"Christology and the New Testament" offers an up-to-date, comprehensive and critical survey of the whole question of the Christology of the New Testament writers. It covers recent discoveries in the area of Judaism and critiques older approaches to the subject. It looks at not only the Christological emphases of the individual writers, but offers suggestions about Jesus' own self-understanding. It concludes with hermeneutical questions concerning the place of New Testament Christology within the contemporary theological debate.

The church's mission, argues Reggie McNeal, engages every aspect of life. The front lines of the collision between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness are homes, schools, offices, health clubs, civic organizations, and neighborhoods - wherever God's people find themselves. Equipping the church for this mission can no longer be the responsibility solely of professional clergy. A new team of leaders, drawn from the membership of each congregation, must arise to meet the challenges that ministry in the third millennium will present. Yet where and how will these leaders be trained?

For the answer to this question, McNeal looks to the first generation of leaders - the disciples gathered around Jesus in a unique learning community. Like that earliest group of Christian learners, our churches must become centers of continual and ongoing learning; they must see the training of a local lay leadership as the starting point for all their ministries.

Drawing on the New Testament picture of the learning community that gathered around Jesus as his explicit model, McNeal offers useful and practical guidance on how churches can recruit, train, and commission leaders from within their own ranks.

Ignorance of the Bible is now so widespread, even among Christians, that it has become almost a closed book. Throughout this text passsages are recommended for reading and a wealth of information is preseted in a clear and refreshing way.'

This text is a group Bible study course developed over a number of years at one of London's leading churches, St Helen's Bishopsgate.;It covers key questions and themes of Christian belief, but doing so by studying a whole book of the Bible: teaching those who study the courses to know God's word and purpose for their lives. This course covers 30 studies from "John's Gospel": potential material for a year. Each study provides: the context of the passage, its aim, structure and any "Old Testament" background needed. It looks at the meaning of each section, highlighting key issues and practical application.;It also gives suggested questions to enable group leaders to lead a complete study.

A perennial question throughout the history of the Christian faith has centered on the character of the Old Testament and its relationship to Jesus Christ. It is in this area that Christians and Jews have parted ways, creating a deep and enduring chasm between the two faith communities. With this new volume, Fredrick Holmgren aids in closing this hurtful breach by engaging with views on both sides of this important conversation. Holmgren dialogues with Christians from every point on the theological spectrum, urging the church to a new respect for the Jewish Bible, the enduring role of the Old Testament as "Christian scripture," and the valuable contributions of Judaism to the Christian faith. Warning the church against either caricaturing the Old Testament and Judaism or romanticizing Christianity, Holmgren sensitively shows that the New Testament proclamation of newness in Christ carries forward the witness of the Old Testament without making obsolete its Jewish interpretation.

Baptism and the Unity of the Church is the first comprehensive study of the meaning of baptism for church unity to be written by an ecumenical group of theologians-Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and Baptist. These essays explore such themes as how baptism relates to the communion shared by the churches and the relationship of baptism and church unity as found in the New Testament, in the ecumenical dialogues, and in the liturgies of the churches. "A significant challenge to all Christians who care about the ecumenical movement.... Michael Root and Risto Saarinen's book is easy to digest. Indeed, it is one of the best collections of this sort I have ever read." - Christian Century

The question of interpretation is as old as language itself. In today's postmodern context, however, the task of hermeneutics has become frustratingly complex. This timely collection of essays by ten leading scholars explores the diversity of contemporary Christian hermeneutical theory and practice. The format of the book consists of a major essay and a response in each of four disciplines - philosophy, English, sociology, and theology - leading to differences in definition and practice, but with the common framework of a Christian perspective. In their insightful handling of the most challenging contemporary issues and literature on interpretive theory, the authors seek to negotiate the narrow straits between absolute certainty and interpretive license. And as they chart the turbulent waters of the postmodern world, they serve as savvy guides to assist us in our difficult passage to the truth.

Revelation is the study of how, when, and where God reveals himself and of what is disclosed. This book is an excellent introduction to revelation that brings its subject into the theological inquiry of the next century. In discussing the major themes of the narrative of revelation, Gabriel Fackre provides an overview of the traditional models of revelation, introducing readers to the work of such twentieth-century giants as Barth, Tillich, Rahner, and Henry. He also provides dialogue with other formative figures, such as Pannenberg, Dulles, Berkouwer, Torrance, and Lindbeck. By focusing on Scripture, while also making reference to the core secondary literature, Fackre leads readers through the key concepts involved in the construction of a biblically centered doctrine of revelation.

This commentary by Frank Gorman shows how Leviticus, though focusing largely on matters associated with the Levitical priesthood, is also important to laypeople. Gorman addressed the question of Israelite identity and what it means to be the people of God. Through a careful application of exegesis and exposition, he shows that Leviticus is, foremost, a call to holiness, a weaving together of ritual and ethical issues to provide the community with a means for enacting and actualizing the covenant relationship.

Kathleen Farmer's work on the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes constitute a single volume in the International Theological Commentary, a series whose goal is to bring the Old Testament alive in the worldwide church. In moving behyond the usual critical-historical approach to the bible, the ITC offers a distinctive theological interpretation of the Hebrew text.

These essays address the crisis of biblical authority and interpretation in the church, focusing in particular on the inadequacy of the historical-critical method of hermeneutics, addressing from various perspectives the notorious gap between the historical-critical approach to the study of the Bible and the church's liturgical and dogmatic transmission of biblical faith. The authors, following Childs' "canonical method" of biblical interpretation, argue that the historical-critical method should not of itself set the agenda for biblical reading. Contributors: Robert W. Jenson, Carl E. Braaten, Elizabeth Achtemeier, Brevard S. Childs, Karl P. Donfried, Roy A. Harrisville, Thomas Hopko, Aidan J. Kavanaugh, Alister E. McGrath.

Anderson's study of the Book of Daniel is a contribution to the International Theological Commentary whose goal is to bring the Old Testament alive in the worldwide church. In moving beyond the usual critical-historical approach to th Bible, the ITC offers a distinctive theological interpretation of the Hebrew text.

In keeping with the international character of the series, Hamlin's commentary on Joshua pays more than usual attention to the fulfillment of the third part of God's promise to Abraham.

The ordination of women has been one of the most pressingand passionately debated - issues facing the church in recent years. In this volume, based on the prestigious 1995 Didsbury Lectures, R. T. France explores several important questions of biblical interpretation raised by the serious disagreements among Christians over the nature of women's ministry. France primarily focuses on the issues as they are manifest in evangelical circles, where appeal is made instinctively to the authority of Scripture. He challenges readers to think out what it means to claim that our theology and practice are "biblical". His insightful arguments help point the way beyond the impasse over the role and place of women in church ministry.

In this book, the author discusses the reception of Paul in the modern day church, and argues that Paul and his gospel are the least understood parts of the New Testament in the church today. Beker examines the deutero-Pauline literature to reveal how the earliest churches received Paul's message. Refreshingly, Beker doesn't assume that the deutero-Pauline letters are a corruption of Paul's message. Rather, Beker's reconstruction reveals the ways Paul's gospel was adapted to the particular situations of the deutero-Pauline texts, and this becomes a model for the church today in receiving Paul afresh.

As the most forceful biblical proponent of the ideals of justice, loyalty, and kindness, Micah holds special appeal for those who are concerned about the powerlessness of the poor and humble.

This volume in the New Testament in Context (NTC) commentary series is a concise treasure-trove of information about two New Testament letters (2 and 3 John) and a treatise or sermon (1 John). Issues of authorship and province are considered, and related commentaries by Bultmann, Schnackenberg, and Brown are engaged. In contract to the infinite detail of these latter commentaries, Gerard Sloyan s work stands as a paragon of clarity, insight, and access to the meaning of the Johannine letters. The overall effect provides the reader with perspective on the kinds of issues christological, ethical, organizational, and theological that were troubling and dividing the church in the second century. Gerard S. Sloyan is a priest of the Diocese of Trenton (NJ) and Professor Emeritus of Religion at Temple University. He is currently a visiting professor in the School of Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America. His most recent book is The Crucifixion of Jesus: History, Myth, Faith.