In this third and concluding volume of their lectionary commentary collection (Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews, Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law), Ronald Allen and Clark Williamson encourage the church and its preachers to rediscover the Old Testament as a vibrant wellspring of Christian faith and life.

Preachers often neglect the Old Testament, misrepresent it, or regard its theological content as superseded by Jesus and the New Testament, Allen and Williamson claim. The authors help preachers avoid these traps by (1) explaining how a text was understood before the Common Era without any reference to Jesus or Christian doctrine, (2) mentioning representative New Testament passages or themes that are informed by the older material, and (3) commenting briefly on the relationship between the lections in those cases when readings from the Old Testament are paired with readings from the New Testament.

Ronald J. Allen is the Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Clark M. Williamson is Indiana Professor of Christian Thought Emeritus at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a member of the church relations committee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.

Praise for the authors’ previous volume Preaching the Gospels without Blaming the Jews:

“This commentary is both very preacher-friendly and utterly essential to the preacher’s weekly work.”

—Homiletic

“. . . a truly original commentary. . . . This is a book that deserves as wide an audience as possible.”

—The Living Pulpit

Praise for the authors’ previous volume Preaching the Letters without Dismissing the Law:

“We preachers could have no better guides in these matters than Clark Williamson and Ron Allen, two scholars who have dedicated themselves to enabling us to hear the good news of Jesus Christ untarnished by anti-Jewish prejudice. Their commentary is full of engaging and invigorating insights that will stimulate any preacher seeking to be more faithful to Scripture.”

—William Willimon, Bishop, the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church

“It is time for Christians and Jews to rethink how they regard one another. Happily scholars are helping us see and understand that Jews and Christians are covenant partners in a world that desperately needs to see an example of faithful partnership. Now Allen and Williamson have provided a very useful resource for those of us whose responsibility it is to speak God’s truth and for those who will appropriate that biblical truth in relationship with their neighbors.”

—John Buchanan, Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago