As with *The Community of the Beloved Disciple,* this volume avoids the pitfalls of being either too simplistic or just over one's head. In it, Brown offers an ingenious look at the various communities of the Christian Testament and describes their differences.

For my particular tastes, Brown is sometimes too quick to accept the face value of some early traditions concerning the Apostles. But this slight weakness is easily overcome by his scholarship, his open attitude and his readability. This volume is very helpful and will open the eyes of its readers to the fact that there has not been only one ecclesiology is Christianity, but many.

Raymond Brown uses his wide and deep knowledge of the New Testament to give us valuable pastoral insights for all Christian communities and churches. But he has some especially valuable insights for his fellow Catholics when he notes that the aftermath of Vatican II has brought some very tragic losses in Catholic belief and practice. He sees the effort to "recoup" these losses by emphasizing traditional and distinctive Catholic practices as "eminent good sense" (pp. 117-18). That effort has been central to the papacy of John Paul II, and it certainly makes eminent good sense. These and other insights into church life make reading this book a thought-provoking experience.

This is part of a series of popular books from Liturgical Press written by the late Raymond Brown, who is generally considered one of the premier Roman Catholic scripture scholars of his generation.

In terms of his exegetical stance, Father Brown might be broadly classified as a moderate. He doesn't advocate the literal historicity of every detail in scripture, but he never denies, and in fact often defends, the underlying historicity of the essential events narrated. His theology is fully in keeping with Vatican II (not its "spirit" but its intent).

In A Risen Christ, Brown examines all the resurrection stories in the Gospels. Here he is not interested so much in comparing the various accounts. Rather his stated purpose is "to see how the treatment of the resurrection in an individual Gospel fits the theology and plan of that Gospel."

As in the other books of this series, Brown does an admirable job of presenting the fruits of voluminous scholarship in an easy-to-read, but not condescending, way for us amateur theologians.

It would be the rare Christian who would not gain some insight from this book. It may even inspire you to read Brown's longer, more academic works.

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Raymond Brown was one of the best known Roman Catholic New Testament scholars of recent years. This work, published in 1990, provides an good introduction to the contemporary Roman Catholic view of Scripture. As Brown tells it, the Roman Catholic Church, beginning with Pius XII and continuing to the present, has come to accept higher criticism of the Bible. In addition, contrary to conservative Protestants, the Roman Catholic teaching limits Scriptural inerrancy to the theological message of the Bible only. Therefore, as Brown states, Catholics are free to believe that the early chapters of Genesis are not literal history and accept evolution. [p. 26.] Brown himself, along with most contemporary Catholic scholars, rejected the historicity of substantial parts of the New Testament, as well as opposed Pauline authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. In addition to answering basic questions about the Bible as such, Brown answers questions about Jesus, Mary, the priesthood among other subjects. Brown has a clear writing style, although at times he doesn't seem fair with those he disagrees with. [See p. 27.] As an interesting aside, some conservative Catholic scholars argue that the relevant church documents are not quite so accepting of higher criticism as Brown makes them out to be. The interested reader might wish to read the works of the late William Most for a different perspective.

The late Raymond E. Brown was the greatest Bible scholar of our time. His brilliance, his faith, and his intellectual honesty shine through once again in this volume as he thoughfully responds to frequently asked questions about the Bible.

Here, he takes on hard questions he has encountered through the years. A common theme of many of the questions is how literally we ought to take various events described in the Bible. Father Brown takes care to keep his responses non-technical. As always, however, his opinions are profound, thought provoking, and--alas---subject to attack from both the far right and the far left.

This volume addresses a number of specifically Roman Catholic questions. Even so, as a Protestant believer, I found the dialogue both relevant and informative. In short, Father Brown is a tremendous source of wisdom for all who wish to approach the Bible with respect and intellectual honesty--whether they are Roman Catholic, Protestant, or (and, perhaps, especially) simply searching.

Fr. Raymond Brown was one of the world's leading Scripture scholars, and anything written by him is worth the expense and effort. His writing style is so easy to read that he makes even the most difficult things understandable. In this book, he answers 101 questions on every topic from which Bible translations are the best, to how the Bible was put together, to specific questions on content. An excellent resource.

I have searched for months for a good commentary on the Gospel of John and it looks like the search continues. I got it based on the reviews I have seen on the book from readers. I guess its different strokes for different folks. I am more of a greek and indepth detials on new testament words. My type of commentary is the classic on Jude&Peter by Bauckham. I didn't get that type of exegesis from Brown.

Raymond Brown is an incredible scholar and has presented one of the finest commentaries written on the gospel according to John. Both introductory notes and main commentary are fluid and reveal significant insight. The book is an absolute pleasure to read regardless of theological persuation and one does not get worn out with overly technical information found in other commentaries of this caliber.

Raymond E. Brown was regarded as one of the finest New Testament scholars of his generation. His commentary on John, in two volumes, is unmatched in the English language. The only other commentary to rival its depth and scope is that of Bultmann which is available in translation. Brown, a Roman Catholic brings massive erudition, with sober judgment and extraordinary clarity of mind. In a world where commentaries on John are as common as translations of the Bible, it is good to know that there is one that is "The Best". This is it.

I have searched for months for a good commentary on the Gospel of John and it looks like the search continues. I got it based on the reviews I have seen on the book from readers. I guess its different strokes for different folks. I am more of a greek and indepth detials on new testament words. My type of commentary is the classic on Jude&Peter by Bauckham. I didn't get that type of exegesis from Brown.

We used R.A. Brown's Introduction to the New Testament in our seminary intro class and I've never found him the easiest to read, but I really like his commentary on John's gospel... and on the epistles. For "ugo" who says he's looking for more of an exegetical approach, I would suggest C.K. Barrett's commentary.

Why don't you offer both volumes? I notice that your competition offers the other volume. Another more recent study of John's Gospel is "The Good Wine" by Bernard Barnhart. I highly recommend it also.

This is the revised and updated version of the famous volume named for St. Jerome, the great Christian biblical scholar who insisted that "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ." I am certain that he would be honored that his name graces the title of this commentary, which has been helping pastors and students for decades.

Inside this work you will find the books of the Bible listed individually, with detailed commentary on verses and even partial verses. Prior to the detailed commentary, a helpful historical sketch is given to assist the reader in situating the particular biblical book in its context. It includes maps and charts.

Though this volume comes highly recommended, it is not always on the "cutting edge" of biblical scholarship. If you choose to utilize this volume, you have made a wise choice, but you should not limit your library to this commentary alone.

This is one of the finest biblical commentaries available -- and is certainly unsurpassed as a one-volume commentary.

It is encyclopedic in its examination of the prevailing theories of 'higher biblical criticism.' If you want to know what scholars think about the development of a particular book of the Bible, this is a superb source to consult.

It is not a 'preaching commentary,' however. And though it will tell you a lot about theological ideas associated with particular texts, it is the text, not the theology, which is of principal interest to the authors. This commentary reads more like a technical manual than like Shakespeare -- but this is not a fault. Rather, this commentary fills a much-needed niche among commentaries.

The would-be reader and purchaser of this book should also know that it is born out of a Roman Catholic perspective and often provides critical insights into how the Roman Catholic Church has interpreted Scripture. Similarly, however, this perspective often leaves the reader without the contrasting Protestant and Orthodox perspectives. Again, this is not a fault -- simply something to keep in mind.

This is a superb work that deserves a place in the library of preachers, biblical scholars, and serious students of the Bible.

The New Jerome Biblical Commentary is a great reference book for scholars and pastors who need a single volume of biblical commentary near at hand. The articles are written by some of the greats of biblical scholarship, and offer remarkably in-depth analysis, considering that one volume covers the entire Christian Scriptures. Of special help to students and scholars are the bibliographies at the end of each article. While not up-to-the-minute (the most recent edition of the NJBC is 1991, I think), the bibliographies often point out the most important books and articles written on the Bible in the past 30 years. I heartily recommend this book!

A well-written book full of interesting information. The only problem with the book is that Agnes Keyser seems to be more of an afterthought to Alice Keppel than a subject in her own right. The treatment of Mrs. Keppel is wonderfully detailed. I highly recommend this book!

I am most grateful to your reviewer from Plano, TX, USA for pointing out that the book is not by THE Raymond E. Brown. As a great fan of the Scholar I would have been tempted to buy the book, but not now. Thanks 'Plano TX'. Bill Fawkes, North Yorkshire England.

Other reviewers of this book have restricted their comments to the fact that the author is not Fr. Raymond Brown, SS, of blessed memory, one of the premier biblical scholars of the 20th century. These reviewers dismiss this book out-of-hand simply and simplistically on the ground of "misleading" authorship. This is not helpful. This "other" Raymond Brown has important things to say, too, in a way very different from Fr. Brown. I urge that folks carefully examine the pages available and make their own decision based on what this book wants to say, not who wrote it. In that regard, it should be noted that this is a theological and practical exposition of the themes of the Letter to the Hebrews, written from of conservative-evangelical, Baptist confessional perspective. It is written for the non-academic, non-specialist, Christian reader. It is a combination of anecdotal reflection and scholarly insight. It is concerned with the canonical text of Hebrews, and places it in a late first-century, Jewish-Christian church setting in a time of persecution and consequent temptation to apostasy. These are the sort of observations and questions by which this book should be judged, not the pedigree of its author.

This commentary series is geared toward a theological perspective and not a technical one. It is very much like the interpretation series but written from a much more conservative point of view. The other reviewers are correct; this book is not written by the liberal false teacher Raymond Brown who hated Christ and his Gospel. Unlike the other Raymond Brown, this writer was not a papist who attacks the accuracy of the bible. The other brown was a false teacher and is now dead. No loss to the Christian Church. Good riddence you false teacher.