Scott Hahn will be familiar to many readers for his apologetical and popular works. Here he brings his exegetical skills to bear on the Letter to the Romans. This volume will be well received by those actively engaged in pastoral ministry and parish life. Adopting a division of the letter sympathetic to the Catholic Sunday Lectionary and the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), Hahn's commentary offers careful interpretation of the texts, and lucidly and faithfully presents the Apostle's argument. The pithy summary of the passages and cross references to Old Testament and New Testament, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and Lectionary, provide opportunity for readers to engage the tradition for themselves. The volume begins with a thorough-going introduction, and ends with worthy reading suggestions, a good glossary and index – though the glossary entry for ‘gnostics’ needs to acknowledge the lack of uniformity among those followers of ‘an aberrant form of Christianity’ (p. 295).
The commentary includes Hahn's judicious selection of ancient Hellenistic Jewish and traditional Catholic sources to support his interpretation. Many readers will find the occasional appearance of Catholic writers in sidebars of interest and help, particularly when they disagreed among themselves: e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom on the meaning of ‘all Israel’ in 11:26 (p. 208). There is scope for still more insights from the ancient authors to be drawn into this commentary: e.g., for Origen, conversion from sin by the use of free will necessarily precedes and accompanies faith and baptism (Comm.Rm. 5.8, on 6:3-4). This triad of Christian initiation, which begins with conversion from sin, might need to be heard again by those active in pastoral ministry and parish life.
During the course of the commentary Hahn does not spend much time talking about the historical situation which occasioned the letter. A brief appearance in the introduction announces the ‘pastoral problem’ which has arisen between Jews and Gentiles, which arises again late in the piece (pp. xxiii, 241). Recent scholarship often attends to the exegetical significance of the Apostle's laying down the equality of all believers in former sinfulness and present righteousness, and the exclusion of boasting (Rm. 1–3), and the long section on the destiny of Israel (Rm. 9–11). These are often indicators of the Gentile believers’ claims over their Jewish brethren as the situation which has generated the Apostle's intervention in Rome by letter, which govern interpretation of other passages too.
Readers will find a consistently balanced and accessible presentation of the major exegetical questions the letter usually arouses. Hahn witnesses the majority support for the subjective genitive ‘faith in Jesus Christ’ (3:22), and also acknowledges ‘faithfulness of Jesus Christ’ as a possible reading (p. 44). Of the various solutions proposed to the famous problem of eph'ho (5:12) he sides with Fitzmyer: ‘with the result that’ (p. 82). The ‘ego’ of Rm. 7 is taken as Paul in solidarity with ‘Christians who continue to wrestle with the agitations of sin in their lives’ (p. 120). The only omission in this list would be the textual problem of the short/long readings in 8:23, no doubt because the NABRE adopts the long reading.
The role of Catholic apologist is never far from Hahn in this volume. Readers will see comments on Hahn's response to justification by ‘faith alone’ (p. 25) and ‘judgment according to works’ being problematic for some Christians (p. 29). Hahn remains aware of the sensibilities of ‘televangelists’ (p. 147) and ‘bible Christians’ (p. 181). He even defends the Catholic understanding of the priesthood when reflecting on Paul's self-description as a ‘minister of Christ Jesus’ (15:16; p. 271). Some Catholic readers may judge the balance between commentary and apologetic to have been completely tipped in this volume when they see Martin Luther's position prominent in the interpretation of 3:28, but the Council of Trent relegated to a footnote (p. 49). But the present author suspects that the resolution of exegetical problems by Church councils as presented in this volume could open up a new area of exegetical inquiry: e.g., just as Hahn presents a passage from the Council of Florence for the interpretation of 14:14 and other passages on which foods can be eaten (p. 251), so too other Catholic scholars might consider the ways ecumenical councils have conducted exegesis of biblical texts.
Very occasionally Hahn oversteps his brief. He finds some intentionality in the appearance of the three theological virtues in 5:1-5, but this runs the risk of flattening the Apostle's theology of hope, which sees that hope is the climax and crown of even the best human efforts in suffering and endurance (p. 75). Similarly, the reflection on the events of 11 September 2001 out of 5:12-21 seems out of place (pp. 90-91).
None of this should detract from the Hahn's achievement, of providing a fine commentary on Romans to those who recognise the importance the letter has always had in the Church and wish it to remain so in their own part of it too. This well produced volume is everything readers have come to expect and enjoy from Hahn's writing and the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture series.
