Raymond Collins
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Wealth Wages And The Wealthy
$34.95Add to cartFulfilling what he has called a “grave responsibility,” Pope Francis has often addressed the issue of economic inequality and the use of personal, corporate, and national wealth. Francis’s teaching is rooted in the teaching of Jesus, preserved in the pages of the New Testament. The Bible has more to say about the use of wealth than it does about other moral issues of our day, yet this teaching seldom enters into the conscience of believers. In Wealth, Wages, and the Wealthy: New Testament Insight for Preachers and Teachers Fr. Raymond F. Collins redresses this issue and provides the reader with a careful examination not only of what Jesus said about wealth but also of what each of the New Testament authors wrote about the topic.
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1-2 Timothy And Titus
$77.00Add to cartThe Old Testament Library has become one of the legendary series of our era, known for its rich historical/literary insights based on an extensive review of the text and its major themes. Collins is the first author to carry this approach over to the New Testament. The same hallmarks are evident.
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Introduction To The New Testament
$25.00Add to cartA massive survey of New Testament scholarship – its history, methodology, and findings – from a Catholic standpoint. Fr. Collins (Catholic U. of Louvain) has a masterful grasp of his subject; and his book – though rather flat stylistically – is a model of clarity, organization, and fair-mindedness. Still, readers vaguely interested in knowing what the NT is “all about” should be warned that this is an introduction in roughly the same sense that the Tour de France is a bicycle trip – both are long, arduous, and definitely not for beginners. Collins opens with a detailed discussion of how the NT canon was arrived at, moves on to historical study of the NT, from Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792-1860) to the abandonment of the “quest of the historical Jesus” and beyond. He deals with the thorny question of NT textual criticism. (There are ca. 5,000 Greek manuscripts – not to mention others in Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, etc. – and so many variant readings that any talk of an original or definitive text is meaningless.) He gives fine, richly illustrated explanations of source criticism (i.e., informed speculation on such problems as how Matthew combined material from the OT, Mark, and “Q”), form criticism (how the 27 books of the NT were edited and composed), and structuralist approaches (e.g., applying A. J. Greimas’ “actantial model” to gospel parables). Finally, Collins faces the problem of exegesis in a churchly context: the roles it plays in preaching, prayer, and religious instruction; the conflicts between Catholic scholars and narrow Roman notions of “inspiration,” etc. Collins sees the relationship linking the NT and the Church as “dialogical,” though he quietly admits that, especially in recent centuries, dogmatic theologians rather than trained exegetes have done most of the talking. Insofar as the exegetical disciplines are pre-theological, they may seem low in “content,” but Collins argues strongly for their necessity in the whole process of belief. A monumental effort (more up-to-date than the standard work by Wikenhauser), worthy of attention by all advanced students of scripture.