Willimon Interview on Wesley Bible

Shane over at "The Wesley Report" has this interview with Will Willimon, a prominent United Methodist bishop, regarding his work on the Wesley Study Bible that is due to be released this month by Abingdon press.

Bishop Willimon points out, significantly, that he sees his work on this study bible as part of his vocation as a bishop - traditionally bishops are to defend, teach, and pass long the faith of the Church.

I am looking forward to the release of this particular study Bible, and I hope it will become a standard resource for our pastors, teachers, and seminarians. It may be especially helpful for our seminarians now that there is a growing recovery of the 'theological interpretation' (in addition to simple historical critical interpretation) of the Bible in many quarters of the Church.

This Bible draws upon a wide spectrum of Wesleyan Christians including United Methodists (both of the editors are UM Christians), Wesleyans, Nazarines, independent Methodists, and others. The study notes themselves make good use of Wesley's own sermons and Bible notes, and often include references to paragraphs in his sermons (as Wesley's sermons all include section and paragraph numbers). As far as I am aware, no Wesleyan-perspective study Bible has been on the market since the Reflecting God Study Bible (a variant on the NIV Study Bible) was discontinued, so this is a very welcome volume (and this is coming from the person who often complains that there are too many study Bible's being produced for purely monetary reasons i.e. "the Men of Faith with Brown Hair study Bible" and so on).