Tuesday, July 17, 2007

R.T. France's New NICNT Matthew Commentary now available



I have just heard from Dove Books that Eerdmans has recently released R.T. France's commentary on the Gospel of Matthew in the NICNT series. I had always thought that this volume was cursed because everyone lined up to do it had the habit of dying prematurely, e.g. Ned B. Stonehouhouse and Robert Guelich. I imagine that this text will borrow heavily from France's smaller Matthew commentary in the TNTC series and also from his Mark commentary in the NIGTC series. Should be a good volume to test out. The blurb reads:

Eerdmans is pleased to present the much-anticipated NICNT volume on the Gospel of Matthew. R.T. France offers an extremely thorough exegesis of each section as part of a carefully planned literary whole, supplemented by verse-by verse comment. He focuses on Matthew's text as it stands, rather than the prehistory of the material or any synoptic differences, concerned with what Matthew meant to convey about Jesus. This substantial volume is a sustained attempt to read the text in the cultural and historical context of first-century Palestine, with special attention paid to the distinctiveness of Galilee and the social dynamics involved in a Galilean Messiah in Jerusalem. Based on the author's own English translation of the biblical text, and with an extensive amount of easily accessible footnotes, The Gospel of Matthew reflects both France's deep appreciation of the apostle's authorship and his sense of the importance of Matthew's subject matter.

1 comment:

sujomo said...

Mike,

What a timely blog indeed!

Just spend some time this afternoon with a young man from my church who will be preaching on Matthew 5:17-20 and Dick France's new commentary will surely give him much food for thought.

Thanks for your efforts in keeping all of us up to date.

Cheers,
Sujomo