Friday, March 25, 2011

Participation in a new project - "Bible Commentary: The Modern Slavic perspective"

During January 25-28, 2011, the Center of the Christian life in Ukraine in Irpin (near Kiev) hosted a colloquium on the development and definition of the basic principles of writing a commentary on the canonical books of the Bible with a modern Slavic perspective.

The editorial board of the "Bible Commentary" includes the faculty, alumni, and the former head of SPbCU. SPbCU representatives (teachers and graduates) will be actively involved in the project as authors and editors and provide necessary information and prayer support.

The colloquium brought together nine members:

    * Dr. Sergey Sannikov: Chief Editor (Executive Director EAAA, http://e-aaa.info, http://sannikov.info)
    * Master of Theology and Religious Studies Taras Dyatlik: Project Manager (Head of Resources and Research Centre EAAA, http://e-aaa.info, http://dyatlik.net)
    * Bachelor of Theology Alexander Geychenko: Executive Secretary (Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Odessa Theological Seminary, http://www.odessasem.com
    *  Dr. Peter Penner: executive editor of the section "New Testament" (vice-president of the European branch of "Training Christians for Ministry", in Vienna, http://tcmi.org), former rector of SPbCU 1992-1999)
    * Dr. Alexander Negrov: Executive editor of the section of the New Testament (Academic Dean of SPbCU 2001-2005, Rector of St. Petersburg Christian University in 2005, http://spbcu.ru, http://negrov.com ) 
    * Dr. Gennady Pshenichniy: executive editor of the section of the "Old Testament" (Rector of the Kuban Evangelical Christian University, Krasnodar, http://kecu.ru), a graduate of the SPCU Program Bachelor of Divinity in 2003)
    * Dr. Valery Alikin: executive editor of the section of the "Old Testament" (Head of the Department of Biblical Studies of the St. Petersburg Christian University, http://spbcu.ru),
    * Ph.D. Roman Soloviy: executive editor of the section of analytical articles (rector of the Lviv Theological Seminary, http://lts.lviv.ua, http://soloviy.org.ua)
    * Master of Divinity Fedor Raychinets: executive editor of the section of analytical articles (the head of the Master's program for transforming leadership Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary, Kiev, http://uets.net)

Alexander Negrov, the rector SPbCU said: "I enjoyed working in such a creative group. Perhaps to fully appreciate how serious and important this meeting was we will be able to only in a few years. "
Peter Penner, a former rector of SPbCU adds: "At last we have begun the practical work, and I'm looking forward to the time when I'm holding the first biblical commentary, not translated or reprinted, and written by national authors."

The meeting participants identified several outcomes with reference to the Christian theological research community with a proposal to become partners, sponsors and active participants in this project. The Editorial Board is aware that a new Bible Commentary, which is obviously the biggest and most ambitious project in the past 20 years, needs a collective prayer, research and critical financial support, and invites all interested individuals and organizations to contact them for more information or with suggestions on cooperation through the project manager Taras Dyatliku (tdyatlik@e-aaa.info, +38-067-2232023).

 


 
   
 
 What is the New Bible Commentary?
This project was initiated by the Euro-Asian Accrediting Association of Evangelical schools (http://e-aaa.info), which includes about 50 theological seminaries, Bible colleges and institutes, Christian universities. In writing the commentary, more than 30 authors are expected to participate. It is expected to be released from the press in the fall 2015. The main task of "Bible Commentary: The Modern Slav perspective" is to contribute to the preacher in the acquisition of a more holistic view of the biblical text and help in the search for the application of biblical truth in the modern Slavic context.
The Biblical commentary will be a one volume commentary (about 2 million words), including all the canonical books of the Bible. It is help evangelical ministers in Eastern Europe with relevant education and experience in church ministry. The commentary's focus is primarily for the pastors and preachers, as well as informal church leaders and all students of the Bible. The commentary will include about 100 analytical articles dealing not only with interpretations of the Bible, the Jewish people and the early Church, but also answer important questions of contemporary reality: the power of the church, tradition and innovation in the church, a virtual dependency, labor migration, human trafficking, bribery, social responsibility and justice, incomplete family, divorce, remarriage, family violence, suicide, etc.
The reader from Eastern Europe now has available to him translated biblical commentaries (Catholic and Protestant), or written by Orthodox authors. The "Bible Commentary: The Modern Slav perspective" is the first commentary, which will be written in the Slavic evangelical Christians in Eastern Europe. The new commentary intends to help ministers and members of evangelical churches to find the solution of modern problems through the prism of the biblical text.