Book Reviews -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 47:2 (Jun 2004)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous


Book Reviews

Editor’s Note: The following is a companion review to The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary, reviewed by Michelle Lee and Joanne Jung, published in JETS 47/1 (March 2004): 161–64.

The IVP Women’s Bible Commentary: An indispensable resource for all who want to view Scripture through different eyes. Edited by Catherine Clark Kroeger and Mary J. Evans. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2002, 27 + 874 pp., $30. 00.

At first blush, the title inspires caution. For some people, a Bible commentary specifically designed for women may evoke intimations of powder-puff scholarship or hints of devotional fluff. However, considered from within the current evangelical subcultural context, the production of such a commentary warrants legitimacy.

This quest for the personal relevance of Scripture has prompted the appearance of a plethora of new Bibles and commentaries. In this effervescent publishing climate, it was inevitable that a commentary targeted for women would appear. If nothing else, the consideration that women constitute the majority of church constituencies would have provided the incentive to serve their distinctive needs. Fortunately the initiative for producing the present work was assumed by a reputable publishing house, and the editorial responsibility was entrusted to two competent and responsible scholars. Committed to less experienced hands, the project could have had considerably less positive results. As it is, the commentary stands as a valuable and informative reference work, well suited to serve a large readership and, in particular, the one it was primarily designed to reach.

In terms of appearance, this work is comparable in size to other one-volume Bible commentaries, exceeding 900 pages with the prefatory materials. The actual text of the commentary is divided in two vertical columns per page. For each book of the OT and the NT, there is an introduction that covers matters of historical context, date, occasion and purpose, an outline of the contents of the biblical document, the text of the commentary proper, and a bibliography that lists at least half a dozen publications, most of them contemporary.

The authors of the commentaries were obviously given some latitude for the organization of their contributions, since the format of the explanatory sections is not uniform. Most of them chose to follow the order available in the biblical text by providing comments sequentially. Thus, the book of Psalms receives complete coverage with an explanation for each of its 150 units. For some books, the commentary is limited to selected passages. For instance, the author who covered Numbers isolated eight sections of the book that pertain to women’s concerns and limited her comments mostly to th...

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