Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, Volume 2
Overview
Hermann L. Strack and Paul Billerbeck’s Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, originally published between 1922 and 1928, is an important reference work on understanding the New Testament in light of contemporary Jewish thought. Originally published as Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch, it has been unavailable in English until now. This first-ever English translation brings the work to a new audience.
The commentary walks through each New Testament book verse by verse, referencing passages from the Midrash and the Talmud and showing their relevance for situating the Bible in its cultural background. While much research has been done on Second Temple Judaism since this work, nothing has come close to replacing it. This is truly an essential resource for academics, students, and pastors.
Volume two contains an English translation of the commentary on the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of John, and the Acts of the Apostles.
Order all three volumes of the Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash
Praise for the Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash
One can only hope that Strack and Billerbeck’s comprehensive Commentary will now receive the newfound appreciation it so richly deserves.
—Christfried Böttrich, professor in New Testament, Universität Greifswald, Germany
Strack–Billerbeck marked the culmination of nearly four hundred years of Christian engagement with Talmud and Midrash, the classic sources of Rabbinic thought. If used with discrimination it opens a door, in a way that no other work does, into the intense dialogue between early Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism.
—Philip Alexander, emeritus professor of post-biblical Jewish literature, University of Manchester, England
Everyone interested in the Jewish context of New Testament literature will welcome the appearance of the English translation of Strack and Billerbeck’s classic commentary that provides myriads of parallels with rabbinic literature. As an added bonus, David Instone-Brewer’s introduction very helpfully clarifies the proper use of this valuable tool and at the same time answers the criticisms leveled against it in its original German form.
—Craig A. Evans, John Bisagno Distinguished Professor of Christian Origins, Houston Baptist University
I have long wished for an English translation of Strack-Billerbeck.
—Craig L. Blomberg, Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary
Strack-Billerbeck, the essential tool for rabbinic opinion relative to the New Testament, has been accessible only to scholars or others who could read German. That obstacle has been eliminated with this new English translation, an achievement that will certainly position it as the essential tool in the English language for discovering ‘what the rabbis taught’ in regard to the content of the New Testament.
—Michael S. Heiser, executive director, Awakening School of Theology; host of the Naked Bible Podcast
- Title: Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash, Volume 2
- Authors: Hermann Strack and Paul Billerbeck
- General Editor: Jacob N. Cerone
- Translator: Jacob N. Cerone
- Introduction by: David Instone-Brewer
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Publication Date: 2022
- Pages: 1000
- Format: Logos Digital, Hardcover
- Trim Size: 7x10
- ISBN: 9781683595670
Hermann Strack (1848–1922) was a German Orientalist and theologian. He studied rabbinics under Jewish-Bohemian scholar Moritz Steinschneider.
Paul Billerbeck (1853–1932) was a German Lutheran minister and scholar of Judaism.
About the Editor
Jacob N. Cerone is a doctoral candidate at the Friedrich-Alexander University at Erlangen-Nuremberg, coauthor of Daily Scriptures: 365 Readings in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and the editor and translator of Adolf von Harnack's The Letter of the Roman Church to the Corinthian Church from the Era of Domitian: 1 Clement.