Genesis (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament: Pentateuch)

“The book of Genesis holds a fascination for many contemporary readers but also tends to strike them as something of an 'alien' text, multiple aspects of which are difficult to understand. Goldingay has written a wonderfully lucid guide to the story for brave readers who would like to feel at home in this foreign terrain, who aspire to hear in this literature the very Word of God to us. It is precisely in the deeply human and highly literary strangeness of the text that this Word must be found.”

“However well-trodden a part of Scripture might be, Goldingay has a rare capacity for freshness and illumination. Time and again he succeeds in going to the heart of a thing and enabling readers to reframe their questions. In the author's characteristically fresh and direct style, the commentary unobtrusively interweaves the various aspects of Genesis interpretation--linguistic, literary, religious, historical, and theological--and wears deep learning lightly. Rising above problem-oriented exposition, Goldingay always succeeds in bringing a note of pastoral urgency out of his handling of complex things. This landmark commentary is a rich gift to biblical scholarship and to the church.”

“Goldingay's critically informed, resourceful, comprehensive, and relevance-driven volume stands out remarkably among others in the field. First, it exhibits the power of imagination in reading Hebrew narratives. Second, it expounds the text both intertextually within the First (Old) Testament and intertestamentally with rich and often innovative theological insights and directives. Third, it demonstrates vigorous and engaging efforts to bridge the gap between an ancient text and contemporary faith with fresh angles of perception. This is a commendable commentary for the church and academy today, for whoever wishes to hear the retelling of the Genesis narrative afresh.”