In Methods for Luke, four leading scholars demonstrate how different interpretive methods provide insight into the Gospel of Luke. Introducing contemporary perspectives on historical criticism, feminist criticism, narrative criticism, and Latino interpretation, they illustrate these approaches to New Testament study by examining either the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31 ) or Jesus' warning regarding the scribes and the story of the women with two small coins (Luke 20: 45-21:4). The use of two "set texts" enables readers to understand how method makes a difference in the reading of the same text.

Every single name in the Bible has a meaning. Without knowing the meanings of the names leaves any reading of the Bible incomplete. Have you ever wondered what 'Adam' means? David, Saul, Solomon? What does Jehovah and God mean? What about Jesus and Mary? Revelation: A True Translation of the Bible explains all the meanings of the Biblical names. This book answers all the mysteries of the Bible which have puzzled Biblical scholars for centuries, and it explains the meanings through language and culture which the author, Hawaa Ayoub, draws on and has personal experience with. Revelation also explores the background of the Bible and discusses cultural, geographical, and language phenomena - topics that are of interest to Biblical scholars and professors, linguists, other experts and serious readers of the Bible as well as those with a personal interest in Biblical stories. From the Biblical names of characters and places, the stories of wanderings, sacrifices at altars, warring, taking over land, punishment and reward, infertile women and miraculous pregnancies - Hawaa Ayoub explains in great detail what the Biblical stories are all about. Ideal for scholars, and those with a personal interest in the Bible, and anyone seeking an authoritative and detailed explanation of the Biblical stories, its figures and places. Ayoub not only translates the names in the Bible, but also shows who authored the Biblical stories and why they were created.

"Reading the Women of the Bible "takes up two of the most significant intellectual and religious issues of our day: the experiences of women in a patriarchal society and the relevance of the Bible to modern life.

Anat Israeli presents the first feminist commentary in the series on a chapter from the "Order of Women." She discusses the last chapter of Tractate Qiddushin, devoted to "betrothals." Chapter 4 deals in general with two major topics: the first is Jewish genealogies (what parts the mother and father play in deciding who is a Jew and who can marry whom). The second topic is about forbidden seclusions between members of the opposite sex (since they can bring about promiscuity, adultery and other unwanted sexual contacts). In this study, Anat Israeli and her collaborators first analyze the Mishnah and show what its authors had considered important about these two topics, and then they show how the emphases had shifted on the way between the land of the Mishnah (Israel) and the land of the Talmud (Babylonia).

A 2001 Christianity Today Book of the Year While patristic commentary on St. Paul's shorter letters--Colossians, 1-2 Thessalonians, the Pastorals and Philemon--was not so extensive as that on his longer letters, certain passages in these letters proved particularly important in doctrinal disputes and practical church matters. Pivotal in controversies with the Arians and the Gnostics, the most commented-upon christological text amid these letters was Colossians 1:15-20, where Jesus is declared "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." In other texts scattered throughout the Pastorals, the fathers found ample support for the divinity of the Son and the Spirit and for the full union of humanity and divinity in the one redeemer, the "one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). These early Christian commentators also looked to the Pastorals, where Pauline authorship was assumed, for important ethical and moral teaching, as well as explicit qualifications for choosing church leaders and guidelines for overseeing the work and behavior of widows. Chief among the Eastern commentators and widely excerpted throughout this volume is John Chrysostom, praised for his pastoral insight and shrewd, generous empathy with the apostle Paul. Other Greek commentators whose works are cited include Theodoret of Cyr, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Severian of Gabala, Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. Among Western commentators Augustine dominates. His work is joined by that of Ambrosiaster, Pelagius, Jerome, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Novatian, Cyprian of Carthage, Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose, among others. Of particular interest for their ascetical and devotional insight are works from Syrian and Egyptian churches, including Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian, Isaac of Nineveh and Philoxenus of Mabbug. This volume opens up a treasure house of ancient wisdom that allows these faithful witnesses, some appearing here in English translation for the first time, to speak with eloquence and intellectual acumen to the church today.