I don’t know what your mad at. I said I liked it. I gave my reasons for concern. That was the reason for the question. There are Catholics I don’t agree with. Hello Hans Kung.
I’m not going to read a car manual about a Ford if I want to know about a Datsun. It was good but Romans is the famous Faith and Works book. I WANT TO READ A CATHOLIC COMMENTARY ABOUT ROMANS.
Sorry.
I get a little (?) perturbed when a person (not you in particular) find fault with authors and scholars of religions other than their own, basing their beliefs on just the religion of that author or scholar, or on what other people may have said about him/her. We tend to pre-judge based on labels, rather than through critical analysis. A Lutheran, Methodist, Anglican or Church of Scotland scholar can have just as good of an insight into books and passages of the Bible as a Catholic scholar.
That is why I recommend you continue reading Barclay, and since you know his background now, you will be in a better position to notice anything that may appear to conflict with Catholic teaching (which from my perspective is quite minimal). Most of what he writes ABOUT the passages themselves involves translations of terms used, the context of the situation or parable, and the possible meanings. He often references what others in the past, including “Catholic” commentators and the Church Fathers, have to say about it. He is rarely preachy. If you read his commentaries and others on the same books by Catholic authors, you should find some great similarities, and not that much that is contradictory. And again, many recent Catholic scholars studied Barclay in developing their own views on interpreting bible passages, and reference him extensively.
My point is not to be fearful of reading William Barclay’s commentaries. They are highly unlikely to lead any fairly intelligent Catholics astray. So read Barclay and a commentary by a Catholic scholar. Read several. Each one may increase your understanding and deepen your faith. Good reading.
Regarding which forum the question could have been in, I would think that “Apologetics - Sacred Scripture”, which often has discussions about bible interpretation, would be the best place. That it was in this forum led me to believe you were looking for (name removed by moderator)ut from people of Protestant faiths as well as from Catholics.
NOTE on “Catholic Teaching” - Many Catholic scholars, from the earliest times, have indeed commented on and interpreted books of the bible. However, that does not make their writings official Catholic teaching. For one, it is difficult to form definitive teachings, other than about the basic doctrines, for the writings in the Bible, since they are so vast and varied. Second, it would take decades, if not centuries, to sort out which “teachings” would become “official”, since there so many different views about bible passages and those views have developed over time. Whose views would be correct? Which century’s views would be correct? Third, the views of even the greatest of Catholic scholars, such as St. John Chrysostom, are still their own interpretations. They can be used to teach and study about the bible, but they are not definitively held teachings.
