Rowman & Littlefield Publishers A Simple Guide to John (Simple Guides to the Gospels): Volume 3

The Gospel writers state they aim to tell the story of Jesus in a clear manner, but throughout Paul McCarren's years in ministry, he has seen that these simple and important messages are too often missed. In his Simple Guides to the Gospels series, McCarren provides a new translation of each Gospel book, leading readers chapter by chapter through the text. Each section includes scripture and a brief, engaging commentary about how readers can relate to the material. The Simple Guides introduce readers to life in early Christianity, describe points of controversy, and show how each section fits with those that went before. The Simple Guide to Matthew highlights many of Jesus' compelling sayings, stories such as the Sermon on the Mount, and key themes of Jesus' ministry, such as trust. The books in the Simple Guides to the Gospels series are available individually or together as a complete set. Review In this volume, McCarren, a Jesuit priest who works at Loyola Retreat House and St. Ignatius Church in Maryland, provides for each passage in John's Gospel a fresh translation and an exposition focused on how readers can relate to the material. He gives special attention to the literary character of John's Gospel and how it presents the signs of God's work in Jesus' life.--New Testament Abstracts With many years of background in ministry, Jesuit author Paul McCarren has simplified each gospel for readers to understand the important messages that often go unnoticed. . . . McCarren provides commentary to each gospel writer's style, how each is engaged in the reader's life today, and how the sections in each gospel relate to each other.--U.S. Catholic Rather than follow the standard form of Bible commentaries, which often don't reproduce the passages under consideration, Father McCarren presents each of the four Gospels piece by piece, accompanied by his helpful explanations to the texts. With a Simple Guide to the Gospels, readers will be able to make their way through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in order, along with the author's insights on every page. Reading these books is like studying the Gospels with a learned, literate, and lively guide who will help you better understand the most important books ever written.--James Martin SJ, author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything Written in a lively style with fresh translations and original insights, this guide should appeal to a wide spectrum of contemporary readers and especially to those teaching the Gospels. Readers will be stimulated to think creatively about familiar texts.--John R. Donahue, Raymond E. Brown Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies (Emeritus), St. Mary's Seminary and University Father Paul McCarren's simple guides to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke are exactly what their titles claims they are, clearly written guides to the four canonical Gospels that makes them accessible to the everyday reader. Drawing on the best critical resources of New Testament scholarship, McCarren introduces the Gospels without encumbering the reader with an excess of technical exegetical details. These valuable guides may be profitably used for ones' s own spiritual growth and prayer life, or in group study of the Gospels at the parish or catechetical level. They may also serve as a preparation for further exploration of the Gospels.--Alan C. Mitchell, Georgetown University About the Author Paul J. McCarren, SJ, works at Loyola Retreat House and at St. Ignatius Church, both in Maryland, while continuing to write Simple Guides to the Bible. A Jesuit priest, he has spent many years in both parish and campus ministry.