Mary Magdalene is a larger figure than any text, larger than the Bible or the Church; she has taken on a life of her own. She has been portrayed as a penitent whore, a wealthy woman, Christ's wife, an adulteress, a symbol of the frailty of women and an object of veneration. And, to this day, she remains a potent and mysterious figure. In the manner of a quest, this book follows Mary Magdalene through the centuries, explores how she has been reinterpreted for every age, and examines what she herself reveals about woman and man and the divine. It seeks the real Mary Magdalene in the New Testament and in the Gnostic gospels where she is extolled as the chief disciple of Christ. It investigates how and why the Church recast her as a fallen woman, it traces her story through the Renaissance when she became a goddess of beauty and love, and it looks at Mary Magdalene as the feminist icon she has become today.

Sin was an extremely important and serious concern for the earliest Christians and the authors of the New Testament writings. Early Christians came to see the life and ministry of Jesus as challenging presumptions about the meanings of sin and faithfulness. This book provides a comprehensive treatment of different understandings of sin in early Christianity. Jeffrey S. Siker describes how the earliest Christian voices represented in the New Testament writings understood "sin" not only as a theological abstraction, but also as a real reflection upon human thought and behavior that violated right relationships with both other human beings and with God. Siker explores language about sin in relation to the Jewish and Greco-Roman contextual worlds of the New Testament writings, and examines the development and change of these worlds in relation to the modern concept of sin.

The Passion Translation., 2020 Compact Edition is an updated and modern, easy-to-read Bible translation that unlocks the passion of God's heart and expresses his fiery love-merging emotion and life-changing truth. This translation will evoke an overwhelming response in every reader, unfolding the deep mysteries of the Scriptures.

If you are hungry for God, The Passion Translation, 2020 Compact Edition will help you encounter his heart and know him more intimately. Fall in love with God all over again.

New features:

• Over 500 new footnotes
• Over 500 revised footnotes
• Updated text
• 16 pages of full-color maps locating and identifying:
• Jesus' birth, early years, ministry, and last days
• major New Testament stories
• every epic journey of the Apostle Paul
• the missions of Philip and Peter
• the early church and seven churches of Revelation
• political background to New Testament events
• the territory of the Roman Empire
• the Holy Land today and in the time of Jesus

Standard features:

• In-depth footnotes with insightful study notes, commentary, word studies, cross references, alternate translations
• Introductions and outlines for each book
• Two-column format
• Contemporary font
• Premium Bible paper
• Exquisite faux leather
• Heat debossing
• Foil stamping
• Smyth-sewn binding
• Ribbon marker
• Font size - 7.5 pt.

The Passion Translation is a modern, easy-to-read Bible translation that unlocks the passion of God's heart and expresses his fiery love-merging emotion and life-changing truth. This translation will evoke an overwhelming response in every reader, unfolding the deep mysteries of the Scriptures. If you are hungry for God, The Passion Translation will help you encounter his heart and know him more intimately. Fall in love with God all over again.

CSB Christ Chronological provides a unique way for readers to experience the life of Christ in chronological order with each Gospel writer's account of events side-by-side. Featuring a parallel format, commentary notes for each section to provide background and context, and color-coded text to differentiate between the accounts in each Gospel, readers are able to gain fresh perspective on the life and ministry of Christ.

CSB Christ Chronological features the highly readable, highly reliable text of the Christian Standard Bible (CSB). The CSB stays as literal as possible to the Bible's original meaning without sacrificing clarity, making it easier to engage with Scripture's life-transforming message and to share it with others.

In "Prayer in the Gospels" Mathias Nygaard offers a new reading of the prayer materials of the Gospels. The main focus is the theological anthropology of the prayer texts. This aspect is described through a text-centered analysis of the ideal pray-er, one aspect of the implied audiences. An emphasis on the responses elicited by the material in question gives religious experience a central role in the theological discussion. Nygaard argues that in the Gospels humans are defined by the gifts bestowed in Jesus Christ, and through the dialogical reception of those gifts in prayer. The result is a kenotic and irreducible understanding of a 'self' defined from without, as appropriate to the logic of the cross and the eschatology of the texts.

The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text. The editorial board consists of C. Clifton Black and John T. Carroll. The first New Testament Library volume to focus on a Gospel, this commentary offers a careful reading of the book of Mark. Internationally respected interpreter M. Eugene Boring brings a lifetime of research into the Gospels and Jesus into this lively discussion of the first Gospel. Like all NTL volumes, this volume provides state-of-the-art biblical scholarship along with theological sensitivity.

The Max Lucado Life Lessons series continues to be one of the bestselling study guide series on the market today. This updated edition of the popular New Testament and Old Testament series will offer readers a complete selection of studies by Max Lucado. Intriguing questions, inspirational storytelling, and profound reflections will bring God's Word to life for both individuals and small-group members. Each session now includes a key passage of Scripture from both the NIV (formerly NCV) and the NKJV, and the guides have been updated to include content from Max's recent releases (2007-2016).

It has become standard in modern interpretation to say that Jesus performed miracles, and even mainline scholarly interpreters classify Jesus's healings and exorcisms as miracles. Some highly regarded scholars have argued, more provocatively, that the healings and exorcisms were magic, and that Jesus was a magician. As Richard Horsley points out, if we make a critical comparison between modern interpretation of Jesus's healing and exorcism, on the one hand, and the Gospel stories and other ancient texts, on the other hand, it becomes clear that the miracle and magic are modern concepts, products of Enlightenment thinking. 'Jesus and Magic' asserts that Gospel stories do not have the concepts of miracle and magic. What scholars constructed as magic turns out to have been ritual practices such as songs (incantations), medicines (potions), and appeals to higher powers for protection. Horsley offers a critical reading of the healing and exorcism episodes in the Gospel stories. This reading reveals a dynamic relationship between Jesus the healer, the trust of those coming for healing, and their support networks in local communities. Horsley's reading of the Gospel stories gives little or no indication of divine intervention. Rather, the healing and exorcism stories portray healings and exorcisms.

Mark's Gospel has been seen as history, or as literature. The tensions between these two approaches point to what neither approach can articulate: the rich and ambiguous connections and disjuncture's between human experience itself and human retelling, remembering, and reliving of that experience. This energetic pulling and resistance between our ordered categories and the chaos of existence fuels Mark's gospel and arguably Christianity itself. With the aid of ritual theory this book seeks to explore that energy in Mark's passion narrative. In particular, Duran uses Catherine Bell's concept of 'ritualization', the process of ordinary actions taking on ritual meaning and form, to examine the ways in which the gospel draws from the chaos of Jesus' death and the wrong, upside-down order it signifies, a frightening kind of meaning and hope. Mark sets out to understand his world through the story he tells, to stake out some area of sense amid what he views as a chaotic universe. His effort to find or produce sense pushes against the very medium of language, going as far as language can into the boundary lands of ritual performance. In his effort to see and to present the apparently senseless movement of this crisis as meaningful, Mark is drawn into ritual, where unexplained and inexplicable actions do have meaning. Defining ritual as an effort to make order of experience without losing the turbulent truth of experience itself, Duran points out ways in which Mark's story engages in such an effort of ritualization.

Originally published in 1911 for use in schools, this book contains the Revised Version text of the Book of Revelation with critical annotations by the then Bishop of Edinburgh, George Walpole. Walpole's introduction also provides the reader with some historical background on the authorship and writing of the book, as well as a list of recommended books for further study. This volume will be of value to anyone with an interest in Christianity.

Originally published in 1936, this book contains the text of Charles Harold Dodd's inaugural lecture upon taking up the position of Norris-Hulse Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in New Testament studies in the interwar period in Britain and in the work of Dodd more generally.

It is widely accepted by New Testament scholars that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles probably originated as two parts of one work by a single author. In spite of this, the books have been assigned to very different genres: Luke is traditionally viewed as a biography of Jesus, and Acts as a history of the early church. Comparing in detail the structure and content of Acts with the formal features of history, novel, epic and biography, Sean A. Adams challenges this division. Applying both ancient and modern genre theory, he argues that the best genre parallel for the Acts of the Apostles is in fact collected biography. Offering a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of genre theory, along with an insightful argument regarding the composition and purpose of Acts, this book will be of interest to those studying the New Testament, Acts, genre theory and ancient literature.

C. H. Dodd's Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, published in 1963, marked a milestone in New Testament research and has become a standard resource for the study of John. Historically biblical scholars have concentrated on the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. However, Dodd's book encouraged scholars to take John seriously as a source for the life of Jesus. This volume both reflects upon and looks beyond Dodd's writings to address the implications, limitations and potential of his groundbreaking research and its programmatic approach to charting a course for future research on the Gospel of John. Leading biblical scholars demonstrate the recent surge of interest in John's distinctive witness to Jesus, and also in Dodd's work as the harbinger of advancements in the study of the Fourth Gospel. This volume will be invaluable to all those studying the New Testament, Johannine theology and the history of the early Church.

Now available for the first time in English, Karl Ludwig Schmidt's The Framework of the Story of Jesus (Der Rahmen der Geschichte Jesu) has been a foundation of New Testament studies. Through meticulous analysis, Schmidt demonstrates that the Synoptic Gospels are collections of individual stories that circulated orally and independently in the earliest Christian communities. Schmidt shows persuasively how, in their oral forms, most of these traditions existed apart from any sequence or specific temporal or geographic location, and that the chronology and locations now evident in the Gospels were applied by the evangelists while collecting and recording the oral traditions. Across much of the twentieth century and even into the present day, Schmidt's thesis has undergirded Gospel interpretation. Yet as long as The Framework of the Story of Jesus remained untranslated, Schmidt's ideas have been open to neglect and misinterpretation among Anglophone scholars. Discussion of the Synoptic Gospels and broader New Testament study will be enriched by engagement with the evidence and argument as originally presented.

In this addition to the well-received Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS), seasoned New Testament scholar and popular speaker Peter Williamson interprets Revelation from within the living tradition of the Church for pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students alike. The seventeen-volume CCSS series, which will cover the entire New Testament, relates Scripture to Christian life today, 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. Drawn from the best of contemporary scholarship, series volumes are keyed to the liturgical year and include an index of pastoral subjects.

The Dubious Disciples provides a literary examination of the four scenes of the disciples doubting the appearance of the resurrected Jesus in the canonical Gospels. Each Gospel offers a unique account of this episode, and the differences between them dramatically affect how readers evaluate the disciples' actions and perceive the role of doubt in the Christian experience.

The Gospel of Matthew is both deliberately deceptive and emotionally compelling.Karl McDaniel explores ways in which the narrative of the Gospel of Matthew elicits and develops the emotions ofsuspense, surprise, and curiosity within its readers. While Matthew 1:21 invites readers to expect Jewish salvation, progressive failure of the plot's main characters to meet Jesus' salvation requirements creates increasing suspense for the reader. How will Jesus save 'his people'? The commission to the Gentiles at the Gospel's conclusion provokes reader surprise, and the resulting curiosity calls readers back to the narrative's beginning.Upon rereading with a retrospective view, readers discover that the Gentile mission was actually foreshadowed throughout the narrative, even from its beginning, and they are invited to partake in Jesus' final commission.

The book of Acts recounts the birth of the Church and the ministry of the earliest disciples. It is arguably one of the most exciting books in the New Testament; it tells of a shipwreck, a prison escape and political squabbles. The book of Acts also occupies a place of critical importance in the New Testament. The Gospels tell us about the earthly ministry of Jesus of Nazareth while Acts continues the story of the people who believed in him. It thus bridges the gap between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. It is an immensely valuable historical record of the early Church, a rich source of theological wisdom and a powerful testament to the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. In this helpful guide, the section-by-section commentary draws out the historical, theological and pastoral significance of the biblical text. There are also four theological essays that highlight the relevance of the book of Acts today. Clear and helpful maps and study suggestions at the end of each chapter make A Commentary on Acts ideal for students on Biblical Study courses, and for anyone wishing to learn more about this thrilling New Testament book.

This book pays special attention to the hermeneutical location where the fig-tree story appears in Mark 11; it is situated between Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his "Temple incident" in Mark 11. The fig-tree story plays a pivotal role in understanding the stories immediatlely preceding and following it. It reverses the mode of Jesus' entry from being triumphal to untriumphal, and convinces the first Markan readers to feel at ease in confronting Jesus' outrage in the Temple. The way in which Jesus entered Jerusalem contradicts the common description of the entry as a triumphant one. Additionally, the story finds a proper solution to the problem of Jesus' actions in the Temple being shockingly in contrast to his overall character as revealed through the Markan Gospel.