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Habitats of the Basileia: Essays in Honour of Elaine M. Wainwright

Published: Jan 2024
£65.00
Habitats of the Basileia brings together some of the current and important work in biblical studies and theology, which takes seriously the demands and possibilities of applying contextual, feminist, decolonial, and ecological approaches to the critical study of the Bible and religion. The volume is inspired by the engaging work of Elaine M. Wainwright RSM; and invites us to imagine what thriving conditions and communities of the human and more-than-human might look like across multiple contexts. - What did it mean for those living in biblical times, or for the early Jesus movement who proclaimed an alternative basileia or kingdom against the backdrop of Roman imperial power? - What does it mean for various communities today, as we seek to understand and re-imagine what thriving conditions might look like in our own complex and often rapidly changing environments? Written by a diverse range of biblical, theological, and religious studies scholars, the chapters in this volume collectively argue for and demonstrate the importance of context and being attuned to social location in the production of biblical and theological scholarship. The essays are divided into three categories: the first seven chapters deal with the Gospel of Matthew, given the importance of this book to Elaine’s work. The next nine chapters explore biblical texts beyond Matthew through various lenses including those of gender, colonialism, the environment, animal studies, contextual hermeneutics, and class. The final three chapters are concerned with the legacies of both Elaine’s lifework and the broader avenues in current biblical research that have been nurtured and influenced through her efforts.

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Habitats of the Basileia: Essays in Honour of Elaine M. Wainwright

£65.00
Habitats of the Basileia brings together some of the current and important work in biblical studies and theology, which takes seriously the demands and possibilities of applying contextual, feminist, decolonial, and ecological approaches to the critical study of the Bible and religion. The volume is inspired by the engaging work of Elaine M. Wainwright RSM; and invites us to imagine what thriving conditions and communities of the human and more-than-human might look like across multiple contexts. - What did it mean for those living in biblical times, or for the early Jesus movement who proclaimed an alternative basileia or kingdom against the backdrop of Roman imperial power? - What does it mean for various communities today, as we seek to understand and re-imagine what thriving conditions might look like in our own complex and often rapidly changing environments? Written by a diverse range of biblical, theological, and religious studies scholars, the chapters in this volume collectively argue for and demonstrate the importance of context and being attuned to social location in the production of biblical and theological scholarship. The essays are divided into three categories: the first seven chapters deal with the Gospel of Matthew, given the importance of this book to Elaine’s work. The next nine chapters explore biblical texts beyond Matthew through various lenses including those of gender, colonialism, the environment, animal studies, contextual hermeneutics, and class. The final three chapters are concerned with the legacies of both Elaine’s lifework and the broader avenues in current biblical research that have been nurtured and influenced through her efforts.

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Eschatological Approval: The Structure and Unifying Motif of James

Published: Oct 2022
£65.00
The letter of James is not a haphazard collection of wisdom sayings, but a carefully assembled document with a unifying motif, according to Daniel K. Eng. By examining the structure and content of the epistle, he shows that James contains a coherent and consistent message of eschatological approval, that is, a favourable verdict at end-time judgment. Eng establishes that James begins with a prologue (1:1-27), indicating the author’s concern for the hearers to receive eschatological approval. After that, Eng studies the document’s structure indicated by cohesive ties and bracketing, offering an informed outline for James 2–5. With the outline in view, Eng shows how the content of each subsection refers to a favourable eschatological outcome. Discourse analysis plays a crucial role here, because the epistle’s author indicates the prominence of certain concepts through word order and dependent clauses. Finally, Eng argues that James 1:12 serves as a thesis statement for the whole epistle, pointing the hearers to their route to a favourable end-time judgment. His resulting outline of James resembles a fish skeleton, with the unifying motif serving as a spine. Ultimately, this volume shows how the epistle’s structure and content alike point to its unifying theme: eschatological approval.
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Eschatological Approval: The Structure and Unifying Motif of James

£65.00
The letter of James is not a haphazard collection of wisdom sayings, but a carefully assembled document with a unifying motif, according to Daniel K. Eng. By examining the structure and content of the epistle, he shows that James contains a coherent and consistent message of eschatological approval, that is, a favourable verdict at end-time judgment. Eng establishes that James begins with a prologue (1:1-27), indicating the author’s concern for the hearers to receive eschatological approval. After that, Eng studies the document’s structure indicated by cohesive ties and bracketing, offering an informed outline for James 2–5. With the outline in view, Eng shows how the content of each subsection refers to a favourable eschatological outcome. Discourse analysis plays a crucial role here, because the epistle’s author indicates the prominence of certain concepts through word order and dependent clauses. Finally, Eng argues that James 1:12 serves as a thesis statement for the whole epistle, pointing the hearers to their route to a favourable end-time judgment. His resulting outline of James resembles a fish skeleton, with the unifying motif serving as a spine. Ultimately, this volume shows how the epistle’s structure and content alike point to its unifying theme: eschatological approval.
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Vision and Voice: Revelatory Experience in the Formation of Christian Identity

Published: Oct 2021
£60.00
Vision and Voice explores the impact of revelatory events (such as visions and voices) upon early Christian self-identity. In the Gospels, revelatory events, like the transfiguration, the voice from heaven in John 12, and Jesus' baptism, burst into the narrative almost gratuitously, without leaving a tangible, lasting impression on those who witness them. Yet from these revelatory experiences there emerged a story of how early Christians came to think of themselves as a community of Jesus followers. The revelatory events of the Gospels became an invitation to their readers to enter into the experience of Jesus' disciples, to see what they saw, to hear what they heard, reliving the visions and voices remembered by these first witnesses.
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Vision and Voice: Revelatory Experience in the Formation of Christian Identity

£60.00
Vision and Voice explores the impact of revelatory events (such as visions and voices) upon early Christian self-identity. In the Gospels, revelatory events, like the transfiguration, the voice from heaven in John 12, and Jesus' baptism, burst into the narrative almost gratuitously, without leaving a tangible, lasting impression on those who witness them. Yet from these revelatory experiences there emerged a story of how early Christians came to think of themselves as a community of Jesus followers. The revelatory events of the Gospels became an invitation to their readers to enter into the experience of Jesus' disciples, to see what they saw, to hear what they heard, reliving the visions and voices remembered by these first witnesses.
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Jesus the Dayspring: The Sunrise and the Visitation of Israel’s Messiah

Published: May 2021
£65.00
Messianic expectations in the first century ce were varied, but rarely did they include a figure associated with the sunrise or the direction of the east. However, in Luke's gospel the prophetic song (the 'Benedictus') of the priest Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, includes a title for Jesus that means the 'dayspring', 'dawn', or 'rising sun'. Where did this title arise? In Jesus the Dayspring, Wenkel suggests that the connection between Jesus and the sunrise may have come from any number of texts and traditions contributing to the expectation of God's divine presence visiting his people from the sunrise. The idea of the Lord who comes from the east also plays an important role in Luke's narrative of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem from the eastern side of the city as he enters from the Mount of Olives. Such details are often underappreciated but contribute to our understanding of Jesus as a messianic figure who would come like the sunrise. Wenkel's search for other potential influences leading to this type of messianic language takes him into Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, Hosea and Malachi. By casting his net to include allusions to looking eastward for redemptive hope, Wenkel suggests how Luke's portrait of Jesus as the 'dayspring' or 'sunrise' fits into a larger pattern of resonance across Israel's scriptures.
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Jesus the Dayspring: The Sunrise and the Visitation of Israel’s Messiah

£65.00
Messianic expectations in the first century ce were varied, but rarely did they include a figure associated with the sunrise or the direction of the east. However, in Luke's gospel the prophetic song (the 'Benedictus') of the priest Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, includes a title for Jesus that means the 'dayspring', 'dawn', or 'rising sun'. Where did this title arise? In Jesus the Dayspring, Wenkel suggests that the connection between Jesus and the sunrise may have come from any number of texts and traditions contributing to the expectation of God's divine presence visiting his people from the sunrise. The idea of the Lord who comes from the east also plays an important role in Luke's narrative of Jesus arriving in Jerusalem from the eastern side of the city as he enters from the Mount of Olives. Such details are often underappreciated but contribute to our understanding of Jesus as a messianic figure who would come like the sunrise. Wenkel's search for other potential influences leading to this type of messianic language takes him into Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah, Hosea and Malachi. By casting his net to include allusions to looking eastward for redemptive hope, Wenkel suggests how Luke's portrait of Jesus as the 'dayspring' or 'sunrise' fits into a larger pattern of resonance across Israel's scriptures.
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Lukan Parables of Reckless Liberality

Published: Apr 2021
£60.00
From among the many parables in Luke, Amanda Brobst-Renaud chooses three, which she names 'parables of reckless liberality': the Prodigal Son, the Shrewd Steward, and the Rich Man and Lazarus. Picking up on the supposed slur that Jesus 'welcomes sinners and dines with them', Luke encourages his audience in these parables from chaps. 15 —16 in a practice of giving excessively to the wrong people at inappropriate times (flouting Aristotle's advice on liberality in the Nicomachean Ethics). Each parable in this volume presents at least one of its characters in crisis; these situations demand a decisive response. We all know the crises faced by the younger son, the steward, and the rich man, but the crises confronting the elder son and the rich man's brothers are equally dire, starkly sketched by the open questions left hanging at the end of each parable. Will the elder son join the party, celebrating his once-dead younger brother? Will the steward secure an eternal welcome? Will the rich man's brothers heed Moses and the prophets, or will they meet the same fate as the rich man? In each case, reckless liberality answers the characters' quandaries and demands of Luke's auditors that they choose between emulating or avoiding the behaviors of the characters. The elder son should join the party and imitate his father's reckless liberality: giving to someone undeserving, at an inappropriate time, and to an excessive amount. The steward's highly questionable profligacy plus his debt-reduction schemes nevertheless earn his master's praise and secure his welcome (Lk. 16.9). The rich man's brothers should listen to the call of the law and the prophets to care for the poor and disenfranchised, and show reckless liberality to any Lazarus on their thresholds. Showing reckless liberality gives entrance into the eschatological party (Lk. 16.16).
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Lukan Parables of Reckless Liberality

£60.00
From among the many parables in Luke, Amanda Brobst-Renaud chooses three, which she names 'parables of reckless liberality': the Prodigal Son, the Shrewd Steward, and the Rich Man and Lazarus. Picking up on the supposed slur that Jesus 'welcomes sinners and dines with them', Luke encourages his audience in these parables from chaps. 15 —16 in a practice of giving excessively to the wrong people at inappropriate times (flouting Aristotle's advice on liberality in the Nicomachean Ethics). Each parable in this volume presents at least one of its characters in crisis; these situations demand a decisive response. We all know the crises faced by the younger son, the steward, and the rich man, but the crises confronting the elder son and the rich man's brothers are equally dire, starkly sketched by the open questions left hanging at the end of each parable. Will the elder son join the party, celebrating his once-dead younger brother? Will the steward secure an eternal welcome? Will the rich man's brothers heed Moses and the prophets, or will they meet the same fate as the rich man? In each case, reckless liberality answers the characters' quandaries and demands of Luke's auditors that they choose between emulating or avoiding the behaviors of the characters. The elder son should join the party and imitate his father's reckless liberality: giving to someone undeserving, at an inappropriate time, and to an excessive amount. The steward's highly questionable profligacy plus his debt-reduction schemes nevertheless earn his master's praise and secure his welcome (Lk. 16.9). The rich man's brothers should listen to the call of the law and the prophets to care for the poor and disenfranchised, and show reckless liberality to any Lazarus on their thresholds. Showing reckless liberality gives entrance into the eschatological party (Lk. 16.16).
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Spirit and Story: Essays in Honour of John Christopher Thomas

Published: Nov 2020
£70.00
This collection of essays brings together an international group of biblical scholars, theologians, and historians who are committed to readings of biblical texts that are sensitive to the work of the Spirit. Perhaps no one has contributed more in recent decades to the description and promotion of Pentecostal Theology than Chris Thomas, and this volume serves as a loving and respectful tribute to his commitment and achievement. Thomas's own work on the story told in the Gospel and Letters of John as well as his explorations into the narrative structure of the Apocalypse are models not only of exegetical proficiency but also of the careful elucidation of the text for the general reader as well as the expert. Moreover, his work is distinguished by a prayerful pastoral commitment as his ear is consistently attentive to what the Spirit is saying to the church. The influence of Chris Thomas has been very considerable. The essays presented here capture the scope of his interests and of his important contribution to both the church and the academy.  
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Spirit and Story: Essays in Honour of John Christopher Thomas

£70.00
This collection of essays brings together an international group of biblical scholars, theologians, and historians who are committed to readings of biblical texts that are sensitive to the work of the Spirit. Perhaps no one has contributed more in recent decades to the description and promotion of Pentecostal Theology than Chris Thomas, and this volume serves as a loving and respectful tribute to his commitment and achievement. Thomas's own work on the story told in the Gospel and Letters of John as well as his explorations into the narrative structure of the Apocalypse are models not only of exegetical proficiency but also of the careful elucidation of the text for the general reader as well as the expert. Moreover, his work is distinguished by a prayerful pastoral commitment as his ear is consistently attentive to what the Spirit is saying to the church. The influence of Chris Thomas has been very considerable. The essays presented here capture the scope of his interests and of his important contribution to both the church and the academy.  
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An Encomium for Jesus: Luke, Rhetoric, and the Story of Jesus

Published: May 2020
£50.00
Luke's narrative about Jesus followed the conventions for ancient biography. Trained in rhetoric, Luke employed the genre of the encomium, which regularly used to showcase biographical aspects of a person's life worthy of honour. An Encomium for Jesus argues that Luke mastered the genre, its conventional topics, and specific instructions for composing one. The usual topics of an encomium served as Luke's template to organize and narrate the life of Jesus. The first topic,'origins', displayed Jesus' worth in terms of his geographical origins (Bethlehem) and generational origins (son of David, heir to his throne). His genealogy confirms a very noble ancestry. Angels and prophets speak to the importance of his birth, all conventional items. Second, Jesus was raised as an observant Israelite: circumcised, dedicated, and an annual participant at Passover; he customarily attended synagogue. Although precocious, he lacked training in a familial virtue, which he learned subsequently by obedience to his parents. An encomium focused on a person's actions, generally described in terms of the canonical virtues, wisdom, courage, justice and self-control. Luke adeptly portrayed Jesus' actions according to these virtues, correctly presuming that his audience would label this or that action as virtuous, a safe assumption. Jesus was wise in understanding people, courageous in facing death, just in his teaching, and moderate in controlling emotional reactions. An encomium should also speak of a person's death, a conventional feature in funeral oratory. Luke employed the tradition of the 'noble death' to highlight aspects of Jesus' death, especially its voluntary and beneficial aspects. Most importantly, he narrated the many posthumous honours awarded Jesus, as cited in Acts: he did not see death; God vindicated and enthroned him; and he became the Author of salvation. Thus Luke composed a conventional Encomium for Jesus.
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An Encomium for Jesus: Luke, Rhetoric, and the Story of Jesus

£50.00
Luke's narrative about Jesus followed the conventions for ancient biography. Trained in rhetoric, Luke employed the genre of the encomium, which regularly used to showcase biographical aspects of a person's life worthy of honour. An Encomium for Jesus argues that Luke mastered the genre, its conventional topics, and specific instructions for composing one. The usual topics of an encomium served as Luke's template to organize and narrate the life of Jesus. The first topic,'origins', displayed Jesus' worth in terms of his geographical origins (Bethlehem) and generational origins (son of David, heir to his throne). His genealogy confirms a very noble ancestry. Angels and prophets speak to the importance of his birth, all conventional items. Second, Jesus was raised as an observant Israelite: circumcised, dedicated, and an annual participant at Passover; he customarily attended synagogue. Although precocious, he lacked training in a familial virtue, which he learned subsequently by obedience to his parents. An encomium focused on a person's actions, generally described in terms of the canonical virtues, wisdom, courage, justice and self-control. Luke adeptly portrayed Jesus' actions according to these virtues, correctly presuming that his audience would label this or that action as virtuous, a safe assumption. Jesus was wise in understanding people, courageous in facing death, just in his teaching, and moderate in controlling emotional reactions. An encomium should also speak of a person's death, a conventional feature in funeral oratory. Luke employed the tradition of the 'noble death' to highlight aspects of Jesus' death, especially its voluntary and beneficial aspects. Most importantly, he narrated the many posthumous honours awarded Jesus, as cited in Acts: he did not see death; God vindicated and enthroned him; and he became the Author of salvation. Thus Luke composed a conventional Encomium for Jesus.
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Echoes of Lament in the Christology of Luke’s Gospel

Published: Apr 2020
£70.00
Scholars have long recognized that prayer and Israel's Scriptures play a pivotal role in the Christology of Luke. In this study, these two features converge in an underappreciated feature of Luke's Gospel, namely the many laments uttered to Jesus and by Jesus. Lukan characters frequently cry out to Jesus in a way that echoes the prayers of lament directed to Yhwh in Israel's Scriptures. As well, the Lukan Jesus utters his own laments, also echoing prayers of lament from Israel's Scriptures. Crisler suggests that the interplay between the laments crafted by Luke and laments from Israel's Scriptures produce highly suggestive Christological points of resonance. Luke consistently characterizes Jesus as both someone who represents God by answering laments as only Yhwh can and as a righteous lamenter who models, teaches, and participates in lament to Israel's God. This double characterization is particularly visible in the crucifixion scene where the Lukan Jesus both answers and participates in lament. Crisler considers how these echoes of lament shape our understanding of Lukan Christology and make a contribution to ongoing debates about earliest Christology.
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Echoes of Lament in the Christology of Luke’s Gospel

£70.00
Scholars have long recognized that prayer and Israel's Scriptures play a pivotal role in the Christology of Luke. In this study, these two features converge in an underappreciated feature of Luke's Gospel, namely the many laments uttered to Jesus and by Jesus. Lukan characters frequently cry out to Jesus in a way that echoes the prayers of lament directed to Yhwh in Israel's Scriptures. As well, the Lukan Jesus utters his own laments, also echoing prayers of lament from Israel's Scriptures. Crisler suggests that the interplay between the laments crafted by Luke and laments from Israel's Scriptures produce highly suggestive Christological points of resonance. Luke consistently characterizes Jesus as both someone who represents God by answering laments as only Yhwh can and as a righteous lamenter who models, teaches, and participates in lament to Israel's God. This double characterization is particularly visible in the crucifixion scene where the Lukan Jesus both answers and participates in lament. Crisler considers how these echoes of lament shape our understanding of Lukan Christology and make a contribution to ongoing debates about earliest Christology.
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Toward a Canon-Conscious Reading of the Bible: Exploring the History and Hermeneutics of the Canon

Published: Mar 2020
£22.00£70.00
Two distinct questions about the canon of the Bible can be raised: (1) How did the biblical canon come to be?, and (2) What effect does that canon have on its readers? The former is a historical question about the formation of the biblical canon; the latter is a hermeneutical question about the function of the biblical canon. Though these questions have often been pursued in virtual isolation from one another, Spellman argues that there are considerable gains from observing the interconnections between the two lines of inquiry. On the historical question of the origin of the canon, Spellman asks, Is the shape of this collection an accident of history or a result of intelligent design? He concludes that canon-consciousness played an important role in the formation of the canon, even impinging on the work of the biblical authors themselves. On the hermeneutical question, the communities of readers of the Bible may also be shown to have been directed by their own canon-consciousness, using it as a guide in their interpretative task. In this interdisciplinary work, Spellman marshals historical, theological and hermeneutical resources in order to paint a picture of how the concept of canon can enrich reading communities of today.
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Toward a Canon-Conscious Reading of the Bible: Exploring the History and Hermeneutics of the Canon

£22.00£70.00
Two distinct questions about the canon of the Bible can be raised: (1) How did the biblical canon come to be?, and (2) What effect does that canon have on its readers? The former is a historical question about the formation of the biblical canon; the latter is a hermeneutical question about the function of the biblical canon. Though these questions have often been pursued in virtual isolation from one another, Spellman argues that there are considerable gains from observing the interconnections between the two lines of inquiry. On the historical question of the origin of the canon, Spellman asks, Is the shape of this collection an accident of history or a result of intelligent design? He concludes that canon-consciousness played an important role in the formation of the canon, even impinging on the work of the biblical authors themselves. On the hermeneutical question, the communities of readers of the Bible may also be shown to have been directed by their own canon-consciousness, using it as a guide in their interpretative task. In this interdisciplinary work, Spellman marshals historical, theological and hermeneutical resources in order to paint a picture of how the concept of canon can enrich reading communities of today.
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The First Christian Believer: In Search of John the Baptist

Published: May 2019
£65.00
Current research on John the Baptist is fixated on reconstructing the historical John against the religious, social and ideological environment of first-century CE Judaism. The consensus is that this John originally lived and operated within Jewish society without any connection with the fledgling Christian community and was made the Messiah's forerunner only in later Christian tradition. In this study, Nir radically changes the focus for John the Baptist research. All our sources about John, she argues, tell us not about a historical person but lead us invariably to a character who exists essentially in early Christian literature. The Gospels are sources for Christian theology's world of beliefs, ideas and messianic perception in the first century, and its materials about John the Baptist are inevitably the handiwork of Christian tradition and its theological tendencies. Whatever we are told about John, how he looked, the baptism he instituted, the geographical arena of his activity, the speeches he made, his birth and death, is understandable — whether as isolated details or in their integration into a whole picture — only against the background of Christian theology and its Christology. As against prevailing research on John the Baptist, which aims to break through the Gospel tradition and expose his original Jewishness, Nir challenges us to draw lines of separation between John and Judaism, affirming his difference from Judaism. This Christian John, whom we can rightfully call the first Christian believer, is the only John the Baptist we can access.
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The First Christian Believer: In Search of John the Baptist

£65.00
Current research on John the Baptist is fixated on reconstructing the historical John against the religious, social and ideological environment of first-century CE Judaism. The consensus is that this John originally lived and operated within Jewish society without any connection with the fledgling Christian community and was made the Messiah's forerunner only in later Christian tradition. In this study, Nir radically changes the focus for John the Baptist research. All our sources about John, she argues, tell us not about a historical person but lead us invariably to a character who exists essentially in early Christian literature. The Gospels are sources for Christian theology's world of beliefs, ideas and messianic perception in the first century, and its materials about John the Baptist are inevitably the handiwork of Christian tradition and its theological tendencies. Whatever we are told about John, how he looked, the baptism he instituted, the geographical arena of his activity, the speeches he made, his birth and death, is understandable — whether as isolated details or in their integration into a whole picture — only against the background of Christian theology and its Christology. As against prevailing research on John the Baptist, which aims to break through the Gospel tradition and expose his original Jewishness, Nir challenges us to draw lines of separation between John and Judaism, affirming his difference from Judaism. This Christian John, whom we can rightfully call the first Christian believer, is the only John the Baptist we can access.
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The Letter to the Romans: A Linguistic and Literary Commentary

Published: Oct 2015
£19.50£50.00
This substantial new commentary, expounding the letter paragraph by paragraph, is distinctive among commentaries on Romans in foregrounding a linguistic and literary approach. To comprehend the letter, Porter shows, we must always be aware of the letter-writing and linguistically based rhetorical conventions its author was deploying. The commentary is organized around the five-part epistolary structure that Paul developed for this fundamental letter, a structure that gives shape to its logically unfolding theological argument. Recognizing this structure is vital for interpreting the traditional sections of the body of the letter, as well as for understanding the placement of the problematic chapters 9 —11 within Paul's thought. One of the primary means of development Paul uses within the letter is dialogical interaction —what the ancients called diatribe —as a linguistic device for shaping and presenting his argument. Through the insistent questions and responses of the interaction, Paul opens up the major theological issues of the letter —human depravity, sin and works, justification and righteousness, reconciliation, life in the Spirit, and the role of Israel —and shapes the way his addressees should respond to them.
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The Letter to the Romans: A Linguistic and Literary Commentary

£19.50£50.00
This substantial new commentary, expounding the letter paragraph by paragraph, is distinctive among commentaries on Romans in foregrounding a linguistic and literary approach. To comprehend the letter, Porter shows, we must always be aware of the letter-writing and linguistically based rhetorical conventions its author was deploying. The commentary is organized around the five-part epistolary structure that Paul developed for this fundamental letter, a structure that gives shape to its logically unfolding theological argument. Recognizing this structure is vital for interpreting the traditional sections of the body of the letter, as well as for understanding the placement of the problematic chapters 9 —11 within Paul's thought. One of the primary means of development Paul uses within the letter is dialogical interaction —what the ancients called diatribe —as a linguistic device for shaping and presenting his argument. Through the insistent questions and responses of the interaction, Paul opens up the major theological issues of the letter —human depravity, sin and works, justification and righteousness, reconciliation, life in the Spirit, and the role of Israel —and shapes the way his addressees should respond to them.
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The Integrity of 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Aggravating Absence

Published: Sep 2015
£60.00
Is 2 Corinthians a single letter, or a composite of fragments? Does it have a single setting, or do its parts address successive stages in a developing crisis? This is perennial set of questions about this Pauline letter. In this provocative study, Christopher D. Land steps back from the details that dominate most discussions of integrity. He analyses 2 Corinthians using a theoretically motivated procedure, avoiding the cherry-picking that plagues so many language-related arguments. Then, drawing upon this analysis, he segments 2 Corinthians into five parts. Examining the sorts of meanings employed in each segment, Land asks what is being talked about, what is being done, and who is taking part. He distinguishes between the settings in which texts are produced and the situations construed by their language, and he affirms both the conventional nature of intra-textual variation and the principle that coherent texts construe coherent situations. In the end, Land argues that 2 Corinthians has the general appearance of being a single text, and that its specifics ought to be re-examined accordingly. Irrespective of linguistics and literary integrity, scholars of all persuasions will be interested in the specifics. Among other things, Land argues that there is no single 'offender' underlying Paul's remarks in chaps. 2 and 7, but a plurality of misbehaving church members. Paul has been accused of holding the church responsible for problems caused by his prolonged absence; and other Christian missionaries are stoking the church's discontent, criticizing Paul's ineffectual leadership and advancing their own as superior. To confront this crisis, Paul must simultaneously placate his readers, reiterate his demand that they care for themselves in his absence, and persuade them not to abandon him for 'stronger' leadership.
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The Integrity of 2 Corinthians and Paul’s Aggravating Absence

£60.00
Is 2 Corinthians a single letter, or a composite of fragments? Does it have a single setting, or do its parts address successive stages in a developing crisis? This is perennial set of questions about this Pauline letter. In this provocative study, Christopher D. Land steps back from the details that dominate most discussions of integrity. He analyses 2 Corinthians using a theoretically motivated procedure, avoiding the cherry-picking that plagues so many language-related arguments. Then, drawing upon this analysis, he segments 2 Corinthians into five parts. Examining the sorts of meanings employed in each segment, Land asks what is being talked about, what is being done, and who is taking part. He distinguishes between the settings in which texts are produced and the situations construed by their language, and he affirms both the conventional nature of intra-textual variation and the principle that coherent texts construe coherent situations. In the end, Land argues that 2 Corinthians has the general appearance of being a single text, and that its specifics ought to be re-examined accordingly. Irrespective of linguistics and literary integrity, scholars of all persuasions will be interested in the specifics. Among other things, Land argues that there is no single 'offender' underlying Paul's remarks in chaps. 2 and 7, but a plurality of misbehaving church members. Paul has been accused of holding the church responsible for problems caused by his prolonged absence; and other Christian missionaries are stoking the church's discontent, criticizing Paul's ineffectual leadership and advancing their own as superior. To confront this crisis, Paul must simultaneously placate his readers, reiterate his demand that they care for themselves in his absence, and persuade them not to abandon him for 'stronger' leadership.
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Poverty, Wealth, and Empire: Jesus and Postcolonial Criticism

Published: Mar 2014
£45.00
Poverty, Wealth, and Empire presents an antidote to the liberal Jesuses that are constantly being constructed by theologians and historians in universities and seminaries in the West. Sandford's programme is to pay attention to those texts where Jesus appears hostile to his audiences, or even invokes the idea of divine judgment and violence against certain groups. Drawing on a variety of texts in the synoptic gospels, Sandford finds violent denouncements of the rich and those who neglect the needy to be a consistent theme in Jesus' teaching. Rather than deploying biblical texts to support an anti-imperial or liberationist agenda, Sandford foregrounds troubling and problematic texts. Among them are wisdom sayings that justify poverty, texts that denigrate particular ethnic groups, and the ideology inherent in Jesus' teachings about the 'the Kingdom of God'. On such a basis Sandford is able to call into question the effectiveness of mainline Christian scholarly interpretations of Jesus in dealing with the most profound ethical problems of our time: poverty, domination and violence. Always alert to the assumptions and prejudices of much Western New Testament scholarship, Sandford draws attention to its intellectual contradictions, and, furthermore, to the way in which this scholarship has sometimes served to undergird and justify systems of oppression —in particular by its demonstrable dodging of the issue of material poverty and its causes. Building on recent debates in postcolonial biblical criticism, Sandford offers a decidedly 'illiberal' reading of Jesus' sayings on divine judgment, focusing on the paradoxical idea of a 'nonviolent' Jesus who nevertheless pronounces divine violence upon the rich.
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Poverty, Wealth, and Empire: Jesus and Postcolonial Criticism

£45.00
Poverty, Wealth, and Empire presents an antidote to the liberal Jesuses that are constantly being constructed by theologians and historians in universities and seminaries in the West. Sandford's programme is to pay attention to those texts where Jesus appears hostile to his audiences, or even invokes the idea of divine judgment and violence against certain groups. Drawing on a variety of texts in the synoptic gospels, Sandford finds violent denouncements of the rich and those who neglect the needy to be a consistent theme in Jesus' teaching. Rather than deploying biblical texts to support an anti-imperial or liberationist agenda, Sandford foregrounds troubling and problematic texts. Among them are wisdom sayings that justify poverty, texts that denigrate particular ethnic groups, and the ideology inherent in Jesus' teachings about the 'the Kingdom of God'. On such a basis Sandford is able to call into question the effectiveness of mainline Christian scholarly interpretations of Jesus in dealing with the most profound ethical problems of our time: poverty, domination and violence. Always alert to the assumptions and prejudices of much Western New Testament scholarship, Sandford draws attention to its intellectual contradictions, and, furthermore, to the way in which this scholarship has sometimes served to undergird and justify systems of oppression —in particular by its demonstrable dodging of the issue of material poverty and its causes. Building on recent debates in postcolonial biblical criticism, Sandford offers a decidedly 'illiberal' reading of Jesus' sayings on divine judgment, focusing on the paradoxical idea of a 'nonviolent' Jesus who nevertheless pronounces divine violence upon the rich.
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Between Author and Audience in Mark: Narration, Characterization, Interpretation

Published: May 2013
£16.50£45.00
To hear, read, and interpret the Gospel of Mark is to become involved in the dynamic relationship between author (real or implied) and audience (implied or real). So we have learned from the 'literary turn' in biblical interpretation. But there remains another dynamic relationship in which we are of necessity involved: that of the literary and the historical questions surrounding the text. Clearly, multiple approaches are called for by anyone who wishes to claim a place in the on-going audience of the Gospel of Mark. The first three essays in this volume move in different ways between real and implied Markan realities: from implied audience to real (ancient) audience, from real (contemporary, oral) narrator to implied (ancient, oral) narrator, and from implied audience to various real (or 'unimplied') audiences. The next three essays treat the central Markan reality of parable as it connects author, narrator, and audience in challenging ways. The final three essays concern the relation of Mark's characters among themselves or the relation of narrator and character, recognizing the complexity of characterization in the Gospel as a form of communication between author and audience.
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Between Author and Audience in Mark: Narration, Characterization, Interpretation

£16.50£45.00
To hear, read, and interpret the Gospel of Mark is to become involved in the dynamic relationship between author (real or implied) and audience (implied or real). So we have learned from the 'literary turn' in biblical interpretation. But there remains another dynamic relationship in which we are of necessity involved: that of the literary and the historical questions surrounding the text. Clearly, multiple approaches are called for by anyone who wishes to claim a place in the on-going audience of the Gospel of Mark. The first three essays in this volume move in different ways between real and implied Markan realities: from implied audience to real (ancient) audience, from real (contemporary, oral) narrator to implied (ancient, oral) narrator, and from implied audience to various real (or 'unimplied') audiences. The next three essays treat the central Markan reality of parable as it connects author, narrator, and audience in challenging ways. The final three essays concern the relation of Mark's characters among themselves or the relation of narrator and character, recognizing the complexity of characterization in the Gospel as a form of communication between author and audience.
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Jesus and the People of God: Reconfiguring Ethnic Identity

Published: May 2013
£19.50£50.00
How did the Jesus movement —a messianic sectarian version of Palestinian Judaism —transcend its Judaean origins and ultimately establish itself in the Roman East as the multi-ethnic socio-religious experiment we know as early Christianity? In this major work, Hellerman, drawing upon his background as a social historian, proposes that a clue to the success of the Christian movement lay in Jesus' own conception of the people of God, and in how he reconfigured its identity from that of ethnos to that of family. Pointing first to Jesus' critique of sabbath-keeping, the Jerusalem temple, and Jewish dietary laws —practices central to the preservation of Judaean social identity —he argues that Jesus' intention was to destabilize the idea of God's people as a localized ethnos. In its place he conceived the social identity of the people of God as a surrogate family or kinship group, a social entity based not on common ancestry but on a shared commitment to his kingdom programme. Jesus of Nazareth thus functioned as a kind of ethnic entrepreneur, breaking down the boundaries of ethnic Judaism and providing an ideological foundation and symbolic framework for the wider expansion of the Jesus movement.
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Jesus and the People of God: Reconfiguring Ethnic Identity

£19.50£50.00
How did the Jesus movement —a messianic sectarian version of Palestinian Judaism —transcend its Judaean origins and ultimately establish itself in the Roman East as the multi-ethnic socio-religious experiment we know as early Christianity? In this major work, Hellerman, drawing upon his background as a social historian, proposes that a clue to the success of the Christian movement lay in Jesus' own conception of the people of God, and in how he reconfigured its identity from that of ethnos to that of family. Pointing first to Jesus' critique of sabbath-keeping, the Jerusalem temple, and Jewish dietary laws —practices central to the preservation of Judaean social identity —he argues that Jesus' intention was to destabilize the idea of God's people as a localized ethnos. In its place he conceived the social identity of the people of God as a surrogate family or kinship group, a social entity based not on common ancestry but on a shared commitment to his kingdom programme. Jesus of Nazareth thus functioned as a kind of ethnic entrepreneur, breaking down the boundaries of ethnic Judaism and providing an ideological foundation and symbolic framework for the wider expansion of the Jesus movement.
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The Death of Judas: The Characterization of Judas Iscariot in Three Early Christian Accounts of His Death

Published: Oct 2012
£60.00
Images of Judas across the centuries of Christian interpretation predominantly depict him as an object of horror and condemnation. Some modern interpreters have argued, however, that details about Judas in the canonical Gospels, such as his remorse and suicide, are tragic elements that vindicate Judas, to some extent at least. In addition, the recent discovery of the Gospel of Judas has provided further evidence that even in antiquity there were widely differing views of Judas. The question of the characterization of Judas in early Christianity remains open. Ancient rhetorical handbooks and countless examples from the literature of the Greco-Roman period reveal that death-accounts were regarded as fertile opportunities for shaping the characterization of a figure. Authors and audiences shared the expectation that the manner of a person's death revealed character. This insight provides a new window into the interpretation of Judas in the early Christian era, since three accounts of the death of Judas have survived from before 150 CE through the Gospel of Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles, and the fragments of Papias. Strategies for encomium and invective, and other elements of Greco-Roman and Jewish literary portraiture, vividly reveal the character-shaping significance of the details in the accounts of Judas's death. His final words, final actions, and the mode of his death —whether suicide by hanging, falling headlong and bursting, or swelling to the size of a wagon —all would have been understood to signify Judas's inner qualities and indicate his moral worth. To ancient auditors, the characterization of Judas in these texts could lead only to the assessment of Jesus, 'Woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born' (Matt. 26.24).
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The Death of Judas: The Characterization of Judas Iscariot in Three Early Christian Accounts of His Death

£60.00
Images of Judas across the centuries of Christian interpretation predominantly depict him as an object of horror and condemnation. Some modern interpreters have argued, however, that details about Judas in the canonical Gospels, such as his remorse and suicide, are tragic elements that vindicate Judas, to some extent at least. In addition, the recent discovery of the Gospel of Judas has provided further evidence that even in antiquity there were widely differing views of Judas. The question of the characterization of Judas in early Christianity remains open. Ancient rhetorical handbooks and countless examples from the literature of the Greco-Roman period reveal that death-accounts were regarded as fertile opportunities for shaping the characterization of a figure. Authors and audiences shared the expectation that the manner of a person's death revealed character. This insight provides a new window into the interpretation of Judas in the early Christian era, since three accounts of the death of Judas have survived from before 150 CE through the Gospel of Matthew, the Acts of the Apostles, and the fragments of Papias. Strategies for encomium and invective, and other elements of Greco-Roman and Jewish literary portraiture, vividly reveal the character-shaping significance of the details in the accounts of Judas's death. His final words, final actions, and the mode of his death —whether suicide by hanging, falling headlong and bursting, or swelling to the size of a wagon —all would have been understood to signify Judas's inner qualities and indicate his moral worth. To ancient auditors, the characterization of Judas in these texts could lead only to the assessment of Jesus, 'Woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born' (Matt. 26.24).
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The Letter to the Romans: Salvation as Justice and the Deconstruction of Law

Published: Sep 2011
£70.00
Romans, says Waetjen, is the first publication of the Christ movement. To understand it well is therefore a task of monumental importance, and to understand it today requires a postmodern hermeneutics, in which the interpreter's subjective experience of reading the text is correlated with historical-critical knowledge and social-scientific criticism. That hermeneutics has to create a new genre of commentary, making room for readers' prior understandings as well as for a dynamic form of close reading and consistency building. The outcome is a contemporizing of Paul's theology that induces conversation with Derrida, Žižek, Badiou and Agamben and others. The central theme of Romans is, according to Waetjen, the healing of humanity through the realization of 'the justice of God', which is disclosed in the movement 'out of trust into trust', or, more specifically, out of the trust of Abraham into the trust of Jesus Christ. Living on this side of the law of Sinai and therefore being conscious of the condition of sin requires the reconciliation of Christ's death and the justification of Christ's resurrection in order to participate in the New Humanity of life-giving spirits. Consequently Romans is more than a rhetorical effort to mediate conflicts between Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome. Composed prior to his journey to Jerusalem with the possibility of martyrdom before him, the letter is Paul's major theological testament.
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The Letter to the Romans: Salvation as Justice and the Deconstruction of Law

£70.00
Romans, says Waetjen, is the first publication of the Christ movement. To understand it well is therefore a task of monumental importance, and to understand it today requires a postmodern hermeneutics, in which the interpreter's subjective experience of reading the text is correlated with historical-critical knowledge and social-scientific criticism. That hermeneutics has to create a new genre of commentary, making room for readers' prior understandings as well as for a dynamic form of close reading and consistency building. The outcome is a contemporizing of Paul's theology that induces conversation with Derrida, Žižek, Badiou and Agamben and others. The central theme of Romans is, according to Waetjen, the healing of humanity through the realization of 'the justice of God', which is disclosed in the movement 'out of trust into trust', or, more specifically, out of the trust of Abraham into the trust of Jesus Christ. Living on this side of the law of Sinai and therefore being conscious of the condition of sin requires the reconciliation of Christ's death and the justification of Christ's resurrection in order to participate in the New Humanity of life-giving spirits. Consequently Romans is more than a rhetorical effort to mediate conflicts between Jewish and Gentile believers in Rome. Composed prior to his journey to Jerusalem with the possibility of martyrdom before him, the letter is Paul's major theological testament.
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The Lord of the Entire World: Lord Jesus, a Challenge to Lord Caesar?

Published: Aug 2011
£70.00
How would the confession, 'Jesus is Lord', have been understood in the first-century Roman world? Was it more than a statement of one's devotion to Jesus? Was it also an implicit challenge to the living Caesar, the lord of the Roman empire? There were many lords in the first century and the use of the title kyrios was complex. Clearly Paul was influenced by the use of this title for Yahweh in the Greek Old Testament. But he was also part of a culture in which the title was used for many persons, including fathers, slave owners, government officials —and the emperor. However, the title kyrios was used sparingly of emperors in the early and mid-first century. On the basis of the extant evidence, scholars since Deissmann have come to differing conclusions as to whether a challenge to the emperor is contained in the phrase. Fantin proposes a more powerful method of resolving the question, drawing upon the insights of relevance theory. He examines a whole range of persons referred to with this title, and evaluates the potential influence of such contexts on Paul's usage. Only then is it possible to draw compelling conclusions on whether any challenge is likely to be implied. In The Lord of the Entire World, Fantin shows that the living Caesar was indeed acknowledged in Paul's time as the supreme lord of the Roman world. Key New Testament texts such as Romans 10.9, 1 Corinthians 8.6 and Philippians 2.11 show that in all likelihood the Christian confession was in fact a challenge to imperial authority.
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The Lord of the Entire World: Lord Jesus, a Challenge to Lord Caesar?

£70.00
How would the confession, 'Jesus is Lord', have been understood in the first-century Roman world? Was it more than a statement of one's devotion to Jesus? Was it also an implicit challenge to the living Caesar, the lord of the Roman empire? There were many lords in the first century and the use of the title kyrios was complex. Clearly Paul was influenced by the use of this title for Yahweh in the Greek Old Testament. But he was also part of a culture in which the title was used for many persons, including fathers, slave owners, government officials —and the emperor. However, the title kyrios was used sparingly of emperors in the early and mid-first century. On the basis of the extant evidence, scholars since Deissmann have come to differing conclusions as to whether a challenge to the emperor is contained in the phrase. Fantin proposes a more powerful method of resolving the question, drawing upon the insights of relevance theory. He examines a whole range of persons referred to with this title, and evaluates the potential influence of such contexts on Paul's usage. Only then is it possible to draw compelling conclusions on whether any challenge is likely to be implied. In The Lord of the Entire World, Fantin shows that the living Caesar was indeed acknowledged in Paul's time as the supreme lord of the Roman world. Key New Testament texts such as Romans 10.9, 1 Corinthians 8.6 and Philippians 2.11 show that in all likelihood the Christian confession was in fact a challenge to imperial authority.
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The Flesh Was Made Word: A Metahistorical Critique of the Contemporary Quest of the Historical Jesus

Published: Nov 2010
£50.00
The 'historical Jesus' still remains elusive. Who was Jesus? What really happened? How can we know for sure? The latest quest for the truth about him comes at a time marked by radical uncertainty and postmodern scepticism about master narratives, along with a loss of confidence in the traditional methods of historical analysis. In this context, Susan Lochrie Graham approaches the old debates from an entirely new direction. Armed with a 'metahistorical' approach adapted from the work of Hayden White, the philosopher of history, she reads the work of four representative historical Jesus writers: John P. Meier, N.T. Wright, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and John Dominic Crossan. The analysis brings to light the deep literary structures of their portraits, showing the differing plots and rhetorical concepts that shape them, and the types of argument that are deployed by each writer. This ground-breaking critical investigation exposes the theological and cultural meanings embedded in all historical Jesus writing, showing how narrative forms function ideologically. It concludes with fresh answers to questions both about the methods we use and about the social implications of the contemporary quest of the historical Jesus, and proposes different directions for future research.
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The Flesh Was Made Word: A Metahistorical Critique of the Contemporary Quest of the Historical Jesus

£50.00
The 'historical Jesus' still remains elusive. Who was Jesus? What really happened? How can we know for sure? The latest quest for the truth about him comes at a time marked by radical uncertainty and postmodern scepticism about master narratives, along with a loss of confidence in the traditional methods of historical analysis. In this context, Susan Lochrie Graham approaches the old debates from an entirely new direction. Armed with a 'metahistorical' approach adapted from the work of Hayden White, the philosopher of history, she reads the work of four representative historical Jesus writers: John P. Meier, N.T. Wright, Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and John Dominic Crossan. The analysis brings to light the deep literary structures of their portraits, showing the differing plots and rhetorical concepts that shape them, and the types of argument that are deployed by each writer. This ground-breaking critical investigation exposes the theological and cultural meanings embedded in all historical Jesus writing, showing how narrative forms function ideologically. It concludes with fresh answers to questions both about the methods we use and about the social implications of the contemporary quest of the historical Jesus, and proposes different directions for future research.
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Echoes of Friendship in the Gospel of John

Published: Oct 2010
£60.00
Friendship in the Graeco-Roman world took a wide variety of forms, with some 'friendships' involving nothing more than a political alliance or patron —client relationship and others involving deep personal intimacy. When Jesus says his disciples are to be called 'friends', what type of friendship does he have in mind? Friendship may seem a relatively insignificant motif in the Gospel of John, since the author does not explicitly set out to provide a philosophical discourse on the nature of friendship, nor does he explicitly state that the narrative is about friendship. In this study, however, Culy, having carefully examined Graeco-Roman literature on friendship, demonstrates that the language of what he calls 'ideal friendship' actually pervades the Fourth Gospel from beginning to end and serves as a primary vehicle for characterizing the relationships that are introduced in the Prologue and fleshed out throughout the course of the narrative. Taking up the friendship motif as a tool of characterization, the Gospel of John points to a striking implication of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus: that followers of Jesus are invited to enjoy a level of intimacy with him that can actually, and perhaps only, be compared to the level of intimacy that he enjoys with the Father. The Johannine Jesus, then, came not just to save the world but also to offer those who would follow him a relationship that Graeco-Roman philosophers only dreamed of, a relationship where all the ingredients of ideal friendship were present.
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Echoes of Friendship in the Gospel of John

£60.00
Friendship in the Graeco-Roman world took a wide variety of forms, with some 'friendships' involving nothing more than a political alliance or patron —client relationship and others involving deep personal intimacy. When Jesus says his disciples are to be called 'friends', what type of friendship does he have in mind? Friendship may seem a relatively insignificant motif in the Gospel of John, since the author does not explicitly set out to provide a philosophical discourse on the nature of friendship, nor does he explicitly state that the narrative is about friendship. In this study, however, Culy, having carefully examined Graeco-Roman literature on friendship, demonstrates that the language of what he calls 'ideal friendship' actually pervades the Fourth Gospel from beginning to end and serves as a primary vehicle for characterizing the relationships that are introduced in the Prologue and fleshed out throughout the course of the narrative. Taking up the friendship motif as a tool of characterization, the Gospel of John points to a striking implication of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus: that followers of Jesus are invited to enjoy a level of intimacy with him that can actually, and perhaps only, be compared to the level of intimacy that he enjoys with the Father. The Johannine Jesus, then, came not just to save the world but also to offer those who would follow him a relationship that Graeco-Roman philosophers only dreamed of, a relationship where all the ingredients of ideal friendship were present.
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The Prophetic Lawsuit in the Book of Revelation

Published: May 2010
£60.00
The language, metaphors and storyline of the Book of Revelation evoke a cosmic law court setting. Juridical metaphors of a legal contest between the faithful witnesses and the 'accuser of the brethren' are intertwined throughout with images of holy war. Although such features have often been noted, this is the first full-length study drawing together the diverse evidence and reading the book through the lens of the controlling metaphor of the lawsuit. The background of the law court setting in Revelation is the Old Testament prophetic genre of the lawsuit, sometimes conceived of as a lawsuit against God's own people for their violations of the covenant, sometimes as a lawsuit against foreign nations for their oppression of Israel. Prophetic lawsuit language often culminated in oracles of salvation announcing the vindication of the righteous. Reading Revelation with an awareness of the prophetic lawsuit motif will enable readers to interpret the juridical images as consistent features in the overall narrative. The purpose of Revelation's narrative is to depict the sovereign judge of the universe rendering ultimate justice through the condemnation of the wicked and the vindication of the saints. This message of vindication is intended to encourage Christians in Asia Minor at the end of the first century not to capitulate or even accommodate to the socio-religious norms of their time.
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The Prophetic Lawsuit in the Book of Revelation

£60.00
The language, metaphors and storyline of the Book of Revelation evoke a cosmic law court setting. Juridical metaphors of a legal contest between the faithful witnesses and the 'accuser of the brethren' are intertwined throughout with images of holy war. Although such features have often been noted, this is the first full-length study drawing together the diverse evidence and reading the book through the lens of the controlling metaphor of the lawsuit. The background of the law court setting in Revelation is the Old Testament prophetic genre of the lawsuit, sometimes conceived of as a lawsuit against God's own people for their violations of the covenant, sometimes as a lawsuit against foreign nations for their oppression of Israel. Prophetic lawsuit language often culminated in oracles of salvation announcing the vindication of the righteous. Reading Revelation with an awareness of the prophetic lawsuit motif will enable readers to interpret the juridical images as consistent features in the overall narrative. The purpose of Revelation's narrative is to depict the sovereign judge of the universe rendering ultimate justice through the condemnation of the wicked and the vindication of the saints. This message of vindication is intended to encourage Christians in Asia Minor at the end of the first century not to capitulate or even accommodate to the socio-religious norms of their time.
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The Son of Man in the Gospel of John

Published: May 2010
£50.00
J. Harold Ellens here explores the intriguing question of why, in John's Gospel, Jesus called himself the 'Son of Man', virtually the only title he gave himself in the Fourth Gospel, and a title virtually no one else ever used for him. In Second Temple Judaism there were several traditions about the Son of Man. In Ezekiel the term 'son of man' means 'mere mortal'. In Daniel, on the other hand, the Son of Man is a heavenly figure with authority to destroy evil and establish God's reign on earth. In 1 Enoch, the Son of Man is a human being appointed by God as an eschatological judge. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke the Son of Man is a man who builds the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus also depicts himself as the Suffering Servant, who will die at the hands of the Jerusalem authorities and be exalted by God to heavenly status as the final Judge. In this monograph the focus is on the Son of Man in the Gospel of John. There is nothing of the Ezekiel tradition in John, but Daniel's heavenly Son of Man is evident in the mind of this Gospel's author, who envisages him as divine, of heavenly origin. Indeed, in John the Son of Man is the divine Logos, God's revelation of himself. As against the Enochic and Synoptic Son of Man, the Johannine Son of Man is not a human being who is exalted to heaven and who will come again as the final Judge. He is a divine figure who descends to earth to remove evil now, by forgiving sins and by establishing God's universal reign.
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The Son of Man in the Gospel of John

£50.00
J. Harold Ellens here explores the intriguing question of why, in John's Gospel, Jesus called himself the 'Son of Man', virtually the only title he gave himself in the Fourth Gospel, and a title virtually no one else ever used for him. In Second Temple Judaism there were several traditions about the Son of Man. In Ezekiel the term 'son of man' means 'mere mortal'. In Daniel, on the other hand, the Son of Man is a heavenly figure with authority to destroy evil and establish God's reign on earth. In 1 Enoch, the Son of Man is a human being appointed by God as an eschatological judge. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke the Son of Man is a man who builds the kingdom of God on earth. Jesus also depicts himself as the Suffering Servant, who will die at the hands of the Jerusalem authorities and be exalted by God to heavenly status as the final Judge. In this monograph the focus is on the Son of Man in the Gospel of John. There is nothing of the Ezekiel tradition in John, but Daniel's heavenly Son of Man is evident in the mind of this Gospel's author, who envisages him as divine, of heavenly origin. Indeed, in John the Son of Man is the divine Logos, God's revelation of himself. As against the Enochic and Synoptic Son of Man, the Johannine Son of Man is not a human being who is exalted to heaven and who will come again as the final Judge. He is a divine figure who descends to earth to remove evil now, by forgiving sins and by establishing God's universal reign.
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Judas and the Rhetoric of Comparison in the Fourth Gospel

Published: Apr 2010
£50.00
Why is Judas repeatedly contrasted in the Fourth Gospel with other characters, and why is he repeatedly depicted in these comparisons as the consummate defector? The answer to these questions, Martin argues, lies in the ancient rhetorical theory and practice of 'syncrisis', the formal, rhetorical comparison of persons or things. Surveying the Graeco-Roman textbooks of composition that taught this device and the ancient authors who used it, Martin shows that syncrisis was often used to juxtapose 'genera' or 'groups' via their 'outstanding' or 'extreme' members. In such comparisons, a two-level drama unfolds, with the verdict of superiority being applicable both to the individuals being compared and to the groups they represent. The Johannine Judas, Martin argues, is featured in this manner of comparison over against Peter, and his portrayal in the Gospel as the consummate defector points, along with several other clues, to his identity as a representative of the schismatics who seceded from the Johannine community and who are described in 1, 2 and 3 John.
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Judas and the Rhetoric of Comparison in the Fourth Gospel

£50.00
Why is Judas repeatedly contrasted in the Fourth Gospel with other characters, and why is he repeatedly depicted in these comparisons as the consummate defector? The answer to these questions, Martin argues, lies in the ancient rhetorical theory and practice of 'syncrisis', the formal, rhetorical comparison of persons or things. Surveying the Graeco-Roman textbooks of composition that taught this device and the ancient authors who used it, Martin shows that syncrisis was often used to juxtapose 'genera' or 'groups' via their 'outstanding' or 'extreme' members. In such comparisons, a two-level drama unfolds, with the verdict of superiority being applicable both to the individuals being compared and to the groups they represent. The Johannine Judas, Martin argues, is featured in this manner of comparison over against Peter, and his portrayal in the Gospel as the consummate defector points, along with several other clues, to his identity as a representative of the schismatics who seceded from the Johannine community and who are described in 1, 2 and 3 John.
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Images of Zion: Biblical Antecedents for the New Jerusalem

Published: Apr 2010
£60.00
This study, unparalleled in recent scholarly writing, sets out to examine the broad sweep of the biblical theological tradition about Jerusalem/Zion as the antecedent to Revelation's depiction of the New Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem/Zion is depicted in both its ideal form and its actual manifestation. In the Psalms (and seminally in the Pentateuch), Zion is depicted as similar to the holy mountains of the gods in Ugaritic religion. But it is not only a dwelling-place of the deity: it is also an earthly city inhabited by humans, and so it becomes a place of community of the divine and the human. The historical books of course make no secret of the realities of life in the far from holy Jerusalem, and, in the prophets also, the city of Jerusalem is the site of wrongdoing and corruption, a place attracting judgment; but equally it is the focus for eschatological anticipations of a renewed community that does fulfil the ideal. In the New Testament, by its rejection of the Messiah earthly Jerusalem forfeits its role as the true Jerusalem/Zion, which is taken over by Jesus and the church. Occasionally we get glimpses of the belief that the true Jerusalem is in heaven (a development begun in Second Temple literature). The book of Revelation picks up as well from Second Temple literature the theme of the identity of Jerusalem with the Garden of Eden, combining this idea with renewal-of-Zion passages from the prophets to depict the final state of God's people as a place of blessedness, community, life and safety, as well of intimacy with God.
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Images of Zion: Biblical Antecedents for the New Jerusalem

£60.00
This study, unparalleled in recent scholarly writing, sets out to examine the broad sweep of the biblical theological tradition about Jerusalem/Zion as the antecedent to Revelation's depiction of the New Jerusalem. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem/Zion is depicted in both its ideal form and its actual manifestation. In the Psalms (and seminally in the Pentateuch), Zion is depicted as similar to the holy mountains of the gods in Ugaritic religion. But it is not only a dwelling-place of the deity: it is also an earthly city inhabited by humans, and so it becomes a place of community of the divine and the human. The historical books of course make no secret of the realities of life in the far from holy Jerusalem, and, in the prophets also, the city of Jerusalem is the site of wrongdoing and corruption, a place attracting judgment; but equally it is the focus for eschatological anticipations of a renewed community that does fulfil the ideal. In the New Testament, by its rejection of the Messiah earthly Jerusalem forfeits its role as the true Jerusalem/Zion, which is taken over by Jesus and the church. Occasionally we get glimpses of the belief that the true Jerusalem is in heaven (a development begun in Second Temple literature). The book of Revelation picks up as well from Second Temple literature the theme of the identity of Jerusalem with the Garden of Eden, combining this idea with renewal-of-Zion passages from the prophets to depict the final state of God's people as a place of blessedness, community, life and safety, as well of intimacy with God.
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The Linguist as Pedagogue: Trends in the Teaching and Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament

Published: Oct 2009
£50.00
This volume of important essays from recent Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings covers two related and vital topics-linguistic pedagogy and linguistic analysis. The essays on pedagogy discuss current trends and perspectives on how to approach the teaching of a dead language in the vibrancy of the electronic age. Experienced teacher-scholars give insights into how they draw upon linguistic theory and marshal technology to help reinforce pedagogical technique. A second set of essays is concerned with the linguistic issue of 'prominence', asking, How are texts able to show that certain portions are more important than others? The essays, both theoretical and practical, grapple with the linguistic equivalent of underlining, to show how prominence helps authors make their point. The book of Hebrews, where identifying major themes and ideas have proved problematic, is offered as an extended example. The volume is rounded off with a collection of papers applying the insights of modern linguistics, and particularly sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, to reading the New Testament in new and provocative ways that transcend traditional exegesis.
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The Linguist as Pedagogue: Trends in the Teaching and Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament

£50.00
This volume of important essays from recent Society of Biblical Literature annual meetings covers two related and vital topics-linguistic pedagogy and linguistic analysis. The essays on pedagogy discuss current trends and perspectives on how to approach the teaching of a dead language in the vibrancy of the electronic age. Experienced teacher-scholars give insights into how they draw upon linguistic theory and marshal technology to help reinforce pedagogical technique. A second set of essays is concerned with the linguistic issue of 'prominence', asking, How are texts able to show that certain portions are more important than others? The essays, both theoretical and practical, grapple with the linguistic equivalent of underlining, to show how prominence helps authors make their point. The book of Hebrews, where identifying major themes and ideas have proved problematic, is offered as an extended example. The volume is rounded off with a collection of papers applying the insights of modern linguistics, and particularly sociolinguistics and discourse analysis, to reading the New Testament in new and provocative ways that transcend traditional exegesis.
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Jesus’ Twofold Teaching about the Kingdom of God

Published: May 2009
£50.00
Recent research on Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God has in common the assumption that it remains the same throughout the time of his proclamation of it. The data that cannot be harmonized are usually judged to be inauthentic, originating from Christian prophets in the early church. Smith shows in closely argued detail how essential it is to differentiate two historical contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. The nature of the Kingdom of God is conditional upon its acceptance and the acceptance of its messenger —which is to say, Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God is hypothetical. This is the non-rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. But some of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God presupposes a context of the rejection of his message by the majority of Jews and especially the Jewish authorities. In this new context, Jesus teaches that the Kingdom will still come but not in the way first delineated, in the non-rejection context. This can be called the rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. No attempt should be made to assimilate all the data into one historical context. Distinguishing two contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God allows us to appreciate how Jesus modifies his teaching in the light of the rejection of the Kingdom. Without this differentiation of two historical contexts, it is impossible to make sense of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
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Jesus’ Twofold Teaching about the Kingdom of God

£50.00
Recent research on Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God has in common the assumption that it remains the same throughout the time of his proclamation of it. The data that cannot be harmonized are usually judged to be inauthentic, originating from Christian prophets in the early church. Smith shows in closely argued detail how essential it is to differentiate two historical contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. The nature of the Kingdom of God is conditional upon its acceptance and the acceptance of its messenger —which is to say, Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God is hypothetical. This is the non-rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. But some of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God presupposes a context of the rejection of his message by the majority of Jews and especially the Jewish authorities. In this new context, Jesus teaches that the Kingdom will still come but not in the way first delineated, in the non-rejection context. This can be called the rejection context of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God. No attempt should be made to assimilate all the data into one historical context. Distinguishing two contexts for Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God allows us to appreciate how Jesus modifies his teaching in the light of the rejection of the Kingdom. Without this differentiation of two historical contexts, it is impossible to make sense of Jesus' teaching about the Kingdom of God.
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Identity and Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean: Jews, Christians and Others. Essays in Honour of Stephen G. Wilson

Published: Oct 2007
£50.00
Stephen G. Wilson was Professor of Religion at Carleton University, Ottawa, and Director of the College of Humanities until his retirement in 2007. His contributions to the study of the religious identities of Jews, Christians, and Gentiles in the first three centuries of the Common Era are widely acknowledged; his interests have been no less in the contrasting and sometimes conflicting religious identities within each of these three groups. Among his best-known publications are The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke —Acts (1973), Luke and the Law (1983), Related Strangers: Jews and Christians 70 —170 CE (1995), and Leaving the Fold: Defectors and Apostates in Antiquity (2004). The present collection of essays develops further Wilson's researches on the general theme of identity and interaction. The sixteen contributors to this Festschrift include Kim Stratton on curse rhetoric, Adele Reinhartz on Caiaphas, Willi Braun on meals and social formation, Philip Harland on meals and social labelling, Richard Ascough on missionizing associations, John Barclay on Judaean identity in Josephus, John Kloppenborg on the recipients of the Letter of James, Laurence Broadhurst on ancient music, Larry Hurtado on manuscripts and identity, Edith Humphey on naming in the Apocalypse, Michele Murray on the Apostolic Constitutions, Roger Beck on the Late Antique 'Horoscope of Islam', Graydon Snyder on the Ethiopian Jews, Alan Segal on Daniel Boyarin, Robert Morgan on theology vs religious studies, and William Arnal on scholarly identities in the study of Christian Origins.
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Identity and Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean: Jews, Christians and Others. Essays in Honour of Stephen G. Wilson

£50.00
Stephen G. Wilson was Professor of Religion at Carleton University, Ottawa, and Director of the College of Humanities until his retirement in 2007. His contributions to the study of the religious identities of Jews, Christians, and Gentiles in the first three centuries of the Common Era are widely acknowledged; his interests have been no less in the contrasting and sometimes conflicting religious identities within each of these three groups. Among his best-known publications are The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke —Acts (1973), Luke and the Law (1983), Related Strangers: Jews and Christians 70 —170 CE (1995), and Leaving the Fold: Defectors and Apostates in Antiquity (2004). The present collection of essays develops further Wilson's researches on the general theme of identity and interaction. The sixteen contributors to this Festschrift include Kim Stratton on curse rhetoric, Adele Reinhartz on Caiaphas, Willi Braun on meals and social formation, Philip Harland on meals and social labelling, Richard Ascough on missionizing associations, John Barclay on Judaean identity in Josephus, John Kloppenborg on the recipients of the Letter of James, Laurence Broadhurst on ancient music, Larry Hurtado on manuscripts and identity, Edith Humphey on naming in the Apocalypse, Michele Murray on the Apostolic Constitutions, Roger Beck on the Late Antique 'Horoscope of Islam', Graydon Snyder on the Ethiopian Jews, Alan Segal on Daniel Boyarin, Robert Morgan on theology vs religious studies, and William Arnal on scholarly identities in the study of Christian Origins.
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The Impartial God: Essays in Biblical Studies in Honor of Jouette M. Bassler

Published: Oct 2007
£55.00
Jouette M. Bassler, Professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University since 1986, is widely recognized for contributions to Pauline studies, the Pastoral Epistles, women in the New Testament, and for her work as editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature from 1995 to 1999. The nineteen contributions to this Festschrift include: Charles Cousar on the Christ-hymn in Philippians, Gordon Fee on the locative en in Galatians, Benjamin Fiore on kinship address in Philemon, Robert Foster on the visions of grace in Ephesians, Serge Frolov on the 'Rebellious Tenants' story as political allegory, Victor Furnish on the theology of faith, love, and hope in 1 Thessalonians, Roy Heller on widows in Deuteronomy, Robert Jewett on wrath and violence in Romans and 1 Thessalonians, Elizabeth Johnson on first-century asceticism, Ila Bovee Kraft on the fictive interlocutor in 1 Corinthians 14, Steven Kraftchick on death in Philippians, Alan Mitchell on friendship in 1 Cor. 6:8, Richard Nelson on Achsah in Judges, Jerome Neyrey on characters in the Fourth Gospel, David Rensberger on the Holy Spirit in Pauline churches, Calvin Roetzel on violent metaphorical language in 2 Corinthians, E.P. Sanders on the providence of God in Josephus and Paul, Joseph Tyson on conflicting views of leadership in Acts, and Larry Yarbrough on concern for the poor of Jerusalem.
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The Impartial God: Essays in Biblical Studies in Honor of Jouette M. Bassler

£55.00
Jouette M. Bassler, Professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University since 1986, is widely recognized for contributions to Pauline studies, the Pastoral Epistles, women in the New Testament, and for her work as editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature from 1995 to 1999. The nineteen contributions to this Festschrift include: Charles Cousar on the Christ-hymn in Philippians, Gordon Fee on the locative en in Galatians, Benjamin Fiore on kinship address in Philemon, Robert Foster on the visions of grace in Ephesians, Serge Frolov on the 'Rebellious Tenants' story as political allegory, Victor Furnish on the theology of faith, love, and hope in 1 Thessalonians, Roy Heller on widows in Deuteronomy, Robert Jewett on wrath and violence in Romans and 1 Thessalonians, Elizabeth Johnson on first-century asceticism, Ila Bovee Kraft on the fictive interlocutor in 1 Corinthians 14, Steven Kraftchick on death in Philippians, Alan Mitchell on friendship in 1 Cor. 6:8, Richard Nelson on Achsah in Judges, Jerome Neyrey on characters in the Fourth Gospel, David Rensberger on the Holy Spirit in Pauline churches, Calvin Roetzel on violent metaphorical language in 2 Corinthians, E.P. Sanders on the providence of God in Josephus and Paul, Joseph Tyson on conflicting views of leadership in Acts, and Larry Yarbrough on concern for the poor of Jerusalem.
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Text and Community, Vol 2: Essays in Memory of Bruce M. Metzger

Published: Oct 2007
£50.00
Bruce Manning Metzger, New Testament professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, died in February 2007 at the age of 93. This volume in his honour was already in preparation, and has become of necessity a memorial volume rather than the Festschrift that was intended. Metzger has been called the greatest American New Testament critic and biblical translator of the twentieth century. Among his writings most commonly cited are his classic studies The Text of the New Testament, its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (1964) and The Early Versions of the New Testament, their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations (1977). He was also Chair of the Committee of Translators for the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (published 1990). The first of these two wide-ranging and often innovative volumes created in his honour, subtitled Interpretation of the Text for the Community, falls into two parts: The Nature of the Bible: Manuscripts, Texts, and Translation (e.g. an ancient papyrus biblical fragment, biblical exegesis in the third world), and Understanding the Bible: Hermeneutics (e.g. biblical interpretation in Paul in its cultural context). The second volume, on Implementation of the Text in the Community, has as its two parts, The Church and the Bible: Pulpit and Parish (e.g. pastoral care and the Bible) and The Academy, Science, Culture, Society, and the Bible (e.g. psychological method and the historical Jesus, Jungian and Freudian perspectives on gender in the Gospel of John).
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Text and Community, Vol 2: Essays in Memory of Bruce M. Metzger

£50.00
Bruce Manning Metzger, New Testament professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, died in February 2007 at the age of 93. This volume in his honour was already in preparation, and has become of necessity a memorial volume rather than the Festschrift that was intended. Metzger has been called the greatest American New Testament critic and biblical translator of the twentieth century. Among his writings most commonly cited are his classic studies The Text of the New Testament, its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (1964) and The Early Versions of the New Testament, their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations (1977). He was also Chair of the Committee of Translators for the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (published 1990). The first of these two wide-ranging and often innovative volumes created in his honour, subtitled Interpretation of the Text for the Community, falls into two parts: The Nature of the Bible: Manuscripts, Texts, and Translation (e.g. an ancient papyrus biblical fragment, biblical exegesis in the third world), and Understanding the Bible: Hermeneutics (e.g. biblical interpretation in Paul in its cultural context). The second volume, on Implementation of the Text in the Community, has as its two parts, The Church and the Bible: Pulpit and Parish (e.g. pastoral care and the Bible) and The Academy, Science, Culture, Society, and the Bible (e.g. psychological method and the historical Jesus, Jungian and Freudian perspectives on gender in the Gospel of John).
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What Must I Do to Be Saved? Paul Parts Company with His Jewish Heritage

Published: Apr 2007
£50.00
How can one escape God's wrath and gain eternal life? On this crucial theological question, Paul differs from other members of the second-Temple Jewish community. Their soteriology is synergistic: for them, though eschatological salvation is due to God's merciful removal of human guilt, obedience to the Law is also indispensable. The divine and the human co-operate. Paul however believes that under such a scheme anything less than perfect obedience to the Law is futile. In consequence, if there is to be salvation for sinful humans, it must be a salvation independent of all human effort and achievement, and thus solely through faith. Contrary to the recent consensus, Paul's concern was not primarily the inclusion of gentiles into the church. This non-synergistic soteriology of Paul's may seem undermined by some of his own statements, that believers must submit to eschatological judgment and that the person without good works will be disqualified from eschatological salvation. But this conclusion is incorrect. For what he holds is that the good works indispensable for salvation are necessarily performed by the believer as manifestations of the indwelling Spirit present in those who have faith in Christ.
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What Must I Do to Be Saved? Paul Parts Company with His Jewish Heritage

£50.00
How can one escape God's wrath and gain eternal life? On this crucial theological question, Paul differs from other members of the second-Temple Jewish community. Their soteriology is synergistic: for them, though eschatological salvation is due to God's merciful removal of human guilt, obedience to the Law is also indispensable. The divine and the human co-operate. Paul however believes that under such a scheme anything less than perfect obedience to the Law is futile. In consequence, if there is to be salvation for sinful humans, it must be a salvation independent of all human effort and achievement, and thus solely through faith. Contrary to the recent consensus, Paul's concern was not primarily the inclusion of gentiles into the church. This non-synergistic soteriology of Paul's may seem undermined by some of his own statements, that believers must submit to eschatological judgment and that the person without good works will be disqualified from eschatological salvation. But this conclusion is incorrect. For what he holds is that the good works indispensable for salvation are necessarily performed by the believer as manifestations of the indwelling Spirit present in those who have faith in Christ.
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Works of the Law at Qumran and in Paul

Published: Mar 2007
£60.00
The phrase 'works of the law' occurs only in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Paul, but it has a different connotation in each corpus. At Qumran, the 'works of the law' are deeds of obedience to God's law, and are ultimately inspired by God. They function as a means of atonement, whether for the individual who performs them or for the sins of others. For Paul, on the other hand, the 'works of the law' are quintessentially the works of Abraham. Though they are indeed good deeds, Abraham himself was a sinful man, and so his deeds could not make atonement for himself or for others. In fact, Paul is reacting against the idea of Abraham as a redeemer figure that was held by some of his contemporaries. The phrase 'works of the law' thus takes on a negative coloration in Paul, as a deceptively false means of salvation. In contrast to Qumran, Paul's position is that justification must be effected 'apart from works of the law', and thus by Jesus Christ. Abraham is no 'second Adam', as some were thinking, and his good deeds, epitomized in his sacrifice of Isaac, had no atoning value. This closely reasoned study makes an important contribution to the study of New Testament theology; it undertakes to settle some long-standing debates about Paul's soteriology by proposing an alternative both to traditional interpretation of Paul and to the 'New Perspective on Paul'.
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Works of the Law at Qumran and in Paul

£60.00
The phrase 'works of the law' occurs only in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in Paul, but it has a different connotation in each corpus. At Qumran, the 'works of the law' are deeds of obedience to God's law, and are ultimately inspired by God. They function as a means of atonement, whether for the individual who performs them or for the sins of others. For Paul, on the other hand, the 'works of the law' are quintessentially the works of Abraham. Though they are indeed good deeds, Abraham himself was a sinful man, and so his deeds could not make atonement for himself or for others. In fact, Paul is reacting against the idea of Abraham as a redeemer figure that was held by some of his contemporaries. The phrase 'works of the law' thus takes on a negative coloration in Paul, as a deceptively false means of salvation. In contrast to Qumran, Paul's position is that justification must be effected 'apart from works of the law', and thus by Jesus Christ. Abraham is no 'second Adam', as some were thinking, and his good deeds, epitomized in his sacrifice of Isaac, had no atoning value. This closely reasoned study makes an important contribution to the study of New Testament theology; it undertakes to settle some long-standing debates about Paul's soteriology by proposing an alternative both to traditional interpretation of Paul and to the 'New Perspective on Paul'.
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Text and Community, Vol. 1: Essays in Memory of Bruce M. Metzger

Published: Jan 2007
£50.00
Bruce Manning Metzger, New Testament professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, died in February 2007 at the age of 93. This volume in his honour was already in preparation, and has become of necessity a memorial volume rather than the Festschrift that was intended. Metzger has been called the greatest American New Testament critic and biblical translator of the twentieth century. Among his writings most commonly cited are his classic studies The Text of the New Testament, its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (1964) and The Early Versions of the New Testament, their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations (1977). He was also Chair of the Committee of Translators for the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (published 1990). The first of these two wide-ranging and often innovative volumes created in his honour, subtitled Interpretation of the Text for the Community, falls into two parts: The Nature of the Bible: Manuscripts, Texts, and Translation (e.g. an ancient papyrus biblical fragment, biblical exegesis in the third world), and Understanding the Bible: Hermeneutics (e.g. biblical interpretation in Paul in its cultural context). The second volume, on Implementation of the Text in the Community, has as its two parts, The Church and the Bible: Pulpit and Parish (e.g. pastoral care and the Bible) and The Academy, Science, Culture, Society, and the Bible (e.g. psychological method and the historical Jesus, Jungian and Freudian perspectives on gender in the Gospel of John).
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Text and Community, Vol. 1: Essays in Memory of Bruce M. Metzger

£50.00
Bruce Manning Metzger, New Testament professor emeritus at Princeton Theological Seminary, died in February 2007 at the age of 93. This volume in his honour was already in preparation, and has become of necessity a memorial volume rather than the Festschrift that was intended. Metzger has been called the greatest American New Testament critic and biblical translator of the twentieth century. Among his writings most commonly cited are his classic studies The Text of the New Testament, its Transmission, Corruption and Restoration (1964) and The Early Versions of the New Testament, their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations (1977). He was also Chair of the Committee of Translators for the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible (published 1990). The first of these two wide-ranging and often innovative volumes created in his honour, subtitled Interpretation of the Text for the Community, falls into two parts: The Nature of the Bible: Manuscripts, Texts, and Translation (e.g. an ancient papyrus biblical fragment, biblical exegesis in the third world), and Understanding the Bible: Hermeneutics (e.g. biblical interpretation in Paul in its cultural context). The second volume, on Implementation of the Text in the Community, has as its two parts, The Church and the Bible: Pulpit and Parish (e.g. pastoral care and the Bible) and The Academy, Science, Culture, Society, and the Bible (e.g. psychological method and the historical Jesus, Jungian and Freudian perspectives on gender in the Gospel of John).
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The Intertextuality of the Epistles: Explorations of Theory and Practice

Published: Oct 2006
£55.00
The international conference held in Limerick, Ireland, in May 2005 produced far more than the usual collection of loosely related papers. Rather, this volume from the 17 contributors demarcates and organizes a whole field, serving as an indispensable introduction to intertextuality in general, and as an original examination of the topic in relation to the New Testament epistles.
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The Intertextuality of the Epistles: Explorations of Theory and Practice

£55.00
The international conference held in Limerick, Ireland, in May 2005 produced far more than the usual collection of loosely related papers. Rather, this volume from the 17 contributors demarcates and organizes a whole field, serving as an indispensable introduction to intertextuality in general, and as an original examination of the topic in relation to the New Testament epistles.
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Timothy’s Task, Paul’s Prospect: A New Reading of 2 Timothy

Published: Sep 2006
£55.00
In this challenging book, Craig Smith propounds the novel thesis that the famous lines in 2 Timothy 4 where 'Paul' announces that the time of his departure has come have been misunderstood. This is no farewell speech, Smith avers, and Paul is not intending to pass on the baton to his younger colleague, Timothy. Deploying epistolary analysis and rhetorical criticism, Smith shows that these verses (4:1-8) do not have the literary structure or the vocabulary of a testament or a farewell; rather, they are a 'charge', an authoritative command, comprised of five specific formal elements. This charge form is found also in the exorcism command and in some magical texts, Christian and non-Christian. From this perspective, Paul's being poured out as a libation is his experience of preaching to the Gentiles at his first trial, his 'departure' is the imminent release from prison that he is expecting, the fight he has fought and the race he has finished are his trial that he has withstood. Far from appointing Timothy as his successor, he is contemplating a continued companionship and collegiality as they continue their ministry together.
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Timothy’s Task, Paul’s Prospect: A New Reading of 2 Timothy

£55.00
In this challenging book, Craig Smith propounds the novel thesis that the famous lines in 2 Timothy 4 where 'Paul' announces that the time of his departure has come have been misunderstood. This is no farewell speech, Smith avers, and Paul is not intending to pass on the baton to his younger colleague, Timothy. Deploying epistolary analysis and rhetorical criticism, Smith shows that these verses (4:1-8) do not have the literary structure or the vocabulary of a testament or a farewell; rather, they are a 'charge', an authoritative command, comprised of five specific formal elements. This charge form is found also in the exorcism command and in some magical texts, Christian and non-Christian. From this perspective, Paul's being poured out as a libation is his experience of preaching to the Gentiles at his first trial, his 'departure' is the imminent release from prison that he is expecting, the fight he has fought and the race he has finished are his trial that he has withstood. Far from appointing Timothy as his successor, he is contemplating a continued companionship and collegiality as they continue their ministry together.
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Jesus as Prophet in the Fourth Gospel

Published: Sep 2006
£60.00
All the Gospels recognize Jesus as a prophet, but it is above all in the Gospel of John that this dimension of his work is stressed. Cho explores the many elements in the Gospel that add up to what can rightly be called a prophetic Christology. He shows that many of Jesus' words and some of his deeds are prophetic in character, and that Jesus is not just a prophet like the Old Testament prophets before him but the prophet like Moses expected for the times of the End. Identifying Jesus as a prophet, Cho goes on to argue, is important within the narrative of the Gospel of John: it is a way-station on a journey of discovery towards a more profound appreciation of Jesus' identity. Recognizing Jesus as prophet is for John an initial step in coming to faith, and, in the overall Christology of the Gospel of John a significant element in attaining a balance between a high and a low Christology. The construction of Jesus as prophet, though well evidenced in the Gospel, has received remarkably little attention in recent scholarly study, and Cho's work is a much-needed full-scale study of the theme.
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Jesus as Prophet in the Fourth Gospel

£60.00
All the Gospels recognize Jesus as a prophet, but it is above all in the Gospel of John that this dimension of his work is stressed. Cho explores the many elements in the Gospel that add up to what can rightly be called a prophetic Christology. He shows that many of Jesus' words and some of his deeds are prophetic in character, and that Jesus is not just a prophet like the Old Testament prophets before him but the prophet like Moses expected for the times of the End. Identifying Jesus as a prophet, Cho goes on to argue, is important within the narrative of the Gospel of John: it is a way-station on a journey of discovery towards a more profound appreciation of Jesus' identity. Recognizing Jesus as prophet is for John an initial step in coming to faith, and, in the overall Christology of the Gospel of John a significant element in attaining a balance between a high and a low Christology. The construction of Jesus as prophet, though well evidenced in the Gospel, has received remarkably little attention in recent scholarly study, and Cho's work is a much-needed full-scale study of the theme.
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James Rendel Harris: New Testament Autographs and Other Essays

Published: Aug 2006
£60.00
James Rendel Harris (1852 —1941) was one of the most prolific and influential New Testament scholars of his time. He opened new paths in textual criticism, brought to light hitherto lost early Christian writings and gathered major collections of Syriac manuscripts and Greek papyri. An introductory essay sketches Rendel Harris's life and works, while the rest of the book collects published essays and unpublished lectures and letters written by Rendel Harris over a span of 50 years, providing an essential picture of his scholarship. The papers include a lively and first-hand account of the controversies over the Hort —Westcott Greek New Testament; the suggestion of using mathematical devices for reconstructing New Testament autographs; the finding of the only known Diatessaronic reading in a Greek New Testament; the account of Rendel Harris's initial 'discovery' of testimonia collections and his two last daring essays on the topic; one of the first proposals of a wisdom hymn lying behind John's prologue (including the author's unpublished notes for a future edition); and, finally, an entertaining guide for the manuscript hunter. The personal correspondence at the end of the volume throws light on the driving forces of Rendel Harris's scholarship and on his own assessment of his work on the testimonia. The goal of his studies was to draw attention to new or little-explored topics and to provoke his colleagues to carry out fresh research on what they had overlooked. This collection aims at the same goal.
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James Rendel Harris: New Testament Autographs and Other Essays

£60.00
James Rendel Harris (1852 —1941) was one of the most prolific and influential New Testament scholars of his time. He opened new paths in textual criticism, brought to light hitherto lost early Christian writings and gathered major collections of Syriac manuscripts and Greek papyri. An introductory essay sketches Rendel Harris's life and works, while the rest of the book collects published essays and unpublished lectures and letters written by Rendel Harris over a span of 50 years, providing an essential picture of his scholarship. The papers include a lively and first-hand account of the controversies over the Hort —Westcott Greek New Testament; the suggestion of using mathematical devices for reconstructing New Testament autographs; the finding of the only known Diatessaronic reading in a Greek New Testament; the account of Rendel Harris's initial 'discovery' of testimonia collections and his two last daring essays on the topic; one of the first proposals of a wisdom hymn lying behind John's prologue (including the author's unpublished notes for a future edition); and, finally, an entertaining guide for the manuscript hunter. The personal correspondence at the end of the volume throws light on the driving forces of Rendel Harris's scholarship and on his own assessment of his work on the testimonia. The goal of his studies was to draw attention to new or little-explored topics and to provoke his colleagues to carry out fresh research on what they had overlooked. This collection aims at the same goal.
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The Coming King and the Rejected Shepherd: Matthew’s Reading of Zechariah’s Messianic Hope

Published: Jun 2006
£15.95£60.00
Surprisingly, this is the first full-length study devoted to Matthew's use of Zechariah by way of quotation and allusion. Three times he cites Zechariah (21.5; 26.31; 27.9-10), and on at least eight occasions he alludes to the prophet (23.35; 24.30, 31, 36; 25.31; 26.15, 28, 56). It is the messianic vision of Zechariah that has appealed to Matthew, with its elements of the restoration of the humble Davidic king, the smiting of the divinely appointed shepherd, the creation of a renewed remnant, and the worship of Yahweh by all nations. Among the questions Ham undertakes to resolve in this precise and clearly presented monograph are: how much Matthew's reading of Zechariah owes to his Jewish predecessors, how much he is in harmony with other early Christian readers of the prophet, and to what extent his image of Jesus has been shaped by Zechariah's eschatological hopes.
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The Coming King and the Rejected Shepherd: Matthew’s Reading of Zechariah’s Messianic Hope

£15.95£60.00
Surprisingly, this is the first full-length study devoted to Matthew's use of Zechariah by way of quotation and allusion. Three times he cites Zechariah (21.5; 26.31; 27.9-10), and on at least eight occasions he alludes to the prophet (23.35; 24.30, 31, 36; 25.31; 26.15, 28, 56). It is the messianic vision of Zechariah that has appealed to Matthew, with its elements of the restoration of the humble Davidic king, the smiting of the divinely appointed shepherd, the creation of a renewed remnant, and the worship of Yahweh by all nations. Among the questions Ham undertakes to resolve in this precise and clearly presented monograph are: how much Matthew's reading of Zechariah owes to his Jewish predecessors, how much he is in harmony with other early Christian readers of the prophet, and to what extent his image of Jesus has been shaped by Zechariah's eschatological hopes.
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Studies in Paul, Exegetical and Theological

Published: Jun 2006
£15.95£65.00
Masterly, balanced, concise, jargon-free essays on topics central to the theology of Paul, remaining closely in touch with the biblical text itself while always alert to the range of scholarly opinion and debate. These eleven articles from a recognized leader among New Testament scholars are an attractive entry-point for students into key aspects of Paul's thought, and are, equally, well worth revisiting by experienced scholars. Two essays concern Paul's personal life, one of them on the impact of his conversion on his understanding of Jesus, the other on his experience of prayer. In the context of Galatians, Longenecker explores the idea of the 'pedagogue', and in the context of Romans the questions of its addressees and its purpose. Other themes are Paul's vision of community formation, his concept of mutuality, and the variability of his responses to opponents. In the last three essays, the focus is on Paul's theology of the resurrection —its basis, its background in Jewish thinking, and whether his thought on the subject underwent development.
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Studies in Paul, Exegetical and Theological

£15.95£65.00
Masterly, balanced, concise, jargon-free essays on topics central to the theology of Paul, remaining closely in touch with the biblical text itself while always alert to the range of scholarly opinion and debate. These eleven articles from a recognized leader among New Testament scholars are an attractive entry-point for students into key aspects of Paul's thought, and are, equally, well worth revisiting by experienced scholars. Two essays concern Paul's personal life, one of them on the impact of his conversion on his understanding of Jesus, the other on his experience of prayer. In the context of Galatians, Longenecker explores the idea of the 'pedagogue', and in the context of Romans the questions of its addressees and its purpose. Other themes are Paul's vision of community formation, his concept of mutuality, and the variability of his responses to opponents. In the last three essays, the focus is on Paul's theology of the resurrection —its basis, its background in Jewish thinking, and whether his thought on the subject underwent development.
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Studies in Hermeneutics, Christology and Discipleship

Published: Jun 2006
£65.00
These eleven lucid, fresh, and thought-provoking essays from a master-craftsman among New Testament scholars reflect his conviction that these three topics —hermeneutics, Christology and discipleship —must always be considered together. In the first set of essays, Longenecker sets out his distinctive take on the nature of an evangelical hermeneutics. In the second set, he focusses on what he calls the 'foundational conviction of New Testament Christology', the obedience / faithfulness / sonship of Christ, and brings back into discussion often forgotten dimensions of Christology. Here he explores a range of christological materials and motifs within the early Christian communities, with special studies on the concept of the virgin birth and on the curious case of the Melchizedek Christology in Hebrews. The third set, both practical and exegetical, are, as he says, 'where the rubber meets the road', and concern the implications of the 'Son of Man' imagery for discipleship and the theme of discipleship in Luke —Acts.
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Studies in Hermeneutics, Christology and Discipleship

£65.00
These eleven lucid, fresh, and thought-provoking essays from a master-craftsman among New Testament scholars reflect his conviction that these three topics —hermeneutics, Christology and discipleship —must always be considered together. In the first set of essays, Longenecker sets out his distinctive take on the nature of an evangelical hermeneutics. In the second set, he focusses on what he calls the 'foundational conviction of New Testament Christology', the obedience / faithfulness / sonship of Christ, and brings back into discussion often forgotten dimensions of Christology. Here he explores a range of christological materials and motifs within the early Christian communities, with special studies on the concept of the virgin birth and on the curious case of the Melchizedek Christology in Hebrews. The third set, both practical and exegetical, are, as he says, 'where the rubber meets the road', and concern the implications of the 'Son of Man' imagery for discipleship and the theme of discipleship in Luke —Acts.
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Leadership Succession in the World of the Pauline Circle

Published: Jun 2006
£50.00
Since New Testament times, the discussion of leadership succession in the church has always been polemical. But what the New Testament, especially in the Pastoral Epistles, means in speaking of succession deserves a more sober investigation in the light of the literary tradition about succession in the ancient Mediterranean world. How is succession actually depicted in Graeco-Roman texts and in Jewish and early Christian texts of that world? This book undertakes, for the first time, a thoroughgoing analysis of the evidence, deftly laying out the data from a wide range of Greek and Roman writers. The question then becomes how the early readers of the New Testament, conditioned by prior knowledge of such epistolary and other literary conventions, would have interpreted Paul's relationship with his delegates like Timothy and Titus, and how they would have conceived the ministry portrayed in the Pastorals as passing from a leader to a successor. Stepp's study has important implications both for our understanding of the ancient Mediterranean world and for our conceptions of ordination and ministry in the New Testament.
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Leadership Succession in the World of the Pauline Circle

£50.00
Since New Testament times, the discussion of leadership succession in the church has always been polemical. But what the New Testament, especially in the Pastoral Epistles, means in speaking of succession deserves a more sober investigation in the light of the literary tradition about succession in the ancient Mediterranean world. How is succession actually depicted in Graeco-Roman texts and in Jewish and early Christian texts of that world? This book undertakes, for the first time, a thoroughgoing analysis of the evidence, deftly laying out the data from a wide range of Greek and Roman writers. The question then becomes how the early readers of the New Testament, conditioned by prior knowledge of such epistolary and other literary conventions, would have interpreted Paul's relationship with his delegates like Timothy and Titus, and how they would have conceived the ministry portrayed in the Pastorals as passing from a leader to a successor. Stepp's study has important implications both for our understanding of the ancient Mediterranean world and for our conceptions of ordination and ministry in the New Testament.
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