Bibliography: History of Interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount

An annotated bibliography for the Sermon on the Mount (= SM) and the history of its interpretation

Carter, Warren, 1955- . What are they saying about Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount? (New York: Paulist Press, 1994).
A simple introduction to critical scholarship of the Sermon.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .C35 1994
Kissinger, Warren S., 1922- . Sermon on the Mount: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography. (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1975).
Bibliographical study.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .K5 1975
Bauman, Clarence. Sermon on the Mount: The Modern Quest for its Meaning. (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1985).
Summaries of issues and approaches regarding the Sermon from Tolstoy to the present, with emphasis on issues of practicality and relevance.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .B37 1985
Patte, Daniel. Discipleship according to the Sermon on the Mount: Four Legitimate Readings, Four Plausible Views of Discipleship, and their Relative Values. (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press International, 1996).
Daniel Patte presents four ways of looking at the SM as delineations of discipleship: ethical, narrative, figurative, and thematic. See my longer summary.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .P27 1996
Betz, Hans Dieter. Sermon on the Mount: A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, including the Sermon on the Plain (Matthew 5:3-7:27 and Luke 6:20-49); edited by Adela Y. Collins (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995).
This is the culmination of Betz’ decades of study of the Sermon on the Mount. It also includes commentary on the Sermon on the Plain. It is a large book.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .B484 1995
Betz, Hans Dieter. Essays on the Sermon on the Mount. Tr. by Laurence Welborn (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985).
Early studies by Betz.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .B48 1985
Pelikan, Jaroslav, 1923-2006. Divine Rhetoric: The Sermon on the Mount as Message and as Model in Augustine, Chrysostom, and Luther (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001, 2000).
Pelikan explores issues of rhetoric in three major interpretations of the Sermon on the Mount: the sermons of Chrysostom, Augustine, and Luther. While the book focuses on rhetoric, he also provides good introduction to the three interpreters.
Van Pelt Library: BR115.R55 P45 2001
Dibelius, Martin, 1883-1947. Sermon on the Mount (New York: C. Scribner’s sons, 1940).
Commentary by one of the founders of form criticism.
Van Pelt Library: BT380 .D5
Lapide, Pinchas, 1922- . Sermon on the Mount, Utopia or Program for Action? Translated from the German by Arlene Swidler (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1986).
A contemporary Jewish interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount.
“What are all the imperatives of the Instruction on the Mount if not a concerted call to absolute fulfillment of the Torah in its original meaning, the concrete teaching of the all-encompassing love of God and love of neighbor?” (37).
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .L3313 1986
Davies, William David, 1911- . Setting of the Sermon on the Mount (Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1989, 1964).
Davies argues for the strong Jewish roots of Jesus’ preaching.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .D37 1989
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 1906-1945. Discipleship, translated from the German edition edited by Martin Kuske and Ilse Tödt; English edition edited by Geffrey B. Kelly and John D. Godsey; translated by Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001).

A significant part of this book is Bonhoeffer’s popular interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount.

This is a recent translation of Bonhoeffer’s Nachfolge. This edition contains relatively extensive comments in footnotes. An earlier, popular translation is entitled The Cost of Discipleship.

Van Pelt Library: BR45 .B6513 1996 v.4
Kierkegaard, Søren, 1813-1855. Christian Discourses and the Lilies of the Field and the Birds of the Air and Three Discourses at the Communion on Fridays, translated with an introd. by Walter Lowrie (New York: Oxford University Press, 1952, 1940).
Van Pelt Library: 119 K546.24.EL
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount drawn from the writings of St. Augustine: with an introductory essay on Augustine as an interpreter of Scripture. translated and edited by Richard Chenevix Trench. 4th ed., rev. London: Macmillan, 1881.
Van Pelt Library: 225.141 T727
Augustine, Saint, Bishop of Hippo. Lord’s Sermon on the mount, tr. by John J. Jepson, with an introd. and notes by the editors. Westminster, Md., Newman Press, 1948.
Van Pelt Library: BR60 .A35 no.5
Friedlander, Gerald, 1871-1923. Jewish sources of the Sermon on the Mount. New York, Ktav Pub. House, 1969.
Van Pelt Library: BT380 .F67 1969
Meistad, Tore, 1942- . Martin Luther and John Wesley on the Sermon on the mount. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1999.
Van Pelt Library: BX8495.W5 M39 1999
Strecker, Georg, 1929-1994. Sermon on the mount: an exegetical commentary; translated by O.C. Dean Jr. Nashville: Abingdon Press, c1988.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .S8713 1988
Becker, Hans-Jürgen and Serge Ruzer, eds. Sermon on the mount and its Jewish setting. Paris: Gabalda, 2005.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.2 .S47 2005
Hogan, Martin. Sermon on the mount in St. Ephrem’s Commentary on the Diatessaron. Bern; New York: P. Lang, 1999.
Van Pelt Library: BS2550.T2 H75 1999
Greenman, Jeffrey P.; Timothy Larsen; Stephen R. Spencer; eds. Sermon on the Mount through the centuries. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, c2007.
This is a survey of some major Christian interpreters of the Sermon on the Mount, including John Chrysostom, Augustine, Hugh of St. Victor, Dante and Chaucer, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, C. H. Spurgeon, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John Howard Yoder, John Paul II, Leonardo Boff, and John R. W. Stott.
Van Pelt Library: BT380.3 .R43 2007
Jeremias, Joachim, 1900- . Sermon on the Mount. Translated by Norman Perrin. Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1963.
Van Pelt Library: 225.141 J473.2.EP
Calvin, Jean, 1509-1564. Sermons on the Beatitudes: five sermons from the Gospel Harmony, delivered in Geneva in 1560.
translated into English by Robert White. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2006.
Van Pelt Library: BT382 .C34 2006
Stoutenburg, Dennis. With one voice: the Sermon on the mount and rabbinic literature = B’qol echad. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1996.
Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Library: CJS BT380.2 .S865 1996
Davies, William David, 1911- . Critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, by W.D. Davies and Dale C. Allison. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988.
A critical commentary on Matthew from the International Critical Commentary (ICC) series. The Sermon on the Mount is included in Volume 1. Davies previously wrote the seminal study on the Sermon and the Mount and its setting.
Van Pelt Library: BS2575.3 .D38 1988
Simonetti, Manlio, ed. Matthew 1-13. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001.
This is the first volume in the series, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. It is a modern “catena,” a collection of noteworthy comments on verses in Matthew by church writers from the first century through the eighth. Each section is introduced by a summary, and then you see English translations of the comments from a fair variety of church writers.
Van Pelt Library: BS2575.3 .M29 2001
Luz, Ulrich. Matthew: a commentary. Translated by Wilhelm C. Linss. (v. 1) Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989.
An impressive commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, translated into English for the Hermeneia series. This commentary discusses the meaning of each section with reference to Jesus, with reference to Matthew’s community, and with reference to its influence. Volume 1 contains the Sermon on the Mount.
Van Pelt Library: BS2575.3 .L8913 1989
Carter, Warren, 1955- . Matthew and the margins: a sociopolitical and religious reading. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2000.
Carter’s commentary on the Gospel of Matthew has a sociopolitical emphasis.
Van Pelt Library: BS2575.3 .C38 2000
Becker, Hans‐Jürgen and Serge Ruzer, eds. The Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting. Series: Cahiers de la Revue biblique, 0575-0741; 60. Paris: Gabalda, 2005.
Relatively recent
Van Pelt Library. BT380.2 .S47 2005