A COMPLETE ORTHODOX COMMENTARY ON GENESIS How did the Orthodox Christian tradition understand creation, Adam and Eve, the Fall, Noah’s Flood, Abraham, the patriarchs, and the promises that shape the biblical story? Orthodox Explanatory Bible: Genesis presents a new English translation of the complete Genesis commentary edited by A. P. Lopukhin in the theological tradition of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Written as a serious yet accessible guide to Holy Scripture, this substantial volume follows Genesis verse by verse from “In the beginning” through the death of Joseph. Lopukhin brings the biblical text into conversation with the Holy Fathers, the Septuagint, Hebrew and Slavonic traditions, ancient translations, history, archaeology, geography, and the biblical scholarship of his period. The result is a richly layered Orthodox study that is theological, historical, devotional, and apologetic. EXPLORE THE FOUNDATIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE • The creation of heaven and earth • The six days of creation • The image and likeness of God in man • Adam and Eve, Paradise, temptation, and the Fall • Cain and Abel and the earliest generations • Noah, the Ark, the Flood, and the covenant • The Tower of Babel and the dispersion of nations • Abraham’s calling, faith, covenant, and descendants • Melchizedek, sacrifice, circumcision, and prophecy • Isaac, Jacob, Esau, Joseph, and the formation of Israel • Biblical geography, ancient customs, and difficult passages • Connections between Genesis and the New Testament MORE THAN A GENERAL BIBLE STUDY This work is an extensive chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse commentary intended for sustained reading, teaching, and reference. The translation preserves the sequence and substance of the historic Russian work while presenting it in readable contemporary English. Scripture passages within the commentary are translated from the Russian source rather than substituted from a modern copyrighted English Bible. Readers will encounter interpretations associated with Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Basil the Great, Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Augustine, Blessed Theodoret, and other Christian writers. The commentary also explains Hebrew and Greek terms, compares ancient biblical versions, and records the historical and scholarly discussions of its age. PREPARED FOR SERIOUS READERS • Orthodox Christians studying the Old Testament • Clergy, catechists, seminarians, and theology students • Bible-study groups and adult religious education classes • Readers studying creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the patriarchs • Christians interested in patristic interpretation and the Septuagint • Researchers seeking a substantial Orthodox commentary THIS EDITION INCLUDES • The complete introduction to Genesis • Commentary on all fifty chapters • A new English translation • Orthodox theological terminology • A detailed Scripture Index • An extensive Subject Index • Editorial and source notes • More than 400 pages of biblical exposition Genesis is the book of beginnings: the beginning of creation, humanity, sin, covenant, sacrifice, promise, and the history of salvation. This first English edition opens a major work of Russian Orthodox biblical interpretation to a new readership and provides a lasting companion for the close study of the first book of Holy Scripture. Discover Genesis through the depth of the Orthodox interpretive tradition.
