November, 2026 | Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History

My Favorite Commentaries on the Sermon on the Mount

My Favorite Commentaries on the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount

11/12/2026 Bruce Strom 0

We will consult these commentaries when we reflect on the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. These comment on the Beatitudes in Matthew; while the version in Luke differs, it is known as the Sermon on the Plain. The Beatitudes differ. While in Matthew the first Beatitude is Blessed are the Poor in Spirit; in Luke the first Beatitude is Blessed are the Poor. Also, Luke’s Beatitudes have contrasting woes, such as Woe to You Who are Rich.
The Presbyterian James Boice is my favorite modern commentator, next to CS Lewis. James Boice writes commentaries that are both devotional and scholarly. For example, he points out that Aristotle defined meekness as the mean between apathy and anger. […]

Biblical Interpretation

Book Review: Early Church Fathers Library – 38 Volumes in 3 Series

11/18/2017 8

This 38-volume library of the works of the Early Church Fathers in the first few centuries of the Church is an invaluable resource for the serious student of Theology, and the Scriptures also, since many of the writings of the early Church Fathers are Biblical commentaries. Although this collection was compiled in the late 1800’s by Protestant scholars, it is still a primary English source for many of these works for scholars of all denominations. […]

Book Reviews and Miscellaneous

Book Reviews on Apostolic and Early Church Fathers

04/04/2022 3

These quick book reviews include links to our YouTube videos and blogs on the Apostolic and Early Church Fathers, plus related topics. We will also discuss how to read ancient works, and the problems scholars face when translating ancient works, and the 38-volume set of the writings of the Ante-Nicene, ante meaning before, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Church Fathers, translated into English. […]

Book Reviews and Miscellaneous

Book Reviews, Reform Councils of Trent and Vatican II, and Vatican I

03/21/2022 7

IMHO, you cannot truly understand the modern Catholic Church without reading William O’Malley’s histories of Trent and Vatican II. O’Malley argues that Vatican II restated the theology of Trent, countering the notion that Trent was a reactionary rather than a reforming council. This polemic view of Trent was influenced by the fact that the Vatican had closed the archives of the Trent Council until early in the twentieth century. […]

AntiSemitism

Book Reviews for Blogs On How Christians Coped Under Fascist Regimes

08/19/2020 1

Many of the books I have consulted for my blogs on how Christians cope under Fascist regimes have interesting histories of their own, some even have these histories on their own Wikipedia pages. […]

Book Reviews and Miscellaneous

On Learning Attic and Koine Greek, Classical Latin, and Biblical Hebrew

03/02/2022 1

You would only want to learn these ancient languages if you are truly a serious student, and want to read the Scriptures and classics in their original language, and so you will not miss the word plays and puns that you can only catch in the original language. When reading epic poems of Homer and the Greek playwrights, or the Psalms in Old Testament, or the elegant works of Cicero, you can experience the rhymes and rhythms of the original language, as poetry can be incredibly difficult to translate. When we cut the video for a play by Aeschylus on the Battle of Salamis in the Persian Wars, the various translations we encountered were RADICALLY different. Personally, I am tempted not to read any more Greek plays until I learn how to read Attic Greek. […]

Reflections on Morality, Philosophy, and History

Philosophy, History, and Morality in Judeo-Christian Tradition

Month: November 2026

My Favorite Commentaries on the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount

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