The Commentarial Impulse
Interpretation and Actualization in the Pauline Tradition
- Biblical Studies & Commentaries
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Published: 2025
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Publisher's Description
What is the origin of Christian commentary? In this insightful volume, David Lincicum argues that it is in the New Testament, and in Paul’s writings in particular, that readers encounter the first stirrings of a Christian commentarial impulse—an impulse that comes to fruition in the second and third centuries with the birth of the first proper Christian commentarial literature. Surveying a wide range of Pauline writings, Lincicum illuminates the texts’ relationship to an authoritative past and a demanding present. He shows how the need to preserve the power of the past, whether in scriptural precedent or apostolic memory, while also developing a contemporary vision characterized by eschatological urgency, led to a profound and creative process of appropriation whose effects are still felt today. Written for scholars interested in biblical interpretation, intertextuality, and history of reception, The Commentarial Impulse is an engaging collection that brings together the best of David Lincicum’s insights into these subjects.
Endorsements (5)
“In this provocative, thought-provoking, and richly groundbreaking volume, David Lincicum articulates a bold thesis. He argues that the tradition of Christian commentary writing finds its earliest traceable impulse within key passages in Paul’s letters, where the apostle interprets or reinterprets Jewish scriptural texts in a manner that speaks into his own context. Thus, one of the key insights, which will enrich scholarship, is that Paul’s theological praxis was fundamentally hermeneutical in nature and foundationally shaped the Christian practice of commentary writing.”
“In this book—composed of previously published and unpublished essays—David Lincicum, a leader among a new generation of top-flight scholars of the New Testament and early Christianity, addresses what he calls ‘the commentarial impulse.’ Lincicum traces this impulse, and the origins of both early and much later Christian commentary, to the New Testament, particularly the writings of St. Paul, deftly proving his argument across a brilliant collection that bears evidence of its author’s compelling and coherent program. The whole is a remarkable achievement, and I found myself repeatedly instructed and impressed.”
“Drawing on decades of careful study and reflection, David Lincicum guides readers with insight and erudition toward an understanding of the apostle Paul within the rich tapestry of scriptural reception, Jewish and Christian. This is a wonderful book by a world-class scholar that offers fresh concepts and opens up new vistas for appreciating the apostle’s hermeneutical location and significance.”
“I like to think that I know a thing or two about Paul’s interpretation of Scripture, but David Lincicum knows far more than I—indeed, more than almost anyone now working in this area. In this wonderful book, Lincicum shows us precisely how Paul fits between the ‘scriptural vitality’ (Hindy Najman’s term) of Second Temple Judaism and the biblical-commentary tradition of Christian late antiquity.”
“These accomplished essays vividly illuminate the character and impact of St. Paul’s scriptural interpretation through several generations of early Christian writing. The apostle’s readers borrowed, adapted, and sometimes resisted his biblical references, now embracing and now subverting his apocalyptic hope for Israel. David Lincicum’s characteristic, expert close readings trace Paul’s exegetical legacy across second-century landscapes of ‘commentarial’ tradition, contest, and experimentation concerning the scriptural promise and its fulfilment.”
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