Augsburg NT Commentary on 2 Corinthians
I took a detour from working through 2 Corinthians with the Anchor Bible commentary and read Frederick W. Danker’s volume II Corinthians in the Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament series.
This is a 214 page commentary, but has more content than you might expect because it doesn’t include the Biblical text along with the commentary. That can be slightly inconvenient, but on the other hand it does mean more content in a smaller book.
I really enjoyed reading through this commentary. Danker is an extremely good writer. Commentators don’t have many opportunities to be eloquent, but he manages it from time to time when discussing the theology and application.
Danker covers critical issues, discussing the question of the unity of the letter. He presents the reasons for the various divisions, but he also presents reasons mostly from rhetorical criticism as to why the book might be more unified than is often thought.
The highlights of this commentary include:
- Extensive discussion of rhetorical issues
- Outstanding discussion of Greek culture
- Extensive quotation of parallels, primarily from Greek culture, but also from Hebrew backgrounds
- Frequent helpful comments on theology and application useful for preachers.
It’s out of print, as I believe most good books are, but there are still used copies available, or you can do what I did and get it from a library.
