The Epistle to the Thessalonians (The New International Greek Testament Commentary | NIGTC)

The letters of Paul to the newly founded Christian community at
Thessalonica hold a special place within the Christian tradition as
possibly the earliest extant Christian writings. They are also of
special interest not only for their theological value but for their
sociological context. Among the communities established by Paul, the
church at Thessalonica appears to have been the only one to have
suffered serious external oppression. These two important epistles,
then, speak uniquely to contemporary Christians living in a society
often ideologically, if not politically, opposed to Christian faith.
In
this innovative commentary Charles A. Wanamaker incorporates what may
be called a social science approach to the study of 1 and 2
Thessalonians, taking into full account the social context that gave
rise to Paul’s correspondence. While Wanamaker in no way ignores
traditional historical-critical, linguistic, literary, and theological
approaches to writing a commentary -- in fact, at several points he
makes a significant contribution to the questions raised by traditional
exegesis -- at the same time he goes beyond previous commentaries on the
Thessalonian correspondence by taking seriously the social dimensions
both of Christianity at Thessalonica and of the texts of 1 and 2
Thessalonians themselves. In blending traditional exegetical methods
with this newer approach, Wanamaker seeks to understand Pauline
Christianity at Thessalonica as a socio-religious movement in the
first-century Greco-Roman world and attempts to grasp the social
character and functions of Paul’s letters within this context.
A
significant and original addition to the literature on 1 and 2
Thessalonians, this commentary will be valuable to scholars, pastors,
and students alike.