Commentaries
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Wisdom Of Solomon
$49.99Add to cartThe 17 New Testament volumes in the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series have been widely acclaimed. Now the series editors offer readable Old Testament commentaries that integrate the best of contemporary biblical scholarship with the traditional understanding of the Old Testament books as prophesying and prefiguring Christ.
Written from a standpoint of faith in the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of Scripture, CCSS Old Testament commentaries are designed for preaching, teaching, and applying Scripture to Christian life today. Accessibly written yet substantive, they include quotes from church documents, church fathers, and saints and are packed with features that make them particularly useful to those doing ministry in Catholic parishes.
General editors for the series are Mary Healy (Sacred Heart Major Seminary), Mark Giszczak (Augustine Institute), and Peter S. Williamson (Sacred Heart Major Seminary).
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Wisdom Of Solomon
$24.99Add to cartThe 17 New Testament volumes in the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series have been widely acclaimed. Now the series editors offer readable Old Testament commentaries that integrate the best of contemporary biblical scholarship with the traditional understanding of the Old Testament books as prophesying and prefiguring Christ.
Written from a standpoint of faith in the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of Scripture, CCSS Old Testament commentaries are designed for preaching, teaching, and applying Scripture to Christian life today. Accessibly written yet substantive, they include quotes from church documents, church fathers, and saints and are packed with features that make them particularly useful to those doing ministry in Catholic parishes.
General editors for the series are Mary Healy (Sacred Heart Major Seminary), Mark Giszczak (Augustine Institute), and Peter S. Williamson (Sacred Heart Major Seminary).
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Gospel Of Peace
$34.00Add to cartLong-time activist, author and teacher of nonviolence, Father John Dear offers here the first ever commentary on the Synoptic Gospels from the perspective of active nonviolence, in the tradition of Gandhi and Dr. King. He walks through every line of the three synoptic Gospels pointing out Jesus’ practice and teachings of nonviolence each step of the way.
Dear’s Jesus is like Gandhi and Dr. King–nonviolent to the core, a disarming, healing presence toward those in need and a revolutionary disrupter of the unjust status quo and a political threat to the ruling authorities who succeed in killing him, only to push Jesus to the heights of nonviolence through his death and resurrection. This original commentary brings a fresh new approach to the Gospels that will help all those who preach and engage in social ministries, and inspire everyone in this time of permanent warfare, gun violence, racism, poverty and climate change.
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12 Prophets: Volume 1
$44.95Add to cartThere is generally no common material that binds together the works of the individual prophets that comprise the Twelve, but through Sweeney’s commentary they stand together as a single, clearly defined book among the other prophetic books of the Bible.The Book of the Twelve Prophets is a multifaceted literary composition that functions simultaneously in all Jewish and Christian versions of the Bible as a single prophetic book and as a collection of twelve individual prophetic books. Each of the twelve individual books – Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi – begins with its own narrative introduction that identifies the prophet and provides details concerning the historical setting and literary characteristics. In this manner each book is clearly distinguished from the others within the overall framework of the Twelve.By employing a combination of literary methodologies, such as reader response criticism, canonical criticism, and structural form criticism, Sweeney establishes the literary structure of the Book of the Twelve as a whole, and of each book with their respective ideological or theological perspectives.
An introductory chapter orients readers to questions posed by reading the Book of the Twelve as a coherent piece of literature and to a literary overview of the Twelve. Sweeney then treats each of the twelve individual prophetic books in the order of the Masoretic canon, providing a discussion of each one’s structure, theme, and outlook. This is followed by a detailed literary discussion of the textual units that comprise the book.
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Ezra And Nehemiah
$29.95Add to cartEzra-Nehemiah has been neglected in biblical studies, but it is important as one of the few windows into the Persian period of Israel’s history, the setting for so much of the final shape of the Hebrew Bible. To know this period is to know what influenced these redactors. In Ezra and Nehemiah Gordon Davies provides that knowledge using rhetorical criticism, a methodology that reveals the full range and progress of the book’s ideas without hiding its rough seams and untidy edges.
The purpose of rhetorical criticism is to explain not the source but the power of the text as a unitary message. This approach does not look at plot development, characterization, or other elements whose roughness makes Ezra-Nehemiah frustrating to read. Instead, it examines the three parts of the relationship – the strategies, the situations, and the ffects – between the speaker and the audience. Rhetorical criticism’s scrutiny of the audience in context favors the search for the ideas and structures that are indigenous to the culture of the text.
Rhetorical criticism is interested in figures of speech as means of persuasion. Therefore, to apply it to Ezra-Nehemiah, Davies concentrates on the public discourse – the orations, letters, and prayers – throughout its text. In each chapter he follows a procedure that: (1) where it is unclear, identifies the rhetorical unit in which the discourse is set; (2) identifies the audiences of the discourse and the rhetorical situation; (3) studies the arrangement of the material; (4) studies the effect on the various audiences; (5) reviews the passage as a whole and judges its success. In the conclusion, Davies explains that Ezra-Nehemiah makes theological sense on its own terms, by forming a single work in which a range of ideas is argued.
Biblical scholars as well as those interested in literary criticism, communication studies, rhetorical studies, ecclesiology, and homiletics will find Ezra and Nehemiah enlightening.
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Galatians
$24.99Add to cartIn this addition to the successful Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) series, two esteemed scholars interpret Galatians from within the living tradition of the Church. The CCSS relates Scripture to Christian life today, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry. Its attractive packaging and accessible writing style make it a series to own–and to read!
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2 Kings : Studies In Hebrew Narrative And Poetry
$34.95Add to cartOpening with the prophet Elijah’s ascent into heaven and closing with the people of Judah’s descent to Babylonia, 2 Kings charts the story of the two Israelite kingdoms until their destruction. This commentary unfolds the literary dimensions of 2 Kings, analyzes the strategies through which its words create a world of meaning, and examines the book’s tales of prophets, political intrigue, royal apostasy, and religious reform as components of larger patterns.
2 Kings pays attention to the writers’ methods of representing human character and of twisting chronological time for literary purposes. It also shows how the contests between kings and prophets are mirrored in the competing structures of regnal synchronization and prophecy-fulfillment. Much more than a common chronicle of royal achievements and disasters, 2 Kings emerges as a powerful history that creates memories and forges identities for its Jewish readers.
2 Kings is divided into four parts including Part One “The Story of Elisha: 2 Kings 1:1-8:6”; Part Two “Revolutions in Aram, Israel, and Judah: 2 Kings 8:7-13:25”; Part Three “Turmoil and Tragedy for Israel: 2 Kings 14-17”; and Part Four “Renewal and Catastrophe for Judah: 2 Kings 18-25.”
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Psalms : Studies In Hebrew Narrative And Poetry
$49.95Add to cartThe psalms are masterful poems that echo the tenors of community life and worship as they project the scope of the human drama from lament to praise. They chart a profound and vital relationship with God, with all the ups and downs that this relationship implies. Konrad Schaefer’s concise commentary on the psalms relates their poetic elements while respecting their historical context and traditional use in the liturgy and, more importantly, their ultimate value as a springboard to private and communal prayer.
In Psalms, Schaefer focuses on the structure of each psalm, its dramatic plot, the modes of discourse, the rhetorical features, and the effective use of imagery to portray theology and the spiritual life. Schaefer portrays each poem’s inner dynamic to acquaint readers with the poet and the community which prayed and preserved the composition, allowing the believer to transpose it in the contemporary situation.
Psalms is for those who would like to pray the psalms with more intensity of meaning; for those willing to touch the biblical world and taste of its fruit in the Word of God; and for devoted readers of the Bible to become more expert as it helps experts become more devoted.
Chapters are Introduction,” “Book One (Psalms 1-41),” “Book Two (Psalms 42-72),” “Book Three (Psalms 73-89),” “Book Four (Psalms 90-106),” and “Book Five (Psalms 107-150).”
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Gospel Of Luke (Reprinted)
$26.99Add to cartIn this addition to the successful Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series, Fr. Pablo Gadenz examines the Gospel of Luke from within the living tradition of the Church for pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students alike. Gadenz explains the biblical text clearly and concisely in light of recent scholarship and pays particular attention to the themes, theology, and Old Testament background of Luke’s Gospel. Sidebars explain the biblical background and offer theological insights from Church fathers, saints, and popes, and reflection and application sections offer suggestions for daily Christian living.
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Rethinking Mary In The New Testament
$17.95Add to cartCatholics and non-Catholics alike may be tempted to assume they already know everything there is to know about Mary. Whatever your degree of knowledge and personal devotion to the Mother of God, this book will help you see Mary with new eyes and greater appreciation.
Renowned author and theologian Edward Sri deftly leads the reader through a detailed study of Scripture and makes insightful connections to deepen and transform our understanding of Jesus’s Mother. Readable, compelling, and inspiring, this book will renew your vision so that you, too, can rethink Mary – the Mother of God and our mother.
Topics include:
What was Mary’s life like before the Annunciation?
Mary as Daughter Zion
What does it mean to call Mary “full of grace”?
What is the biblical basis for the Catholic belief that Mary is a perpetual Virgin?
Mary as Queen Mother
Mary as model of faith
Mary at the foot of the Cross
Mary as the woman of Revelation -
Moral Reflections On The Book Of Job Volume 4 Books 17-22
$49.95Add to cartGregory the Great was pope from 590 to 604, a time of great turmoil in Italy and in the western Roman Empire generally because of the barbarian invasions. Gregory’s experience as prefect of the city of Rome and as apocrisarius of Pope Pelagius fitted him admirably for the new challenges of the papacy. The Moral Reflections on the Book of Job were first given to the monks who accompanied Gregory to the embassy in Constantinople.
This forth volume, containing books 17 through 22, provides commentary on twelve chapters of Job, from 24:21 through 31:40.
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Hebrews
$25.99Add to cartWell-respected New Testament scholar and popular speaker Mary Healy unpacks the letter to the Hebrews, making its difficult and puzzling passages accessible to pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students. Her commentary shows how Hebrews reveals the meaning of Christ’s death in light of the Old Testament figures, rites, and sacrifices that foreshadowed it. Healy explains that Hebrews, when fully understood, transforms our understanding of who God is, what he has done for us, and how we are to live as Christians today.
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Essential Expositions Of The Psalms
$44.95Add to cartEssential Expositions of the Psalms is a collection distilled from the 6-volume set in the Works of Saint Augustine. As the psalms are a microcosm of the Old Testament, so the Expositions of the Psalms can be seen as a microcosm of Augustinian thought. In the Book of Psalms are to be found the history of the people of Israel, the theology and spirituality of the Old Covenant, and a treasury of human experience expressed in prayer and poetry. So too does the work of expounding the psalms recapitulate and focus the experiences of Augustine’s personal life, his theological reflections and his pastoral concerns as Bishop of Hippo.
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Gospel Of John (Reprinted)
$25.99Add to cartIn this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, two well-respected New Testament scholars interpret the Gospel of John in its historical and literary setting as well as in light of the Church’s doctrinal, liturgical, and spiritual tradition. They unpack the wisdom of the Fourth Gospel for the intellectual and spiritual transformation of its readers and connect the Gospel with a range of witnesses throughout the whole history of Catholicism. This volume, like each in the series, is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry.
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Revelation (Reprinted)
$26.99Add to cartIn this addition to the well-received Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), seasoned New Testament scholar and popular speaker Peter Williamson interprets Revelation from within the living tradition of the Church for pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students alike. The seventeen-volume CCSS series, which will cover the entire New Testament, relates Scripture to Christian life today, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry. Drawn from the best of contemporary scholarship, series volumes are keyed to the liturgical year and include an index of pastoral subjects.
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Moral Reflections On The Book Of Job Volume 1 Preface And Books 1-5
$49.95Add to cartGregory the Great was pope from 590 to 604, a time of great turmoil in Italy and in the western Roman Empire generally because of the barbarian invasions. Gregory’s experience as prefect of the city of Rome and as apocrisarius of Pope Pelagius fitted him admirably for the new challenges of the papacy. The Moral Reflections on the Book of Job were first given to the monks who accompanied Gregory to the embassy in Constantinople. This first volume of the work contains books 1-5, accompanied by an introduction by Mark DelCogliano.
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Life Abounding : A Reading Of Johns Gospel
$39.95Add to cartThe Fourth Gospel addresses the thirst for life that lies at the depth of every human heart. The life in question is not just physical life but the “more abundant life” (John 10:10) that is nothing less than a share in the “eternal life” of the divine communion of love. Brendan Byrne’s insightful reading of John in Life Abounding will help readers move from mere existence to a conscious sense of sharing the divine eternal life-and the joy that goes with it.
The reading of the Fourth Gospel offered here remains conscious of the difficulties John presents on several fronts for contemporary readers. Byrne explains the text in a way that is critical yet sensitive to the gospel’s distinctive character and the untapped treasures it may yet contain for theology and spirituality today. This volume represents the completion of Byrne’s highly successful series of books on the four gospels, which have proven to be rich resources for preachers, teachers, and all who desire a more profound understanding of the life of Jesus as it is presented in the gospels.
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New Testament 1 And 2
$36.95Add to cartWorks included: Agreement Among the Evangelists (translated by Kim Paffenroth); Questions on the Gospels (translated by Roland Teske, SJ); Seventeen Questions on Matthew (translated by Roland Teske, SJ); and Lord’s Sermon on the Mount (translated by Michael Campbell, OSA). The present translation of The Lord’s Sermon on the Mount was made from the Latin text published in Nuova Biblioteca Agostiniana X/2, 82 285; it is preceded by a detailed introduction by Salvino Caruana (in Italian) on pp. 7 69. Almut Mutzenbecher’s critical text of the treatise in Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 35 was consulted in establishing the text for the Italian series. Mutzenbecher’s introduction (in German), although earlier,is a valuable complement to Caruana’s. There are several extant English translations, most notably William Findlay, Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, revised and edited by Philip Schaff in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series 6 (New York 1903; repr. 1979) 1 63; John J. Jepson, St. Augustine, The Lord’s Sermon on the Mount (Westminster, Md. 1948) = Ancient Christian Writers 5; Denis J. Kavanagh, Commentary on the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, with Seventeen Related Sermons (New York 1951) = Fathers of the Church 11, 17 199. The present translation of Agreement among the Evangelists was made from the Latin Text published in Nuova Biblioteca Agostiniana X/1 with an occasional look at S.D.F. Salmond’s English translation, The Harmony of the Gospels, edited by Philip Schaff, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series 6 (New York 1903, repr. 1979) 77 236. The present translation of Questions on the Gospels was made from the Latin text found in the critical edition by Almut Mutzenbecher in CCSL 44/B, with some attention to the text and translation found in NBA 10/2. Aside from two nineteenth-century French translations in two separate editions, each entitled Oeuvres completes de Saint Augustin (Bar-le-Duc 1864 1873; Paris 1869 1878), and the Italian translation in NBA 10/2, there do not seem to be any translations into modern languages. The present translation of Seventeen Questions on Matthew was made from the Latin text found in the critical edition by Mutzenbecher. The text in NBA was followed in preserving the PL numbering of the questions, while noting the numbering in CCSL. Also included are the concluding paragraphs in the last question that are omitted
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Acts Of The Apostles (Reprinted)
$26.99Add to cartWhat message was the author of Acts seeking to convey, and what would the original audience have understood? How is God speaking to believers today through Acts as it has been used by the church throughout the centuries? In this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, respected New Testament scholar William Kurz offers a close reading and explanation of the entire narrative of Acts, grounded in the original Greek but keyed to the NABRE for liturgical use. This volume, like each in the series, relates Scripture to life, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively.
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Philippians Colossians Philemon
$25.00Add to cartPhilippians, Colossians, and Philemon, written by Paul from prison in the middle of the first century, were addressed to specific Christian communities facing concrete challenges. What did these letters mean at the time, and what do they mean for us today?
In this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, seasoned New Testament scholar Dennis Hamm explores the significance of these letters and their enduring relevance to the life and mission of the church. Based on solid scholarship yet readily accessible, the book is enriched with pastoral reflections and applications and includes sidebars on the living tradition and biblical background.
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Resurrection Of The Messiah
$21.95Add to cartFrancis Moloney s new book takes its inspiration from the critically acclaimed publications of the renowned biblical scholar Raymond E. Brown The Birth of the Messiah and The Death of the Messiah. In The Resurrection of the Messiah, Moloney provides a narrative reading of the resurrection stories in Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. His focus is almost entirely upon the text itself. Guided by current scholarship, he uncovers the perennial significance of the four resurrection narratives, accepted and read as Sacred Scripture in the Christian tradition.
Without disregarding the historical background that must be understood for an appreciation of the story, a narrative commentary attempts to trace the intended impact of that story upon its readers. This reading and interpretative process uncovers the literary structure of a passage, and then follows the unfolding of the narrative itself, allowing it to speak for itself. The thrust of the book is to uncover the unique theological and pastoral message communicated by means of the narratives.
Moloney concludes that we rejoice in what Jesus has done for us in and through the resurrection. This is especially true in our current era, when Christian institutions and practice are under threat from many sides, and also from the way Christianity is lived by many of us. The stories of the resurrection of the Messiah assure us that Jesus promises come true, that our fears, doubts, failures and sin are overcome, as we are sent out again and again on mission, accompanied by the never-failing presence of Jesus in the gift of his Spirit. -
Acts Of The Apostles (Revised)
$12.95Add to cartLarge format, featuring large text size and additional margin space for personal annotations! The larger format enhances both individual and group study.
Based on the Revised Standard Version – Catholic Edition, this volume leads readers through a penetrating study of the Acts of the Apostles, using the biblical text itself and the Church’s own guidelines for understanding the Bible. Ample notes accompany each page, providing fresh insights and commentary by renowned Bible teachers Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch, as well as time-tested interpretations from the Fathers of the Church. These helpful study notes make explicit what Acts often assumes or they provide rich historical, cultural, geographical or theological information pertinent to the readings – information that bridges the distance between the biblical world and our own.
The Ignatius Study Bible also includes Topical Essays, Word Studies and Charts. The Topical Essays explore the major themes of Acts, often relating them to the doctrines of the Church. The Word Studies explain the background to important Bible terms, while the Charts summarize crucial biblical information “at a glance”.
Each page also includes an easy-to-use Cross-Reference Section that runs between the biblical text at the top of the page and the annotations at the bottom. Study Questions are provided for each chapter of Acts that can deepen your personal study of God’s Holy Word. There is also an introductory essay covering questions of authorship, date, destination, structure and themes. An outline of Acts and several maps are also included.
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Song Of Songs Ruth Lamentations Ecclesiastes Esther
$19.95Add to cartIrene Nowell’s lively and thoughtful exploration of these poetic and powerful books promises to ignite appreciation and understanding in the hearts and minds of readers.
The five books abound with vivid stories of faith. The Song of Songs, dedicated to Solomon, celebrates the wonder of human love. The book of Ruth, a masterpiece of storytelling, tells of two valiant women who move from emptiness to fullness, desolation to redemption. Lamentations, telling of the destruction of Jerusalem, recognizes that the Lord has struck and that only the Lord can heal. Ecclesiastes teaches the futility of vanity and storing up riches. The book of Esther tells the story of a Jewish woman and her uncle who, by their courage and wit, deliver the Jews from threatened genocide.
Gathered together and artfully explored, this volume offers readers a wealth of information to inspire deeper understanding of the human journey and God’s presence in the lives of those who trust in Him.
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Psalms 1-72 : New Collegeville Bible Commentary
$17.95Add to cartThe book of Psalms plays a significant role in the public and private prayer of both the Jewish and Christian communities today, helping to shape the minds and hearts of modern believers.
In two commentaries, one covering Psalms 1-72 and the other Psalms 73-150, Dianne Bergant examines the theological and historical circumstances from which the psalms originated. She reveals how the psalms were intended for instruction as well as prayer, and helps us experience their lyrical nature. In a fresh encounter with these poems of lament, hymns of praise, and prayers of thanksgiving, readers gain a new appreciation for these ancient texts, remembering that God-who dwells with us still-is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy” (Pss 145:8; 103:8).
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Sirach : New Collegeville Bible Commentary
$17.95Add to cartThe book of Sirach praises the study of the law, the wisdom of the men of old and their prophecies. Its author is well-read and rearticulates traditional Jewish wisdom for his generation, centering it on fear of the Lord, and clearly asserting that wisdom is a gift from God. He encourages his audience to remain steadfast in following the law of Moses rather than following the ways of the dominant pagan Greek culture.
eremy Corley is a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Portsmouth, UK. Following several years of parish ministry, he completed a doctorate in biblical studies at the Catholic University of America. He has published books and articles on biblical topics, especially the book of Sirach, and now teaches Scripture at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Ireland.
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Jeremiah Baruch : New Collegeville Bible Commentary
$14.95Add to cartJeremiah grew up in a time of peace and died in exile. He lived to see the temple burned to the ground, Jerusalem destroyed, and his people marched into a foreign land. A reluctant prophet, Jeremiah preached the renewal of the covenant, teaching in parables like Jesus. His God was a God of hope, promise, power, and the will to make the people of Israel a holy people.
Jeremiah announces the unleashing of the wrath of God in the final years of the kingdom of Judah. It is a message that is particularly painful to the prophet and he cries out to God against the message he must deliver, meriting for himself the title of “the reluctant prophet.” The intensity and passion of Jeremiah is expressed in the harshness of his message, but also in his longing that the people remember the devotion of their youth and return in faithful love to God. The unrelenting doom that occupies much of the book of Jeremiah is offset by God’s refusal to totally abandon the people of Judah. This refusal to let go of the people is given its greatest expression in a New Covenant which lays the foundation for humanity’s enduring relationship with God.
The book of Baruch presents several ways for the people of Israel to deal with the destruction of their country and exile from their land. They must acknowledge their sinfulness, repent, and seek deliverance (1:1-3:8). They must recognize the importance of wisdom and that wisdom is accessible to them in obedience to the law which God has given them (3:9-4:4). Grief over their loss must include a longing for restoration and salvation (4:5-5:9) and under no circumstances must they return to the worship of other gods (6:1-71).
In Jeremiah, Baruch, Pauline A. Viviano insightfully explores and explains these two challenging and important books of Scripture.
Pauline A. Viviano is an associate professor of theology at Loyola University Chicago. She received her doctorate in biblical languages and literature from St. Louis University. Besides articles in academic and popular journals, her publications include reading guides for the books of Joshua, Judges, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and Ruth for the Catholic Study Bible published by Oxford University Press, and Collegeville Bible Commentary Volume 2: Genesis (Liturgical Press, 1985). In addition to university teaching she often lectures at parishes in and around Chicago.
The book of Baruch deals with the challenges faced by the Jews of the Diaspora who never retur -
Amos Hosea Micha Nahum Zephaniah Habakkuk
$16.95Add to cartThese six prophets proclaim powerful messages about judgment and the sovereignty of God. Amos challenges hypocrisy and injustice. Hosea’s marriage symbolizes the covenant between God and Israel, moving from love to separation and then reunion. Micah, Nahum, and Zephaniah condemn corrupt leadership, injustice to the poor, and worship of false gods. Habakkuk reminds all to rely on God, who will punish the evil and defeat chaos. Flowing through all these calls to be a better people is the unfailing promise of a faithful and forgiving God.
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Body You Have Prepared For Me
$19.95Add to cartWhile all of the New Testament writings offer windows into the personal religious experiences of their authors, says Kevin McCruden, the Letter to the Hebrews affords us a truly exquisite example of a particularly creative interpretation of such religious experience. It also supplies us with something all too rare in many of the documents of the New Testament: a glimpse into the personal experiences of the ancient persons who first heard this text.
Partially obscured beneath the author’s characteristic emphasis on the superiority of transcendent realities is the indelible imprint of the real-life experiences of early Christians who suffered emotionally and physically for the countercultural commitment that they placed in Jesus. For such persons, Hebrews vividly celebrates the unseen vindication of Jesus and, in this way, provides a hope-filled portrait of the victorious Son of God. At the same time, Hebrews is also very much concerned with what we might call the life of Christian discipleship-that is, what it means to journey this side of the age to come in a manner that is faithful to the countercultural character of God’s kingdom embodied by Jesus. This brief study will help illumine for readers something of this creative balance between the transcendent and the concrete that Hebrews illustrates so well.
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Psalms 73-150 : New Collegeville Bible Commentary
$14.95Add to cartThe book of Psalms plays a significant role in the public and private prayer of both the Jewish and Christian communities today, helping to shape the minds and hearts of modern believers.
In two commentaries, one covering Psalms 1-72 and the other Psalms 73-150, Dianne Bergant examines the theological and historical circumstances from which the psalms originated. She reveals how the psalms were intended for instruction as well as prayer, and helps us experience their lyrical nature. In a fresh encounter with these poems of lament, hymns of praise, and prayers of thanksgiving, readers gain a new appreciation for these ancient texts, remembering that God-who dwells with us still-is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy” (Pss 145:8; 103:8).
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Sermon On The Mount
$19.95Add to cartSaint Augustine once described the Sermon on the Mount as “the perfect measure of the Christian life.” Taking his cue from Augustine, Frank Matera provides an exposition of the sermon for contemporary readers who wish to use the sermon as the standard by which they live their lives every day.
Matera shows how the Sermon on the Mount summons believers to single-minded devotion and wholehearted service to God. He unfolds the historical and theological background to the sermon. He explores the meaning of the individual Beatitudes, which articulate Jesus’ call for a more abundant righteousness, piety without hypocrisy, and the need to become “doers” of the Word.
This lively and engaging commentary is an ideal resource for adult education and Bible study groups. It is also ideal for all who want to live their discipleship more fully.
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1-2 Maccabees
$16.95Add to cartOften neglected, the books of the First and Second Maccabees are important for Christians, as in them is told how the Jewish people established the political and religious culture into which Jesus was born. The martyr stories inform the early Christian martyrdoms, and the books are written in Greek, the language in which the Jews of Jesus’ time read the scriptures. More importantly, as Father Harrington notes, without the Maccabees, “the fate of Judaism (and with it Christianity and Islam) was uncertain.”
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Isaiah
$12.95Add to cartAlthough the circumstances under which the book of Isaiah took its present form remain in scholarly dispute, Leslie Hoppe highlights its literary and theological purpose-to provide the people of Judah and Jerusalem with hope for the future and the will to re-embrace their ancestral religious traditions.
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Ezekiel-Daniel
$16.95Add to cartEzekiel and Daniel give us some of the most memorable stories and images from the Old Testament: the fiery wheeled throne of God leaving Jerusalem, the valley of dry bones, and miraculous survivals in a fiery furnace and a lion’s den. All this leads the authors of the commentary to navigate the structure and history of these books in order to unravel their extraordinary messages of hope and divine power.
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On The Song Of Songs
$39.95Add to cartGregory the Great (+604) was a master of the art of exegesis. His interpretations are theologically profound, methodologically fascinating, and historically influential. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in his exegesis of the Song of Songs. Gregory’s interpretation of this popular Old Testament book not only owes much to Christian exegetes who preceded him, such as Origen, but also profoundly influenced later Western Latin exegetes, such as Bernard of Clairvaux.
This volume includes all that Gregory had to say on the Song of Songs. This includes his Exposition on the Song of Songs, as well as the florilegia compiled by Paterius (Gregory’s secretary) and the Venerable Bede, and, finally, William of Saint Thierry’s Excerpts from the Books of Blessed Gregory on the Song of Songs. It is now the key resource for reading and studying Gregory’s interpretation of the Song of Songs.
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1-2 Samuel
$17.95Add to cartComprehensive and understandable, the New Collegeville Bible Commentary series brings the timeless messages and relevance of the Old Testament to today s readers. With recent scholarship, this series provides vital background and addresses important questions such as authorship and cultural context. The New Collegeville Bible Commentary books use the New American Bible translation and will appeal to preachers, teachers, Bible study groups, and all readers of the Bible. First and Second Samuel tell the story of the beginnings of monarchy in ancient Israel. These two powerful narratives present many great figures of biblical history Samuel, Saul, and David and explore the complex interaction of historical developments and human fidelity under God. In the books of Samuel, characters interact to influence and persuade, to express motivation and desire, and to shape the reader s understanding of the issues that faced the Israelites as they responded to God s invitation to covenant. Through the medium of story, the reader shares in the perennial struggle to discover, in the midst of personal and political conflict, God’s ways for humanity.
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1-2 Peter Jude (Reprinted)
$25.00Add to cartIn this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), Daniel Keating interprets First and Second Peter and Jude for pastoral ministers and lay readers alike. The seventeen-volume CCSS series, which will cover the entire New Testament, relates Scripture to life, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively.
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1st Corinthians (Reprinted)
$25.00Add to cartIn this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), a seasoned scholar interprets First Corinthians for pastoral ministers and lay readers alike. The CCSS series, which will cover the entire New Testament, relates Scripture to life, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry.
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Exodus
$17.95Add to cartSo resounding is its message that echoes of the Exodus are heard throughout the Old and New Testaments and the present. Exodus names and terms permeate our biblical and liturgical vocabularies: Pharaoh, Moses, Aaron, burning bush, “I AM,” plagues, Passover, manna, Ten Commandments, forty days and forty nights, Ark of the Covenant. The Exodus experience, indeed, is central to both Jewish and Christian traditions. Exodus is, as Mark Smith reminds us, not only an ancient text but also “today’s story, calling readers to work against oppression and to participate in a covenant relationship with one another and God.” With Smith as their experienced guide, readers are able to march through this basic book of the Bible with textual difficulties solved and stacked up like a wall to their right and left, just as the Israelites “marched on dry land through the midst of the sea with the water like a wall to their right and to their left” (14:29). Undoubtedly, when finished, readers will be closer to the Promised Land than when they started.
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Gospel Of Matthew (Reprinted)
$26.99Add to cartThis engaging commentary on the Gospel of Matthew is the fifth of seventeen volumes in the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), which will cover the entire New Testament. This volume, like each in the series, relates Scripture to life, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry.
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Reflections On The Weekday Lectionary Readings
$39.95Add to cartThe book is a succinct commentary on the daily lectionary readings. A practical book free of academic jargon, Reflections on the Weekday Readings provides lectionary commentaries that are contemporary and refreshing. This versatile book can be used for liturgical and homiletic purposes or for private meditation, by clergy or by laity.
Highlights:
Covers Years I and II of the Weekday readings
Every reflection followed by Points to Ponder
Suitable for Priests and Deacons who are preparing homilies
Great as personal reflections on the weekday readingsNOTE: An excellent resource for offshore foreign-language priests working in the United States and Canada who need a straightforward homiletic guide to the weekday readings.
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Ephesians (Reprinted)
$25.00Add to cartIn this third volume of the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), Peter Williamson interprets Ephesians for pastoral ministers and lay readers alike. This volume, like each in the series, relates Scripture to life, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry.
About the series: The Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) responds to the desire of Catholics to study the Bible in depth and in a way that integrates Scripture with Catholic doctrine, worship, and daily life. The series will include seventeen volumes, offering readable, informative commentary on each book of the New Testament. The CCSS implements the theological principles taught by Vatican II for interpreting Scripture “in accord with the same Spirit by which it was written”–that is, interpreting Scripture in its canonical context and in the light of Catholic tradition and the analogy of faith (Dei Verbum, 12).The CCSS is packed with features designed to help readers use the Bible more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry. Each volume provides exegesis as well as reflection and application sections. A set of cross-references links each passage to the Catechism, the Lectionary, and related biblical texts. Sidebars present information on the background of the text and on how the text has been interpreted by the Church. Abundant quotations from saints and Church Fathers enable readers to glimpse the continuity of Catholic tradition. Each volume includes a Glossary, a list of Suggested Resources, an Index of Pastoral Topics, and an Index of Sidebars. Further resources are posted at the series Web site, www.CatholicCommentaryonSacredScripture.com.
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2nd Corinthians
$26.00Add to cartThere is an increasing hunger among Catholics to study the Bible in depth and in a way that integrates Scripture with Catholic doctrine, worship, and daily life. Second Corinthians is the fourth of seventeen volumes in the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), a new series that will cover the entire New Testament and interprets Scripture from within the living tradition of the Church. This volume, like each in the series, is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively.
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Hebrews
$44.95Add to cartScarcely any book of the New Testament (with the possible exception of Revelation) is so perplexing as the “Letter to the Hebrews.” Not really a letter, but a sermon with some features of a letter added to it, not really by its putative author, Paul, but by an anonymous Christian who wrote some of the most elegant Greek in the Bible, not really addressed to the “Hebrews,” but to Christians, probably in Rome-this is the work that Alan Mitchell explains in this commentary.
Many scholars have written fine commentaries on Hebrews, and Mitchell stands on their shoulders, noting where he proposes alternate interpretations. Mitchell pays particular attention to the reliance of the author of Hebrews on the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint). He also compares the language of Hebrews with similar usage and ideas of first-century Hellenistic Jewish authors, notably Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria. Furthermore, he situates Hebrews against the background of the tradition of Hellenistic Moral Philosophy, where that is appropriate. Mitchell thus locates Hebrews in its proper thought-world, something that is essential for the modern reader in dealing with some of the thornier questions raised by this biblical book. Chief among these are the role of sacrificial atonement, the question of “second repentance,” and the spiritual and moral formation of the Roman Christians who were its recipients.
Like all the volumes in the Sacra Pagina series, this work examines the text in detail, with careful attention to the words and phrasing, and then brings those individual insights together into a coherent summary. The bibliography and special lists appended to each chapter cover the best of recent scholarship on the Letter to the Hebrews.
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Pastorial Epistles : First Timothy Second Timothy And Titus
$29.95Add to cartFirst and Second Timothy and Titus have for many years borne the collective title “The Pastoral Epistles.” Both their style and their content make it difficult to locate them within the corpus of Pauline letters, and recent scholarship most often considers them pseudonymous, works that imitate Paul’s letters but apply the apostle’s teaching to the concerns of a later time, two or more decades after Paul’s death.
The Pastorals differ from Paul’s own letters in being addressed to single individuals, coworkers of Paul who have been placed in charge of particular churches-Timothy apparently in Ephesus, Titus in Crete. They provide instruction for community leaders, both the individual addressees and other leaders whom they will appoint. The specification of certain offices within the local churches is one of the features that appear to locate these works in a later phase of church development.
In this commentary Benjamin Fiore, SJ, places the Pastorals in their historical and literary context. The reader will find here a solid introduction to parallel literary forms in Latin and Greek literature and particular descriptions of the way in which these documents use ancient rhetorical forms to achieve their paraenetic and hortatory purpose. Drawing on his parish experience as well as his academic training, Fiore also provides reflections on the contemporary pastoral application of these books, giving readers a renewed appreciation for the “pastoral” label these epistles bear.
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Homilies On The Gospel Of John
$49.00Add to cartFew ancient Christian authors attempted anything like a complete commentary on the Gospel of John, among them Origen, John Chrysostom and Augustine. Of these, Augustine’s must count as the greatest. Unlike Origen’s, it has come down to us in its entirety and of the others that remain it is certainly the most theologically profound. John’s gospel allows Augustine to range broadly over themes that were his life’s work — the Trinity, the person of Christ, the nature of the Church and its sacraments, the fulfillment of the divine plan.
The 124 homilies that constitute Augustine’s commentary, however, are masterpieces not only of theological profundity but also of pastoral engagement. In the question-and-answer style that he frequently employs, for example, one can sense Augustine’s real awareness of his congregation’s struggles with the gospel text. And the congregation’s response to Augustine, which he frequently alludes to, is an indication of the success of his dialogical preaching style.
The Johannine literature drew out the best in Augustine. The Homilies on the Gospel of John are the indispensible complement to The Homilies on the First Epistle of John, recently published in this series and they should be a part of any serious theological library.
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Philippians And Philemon
$39.95Add to cartPhilippians is one of the most interesting and beloved of Paul’s undisputed epistles. In Philippians and Philemon, Bonnie Thurston makes a convincing case that canonical Philippians is as Paul wrote it, one letter. A translation conforming as closely as possible to the original Greek is provided, along with a careful analysis of the language of the letter that yields insights into the context and theological underpinning of this epistle.
The apostle’s very brief letter to Philemon stands solidly within the Pauline collection of authentic and canonical letters. In this commentary Judith Ryan shows how Paul combined his theology with contemporary rhetorical strategies to produce an effective challenge to his audience.
