Christianity Today Book Award—Biblical Studies

Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award Honorable Mention

SOLA Network's Asian American Book Awards Honorable Mention

In a first-of-its-kind volume, The New Testament in Color offers biblical commentary that is:



- Multiethnic

- Diverse

- Contextual

- Informative

- Reflective

- Prophetic

- Inspiring

"I wish someone had handed The New Testament in Color to me twenty-five years ago, and I hope many will read it now." —Nijay Gupta, bestselling author of Tell Her Story: How Women Led, Taught, and Ministered in the Early Church.

Historically, Bible commentaries have focused on the particular concerns of a limited segment of the church, all too often missing fresh questions and perspectives that are fruitful for biblical interpretation. Listening to scholars from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities offers us an opportunity to explore the Bible from a wider angle, a bettervantage point.

The New Testament in Color is a one-volume commentary on the New Testament written by a multiethnic team of scholars holding orthodox Christian beliefs. Each scholar brings exegetical expertise coupled with a unique interpretive lens to illuminate the ways social location and biblical interpretation work together. Theologically orthodox and multiethnically contextual, The New Testament in Color fills a gap in biblical understanding for both the academy and the church. Who we are and where God placed us—it's all useful for better understanding his Word.



Osvaldo Padilla (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of The Acts of the Apostles, The Speeches of Outsiders in Acts, and numerous articles and reviews.



Amy Peeler is the Kenneth T. Wessner Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton College and Associate Priest at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Geneva, IL. She is the author of Women and the Gender of God and a commentary on Hebrews.



T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (ThD, Harvard) is a proud member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. He is the director of graduate studies of NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, the first accredited Indigenous designed, developed, delivered, and governed theological institute. He is also assistant professor of classics at Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa). He is the author of Civilized Piety: The Rhetoric of Pietas in the Pastoral Epistles and the Roman Empire, which was awarded the Manfred Lautenschläger Award for Theological Promise. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two daughters and live near Cedar Rapids, Iowa.



H. Daniel Zacharias (PhD, Highland Theological College/Aberdeen) is a Cree-Anishinaabe/Métis and Austrian man originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Treaty One territory), with ancestors also residing in Treaty Two, Treaty Three, and Treaty Five territories. He lives in Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia) with his wife, Maria, and four children in Wolfville, NS. He is associate dean and professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College, where he has worked since 2007. He also serves as an adjunct faculty for NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community.



Kay Higuera Smith (PhD, Claremont Graduate University) is on the faculty of Azusa Pacific University in biblical and religious studies and practical theology.



Miguel Echevarría (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of The Future Inheritance of Land in the Pauline Epistles,40 Questions about the Apostle Paul, Engaging the New Testament: A Short Introduction for Students and Ministers, and Reading the Bible Latinamente: Latino/a Interpretation for the Life of the Church. He has also publishedshort commentaries on the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles in IVP Academic's New Testament in Color.



Jarvis J. Williams (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is associate professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of numerous books, including Redemptive Kingdom Diversity: ABiblical Theology of the People of God, Christ Redeemed 'Us' from the Curse of the Law: A Jewish Martyrological Reading of Galatians 3:13, and a commentary on Galatians in the New Covenant Commentary Series.



Gene L. Green (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the dean of Trinity International University-Florida and professor emeritus of New Testament at Wheaton College and Graduate School. He is the author of Vox Petri: A Theology of Peter and coeditor of Global Theology in Evangelical Perspective.



Dennis R. Edwards (PhD, Catholic University of America) is associate professor of New Testament as well as vice president for church relations and dean of North Park Seminary, Chicago. He has worked in urban ministry for over three decades, including serving as a church planter in Brooklyn and Washington, DC. His books include Might from the Margins and the Story of God Bible Commentary on 1 Peter.



Esau McCaulley (PhD, St. Andrews) is associate professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. He is the author of Reading While Black and Sharing in the Son's Inheritance, as well as the children's book Josie Johnson's Hair and the Holy Spirit. He lives in Wheaton, Illinois, with his wife and four children.



Acknowledgments



Introduction

Esau D. McCaulley



African American Biblical Interpretation

Esau D. McCaulley



Asian American Biblical Interpretation

Janette H. Ok



Hispanic Biblical Interpretation

Osvaldo Padilla



Turtle Island Biblical Interpretation

T. Christopher Hoklotubbe (Choctaw) and H. Daniel Zacharias (Cree-Anishinaabe)



Majority-Culture Biblical Interpretation: Reading While White

Michael J. Gorman



Gospel of Matthew

H. Daniel Zacharias



Gospel of Mark

Kay Higuera Smith



Gospel of Luke

Diane G. Chen



Gospel of John

Miguel G. Echevarria



Gender in the New Testament

Lisa M. Bowens and Amy Peeler



Acts

Jordan J. Cruz Ryan



Letter to the Romans

Jarvis J. Williams



First Letter to the Corinthians

Gene L. Green



Second Letter to the Corinthians

Julie Newberry



Letter to the Galatians

Eric C. Redmond



Letter to the Ephesians

Esau D. McCaulley



Letter to the Philippians

M. Sydney Park



Letter to the Colossians

Dennis R. Edwards



Letters to the Thessalonians

Marcus Jerkins



Pastoral Letters

Osvaldo Padilla



Letter to Philemon

Dennis R. Edwards



Letter to the Hebrews

Madison N. Pierce



Resources for the MentalHealth of the Oppressed in the New Testament: A Contemporary Reading of Ancient Teachings

Cristin J. Fort



Multilingualism in the New Testament

Ekaputra Tupamahu



Immigrants and the Kingdom of God: Do They Have a Homein God's City?

Rodolfo Galvan Estrada III



Letter of James

Daniel K. Eng



First Letter of Peter

Janette H. Ok



Second Letter of Peter

Mateus F. de Campos



Letters of John

Miguel G. Echevarria



Letter of Jude

Mateus F. de Campos



Revelation

Daniel I. Morrison



List of Contributors



"While it is not uncommon to encounter socially located interpretations grounded in a hermeneutic of suspicion, this work speaks from one of trust in the biblical text and a commitment to the central tenets of the Christian faith. It also moves beyond theories about these interpretations (although it does provide those discussions) to commentary on every New Testament book. This volume is a constructive contribution to debates about fundamental matters of interpretation from an impressive set of scholars of diverse ethnicities."



"In my own theological education, I was pressured to suppress my ethnic perspective and experiences, to conform to some sort of disembodied neutrality. Since then I have come to learn that my background, culture, and reading lens can actually enhance my ability to understand Scripture. I am thrilled to recommend The New Testament in Color because this 'library-in-a-book' reflects the beautiful mosaic of a many-colored hermeneutic. I wish someone had handed this book to me twenty-five years ago, and I hope many will read it now."



"The New Testament in Color is informative, prophetic, reflective, and inspiring. The authors, drawn from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, are self-aware of their social location and write with a hermeneutic of trust in Scripture. This volume makes an extraordinary contribution to New Testament studies and sets the standard for future commentaries."



"McCaulley, Ok, Padilla, Peeler, and the volume's contributors have broken new ground with The New Testament in Color. Its essays and commentary, written by scholars of the New Testament from across racial, ethnic, and gender identities, emerge from critical, socially located methods and insights that are also informed by the writers' ecclesial perspectives and experiences. The result is an important one-volume commentary on the New Testament that speaks from and reaches out to both academic and ecclesial communities."



"The contributors of The New Testament in Color are experts not only in the biblical subject matter but also in identifying and sharing the gifts their social location brings to the hermeneutical task. The scope of this one-volume commentary provides a nearly kaleidoscopic vision of richly varied perspectives together with solid exegesis of the texts. The editors and authors have done the church and academy a great service, shaping a resource that promises to be a boon for seminary reading lists, a go-to in church and university libraries, and a must-have on every pastor's desk."



"The American evangelical church has desperately needed this book, The New Testament in Color. For those of us who value the power and authority of God's Word while aware of the diverse experiences and realities that shape our own culturally unique stories, we have longed for this book. This text reminds us that God is a transcendent God who speaks through a transcendent source, but that God is also God with us, immanent in the Word and also in our lives."



"Reading the New Testament, intentionally, through one's ethnic point of view (African American, Asian American, Hispanic, or Native American) does not violate an objective, traditional reading of Scripture. Rather, reading the Bible in and out ofone's location exposes the bias of the (formerly so-called) 'objective' reading as a Euro-white reading and, at the same time, offers to the traditional readings fresh perspectives. Over and over, I thought the essays were worth the price of this book, but I was wrong. The commentaries interact with the essays in a manner that makes this book a required desk companion for anyone who wants to hear all the Word of God has to offer. A must-have for all Bible teachers and pastors."



"The New Testament in Color is a book I long hoped would eventually be written and is in many ways overdue. The editors have done a superb job of gathering scholars from diverse ethnic backgrounds who interpret the biblical text adeptly using the familiar critical tools of exegesis, and who also demonstrate how reading from their particular social location provides theological insight germane to all of God's people. They show how the New Testament addresses a range of issues importantto today's readers, including topics of restorative justice, immigration and hospitality, racial bias and violence, the priority of families and ecclesial communities, and so much more. Not to be missed are the excellent introductory essays, which trace the ethnic histories of peoples of color and their practice of reading the Bible with a hermeneutic of trust. Exegetically precise, theologically orthodox, and prophetically challenging, this book—in a word—preaches!"



"Rooted in a confessional commitment to the trustworthiness of Scripture, this book draws together a diverse group of theologically minded scholars. Together they explore the multiple interpretive possibilities that emerge when Christians read across and within racial and ethnic difference. Here the promise is that God's Word will be more faithfully understood when the colorful tapestry of God's creation of multiple cultures and peoples is embraced. In these ways, this book joins a vital chorus of minoritized biblical scholars who invite readers to ponder the Bible and its readers in rich multiplicity."



"This is the book I've been searching for throughout my teaching career. There is academic excellence here, coupled with a prophetic call to hear God's Word through the rich diversity of the authors' cultural, ethnic, and racial perspectives and wisdom. There is pastoral sensitivity to the varied experiences of readers, from the emotional and psychological toll of racialized oppression to the exhortation to humility directed toward White Christians (like me). Professors, students, and all participants in the body of Christ will find The New Testament in Color to be a valuable, instructive, and challenging resource for understanding the Bible, the church, and Christian discipleship."