ROME: 9th February 2005 --  We have become accustomed to noting and reading books and articles on New Testament themes by Francis J. Moloney sdb.  It should be no surprise that someone (someones, in fact) should also put together a book in honour of the same FJM.

    Transcending Boundaries: Contemporary readings of the New Testament is just such a book, published by LAS - Roma in February 2005 as publication no. 187 in the Biblioteca di Scienze Religiose collection.  The work is edited by Rekha M. Chennattu and Mary L. Coloe and is subtitled as 'Essays in honor of Francis J. Moloney'.  The very human occasion chosen for this Festschrift is Frank's 65th birthday.

    Transcending Boundaries contains chapters by distinguished biblical scholars from around the world, including Australian scholars.  The very breadth of scholarship here models the title, coming as it does not only from well-known centres (and names) of biblical research such as Joseph Fitzmeyer of CUA Washington, but from West Africa (Martin Asiedu-Peprah), New Zealand (Elaine Wainwright) and India (Rekha M. Chennattu).  While many of the contributors are Catholic scholars, Robert Kysar, Dorothy Lee, John Painter are amongst names representing biblical scholarship from a much wider spectrum.  Of the 17 chapters, at least 10 take the Gospel of John as their starting point.

    The editors of the collection have chosen the phrase transcending boundaries with due deliberation, for it is their belief that Frank Moloney stands out amongst his peers for just this: boundaries at almost any level one can think of, be they cultural, geographical-spatial, methodological or, as Mary Coloe herself puts it, 'as teacher, Doktorvater, colleague and especially friend, he has encouraged and enabled my own ventures into Johanine research, publishing and teaching.  In this regard Frank has transcended a further boundary, that of gender, and may rightly be called midwife to the birthing of many new scholars throughout his long years of doctoral supervision."

 

The title carries the ISBN number 88-213-0565-1