Digital Logos Edition
Opening the Scriptures is neither a new series of technical commentaries, nor is it a collection of sermons. Instead it offers devout church members a series of popularly accessible primers so that the average churchgoer can easily grasp them.
The organization of this series follows the four main sectional divisions of Holy Scripture: the Torah, the many prophetic books, the Psalms and wisdom books, and the New Testament. The authors of Opening the Scriptures show throughout that Holy Scripture is from A to Z the Book of God’s covenant with his people. This collection includes commentaries by theologian Cornelis Vonk on the books of Genesis and Exodus.
Opening the Scriptures is popular in the best sense of the term: it offers deep insight from biblical scholarship to the non-specialist reader. It reads the Bible as a whole—both a literary whole (how each book has a unified structure) and as a redemptive-historical whole (how each book fits into and contributes to the one story of Scripture). Opening the Scriptures is a series that draws on the rich redemptive-historical tradition with roots in the Netherlands, and will fill a real need and be of great benefit to the non-educated and educated alike.
—Michael Goheen, Jake and Betsy Tuls Chair of Missiology, Calvin Theological Seminary
The publication of Opening the Scriptures is a major publishing event. It is in continuity with the redemptive-historical approach so vital to understanding the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Its approach is also contextual, as the authors of the commentaries connect the text with the readers. They invite the student of God’s Word to enter the ancient textual world and to hear God afresh. The series is written with the people of God in mind rather than the scholars. Pastors will do well to read it, because it will help them engage with God’s Word as well as with God’s people. I heartily endorse the series.
—Willem A. VanGemeren, professor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Cornelis Vonk (1904–1993) was a Reformed preacher and pastor in the Netherlands during the twentieth century. His sermons and studies are widely known and appreciated today as a warmly devotional and pastoral treatment of the Bible.
Theodore Plantinga (1947–2008) was a Christian philosopher, born in the Netherlands, who worked as a translator, editor, secretary, professor, and writer in Canada for over 50 years. He taught philosophy at Redeemer University College from its founding in 1982 until his death.
Nelson D. Kloosterman serves as executive director of Worldview Resources International. He has edited and translated several scholarly works.