2 Corinthians

Nashville: Abingdon, 2007. Pp. 189. Paper. $21.00. ISBN 0687056772. Frank J. Matera The Catholic University of America Washington, District of Columbia Calvin J. Roetzel, the Arnold H. Lowe Professor of Religious Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of the most distinguished Pauline scholars in the United States, and his introductory volume on Paul, The Letters of Paul: Conversations in Context, has been a staple in colleges and seminaries for several years. It is an honor, then, to have been asked to review his commentary on 2 Corinthians, even though he and I have come to different conclusions about the literary integrity of 2 Corinthians—a fact of which the readers of this review should be aware. Whereas I have argued for the literary integrity of 2 Corinthians, Professor Roetzel maintains that 2 Corinthians is a composite of five letters. Although I am not persuaded by his arguments, the case he makes has a new twist (placing 2 Cor 8 at the beginning of the sequence), is interesting, and deserves a fair hearing. Before proceeding further, however, it will be helpful to say something about the series to which his commentary belongs. Although the volumes of the Abingdon New Testament Commentaries series are geared to theological students, their audience also includes upper-level college students as well as pastors and church leaders. Thus the series has a rather broad audience in view, the kind of readership for which Roetzel has written so effectively in the past. His writing style, which is always crisp, clear, and engaging, does not fail him here. [Full Review]