Leander E. Keck – författare

The leader guide provides guidance and the suggested schedule for weekly group sessions to enable discussion in small groups of what persons have discovered in their individual reading and study.Two pages of guidance per session include directions for using the related two-part video segment, procedures for group activity and study related to daily assignments, guidance for use of Gospel Comparisons in group study of Scripture, and questions for discussion. The portion of the weekly meeting when the group studies Scripture as a community recognizes the importance of and opens the way to reading Scripture aloud and hearing Scripture read aloud in the group.

Study Manual content illuminates some aspect of the Jesus in the Gospels each week and connects Scripture to daily life and Jesus'' call to discipleship.The overarching aim is to deepen discipleship through better understanding of the biblical texts and their message.  The study helps group members understand that Jesus is rooted in Judaism and the Scriptures of Judaism and that Christianity and the New Testament are rooted in the Scriptures of Judaism—our Old Testament.The Study Manual guides daily study and preparation for the weekly group meeting. The main elements in the format are designated by scriptural phrases:“They have no wine” (John 2:3) is a brief statement about the human condition and alerts the reader to some aspect of daily life that Scripture can shed light on. “Beginning with Moses and all the prophets” (Luke 24:27) is a way of referring to Scripture as a whole and signals the fact that we can understand Jesus in the Gospels better by understanding the Old Testament better.  “Do you want to become his disciples, too?” (John 9:27, New International Version) is designed to stimulate thoughtful reflection so readers can come to their own conclusions about what their own discipleship calls for. Accompanying each day’s Scripture reading assignments are suggestions of things to look for that take the reader deeper into Scripture. As readers become aware of detail in Scripture, they might ask themselves repeatedly, What am I to make of this? The study manual provides space for writing notes on insights, observations, and questions related to the Scripture, and for putting into words personal perceptions of Jesus from the week’s Scripture.

Like widely differing siblings raised by the same parents, each letter produced by Paul has its own distinguishing character. For the historically minded critic, each letter’s unique traits provide important clues for detecting the circumstances in which Paul wrote it as well as what he hoped to achieve with it. Scholars assume that by examining the content of the letter (the “answer”), they can infer the readers’ situation that Paul is addressing (the “question”)--a method sometimes called “mirror reading.” In the case of Romans, however, both the particular traits and the overall content are so unusual that scholars continue to debate why Paul wrote precisely this letter and what he hoped to achieve by it in Rome."So begins Leander Keck''s seminal work on the New Testament book of Romans. Keck asserts that because Romans is part of the New Testament, we can compare it with the other letters ascribed to Paul, as well as with what Acts reports about his message and mission. But the first readers of Romans had only this letter; they could compare it only with what they may have heard about him. While this commentary does from time to time compare Romans with what Paul had said before, it concentrates on Romans itself; what Paul says in this text should not be conflated with--nor inflated into--what he thought comprehensively, though it is essential to understand that as well."We do not really need another major commentary [on Romans] that loses us in the minutiae of word studies, literary parallels, sociological and rhetorical hypotheses; we have such in plenty. The Abingdon series, however, by its limited size, forces the contributor to focus on the primary task of the commentator: to clarify the meaning (intended or potential) of the words of the text and to provide some basic reflection on its/their continuing significance. And that is where Keck excels." - James D. G. Dunn, Review of Biblical Literature 04/2006.