This volume contains twenty-four of James D. G. Dunn's best shorter essays--written over a span of nearly 28 years and grouped here according to theme--on different aspects of New Testament Christology.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This book provides a theological history of the Christian doctrine of creation and explores the implications of the doctrine for our modern scientific age. Colin Gunton begins by looking at the origins of the doctrine of creation in the Bible and relating the biblical view to Greek cosmology. He then examines the history of the doctrine, showing how theologians from Irenaeus to Barth have spoken of creation. Gunton argues that early in the development of the doctrine serious mistakes were made that have led to highly problematic outcomes, such as the divorce of theology from science. In the closing chapters Gunton focuses on related themes, such as providence, eschatology, and the ethics of creation.

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

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.

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.

It is widely believed that contemporary science has ruled out divine action in the world. Arguing that theology can and must respond to this challenge, Philip Clayton surveys the available biblical and philosophical resources. Recent work in cosmology, quantum physics, and the brain sciences offers exciting new openings for a theology of divine action. If Christian theism is to make use of these opportunities, says Clayton, it must place a greater stress on divine immanence. In response to this challenge, Clayton defends the doctrine of panentheism, the view that the world is in some sense "within" God although God also transcends the world. God and Contemporary Science offers the first book-length defense of panentheism as a viable option within traditional Christian theology. Clayton first defends a "postfoundationalist" model of theology that is concerned more with the coherence of Christian belief than with rational obligation or proof. He makes the case that the Old and New Testament theologies do not stand opposed to panentheism but actually support it at a number of points. He then outlines the philosophical strengths of a panentheistic view of God's relation to the world and God's activity in the world. The remainder of the book applies this theological position to recent scientific developments: theories of the origin of the universe; quantum mechanics, or the physics of the very small; the debate about miracles; and neuroscientific theories of human thought.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.