Essays in honour of Max Turner

Last month saw the release of a new volume - The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology, edited by I. H. Marshall, Volker Rabens and Cornelis Bennema.  See the link here for a full list of contributors:

http://eerdword.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/party-in-a-book-on-festscriften-max-turner-and-the-spirit-and-christ-in-the-new-testament-and-christian-theology/

When I was an undergraduate at London School of Theology (2007-10) Max Turner interviewed me when I first applied to study (No pressure!) and I was fortunate enough to be in his classes on the ministry and teaching of Jesus, as well as some sessions on pneumatology.  While there were a number of first class lecturers at LST, Max stood out to myself and many as belonging to some sort of higher order of great thinkers. His lectures were so rich in content, deeply engaging and always very tough. Asides from his academic prowess, he is a thoroughly warm and welcoming man who invests in his students at a personal as well as academic level.  He's also a mean shot with a BB Gun (but that's another story).

In some ways I have felt that Max is a bit of an unsung hero of NT scholarship.  He is not as well published and widely known as some of the contributors to this celebratory volume.  I would imagine few, for example, have not at some point encountered Gordon Fee's massive book on the Spirit (God's empowering presence) in the course of NT studies or theology.  Max's mighty book 'Power from on hight - Spirit in Luke Acts' is perhaps not so well known, and I rarely see his more accessible volume 'The Holy Spirit and Spiritual gifts' made reference to.  This is, quite frankly, a disaster.  I've not read the former, but his undergraduate pitched book HSSG is so blindingly brilliant I think any student or pastor should buy it immediately and read and re-read it.  Max's writing is dense - each sentence requires considerable effort to fully appreciate, yet it is never victim of poor writing.  Rich in content and remarkably lucid and un-pretentious.  The content of HSSG is highly compelling - it offers a thoroughly considered position on pneumatology in the NT and with respect to the work of the Spirit today.  Not only should it be read for its content, but also as an example of how to write a good book.  I'm very easily irritated by poor writing - as I currently chew through the mass of recent literature on the theological interpretation of Scripture (which incidentally Max has published on) I find myself confronted again and again by poor writing - incoherent sentences, no clear point or train of thought, gaping holes in arguments, terrible to non-existent referencing and the theological equivalent of management-speak (jargon that sounds awfully good but has no obvious relationship to real life or concrete solutions).  Max's writing struck me as an undergraduate and remains a sterling example of how to write well.

Despite having said that Max is not so widely read as say, Don Carson, he is a constant presence in NT reference volumes, journals, and essay volumes.  Some of his more recent contributions have been directed towards the problem of bridging New Testament Studies and Theology (see his volume 'Between Two Horizons' co-ed. with Joel Green).  This is a crucial and current discussion and I for one am jolly glad voices as sound as Max's are involved in furthering the cause (especially as a bunch of the literature isn't very good, as already mentioned).

Anyway - I look forward to getting this new volume and working through the essays from an amazing list of contributors.  It was on amazon for over £30 and seems to have disappeared.  I imagine it won't come cheap, but you ultimately get what you pay for.

L