Good Faith Media is rolling out the first volume in an expansive new resource to provide biblical insights for preaching and teaching.
The 12-volume Nurturing Faith Commentary, by longtime Bible study writer Tony W. Cartledge, will cover every designated text for every Sunday in the three-year cycle of the Revised Common Lectionary.
“These volumes are the product of a committed desire to provide quality Bible study resources for Christians who come to the scripture with open minds and a desire to go beneath a surface reading,” said Cartledge. “Our goal has been to provide pastors, teachers and other Bible students with both academic and pastoral insights in approachable language.”
Cartledge, who teaches at Campbell University Divinity School as well as being contributing editor and curriculum writer for Good Faith Media’s Nurturing Faith Journal, holds a Ph.D. in Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies from Duke University.
“From the time we started providing a Bible study curriculum in the Nurturing Faith Journal,” Cartledge affirms, “we have attempted to bring the academic and lay worlds together, to apply critical insights in an understandable way.”
That same approach, he said, will be found in the Nurturing Faith Commentary volumes. Cartledge used his spring sabbatical to launch the project.
“It occurred to me that I had been writing lectionary-based Bible studies for nearly 11 years and had been through the three-year lectionary cycle almost four times,” he said. “I thought of compiling those lessons into a multi-volume set — but didn’t want to leave gaps for texts I had not yet covered.”
So, Cartledge is writing enough new studies for the project to include a commentary/study on every possible lectionary text for Sundays in Years A, B and C.
Mitch Randall, CEO of Good Faith Media, noted the uniqueness of this project compared to verse-by-verse commentaries on books of the Bible.
“For years, Tony has written extensively about Bible passages, following the lectionary, and those writings have been extremely well received by subscribers to Nurturing Faith Journal, who have gleaned invaluable information from his interpretation and application of the texts,” he said.
GFM’s Executive Editor/Publisher John Pierce describes his longtime colleague as a uniquely gifted person.
“He’s brilliant — not only as a biblical scholar, but with a wide range of knowledge — yet he is warm, humble and caring,” said Pierce. “Tony’s writings are never stuffy or canned. He gives insights and illustrations that are easy to understand and, most importantly, to apply.”
While taking on a bigger project than first envisioned, Cartledge continues to roll out these studies that will become an invaluable resource to preachers, teachers and other Bible students.
“I don’t bring a particular agenda to the work other than a desire to understand the text and look for ways it might help me and others to be better followers of Jesus,” he said.
A generous gift to sponsor this project was received from Bob and Pat Barker of Fuqua-Varina, North Carolina, allowing for affordable pricing.
The first volume (Year A, Volume 1, covering Advent, Christmas and Epiphany) is available now — with the second and then subsequent volumes to follow. At first, the commentary series will be offered in print with digital versions offered at a later time.
An introductory price of just $25 (including shipping) for Year A, Volume 1 is available in the Good Faith Media bookstore until December 31, 2022, when the price will increase to $30.
In addition, we’re offering the opportunity for customers to purchase the entire set for $300 ($25 per volume) by providing their contact information via a form on the Nurturing Faith Commentary page.
Everyone who does this before midnight on Dec. 31, 2022, will receive an email update each time a new volume is released and will be provided a discount code to purchase each new volume of the series for $25.
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