G. B. Caird - Major Works

Major Works

Caird's earliest published book, The Truth of the Gospel (1950), is a brief but intense defense of the Christian faith. Some feel that, in terms of its stated purpose, it is more successful than C.S. Lewis's much more vaunted apologetic work Mere Christianity. In 1954 he produced his first sustained work of exegetical scholarship, the treatment of 1 and 2 Samuel in The Interpreter's Bible. His second book, The Apostolic Age (1955), is a succinct historical study of the early church to the end of the first century. Principalities and Powers (1956), while presumably a discussion of one theme of Paul's theology, is actually a summary of that theology on a variety of topics. Caird's first sustained independent commentary, The Gospel of St. Luke, was, as with his previous treatment of 1 and 2 Samuel, full of historical confidence: some reservations notwithstanding, the Old and New Testament writers left behind them sound history. His second commentary, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, resulted in his being awarded the Oxford D.D. Paul's Letters from Prison is a discussion of Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon. As usual, Caird's maverick tendencies bubbled to the surface, and produced relatively conservative results in the face of the prevailing mainstream skepticism about the nature and extent of the Pauline writings: Paul, the writer of Colossians and Ephesians, provided wise and far-reaching insights into the universal human experience that will be ignored today at society's peril. The Language and Imagery of the Bible (1980) examined the literary techniques and meanings of the biblical authors. In addition to these major works Caird provided a number of shorter studies on numerous topics: Septuagintal lexicography (e.g. "Towards a Lexicon of the Septuagint," 1969); the Christian's attitude to war (War and the Christian, 1979; Caird was a lifelong but undemonstrating pacifist) and Apartheid (South Africa: Reflections on a Visit, 1976). Toward the end of his career he was commissioned to write a number of books, including the New International Critical Commentary on The Epistle to the Hebrews and the volume on Paul in OUP's Past Masters series. But these were to take a back seat to his New Testament Theology, intended to be the ultimate statement of his thinking on the New Testament, and on which he had been working for some years. While he did not live to see it finished, it was edited and completed by Lincoln Hurst and published posthumously by the OUP in 1994 (hardback) and 1995 (paperback).