In the Library: Matthew

While I usually only have 3-4 commentaries per book of the Bible, I admit to having about twice that when it comes to the gospels. That being said, I don't have one, favorite volume for the Gospel of Matthew nor do I have a commentary that tackles Matthew's Greek in much detail. Here are four Matthean commentaries that I turn to most frequently.

Craig S. Keener's A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans, 1999). I have the older edition. I've noticed that it has been reissued as a part of Ben Witherington's Socio-Rhetorical Commentary series. I really like Witherington's series, so it makes sense that I would like this.  While a very detailed commentary, Keener's work does not do much work in the Greek.  If you are looking for that, you need to look elsewhere.


Ben Withernington III's Matthew (Smyth & Helwys, 2006). Witherington is one of my favorite scholars. His writing is clear and helpful and his work is thorough. The Smyth & Helwys series is nice and includes many of my favorite authors. The added CD-ROM for each volume is helpful as it comes with a searchable PDF of the commentary.  My main issue with this series is the price.  If I didn't have a decent book allowance, I probably would find less expensive options.  But if you have the money, these are generally, very good commentaries. You can save some money by getting on their standing order list.

David E. Garland's Reading Matthew (Smyth & Helwys, 2001). Dr. Garland was one of my professors at Truett (where he now serves as dean). I buy any commentary he publishes, not because I know him, but because he writes excellent commentaries.  This brief volume is no exception. The Reading the New Testaemtne series from Smyth & Helwys employs literary criticism, so it reads differently than other commentaries. You get less verse by verse commentary and more attention to the movement within the overall text of the gospel.

Stanley Hauerwas's Matthew (Brazos, 2006). The Brazos Theological Commentaries on the Bible are not your average commentary set. Instead of Biblical scholars, they invite theologians to engage a specific biblical text. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. Hauerwas's volume is one of the ones that works. I don't always agree with Hauerwas, but his commentary always makes for lively encounter with both the church and the text.


What's on your shelf that you find helpful?

Review: WorkingPreacher.org

Website: http://www.workingpreacher.org/

Publisher: Center for Biblical Preaching at Luther Seminary (St. Paul, MN)

Cost: Free.

Offerings: WorkingPreacher.org offers commentary on each of the lectionary texts along with articles and videos centered upon the craft of preaching.

Leading contributors: The majority of contributors are Lutheran ministers, but the articles and videos also include contributions from Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, and others.

My Thoughts:  WorkingPreacher.org is up front about what they do and do not offer.  On their site you will find plenty articles about preaching and theology, preaching and the Bible, even preaching and the culture.  You will also find commentary on the various lectionary texts for each week.  What you won't find are illustrations, sermons, or sermon outlines. If you are out searching the web for one last illustration for this week's sermon, WorkingPreacher.org is not for you.

If you are looking for a place to refresh your thinking about the task of preaching, then WorkingPreacher.org holds some usefulness for you.  The articles tend to be well written, although I find them difficult to search through.  Adding the ability to search the articles by topic would greatly improve the site.  The brief commentaries on each of the lectionary passages are good starting points to get the brain going.  You can search these by date or if you aren't a lectionary preacher, there is a Bible passage index, that allows you to search the site's commentary by Biblical passage. 

By far, the best part of the site is the Preaching Moments video podcasts.  These are short, 3-4 minute interviews with preachers from various backgrounds.  I've embedded several on this blog.  Included among the 170+ videos are videos from Haddon Robinson, Will Willimon, Walter Brueggemann, and Eugene Peterson.  I find watching them on Youtube easier than watching them on the WorkingPreacher.org site.  On YouTube you can add several to your playlist and let them roll while you work at some other task.  My only complaint, which is the same complaint I have about the articles, is that the videos are not searchable by topic.

I have found the Preaching Moments so helpful, that I wish someone in a more evangelical tradition would take a cue and make similar videos with evangelical preachers.  I think there is so much to learn from pastors who have been at the task of preaching long enough to have developed a deep reservoir of wisdom on subject.  I appreciate WorkingPreacher.org having captured some of that wisdom on video and encourage other centers for preaching to follow suit.

Read other reviews:
The Text this Week
Preaching Today

Review: The Text this Week (www.textweek.com)

Website: http://www.textweek.com

Publisher: The Text this Week owned and operated by Jenee Woodard.

Cost: Free.

Offerings: The Text this Week serves as a resource center connecting the preacher to a wealth of articles, online commentaries, artwork, children’s sermons, prayers for worship, and more for each text in the lectionary.

Leading contributors: All of the links are provided by Woodard.  Since this site is focused upon lectionary preaching, her links connect primarily to other lectionary based resources (Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, etc.).

My Thoughts:  One of the most difficult things about the Internet is its vastness.  There is so much information!  Admittedly, most of it totally worthless.  Google a biblical phrase and most of what you get in return has nothing to do with the Bible.  How do you find the good stuff that’s buried beneath so much garbage?  For lectionary preaching you lean on Jenee Woodard and her website The Text This Week.  What resources exist on the web for preaching on this week’s lectionary text?  Woodard has done most of the legwork for you, sorting through who knows how much garbage to find you relevant links to the biblical text.  Her gathering includes tools for preparation – commentaries, journal articles, possible illustration sources (her favorites being movies and art).  Beyond preparation, Woodard provides dozens of links to resources for worship planning – prayers, litanies, dramas, etc. 

For as many resources as she connects to (and she connects to a lot!) Woodard keeps her site clean and easily navigable.  She indexes her work by its place on the lectionary calendar, by scripture reference, and even by art or movie reference.  While the site clearly is set up with the lectionary preacher in mind, the non-lectionary preacher could easily use her scripture index as a way of aiding his or her own sermon preparation.

The only downside of The Text this Week is that Woodard is so thorough in her gathering of resources that one can feel overwhelmed with the number of links just on her page.  But that’s a little like complaining about having too much of a good thing. My guess is that preachers who frequent The Text this Week slowly discover their favorite links and return to those over and over again.  Overall, Woodard’s efforts serve as a great kindness to preachers hoping to discover a shortcut to finding good resources online.    

Review: Preaching Today

Website: http://www.preachingtoday.com/

Publisher: Preaching Today is a part of Christianity Today's online offerings.

Cost: $69.99 a year (or $9.95 a month); there is a 30-day free trial.

Offerings: 11,000+ sermon illustrations; almost 1000 sermons; 600+ articles/podcasts on improving your preaching; and more.

Leading contributors: Haddon Robinson, Mark Buchanan, John Ortberg, Leith Anderson, and a whole bunch of other evangelical pastors.  It does include a few sermons/articles from mainline pastors like Barbara Brown Taylor, Will Wilimon, and Fred Craddock.

My Thoughts: Obviously, there are plenty of free preaching resources out there on the web (some of which we'll cover soon).  My experience with many of them is that while helpful, they can be difficult to navigate and sometimes spotty in what they deliver.  I've even found that to be true with some of the pay sites.  Not so with Preaching Today.  Your $70, about the cost of two nice commentaries, gains you access to a well organized, easily searchable, treasure trove of preaching resources. 

By far, Preaching Today has the most expansive illustration database on the web.  It is easily searchable by keyword, subject, even biblical reference.  Now, as is always the case with illustrations gathered by others, many of the 11,000+ illustrations on Preaching Today will be illustrations that you will never use because they don't ring true to who you are or your style of preaching.  That's OK, many will.  And Preaching Today allows you to mark those that do resonate with you so that you begin to build your own file cabinet of illustrations within their system.

One especially rich source of illustrations on the site is to be found in the weekly "News that Illustrates" sections compiled by editor Craig Brian Larson.  In these short articles (which can be received as e-mails) Larson lists four or five news stories a week that might be rich sources of illustrations for upcoming sermons.  I like this section quite a bit because far from giving the preacher canned illustrations, the "News that Illustrates" section encourages the preacher to make his or her own connections between the sermon and current events in the world.  Surveying these over the past year or so have helped me to develop my own ability to read the news with an eye on the pulpit.

While my guess is that most ministers who subscribe to Preaching Today do so mainly for the illustrations, the best part of the site may very well be its articles.  Seasoned practitioners have provided a wealth of articles on every thing from the technicalities of the sermon to preparing the preacher's own soul.  Like the illustrations, the articles are easily searchable and often grouped together in ways that create an online workshop for the preacher to work through at his or her own pace.  It would take forever to work through all the articles, but reading two or three a month not only helps keep me constantly thinking about ways I can improve my preaching but also provides me with encouragement for the task.

Not everyone has $70 to invest in such a resource, but if you do, I recommend giving Preaching Today a try.