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WILLIAM R. FARMER (ed.), The International Bible Commentary: A Catholic and Ecumenical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press/ Michael Glazier, 1998). Pp. Iii + 1918. $89.95.
The publication of the International Bible Commentary is a hopeful sign, possibly another step in the process of making biblical analysis a multicultural, multinational enterprise. The publisher is to be commended for the effort in bringing together a wide diversity of scholars and, at the same time, producing a readable, usable work-a not insignificant accomplishment, considering the annoyances of strange layouts and compositional formats in other single-volume commentaries on the Bible (e.g., the NJBC).
The opening section, over three hundred pages, consists of general articles on a wide range of subjects, divided into subheadings such as "Insights into the History of Biblical Interpretation," "Unleashing the Power of the Bible" (which includes "The Bible and Liturgy,""The Bible and Preaching,""The Bible in the Charismatic Movement," etc.), and "How Did We Get Our Bible?" (which includes essays on archaeology and textual criticism, and somewhat unexpectedly on Jesus, Paul, and Peter. Under "Selected Pastoral Concerns," there are such essays as "Women's Biblical Studies," "Family: An African Perspective," "Justice, Work, and Poverty," "Violence and Evil in the Bible," and "The Bible and Ecology."
Each of the articles on the books of the Bible appears to be constructed according to a general outline-introductory comments (often, but not consistently, called "first reading"), sometimes followed by more specific contextual, historical, and literary observations (sometimes referred to as "second reading"), and then by specific comments on selected passages. Usually a brief (sometimes very brief) bibliography for further reading is included. The fluidity of the structure of these articles is less distracting than one might expect, since authors appear to have been given some welcome freedom in developing their comments. There is a section at the end of the book entitled, "Pastoral...