Romans and the People of God: Essays in Honor of Gordon D. Fee on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday

Rating:
Summary: Good Book for Further Study
Review: After reading a basic introductory commentary of Romans, Romans & The People of God is a good place to begin for further study. This book introduces us to some of the complexities of deeper reading in Romans. What is the main focus of Romans? Richard Longenecker gives us his views of the central role of 5:1-8:39 in chapter four. Romans 7 with its highly controversial "wrethed man that I am" passage is covered historically and theologically by J.I Packer in chapter five.

I personally found N.T. Wright's chapter on the New Exodus, New Inheritance (chapter 2) to be particularly helpful in applying Richard Hays' "echoes" concept to Romans 3-8. The Exodus theme behind these chapters make sense and Wright's view of "the righteousness of God" as God's faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant also adds much to understanding this important letter. Rikki Watts does a good introduction to the connection of 1:16-17 to Habakkuk 2:4 in chapter one.

What is helpful about this book is the division into three sections. The first, Exegetical Essays, deal with most of the problematic verses in Romans. While section two covers interesting thematic essays, and the final one deals with pastoral/sermonic essays.

I am not quite sure why this book is a "festschrift" for Gorden Fee since he is not particulary known for Romans studies, but as a book to take one into the more intricate matters and problems of Romans it is very good place to begin.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book for Further Study
Review: After reading a basic introductory commentary of Romans, Romans & The People of God is a good place to begin for further study. This book introduces us to some of the complexities of deeper reading in Romans. What is the main focus of Romans? Richard Longenecker gives us his views of the central role of 5:1-8:39 in chapter four. Romans 7 with its highly controversial "wrethed man that I am" passage is covered historically and theologically by J.I Packer in chapter five.

I personally found N.T. Wright's chapter on the New Exodus, New Inheritance (chapter 2) to be particularly helpful in applying Richard Hays' "echoes" concept to Romans 3-8. The Exodus theme behind these chapters make sense and Wright's view of "the righteousness of God" as God's faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant also adds much to understanding this important letter. Rikki Watts does a good introduction to the connection of 1:16-17 to Habakkuk 2:4 in chapter one.

What is helpful about this book is the division into three sections. The first, Exegetical Essays, deal with most of the problematic verses in Romans. While section two covers interesting thematic essays, and the final one deals with pastoral/sermonic essays.

I am not quite sure why this book is a "festschrift" for Gorden Fee since he is not particulary known for Romans studies, but as a book to take one into the more intricate matters and problems of Romans it is very good place to begin.

Rating:
Summary: a fun read for Romans geeks ...
Review: I actually used this book more than the critical commentaries for my Greek exegesis class in Romans. That's not to say that folks like Kasemann, Moo, Schreiner, Cranfield and Dunn have made invaluable contributions. However, the commentary format does make it difficult at times to trace what the author's main point is. This lost one star b/c of the nature of the work. A collection of essays is always bound to have uneven quality, and the best essays do not allow their authors to develop fully their arguments. This lost another star b/c it merely gives you a snapshot of where Romans scholarship is, but does not necessarily revolutionize the discussion. An example of a revolutionary Pauline monograph is Sanders' _Paul and Palestinian Judaism_. Perhaps one could include Hays' _Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul_ and Wright's The Climax of the Covenant_

The review of Gunderson (see below) is incorrect in saying that Gordon Fee has not investigated Romans. In Fee's magisterial book on Pauline pneumatology, _God's Empowering Presence_, a large section is devoted to Romans. Fee (these days) has been pointing out the proto-Trinitarian strands in Paul (esp. in Romans 8:9-11), and that is challenging the biblical studies guild's assumption that emphasizes historical distance between the ecumenical councils of the 4th century and the NT.

A reading of the introduction certainly tells you the genuine affection and respect the contributers have for Prof. Fee. With Gunderson, I found Wright's essay on the New Exodus the most memorable. It makes me want to read Hays' _Echos of Scripture in Paul_. Particularly enjoyable was Watts' essay on the "Righteous One" (Rom 1:16-17; cf. Hab 2:4). Longnecker's contribution on the rhetorical argument of Romans 1-8 is a good foretaste for his commentary with Eerdmans (New International Greek Testament Commentary). Will he do for Romans what Betz did for Galatians? It's a tougher case to prove in Romans, but it just makes sense to apply the best insights of rhetorical criticism to this magisterial letter.

For the controversial issue of the "Wretched Man" of Romans 7, I found Packer's essay a bit underpowered in the light of the great exegetes (a point Packer concedes). Some of the other contributions are decent but I can't remember what they said.

Rating:
Summary: a fun read for Romans geeks ...
Review: I actually used this book more than the critical commentaries for my Greek exegesis class in Romans. That's not to say that folks like Kasemann, Moo, Schreiner, Cranfield and Dunn have made invaluable contributions. However, the commentary format does make it difficult at times to trace what the author's main point is. This lost one star b/c of the nature of the work. A collection of essays is always bound to have uneven quality, and the best essays do not allow their authors to develop fully their arguments. This lost another star b/c it merely gives you a snapshot of where Romans scholarship is, but does not necessarily revolutionize the discussion. An example of a revolutionary Pauline monograph is Sanders' _Paul and Palestinian Judaism_. Perhaps one could include Hays' _Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul_ and Wright's The Climax of the Covenant_

The review of Gunderson (see below) is incorrect in saying that Gordon Fee has not investigated Romans. In Fee's magisterial book on Pauline pneumatology, _God's Empowering Presence_, a large section is devoted to Romans. Fee (these days) has been pointing out the proto-Trinitarian strands in Paul (esp. in Romans 8:9-11), and that is challenging the biblical studies guild's assumption that emphasizes historical distance between the ecumenical councils of the 4th century and the NT.

A reading of the introduction certainly tells you the genuine affection and respect the contributers have for Prof. Fee. With Gunderson, I found Wright's essay on the New Exodus the most memorable. It makes me want to read Hays' _Echos of Scripture in Paul_. Particularly enjoyable was Watts' essay on the "Righteous One" (Rom 1:16-17; cf. Hab 2:4). Longnecker's contribution on the rhetorical argument of Romans 1-8 is a good foretaste for his commentary with Eerdmans (New International Greek Testament Commentary). Will he do for Romans what Betz did for Galatians? It's a tougher case to prove in Romans, but it just makes sense to apply the best insights of rhetorical criticism to this magisterial letter.

For the controversial issue of the "Wretched Man" of Romans 7, I found Packer's essay a bit underpowered in the light of the great exegetes (a point Packer concedes). Some of the other contributions are decent but I can't remember what they said.