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The New Interpreter's Bible. Vol. 8: General Articles on the New Testament; The Gospel of Matthew; The Gospel of Mark. Edited by Leander E. Keck et al. Nashville: Abingdon, 1995, xxix + 744 pp., $55.00.
Some forty years after the publication of the original Interpreter's Bible, the New Interpreter's Bible (NIB) is now making its appearance. The format of the NIB is a decided improvement over the original, with much improved layout, maps, charts and illustrations. Additionally, the practice of separate exegetes and expositors contributing to the commentary on each book has thankfully been discontinued and thus there is continuity in all the remarks on each book. The commentary includes both the NIV and NRSV arranged in parallel columns. Tasteful use of green shading and headings makes for aesthetic appeal. Each section of Scripture is handled by way of an initial overview, the commentary proper and concluding reflections that attempt to supply pastors and teachers with ideas for contemporary application.
Volume 8 includes six introductory articles to the NT as well as the commentaries on Matthew and Mark. The introductory articles are brief (covering only 85 pages) but well-done treatments of text and versions (E. Epp), cultural context (A. Malherbe), Jewish context (G. Nickelsburg), ecclesiastical context (V. Wimbush), the gospels as narrative literature (R. Tannehill) and historical criticism of the gospels (C. Tuckett).
E. Boring (Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University) writes on Matthew from a mainline critical perspective, affirming Matthew's use of Mark, Q and M. He believes that Matthew was written by an anonymous author around 90 CE, presumably in Antioch. His literary-critical studies lead him to conclude that although the genre of Matthew is not altogether discontinuous with existing genres, it is a new departure fashioned to express the convictions of Matthew's community in narrative form. At this point evangelicals will likely begin to differ with Boring. He makes the point convincingly that Matthew "was composed as a literary work to interpret the theological meaning of a...