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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > The Bible > Bible readings or selections
Said to have lived from 640-609 BC, King Josiah of Judah is a figure of extraordinary importance for the history of Israel. Using synchronic and diachronic analyses of the Deuteronomistic History, Deuteronomy, and selected prophetic books, Marvin Sweeney reconstructs the ideological perspectives of King Josiah's program of religious and national restoration.
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.'
For the past few decades a growing number of scholars have
attempted to overthrow the traditional Wellhausian view that the
so-called 'Yahwist' or 'J' source of the Pentateuch is the oldest
of the four major sources. These scholars have argued that J was
composed during the exilic or post-exilic periods of ancient
Israel. Their arguments have focused on the literary,
historiographic, and theological characteristics of 'J'. This book
attempts to re-evaluate on linguistic grounds such efforts to place
the Yahwist source in the exilic or post-exilic periods. The study
employs the methodology developed most prominently by Avi Hurvitz
for identifying characteristic features of post-exilic Hebrew
('Late Biblical Hebrew'). This divides the language of the Hebrew
Bible into three main chronological stages: Archaic Biblical Hebrew
(ABH), Standard Biblical Hebrew (SBH), and Late Biblical Hebrew
(LBH). Wright examines 40 features of J for which useful
comparisons can be made to LBH and finds no evidence of LBH in the
entire Yahwist source. Therefore it is unlikely that J was composed
during the post-exilic period. Moreover since Hurvitz has shown
that the exilic period was a time of transition between SBH and LBH
such that late features began to occur in exilic texts, the author
concludes on linguistic grounds that J was most likely composed
during the pre-exilic period of ancient Israel.
Siew seeks to examine the events that will unfold within the
three-and-a-half years before the dawn of the kingdom of God on
earth. He argues that John composed the textual unit of Revelation
11:1-14:5 as a coherent and unified literary unit structured in a
macrochiasm. He pays special attention to the fusion of form and
content and seeks to elucidate how the concentric and chiastic
pattern informs the meaning of the literary units within 11:1-14:5,
and proposes that the text of 11:1-14:5 is best analyzed using
Hebraic literary conventions, devices, and compositional techniques
such as chiasm, parallelism, parataxis, and structural parallelism.
The macro-chiastic pattern provides the literary-structural
framework for John to portray that the events of the last
three-and-a-half years unfold on earth as a result of what
transpires in heaven. Specifically, the war in heaven between
Michael and the dragon has earthly ramifications. The outcome of
the heavenly war where Satan is defeated and thrown out of heaven
to earth results in the war on earth between the two beasts of
Revelation 13 and the two witnesses of Revelation 11. The narrative
of the war in heaven (12:7-12) is seen as the pivot of the
macro-chiastic structure. Siew pays close attention to the
time-period of the three-and-a-half years as a temporal and
structural marker which functions to unite the various units in
11:1-14:5 into a coherent and integral whole. The events of the
last days will be centred in Jerusalem. Volume 283 in the Journal
for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series.
How can we know today what was happening in the minds and hearts of
Paul and the first Christians so long ago? By getting below the
surface of Paul's theology, the consistent key elements of early
Christian experience are revealed in a way that throws light on the
meaning of powerful religious experiences and movements both in the
past and today. Illuminating for those who have never read a word
on Paul yet disturbing and provocative for biblical scholars, this
book tackles the topic of the religious experience of Paul and the
first Christians. Lacking authentic knowledge of Paul's liberating
experience, generations of translators and interpreters have
inevitably and sometimes clumsily obscured Paul's meaning. In this
book, the scholarly accusation that Paul is incoherent is turned
upside down to show how uncritically accepted ways of translating
Paul mislead today's reader and introduce a mystifying complexity
into scholarship on Paul. Taking the reader step-by-step through a
painstaking restoration of the meaning of Paul's text, the colour
and form of Paul's original vision are revealed.
The Gospel of Matthew is treasured as the Gospel of the Sermon on
the Mount, and Jesus' teaching sets it apart from the other
Gospels. It is precious to generation after generation of
Christians because of its fusion of gospel and ethics, of faith and
morality. This commentary proceeds unit by unit, rather than verse
by verse, to emphasize what each passage of Matthew means to the
author of the Gospel and to the modern church. Douglas Hare shows
that the purpose of Matthew's writing is to convince Christians
that a genuine faith in Christ must be demonstrated in daily
obedience and that faith and ethics are two sides of the same coin.
According to Hare, the turning point in Matthew is the narrative of
Peter's confession and the subsequent passion announcement. His
commentary stresses the close connection between the Great
Commission, with which the Gospel closes, and the moral imperatives
of the Sermon on the Mount.
God doesn't demand hectic church programs and frenetic schedules;
he only wants his people to know him more intimately, says
top-selling author D. A. Carson. The apostle Paul found that
spiritual closeness in his own fellowship with the Father. By
following Paul's example, we can do the same. This book calls
believers to reject superficiality and revolutionize their lives by
embracing a God-guided approach to prayer. Previously published as
A Call to Spiritual Reformation, this book has now been updated to
connect more effectively with contemporary readers. A study guide,
DVD, and leader's kit for the book are available through Lifeway
and The Gospel Coalition.
In Jeremiah 12:5 God says to the prophet, "If you're worn out in
this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against
horses?" We all long to live life at its best-to fuse freedom and
spontaneity with purpose and meaning. Why then do we often find our
lives so humdrum, so unadventuresome, so routine? Or else so
frantic, full of activity, but still devoid of fulfillment? How do
we learn to risk, to trust, to pursue wholeness and excellence-to
run with the horses instead of shuffling along with the crowd? In a
series of profound reflections on the life of Jeremiah the prophet,
Eugene Peterson explores the heart of what it means to be fully and
genuinely human. In his signature pastoral style, he invites
readers to grasp the biblical truth that each person's story of
faith is completely original. Peterson's writing is filled with
humor and self-reflection, insight and wisdom, helping to set a
course for others in the quest for life at its best. This special
commemorative edition includes a preface taken from Eric Peterson's
homily at his father's memorial service.
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.
This book provides the reader a uniquely comprehensive and
exegetical study of "eternal covenant."A perusal of Old Testament
covenant studies shows that Berit Olam lacks significant scholarly
attention. This is surprising since even a quick glance at the
eighteen instances shows that though the phrase occurs relatively
infrequently it resides within very important passages in the Old
Testament, and is connected to some of the most prominent figures
of the Old Testament story. Moreover, when Berit Olam is addressed
in scholarship it is generally conceived as an unbreakable,
unilateral promise. But is this an accurate assessment of Berit
Olam? What is an eternal covenant? How does an eternal covenant
work? What are the relationships between the respective eternal
covenants? What ideas of the text are we referring to when talk
about an eternal covenant?This book answers these sorts of
questions involving eternal covenant in the Bible by beginning with
an exegetical study of Berit Olam in the Pentateuch.Over the last
30 years this pioneering series has established an unrivalled
reputation for cutting-edge international scholarship in Biblical
Studies and has attracted leading authors and editors in the field.
The series takes many original and creative approaches to its
subjects, including innovative work from historical and theological
perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and more
recent developments in cultural studies and reception history.
Translated by Allan W. MahnkeA pioneering history of Old Testament
law from its scarcely discernable origins in the pre-monarchical
period to the canonisation of the Pentateuch.Praise for THE
TORAH'Crusemann and Houtman has enormously enriched the field; it
will attract the serious attention of scholars for many years to
come.' B. S. Jackson, University of Manchester, Journal of Semitic
Studies>
The result of four decades of research, Jesus Was a Feminist
compellingly presents the case that Jesus treated women equally
with men, and he boldly broke the customs of his day to involve
them in his work. Renowned scholar and leader among liberal
Catholics Leonard Swidler examines all gospel texts involving
women, asserts that women were involved in the writing of two of
the gospels, and outlines the importance of women in Jesus'
ministry and the creation and development of the early church. He
shows how Jesus was a feminist and modern Christians should be too.
Click here for the Detailed Table of Contents (pdf)
Advent-the season in which we prepare for the coming of the
Savior-provokes a certain ambivalence among modern believers. We
know that Christ has come in the historical person of Jesus of
Nazareth, and we live anticipating his return, knowing that our
true home is one which he has gone ahead to prepare for us. In the
meantime, we are left living between those two worlds. Moorehead
uses the witness of the scriptures, her wealth of experience in
long years of ministry, and the wisdom of her own life of prayer to
guide us in praying the ambiguity of living faithfully between
"here and now" and "there and then.
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Deuteronomy
(Paperback)
Gerhard von Rad
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A study of the growth of Joshua and Judges illustrates how the
theme of divine anger has been used differently, according to
different historical and social settings. In the deuteronomistic
texts the main reason for God's anger is idolatry, which symbolizes
a totally negative attitude to everything that God has done or
given to the Israelites. This theology of anger is deeply bound to
experiences of national catastrophes or threats of crises, and
reflects the theological enigma of the exile. A century later,
post-deuteronomistic theology gives a wholly different view: the
anger of God becomes an instrument of the power struggles between
the Israelite parties, or is used for protecting existing
leadership.
This monograph presents a fresh and detailed treatment of the
problems posed by the Nehemiah-Memoir. Starting from the
pre-critical interpretations of Ezra-Neh, the study demonstrates
that the use of the first-person does not suffice as a criterion
for distinguishing between the verba Neemiae and the additions of
later authors. The earliest edition of the Memoir isconfined to a
building report, which was expanded as early generations of readers
developed the implications of Nehemiah's accomplishments for the
consolidation and centralization of Judah. The expansions
occasioned in turn the composition of the history of the
"Restoration" in Ezra-Neh.
Holmes examines four exegetical devices employed by all sides in
the debate on 1 Tim. 2.9-15, proposing that together they create a
'whirlwind' effect which obscures the text's meaning. She concludes
that (1) the immediate context is general, not ecclesial; (2)
background often reconstructed from passages elsewhere in the
Pastorals is misleading; (3) comparison with 1 Cor. 14.34-35 can
similarly mislead; and (4) the conjunction gar ('for') has been
allowed unduly to dominate interpretation. The writer of the
letter, it is argued, has been misunderstood since very early in
the Christian era, his intention having been simply to moderate
women's everyday behaviour in ways that parallel the behaviour he
requires of men.
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