Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 65:2 (Jun 2022)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

JETS 65:2 (June 2022) p. 349

Book Reviews

Genesis. By John Goldingay. Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020, xix + 808 pp., $59.99.

John Goldingay, senior professor of OT at Fuller Theological Seminary, is an exceedingly prolific author, having completed a three-volume OT theology, a 17-volume popular series on the OT books (Genesis for Everyone, etc.), a complete translation of the OT (entitled The First Testament: A New Translation), and more scholarly commentaries on the Psalms (3 vols.), Isaiah 40–55 (2 vols.), Isaiah 56–66, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Daniel. The volume in question, Genesis, is the first published volume in the series Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch.

After an eleven-page introduction, Goldingay discusses the text of Genesis in fifty sections, with each section covering anywhere from seven verses (chapter 24 covers 25:12–18) to nearly three chapters in length (chapter 6 covers 6:9–8:22). For each section, Goldingay provides a brief overview; a translation, with copious footnotes addressing individual Hebrew words; an interpretation section; and often, an “Implications” section that presents intriguing theological inferences of the passage.

Goldingay explains his approach to the commentary section, and I found this fascinating. First, he wrote a rough draft based only on his own thinking and various Hebrew reference works, but without referring to other secondary literature. Then, he consulted a selection of works on Genesis from early Jewish and Christian interpreters, medieval Jewish interpreters, Reformation interpreters, and 19th–21st century interpreters. He then modified his original draft accordingly, adding quotes or simply incorporating the essence of what a source has said (with the source identified in a footnote). He also adds comments from his wife (indicated by her initials) in various places; I counted 36 such comments, most only a sentence or two, though an entire paragraph on Genesis 5. The result is that the text itself reads quite well, since it is virtually never interrupted by the name of a source or by any substantive discussion of that source. The source’s name and any interaction with it is left for the footnote (occasionally Goldingay mentions “scholars” but does not provide an identifying footnote; see, e.g., page 8). While this practice aids in readability, it robs the reader of any substantive interaction between Goldingay and his sources. He simply includes as part of his text what his source has ...