The Sermon on the Mount,  a bibliography

An annotated bibliography

The comments on this bibliography aim to include information on some, or all, of the following:

  • the background of author;
  • the work's intended audience and/or purpose;
  • its relevance to the Sermon on the Mount.

Citation style

This bibliography, and the site in general, follows Society for Biblical Literature Manual of Style for its citations as far as is practicable. SBL style is:

For those wanting a comprehensive basic bibliography for the Sermon on the Mount, one can be found on the web site of Claire and Lorin Cranford, at cranfordville.com/NT-BiblioSerMt.html

Classification of sources

A rough category has been assigned to each item in the bibliography. These naturally blur into one another, and reflect the style, or source, of the work rather than an assessment of its value. 

Bibliography

A

À Lapide, Cornelius Cornelii. The Great Commentary of Cornelius À Lapide. Translated by Thomas W. Mossman. 4th edition. 8 vols. London: John Hodges, 1890. Cited 4 Nov. 2009. Online:http://www.catholicapologetics.info/scripture/newtestament/Lapide.htm. À Lapide (1557-1637) was a Flemish Jesuit and exegete who produced commentaries on most of the canon.
Allison, Dale C. The New Moses: A Matthean Typology. Edinburgh: T. Clarke, 1993. Touches on the parallels between Moses receipt of the Law at Mt. Sinai and Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Allison, Dale C. The Sermon on the Mount: Inspiring the Moral Imagination. New York: Crossroad, 1999. Seeks to set the Sermon into the broader literary context of the Matthew’s Gospel as a whole, with its Jewish Christian orientation, whilst also taking account of Jesus’ words and deeds elsewhere in the Gospel, the community of believers that constitutes Matthew’s intended audience and the Gospel’s other teaching concerning the end of the age.

Aquinas, Thomas. Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected Out of the Works of the Fathers by S. Thomas Aquinas. Translated by Mark Pattison, J. D. Dalgrins, and T. D. Ryder. Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1841-45. Cited 4 Nov 2009. Online: http://www.op-stjoseph.org/Students/study/thomas/. Aquinas (1225-74) was a renowned Dominican theologian and philosopher. This work is an anthology of comments gleaned from earlier writers.

Arnold, Eberhard. Salt and Light: Living the Sermon on the Mount. EastSussex, England:Plough, 1998. Arnold (1883-1935), was a German writer, theologian and philosopher who founded a community based on the Sermon that lives on today in the various Bruderhof communities. This collection of talks and essays providing insights into the author’s approach to living out the Sermon.

Atkyns, Martyn. Sermon on the Mount: Following Jesus in Today's World. Cambridge, UK:Foundery, 2002. 104 pgs. As at Nov 2011, Atkyns was General Secretary of the UK Methodist Church.

Augustine, Aurelius. Sancti Aurelii Augustini de Sermone Domini in Monte Libros Duos. Edited by Almut Mutzenbecher. Corpus Christorum, Series Latina 35. Turnholt: Brepolis. 1967.  

Augustine, Aurelius. On the Sermon on the Mount. Translated by William Findlay. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Cited 2 Sep 2009. Online:http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1601.htm. Two book commentary from one of the most highly respected early churchmen. Augustine was Bishop of Hippo. Book one covers Matthew 5, Book 2 addresses Matthew 6 and 7. Augustine held that the sermon was a perfect standard of the Christian life.

Augustine, Aurelius. Commentary on the Lords Sermon on the Mount. Translated by Denis J. Kavanagh. Washington:The Catholic University of America Press, 1951. 382 pp.

Augustine, Aurelius and Richard Chenevix Trench. 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.  4th ed. London : Macmillan, 1881. Trench (1807-1886) was a theologian at Kings College London and later an Anglican archbishop.

Aune, David E. ed., The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study: Studies in Memory of William G. Thompson. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001. A scholarly exploration of the pastoral and academic aspects of the study of Matthew’s Gospel which provides introduction to contemporary Matthean studies.

B

Barclay, William. The Gospel of Matthew. Daily Study Bible; Westminster: John Knox, 2001. Commentary from a Church of Scotland minister and former Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at the University of Glasgow. Views the Sermon as a later compilation of excerpts from Jesus teaching. Paperback edition, of 1975 hardcover edition.

Bauman, Clarence. Sermon on the Mount: The Modern Quest for its Meaning. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1985.  

Becker, Hans-Jürgen and Serge Ruzer eds. Sermon on the Mount and its Jewish Setting.    
Cahiers de la Revue biblique 60. Paris: Gabalda, 2005. Pp. 263.

Bennett, John Godolphin. Sermon on the Mount. Bovingdon, England:Shantock, c1974?. Bennett (1897-1974) was a student of eastern mysticism (especially Buddhism and Sufi techniques) who toyed with founding a community based upon his understanding of the Sermon. This was probably published around 1974 when he was taking active steps to promote this goal.

Bennett, John Godolphin. Needs of a New Age Community. The Transformation of Man Series. Vol. 7. Sherborne, England: Coombe Springs, 1977. Said to contain Bennett’s commentaries on the Sermon.
Betz, Hans Dieter. “Eschatology in the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain.” Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers. (1985):343–50.  

Betz Hans Dieter. Essays on the Sermon on the Mount. Translated by L. L. Welborn. Philadelphia: Fortress. 1985.  

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). Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible. Edited by Adela Yarbro Collins. Ausberg: Fortress, 1995. A 695 page scholarly commentary. There is a review at the Review of Biblical Literature site. Betz portrays the Sermon as a catechism, produced for a section of the early church who were advanced in their observance of Jewish law, then included by the writer of Matthew in its unaltered form. 

Blackall, Ofspring. The Works of The Right Reverend Father in God, Ofspring Blackall, D. D. Late Lord Bishop of Exeter: Consisting of Eighty Seven Practical Discourses Upon Our Saviour's Sermon on the  Mount: Together With His Sermons Preach’d at the Boyle's Lecture, in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, in the year 1700: With Several Others Upon Particular Occasions, Being All That Were Published of His Lordship. 2 Vols. Ed. William Dawes. London:Thomas Ward, 1723.  Pp 1187. Blackall (c1655 -1716) was a noted preacher in his time and his uncomplicated sermons were both expository and pastoral in style. 

Boice, James Montgomery. The Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5-7. Baker, 2006. 288 pages. Boice (1938-2000) was the pastor of Philadelphia’s inner-city Tenth Presbyterian Church (1968-2000). Non-technical verse-by-verse commentary based on Boice’s sermons and focusing upon application.

Bonhoeffer, Deitrich. The Cost of Discipleship. London: SCM, 2001. First published in translation. Reprint of The Cost of Discipleship. Translated by R. H. Fuller (with somerevision by Irmgard Booth). London: SCM Press, 1948; Translation of Nachfulge. Chr. Kaiser Verlag: Munich,1937. Popular devotional classic.

Bowman, John Wick  and Roland W. Tapp. Gospel from the Mount: a New Translation and Interpretation of Matthew, Chs. 5 to 7. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1957.  

Briscoe, Stuart. The Sermon on the Mount: Daring to be Different: Foundations of faith. Shaw (Harold), 1995. Briscoe served for many years as senior pastor of Elmbrook, a  non-denominational, evangelical megachurch in Brookfield, Wisconsin, before moving into an itinerate ministry.

Bultmann, Rudolf. The History of the Synoptic Tradition. Translated by John Marsh. New York: Harper & Row, 1963; Translation of Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition. 1921; 2nd ed. 1958. Early form-critical assessment of the Synoptic Gospels.

Burns, Jim. The Word on the Sermon on the Mount. Pulse: Youthbuilders Group Bible Studies, Vol. 12. Ventura, Calif.:Regal, 2000. Pp. 216. As at 2010 Burns was the President of the YouthBuilders, formerly the National Institute of Youth Ministry.

Buttrick, David. Speaking Jesus: Homiletic Theology and the Sermon on the Mount. Louisville, ky.: Westminster John Knox, 2002. Butterick is Drucilla Moore Buffington Professor of Homilitics and Liturgics, Emeritus, at Vanderbilt Divinty School. This book is a preaching commentary.

Byargeon, Rick W. “Echoes of Wisdom in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9-13)”. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society Volume 41, 2 (1998):344-365. Around this time Byargeon was assistant professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. This paper reviews suggestions that the Lord’s Prayer was inspired by the prayers of Judaism, before suggesting an alternative inspiration from the book of Proverbs.

C

Calvin, Jean. 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. Jean Cauvin (1509-1564), known in English as John Calvin, was an influential reformation theologian and founder of a branch of theology.

Carter, Warren.  What are They Saying About Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount? Mahwah, New York: Paulist, 1994. Carter (1955- ) is an ordained United Methodist Elder and a Texas based New Testament scholar. His book is a summary of critical scholarship on the Sermon from the latter twentieth century.

Carter, Warren,  Matthew and the Margins: a Sociopolitical and Religious Reading. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2000.  

Carson, Donald A. Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World: An Exposition of Matthew 5-10. Grand Rapids, Mi: Global Christian, 2000. Re-issue of a popular book, The Sermon on the Mount, 1978 combined with a second book treating the subject from a more theological perspective, When Jesus Confronts the World, 1978. Carson is a prominent, conservative scholar and (as at 2009) research professor of the New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Chambers, Oswold. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount: God’s Character and the Believer’s Conduct. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1960; Grand Rapids, Much.: Discovery House, 1995. Pp. 96. Comprising 5 short studies first presented a God’s Bible School in Cincinnati in 1907. Chambers (1874-1917) was a preacher, writer, and evangelist.

Chrysostom, John. Homilies on Matthew. Translated by Kevin Knight. 2007. Cited 19 Oct 2007. Online:http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2001.htm. John Crysostom (c 347-407), one time Bishop of Constantinople, was a well respected and prolific preacher. Dating from around 390 C.E., he produced ten homilies that relate to the Sermon on the Mount.

Clemens, Philip K. Beyond the Law: Living the Sermon on the Mount. US:Herald, 2007.   

D

Davies, R Dowd. The Sermon on the Mount: Jesus’ Moral Values. Bloomington:iUniverse.com, 2006.  

Davies, William David. The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1964. Professor Davies (1911-2001), argued that the Sermon could not be understood in isolation from its setting in Matthew’s Gospel. He then attempt to set the Sermon in its historical Jewish context, a novel approach for its time. For him, this involves discussion of its relationship with Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus as a new Moses, other movements (Gnosticism, the Dead Sea Sect and Jamnia), the early church, and Jesus’ own ministry. His approach is summarised in his 1966 book The Sermon on the Mount.

Davies, William David, The Sermon on the Mount. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1966; Atlanta, Ga.: Scholars Press, 1989. 174 pages, in which Davies provides a simplified presentation of the theories he introduced in his 1966 book The Setting of the Sermon on the Mount (see above).

Davies, William David and Dale C. Allison. Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Vol. 1. The International Critical Commentary. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1988. Pp. 731. A critical commentary covering Matthew 1-7.

Dennis Hamm, S. J. The Beatitudes in Context: What Luke and Matthew Meant. Wilmington, Delaware: Michael Glazier, 1991.  A Catholic thelogian, S. J. Dennis Hamm held the post of Assistant Professor of Theology at Creighton University, Omaha, from 1975. At one point he was a member of the task force for Luke-Acts in the Catholic Bible Association.

Dennis Hamm, S. J. and M. Dennis Hamm. Building Our House on Rock: The Sermon on the Mount As Jesus’ Vision for Our Lives As Told by Matthew and Luke. Washington:Word Among Us, 2011.  

Derrett, John Duncan Martin. Sermon on the Mount: A Manual for Living. Northampton: Pilkington. 1994. Pp. 112. Derrett (1921-) was Professor of Oriental Laws at the University of London between 1965 and 1982 and later Emeritus Professor, specialising in the history of systems of law and in comparative religions.

Dibelius, Martin. The Sermon on the Mount. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1940. Dibelius was a German scholar and one of the founders of form criticism. In 1915 he became professor of NT at Heidelberg.

Dibelius, Martin. “Die Bergpredigt.” Botschaft und Geschichte 1. (1953):79-174.  

Dods, Marcus, James Denney and James Moffatt. The literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount. Little Books on Religion. W. Robertson Nicoll ed. London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1910. Available to download at www.archive.org. Originally published in the 1904 in the British Weekly as a result of correspondence and published as a collection by popular demand. Dods (1874-1935), Denney (1856-1917) and Moffatt (1870-1944) were theologians and ministers who shared a Scottish background, but here they address a general audience.

Doriani, Daniel M. The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple. Phillipsburg, N.J.:P&J, 2006. Doriani is (as at 2010) a pastor active within the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Dupont, J. Les béatitudes. 3 vols. Bruges and Louvain. 1954.  

E

F

Feine, P. “Ueber das gegenseitige Verhältnis der Texte der Bergpredigt bei Matthäus und bei Lukas.” Jahrbücher für protestantische Theologie 11 (1885):1–85.  

Findlay, James Alexander. The realism of Jesus: A paraphrase and exposition of the Sermon on the Mount. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1922; Kessinger, 2007. Pp. 184. Findlay (1880-1961) was Principal of Didsbury Methodist College, Manchester.
Fleer, David and Dave Bland eds. Preaching the Sermon on the Mount: the world it imagines. Saint Louis, Mo.: Chalice Press, 2007. Pp. xii + 177. A collection of essays and sermons from eighteen writers (including Stanley Hauerwas, Warren Carter and Charles L. Campbell) who tackle the Sermon as a serious proposal for an alternative society.

Fosdick, Harry Emerson. The Sermon on the Mount.  Literary Licensing, LLC, 2011. Pp. 22. Fosdick (1878 -1969), one time pastor of the Riverside inter-denominational church, was a prominent modernist and liberal thinker.
Fox, Emmet. The Sermon On The Mount: The Key to Success in Life. New York: Harper & Row, 1938. This book became well known when first released, especially amongst those involved with Alcoholics Anonymous. Thus, second-hand copies are often encountered for sale. Fox (1886-1951) was a popular speaker in the New Thought movement, a group whose metaphysical emphasis led to beliefs incompatible with those of traditional Christianity, e.g. that heaven and hell are just states of mind that we oscillate between.  

France, Richard Thomas. The Gospel According to Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary in Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Edited by Leon Morris. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1985; Paperback reprint edition. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995. Technical commentary from an Anglican Rector, an established NT scholar and former Vice Principal of London Bible College and Principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.

Friedlander, Gerald. The Jewish Sources Of The Sermon On The Mount.  New York: Bloch, 1911. Reprinted: New York: Ktav, 1969. Reprinted: New York: Ktav, 1981.  

Furguson, Sinclair B. The Sermon on the Mount: Kingdom Life in a Fallen World. Edinburgh, UK: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1987.  Non-technical commentary with the emphasis on application from a Scottish Theologian, well known in the Reformed Church. Furguson (1948-) has held positions such as the Charles Krahe Chair for Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary.

G

Gore, Charles. The Social Doctrine of the Sermon on the Mount. Oxford: Horace Hart, 1895; Oxford: Horace Hart, 1904; Charleston, S.C.: BiblioLife, 2009. Pp. 31. Gore (1853-1932) was an Anglican archbishop and a leading figure in the Christian Social Union, with a passion for social justice. Available for download from Internet Archive.

Gore, Charles. The Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Exposition. London: John Murray, 1896; London: John Murray, 1904; Charleston, S.C.: BiblioLife, 2009. Pp. xii + 218. Enjoyed numerous reprints in the earlier half of the twentieth century, with initially sixteen reprints or new editions in as many years. In his preface to the 1912 third paperback edition Gore states “It is intended to suggest thoughts rather than develop them, and to minister to practical reflection rather than intellectual study.” Available for download from Internet Archive.

Gouldner, M. D.  Midrash and Lection in Matthew:Speaker’s lectures in Biblical studies / University of Oxford. Faculty of Theology. London: SPCK, 1974. Postulates the theory that Matthew’s author derived his work from Mark’s Gospel by the addition of imaginative material using traditional Jewish midrashic techniques and using the existing Old Testament lectionary as his inspiration.

Grant, Robert M. “The Sermon on the Mount in Early Christianity.” Semeia 12 (1978):215–31. Grant was, at that time of writing, professor of New Testament at the University of Chicago. This paper examines the earliest interpreters of the Sermon, to consider how Christian ethics developed and whether they might have been right.

Greenhough, John Gershom. The Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Exposition of St. Matthew VI 16-VII 27. James Robinson, 1903; BiblioBazaar, 2009. Greenhough was a 19th C. cleric, with an MA from London. 

Greenman, Jeffrey P. Timothy Larsen, and Stephen R. Spencer, eds. The Sermon on the Mount Through the Centuries: From the Early Church to John Paul II. Ada, Mich: Brazos. 2007. There is a review of this work at the Review of Biblical Literature site. Viewpoints surveyed include Chrysostom, Augustine, Hugh of St. Victor, Dante, Chaucer, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Spurgeon, Bonhoeffer, John Howard Yoder, John Paul II, Leonardo Boff, and John R. W. Stott.

Guelich, Robert A. The Sermon on the Mount: A Foundation for Understanding. Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1982. Guelich taught at Northern Baptist, Chicago and, at the time, his 451 page book, which grew out of a doctoral dissertation at the University of Hamburg, was heralded as the first major study on the Sermon for forty years. He approaches the topic from and evangelical perspective but incorporating the results of critical scholarship.

H

Hargrove, Hubbard Hoyt. At the the Master’s Feet: Expository Sermons on the Sermon on the Mount. London: Grand Rapids MI: Baker Book House, 1963. Pp 211. Dr. Hargrove (1895-) was Pastor at the 2200 member Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, Waco, Texas.

Heinrici, C. F. G. Die Bergpredigt (Matth. 5–7; Luk 6, 20–49) quellenmässig und begriffsgeschichtlich untersucht. 2 vols. Leipzig: Dürr, 1900–1905.  

Hogan, Martin Garret. Sermon on the Mount in St. Ephrem’s Commentary on the Diatessaron. Bern; New York: P. Lang, 1999. Pp. viii + 358. Hogan, who was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Dublin in 1976 and has taught in the Diocesan Seminary of Holy Cross College, explores how Ephrem’s treatment of four Gospel characters connects to his understanding of the Sermon and highlights central themes.

Hogg, Charles Frederick and Joseph Barnes Watson. On the Sermon on the Mount. London: Pickering & Inglis Ltd., 3rd printing, 1947. Pp 127. After serving in China as a missionary, Hogg (1859-1943) often worked alongside William Edwy Vine (1873-1949). Watson (1884-1955) is best known as editor of The Witness magazine.

Hughes, R. Kent. The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom. Wheaton:Crossway, 2001. Hughes is (as at 2010) Senior Pastor Emeritus of College Church in Wheaton, Illinois, USA.
Hunter, Archibald M. Design for Life:An Exposition on the Sermon on the Mount. Westminster: John Knox, 1953. Hunter was Prof. of New Testament Exegesis at the University of Aberdeen.

I

J

Jeremias, Joachim. Sermon on the Mount. The Ethel M. Wood Lecture delivered before the University of London on 7 March 1961. Translated by Norman Perrin. London: The Athelone Press, 1961; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1963. Pp. 17. Jeremias (1900- ) was Professor of the New Testament in the in the University of Göttingen. A brief and accessible presentation that argues for the Sermon as an early Christian catechism, based on the collected sayings of Jesus. It is available online at http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/sermon_jeremias.pdf.

John, J. The Happiness Secret: Finding True Contentment. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2009. 288 page paperback from a popular speaker, devoted to application of the Beatitudes.

Jones, E. Stanley. The Christ of the Mount: A working philosophy of life. London:Hoder & Stoughton, 1931. Reprint London:Hoder & Stoughton, 1935. Pp. 284. Jones (1884-1973), a prominent Methodist missionary in India, seeks to interpret the Sermon’s relevance from a multicultural perspective. Whilst sympathetic to established Indian religions he remains clear that “the Gospel repudiates syncretism” (Jones 1935, 95), and “if the Gospel does put it roots into the soil of India and gather out all that is akin to its own nature and takes it up into itself, nevertheless it rejects as well as selects. Life depends upon elimination as well as assimilation”  (Jones 1935, 110).

Jordan, Clarence. The Sermon on the Mount. Valley Forge, Pa.: Judson Press, 1980. 126 pages. Clarence Jordan (1912-1969) was a widely admired Baptist minister with a Doctorate in New Testament Greek and a B.S. in agriculture. He was both a bible scholar and a farmer and as the latter he sought to work out his principles on Koinonia Farm, an inter-racial Christian community in Georgia, USA and forerunner of Koinonia Partners.

K

Kendall, Robert Tillman. The Sermon on the Mount: A Verse-by-Verse Look at the Greatest Teachings of Jesus. Grand Rapids, Mich: Chosen. 2011. R.T. Kendall (1935-), who served at Westminster Chapel for 25 years, intends this as a lay-friendly exposition.

Kierkegaard, Søren. 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 introduction by Walter Lowrie. New York: Oxford University Press, 1952. Translation of Lilien paa Marken og Fuglen under Himlen. Tre gudelige Taler af S. Kierkegaard. Kjøbenhavn: C.A. Reitzel; trykt hos B. Luno. 1849.  Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a prolific Danish theologian and philosopher. In these texts he concentrates on building up the Christian with lessons derived from the example of the lilies and the birds.  

Kissinger, Warren S. Sermon on the Mount: a History of Interpretation and Bibliography. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow, 1975. Described as the first full scale attempt at a bibliography of the Sermon on the Mount. A readable yet scholarly 35 section guide to the literature of the Sermon on the Mount from the patristic period to the twentieth century.

Knowles, Horace J. illustrator. The Sermon on the Mount. London:Ivor Nicholson & Watson, 1935. Collection of illustrations inspired by the Sermon from an established illustrator whose work included Norse mythology, the Bible and Enid Blyton. The few pages I have seen feature symbolic interpretations of the text.

L

Lambrecht, Jan. The Sermon on the Mount: Proclamation and Exhortation. Good News Studies 14. Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1985. Prof. Dr. em. Lambrecht (1926-) has a Jesuit background and has held various academic positions including serving as guest professor at the Biblical Institute in Rome (1995-2000). He was also a member of the member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission during two terms (1985-95).

Lapide, Pinchas. Sermon on the mount, Utopia or program for action? Translated by Arlene Swidler. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis, 1986; translated from the German.  Pinchas (1922-1997), a Jewish theologian and Israeli historian, considers the Sermon from a Jewish perspective. Sees the Sermon as “a concerted call to absolute fulfillment of the Torah in its original meaning” (37).

Lindberg, Tod. “What the Beatitudes Teach.” Policy Review No. 144, August and September 2007. Hoover Institute, Stanford University. Cited: 2 Sep 2009. Online:http://ww.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/8810342.html. Tod Lindberg is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and editor of Policy Review. This essay is excerpted from his book, The Political Teachings of Jesus (HarperCollins).

Lioy, Daniel T. A comparative analysis of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount to determine how the relationship between the two affects the extent to which the moral law has continuing relevance for the Christian church today. Diss. Trinitary Theological Seminary, 1997. As at 2015 Lioy holds faculty status at several academic institutions, including Marylhurst University, George Fox University, Institute of Lutheran Theology, North-West University (South Africa), and South African Theological Seminary.

Lioy, Daniel. The Decalogue in the Sermon on the Mount. Studies in Biblical Literature 66. New York: Peter Lang, 2004.  Reviews the moral principles arising out of the Decalogue and their biblical occurrence. Then reviews the Sermon, indicating which commandment is parallel to the concerns of each section. Lioy sees the Sermon as having a Chiastic structure centred on Matt 5:17-7:12.

Loisy, Alfred Firmin. “Le discours sur la montagne.” Pages 534-645 in vol. 1 of Les évangiles synoptiques. Ceffonds, pres Montier-in-Der, Haute-Marne, 1907. Loisy (1857-?) , one time Professor at the Institut Catholique, was noted for his frequent clashes with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. This work was a preliminary extract from his forthcoming 1908 commentary on the Synoptic Gospels, the work that saw him excommunicated.

Lloyd-Jones, Martyn. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Volume 1 (Matthew V). London:Inter Varsity Fellowship. 1959. Reprinted 1962. The text of a series of addresses on the Sermon preached on consecutive Sundays by the Rev Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones of Westminster Chapel, London, a leading member of the evangelical movement in England. These sermons were considered by many at the time to constitute a brilliant exposition on the topic.

Luther, Martin. Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Translator Charles A. Hay. Translation of Johann K. Irmischer, editor. [Luther’s Works, exact title undisclosed], Vol 43. Erlangen: Heyder & Zimmer, 1854; originally published 1532. Cited:2 Sep 2009.  Online:http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/37luther0.htm. Influential commentary from one of the founding fathers of protestantism, contains strong invective against the prevailing interpretation of the Sermon by the Roman Catholic Church.

Luz, Ulrich. Matthew 1-7. Hermeneia: A Critical And Historical Commentary On The Bible. Edited by Helmut Koester. Translated by James E. Crouch. Minneapolis:Augsburg Fortress, 2007. Pp. i-xxxvii + 432. At the time he wrote, Luz (1938-) was Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Bern in Switzerland. This critical commentary, from a highly regarded series, assumes the two-source hypothesis in its interpretation, whilst presenting discrete sections on the history of interpretation.

M

Manley, Stephen. The Beatitudes, A Study in Matthew 5:1-12. Volume 1 in Sermon on the Mount. Lebanon: Cross Style, 2013. Manley, a travelling evangelist and church pastor, is founder of Cross Style Global Ministries.

Marriott, Horace. Sermon on the Mount. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1925. 

McArthur, Harvey K. Understanding the Sermon on the Mount. New York: Harper, 1960. The contents are well summaried on-line in Greg Herrick’s A Summary of Understanding the Sermon on the Mount, http://bible.org/byauthor/6/Greg%20Herrick.

McKnight, Scot. Sermon on the Mount. In The Story of God Commentary. Tremper Longman III and Scot McKnight Eds. Grand Rapids:Zondervan, 2013. 320 pgs. McKnight is an Anabaptist theologian and Professor of New Testament at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, IL.

Montefiore, Claude G. Rabbinical Literature and Gospel Teachings. London: Macmillan, 1930. Said to deal mainly with the Sermon on the Mount, though this has yet to be confirmed.

Mounce, H. R. “Sermon on the Mount.” Pages 1078-1080 in D. R. W. Wood. New Bible Dictionary, Leicester:InterVarsity Press, 1996, c1982, c1962.  A brief article within a recognised scholarly work. Presents the Sermon as a picture of the ethical life expected of those in the Kingdom.

Mummert, John D. Sermon on the Mount. New York:Ragged Edge,1999.  

N

O

Origen. Commentary on Matthew. Translated by John Patrick. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9. Edited by Allan Menzies. Buffalo, N.Y.: Christian Literature, 1896; Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. Cited 30 Sep 2009. Online:http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1016.htm. Origen (c. 185-254 C.E.) was a prominent churchman and scholar, though later considered heretic in his views. This commentary provides some of the earliest citations of the Sermon. 

P

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, 1996.  Patte was, as at 2009, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Vanderbilt University. In this book he considers four stances adopted by various authorities: ethical (Strecker and Kingsbury); narrative (Edwards); figurative (Luz, Davies and Allison); thematic (Patte). He argues for the legitimacy of all the readings considered, but then stresses that plural readings must be compared on the basis of value, with his own being the most valuable. There is a review at the Review of Biblical Literature site.

Pelikan, Jaroslav. Divine rhetoric: the Sermon on the mount as message and as model in Augustine, Chrysostom, and Luther.  Crestwood, N.Y. : St. Vladimir’s Seminary, 2001. Pelikan (1923-2006) was recognised as a eminent historian of Christian doctrine. Provides good introductions to the three points of view, although the focus is then on rhetoric. 

Pink, Arthur Walkington. Sermon on the Mount/Exposition. Ada, Mich.: Revell, a division of Baker Publishing, 1982.
Pink (1886-1952), was a staunchly Calvinist evangelist and bible scholar, whose writings came to prominence only after his death. The text is available online at Providence Baptist Ministries.

Prickett, T. A. For our Age of Anxiety: Sermons from the Sermon on the Mount. Milton Keynes:AuthorHouse (self-published), 2009.
196 pgs. Prickett was, at time this was written, the long serving pastor of the Seven Hills Baptist Church in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Q

Quarles, Charles. Sermon on the Mount: Restoring Christ's Message to the Modern Church. New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology. Nashville, Tenn.:B & H Academic, 2011. 400 pgs. Quarles is a professor of New Testament and Greek. He seeks to analyze how the Sermon can be applied to modern lives.

R

Rohr, Richard and John Bookser Feister. Jesus’ Plan for a New World: The Sermon on the Mount. St Anthony Messenger, 1996. 175pp. Rohr is a Catholic priest based in Mexico and has collaborated with Feister on various projects. To judge from various reviews the book takes a liberal stance.

S

Simonetti, Manlio ed. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Matthew 1-13.  Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001. Collected and translated comments on Matthew from church writers of the first eight centuries.

Scaer, David P. The Sermon on the Mount; The Church's First Statement of the Gospel. St Louis, Missouri:Concordia, 2000. 272pp. Scaer is a professor of Systematic Theology and New Testament Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he has been from 1966 - present (2010). He writes from a Lutheran perspective.

Stassen, Glen Harold. Living the Sermon on the Mount: A Practical Hope for Grace And Deliverance. Hoboken, NJ:John Wiley & Sons, 2006. 240pp. Stassen is a professor of Christian ethics and the Executive Director of a peacemaking initiative based at Fuller Theological Seminary.  This claims to be an accessible interpretation of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount claiming an entirely new interpretation and focussing.

Strecker, Georg. Sermon on the Mount: An Exegetical Commentary. Translated by O. C. Dean Jr. Nashville: Abingdon, 1988; T&T Clark, 1999. Pp 224. Georg (1929-1994) was professor of New Testament at the University of Göttingen 1968-1994. He considers the origin of the Sermon and its religious and political dimensions.

Smith, Lee. Old Doctrines, New Light: The Gospel of Matthew. 2001. Cited 1 Dec 2009. Online:http://home.clara.net/arlev/matthome.htm. A personal commentary on the Gospel of Matthew originally produced with a view to publication as a book. Smith comes from a local Assemblies of God background and is particularly interested in  re-evaluating traditional interpretations in the light of biblical evidence. This presentation is not up to normal academic standards so exercise caution when citing it.

Stott, John Robert Walmsley. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter Culture. Edited by J. A. Motyer, J. R. W. Stott and D. Tidball. The Bible Speaks Today: New Testament Series; Leicester: InterVarsity Press, 2003. Original edition, 1978.
Describing itself as an exposition rather than a commentary, this is the work of a leading Evangelical. Stott (1921-2011) was former Rector of All Souls Church, Langham Place and President of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Stoutenburg, Dennis. With One Voice/B'qol Echad: The Sermon on the Mount and Rabbinic Literature. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications, 1996. Stoutenberg was (in 2005) an Assistant Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies at Wilfrid Laurier Univ., Waterloo.
Stubbs, Charles William. Christ and Economics: In the Light of the Sermon on the Mount. London: Isbister, 1893. Pp. 292.

T

Talbert, Charles H. Reading the Sermon on the Mount: Character Formation and Ethical Decision Making in Matthew 5-7. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2004. There is a review at the Review of Biblical Literature site.

Thielicke, Helmut. Life can Begin Again; Sermons on the Sermon on the Mount. Translated by John W. Doberstein. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963. Thielicke (1908-1986) was a German protestant theologian and rector, and also a widely travelled lecturer.

Tholuck, August. Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Vol. 7 in the 3rd Series of Clark’s Foreign Theological Library,Translated by R Lundin Brown from the fourth edition. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1865.  

Thurneysen, Eduard. Sermon on the Mount. Translated by William Childs Robinson, Sr. with James M. Robinson. Richmond: John Knox Press, 1964. Translation of Die Bergpredigt. 5th rev. ed. Theologische Existenz Heute 105. Munich: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1963. Pp. 82.

Tolstoy, Leo. What I believe. Translated by Constantine Popoff. London: Elliot Stock, 1885. Tolstoy (1828-1910) came to faith late in life, having already established himself as a great writer. In this book he seeks to explain the origins of his anarchic-pacifist style of Christianity, in the formulation of which the Sermon on the Mount was a major influential.

Tuttle, Gary A. “The Sermon On The Mount: Its Wisdom Affinities And Their Relation To Its Structure.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 20.3 (September 1977):?.  

Tweed, James. Homilies on the Sermon on the Mount (1867). Kessinger Legacy Reprints. United States:Kessinger, 2010.  The author is likely to be the same Rev. James Tweed, M.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who produced translations of some of St. Chrysostom’s homilies, though this is not certain.

U

Universal Life Staff. This is My Word Α & Ω: The Sermon on the Mount. Universal Life - The Inner Religion, 2006. The Universal Life - The Inner Religion movement began in 1977, through the teaching of self-proclaimed prophetess and active medium Gabriele Wittek. It emphasises inner development, a pantheistic outlook encompassing redemptive reincarnation, and fulfillment of both the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount as the way to become one with Christ.

V

Vaught, Carl G. The Sermon on the Mount: A Theological Investigation. Waco, Tex.: Baylor University Press, 2001. Pp. 219. Vaught served as Head of the Department of Philosophy at at Penn State from 1982 to 1992 and was appointed Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University in 1998. He has a particular interest in the philosophy of religion.

Vermes, Geza. The Authentic Gospel of Jesus. Allan Lane, 2003; Reprint, London: Penguin, 2004. Scholarly assessment of the synoptic gospels. At the time of publication, Vermes (1924-), a specialist in Qumran studies, was a Professor Emeritus at Oxford, having earlier been appointed the first Professor of Jewish Studies there.

W

Welch, John W. The Sermon on the Mount in the Light of the Temple. Ashgate:Farnham, Surrey, 2009.  Pp. 266. John W. Welch is a Professor of Law at Brigham Young University. Welch seeks to unify the Sermon with temple themes and ritual theory

Wesley, John. Happiness unlimited: John Wesley’s commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Edited and updated by Clare G. Weakley, Jr. Alachua, Fla.: Bridge-Logos Foundation, 1979. Pp. 297. Wesley (1703-1791) was a renowned English cleric and theologian, who, together with his brother Charles, is credited with founding the Methodist movement. 

Wesley, John. The Nature of the kingdom: Wesley’s Messages on the Sermon on the Mount. Edited and updated by Clare G. Weakley, Jr. The Wesley library for today’s readers. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 1986. Pp. 287.

Wesley, John. John Wesley on Sermon on the Mount: 2 (Standard Sermons of John Wesley). Transcribed into modern English by Kenneth Cain Kinghorn. Nashville, Ten.: Abingdon, 2002.  Kinghorn is often cited as the author but his role is more that of a translator.

Wierzbicka, Anna. What Did Jesus Mean? Explaining the Sermon on the Mount and the Parables in Simple and Universal Human Concepts. Oxford:Oxford University Press, 2001.

Scholarly work in which the author attempts to relate the Sermon to concepts which are intuitively understandable. There is a review at the Review of Biblical Literature site.  

Willard, Dallas. The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. London:Fount, 1998. A 455 page devotional guide from a professor at Southern California School of Philosophy, focusing on life in the kingdom of God and presenting the Sermon as a guide to doing that. Pages 112-296 concern themselves specifically with application of the Sermon.

Windisch, Hans. The Meaning of the Sermon on the Mount: a Contribution to the Historical Understanding of the Gospels and to the Problem of Their True Exegesis. Translated by S. MacLean Gilmour. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1951. Author was the late Professor of New Testament at Halle. Takes a historical critical approach that portrays the Sermon as a Christianized form of the Old Testament law that embodies the ethics of Judaism. Was particularly concerned that historical exegesis should precede theological exegesis.

Woodman, George. “The Sermon on the Mount: A History of Interpretation and Bibliography.” Reference Reviews. 12:8 (1998) 10-11.  

Worth Jr., Roland H. The Sermon on the Mount: Its Old Testament Roots. New York: Paulist Press, 1997. Argues for the Sermon as a reforming restatement of the Torah and the prophets. There is a review at the Review of Biblical Literature site.

Wright, Nicholas Thomas (writing as Tom Wright). Matthew for Everyone, Part 1. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002. First part of a two part popular commentary with an emphasis on accessibility, from an acknowledge expert in the field of NT studies. At the time he wrote it, Wright held the post of Bishop of Durham. Pages 34-81 deal with the Sermon on the Mount.

X

Y

Yount, David. What Are We To Do? Living the Sermon on the Mount. Maryland:Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.  

Z

Zodhiates, Spiros. The Beatitudes—The Pursuit of Happiness: A Commentary on Matt.
5:1-11; Luke 6:20-26. Chattanooga, Tenn.: AMG, 1998.  

The icons used on this page are courtesy of the Tango Project (with some adaptation).