Free Book of the Month - April

André Kamphuis said:

The links don't work yet showing the discount, but it's looking like a sweet deal. 

As you say, this looks like an amazing deal. Thanks Faithlife!

Can't wait until these links go live. Here is what the link show right now when I tried them.

DAL said:

Awesome deal! I hope that's not an error and it gets changed to something else.

[Y]

David Paul said:

As I understand it, the disadvantage of these free books is that if you decide to get the rest of the set, then you still have to pay for the free book. I'm not sure about the 99c book...since you are paying for it, that may count as a qualifying purchase. Still, one nearly free book isn't a bad deal.

I don't think we should think of this as a "disadvantage". Rather I think we should think about it as an opportunity to have a free or nearly-free preview and then we get to keep the preview. I'm sure Faithlife is hoping that, once we choose a book from a series that we would consider purchasing the rest of the series. If I was running the company I know that would be my strategy.

David,

I think the issue with Sproul is that they are permanently free. Dynamic Pricing calculates the cost of the package based on current prices, so it's clear you don't get a discount for not having paid for a permanently free book. I definitely remember threads where people shared the experience that owning a prior month free book accounted for full price and thus dynamic price reduction later.

Mark Smith said:

Unfortunately these would have to be free or $.99 for them to ever get in my Library. Even then they may not make it.

Why do you say that Mark?

Jonathan J Watson said:

However, I can assure you that Dynamic Pricing DOES APPLY. 

It does indeed! Wow. [Y]

Jonathan J Watson said:

When I check Best Commentaries, it appears that the volume on Isaiah ranks above the following: 

• Young's 3 volume set
• Goldingay's Understanding the Bible volume
• Watt's WBC volume
• NAC
• Expositor's Bible Commentary
• And several other respected volumes. 

Yes, but behind 11 other volumes. It's ranked 12th.

Jeremiah is ranked 20th.

It is correct the bestcommentaries is neither scientific nor unbiased. Most of the reviews seem to come from conservative listings.

It is also true that commentaries are a personal choice.

To be fair, here are Tremper Longman's reviews from his OT Commentary Survey book:

  Childs, B. S. Isaiah. OTL. Westminster John Knox/SCM, 2001. xx/555 pp.

 Well worth getting is Childs’s canon-conscious take on the book. Though not quite as well done in depth and detail as his much earlier Exodus commentary, it is helpful to see how he manages what he considers to be the compositional history of the book with the final form’s theological message. MS****

  Allen, L. C. Jeremiah. OTL. Westminster John Knox, 2008. xxix/546 pp.

  Allen is an excellent scholar and does a great job articulating the message of Jeremiah in its original context. He helpfully puts his focus on the final form of the book. He pays little attention to the book from a New Testament perspective, I assume by design (there is even only a very brief mention of New Testament’s appropriation of the New Covenant [see 31:31–34]). MS****

So you can see Longman likes both volumes.

Here is part of a review from JETS on Jeremiah

In his introduction, Allen establishes some interesting premises for the commentary. One premise is that he does not make any effort to make contemporary application of the text; Jeremiah is studied as essentially a self-contained text without much effort to address the meaning or significance of Jeremiah’s message for today. Indeed, little effort is made to explain Jeremiah’s specific historical setting and how Jeremiah’s prophecy addressed his own generation (at least, the part of the book of Jeremiah that was extant in his own day). The hermeneutical arch is thus left largely unconstructed at both ends. This is a significant shortcoming for pastors and scholars interested in the meaning and application of the text for our generation. Scholars interested in how key passages such as Jeremiah’s famous “confessions,” his visit to the potter’s house in chapter 18, and his prophecy of the new covenant in chapter 31, will find just a few paragraphs discussing the theological significance of each of these texts. The commentary primarily describes the literary composition and structure of these texts, along with conjectures about the motive for redactional amendments. The focus is thus almost entirely on the style of the text rather than the content of the text.

Steve W. Lemke, “Review of Jeremiah: A Commentary by Leslie C. Allen,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53, no. 2 (2010): 392.

Sorry, can't find a review in my journals for the Isaiah volume.

Erik said:

As a conservative "Conservative Baptist", I have found at least two OTL/NTL volumes very helpful and not just for academic work.  Specifically, Brevard Childs' Exodus and Luke Timothy Johnson's Hebrews are excellent.

I have Childs on Exodus in hard cover. That was a ground-breaking commentary when released. It is still valuable but one needs some updated commentaries to go with it today.

I have read good things about Johnson on Hebrews. Once Logos produces the NTL perhaps it will be unbundled and I can pick up that volume. Unfortunately my Library tells me I already have 51 commentaries dealing with Hebrews and am fortunate to own the top six listed on bestcommentaries, so I wonder...