The New Testament in Color: A Multiethnic Bible Commentary

by Esau McCaulley (Editor), Janette H. Ok (Editor), Osvaldo Padilla (Editor), Amy L. B. Peeler (Editor), T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (Contribution by)

Overview

Christianity Today Book Award—Biblical Studies

Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Finalist

In a first-of-its-kind volume, The New Testament in Color offers biblical commentary that is:

• Multiethnic
• Diverse
• Contextual
• Informative
• Reflective
• Prophetic
• Inspiring

“I wish someone had handed The New Testament in Color to me twenty-five years ago, and I hope many will read it now.” —Nijay Gupta, bestselling author of Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church.

Historically, Bible commentaries have focused on the particular concerns of a limited segment of the church, all too often missing fresh questions and perspectives that are fruitful for biblical interpretation. Listening to scholars from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities offers us an opportunity to explore the Bible from a wider angle, a better vantage point.

The New Testament in Color is a one-volume commentary on the New Testament written by a multiethnic team of scholars holding orthodox Christian beliefs. Each scholar brings exegetical expertise coupled with a unique interpretive lens to illuminate the ways social location and biblical interpretation work together. Theologically orthodox and multiethnically contextual, The New Testament in Color fills a gap in biblical understanding for both the academy and the church. Who we are and where God placed us—it's all useful for better understanding his Word.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830814091
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	08/06/2024
Pages:	808
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 10.10(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Esau McCaulley (PhD, St. Andrews) is associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He is the author of Reading While Black and Sharing in the Son's Inheritance, as well as the children's book Josie Johnson's Hair and the Holy Spirit. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife and four children.

Janette H. Ok is associate professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary. She is the author of Constructing Ethnic Identity in 1 Peter (T and T Clark). She is currently writing a commentary on the Letters of John (NICNT, Eerdmans) and To Be and Be Seen, coauthored with Jordan J. Cruz Ryan (Baker Academic).

Osvaldo Padilla (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is associate professor of New Testament at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of The Speeches of Outsiders in Acts: Poetics, Theology, and Historiography and he has written articles and reviews for Themelios, Bulletin for Biblical Research, New Testament Studies and Ex Auditu. Previously, he taught New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and served as pastor of Jesus el Buen Pastor, a Hispanic congregation in the Chicago area. He is married to Kristen, and they have one son.

Amy Peeler is Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church (USA). She is the author of Women and the Gender of God (Eerdmans) and a commentary on Hebrews (Commentaries for Christian Formation, Eerdmans).

T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (ThD, Harvard) is a proud member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He is the director of graduate studies of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, the first accredited Indigenous designed, developed, delivered, and governed theological institute. He is also assistant professor of classics at Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa). He is the author of Civilized Piety: The Rhetoric of Pietas in the Pastoral Epistles and the Roman Empire, which was awarded the Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two daughters and live near Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Kay Higuera Smith (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University) is professor of religion and chair of the department of biblical studies at Azusa Pacific University. Her specialization is in the New Testament and early Judaism.

Jarvis J. Williams (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous books, including Redemptive Kingdom Diversity: A Biblical Theology of the People of God, Christ Redeemed ‘Us’ from the Curse of the Law: A Jewish Martyrological Reading of Galatians 3:13, and a commentary on Galatians in the New Covenant Commentary Series.

Gene L. Green (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the dean of Trinity International University-Florida and professor emeritus of New Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School. He is the author of Vox Petri: A Theology of Peter and coeditor of Global Theology in Evangelical Perspective.

Dennis R. Edwards (PhD, Catholic University of America) is associate professor of New Testament as well as vice president for church relations and dean of North Park Seminary, Chicago. He has worked in urban ministry for over three decades, including serving as a church planter in Brooklyn and Washington, DC. His books include Might from the Margins and the Story of God Bible Commentary on 1 Peter.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Esau D. McCaulley
African American Biblical Interpretation
Esau D. McCaulley
Asian American Biblical Interpretation
Janette H. Ok
Hispanic Biblical Interpretation
Osvaldo Padilla
Turtle Island Biblical Interpretation
T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (Choctaw) and H. Daniel Zacharias (Cree-Anishinaabe)
Majority-Culture Biblical Interpretation: Reading While White
Michael J. Gorman
Gospel of Matthew
H. Daniel Zacharias
Gospel of Mark
Kay Higuera Smith
Gospel of Luke
Diane G. Chen
Gospel of John
Miguel G. Echevarria
Gender in the New Testament
Lisa M. Bowens and Amy Peeler
Acts
Jordan J. Cruz Ryan
Letter to the Romans
Jarvis J. Williams
First Letter to the Corinthians
Gene L. Green
Second Letter to the Corinthians
Julie Newberry
Letter to the Galatians
Eric C. Redmond
Letter to the Ephesians
Esau D. McCaulley
Letter to the Philippians
M. Sydney Park
Letter to the Colossians
Dennis R. Edwards
Letters to the Thessalonians
Marcus Jerkins
Pastoral Letters
Osvaldo Padilla
Letter to Philemon
Dennis R. Edwards
Letter to the Hebrews
Madison N. Pierce
Resources for the Mental Health of the Oppressed in the New Testament: A Contemporary Reading of Ancient Teachings
Cristin J. Fort
Multilingualism in the New Testament
Ekaputra Tupamahu
Immigrants and the Kingdom of God: Do They Have a Home in God's City?
Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III
Letter of James
Daniel K. Eng
First Letter of Peter
Janette H. Ok
Second Letter of Peter
Mateus F. de Campos
Letters of John
Miguel G. Echevarria
Letter of Jude
Mateus F. de Campos
Revelation
Daniel I. Morrison
List of Contributors

Editorial Reviews

"The New Testament in Color is a book I long hoped would eventually be written and is in many ways overdue. The editors have done a superb job of gathering scholars from diverse ethnic backgrounds who interpret the biblical text adeptly using the familiar critical tools of exegesis, and who also demonstrate how reading from their particular social location provides theological insight germane to all of God's people. They show how the New Testament addresses a range of issues important to today's readers, including topics of restorative justice, immigration and hospitality, racial bias and violence, the priority of families and ecclesial communities, and so much more. Not to be missed are the excellent introductory essays, which trace the ethnic histories of peoples of color and their practice of reading the Bible with a hermeneutic of trust. Exegetically precise, theologically orthodox, and prophetically challenging, this book—in a word—preaches!"

Max J. Lee

"In my own theological education, I was pressured to suppress my ethnic perspective and experiences, to conform to some sort of disembodied neutrality. Since then I have come to learn that my background, culture, and reading lens can actually enhance my ability to understand Scripture. I am thrilled to recommend The New Testament in Color because this 'library-in-a-book' reflects the beautiful mosaic of a many-colored hermeneutic. I wish someone had handed this book to me twenty-five years ago, and I hope many will read it now."

Nijay Gupta

"Reading the New Testament, intentionally, through one's ethnic point of view (African American, Asian American, Hispanic, or Native American) does not violate an objective, traditional reading of Scripture. Rather, reading the Bible in and out of one's location exposes the bias of the (formerly so-called) 'objective' reading as a Euro-white reading and, at the same time, offers to the traditional readings fresh perspectives. Over and over. I thought the essays were worth the price of this book, but I was wrong. The commentaries interact with the essays in a manner that makes this book a required desk companion for anyone who wants to hear all the Word of God has to offer. A must-have for all Bible teachers and pastors."

Scot McKnight

"The contributors of The New Testament in Color are experts not only in the biblical subject matter but also in identifying and sharing the gifts their social location brings to the hermeneutical task. The scope of this one-volume commentary provides a nearly kaleidoscopic vision of richly varied perspectives together with solid exegesis of the texts. The editors and authors have done the church and academy a great service, shaping a resource that promises to be a boon for seminary reading lists, a go-to in church and university libraries, and a must-have on every pastor's desk."

Kara Lyons-Pardue

"The New Testament in Color is informative, prophetic, reflective, and inspiring. The authors, drawn from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, are self-aware of their social location and write with a hermeneutic of trust in Scripture. This volume makes an extraordinary contribution to New Testament studies and sets the standard for future commentaries."

Lynn H. Cohick

"The American evangelical church has desperately needed this book, The New Testament in Color. For those of us who value the power and authority of God's Word while aware of the diverse experiences and realities that shape our own culturally unique stories, we have longed for this book. This text reminds us that God is a transcendent God who speaks through a transcendent source, but that God is also God with us, immanent in the Word and also in our lives."

Soong-Chan Rah

"This is the book I've been searching for throughout my teaching career. There is academic excellence here, coupled with a prophetic call to hear God's Word through the rich diversity of the authors' cultural, ethnic, and racial perspectives and wisdom. There is pastoral sensitivity to the varied experiences of readers, from the emotional and psychological toll of racialized oppression to the exhortation to humility directed toward White Christians (like me). Professors, students, and all participants in the body of Christ will find The New Testament in Color to be a valuable, instructive, and challenging resource for understanding the Bible, the church, and Christian discipleship."

Caryn A. Reeder

"McCaulley, Ok, Padilla, Peeler, and the volume's contributors have broken new ground with The New Testament in Color. Its essays and commentary, written by scholars of the New Testament from across racial, ethnic, and gender identities, emerge from critical, socially located methods and insights that are also informed by the writers' ecclesial perspectives and experiences. The result is an important one-volume commentary on the New Testament that speaks from and reaches out to both academic and ecclesial communities."

Mary Foskett

"While it is not uncommon to encounter socially located interpretations grounded in a hermeneutic of suspicion, this work speaks from one of trust in the biblical text and a commitment to the central tenets of the Christian faith. It also moves beyond theories about these interpretations (although it does provide those discussions) to commentary on every New Testament book. This volume is a constructive contribution to debates about fundamental matters of interpretation from an impressive set of scholars of diverse ethnicities."

M. Daniel Carroll R. (Rodas)

"Rooted in a confessional commitment to the trustworthiness of Scripture, this book draws together a diverse group of theologically minded scholars. Together they explore the multiple interpretive possibilities that emerge when Christians read across and within racial and ethnic difference. Here the promise is that God's Word will be more faithfully understood when the colorful tapestry of God's creation of multiple cultures and peoples is embraced. In these ways, this book joins a vital chorus of minoritized biblical scholars who invite readers to ponder the Bible and its readers in rich multiplicity."

Eric Barreto