In the last 5 years I’ve reviewed 6 commentaries by Goldingay. The amazing thing is not that I reviewed them, but that he had that many I could review in that span. I recently learned that he has Ezekiel and Leviticus in the pipeline too. He will probably do the entire New Testament next year.

This one on Proverbs is slightly different than the others in a couple ways. First, this series, Commentaries for Faith Formation, is different. It’s new, it still wants exegesis, but some application too. I’m not suggesting it’s lightweight, just that its aims are wider.

Second, Proverbs does not have the same opportunities for going off the reservation that appears in spots with Goldingay that makes you want to strangle him. (Sorry, wild streaks of hyperbole come out of me when I encounter Goldingay). Strangely, still, is that despite his frustrating tendencies, I always want his next release. That either says something good about his writing or pathological about me.

To be more straightforward, the thing about Goldingay is that he writes well. Sometimes he’s provocative, sometimes even bombastic, but you want to read the next paragraph. I saw it over and over in these Proverbs. Perhaps I wouldn’t have thought that Proverbs best matched his skill set, but it sure turned out to match his writing style.

The Introduction is a little flimsy, but I suspect that’s by design for this series. Future volumes, I guess, will bear that out.

When I commend his writing style, I’m not even remotely saying its fluff. All the benchmarks of a seasoned, albeit hyperactive, commentator are on display here. This is a substantial volume as long as you understand the aims of the CCF. The advanced end of the spectrum will still appreciate it, but it might be more usable than some of his works on the other end. In that vein, I judge it a broad success.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

I’ve read Barry Webb in other places and liked his work, especially in Five Festal Garments, so I was excited to see him in this EBTC series. The series itself has found its niche and is off to a good start.

The Introduction of 88 pages, quite lengthy for a commentary of this type, succeeds in theology while I just couldn’t get on with the Wisdom as the controlling theme rather than, say, theodicy. Read his arguments and decide for yourself, but that strikes me as making the secondary primary. His presentation of history and genre didn’t ring the bell for me either. His discussion of structure was good as far as it went. When he got to theology, his work grew much richer. These Introductory issues do not define this work for me, but they are its weakest features in an otherwise nice work.

The commentary proper struck me as thoughtful. Real wrestling with the text occurs and that’s why this work ends up being a good one. Strangely, those occasionally bizarre discussions between Job and his three friends is where he did his best work. He really contributes there. Maybe that stuck out to me because I always found those speeches the more bewildering part of Job.

This commentary is a fine one to have alongside the larger works. Make this one an additional resource to spice up the theology and gain additional insights with those speeches. For those contributions, I’ll give it a solid recommendation.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.