Erhard S. Gerstenberger

A commentary with a very specific focus: attempting to make sense of Psalms 1-60 in form critical terms, describing the forms of literature within each psalm and attempting to reconstruct each psalm's setting and the intentions for the psalms.

The introduction to cultic poetry is the best part of the book and very useful in order to have a more contextual understanding of the psalms.

The value in this commentary is the attempt to contextualize the psalm in the ancient Near East; such is a helpful antidote to the fact that it is easy to look at many of the psalms as timeless or belonging to a different context.

The book suffers from the author's belief that pretty much everything within the psalms comes from the period after the exile.… (mehr)

A representative of the liberal school of thought on Leviticus. The author does not seem to presuppose that any of it really came from God, presuming that it all came from men. While it seems clear that the author recognizes that some of the material is older, he presumes that it was all compiled during the Persian period and directed for the post-exilic audience. The author's liberal social and cultural views are also apparent within the work. There is some helpful information about some linguistic matters, and the research on comparative cultural matters and understanding of ancient societies is helpful. Otherwise, however, the commentary does not really assist in understanding the text as presented.… (mehr)