Book review
Bruner’s The Gospel of John: A Commentary
Reviewed by Dr. Walter L. Taylor, Special to The Layman, September 24, 2012
Frederick Dale Bruner
The Gospel of John: A Commentary
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans. 2012. 1281 pages.
Hardback. Retail price, $75.00.
There are no shortages of commentaries today, so the publication of a new one may not seem that significant. However, anyone who knows about the work of New Testament Scholar Frederick Dale Bruner knows otherwise. Bruner earlier published a phenomenal two volume commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (it comes in at over 1,400 pages). However, since the publication of that work (originally in 1990 and expanded in in 2004), Bruner has been working on producing a commentary on the fourth gospel. The Gospel of John: A Commentary has just recently been published. At over 1,200 pages, Bruner’s work on John is just as significant as his work on Matthew.
Bruner writes as a scholar of Scripture in continual dialog with the best of the church’s scholars from the past. In the course of interpreting John, Bruner engages Augustine, John Chrysostom, Luther, Calvin and Barth, among others. Yet, he is thoroughly conversant with modern trends and interpretations. Among the many contemporary works on John, he engages in great depth with the likes of Raymond E. Brown and Rudolf Schnackenburg. While Bruner engages the best of modern critical scholarship, he never gives in to the fads that sometimes pass for scholarship in “mainline” Protestant circles. Bruner writes from a clear conviction that we are dealing with the Word of God. In his commentary on John, Bruner brings together theological and historical approaches to the Gospel and so shows us the many levels of John’s theological message.
In all of this, Bruner comes to his task with a sense of joy that springs off the page, writing especially for the preacher whose calling it is to proclaim this text in the here and now. Before he gives us his own personal interpretation of a passage, he shows us how the best and brightest of church’s teachers have understood it.
Bruner also relates the Gospel to the issues and challenges we face today. Throughout the commentary Bruner comes back again and again to the issue of the universality and exclusivity of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as the central message of John. At one point, in Bruner includes a letter to the editor of the Los Angeles Times, responding to a joint Episcopal-Hindu worship service, taking issue with the local Episcopal bishop for issuing an apology to Hindus and others for the history of Christian missions throughout the world (p. 828). Bruner uses many such examples to show the significance of what the claims of John (and hence, Jesus Christ) mean to the world today.
Bruner unashamedly draws on his own experience as a missionary teacher in the Philippines as well as a veteran Sunday school teacher at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (in fact, he signs the abovementioned letter with no other title than that of “Adult Sunday-School Teacher” at the church). In this, he gives us a work that is not only faithful theologically, but spiritually and missionally as well.
Whether one is engaging in a detailed study of John, teaching, or preaching from it, this labor of love from Frederick Dale Bruner will quickly become and remain a standard.
Dr. Walter L. Taylor is pastor of the Oak Island Presbyterian Church, Oak Island, NC.