Brings new light and life to our understanding of one of the most beloved and central images of the Christian faith.
Kenneth E. Bailey is an author and lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament studies. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he also serves as Canon Theologian of the Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church, USA. He holds graduate degrees in Arabic language and literature, and in systematic theology; his ThD is in New Testament. He has written many books in English and in Arabic, including Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes and Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes, both published by SPCK.
· Ken Bailey is the consummate expert on the cultural context of
first-century life . . . Always insightful, always fresh,
consistently surprising, Bailey has produced yet another book that
will get many of us rethinking beloved passages of Scripture in
completely new ways.
*Gary Burge, author and Professor of New Testament, Wheaton
College, Illinois*
Using the Good Shepherd image, this book takes us on a 1,000-year
journey in the Middle East.
The author understands the Middle East mentality, having lived and
worked in the country for half a century. An ordained Presbyterian
minister, he is currently Canon Theologian of the Episcopal Diocese
of Pittsburg.
His special lens is to take the nine major Good Shepherd passages
and, through detailed consideration, tease out their ethical,
artistic and theological insights.
It is a bold but successful approach. From chapter to chapter, the
question reoccurs: 'Why have I never seen that before?' It is a
lifetimes's reflection using readable biblical scholarship,
contemporary story telling and cultural exegesis. It also makes the
corssover to a devotional commentary.
There is a reference to 20 New Testament and four Old Testament
biblical versions in Arabic, as well as five Middle Eastern writers
who, in their youth, had sheep herding experience.
The passages are in Bailey's order, each studied in the light of
the one before. Each passage is tested against a ten-fold focus
(see page 23 and 245).
Within the passages, he calls the verses 'cameos'. They have three
distinct sequences. Verse to verse in a straight line 1 2 3, 1 2 3
and ring composition 1 2 3 4 3 2 1. This seems technical, but it
explains how to read the passage. It is how the Middle Eastern mind
thinks. We would call it an artistic, poetic and rhetorical
approach.
Looking at the passages - Psalm 23, three different Prophets, four
Evangelists and 1 Peter - is to understand the Good Shepherd image
in its original intent and also how to apply its meaning to the
Church and the world today.
Each major passage, as a chapter, has an outline of introductory
material, the rhetoric (how it is laid out), a detailed commentary
and its theological elements.
If the reader is open to rethinking beloved Shepherd passages in a
new way, he/she will not be disappointed. Bailey clearly helps with
a discernment of a Good Shepherd tradition. He achieves a
christology of Jesus, sees salvation as the purpose, provides a
vision of Christian leadership and offers us Jesus the
theologian.
This book helps both reader and preacher, in the words of Matthew,
on a journey to follow more perfectly the one "to bring out his
treasure what is new and what is old."
*Gazette View*
In The Good Shepherd, Kenneth Bailey assembles a comprehensive
awareness of Middle Eastern cultures and traditions, reflection on
five monographs by Middle Easterners who personally herded sheep,
ancient treasures of Arabic language commentaries and translations,
and multiple personal interviews with students and shepherds who
were experienced in the care of sheep. The result is a thoroughly
engaging treatment of nine key good shepherd texts found in the
Christian Scriptures.
In the Introduction, Bailey sets forth his methodology, which
involves examining a cluster of ten recurring theological clusters
viewed through a literary approach to Psalm 23; Jeremiah 23;
Ezekiel 34; Zechariah 10; Matthew 18; Mark 6; Luke 15; John 10; and
1 Peter 5. Each chapter presents one text, carefully examining each
cameo (literary segments). Each chapter includes a section of
commentary, numerous representations of the literary features of
the text and the emerging themes, and concludes with an analysis of
which of the ten key themes occur in that text.
The first, and most lengthy chapter, covers Psalm 23. Bailey
skilfully develops the key themes, providing exegetical insight
from both the Hebrew text and subsequent Arabic translations and
commentaries. Each ensuing chapter examines the next text
(presented in canonical order) and evaluates how it develops the
themes initiated in Psalm 23. Bailey convincingly reveals the
movements within Israel’s thought process as the individualistic
nature of Psalm 23 is transformed into a nationalistic
(militaristic?) view in Zechariah. Bailey then unveils the
development of the New Testament’s shift from God as shepherd to
Jesus as shepherd. By the end of this encouraging and informative
work, the reader realizes that ‘the promises of God to the flock of
God in the Hebrew Bible are now promises that can be claimed by the
new flock, the church’ (p. 263).
A postscript consists of five reflections: ‘The good shepherd
tradition’, ‘Christology from the mouth of Jesus’, ‘salvation’,
‘Christian leadership’ and ‘Jesus as theologian’.
One of the strengths of Bailey’s presentation is also one of its
only frustrations. Each chapter ends with a summary of the ten
themes and while that is essential for seeing the similarities,
diversities and development, it also feels a bit repetitive. But
that is a minor distraction amid the pleasure of watching an artist
sketch a powerful picture of our shepherd as he is revealed in
Scripture.
Any reader familiar with Kenneth Bailey already savours the
flavours of the Middle East in his writings. There will be no
disappointment in The Good Shepherd. Any reader looking for an
example of utilizing literary structures will glean helpful
insights from Bailey’s exegesis of nine disparate texts. All who
enjoy seeing the relationship among themes as they unfold across
the canon will be excited by the deft weaving of textual
connections. Readers wishing to know how God and Jesus are
portrayed as shepherd throughout Scripture will come away from The
Good Shepherd with a full heart and mind prepared for further
thought and devotion.
*Theology journal*
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