The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing

"Pennington's reading of the Sermon on the Mount is a remarkable piece of work: erudite, careful, balanced, and fresh. Grounded in meticulous historical exegesis but shaped by a distinctive sensitivity to theological hermeneutics, the book succeeds in proclaiming what is often undersold in our evangelicalism-the goodness of the good news by which we come to flourish. "-Grant Macaskill. , University of Aberdeen"When it comes to the Sermon on the Mount, many scholars find it difficult to comprehend the Sermon, let alone to make a contribution to the history of Christian thinking about it. Pennington has accomplished both, baptizing this great collection of Jesus's teachings into the wisdom tradition of human flourishing and virtue ethics. Even where I disagree with Pennington, I have learned from his logical and clear case for the Sermon as a summons to human flourishing. This book will prove to be an exceptional classroom tool as well as a preacher's steady resource. "-Scot McKnight. , Northern Seminary"Is there need for another. book on the Sermon on the Mount. Yes, because few others combine the strengths, clarity, pathos, and insight of this one. It is rooted in wide reading across many centuries and traditions. It takes full measure of the range of methods available to shed light on the passage. It is alert to personal transformation as a justified aim in reading. It is balanced, hermeneutically informed, and academically grounded without failing to be pastorally useful as well as theologically responsible. Readers of all stripes will benefit from interaction with Pennington's expositions and sometimes painfully honest wrestlings. "-Robert W. Yarbrough. , Covenant Theological Seminary"In this insightful volume, Pennington brings his expertise in the Gospels (and Matthew in particular) to bear on the theological masterpiece that is the Sermon on the Mount. Pennington finds in the Sermon an 'eschatological, Christ-centered, kingdom-oriented piece of wisdom literature, ' whose unified theme is the goal of human flourishing. I found Pennington's careful exegesis and balanced conclusions thoroughly convincing. "-Mark L. Strauss. , Bethel Seminary San Diego"Pennington invites readers to consider anew the First Gospel's Sermon on the Mount. Situating the Sermon's message in the nexus of Second Temple Jewish wisdom and the Greco-Roman virtue traditions, Pennington unlocks the potential of the Sermon for the church in the twenty-first century. In his reading, the Sermon bids humans into a way-of-being-in-the-world that produces a foretaste in the present of the whole-person, full-human flourishing promised in the eschaton through the practice of Jesus's words. "-Joel Willitts. , North Park University