Jun 11, 2012

A New Commentary for Preachers on Mark


  
Recently the kind folks at Wipf and Stock sent me a review copy of Abraham Kuruvilla’s Mark: A Theological Commentary for Preachers. Although I am planning a more formal review for a future post, a cursory examination of the contents has really wet my appetite. 

For starters, this work is very well laid out. The introduction clearly explains the various sections. While the sections are fairly standard, they are very well done. I really appreciate two features in particular. (1) Each pericope (or section of text) begins with a review, summary, and preview. That is, you are given a review of the theological content of the text that preceded the text at hand, a summary of the theological content of the text at hand, and a preview of the theological content of the text that follows. So right up front, the preacher is reminded of the importance of recognizing where he has been (assuming that he is preaching through a book consecutively), where he is, and where he will be going. This is an aspect of exposition that I find frequently lacking in many sermons. (2) I appreciate that the outline is in full sentence form. Phrase outlines are fine at times, but they often lack the precision that full sentence outlines have. A well written outline really takes the guesswork about what the author sees in a passage. You may disagree with the author’s description but you are less likely to have to guess at what the author meant. This feature serves as great model for preachers to create their own full sentence outlines. I could say more, but I will leave that for my forthcoming review.

Go here for to read more about the book. You can read a sample here and stay tuned for an interview with the author later this week.

  

2 comments:

Adam Gabriel Cavalier said...

Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with the author about his new book. You might find my interview helpful.

http://www.fromcajuntoasian.blogspot.com/2012/04/interview-with-dr-abraham-kuruvilla.html

Charles Savelle said...

Thanks for your link. As I noted in the post, I too have an interview with the author scheduled a bit later.