John 1-4 ICC

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Earlier this week we received advance copies for the latest volume in our International Critical Commentary series, John 1-4 by the late John McHugh.

I must admit to feeling a sliver of emotion about this. It is the first ICC which has been published during my time at Continuum, and I had the great privilege [I won't say pleasure, as it was fairly complicated] of preparing the manuscript to be handed over to our ever-excellent production team.

The publication of a commentary of this depth is always going to be momentous in its own way. Looking back through the files on John 1-4 displays years of correspondence between editors and the author - indeed the book has outlived [in terms of their time with T&T Clark] quite a number of editors. There is a great pleasure and privilege to seeing a book in print which the author has been working on for a great number of years, in which each word is considered with the utmost care. This, I'd hazard, is perhaps something which is at its most pronounced in a commentary on an ancient [or I suppose in the case of John not so ancient, but certainly old!] text.

Professor Charles Cranfield, an Editor of the ICC series has provided a preface to this volume, which introduces it far better than I ever could. I paste it below:

"John Mc Hugh was surely one of the most learned and able New Testament scholars of the latter part of the 20^th century and the first years of the 21^st.For some years a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, he had a worldwide reputation. The great wealth of his learning was matched by penetrating insight, originality and clarity of mind. He was, I think, exceptionally well prepared to undertake the especially formidable task of writing a full-scale commentary on John's Gospel. It is a matter of profound regret that he did not live to complete it.

 

John was a splendid colleague, who could always be relied on to give wise counsel. Always generous in his readiness to assist other scholars, he sometimes allowed his altruism to hold up the progress of his own work. He was greatly appreciated by the students who heard his lectures, and those who had tutorials with him were specially privileged.

 

In addition to his knowledge of the Bible, of Rabbinic writings and of the Qumran texts, he had a wonderful familiarity with classical Greek and Latin literature, with mediaeval Latin, with a wide range of English and other literatures. He was fluent in a number of European languages. He had a notable feeling for language, which is reflected in the clarity and felicitousness of his own English style.

 

John McHugh had a keen realization of the need for theologians to be concerned about politics. He was always well informed about current affairs, and cared deeply for justice and compassion. He was, for example, deeply concerned about the injustices suffered by the Palestinians since 1948, though he was never forgetful of the sufferings of the Jews in the 1930s and 1940s or lacking in compassion for them.

 

He was a wonderful friend and a shining example of what it means to be a faithful Christian pastor."

 

Charles Cranfield, Emeritus Professor of Theology, University of Durham, UK

Comments

[Dan]

Any word on who will be taking up McHugh's mantle and completing the commentary?

[Dominic]

Sorry I missed this, Dan. Martin de Boer will be doing the ICC on John now. He'll be starting from the beginning again, rather than completeing the work of McHugh. It won't be out for some time I'm afraid.