Tom Wright (1) (1948–)

I see we’ve dropped the whole “Tom Wright” thing and have just kept his name consistent across the introductory and more scholarly works, which is well and good. Wright’s contributions to the New Testament For Everyone series are consistently fantastic. He opens up each section of the Gospel with some little vignette which might illustrate something within the Gospel, its application, or common life today; he then provides a high quality contextual interpretation of the passage in a show more very understandable way; and he provides appropriate questions and/or applications for modern readers to consider. I always recommend at least considering what Wright has to say and how he frames it; he really connects the text to people today quite well. show less

I see we’ve dropped the whole “Tom Wright” thing and have just kept his name consistent across the introductory and more scholarly works, which is well and good. Wright’s contributions to the New Testament For Everyone series are consistently fantastic. He opens up each section of the Gospel with some little vignette which might illustrate something within the Gospel, its application, or common life today; he then provides a high quality contextual interpretation of the passage in a show more very understandable way; and he provides appropriate questions and/or applications for modern readers to consider. I always recommend at least considering what Wright has to say and how he frames it; he really connects the text to people today quite well. show less

Great preaching level commentary. Wright's scholarship is evident, though this is very casual writing as far as commentaries go. He works a lot of practical questions and insight into his commentary, almost as though he's preaching the texts himself.

Wright's 'for Everyone' commentaries are great resources for bridging the gap between the text and the contemporary (Western) context. As a commentary, it falls a little flat. It is oscillates between being insightful and aggravatingly overly simple. But it is N.T. Wright, so most of the substance is brilliant, even if he doesn't have his scholar hat on for it. He draws out the meaning of the text through personal anecdotes. You get the sense here of how he might preach these texts to a show more church.

In the end, I appreciate his scholarship more, but this series should not be overlooked for devotional use. If you are seriously studying the prison letters, you will find this an insufficient resource for understanding the culture and the text, but it can be worth a glance. show less