A groundbreaking first social-science commentary on this popular book of the Bible.

This unique commentary allows the interpretation of Isaiah 1-39 to be guided by the final form of the book. It focuses on the theological aspect of the book of Isaiah, giving special attention to the role of literary context. Christopher Seitz explores structural and organizational concerns as clues to the editorial intention of the final form of the material, which he argues is both intelligible and an intended result of the efforts of those who gave shape to the present form of the book.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

From his earliest anointing in 1 Samuel 16 until his deathbed discourse in 1 Kings 2, David is surrounded by a remarkable cast of supporting characters -- an ensemble whose varying perspectives on him create some of the complexity of this royal character in the biblical narrative. David's older brother Eliab speaks only once to his younger sibling, but this conversation has significant implications for the larger narrative. The encounter with Ahimelech the priest in 1 Samuel 21-22 in many ways symbolizes the 'crossing fates' of David and Saul in the sanctuary at Nob. Abner is the rival general who wants to make a deal, but his actions are difficult to gauge: does he have his own set of royal ambitions? Joab is pre-eminently a man of action and a key commander of David's troops, but this military figure surprisingly turns out to be as well an innovative reader and royal exegete. Nathan the prophet has a tendency to surface at pivotal moments in the story, as a decisive influence on the spiritual and political affairs of the king. Ahithophel is a senior counsellor in the Davidic administration who becomes mysteriously embittered against David in the rebellion of Absalom; in narratives about him there is a confluence of tangled motives and prophetic words. Finally, Solomon is the younger son who accedes to the coveted Davidic throne, and curiously shares traits with his ancestor Jacob and has a swearing problem in 1 Kings 1-2.

Creative ways we can understand the psalms ... and use their power to enrich our lives.

What is the mysterious power of psalms, the power that has made them beloved for thousands of years? This inspiring introduction shows us not only how to read the psalms with understanding, but how we can bring them into our lives, in: Facing our enemies Dealing with anger Overcoming feeling let down or abandoned Coping with sickness in ourselves or those we love Expressing our thanks

A creative and personal firsthand approach to the Book of Psalms, it offers stories and examples that help us interpret and explore the unusual power of the psalms and use them to enrich our lives.

Until recently Leviticus has been read, especially in Christian circles, as part of a 'priestly' work with a predominantly prescriptive and ritualistic agenda. In this volume of papers read at a colloquium held in honour of Mary Douglas at Lancaster University in 1995, experts in the Hebrew Bible, Jewish law, comparative law, classical literature and social anthropology raise challenging questions about the composition, context and purpose of the book. Can it be read as an autonomous literary unit? How significant are its unique ethical insights? Is it law or narrative? Does it reflect actual Second Temple Period practice? How is it related to the Mishnah?>

The work of social theorist Anthony Giddens provides the basis for a critical discussion of current methods employed in sociological studies of the New Testament and for the presentation of a new approach. The focus of these studies is the Corinthian correspondence, including both the letters written by Paul and the letter known as 1 Clement, sent from Rome to Corinth around the end of the first century. This correspondence provides rich material for a study of the social ethos of early Christian teaching and its development. It allows an assessment of how Pauline Christianity shapes relationships within the Christian community and how the social ethos of the 'symbolic order' changes as it develops through time in a changing context. Throughout David Horrell also explores where and how the different teachings serve to legitimate or sustain the dominant social order and the interests and positions of the socially powerful.

Two fundamental experiences of Yahweh in the Old Testament are an encounter with the 'word' of Yahweh and an encounter with the 'spirit' or 'wind' or 'breath' (rva-) of Yahweh. This thesis explores 'word', rva-, and their relationship in the book of Ezekiel. According to the dominant paradigm for explaining the emphasis on rva- and its relation to Yahweh's word within the book of Ezekiel, the prophet Ezekiel is recovering from the pre-classical prophets, or even pioneering, an emphasis on rva- in prophecy that is conspicuously absent from the classical, writing prophets. This reading interprets the emphasis on rva- in Ezekiel in terms of the self-authentication of the ministry of the prophet. This book examines the relationship between rva- and prophecy in Ezekiel and in the rest of the Old Testament, and shows that the dominant paradigm requires modification. The emphasis on Yahweh's rva- in Ezekiel, even the 'prophetic spirit', is best understood in relation to the book's concern for the transformation of its addressees. The prophet Ezekiel's experience of Yahweh's rva- and his own obedience to Yahweh's call are clearly contrasted with the disobedience of the prophet's addressees in order to present Ezekiel as a model for the addressees of the book. His experience illuminates for them how the dramatic vision of the future can become a reality in their experience. Yahweh's rva- has a fundamental role in the envisaged obedient response to Yahweh's word, both of Ezekiel and of the book's addressees.

This book is about both the fear of gender reversal and its expression in the prophet Ezekiel's reworking of the marital metaphor. Kamionkowski argues that the abomination of "wife Jerusalem" is that she is attempting to pass for a male, thereby crossing gender boundaries and upsetting the world order. This story is therefore one of confused gender scripts, ensuing chaos and a re-ordering through the reinforcement of these strictly defined prescriptions of gendered behaviour.

Using socio-historical evidence and the existence of the literary motif of "men turning into women" as a framework, this book argues that Ezekiel 16, in particular, reflects the gender chaos which arises as an aftermath of social and theological crises.

This volume, the fruit of the sessions on the Book of Acts at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, in San Antonio, Texas, in November 2004, contains these papers: Robert C. Tannehill, 'Do the Ethics of Acts Include the Ethical Teaching in Luke?' C. Kavin Rowe, 'Authority and Community: Lukan Dominium in Acts' F. Scott Spencer, 'Wise Up, Young Man: The Moral Vision of Saul and Other "Neaniskoi" in Acts' Stanley E. Porter, 'The Genre of Acts and the Ethics of Discourse' Robert L. Brawley, 'Identity and the Aim of an Accomplished Life in Acts' Matthew L. Skinner, 'The Importance of Paul's Custody in Acts 21-28 for Determining Luke's Sociopolitical Vision' Thomas E. Phillips, 'Paul as Role Model in Acts' Richard Paul Thompson, '"What Do You Think You Are Doing, Paul?" Synagogues, Accusations, and Ethics in Paul's Ministry in Acts 16-21' Pamela Kinlaw, '"Devout and God-Fearing": Cornelius, Pacifism, and Just War'

'Joshua and the Rhetoric of Violence' examines the book of Joshua as a construction of national identity. This pioneering New Historicist analysis shows how the Deuteronomist used war oracle language and epic historical lore to negotiate sociopolitical boundaries. It asserts that text and context interacted in a programme consolidating King Josiah's authority in the wake of Assyrian imperial collapse. The book argues that the conquest narrative is not simple 'us against them' propaganda but a complex web of negotiations defining identity and otherness. The analysis draws on Foucault's principle that power is something exercised rather than merely possessed.

The purpose of this volume is to honor the work of Edgar Conrad; it is therefore a festschrift. The essays focus on various aspects of Conrads work, especially the prophetic literature, the Bible as literature, canonical issues, and engaged readings. In developing these lines of scholarship, the authors pay tribute to Conrad and seek to take his work further. The contributions from Korean scholars are especially noteworthy, since Conrad has had significant influence on Korean biblical scholarship through students who studied under him at the University of Queensland.

Argues that the historical occasion of the great literary epics was an analogous situation for the composition of Luke-Acts.

This book argues that the gospels are in an important sense "occasions for offense." The Jesus of the gospels is a scandal (skandalon, in the original Greek) and he is never more scandalous than when he is speaking in parables. Interpreters of the gospels over the centuries have consistently labored to domesticate the offense or to eliminate it entirely. David McCracken, focusing on parables, Matthew's narrative contexts, and the gospel of John, seeks to recover the gospels' sense of Jesus as skandalon. To this end, he enlists the help of Kierkegaard, the philosopher of offense, and to a lesser extent that of Bakhtin, both of whom prove to be surprisingly apt conversation partners for the evangelists.

The second part of a 2-volume work, this study combines recent approaches that treat the formation and early interpretation of the final form of the book of Isaiah with the more conventional historical-critical methods that treat the use of traditions by Isaiah's authors and editors. Studies investigate Isaiah's use of early sacred tradition, the editing and contextualization of oracles within the Isaianic tradition itself, and the interpretation of the book of Isaiah in later traditions (as seen in the various versions of the text and various communities).
Contributors of this volume include virtually all of the major scholars of Isaiah and the leading scholars of biblical interpretation in the intertestamental, New Testament, and early Jewish periods.

This is the most thorough investigation yet published on the early Christian apocalypse called the 'Ascension of Isaiah'. Knight examines all the critical issues in the study of this document, including matters of date, provenance and purpose. Particular attention is paid to the book's concepts of christology (with a view both to that christology's Jewish mediatorial background and to its relationship with wider Christianity) and millenarianism (with a view to the social setting of the writer and his readers). Questions concerning the author as haggadist and exegete are also addressed.

This monograph interprets the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15.11-32) in the light of Graeco-Roman popular moral philosophy. Luke's special parables are rarely studied in this way, but the results of this study are very fruitful. The unity of the parable is supported, and it is shown to be deeply concerned with a major Lukan theme: the right use of possessions. The whole parable is read in terms of the moral topos 'on covetousness', and shown to be an endorsement of the Graeco-Roman virtue of liberality, modified by the Christian virtue of compassion.

Assesses the multivocal quality of 2 Samuel 14 as a result of the many historical and social processes that formed the Hebrew Bible as a whole.

A creative, independent, Irish exegetical tradition was well established by the year 700 CE, influencing Northumbria but not Continental Europe. This book contains eight studies by the distinguished Irish biblical scholar, Martin McNamara, which he has published over the past twenty-five years, on the Latin biblical texts (Vulgate, Gallicanum and Jerome's Hebraicum) of the Psalter and commentaries on it in Ireland from 600 CE onwards. The oldest Irish Vulgate text, the Cathach of St Columba of Iona (died 597), shows signs of correction against the Irish recension of the Hebrew text. The central exegetical tradition is strongly Antiochene, being dependent on the commentary of Theodore of Mopsuestia (in Julian's translation), while another branch understands the Psalms as principally about David, rather than christologically or as about later Jewish history.