Book Review

Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (2nd Ed.), by Longenecker, Richard N. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1999xli + 238 p.

Book review originally published in Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses 31 (2002):126.

This book by Richard N. Longenecker (now at McMaster University) provides an informative introduction to "the exegetical procedures and practices of the earliest Christians" (p. 4).The focus is primarily on New Testament authors' use of the Old Testament.This second edition contains an updated bibliography and a new preface outlining issues of debate within recent scholarship; the text, content and argument of the book remain largely unchanged from the first edition.After dealing with Jewish interpretive approaches and identifying four main types (literal, midrash, pesher and allegorical), Longenecker goes on to outline the exegetical techniques of Jesus, Paul, the gospel writers, Hebrews and some others.Longenecker argues that although the early Christians shared in common some Jewish interpretive assumptions, their Christocentric focus clearly set their approach and interpretations of scripture apart from "mainline" Jewish exegetes.He goes further to suggest that the early Christians were in continuity with the interpretive approach of Jesus himself.Longenecker's attempt to contextualize Christian authors' practices in relation to other Jewish exegesis of the period (e.g. Mishnah, Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo) is helpful, yet the discussion could have been enriched with more examples of passages that illustrated Jewish interpretive techniques.Some attention to exegetical approaches in non-canonical early Christian works (e.g. Epistle of Barnabas) could have made this very useful introduction to ancient biblical exegesis even better.

Philip A. Harland