The Gospel of John: Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, Revised Standard Version

Rating:
Summary: Very good, minimal traces of liberal bias
Review: This might not be fair, but I wonder if Scott Hahn had to compromise with one of the co-authors on the John 4 commentary regarding the Samritan woman. The traditional commentary on this portion is that the Lord first tried the woman's heart, but she wasn't getting the message. So then he tried her conscience by asking her to "go get her husband". This leads to her confession that she has no husband, the Lord points out that she has had 5 husbands and that the man that she is now "shacking up" with is not not husband either, this she has said "truly". But this is offensive to feminists who want to spin this by pointing back to 2 Kings 17 and assert that this really means that the Samaritans had been occupied by military force by 5 different forces that introduced different idols. It that were the case, then it would have been common knowledge, not private information that led to the woman saying, "Sir, I perceive you are a prophet". The commentary implies that both interpretations are true, however, Haydock, Navarre and Jerome commentaries do not put the feminist spin on it. I suspect that Scott Hahn had to compromise on this. Also, another favorite spin from the "social justice" crowd is to make a comment on the term "the Jews". We are told that the more correct term is "Judean" as if we cannot discern that Jesus is in conflict with the Jews in power, not the average citizen. Another example of political correctness.

I am all for social justice, I just don't appreciate trying to find a socail justice cause in every verse in scriptures. Now this commentary doe NOT do that, but I suspect that Scott Hahn compromised this particular portion.