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Douglas J. moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon (Pillar New Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008). Pp. 471. $44.
According to series editor D. A. Carson, Pillar commentaries aim to serve serious pastors and teachers of the Bible by providing a blend of rigorous exegesis and exposition informed by biblical theology and pointing to contemporary relevance. The authors are instructed to interact with contemporary scholarship yet avoid undue technical detail. Douglas Moo, Blanchard Professor of New Testament at Wheaton Graduate School and formerly of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, accomplishes this goal quite well.
Moo, who is well known for his commentary on Romans in the NICNT series (he has also contributed the James volume in the Pillar series), joins a growing number of scholars (e.g. Jean-Noël Aletti, Markus Barth and Helmut Blanke, Ben Witherington III, N. T Wright, I. Howard Marshall) who argue for Pauline authorship of Colossians. He sees the letter written during Paul's first Roman imprisonment (ca. 60-61), the same time and place as the composition of Philemon. Like most commentators, he contends that Colossians addresses a teaching that Paul saw as threatening the health of the church. M. parts company with a trend in recent scholarship (e.g., Ian K. Smith, Allan R. Bevere, James D. G. Dunn, Thomas...