New Book: Listen, Understand, Obey: Essays on Hebrews in Honor of Gareth Lee Cockerill

I am thrilled to announce the publication of a collection of essays in honor of Dr. Gary Cockerill on the occasion of his retirement. The volume, edited by yours truly, is entitled Listen, Understand, Obey: Essays on Hebrews in Honor of Gareth Lee Cockerill. Dr. Cockerill was my NT professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary and was instrumental in my decision to pursue PhD work, so it has been my privilege to edit and contribute to this book in his honor.

Cockerill students will recognize the phrase "Listen, Understand, Obey" as one of the anthems of Dr. Cockerill's teaching. As I say in my introduction, "For Dr. Cockerill, this phrase expressed a deeply-held conviction that the true goal of biblical interpretation is to live the text rather than to merely understand it. . . . The emphasis on hearing God's word is, of course, a product of his lifelong love for the book of Hebrews, which—somewhat uniquely in the NT canon—characterizes OT Scripture as divine speech" (xiii-xiv). 

All of the essays in the volume treat some aspect of Hebrews, which has been the focus of Dr. Cockerill's scholarly work for over 40 years. His interest in Hebrews began in his doctoral dissertation and culminated in his The Epistle to the Hebrews (2012) in the New International Commentary on the New Testament Series. This commentary replaced one by the renowned NT scholar F. F. Bruce, and Grant Osborne says in his blurb on the back of Listen, Understand, Obey that Dr. Cockerill's commentary on Hebrews is "among the top three ever written." You can view the contributor list and table of contents in the excerpt below, but here is a list of the contributors: 
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• Christopher T. Bounds (Asbury University)
• Rick Boyd (Wesley Biblical Seminary)
• Caleb T. Friedeman (PhD candidate, Wheaton College)
• Matt Friedeman (Wesley Biblical Seminary)
• Jon C. Laansma (Wheaton College)
• Scott D. Mackie (Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University, Westmont College, Fuller Seminary)
• Thomas H. McCall (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)
• Matt O'Reilly (St. Mark United Methodist Church, Wesley Biblical Seminary, Asbury Theological Seminary)
• Amy L. Peeler (Wheaton College)
• Carey B. Vinzant (Wesley Biblical Seminary)

Here is what some senior scholars have to say about the volume: 

• "This fine collection of essays by both senior scholars and our junior colleagues makes a worthy contribution to the scholarship of Hebrews and a fitting tribute to its honoree." —Karen H. Jobes, PhD, Gerald F. Hawthorne Professor Emerita of New Testament Greek and Exegesis at Wheaton College 
• "Dr. Cockerill is one of the truly fine exegetes of our day, and his commentary on Hebrews is among the top three ever written. This Festschrift is a goldmine of fine material that will aid the cause of Christ for years to come. I look forward to using this work in my own writing and ministry." —Grant R. Osborne, PhD, Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Here is an excerpt of the volume (used with permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers).  You can order a copy from the publisher or from Amazon. 

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