Part 1 addresses three foundational matters: a theology of the word of God; an overview of NT Greek terms related to preaching; the scope and character of NT word ministries. Part 2 concentrates on exegetical studies of sections of NT teaching that relate especially to the post-apostolic context. Part 3 summarizes the exegetical findings, sets them within the context of biblical theology, and addresses some broader theological implications.

This is an examination ofthe eschatological and messianic elements in the first twelve chapters of LXX Isaiah. The focus is on this section because it represents a discrete unit within the book and contains several pericopes which were significant in the development of early Jewish and Christian eschatological and messianic ideas.The first part of the book surveys the discussion of eschatology and messianism in LXX Isaiah and the outlines the issues involved. There is also a study of the book's translation technique, focusing on the question of contextual interpretation and actualization, and attempting to identify the mechanism by which eschatological traditions are imprinted in the translation. In the second part, the author analyses the rendering of the well-known messianic oracles of LXX Isaiah 1-12, namely, 7:14-16, 9:5(6)-6(7), and 11:1-5. Besides the close exegetical analysis of the specific passages, there is also a study of their immediate context.This monograph suggests that the primary goal of the translator was to communicate the meaning of the text, as he understood it, rather than to make it the vehicle of his own ideology. A number of renderings that have been seen as theologically motivated could be explained simply on linguistic and co-textual grounds, and, while there is theological interpretation in individual cases, is not possible to identify any conscious systematization. In the light of this study, the eschatological and messianic hopes of the translator of LXX Isaiah 1-12 can be said to come only partly into view in his translation.

Sectarianism in Qumran: A Cross-Cultural Perspective explores the sectarian characteristics of the system of beliefs and laws of the two major Qumran sects of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the yahad and the Damascus Covenant, using theories of sectarianism and related topics in sociology, anthropology and the study of religion. It discusses Qumranic moral and purity boundaries, cultic rituals, wealth, gender, atonement, revelation mysticism, structure and organization and compares them with those of seven sects of the same (introversionist) type: the early Anabaptists, Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish, Puritans, Quakers and Shakers. The sociological and historical relationship between the Qumran sects and the related movements of 1 Enoch, Jubilees and the Essenes are analyzed in detail, in order to understand the socio-religious background of sectarianism in Qumran and its subsequent variations. Throughout the chapters, differences between the yahad, the Damascus Covenant and the Essenes are observed in relation to social boundaries, social structure, gender relations, revelation and inclination towards mysticism. Points of resemblance and difference are traced between the Qumran sects and the early-modern Christian ones, and several different patterns of sectarian ideology and behaviour are noticed among all these sects.

John Locke's 1695 enquiry into the foundations of Christian belief is here presented for the first time in a critical edition. Locke maintains that the essentials of the faith, few and simple, can be found by anyone for themselves in the Scripture, and that this provides a basis for tolerant agreeement among Christians. An authoritative text is accompanied by abundant information conducive to an understanding of Locke's religious thought.

The Tractate Ketubot ("marriage contracts") discusses inter alia the sum specified at the time of marriage to be paid in the event of divorce or the husband's death, together with the mutual obligations of man and wife, the wife's property, the law of inheritance in the female line and the widow's rights. The Tractate Nidda ("Female impurity") regulates conduct during menstruation (cf. Lev 15:19ff) and after birth (Lev 12); further topics are women's life stages, puberty and various medical questions.

Feuerbachs "Theogonie" ist die Frucht sechsjahriger Studien, die er im Anschluss an die 1848/49 in Heidelberg gehaltenen "Vorlesungen uber das Wesen der Religion" begonnen hatte. Die Schrift vollendet seine philosophisch-anthropologische Theorie vom Wesen der Religion. Seine Religionsanalyse gelangt hier, unter philologisch meisterhafter Benutzung literarischer Zeugnisse des Altertums, zur Theorie des "theogonischen Wunsches": Die Vorstellungswelt der Religion wird als phantastische gedankliche Schopfung blossen menschlichen Wunschdenkens verstanden, das aus schmerzlich empfundener menschlicher Ohnmacht und Bedurftigkeit im irdischen Dasein entspringt. Damit wird die Religion, gleich welcher Erscheinungsform, ihrem Ursprunge nach als allusionarer Akt der Wunscherfullung begriffen; ihr wird ein ausschliesslich subjektiv-menschlicher Ursprung zuerkannt."

In recent bilateral ecumenical dialogue the aim of the dialogue has been to reach some form of doctrinal consensus. The three major chapters of the book discuss the variety of forms of doctrinal consensus found in ecumenical dialogues among Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics. In general, the dialogue documents argue for agreement/consensus based on commonality or compatibility. Each of the three dialogue processes has specific characteristics and formulates its argument in a unique way. The Lutheran-Roman Catholic dialogue has a particular interest in hermeneutical questions and proposes various forms of 'differentiated' or perspectival forms of consensus. The Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue emphasises the correctness of interpretations. The documents consciously look towards a 'common future', not the separated past. "Ecclesiological Investigations" brings together quality research and inspiring debates in ecclesiology worldwide from a network of international scholars, research centres and projects in the field.

This book reexamines the central themes of Reformation theology. Chung considers the energy of the Spirit as the "Spiritus Creator "within the natural world, the Spirit's place in the Trinity, the role of the Spirit in election, the controversial question of the third use of the law, and the effects of the Spirit for the life of the world. In addressing these and many other issues, this book clearly and carefully describes the fundamental shape of Reformation thinking and introduces the reader to what was and is at stake in the Reformation's insistence on the centrality of the Gospel.

Radical changes in understandings of gender over the last two centuries are at the heart of some of the most controversial issues within Jewish life and law. They have influenced the basic concepts of Judaism, of family structure, of liturgy, of thoughts about leadership and of Halakhah. This volume discusses some of these changes and new definitions and how they continue to be reflected in the developing reform Halakhah.

Where the Waters Meet offers the reader a new way of viewing an old subject. So often psychology and counselling therapies have been, and still are, seen as competitors, or even enemies, vying for supremacy as the true religion. This book invites us to take a fresh look at these two fields, each with their own experience and dogma, and view them in a different light. We are introduced to complementarity, an approach through which vital common factors begin to break through the barriers of convention and jargon. This book is written from deeply held convictions about faith and about therapy and emerges from several decades of experience in ordained ministry, and of working as a psychodynamic counsellor. The author is passionate about both the healing process of therapy and the life-giving inspiration of faith. He sees the two not as enemies but as intrinsically linked.

This volume brings Iwand's reflections on justification to bear on questions of the intersection of church and society. Iwand critiques the typical Lutheran understanding of the two kingdoms and charts a new way forward for understanding Luther's theology, as well as the way it addresses Christian life within society. Most importantly, Iwand discusses church and society, which have so often been closed to one another, and how they have been and continue to be opened up to each other by the kingdom of God.

In secular Europe the veracity of modern science is almost always taken for granted. Whether they think of the evolutionary proofs of Darwin or of spectacular investigation into the boundaries of physics conducted by CERN's Large Hadron Collider, most people assume that scientific enquiry goes to the heart of fundamental truths about the universe. Yet elsewhere, science is under siege. In the USA, Christian fundamentalists contest whether evolution should be taught in schools at all. And in Muslim countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan and Malaysia, a mere 15 per cent of those recently surveyed believed Darwin's theory to be 'true' or 'probably true'. This thoughtful and passionately argued book contends absolutely to the contrary: not only that evolutionary theory does not contradict core Muslim beliefs, but that many scholars, from Islam's golden age to the present, adopted a worldview that accepted evolution as a given. Guessoum suggests that the Islamic world, just like the Christian, needs to take scientific questions - 'quantum questions' - with the utmost seriousness if it is to recover its true heritage and integrity. In its application of a specifically Muslim perspective to important topics like cosmology, divine action and evolution, the book makes a vital contribution to debate in the disputed field of 'science and religion'.

Among the considerable oeuvre of Muhammad al-Shahrastani (1086-1153), the prominent Persian theologian and heresiographer, the Majlis-i maktub ('The Transcribed Sermon') is his only known work in Persian. First delivered as a sermon in Khwarazm in Central Asia, this treatise invokes the theme of creation and command, providing an esoteric cosmological narrative where faith, revelation, prophecy and the spiritual authority of the Household of the Prophet are interwoven. The Majlis-i maktub further discusses themes such as the evolution of religious law (shari'at) and its culmination in the qiyamat (resurrection), the relation between free will and predestination, the interplay between the exoteric and esoteric aspects of faith, and the role and function of the Shi?i Imams in the cosmological narrative. This treatise is arguably the most dense expression of al-Shahrastani's thought, and it demonstrably indicates the Ismaili inclination of this Muslim scholar who has usually been regarded as a Shafi'i-Ash'ari. Daryoush Mohammad Poor's comparative study of this treatise and the corpus of Nizari Ismaili literature from the Alamut period (1090-1256) reveals the massive impact of al-Shahrastani's thought on every aspect of the doctrines of Nizari Ismailis.