Paul?s Letter to the Romans has proven to be a particular challenge for commentators, with its many highly significant interpretive issues often leading to tortuous convolutions and even ?dead ends? i
Paul?s Letter to the Romans has proven to be a particular challenge for commentators, with its many highly significant interpretive issues often leading to tortuous convolutions and even ?dead ends? in their understanding of the letter.
Here, Richard N. Longenecker takes a comprehensive look at the complex backdrop of Paul?s letter and carefully unpacks a number of critical issues, including:
* Authorship, integrity, occasion, date, addressees, and purpose
* Important recent interpretive approaches
* Greco-Roman oral, rhetorical, and epistolary conventions
* Jewish and Jewish Christian thematic and rhetorical features
* The establishing of the letter?s Greek text
* The letter?s main focus, structure, and argument
?Longenecker addresses here the major questions about this intriguing letter, setting out his own views cogently and clearly, with fairness and respect for those with whom he disagrees, and drawing upon decades of research and reflection. Reasonable, clear, well-informed, and instructive in every chapter, this extensive introduction to Romans deserves a place in any scholarly collection on Paul?s most-discussed letter.?
? Larry Hurtado
University of Edinburgh
?A veteran interpreter of Paul here takes on issues ? some perennial, some of more recent focus ? important for understanding Paul?s weightiest letter. Students will find this to be an informed introduction to a host of crucial subjects; as a handy reference work, the book merits a place on the shelves of scholars as well. Warmly commended for both!?
? Stephen Westerholm
McMaster University
?This extended introduction to Romans is in effect the first installment of Dick Longenecker?s forthcoming major commentary on the epistle, and publishing it separately has enabled him to deal more comprehensively with the issues than in any existing commentary. . . . I warmly commend it and look forward eagerly to the publication of the commentary whose harbinger it is.?
? I. Howard Marshall
University of Aberdeen
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