Frank Matera
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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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Galatians
$39.95Add to cartPaul’s Letter to the Galatians has played a major role in the history of theology, especially in the Church’s teaching on grace, faith, and justification. This commentary argues that Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith is essentially social in nature and has important ecumenical implications for the Church today. In its original setting, Galatians established a foundation for the unity of Jewish and Gentile Christians: all are justified by the faith of Jesus Christ.
In addition to illuminating the historical situation that led Paul to write his Letter to the Galatians, this commentary pays careful attention to the rhetorical structure of this letter and its theological message. The author provides a fresh translation of Galatians, critical notes on each verse of the text, and a careful commentary of the letter in light of Paul’s theology.
Theories abound on the question of Galatians, why it was written, what it says, and what the implications of that message are. Yet few scholars have devoted themselves at length to this letter. What sets this work apart is the extent and detail of its scholarship. Includes an updated bibliography as an appendix.
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Strategies For Preaching Paul
$21.95Add to cartNothing is more central to the Church than preaching the gospel, and few have preached the gospel with the intensity and insight of St. Paul. Paul’s letters play an important role in the New Testament and in the Roman Lectionary. Yet, despite their importance, Paul’s teaching is seldom proclaimed from the pulpit. In Strategies for Preaching Paul, Frank Matera provides preachers with the comprehensive background needed to successfully preach the Pauline readings.
More than a collection of homily hints, Strategies for Preaching Paul provides preachers with three strategies for preaching the Pauline readings in the Sunday Lectionary during Ordinary Time. It offers summaries first of the historical setting, then the literary context, and finally the theological themes of all the Pauline readings as well as the readings of the Letter to the Hebrews. Each letter is introduced by explaining the historical circumstances that caused it and its literary structure. Next, each Sunday reading is explained in light of its wider literary context and its historical background, suggesting ways in which preachers might employ the text in the Sunday homily. Finally, after considering the letter, Matera suggests the major Pauline themes of the letter that need to be preached, such as justification by faith, the return of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the moral life of believers.
An exceptional resource for preachers, Strategies for Preaching Paul also serves as an introduction to Paul’s thought. It may be used in Lectio divina to reflect upon the Sunday Pauline texts.