A Lector's Guide and Commentary to the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C) - Softcover

J. Ted Blakley (M.Div., Ph.D.) received his doctoral degree in Biblical Studies from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Currently, he serves as a scholar in residence for St. Mark's Press in Wichita, Kansas, where he and his wife, Rebekah, reside with their three children: Emma, Thaddaeus, and Esther.

Dr. Blakley provides an invaluable resource for the Church. With masterful brevity and just the right amount of scholarship, he locates the assigned text within its literary context, the biblical narrative, and the liturgical theme of the day. After identifying the salient thoughts, he prudently suggests where and how to bring the text alive for the Church. Finally the scholar, the liturgist, the rhetorician, the lector, and the pew sitter are united! All of our lectors will have a copy. --The Rev. Jim Clark (Rector, Saint Barnabas on the Desert Episcopal Parish)

It is a wonderful privilege to belong to a church that uses a lectionary rather than relying on a narrow range of scriptures chosen by the pastor, but the other side of the privilege is that we read all sorts of passages without being sure what they are about. It is a huge privilege to read scripture in church, and these introductions will help readers do so in a way that brings the passage home to the people. They will help preachers too. --The Rev. Dr. John Goldingay (Old Testament Professor, Fuller Theological Seminary) --.
THE SCARED LECTOR mounts the steps, adjusts behind the eagle or the angel or the plain old book stand and squeaks out the Epistle, never having seen the passage before. J. Ted Blakley's A Lector's Guide and Commentary is here to help that reader. A mighty help it should prove to all readers, because it has everything we need to make readings meaningful. Blakley, who serves as scholar in residence for St. Mark's Press, joined his love and study of the Bible to his appreciation of good oral interpretation to create this good guide to correspond with General Convention's adoption of the Revised Common Lectionary in 2006. More than that practicality, he sees A Lector's Guide and Commentary as a loving and useful way "of putting the Bible back into the hands of God's people." Blakley's commentaries include cross references to connected biblical passages. He provides a table of contents, a Scripture index and a pronunciation guide (even to the seemingly simple Mary (MAIR-ee) and Martha (MAHR-thuh) and Ham (HAM). To him "biblical texts are not dead or inert" but "dynamic, alive and rich with meaning." Blakley includes mini oral-interpretation lessons on how to read the propers with proper attention to pacing and inflecting, without dramatic hand gestures. For example, he counsels lectors reading I Corinthians 11:23-26 that the words are Paul's, not Jesus' own, so an informative tone is better. Blakley's tone is supportive and encouraging, sometimes wry; his style, always plain and clear. Though learned, he uses the weapon of erudition only for good. A Lector's Guide should help all lectors, even if they never thought they could be one; it also would work for Bible classes or personal study, It's a keeper. --reviewed by Martha K. Baker --(This review, in its entirety, appeared in the October 2009 issue of Episcopal Life (p. 19) and has been posted here with permission.

THE SCARED LECTOR mounts the steps, adjusts behind the eagle or the angel or the plain old book stand and squeaks out the Epistle, never having seen the passage before. J. Ted Blakley's A Lector's Guide and Commentary is here to help that reader. A mighty help it should prove to all readers, because it has everything we need to make readings meaningful.
Blakley, who serves as scholar in residence for St. Mark's Press, joined his love and study of the Bible to his appreciation of good oral interpretation to create this good guide to correspond with General Convention's adoption of the Revised Common Lectionary in 2006. More than that practicality, he sees A Lector's Guide and Commentary as a loving and useful way "of putting the Bible back into the hands of God's people."
--This review, in its entirety, appeared in The Living Church magazine on September 13, 2009 (pp. 8 9) and has been posted here with permission.

THE SCARED LECTOR mounts the steps, adjusts behind the eagle or the angel or the plain old book stand and squeaks out the Epistle, never having seen the passage before. J. Ted Blakley's A Lector's Guide and Commentary is here to help that reader. A mighty help it should prove to all readers, because it has everything we need to make readings meaningful.
Blakley, who serves as scholar in residence for St. Mark's Press, joined his love and study of the Bible to his appreciation of good oral interpretation to create this good guide to correspond with General Convention's adoption of the Revised Common Lectionary in 2006. More than that practicality, he sees A Lector's Guide and Commentary as a loving and useful way "of putting the Bible back into the hands of God's people."
Blakley's commentaries include cross references to connected biblical passages. He provides a table of contents, a Scripture index and a pronunciation guide (even to the seemingly simple Mary (MAIR-ee) and Martha (MAHR-thuh) and Ham (HAM).
To him "biblical texts are not dead or inert" but "dynamic, alive and rich with meaning." Blakley includes mini oral-interpretation lessons on how to read the propers with proper attention to pacing and inflecting, without dramatic hand gestures. For example, he counsels lectors reading I Corinthians 11: 23 26 that the words are Paul's, not Jesus' own, so an informative tone is better.
Blakley's tone is supportive and encouraging, sometimes wry; his style, always plain and clear. Though learned, he uses the weapon of erudition only for good.
A Lector's Guide should help all lectors, even if they never thought they could be one; it also would work for Bible classes or personal study, It's a keeper. --reviewed by Martha K. Baker. --This review, in its entirety, appeared in the October 2009 issue of Episcopal Life (p. 19) and has been posted here with permission.