Coming this December – “When in Romans” by Beverly Gaventa

One of the books I’m most excited about this Fall is from Beverly Gaventa called When in Romans (Baker Academic). Gaventa is a new author to me but the endorsements to her work have easily got me sitting on the edge of my seat awaiting its December release. Consider these words of advance praise:

“No one makes Romans come alive quite like Beverly Gaventa. In this highly accessible but provocative book–aimed at a wide Christian audience–she challenges our domesticated construals of Paul’s gospel with a vision of God’s comprehensive saving agency. If the starting point and the primary subject matter of the letter is not us but God, we are suddenly liberated from our excessive anxieties about ourselves, the church, and ‘ethics.’ Here are 3-D lenses to see Romans, the gospel, and the reality of God’s grace, power, and mystery in a new and exciting way.”

John M. G. Barclay, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, Durham University

“From the beginning of the Christian era until the present day, Paul’s Letter to the Romans has been the source of revolutionary rethinking. Nowhere do we come closer to the radical heart of the gospel. The universal and cosmic notes of the Pauline symphony are sounded in this book by one of our most esteemed interpreters of the apostle’s letters. Beverly Gaventa has written a book for ordinary parish clergy and laypeople that is fun to read and full of spicy references to popular culture, and that will jolt readers into a new appreciation for the great apostle and his unique place in the history of Christian theology.”

Fleming Rutledge, author of Not Ashamed of the Gospel: Sermons on Romans and The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ

“Beverly Gaventa has produced that rarest of books, combining careful, exquisite scholarship with her eye for humanizing, delightful detail. Her writing is both sophisticated and accessible as she tackles Paul’s complex notions of individual and cosmic salvation. I am one of those Gaventa identifies who, more frequently than I like to admit, opted for the Gospel reading rather than grappling with Paul’s sometimes tortured logic. Looking back, I would have loved turning to When in Romans.”

John M. Buchanan, former editor and publisher, The Christian Century

“There are many books on Romans, but none quite like this one. Steeped in learning but accessible to a broad spectrum of readers, written with pastoral insight and welcome flashes of humor, here is a gift to Christians and inquirers alike. Gaventa invites us to enter the grand metropolis that is Romans, wander in its streets, relish its conversations, and be made new by its radical Lord.”

Susan Grove Eastman, associate research professor of New Testament, Duke Divinity School

“Anyone who has difficulty imagining that a book on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans could be a ‘page turner’ should read this one. Beverly Roberts Gaventa’s prose is compelling, her insights on Romans are startlingly original, and her ability to show us in Paul’s letter ‘the gospel in its vastness’ is simply breathtaking. This book is to be savored.”

Thomas G. Long, Bandy Professor of Preaching, Emeritus, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

She is a contributor to the recent release from Zonderan, I (Still) Believe. In her chapter in that volume she confesses she is “intoxicated with the Greek New Testament” (p. 84). She is surprisingly transparent in the book both as a mother and a scholar. For those unfamiliar with her I would suggest this as a good place to start.

When in Romans will be a hardcover with 160 pages and sell for $22.99.

Beverly Roberts Gaventa (PhD, Duke University) is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. She is also Emerita Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary. Gaventa is president of the Society of Biblical Literature for 2016 and is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Our Mother Saint Paul, Seeking the Identity of Jesus, and commentaries on 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Acts.

I (Still) Believe is edited by John Byron and Joel Lohr. It is a paperback with 256 pages and sells for $24.99.