Series Editors: Michael F. Bird and Craig Keener
The New Covenant Commentary Series (NCCS) is designed for ministers and students who require a commentary that interacts with the text and context of each New Testament book and pays specific attention to the impact of the text upon the faith and praxis of contemporary faith communities.
The NCCS has a number of distinguishing features. First, the contributors come from a diverse array of backgrounds in regard to their Christian denominations and countries of origin. Unlike many commentary series that tout themselves as international, the NCCS can truly boast of a genuinely international cast of contributors with authors drawn from every continent of the world (except Antarctica) including countries such as the United States, Puerto Rico, Australia, the United Kingdom, Kenya, India, Singapore, and Korea.
The first intent of the NCCS is to engage in the task of biblical interpretation and theological reflection from the perspective of the global church. Second, the volumes in this series are not verse-by-verse commentaries, but they focus on larger units of text in order to explicate and interpret the story in the text as opposed to some often-atomistic approaches. Third, a further aim of these volumes is to provide an occasion for authors to reflect on how the New Testament impacts the life, faith, ministry, and witness of the New Covenant Community today. This occurs periodically under the heading of Fusing the Horizons and Forming the Community. Here authors provide windows into community formation (how the text shapes the mission and character of the believing community) and ministerial formation (how the text shapes the ministry of Christian leaders).
It is hoped that these volumes will represent serious engagements with the New Testament writings, done in the context of faith, in service of the church, and for the glorification of God.
Michael F. Bird (Ridley College, Melbourne , Australia) is a Lecturer in theology at Ridley Melbourne in Australia. He is the author of The Saving Righteousness of God, Jesus is the Christ, A Bird's-Eye View of Paul, and he is editor of the New Covenant Commentary Series published by Cascade.
Craig Keener (Asbury Seminary, USA) is F. M. and Ada Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary. He is author of seventeen books, four of which have won major awards, more than seventy academic articles, several booklets, and more than one hundred fifty popular-level articles. One of his books, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, now in a second edition, has sold more than half a million copies. His books include commentaries on Matthew, Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Revelation, a two-volume on John and a four-volume commentary on Acts, plus a two-volume work on miracles, works about the Spirit, ethnic reconciliation, women in ministry, divorce and various other topics. Craig is the New Testament editor for a forthcoming NIV study Bible focused on Bible background. Craig is married to Dr. Medine Moussounga Keener, who was a refugee in her home country of Congo for eighteen months.