Jonathan T. Pennington - The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary

This book has been a long time in the making, both in thought and in writing. As a student and scholar of the Gospel according to Matthew for nearly fifteen years, it was inevitable that I was drawn into the beautiful but nearly inescapable vortex that is the Sermon on the Mount.

The idea behind providing a commentary on the Sermon that also sets it into its historical, conceptual, and theological contexts came directly from many years of teaching on the Sermon. This teaching occurred in various classes at my own institution as well as while a visiting professor at Reformed Theological SeminaryOrlando, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and to eager missionaries enrolled in my classes in Australia and New Zealand. Just as important, I have also taught on the Sermon in assorted church settings across the United States and other countries. As I circled toward my own understanding of the Sermon it became increasingly clear to me that I needed to articulate in writing what I was learning, at the very least for my own clarity of understanding.

My original editor at Baker Academic, James Ernest, likewise thought it would be good for me to put all this in writing, and he exercised incredible patience and kindness as I labored to do so. Unfortunately, my protracted labors meant that by the time of the completion of the manuscript James was no longer at Baker. Nonetheless, under the excellent leadership of Jim Kinney, the folks at Baker Academic, including my adept new editor, Bryan Dyer, continued to work with me. Brian Bolger and his team have also provided excellent editorial help that has improved the clarity of the prose at many points. This is now my third book with Baker Academic (with another project in the works), and I have never regretted a moment of this enriching relationship.

Over the multiyear germination of this book several students have served me in collecting articles and books and in helping with transliteration and proofing. These include Choongjae Lee, Brian Renshaw, Brian Davidson, Stuart Langley, Daniel Morrison, Trey Moss, and Stephen Mitchell. Nathan Ridlehover also deserves special mention for reading each chapter and interacting in detail. Other friends and colleagues have graciously given of their time to read all or a portion of the manuscript and provide feedback, including Doug Blount, Leroy Huizenga, Ben Askins, Michael Spalione, Garrett Walden, and Garrick Bailey. The SBTS Library staff, especially Kevin Hall and Matt Miller, have always been willing to track down books and articles and deliver them to me with a cheerful spirit. The indexes were done graciously and efficiently by Philip Chia, Choongjae Lee, Matt McMains, and Andres Vera.

As I complete this book, I sense both satisfaction at its completion and regret at its weaknesses. In the latter category I experience some compunction that I was not able to more fully engage with premodern interpretation in the commentary proper, despite my great desire to do so. Also, while I have attempted something more than a historical and literary reading, I am conscious that limitations of time, space, and expertise have kept me from the greater engagement with dogmatic and constructive theology that a more thoroughgoing theological reading would require.