Charlie Hadjiev, from Bulgaria, is an editor of the Central Eastern European Bible Commentary (CEEBC). He’s very excited about helping believers in his region understand the Bible and relate it to their lives.
Langham Literature has embarked on this multi-year project to put together a one-volume commentary on the Old and New Testaments. Central and Eastern European Scholars are writing the commentary for their region.
The goal is to help pastors, preachers and lay leaders in interpreting and applying biblical truth in the ever-changing contexts of their lives and communities.
Currently, full drafts of nine New Testament and ten Old Testament commentaries have been submitted and three commentaries are with the General Editor.
Praise and gratitude
Katharina Penner is the coordinator of the CEEBC.
Katharina Penner, the project’s coordinator, said recently that this is a “matter of praise of gratitude”. However, she asked us to pray for some issues and concerns:
“There are five commentaries where, in spite of elapsed deadlines, authors have not sent any text so far.
“We need much wisdom to encourage them helpfully, finding exactly the right balance of how much pressure to put on them.
New authors needed
“We are still searching for authors for three Old Testament books. And two authors have said they will only be able to write a commentary on one of the two books for which they had signed a contract. This means that two more Bible books are in need of a new author.”
Katharina also asked us to pray that all the authors would “pay sufficient attention to contextualisation”.
“For people from the outside, it is obvious that Central and Eastern European Christians are distinct and special. They are neither like the church in the formerly Soviet republics, nor anything like the church in the West.
Unique contribution
Christians in Central and Eastern Europe are unique.
“But for some Central and Eastern European Christians themselves, including some of our authors, it seems to be difficult to perceive and accept.
“So please pray that they can formulate in words the unique contribution that the Central Eastern European church has to offer to worldwide Christianity.”
The CEEBC will include about 100 articles on various regional issues related to a Christian’s spiritual and practical life. 16 of these articles are already in the editing process, for which we should be thankful to God.
So, please continue to pray for the CEEBC, which is set to be completed in late 2021/early 2022. If you do not already financially support this project, please prayerfully consider making a donation.
