Paul and Ancient Views of Sexual Desire refutes the argument put forward by some biblical scholars that Paul, in his sexual ethics, is in partial agreement with a current of thought in the Graeco-Roman world that condemns sexual desire and advocates the elimination of such desire from marital sex. Ellis argues not only against this line of thought but also the attendant notion that this way of thinking underlies Paul's comments on homosexual activity in Romans 1. Through close analysis of numerous ancient passages relating to sexual desire, Ellis demonstrates that ancient thinkers tend to condemn not sexual desire in itself but excessive sexual desire and lack of self-control and, furthermore, that ancient auditors would have been unlikely to see condemnation of sexual desire in Paul's words in 1 Thessalonians 4 or 1 Corinthians 7.

This monograph investigates the literary development of Ezra 7-10 and Neh 8. With a detailed literary critical analysis, the investigation shows that the text was produced in several successive editorial phases for at least two centuries. Thus the final text cannot be used for historical purposes. The oldest text emerged as a short narrative, entirely written in the third person. It describes how a Torah scribe (Schriftgelehrter) called Ezra came from Babylon to Jerusalem to reinstate the written Torah. In the later editorial phases, Ezra's role was transformed from a scribe to a priest who brought cultic vessels to the Temple. The editorial development reveals that the text was originally influenced by Deuteronomy and the (Deutero)nomistic theology. Later, it came under priestly and Levitical influence.

Many interpreters read John 6 as a contrast between Jesus and Judaism: Jesus repudiates Moses and manna and offers himself as an alternative. In contrast, this monograph argues that John 6 places elements of the Exodus story in a positive and constructive relationship to Jesus. This reading leads to an understanding of John as an interpreter of Exodus who, like other contemporary Jewish interpreters, sees current experiences in light of the Exodus story. This approach to John offers new possibilities for assessing the gospela (TM)s relationship to Jewish scripture, its dualism, and its metaphorical language.

This collection of essays focuses on the book of Job, exploring the complex interplay of methodology and hermeneutics. There are two major parts: approaches that are primarily historical, i.e. the recovery of what the text 'meant'; and those that are contextual, i.e. that take seriously the context of reading. Both approaches engage the theological issue of how this reading helps us to better appropriate what the text 'means'. Contributors include the editors, Mark S. Smith, Douglas J. Green, Victoria Hoffer, Ellen F. Davis and Claire Matthews McGinnis.An introductory essay surveys the contents and outcomes of the various contributions and proposes new directions for the question of integrating methods.

Tom Wright has completed a tremendous task: to provide comprehensive guides to all the books of the New Testament, and to furnish them with his own fresh translation of the entire text. Each short passage is followed by a highly readable commentary with helpful background information. The format makes it appropriate also for daily study.

Burkett offers a new viewpoint on the much-debated Synoptic Problem. He contends that each theory regarding the Synoptic Problem is problematic. Each presents a case for the mutual dependence of one source upon another - for example, Matthew and Luke depend primarily on Mark, but use each other where they report the same story not contained already in Mark. Neither Mark nor Matthew nor Luke served as the source for the other two, but all depended on a set of earlier sources now lost. The relations between the Synoptic Gospels are more complex than the simpler theories have assumed.

This reading of Hosea explores the book from a feminist, psychoanalytical and poetic perspective. What is God doing with a prostitute? How does the theme of prostitution relate to the abjection of the woman as the other, and the fantasy of sexual ecstasy, precisely because she escapes patriarchal order? Where is the prophet situated in the dialectic of rage and desire that both seduces and condemns Israel? His voice is both masculine and feminine, and poetically embodies the sensuality of wayward Israel. The ambiguity of voice is also that of the prophet's role, which is both to nurture Israel, as on its Exodus from Egypt, and to be the trap that destroys it. The problematic of voice and prophetic function is evident in the vivid dissection of Israel's social institutions, whose disintegration is inversely related to the centrality of the discussion in the structure of the book, and in the violent swings from despair to impossible hope. The focus on immediate and uncontrollable entropy, manifest in extended tangled metaphors, that occupies the centre of the book, is framed in the outer chapters by intertextual references to Israel's primordial vision, and the romantic distantiation of the Song of Songs, in which the erotic and poetic contradictions of the book find their perhaps ironic resolution.>

A Bible-themed word search book featuring scriptural words hidden in full-page puzzles, Bible verses, and large-print type. Exercise your brain while exploring the New Testament! With large-print type, word lists pulled directly from Scripture, and Bible verses throughout, 101 Inspirational Bible Word Searches: The New Testament provides hours of encouraging fun with a positive message for all ages. Adults and kids alike will enjoy word searches that include 101 New Testament topics, people, and well-known Bible verses such as the Lord's Prayer, the Gospels, Jesus, the Beatitudes, angels, and more. And the large type makes it easy to read and interact with the puzzles.

The Message of Isaiah 40-55 traces the argument of Isaiah 40-55 to show how the chapters bring a message of encouragement and challenge about God's intention to restore the Judean community, some of whose members are in exile in Babylon, others living in the city of Jerusalem that has lain devastated since it fell to the Babylonians in 587. The chapters hold before this community's eyes a vision of the nature of its God as the powerful creator and the loving restorer. In the course of following the argument, the reader becomes aware that the chapters have to deal with their audience's mysterious resistance to their message. It cannot give God the kind of response the message needs and deserves, nor can it fulfil the role as God's servant that is designed for it. God nevertheless remains committed to it. The prophet eventually becomes aware of a distinctive personal calling to embody that response, until the people are ready to do so. It is the prophet's willingness to do this (notwithstanding the suffering it brings) that embodies the kind of ministry that needs to be exercised to them so that they may be brought back to God and find a restoration of spirit, as well as a physical restoration.

The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, which led to the exile of the people of Israel, drastically changed the community's life. In the midst of this darkness, the five poems collected to form the biblical Book of Lamentations emerged as a life-embracing work. This commentary aims to make the message of Lamentations come alive to Christians today. The distinctiveness of the Palestinian voice found in these poems is maintained as they bear witness to the horror of pain and human suffering. Yet, beneath the words, a determined will to live emerges to confront human suffering, probe God's actions and anticipate a new kind of human community.

In this important addition to the Old Testament Library, now available in a new casebound edition, renowned scholar Brevard Childs writes on the Old Testament's most important theological book. He furnishes a fresh translation from the Hebrew and discusses questions of text, philology, historical background, and literary architecture, and then proceeds with a critically informed, theological interpretation of the text. The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

The keenly awaited second volume completing this major commentary on 2 Corinthians. Volume II covers chapters 8-13. Dr Thrall provides an exegetical verse-by-verse exposition and addresses all historical, linguistic and theological issues. This volume also contains two concluding essays, on the nature of the opposition Paul faced in the Corinthian church, and on Paul's understanding of apostleship, as well as excursuses on particular topics such as the question of Paul's Roman citizenship. The two volumes of this commentary now form the most comprehensive and up-to-date work available on 2 Corinthians.

"Cats help me pray," says Herbert Brokering. This collection of whimsical, insightful psalms, or prayers, is based on Brokering's observations of cats he has known through his life - farm cats, house cats, alley cats. Each psalm expresses an observation about a cat's nature, written in the "voice" of the cat, followed by a prayer in which the human spirit speaks of its cat-like nature to God. Cat Psalms is for those who wish to pray more deeply, with more imagination and understanding, and offers fresh ways to see ourselves and new ways to pray.

Galatians 3:28, in particular the phrase, "There is ...no longer male and female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus," would seem to point towards an ethos of gender equality among Christians. Acting on this assumption, a number of scholars have considered the phrase significant in reconstructing attitudes towards women in early Christianity. Until now, however, a study of the history of interpretation of Gal 3:28 has been lacking. The exploration of the post-New Testament career of the verse is therefore the focus of this book. The approach is historical-critical, discussing the exegesis of Gal 3:28 in the context of attitudes about the roles of women in the first four centuries CE.

This study reveals that early Christians did not always approach this verse with the same concerns as modern readers. Ancient commentators brought several different questions to their discussion of Gal 3:28, and it is impossible to discover the trajectory in exegesis of this verse that might have been expected. It becomes apparent that during the first four centuries of Christianity most writers treated Gal 3:28 as a statement about the identification of Christians with Christ and therefore an indication that in the resolution of various differences into unity, they could achieve an ideal state. While some writers applied this concept to status differences between men and women, others used it to discuss the qualities of the ideal disciple, the character of the first created human beings, the state of the believer in heaven, and even the nature of God.

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.

Here Andrew Macintosh provides a major introduction, followed by translation and verse-by-verse commentary to Hosea. Incorporating up-to-date evidence from archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the insights of more recent major commentaries, he places particular emphasis on the work of the Rabbinic authorities and especially that of Ibn Janah. He reveals important new evidence concerning the meaning of Hosea's dialectical language to provide an indispensable reference for scholars, students and clergy.