Conversation Partners For Reading The Sermon

Before we dive into the history of interpretation on the Sermon on the Mount, let me introduce you to my main conversation partners.

READING THE BIBLE WITH THE DEAD (Who, Though Dead, Yet Speak)

Clement of Alexandria (150-215): Stromateis Book 4, Chapter 6.

Tertullian (160-220): Four Books Against Marcion, Book IV, Chapter XIV.

Origen (184-253): Commentary on Matthew & On First Principles

Gregory of Nyssa (335-394): Homily On The Beatitudes

Ambrose (337-397): Treatise on the Gospel of Luke

John Chrysostom (d.407): Homilies on Matthew 15-25

Augustine (354-430): Our Lord’s Sermon On The Mount

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274): Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew; Summa Theologiae I-II, 69.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): “The Sermon on the Mount (Sermons),” in Luther’s Works, Vol 21

William Tyndale (1494-1536): Expositions and Notes on Sundry Portions of the Holy Scriptures

Jean Calvin (1509-1564): Commentary on the Harmony of the Evangelists, Vol 1.

John Wesley (1703-1791): John Wesley on the Sermon on the Mount, Volume 2

Hannah Adams (1755-1831): Letters On The Gospels

Barton W. Stone (1772-1844): Lectures on Matthew V, VII, & VII

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855): Christian Discourses: And the Lilies of the Field and the Birds of the Air

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945): The Cost of Discipleship

Clarence Jordan (1912-1969): Sermon on the Mount

KEY ARTICLES/BOOKS AS AIDS IN READING WITH THE DEAD

Robert M. Grant, “The Sermon on the Mount in Early Christianity,” pp. 215-231, in Semia 12: The Poetics of Faith: Essays Offered to Amos Niven Wilder. Part I: Rhetoric, Eschatology, and Ethics in the New Testament

Michael Dauphinais, “Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine on the Beatitudes,” Nova et Vetera, v.1, no.1 (spring 2003): pp. 141—164.

Jaroslav Pelikan: Divine Rhetoric: The Sermon on the Mount as Message and Model in Augustine, Chrysostom, and Luther

Tore Meistad: Martin Luther and John Wesley on the Sermon on the Mount

Jeffrey P. Greenman, Timothy Larsen, and Stephen R. Spencer (eds.): The Sermon on the Mount Through The Centuries: From the Early Church to John Paul II

NEW TESTAMENT HISTORIANS & EXEGETES

Dale Allison: The Sermon on the Mount: Inspiring the Moral Imagination

H. Benedict Green: Matthew, Poet of the Beatitudes

Robert A. Guelich: Sermon On the Mount: Foundation For Understanding

T. D. Howell: The Matthean Beatitudes in Their Jewish Origins

Ulrich Luz: Matthew 1-7 (Hermeneia)

Scot McKnight, The Sermon On The Mount (Story of God Commentary)

Charles H. Talbert: Reading the Sermon on the Mount

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS, THEOLOGIANS & ETHICISTS IN THE VIRTUE TRADITION

Gene L. Davenport: Into the Darkness: Discipleship in the Sermon on the Mount

Daniel J. Harrington & James F. Keenan: Jesus and Virtue Ethics

Stanley Hauerwas: various works

William C. Mattison, III: The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective

Jonathan T. Pennington: The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing

Servais Pinckaers: The Pursuit of Happiness & The Sources of Christian Ethics & The Pinckaers Reader

Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI): Jesus of Nazareth, vol 1

Glenn Stassen: Living the Sermon on the Mount

Glenn Stassen & David Gushee: Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context

Anna Wierzbicka: What Did Jesus Mean? Exploring The Sermon on the Mount

Dallas Willard: The Divine Conspiracy

PREACHING, DEVOTIONAL, AND APPLICATION INSIGHTS

Daniel M. Doriani: The Sermon On The Mount: The Character of A Disciple

David Fleer & Dave Bland (eds.): Preaching the Sermon on the Mount: The World It Imagines

Randy Harris: Living Jesus: Doing What Jesus Says in the Sermon on the Mount

John R. W. Stott: The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7: Christian Counter-Culture)

EARLIER POSTS IN THIS SERIES
The Complete Art of Happiness: Sermon On The Mount Intro–Part 1
Life with a Capital ‘L’: Sermon On The Mount Intro–Part 2
New Things To Love: Sermon On The Mount Intro–Part 3
A Change of Desire: Sermon On The Mount Intro–Part 4
The Cost of Apprenticeship: Sermon On The Mount Intro–Part 5
Calling All Neurotics: Sermon On The Mount Intro–Part 6

THE NEXT POST IN THIS SERIES
The Devil’s Masterpiece: Sermon On The Mount Background–Part 1

photo credit: Ghirlandaio, Jesus Commissioning the Twelve Apostles (1481)

Nathan Guy

Nathan Guy believes the passionate pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty culminates in Jesus Christ. He received formal training in philosophy, theology, biblical studies, and cultural & political ethics from Oxford, Cambridge, and the LSE. He lives in Florence, Alabama, where he serves as President of Mars Hill Bible School.