First Sunday of Advent (A)

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The Unknown Day and Hour   Lectionary: 1 Reading 1 -  Isaiah 2:1-5 Responsorial Psalm -  Psalm 122: 1-9 Reading 2 -  Romans 13:11-14 Alleluia -  Cf. Psalm 85:8 Gospel -  Matthew 24:37-44 '... Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.' Introduction  As we gather on this First Sunday of Advent , we also mark the beginning of the Church’s new liturgical calendar and a four-week preparation period leading up to Christmas. The word Advent comes from either of two Latin words, which simply mean “to come” (Ad-venire) or “to arrive” (Ad-ventus), and as early as the fourth (4th) century, Christians have had this special time of preparation towards Christmas. Of course, Advent is not merely a countdown to Christmas; Even as we begin the material preparations for the social celebration of Christmas, the liturgical celebrations of these weeks invite us to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. But what does the co...
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Review: The Transforming Word Series, Volume 4: Jesus and the Church: Reading the Gospels and Acts

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The Transforming Word Series, Volume 4: Jesus and the Church: Reading the Gospels and Acts The Transforming Word Series, Volume 4: Jesus and the Church: Reading the Gospels and Acts by Mark W. Hamilton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book 4 of a five (5) volume set that tries to provide some context and commentary to the Bible with this book focused on the four (4) Gospels and Acts. Like the other books in the series, each chapter stands on its own, written by different authors from the point of view a scholars in the Christian Restoration (Stone/Campbell) tradition. The first three (3) chapters provide a contextual overview of the time of Christ before diving into the first five (5) books of the New Testament. Once there, each chapter is organized the same way with material groups into: Context, Commentary, Topical Exegesis, Theological Reflections, For Further Study and Works Cited.

It is important to know that this is still a summary commentary and each section generally provides a single interpretation (often with a mention of some of the stronger alternatives). The context and overviews are extremely helpful and you get an excellent feel for how each Gospel is organized and who the target audience was, but you don’t see any in-depth treatment of how the source Greek was interpreted, so this volume would actually be a good companion to a detailed commentary that walks through the Greek instead of something that stands on its own. Still, if you are at all familiar with the text, there aren’t any surprises or controversies here and I highly recommend the entire series.

1. Jesus and the Church
2. The Gospels & Acts
3. New Testament Theology
4. Matthew
5. Mark
6. Luke
7. John
8. Acts of the Apostles

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#JesusAndTheChurch #TheTransformingWordSeries #NetGalley.

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