NASHVILLE, Tenn. —Messengers and visitors to the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, June 19-20 in New Orleans have the opportunity to receive a sneak preview of the long-awaited commentary on Revelation, authored by Paige Patterson.
Revelation is the latest entry in The New American Commentary, a 40-volume set published by B&H Publishing Group which features sound scholarly methodology that reflects capable research in the original languages; interpretation that emphasizes the theological unity of each book and of Scripture as a whole; and readable and applicable exposition.
Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, will greet SBC messengers at the Lifeway bookstore author-signing table, where samples of the commentary will be available.
“The fruition of Dr. Patterson’s entry in the New American Commentary series has been met with celebration by many across the evangelical world who have been waiting for him to finish his work,” said Thom S. Rainer, president of Lifeway. “I am far from the first to say it has been worth the wait.
“Dr. Patterson approached this assignment with his well known theological prowess and respect for God’s holy Word; his treatment of Revelation is thorough and enlightening,” Rainer said. “Lifeway and B&H are proud to publish this work. I’m confident scholars for years to come will be blessed by this commentary.”
In the introduction to his commentary on Revelation, Patterson observes the widespread neglect of this closing book of the New Testament.
“Aside from a few journal articles and fewer monographs, few homiletical adventurers have evidenced the moxie to enter the eschatological lists and take on this book in the pulpit,” Patterson writes. “This remains the case even though curiosity abounds in many congregations where parishioners fervently wish that their respective pastors would explain the book to them.
“Among those who embark on this adventure, most sail no further than the message to the seven churches . . . thus missing the grandeur of the promises that proliferate in chapters 4-22,” he writes.
In his commentary, Patterson includes pastor guidelines for preaching the book of Revelation. During a question-and-answer session with students and faculty last year at Southwestern Seminary Patterson said he encourages preachers to preach through the entire book of Revelation, in part because it is the only book of the Bible explicitly giving a beatitude for those who read and listen to it.
“When you’re going to preach through the Apocalypse, you need to set aside some time where you’re going to do nothing but study through it,” Patterson said in an article published by the seminary. “It is a book the nature of which you can’t be changing back and forth as you go through it on what your position is.
“Secondly, you want to focus on the theological and practical insights that are everywhere in the text,” he said. “The tendency in preaching Revelation is to get bogged down in the details . . . When it comes to preaching it, you are attempting to engender hope in your people. There’s hope all the way through the book. This is the story of the victory of the Lamb.”
The full commentary on Revelation will be released on Sept. 1, 2012. Following the entry on Revelation, four more commentary submissions remain before the completion of The New American Commentary.
by Communications Staff
