# Gordon Fee



## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 1, 2007)

Has anyone read any books by Gordon Fee? His books on Paul's Christology and the Holy Spirit in Paul's letters look impressive, are they worth reading?


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## tellville (Nov 1, 2007)

I read his new book on Bible translation. I liked it, though I think most people here would hate it. I also have read his book on NT exegesis and find it excellent.


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## etexas (Nov 1, 2007)

I thought Fee was Charismatic.....I have been wrong before!


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## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 1, 2007)

tellville said:


> I read his new book on Bible translation. I liked it, though I think most people here would hate it. I also have read his book on NT exegesis and find it excellent.



Is the one on exegesis that book _How to Read the Bible for all its worth_? I have read bits of it; it seems pretty good.


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## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 1, 2007)

etexas said:


> I thought Fee was Charismatic.....I have been wrong before!



No idea, he might be, though that would not affect all his books. Though now that you mention it, I remember him making a comment in HTRTBFAIW about that verse in 1 Cor. 13 - which talks about that which is perfect making prophecy redundant - not referring to the close of the Canon.


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## etexas (Nov 1, 2007)

Daniel Ritchie said:


> etexas said:
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> > I thought Fee was Charismatic.....I have been wrong before!
> ...


Well, long ago I heard someone refer to him as being a very good Theologian despite Charismatic leanings...like I say it was a long time ago and I don't know much about Fee.


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## timmopussycat (Nov 1, 2007)

Daniel Ritchie said:


> tellville said:
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> 
> > I read his new book on Bible translation. I liked it, though I think most people here would hate it. I also have read his book on NT exegesis and find it excellent.
> ...



Dr. Fee was my teacher of NT Exegesis at Regent College. "How to Read the Bible for all its worth" is written for laymen. His more detailed book, New Testament Exegesis, is designed for seminarians and is used as a textbook in a number of seminaries. The third edition was published by Westminster John Knox Press in 2002. It has been called "a masterly step-by-step introduction to the interpretive process from beginning to end" and "a classic work" by other teachers in the discipline. 

Perhaps the best testimony to its worth is my own. I came to Regent as a convinced charismatic believing in women in leadership. Applying the principles Dr. Fee taught me to analyzing the key texts in both controversies led me to abandon the latter position and hold the former far more critically, outcomes that contradicted Dr. Fee's own views.


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## etexas (Nov 1, 2007)

timmopussycat said:


> Daniel Ritchie said:
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> > tellville said:
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So Tim...is he Charimatic?


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## timmopussycat (Nov 1, 2007)

etexas said:


> timmopussycat said:
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> > Daniel Ritchie said:
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It has been over a decade since I talked to him on these subjects but unless he has changed dramatically he would, I think, describe his non-cessationist position as Biblical Pentecostal rather than charismatic. That said, he does not buy the Pentecostal shibbeleth that everyone filled with the Holy Spirit must speak in tongues. And he certainly wouldn't buy into excesses such as the "Word of Faith" group or TBN types. So I wouldn't apply the charismatic label to him.


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## timmopussycat (Nov 1, 2007)

Daniel Ritchie said:


> etexas said:
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> 
> > I thought Fee was Charismatic.....I have been wrong before!
> ...



It is worth noting that he also wrote one of the great commentaries on 1 Corinthians and his commentary discussion on that point is quite good


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## etexas (Nov 1, 2007)

timmopussycat said:


> etexas said:
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> > timmopussycat said:
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Good nuff.....just wondered.


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## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 1, 2007)

So from what I gather here, the _God's Empowering Presence _(or is it Spirit?) book would probably take a Pentecostal line.


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## mvdm (Nov 1, 2007)

For what it's worth, I would note that Fee endorsed that abominable book by Peterson-- "The Message".


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## DMcFadden (Nov 1, 2007)

Fee holds his ordination from the Assemblies of God and dubs himself a Pentecostal. However, he is a strong opponent of the prosperity preachers and questions a number of specific AG doctrines.


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## RamistThomist (Nov 1, 2007)

I really didn't like How to Read the Bible for All its Worth, but mainly for stylistic reasons. However, I did enjoy reading his one on New Testament exegesis. In fact, I read several parts of it 2 or 3 times. 

I had always assumed he was charismatic, not that it bothered me. Regardless, he is one of the top conservative NT scholars today.


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## SolaScriptura (Nov 1, 2007)

Fee's commentary on Philippians in the NICNT series is my absolute favorite. Check it out!


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## tellville (Nov 2, 2007)

mvdm said:


> For what it's worth, I would note that Fee endorsed that abominable book by Peterson-- "The Message".



Well Eugene Peterson is a colleague of his at Regent, so I would imagine that plays a role in it. Fee also was a key part of the TNIV translation. Fee supports dynamic equivalence translation, though in his book on translation he doesn't recommend the Message as a study bible and encourages the reading of several translations. 

I had to go to Regent the other day to pick up some dissertations from the library. Regent sure has one awesome bookstore!


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## Reformed Covenanter (Nov 2, 2007)

mvdm said:


> For what it's worth, I would note that Fee endorsed that abominable book by Peterson-- "The Message".



Thanks for pointing this out; to endorse "The Message" is highly unwise.


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## Sydnorphyn (Nov 2, 2007)

*Fee*



Daniel Ritchie said:


> Has anyone read any books by Gordon Fee? His books on Paul's Christology and the Holy Spirit in Paul's letters look impressive, are they worth reading?



I have read and used his materials in classes on NT interpretation, I find it/them helpful


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## mvdm (Nov 2, 2007)

tellville said:


> mvdm said:
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> > For what it's worth, I would note that Fee endorsed that abominable book by Peterson-- "The Message".
> ...



True they are colleagues, but I'd think that should have been an occasion for him to *dissuade* his friend from publishing that misleading mess. The Message goes far beyond a dynamic equivalence translation, but rather is merely Peterson's paraphrase which was NOT marketed as such.


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## A5pointer (Nov 2, 2007)

I found his commentary on 1 Corinthians to be very good.


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## JohnOwen007 (Nov 2, 2007)

A5pointer said:


> I found his commentary on 1 Corinthians to be very good.



I must confess that I don't really go for his commentary on 1 Cor (better ones have been written since his, namely Garland and Thiselton). I was particularly annoyed that he thinks 1 Cor. 14:33b-36 wasn't written by Paul but is a later addition! Not encouraging.

Fee, at times, is an incredibly incisive exegete, but at other times makes some downright bizarre exegetical decisions. For example, he takes Rom. 8:26 ("the Spirit intercedes for us") as about speaking in tongues!


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## etexas (Nov 2, 2007)

JohnOwen007 said:


> A5pointer said:
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> > I found his commentary on 1 Corinthians to be very good.
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To be honest....this (his Pentecostal infuence) was what made me raise the question in my first post.


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## AV1611 (Nov 2, 2007)

JohnOwen007 said:


> I was particularly annoyed that he thinks 1 Cor. 14:33b-36 wasn't written by Paul but is a later addition!



That's scholars for you


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## py3ak (Nov 4, 2007)

N.T. Wright likes Fee's book on the Spirit in Paul.

I didn't like HTRTBFAIW. It seemed to me that his approach has you shake and shake and shake the little cardboard box of Scripture until at long last perhaps you could one dry, shrivelled raisin you could easily mistake for a dead fly with its wings plucked off by a cruel boy. On the other hand, you read, say, Matthew Henry, and Scripture seems like a fruitful bough from which you can obtain rich clusters of fruit.


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