Barsoum's wrote many historical essays which he published in now hard-to-find journals, mainly al-Hikmah and al-Majalla al-Batriyarkiyya al-Suryaniyya (Jerusalem). This collection of articles, published in the original Arabic with an English translation by Matti Moosa, forms the core of Barsoum's historical writings.

In this volume, Paul Robertson re-describes the form of the apostle Paul's letters in a manner that facilitates transparent, empirical comparison with texts not typically treated by biblical scholars. Paul's letters are best described by a set of literary characteristics shared by certain Greco-Roman texts, particularly those of Epictetus and Philodemus. Paul Robertson theorizes a new taxonomy of Greco-Roman literature that groups Paul's letters together with certain Greco-Roman, ethical-philosophical texts written at a roughly contemporary time in the ancient Mediterranean. This particular grouping, termed a socio-literary sphere, is defined by the shared form, content, and social purpose of its constituent texts, as well as certain general similarities between their texts' authors.

Who was Luke? Was he one of Paul's companions? Was he a doctor? We do know that he was educated and cultured, writing for people far away from where Jesus lived. In his Gospel, we find the foundation of our Christmas stories and the best-loved parables, those of the Prodigal Son and the Good Samaritan. We see Jesus' concern for the poor and the marginalized, especially women and children. And it's Luke who tells us of the repentant thief on the cross and of the risen Jesus accompanying the people on the road to Emmaus. In these twenty-six studies, we discover Luke's aim - to present the good news of Jesus as clearly and unambiguously as he can.

Due to overwhelming popular demand John Wesley prepared these notes towards the end of his life. He intended them for the devout Christian, not the scholar. The three volume set consists of: Genesis--Chronicles II (978-1-84902-634-5), Ezra-Malachi (978-1-84902-633-8), and The New Testament (978-1-84902-635-2).

Winner of the 2013 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise
Michael Peppard examines the social and political meaning of divine sonship in the Roman Empire. He begins by analyzing the conceptual framework within which the term ''son of God'' has traditionally been considered in biblical scholarship. Then, through engagement with recent scholarship in Roman history - including studies of family relationships, imperial ideology, and emperor worship - he offers new ways of interpreting the Christian theological metaphors of ''begotten''and ''adoptive'' sonship.
Peppard focuses on social practices and political ideology, revealing that scholarship on divine sonship has been especially hampered by mistaken assumptions about adopted sons. He invites fresh readings of several early Christian texts, from the first Gospel to writings of the fourth century. By re-interpreting several ancient phenomena - particularly divine status, adoption, and baptism - he offers an imaginative refiguring of the Son of God in the Roman world.

It has been slowly dawning on me over many years that there is a fundamental problem deep at the heart of Christian faith and practice as I have known it . . . we have all forgotten what the four gospels are about'. With this surprising and radical assertion, highly respected theologian and former Bishop of Durham Tom Wright launches a groundbreaking work sure to shake up and revolutionise much Christian thinking on the very heart and meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Tom Wright leads us, intelligently and graciously to seeing the new reality of the gospel story; one that is so explosive that the church in many generations has found it too much to take and so has watered it down rather than allowing its full impact to be felt.

In the collection entitled Deciphering the Worlds of Hebrews Gabriella Gelardini gathers fifteen essays written in the last fifteen years, twelve of which are in English and three in German. Arranged in three parts (the world of, behind, and in front of Hebrews's text), her articles deal with such topics as structure and intertext, sin and faith, atonement and cult, as well as space and resistance. She reads Hebrews no longer as the enigmatic and homeless outsider within the New Testament corpus, as the "Melchizedekian being without genealogy"; rather, she reads Hebrews as one whose origin has finally been rediscovered, namely in Second Temple Judaism.

Poverty, Wealth, and Empire presents an antidote to the liberal Jesuses that are constantly being constructed by theologians and historians in universities and seminaries in the West. Sandford's programme is to pay attention to those texts where Jesus appears hostile to his audiences, or even invokes the idea of divine judgment and violence against certain groups. Drawing on a variety of texts in the Synoptic Gospels, Sandford finds violent denunciations of the rich and those who neglect the needy to be a consistent theme in Jesus' teaching. R ather than deploying biblical texts to support an antiimperial or liberationist agenda, Sandford foregrounds troubling and problematic texts. Among them are wisdom sayings that justify poverty, texts that denigrate particular ethnic groups, and the ideology inherent in Jesus' teachings about 'the Kingdom of God'. On such a basis Sandford is able to call into question the effectiveness of mainline Christian scholarly interpretations of Jesus in dealing with the most profound ethical problems of our time: poverty, domination and violence. Always alert to the assumptions and prejudices of much Western New Testament scholarship, Sandford draws attention to its intellectual contradictions, and, furthermore, to the way in which this scholarship has sometimes served to undergird and justify systems of oppression-in particular by its demonstrable dodging of the issue of material poverty and its causes. Building on recent debates in postcolonial biblical criticism, Sandford offers a decidedly 'illiberal' reading of Jesus' sayings on divine judgment, focusing on the paradoxical idea of a 'nonviolent' Jesus who nevertheless makes pronouncements of divine violence upon the rich.

This volume investigates the early, second-century reception of the Fourth Gospel. This is an era when its fortunes are surrounded by silence and mystery. It was assumed, until quite recently, that Gnostic and other so-called heterodox groups were the first ones to appreciate this gospel, and hence the mainstream Christians avoided using it until Irenaeus rescued it for the church. Lately, this view has been challenged by several scholars for several reasons. The contributions in this volume, written by leading specialists in their respective fields, offer an approachable, fresh, comprehensive and up-to-date view of the second-century reception of John's Gospel, in a situation where new understandings about various forms of early Christianity and its multiformity have started to emerge.

Throughout the history of Christianity, the book of Revelation has had an enormous influence in religion, history, and culture, and it still has an urgently needed message for the church. M. Eugene Boring's critical assessment of Revelation enlightens readers as to just what that message is.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

In this addition to the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), a seasoned scholar interprets First Corinthians for pastoral ministers and lay readers alike. The CCSS series, which will cover the entire New Testament, relates Scripture to life, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help readers understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively in teaching, preaching, evangelization, and other forms of ministry.
Praise for the CCSS
"A landmark achievement in theological interpretation of Scripture in and for the Church. Highly recommended for all "--Michael J. Gorman, St. Mary's Seminary and University, Baltimore

In this brilliant commentary, Beverly Roberts Gaventa discusses the issues central to the books of Thessalonians, identifying what makes each book important for the life of the church today, as well as for preachers and teachers.

Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

First and Second Peter, James, and Jude have existed on the edges of the canon throughout the centuries. In this volume, Pheme Perkins casts light on these often neglected writings, ably demonstrating that they have, in fact, much to offer to today's readers. The epistles are more than a compilation of traditional material. They are concerned with very specific and concrete issues facing the early Christian communities and offer a counterpoint to the letters of Paul. They deal with issues such as how to conduct oneself with others, how to live in a non-Christian world, and how to "shepherd the flock of God", as well as with theological issues such as the early Christian understanding of God, the relationship between faith and works, prayer, and suffering. Teachers, preachers, and others will find much intriguing material here as they rediscover the world of the first Christians through these letters.

Throughout Christian history, the Gospel of John's distinctive way of presenting the life, works, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus have earned it labels such as "the spiritual Gospel" and "the maverick Gospel." It has been seen as the most theological of the four canonical Gospels. In this volume Richard Bauckham, a leading biblical scholar and a bestselling author in the academy, illuminates main theological themes of the Gospel of John. Bauckham provides insightful analysis of key texts, covering topics such as divine and human community, God's glory, the cross and the resurrection, and the sacraments. This work will serve as an ideal supplemental text for professors and students in a course on John or the four Gospels. It will also be of interest to New Testament scholars and theologians.

Holiness and Ministry: A Biblical Theological of Ordination is a response to the call of the World Council of Churches for renewed theological reflection on the biblical roots of ordination to strengthen the vocational identity of the ordained and to provide a framework for ecumenical dialogue. The volume is grounded in the assumption that the vocation of ordination requires an understanding of holiness and how it functions in human religious experience. The goal is to construct a biblical theology of ordination, which is embedded in broad reflection on the nature of holiness. The study of holiness and ministry interweaves three methodologies. First, the History of Religions describes two theories of holiness in the study of religion, as a dynamic force and as a ritual resource, which play a central role in biblical literature and establish the paradigm of ordination to Word and Sacrament in Christian tradition. Second, the study of the Moses in the Pentateuch and the formation of the Mosaic Office illustrate the ways in which the two views of holiness model ordination to the prophetic word and to the priestly ritual. And, third, Canonical Criticism provides the lens to explore the ongoing influence of the Mosaic Office in the New Testament literature. Holiness and Ministry is a resource for candidates of ordination to discern their call-experience and to establish professional identity within individual traditions of Christianity, while also providing a resource for ecumenical dialogue on the nature and purpose of Christian ordination.