The flourishing website known as the Episcopal Cafe (www.episcopalcafe.org) produced by the Diocese of Washington attracts several thousand visitors a day. Its popular column Speaking to the Soul, which contains a concise, well-developed spiritual reflection for every day of the year, draws from many different sources, including scripture, church history, saints biographies, books of prayers, liturgies, and ancient and contemporary theologians and spiritual writers.

This daily reader grew out of that column. It follows the Episcopal Church s liturgical seasons and includes observation of major feast days as well as saints days.

The reading for a particular saint s day might be taken from the saint s writings, prayers, or biography, or might develop a theme such as martyrdom or growth in the spirit. Other readings focus on particular emphases of the seasons (the Incarnation during Advent and Christmas; spiritual disciplines during Lent); or speak more generally to the Christian life (prayer, discipleship, ministry, the sacraments, conflict and reconciliation, and so on).

Readings are taken from every century of the church s life, with particular attention to how the writings and experiences of earlier Christians can shed light on the difficulties, joys, and concerns of the church today. Excerpts are long enough to give a satisfying and complete context of the writer s intended meaning. "

Generally, readers have a negative idea of the Exile. Psalm 137 has fuelled the idea that this was a time of sorrow and despair. This image of the Exile influenced, for instance, Luther's ideas on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. The four essays in this volume deconstruct and reconstruct this image. Bob Becking tries to recreate a history of the exile. On the basis of the available evidence, this could be no more than a fragmented history, nevertheless showing that the fate of the exiles was not as bad as often supposed. Anne Mareike Wetter reveals that the biblical image of exile is multi facetted. She shows how a tradition of a people tied to their God-given land was challenged by the reality of foreign occupation. And how that people eventually succeeded in translating this experience, appropriating them through a transformation into a counter-tradition that enabled them to cope with the new situation, without breaking entirely with their cultural and religious heritage. Jewish ideas on Exile are discussed by Wilfred van der Poll. He concentrates on the use of the concept of galut, which refers to the paradigmatic and identity-shaping function of the dispersion of the people of Israel and showed that the exile in Jewish thinking had become a permanent reality up until the present day. From the perspective of intertextual reading, Alex Cannegieter discusses four texts of varying ages and background - Augustine, Petrarch, Luther, and a Dutch sermon held after the end of the Second World War. She explores the ways authors chose biblical texts to appropriate them a new context, thereby changing the meaning of the new, as well as the source texts.

Generally, readers have a negative idea of the Exile. Psalm 137 has fuelled the idea that this was a time of sorrow and despair. This image of the Exile influenced, for instance, Luther's ideas on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church. The four essays in this volume deconstruct and reconstruct this image. Bob Becking tries to recreate a history of the exile. On the basis of the available evidence, this could be no more than a fragmented history, nevertheless showing that the fate of the exiles was not as bad as often supposed. Anne Mareike Wetter reveals that the biblical image of exile is multi facetted. She shows how a tradition of a people tied to their God-given land was challenged by the reality of foreign occupation. And how that people eventually succeeded in translating this experience, appropriating them through a transformation into a counter-tradition that enabled them to cope with the new situation, without breaking entirely with their cultural and religious heritage. Jewish ideas on Exile are discussed by Wilfred van der Poll. He concentrates on the use of the concept of galut, which refers to the paradigmatic and identity-shaping function of the dispersion of the people of Israel and showed that the exile in Jewish thinking had become a permanent reality up until the present day. From the perspective of intertextual reading, Alex Cannegieter discusses four texts of varying ages and background - Augustine, Petrarch, Luther, and a Dutch sermon held after the end of the Second World War. She explores the ways authors chose biblical texts to appropriate them a new context, thereby changing the meaning of the new, as well as the source texts.

A meditation on the meaning of Good Friday and the value of silence. Good Friday is not like any other time of the year, and Christians everywhere wonder about the best way to mark the day. Again and again, sermons and meditations have centered our attention on the words Jesus spoke from the cross, but those few, brief words would have needed only a few minutes on the first Good Friday. Seven chapters in this unique book consider the event, and the meaning, of the Crucifixion to our lives today, including the various ways in which silence plays a role in our daily lives. So many of us are overwhelmed with words coming at us from all our electronic devices that the thought of more language has less appeal than it once did. On one of the holiest days of the year, these brief meditations are designed to call us into the silence that still speaks more loudly than words.

"Robert H. Stein has composed an excellent commentary on Mark 1: 1-16: 8. He explains well the purpose and structure of the Gospel, discusses in detail its problematic verses, judiciously selects views of other commentators, and explains why he thinks the Gospel ends at 16: 8. Hence Stein's commentary will be a precious "vade mecum" for pastors and preachers, students of the New Testament, and teachers in biblical studies."--Joseph A. Fitzmyer, SJ, professor emeritus, biblical studies, Catholic University o America, Washington, DC

"Bob Stein has written a great commentary on the Gospel of Mark. It is rich with interpretive insight, yet it is very reader friendly. Scholars, pastors, students, and lay readers will appreciate how Stein tackles difficult questions head-on and presents sensible solutions. Reading this commentary gives the reader a real sense of what the evangelist Mark was trying to say and how his original readers would have understood him. It makes an excellent contribution to the BECNT series."--Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia

"This comprehensive commentary is the seasoned work of a first-rate, evangelical scholar. The discussions are well informed, and the positions taken are judicious and fair. Anyone working on the Second Gospel will find significant help here, particularly with regard to the theology and purpose of the evangelist."--Klyne Snodgrass, Paul W. Brandel Professor of New Testament Studies, North Park Theological Seminary

Emil Bock interprets John's rich pictorial language, which is often found harsh and mysterious, helping the reader understand that John deals with the universal problems of spiritual development. This is not merely a detailed commentary on the Apocalypse but a profound and encouraging examination of human needs in today's world. Bock shows how we can read The Revelation to understand Christ's position as leader through danger, both in the present and in the future.

Robert Alter sets a new standard in the translation of this formative book of the Hebrew Bible.

Genesis begins with the making of heaven and earth and all life, and ends with the image of a mummy—Joseph's—in a coffin. In between come many of the primal stories in Western culture: Adam and Eve's expulsion from the garden of Eden, Cain's murder of Abel, Noah and the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham's binding of Isaac, the covenant of God and Abraham, Isaac's blessing of Jacob in place of Esau, the saga of Joseph and his brothers.

In Robert Alter's brilliant translation, these stories cohere in a powerful narrative of the tortuous relations between fathers and sons, husbands and wives, eldest and younger brothers, God and his chosen people, the people of Israel and their neighbors. Alter's translation honors the meanings and literary strategies of the ancient Hebrew and conveys them in fluent English prose. It recovers a Genesis with the continuity of theme and motif of a wholly conceived and fully realized book. His insightful, fully informed commentary illuminates the book in all its dimensions.

This book discusses the adult development of the Biblical Patriarch, Abraham, as a 'Spiritual Revolutionary' (based on Genesis 11-25). It begins with the image of the 'akeda, ' the binding of Isaac in which a father is ready to murder his son, and asks what significance this disturbing scene holds for us today. Focusing on the Hebrew text, and with the help of life-cycle psychology and cultural anthropology, the author argues that the 'sacrifice of the most beloved son' must be viewed not as an isolated act, but against the background of his personal and spiritual development, using the Biblical text as a life history. Abramovitch applies several approaches: theory of adult development; Robert Jay Lifton's 'death and continuity of life'; themes of revolutionary continuity; psychology of birth order; name change, identity, and disguise; ethics of survival and post traumatic stress syndrome; and the nature of biography, life history, and life story. Abramovitch relates how Abraham was able to 'solve for all what he was unable to solve for himself alone.'

In this attractive illustrated book, Stephen Cottrell reflects on five of the Christ in the Wilderness paintings, and reveals them to be a rich source of spiritual wisdom and nourishment. He invites us to slow down and enter into the stillness of Stanley Spencer's vision. By dwelling in the wilderness of these evocative portraits, Stephen Cottrell encourages us to refine our own discipleship and learn again what it means to follow Christ.

The central premise of this book is that biblical Hebrew narrative, in terms of its structure, tends to operate under similar mechanical constraints to those of a stage-play; wherein 'space' is central, characters are fluid, and 'objects' within the narrative tend to take on a deep internal significance. The smaller episodic narrative units within the Hebrew aesthetic tend to grant primacy to space, both ideologically and at the mechanical level of the text itself. However 'space', as a determinate structural category, has been all but overlooked in the field of biblical studies to date; reflecting perhaps our own inability, as modern readers, to see beyond the dominant 'cinematic' aesthetic of our times. The book is divided into two major sections, each beginning with a more theoretical approach to the function of narrative space, and ending with a practical application of the previous discussion; using Genesis 28.10-22 (the Bethel narrative) and the book of Ruth respectively, as test cases.

This work sets out the background world for the story of Jonah. Accepting the biblical book as a fictitious short story based on "real world" locations, the volume uses social science approaches to describe the imaginative world in which the action takes place. Since the story uses real places and recognizable persons to weave the narrative, at least three levels of perception are considered: the "real" world behind the book's references; the social and ideological constructs of the world; the imaginative world of the story itself. All of these are connected by and through the scribal author of the story. Geography, theology, human characters and natural flora and fauna are investigated. The models creatively used by humans to order their vision of the world can be shown to have been used as literary devices in constructing a story with totally fictitious historical citations as well as fabulous creatures and events that nonetheless conveys a message considered an insight into reality by the author. The story of Jonah, often read as a simple children's story, comes across as a more complicated and adult oriented narrative with a serious intent.

This work sets out the background world for the story of Jonah. Accepting the biblical book as a fictitious short story based on "real world" locations, the volume uses social science approaches to describe the imaginative world in which the action takes place. Since the story uses real places and recognizable persons to weave the narrative, at least three levels of perception are considered: the "real" world behind the book's references; the social and ideological constructs of the world; the imaginative world of the story itself. All of these are connected by and through the scribal author of the story. Geography, theology, human characters and natural flora and fauna are investigated. The models creatively used by humans to order their vision of the world can be shown to have been used as literary devices in constructing a story with totally fictitious historical citations as well as fabulous creatures and events that nonetheless conveys a message considered an insight into reality by the author. The story of Jonah, often read as a simple children's story, comes across as a more complicated and adult oriented narrative with a serious intent.

History, Literature and Theology in the Book of Chronicles is a collection of studies published in the last fifteen years. The cumulative weight of these studies leads to a new understanding of the Book of Chronicles, its balanced and nuanced theology, historiographical approach and the way in which the book serves to reshape the social memory of its intended readership, in accordance with its own multiple viewpoints and the knowledge of the past held by its community. This volume shows that Chronicles communicates to its intended readership a theological worldview built around multiple, partial perspectives informing and balancing each other. Significantly, it is a worldview in which the limitations of even theologically proper knowledge are emphasized. For instance, in Chronicles' past similar deeds may and at times did lead to very different results. Thus, even if most of the past is presented to the readers as explainable, it also affirms that those who inhabited it could not predict the path of future events. Chronicles is therefore, a storiographical work that informs its readers that historical and theological knowledge does not enable prediction of future events. poignantly construes some of the most crucial events in Israel's social memory as unexplainable in human terms. Thus, Chronicles communicates to its readers that some of YHWH's most influential decisions concerning Israel cannot be predicted or explained. It is against this background of human limitation in understanding causes and effects in a past (present and future) governed by YHWH and the uncertainty that it brings, that the emphasis on divinely ordained, prescriptive behaviour should be seen. The intellectual horizon of Chronicles was perhaps not so far from that of the interpretative frame of Job or Qohelet, and of these books as a whole.

This book examines the personification of Wisdom as a female figure - a central motif in Proverbs, Job, Sirach, Wisdom and Baruch. Alice M. Sinnott identifies how and why the complex character of Wisdom was introduced into the Israelite tradition, and created and developed by Israelite/Jewish wisdom teachers and writers. Arguing that by personifying Wisdom the authors of Proverbs responded to Israel's defeat by Babylon and the loss of Davidic monarchy, and by retrieving and transforming the Wisdom figure the authors of Sirach, Baruch and Wisdom responded to the spread of Hellenism and the potential loss of identity for Jews. Sinnott concludes that personified Wisdom functioned to reinterpret and transform the Israelite/Jewish tradition.

Exploring the significance of Judas Iscariot for Christian theology and the difficult issues surrounding Judas, Anthony Cane shows that focusing on the tension between providential and tragic interpretations of Judas in the New Testament and in subsequent writing about Judas, is the key to understanding his significance. Building on the work of Karl Barth and Donald MacKinnon, Cane's argument sheds light not simply on the way Judas is understood, but on the way Jesus and the whole economy of salvation are understood. This book also highlights implications for the way in which issues relating to anti-Semitism and evil and suffering are most effectively explored.

Archaeological, epigraphic, numismatic, and historical research is used to illuminate the meaning and function of temples in both Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures. This evidence is then brought into a dialogue with a literary analysis of how the temple functions as a symbol in Revelation.

Mary Grey takes the reader on a contemporary Lenten journey through a series of profound theological reflections on the search for peace and reconciliation in Israel/Palestine. Along the way she explores the core Christian concepts of redemption, atonement and resurrection from the perspective of justice-making in the real world, pursuing a spirituality of perseverance and steadfastness ('sumud') deriving from her work with Middle Eastern Christians. The book draws on all four Gospels and the book of Revelation, providing biblical inspiration for the quest for peace.

Walk the path of holiness, stir your faith in God, and break free from the bonds of a sinful nature with Joyce Meyer's Galatians commentary, featuring inspiring questions and space for your reflections. Paul's letter to the church at Galatia speaks largely to how important it was to Paul that the people embrace unity in Christ, no matter their differences. Galatians teaches that we're only justified by faith in Christ only and encourages us to pursue a life of holiness, not in our own strength, but in the knowledge of God's empowering grace in our lives. In this comprehensive study tool, Joyce Meyer offers an in-depth look at Galatians and emphasizes that we are not only saved by faith, we must learn to live by faith as well.

How much time is enough to be with God? While it could be the 40 days or years used so often in the Bible, it's also possible that simply stealing a few minutes from the busy-ness of each day is enough time to be in Kairos, "God time." The same is true for the space needed to find God. Whether it be in a deserted place or one filled with activity, whatever space we can carve out to find God-or to make enough room to be found-is enough space. This book is about being with God in short time and tight spaces. The journey is taken through and with the Bible, 40 reflections based on 40 passages from Scripture, starting with Genesis and ending with Revelation. For the prayerful reader, it is an opportunity to carve out God-space and God-time, a pilgrimage with God, toward God.

Since the time of the Reformation, considerable attention has been given to the theme of justification in the thought of the apostle Paul. The ground breaking work of E. P. Sanders in 'Paul and Palestinian Judaism' (1977) introduced the 'new perspective on Paul', provoking an ongoing debate which is now dominated by major protagonists. Foundational theological issues are at stake. In this new study, Mark Seifrid offers a comprehensive analysis of Paul's understanding of justification, in the light of important themes including the righteousness of God, the Old Testament law, faith and the destiny of Israel. A detailed examination of the theme in the epistle to the Romans is followed by a survey of the entire Pauline corpus. The analysis incorporates a critical assessment of the 'new perspective', challenging its most basic assumptions; an evaluation of the contribution of recent German scholarship; and a reaffirmation of the 'Christ-centred' theology of the Reformers. In this wide-ranging exposition of the biblical message of justification, Dr Seifrid provides a fresh, balanced reworking of Pauline theology.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

Greeted with controversy on its publication, Answer to Job has long been neglected by many serious commentators on Jung. This book offers an intellectual and cultural context for C.G.Jung's 1952 publication.
In Jung's Answer to Job: A Commentary, the author argues that such neglect is due to a failure to understand Jung's objectives in this text and offers a new way of reading the work. The book places Answer to Job in the context of biblical commentary, and then examines the circumstances surrounding its compositions and immediate reception. A detailed commentary on the work discusses the major methodological presuppositions informing it and explains how key Jungian concepts operate in the text. Jung's Answer to Job: A Commentary unravels Jung's narrative by reading it in the chronological order of the biblical events it analyses and the book to which it refers, offering a comprehensive re-reading of Jung's text. An original argument put across in a scholarly and accessible style provides an essential framework for understanding the work.
Whilst taking account of the tenets of analytical psychology, this commentary underlines Answer to Job's more general significance in terms of cultural history. It will be invaluable to students and scholars of analytical psychology, the history of ideas, intercultural studies, comparative literature, religion and religious studies.

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