New Covenant Commentary Series

The first two volumes of the NCCS are now out and they include Colossians/Philemon by Michael Bird and Romans by Craig Keener. You can order them from Wipf & Stock here. Even better, in the Wipf & Stock email notice you can get a 40% discount if you order both volumes! (Email me if you want a copy of the promotion with codes for the discount). Forgive my shameless promotion of the series (but I am an editor), but listen to these endorsements.

“Every generation needs to grapple anew with the Bible, and every pastor needs a series that pushes the text into the community and this commentary series accomplishes these tasks. May God bless these commentaries to yield communities that live out God’s gracious covenant with us” —Scot McKnightKarl A. Olsson Professor in Religious StudiesNorth Park University

“By grounding his exposition of Romans in the world of the first century, yet keeping his eye on the needs and concerns of the contemporary world, Keener offers here a rare commodity: a lucid commentary that is simultaneously conversant with the latest biblical scholarship and pastorally sensitive.”—John T. Fitzgerald, University of Miami

“Michael Bird’s treatment of Colossians and Philemon is incisive, informative, and independent . . . This is a masterpiece of succinct writing and an auspicious start to the New Covenant Commentary Series.”—Paul Foster, University of Edinburgh

ABOUT THE New Covenant Commentary Series:

The New Covenant Commentary Series (NCCS) is designed for ministers and students who require a commentary that interacts with the text and context of each New Testament book and pays specific attention to the impact of the text upon the faith and praxis of contemporary faith communities. The NCCS has a number of distinguishing features. First, the contributors come from a diverse array of backgrounds in regards to their Christian denominations and countries of origin. Unlike many commentary series that tout themselves as international the NCCS can truly boast of a genuinely international cast of contributors with authors drawn from every continent of the world (except Antarctica) including countries such as the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia, the United Kingdom, Kenya, India, Singapore, and Korea. We intend the NCCS to engage in the task of biblical interpretation and theological reflection from the perspective of the global church. Second, the volumes in this series are not verse-by-verse commentaries, but they focus on larger units of text in order to explicate and interpret the story in the text as opposed to some often atomistic approaches. Third, a further aim of these volumes is to provide an occasion for authors to reflect on how the New Testament impacts the life, faith, ministry, and witness of the New Covenant Community today. This occurs periodically under the heading of "Fusing the Horizons and Forming the Community." Here authors provide windows into community formation (how the text shapes the mission and character of the believing community) and ministerial formation (how the text shapes the ministry of Christian leaders). It is our hope that these volumes will represent serious engagements with the New Testament writings, done in the context of faith, in service of the church, and for the glorification of God.

Forthcoming volumes:

REVELATION – Gordon Fee
EPHESIANS – Lynn Cohick
JAMES – Pablo Jimenez
1–3 JOHN – Sam Ngewa
JOHN – Jey Kanagaraj
PASTORAL EPISTLES – Aida Besancon-Spencer
MARK – Kim Huat Tan
ACTS – Yongmo Cho
LUKE – Jeannine Brown
2 PETER AND JUDE – Andrew Mbuvi
MATTHEW – Joel Willitts
1 PETER – Eric Greaux
1–2 THESSALONIANS – TBD
PHILIPPIANS – Linda Belleville
HEBREWS – Tom Thatcher
GALATIANS – Brian Vickers
1 CORINTHIANS – TBD
2 CORINTHIANS – David DeSilva