Series celebrates 20 volumes in 20 years

Nineteen scholars came together in November at a writers’ workshop for persons writing commentaries in the Believers Church Bible Commentary series and to celebrate the publication of 20 volumes in 20 years. The events were held in Washington, D.C., before the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting.

The series asks writers to represent the best of current scholarship while writing primarily for the church. The first volume, Jeremiah, by Elmer A. Martens, was published in 1986. The 20th volume, Psalms, by James H. Waltner, was published in 2006.

The workshop featured the personal experiences of commentary writers – how they went about the process of research, writing, and rewriting. Several reflected on the challenge of finding the right balance between background and contemporary appropriation. Another challenge writers face is being relevant without writing things that quickly become dated.

At the celebration, Levi Miller of Herald Press showed the smallest booklet Herald Press published more than 50 years ago, The Anabaptist Vision, which is still selling. He compared that small booklet with the recently published 831-page Psalms. Both of these books, Miller said, serve the church well.

The editorial council of the Believers’ Church commentary series hopes to complete the New Testament volumes within 10 years and the Old Testament volumes within 14 years.

—release