portion of this book is the comments on Tobit. That alone is worth the cost of the volume.