This extract from the Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible provides Perkins’ introduction to and concise commentary on the Pastoral Epistles. The Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible presents, in nontechnical language, the best of modern scholarship on each book of the Bible, including the Apocrypha. Reader-friendly commentary complements succinct summaries of each section of the text and will be valuable to scholars, students, and general readers.
Rather than attempt a verse-by-verse analysis, these volumes work from larger sense units, highlighting the place of each passage within the overarching biblical story. Commentators focus on the genre of each text—parable, prophetic oracle, legal code, and so on—interpreting within the historical and literary context.
The volumes also address major issues within each biblical book—including the range of possible interpretations—and refer readers to the best resources for further discussions.
Pheme Perkins is professor of New Testament in the TheologyDepartment at Boston College. Among her many publishedbooks are Reading the New Testament, Gnosticism and theNew Testament, Galatians and the Politics of Faith andPeter: Apostle for the Whole Church.