Product Review

In this third and concluding volume of their lectionary commentary collection (Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews and Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law), Ronald Allen and Clark Williamson encourage the church and its preachers to rediscover the Old Testament as a vibrant wellspring of Christian faith and life. Preachers often neglect the Old Testament, misrepresent it, or regard its theological content as superseded by Jesus and the New Testament, Allen and Williamson claim. The authors help preachers avoid these traps by explaining how a text was understood before the Common Era without any reference to Jesus or Christian doctrine, mentioning representative New Testament passages or themes that are informed by the older material, and commenting briefly on the relationship between the lections in those cases when readings from the Old Testament are paired with readings from the New Testament.