A new Central and Eastern European Bible Commentary (CEEBC) has been launched by Langham Publishing.
It has been a mammoth undertaking, writes John Woods, delayed by the pandemic, and the death of the General Editor, Corneliu Constantineanu from Covid during that time. The commentary is in English, because this is as close to a common language for all of the countries represented by this volume.
There is a commentary on each Biblical book, written by those who are based in countries in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition, there are introductory articles and over 100 articles on themes ranging from ‘Active Listening to Sermons’ to ‘Virtual Reality’. The former is particularly interesting, as it reflects on the learning style shaped by the communist years when questions were discouraged.
The need for distinctive voices from this region is highlighted by the fact that nearly all the books listed in the bibliographies are written by scholars from the West.
These commentaries are an important airing of some fresh voices, that speak from within their own distinctive contexts. Generally, the commentaries follow standard evangelical paths, but the distinctive feature is the use of local examples of how Scripture is to be applied. For example, my friend Ester Petrenko, who up until 2022 was the Academic Dean at the Latvian Biblical Centre, provides a penetrating commentary on the letter to the Ephesians. Petrenko helpfully uses the challenges of integrating Latvian and Russian speakers in the church in Latvia as a way to illuminate the teaching of Paul about reconciliation in Ephesians 2.
Another of the contributors is Aleksander Apostolovski. He wrote the commentaries on Jeremiah and Zechariah, and an article entitled ‘Greater than Fiction: Reading the Bible’.
Apostolovski says how exhilarating it is to have a full systematic commentary on the whole Bible that speaks with a voice within this very region. He explains: ‘When you read things from another culture, you need to chew it through and see how it lands in Central and Eastern Europe.’
And he remembers waking up 25 years ago, getting up in the morning and taking up his Bible to read. While reading he imagined he was writing a Bible commentary. Thus for Alexander Apostolovski writing for this commentary is the fulfilment of a teenager’s dream!
