Job

Manlio Simonetti and Marco Conti have complied a fascinating commentary on arguably the most fascinating book of the Bible, Job. The two scholars use sources largely overlooked in the last millennium but standard in the first one thousand years of church history. In a sense, they have dusted off work pushed to the back shelves for years and given it a fresh and attractive presentation. Their work introduces those moderns who love the biblical text to those ancients (also lovers of the biblical text) who worked with it—and wrestled with its complexities—in much earlier times. According to the dust jacket, Simonetti, an expert in patristic biblical interpretation, teaches at the University of Rome and the Augustinian Patristic Institute in Rome; Conti is a research fellow at the Augustinian Patristic Institute. Their volume on Job is part of the Ancient Christian Commentary series on the Old Testament, New Testament, and Apocrypha put out by InterVarsity Press. According to the dust jacket, the following Old Testament volumes and the Apocrypha are forthcoming: Psalms 1–50; Psalms 51–150; Isaiah 40–66; Lamentations; and Ezekiel, Daniel. The pending New Testament volumes are John 1–10; John 11–21; and Acts. The Ancient Christian Commentary series seeks to show the deep knowledge of the church fathers of scripture, their interaction with it, their love of it, and their heart for the church. Series editor Thomas C. Oden recently retired as the Henry Anson Buttz Professor of Theology at The Theological School, Drew University. [Full Review]