Mays, James Luther 1921-

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Mays, James Luther 1921-

PERSONAL:

Born 1921. Education: Holds a Ph.D.

CAREER:

Theologian, educator, writer, and editor. Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, VA, Cyrus McCormick professor of Hebrew and the Old Testament emeritus.

MEMBER:

Society of Biblical Literature (past president).

WRITINGS:

Hosea: A Commentary, Westminster Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1969.

Amos: A Commentary, Westminster Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1969.

On Building Babylon (sound recording), Thesis (Pittsburgh, PA), 1972.

(With Malcolm Boyd and Carlyle Marney) The Man in the Middle (sound recording), Thesis (Pittsburgh, PA), 1972.

Micah: A Commentary, Westminster Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1976.

Ezekiel, Second Isaiah, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1978.

(Editor) Interpreting the Gospels, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1981.

(Editor, with Paul J. Achtemeier) Interpreting the Prophets, Fortress Press (Philadelphia, PA), 1987.

(General editor) Harper's Bible Commentary, Harper & Row (San Francisco, CA), 1988.

The Lord Reigns: A Theological Handbook to the Psalms, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1994.

Psalms, John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 1994.

(Editor, with David L. Petersen and Kent Harold Richards) Old Testament Interpretation: Past, Present, and Future: Essays in Honor of Gene M. Tucker, Abingdon Press (Nashville, TN), 1995.

(General editor) The HarperCollins Bible Commentary revised edition, HarperSanFrancisco (San Francisco, CA), 2000.

Preaching and Teaching the Psalms, edited by Patrick D. Miller and Gene M. Tucker, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

James Luther Mays is a theologian and educator who has written and edited numerous books and commentaries on writings in the Bible. Mays is the general editor of The HarperCollins Bible Commentary. The book covers the entire Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the books of the Apocrypha. The HarperCollins Bible Commentary also includes general essays that place the Bible in literary, cultural, and historical context. Major sections of the Bible are introduced by individual articles; and eighty-three biblical scholars, all members of the Society of Biblical Literature, provide commentaries on individual books within the Bible. A contributor to the Books of the Bible Web site referred to The HarperCollins Bible Commentary as "the most up-to-date reference book of its kind for understanding and interpreting the meaning of the Bible," adding: "The accessible and highly readable format sets a new standard for excellence."

The 2006 book Preaching and Teaching the Psalms, edited by Patrick D. Miller and Gene M. Tucker, presents some of Mays's most influential ideas about the psalms and his views on how Old Testament poetry can be taught and preached in church. The editors have brought together many of the author's writings and sermons that treat the ancient texts not just as an area of scholarly study but as the basis for prayer and faith in the modern church. Writing in the book's foreword, Miller and Tucker note: "It is not often that a scholar of Mays's renown for his work on a particular book of the Bible will expose himself also in the preaching of that book. Happily, this collection leads finally in exactly that direction." The editors go on to note in the foreword: "Here, in this volume, he goes all the way, and we hear this master interpreter preach the word, listening to and proclaiming the psalms in the light of the gospel, the whole of Scripture, and the human situation."

Like the book's editors, Kristin J. Wendland, writing in Currents in Theology and Mission, had high praise for Mays's writings and sermons concerning the Psalms. Wendland wrote: "As one reads this volume, it quickly becomes clear that James L. Mays not only has a deep respect for the book of Psalms but also has lived with and prayed with the book of Psalms." Wendland went on in the same review to comment that the author's "solid scholarship and eye toward faith practice is well worth reading."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Mays, James Luther, Preaching and Teaching the Psalms, edited by Patrick D. Miller and Gene M. Tucker, Westminster John Knox Press (Louisville, KY), 2006.

Miller, Donald G., editor, The Hermeneutical Quest: Essays in Honor of James Luther Mays on His Sixty-fifth Birthday, Pickwick Publications (Allison Park, PA), 1986.

PERIODICALS

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January, 1996, Harry P. Nasuti, review of Psalms, p. 124; July, 1996, Anthony R. Ceresko, review of The Lord Reigns: A Theological Handbook to the Psalms, p. 581; January, 1997, Julia M. O'Brien, review of Old Testament Interpretation: Past, Present, and Future: Essays in Honor of Gene M. Tucker, p. 198.

Currents in Theology and Religion, August, 2007, Kristin J. Wendland, review of Preaching and Teaching the Psalms.

Journal of Biblical Literature, spring, 1998, review of Old Testament Interpretation, p. 178.

Theology Today, July, 1989, Frank J. Matera, review of Harper's Bible Commentary, p. 212; October 1, 1995, review of The Lord Reigns, p. 402.