The Paulist Biblical Commentary
Edited by Jose Enrique
Aguilar Chiu et al.
ISBN 978-0809106134
Paulist Press 2018
Hardback 1500 pp £124.99
Pastoral Review bookshop £112.50
When approaching a book – especially a large work of this sort – the question that needs answering first is ‘What is it for and who is it for?’ We are offered a foreword, an introduction and an introductory essay to answer those questions.
In his foreword Cardinal Tobin quotes from Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium where he identifies two types of preachers – those who preach in the liturgies, and those who preach with their lives. This commentary, says the cardinal, is aimed at both: it is a serious study for those who preach in the liturgy, and is also a resource to nourish for all the faithful in their reading of the Scriptures, by helping them discern: what did this mean when written, but also what does this mean for me today?
In his introduction Daniel Senior places the publication in the context of Catholic biblical renewal stemming from Vatican Council II, so that ‘by the reading and study of the sacred books ... the treasure of Revelation entrusted to the Church may more and more fill the hearts of all’. The Paulist Biblical Commentary seeks to bring the best of biblical scholarship to a wide variety of Bible readers, especially those engaged in pastoral ministry.
