concept of political correctness are well-established facts of life. It has therefore been with some trepidation that the editing of this unique and much-loved text has been undertaken in producing The New Daily Study Bible. Inevitably, the demands of the new language have resulted in the loss of some of Barclay’s most sonorous phrases, perhaps best remembered in the often-repeated words ‘many a man’. Nonetheless, this revision is made in the conviction that William Barclay, the great communicator, would have welcomed it. In the discussion of Matthew 9:16–17 (‘The Problem of the New Idea’), he affirmed the value of language that has stood the test of time and in which people have ‘found comfort and put their trust’, but he also spoke of ‘living in a changing and expanding world’ and questioned the wisdom of reading God’s word to twentieth-century men and women in Elizabethan English. It is the intention of this new edition to heed that warning and to bring William Barclay’s message of God’s word to readers of the twenty-first century in the language of their own time.
In the editorial process, certain decisions have been made in order to keep a balance between that new language and the familiar Barclay style. Quotations from the Bible are now taken from the New Revised Standard Version, but William Barclay’s own translation of individual passages has been retained throughout. Where the new version differs from the text on which Barclay originally commented, because of the existence of an alternative reading, the variant text is indicated by square brackets. I have made no attempt to guess what Barclay would have said about the NRSV text; his commentary still refers to the Authorized (King James) and Revised Standard Versions of the Bible, but I believe that the inclusive language of the NRSV considerably assists the flow of the discussion.
For similar reasons, the dating conventions of BC and AD – rather than the more recent and increasingly used BCE (before the common era) and CE (common era) – have been retained. William Barclay took great care to explain the meanings of words and phrases and scholarly points, but it has not seemed appropriate to select new terms and make such explanations on his behalf.
One of the most difficult problems to solve has concerned monetary values. Barclay had his own system for translating the coinage of New Testament times into British currency. Over the years, these equivalent values have become increasingly out of date, and often the force of the point being made has been lost or diminished. There is no easy way to bring these equivalents up to date in a way that will continue to make sense, particularly when readers come from both sides of the Atlantic. I have therefore followed the only known yardstick that gives any feel for the values concerned, namely that a denarius was a day’s wage for a working man, and I have made alterations to the text accordingly.
One of the striking features of The Daily Study Bible is the range of quotations from literature and hymnody that are used by way of illustration. Many of these passages appeared without identification or attribution, and for the new edition I have attempted wherever possible to provide sources and authors. In the same way, details have been included about scholars and other individuals cited, by way of context and explanation, and I am most grateful to Professor John Drane for his assistance in discovering information about some of the more obscure or unfamiliar characters. It is clear that readers use The Daily Study Bible in different ways. Some look up particular passages while others work through the daily readings in a more systematic way. The descriptions and explanations are therefore not offered every time an individual is mentioned (in order to avoid repetition that some may find tedious), but I trust that the information can be discovered without too much difficulty.
Finally, the ‘Further Reading’ lists at the end of each volume have been removed. Many new commentaries and individual studies have been added to those that were the basis of William Barclay’s work, and making a selection from that ever-increasing catalogue is an impossible task. It is nonetheless my hope that the exploration that begins with these volumes of The New Daily Study Bible will go on in the discovery of new writers and new books.
Throughout the editorial process, many conversations have taken place – conversations with the British and American publishers, and with those who love the books and find in them both information and inspiration. Ronnie Barclay’s contribution to this revision of his father’s work has been invaluable. But one conversation has dominated the work, and that has been a conversation with William Barclay himself through the text. There has been a real sense of listening to his voice in all the questioning and in the searching for new words to convey the meaning of that text. The aim of The New Daily Study Bible is to make clear his message, so that the distinctive voice, which has spoken to so many in past years, may continue to be heard for generations to come.
Linda Foster
London
2001
INTRODUCTION
(by John Drane)
Our understanding of the Gospel of Mark has undergone several significant developments since William Barclay wrote about it. At one time, its position as the first gospel to be written was assumed to give it a historical primacy over Matthew and Luke, whose gospels were more obviously crafted in accordance with the interests of their authors. In 5:40–3, Barclay confidently connects Mark with eyewitness accounts from Peter himself, but today even those who hold that opinion would acknowledge that the finished text is just as much a redactional product as the other synoptics, shaped by the concerns of Mark and his readers in the middle of the first century.
The overall picture of Jesus would also be slightly different today. During Jesus’ childhood and teenage years, the Hellenistic city of Sepphoris was under construction not far from his home town of Nazareth, which suggests that people in the construction industry (like the household of Joseph) would be quite prosperous – and also that Galilee was not a cultural backwater, but central to Hellenistic Palestine, with Greek regularly spoken on its streets. Barclay’s understanding of the Pharisees as legalists, while still defensible, has also been challenged in recent discussions, while the role of the synagogue has undergone some redefinition.
At the same time, Barclay’s exposition of Mark still speaks to today’s concerns. He emphasizes the importance of community for Jesus (on 3:13–19, ‘It is significant that Christianity began with a group . . . a very mixed group’), and his comments on the miracle stories are infused with an insistence that, with Jesus, even life’s crises can be transcended. During his lifetime, he was regularly criticized for what some took to be rationalizing ‘explanations’ of the miracles, though his approach was actually more subtle. The comment on the stilling of the storm (6:45–52) is typical, where he inquires if there might be a ‘scientific’ explanation, concludes that we don’t know – and then asks whether it matters anyway. In some ways, he was ahead of his time by refusing to assume that science could answer such questions.
People today are unlikely to imagine that science ever could say anything worthwhile on matters of faith. For those familiar with the mystical claims of the New Age on the one hand, and charismatic Christianity on the other (neither of which was significant during Barclay’s lifetime), his approach of offering background information and then inviting readers to decide such things for themselves is likely to have considerable appeal.
John Drane
University of Aberdeen
2001
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL OF MARK
The Synoptic Gospels
The first three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, are always known as the synoptic gospels. The word synoptic comes from two Greek words which mean to see together; and these three are called the synoptic gospels because they can be set down in parallel columns and their common matter looked at together. It would be possible to argue that of them all Mark is the most important. It would indeed be possible to go further and to argue that it is the most important book in the world, because it is agreed by nearly everyone that it is the earliest of all the gospels and therefore the first life of Jesus that has come down to us. Mark may not have been the first person to write the life of Jesus.