Reviews of

Theodore of Mopsuestia’s Biblical Exegesis in His Catechetical Homilies

In Brill, Marius Portaru, Patristic exegesis, Patristics, Theodore of Mopsuestia on March 9, 2026 at 9:54 pm

2026.03.02 | Sofia Puchkova. Re-envisioning Theodore: Theodore of Mopsuestia’s Biblical Exegesis in His Catechetical Homilies. SVC 185. Brill, Leiden-Boston: 2024.

Review by Marius Portaru.

The present monograph addresses a gap in the scholarship on Theodore of Mopsuestia by examining his ‘invisible’ biblical exegesis in the Catechetical Homilies. While this topic was only briefly discussed in two previous studies by R. Greer and D. Keating (15), our monograph provides a comprehensive investigation: exploring the nature of Theodore’s exegesis, carefully identifying biblical quotations in the Catechetical Homilies (no less than 215 exegetical passages), comparing Theodore’s exegesis in his commentaries with that in the Homilies, and analysing Theodore’s connections with the pro-Nicene exegetical tradition, the Greco-Syrian liturgical tradition, John Chrysostom, and Origen. The outcome is a valuable contribution and an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand Theodore of Mopsuestia’s biblical exegesis in the Catechetical Homilies.

Read More and Comment »


The Fourth Synoptic Gospel

In Eerdmans, Gospel of John, John, Mark Goodacre, Synoptic Gospels, Synoptic theories on January 22, 2026 at 4:00 pm
Cover of book: The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

2026.01.01 | Mark Goodacre. The Fourth Synoptic Gospel: John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Eerdmans, 2025. 191 pp.

Review by Ched Spellman, Cedarville University.

Goodacre advances a straightforward thesis: John’s Gospel was written with an awareness of the Synoptic Gospels. More specifically, Goodacre argues that the author of this Gospel “knew, used, presupposed, and transformed the Synoptics” (p. ix). For Goodacre, “the significant literary parallels between the Synoptic Gospels and John” represent good enough evidence to conclude that John was familiar with the final form of these texts. In other words, “the author of the Fourth Gospel did not use Synoptic-like traditions but the Synoptic Gospels themselves” (p. 17).

Read More and Comment »

,

Covenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum

In Ancient Near East, Christian A. Eberhart, covenant, Hebrew Bible, Levi Baker, Mohr Siebeck, New Testament, Wolfgang Kraus on August 12, 2025 at 5:06 pm
Cover of book: grey with blue writing

2025.08.04 | Christian A. Eberhart and Wolfgang Kraus, eds. Covenant—Concepts of Berit, Diatheke, and Testamentum. WUNT 506. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2023.

Review by Levi Baker, William Tennent School of Theology.

Arising from a 2019 interdisciplinary conference at the Lanier Theological Library, this volume of twenty-eight essays explores various aspects of covenant across the social world and literature of the OT, NT, late antiquity, and beyond. The volume consists of an introduction and eight parts, and the editors promise to offer a “detailed, comprehensive, and thorough presentation of the tremendous range of covenantal concepts and their complexities in biblical and cognate literature throughout the ages” (p. 1). 

Read More and Comment »