In the wake of the Holocaust, a number of influential scholars argue for a "bi-covenantal" or "two-covenant" approach to Paul's view of Israel and the Gentiles. They maintain that Israel has always been right with God apart from Jesus Christ, and that the death of Jesus is salvifically relevant only for the Gentiles. Through Him the Gentiles can receive the same blessings the Jewish people possess by virtue of the Law of Moses. The Sonderweg proponents argue that the Jewish people need Jesus, but the future conversion of all Israel mentioned in Romans 11:25-27 takes place when the Lord himself preaches the gospel to Israel at the second coming. The church need not evangelize the Jewish people. But neither of these positions does justice to Paul's letters, where he teaches that the Jewish people need Jesus for their justification, and God will use the evangelistic efforts of the church to bring it about.

Introduces readers to the key passages that must be examined when trying to understand what the New Testament says about Jews and Judaism. An ideal resource for students studying the New Testament at undergraduate level and for bible study groups.

The Canon of the Bible and the Apocrypha in the Churches of the East features essays reflecting the latest scholarly research in the field of the canon of the Bible and related apocryphal books, with special attention given to the early Christian literature of Eastern churches. These essays study and examine issues and concepts related to the biblical canon as well as non-canonical books that circulated in the early centuries of Christianity among Christian and non-Christian communities, claiming to be authored by biblical characters, such as the prophets and kings of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament.

A Postcolonial Reading of the Acts of the Apostles explores Acts, with its twofold motif of self-exaltation and self-attribution of divine prerogatives, from the viewpoint of postcolonial criticism. The Lukan community struggles to legitimize itself, in hybrid fashion, before two structures of powers or hegemonies: the Roman Empire and its system of imperial worship and the defining institutions of Judaism. Acts emerges as a hidden transcript within the system of imperial worship in Rome - pointing to the fate of any power that would usurp divine prerogatives and claim allegiance to any Lord other than God. The representation by mimicry of Roman worship in Acts, based on supremacy and hegemony and exercised by way of imperial decrees, the erection of temples, neokoroi, religious customs, and so forth, is analyzed. Moreover, the representation of Roman officers is examined observing that Luke portrays them as full of fear but also as liars, seekers of bribes, and, more importantly, in need of salvation and peace. Furthermore, the Lukan community in Acts appears as a Jewish Christian group within the development of a plurality of various forms of Judaism and within the Jesus movement. They see themselves as the legitimate heirs of the correct interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures. They do not deny their ethnicity, but they do proclaim the eschatological/apocalyptic end of the institutions that define Judaism (the kingship and the Sanhedrin as a temple establishment) as well as the restoration of the Kingdom of God, rather than of Israel, with a full acceptance and inclusion of the Gentiles.

The Dreams of Matthew 1:18-2:23: Tradition, Form, and Theological Investigation critically examines the five dream passages of Matthew 1:18-2:23 to demonstrate that Matthew employed dream narratives to defend allegations concerning Jesus' birth and to provide etiological reasons both for why Jesus went to Egypt and how Jesus happened to live in Nazareth. A diachronic survey of dream records in the Ancient Near Eastern, Egyptian, Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Second Temple writings reveals that dream narratives fall into two major categories: message dreams and symbolic dreams. Every dream carries a distinct narrative function according to the objectives of the user. Typically, symbolic dreams appear in epic-like literature, and message dreams appear in narratives such as historical and religious writings. The present analysis of the five dream accounts of Matthew 1:18-2:23 reveals that they fall into the message dream category. Each dream has at least one narrative function. In other words, Matthew does not merely record the dream experiences of the individuals but uses dreams to achieve his narrative objective.

Dislocation, which involves moving from a familiar place to an unknown place, is a common experience in this era of globalization yet it can cause a deep sense of alienation - people feel invisible, voiceless, and anonymous. A Hermeneutic on Dislocation as Experience: Creating a Borderland, Constructing a Hybrid Identity employs socio-rhetorical criticism from a postcolonial perspective, providing a hermeneutic on the experience of dislocation from the perspective of Asian immigrant women. The author's focus on Asian immigrant women's spirituality is interwoven with different texts such as the story of a woman caught in adultery (Jn. 7: 53-8:11), Asian immigrant women's stories in the novels Dictee and Crossings, and stories of Korean shamans encountered in the author's ethnographic fieldwork. This book suggests that people who experience dislocation can create a borderland where their own marginality gains power and voice. In that borderland, they are able to construct a hybrid identity as a result of deep engagement with one another. In particular, the author's fieldwork on Korean shamans reveals how the shamanic ritual itself functions as a borderland, wherein the marginalized Korean shamans gain hybrid identity. A Hermeneutic on Dislocation as Experience is a valuable resource for classes in Asian studies, ethnography, cultural anthropology, biblical spirituality, women's spirituality, and interdisciplinary courses.

Michael Bird's commentary on Colossians and Philemon in the New Covenant Commentary Series pays close attention to the socio-historical context, the flow and dynamics of the text, their argumentative strategy, theological message, and the meaning of Colossians and Philemon for the contemporary church today. Bird situates Colossians in the context of Paul's Ephesian ministry and describes how Paul attempts to persuade a congregation in the Lycus Valley to remain firm in the gospel and to grasp the cosmic majesty of Jesus Christ over and against the views of certain Jewish mystics who have thrown the Colossians into confusion. He shows how, in the letter to Philemon, Paul intercedes for a slave estranged from his master through a carefully crafted feat of pastoral persuasion from a missionary friend of Philemon. The commentary combines exegetical insight, rhetorical analysis, theological exposition, and practical application all in one short volume. Bird shows Paul at work as a theologian, pastor, and missionary in his letters to the Colossians and Philemon. This is the first of many titles in The New Covenant Commentary Series (NCCS) published by the Lutterworth Press including Romans and Ephesians. The series is designed for ministers and students who require commentary that interacts with the text of each New Testament book with the ultimate aim of pushing the Bible text towards a new generation and providing a platform for reflection on how the New Testament impacts life, faith, ministry and witness of the New Covenant Community today.

This book undertakes a biblical and theological analysis of evolutionary creation and creation themes pertinent to origins science. A key premise is that a fundamental congruity exists between what the Lord has revealed in nature (i.e., the book of God's work) and in Scripture (i.e., the book of God's Word). A corollary supposition is that, based on an analysis of the fossil record, genome evidence, morphological data, and so on, biological evolution offers the best persuasive scientific explanation for the origin and actualization of carbon-based life on earth, including Homo sapiens (i.e., modern humans). Furthermore, considering evolutionary creation in an objective, balanced, and informed manner reveals that the view is wholly compatible with classical theological metaphysics, including Augustinian and Reformed confessional orthodoxy.

The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament is a detailed introduction to the New Testament, written by more than 40 scholars from a variety of Christian denominations. Treats the 27 books and letters of the New Testament systematically, beginning with a review of current issues and concluding with an annotated bibliography Considers the historical, social and cultural contexts in which the New Testament was produced, exploring relevant linguistic and textual issues An international contributor list of over 40 scholars represent wide field expertise and a variety of Christian denominations Distinctive features include a unified treatment of Luke through Acts, articles on the canonical Gospels, and a discussion of the apocryphal New Testament

The Use of Exodus in Hebrews illustrates how traditions and hermeneutics have significantly determined people's valuations of the relationship between the Old and New Covenants in Hebrews. By showing how the author of Hebrews uses the canonical revelation from Exodus to argue rhetorically, ontologically, and hermeneutically that Jesus Christ is the New Covenant priest in the heavenly tabernacle, this book offers an epistemological lens from Exodus to identify the correct view of the relationship between the Old and New Covenants.

The Matthean Beatitudes in Their Jewish Origins: A Literary and Speech Act Analysis examines how Matthew used Jewish concepts as paradigmatic utterances for the Matthean community. In fact, the Gospel of Matthew was the most Jewish of the Synoptic Gospels, and Matthew's paradigm was the needed transition for understanding the role of the new community post-70 AD. The importance and role of Jewish concepts is evident in Matthew's work. More specifically, the literary nature of the Beatitudes demonstrates a composition that evolved from oral origins. Speech act theory is utilized to point out the oral features of the text as well as to reveal what Jesus did in his sayings. Moreover, a speech act model is presented and applied to the Beatitudes' pericope. Their significance lies in the authoritative utterances of Jesus. By employing speech act theory on the Beatitudes, the sayings of Jesus are investigated to illustrate the force of his eloquence on the Christian community.

Rewriting the Feeding of Five Thousand reveals the connection between John and the Synoptics with a focus on John 6.1-15. Statistical analyses establish the percentages of verbal and word order agreement between John 6.1-15 and the Synoptic parallels. An analysis of contextual agreements between the narratives in John and the Synoptics facilitates observing the percentage of agreement between them on a verse-by-verse basis, the average percentage of agreement between them, and the average percentage of agreement between them when Johannine material without parallel in the Synoptics is excluded from the data. Furthermore, this book analyzes the Matthean and Lukan redaction of Mark in their versions of the feeding of the five thousand and their influence on the Johannine narrative, as well as how John's narrative can be understood as a thorough rewriting of the Synoptic accounts.

This text brings together in one volume two previous books that laid the groundwork for the construction of the entries in Diccionario Griego-Espanol del Nuevo Testamento (Greek-Spanish Dictionary of the New Testament), namely Metodo de Analisis semantico aplicado al griego del Nuevo Testamento (Method of Semantic Analysis applied to the Greek of the New Testament) and Metodologia del Diccionario Griego Espanol del Nuevo Testamento (Methodology of the Greek Spanish Dictionary of the New Testament), by Juan Mateos and Jesus Pelaez. In the introduction and first part of the text, the concepts of dictionary and meaning are defined and a critical analysis of the dictionaries of F. Zorell, W. Bauer (Bauer-Aland) and Louw-Nida is conducted. Their methodologies are examined with the purpose of then presenting a method of semantic analysis and the steps for establishing the semantic formula of the various classes of lexemes, which functions as the basis for determining lexical and contextual meaning. In the second part the necessary steps for composing the dictionary's entries are proposed. The text concludes with an analysis of related lexemes in order to demonstrate the accuracy of the suggested method. For the first time, a carefully developed method of semantic analysis and the corresponding methodology are presented before the construction of the dictionary's entries.

What is the most important lesson in the word of God? In Matt. 22:34-40, Jesus summarizes the whole Bible into two commandments, being 'love for God' and 'love for thy neighbor' (Lev. 19:18). Why did Jesus cite Lev. 19:18 (love) instead of 19:2 (holiness), which is the core of this chapter? This book analyzes how Lev. 19 is unfolded from OT times to the message of the NT. It attempts to prove the importance of Lev. 19 in the canonical tradition of Judaism and Christianity and to identify the clues which can help to explain the reason why Jesus chose Lev. 19:18. Further, the book shows that holiness, one of the main issues in Lev. 19, is replaced by perfection in Matt. 5:48. This connection is shown through examining the Community Rule (1QS) of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which joins the themes of holiness and perfection. This combination serves as the 'missing link' to bridge the gap between Lev. 19 and Matt. 5. The method used to explore these texts is called 'a canonical unfolding.' After a commentary on Lev. 19 the chapter is compared to other connected texts. Finally, the meaning of Lev. 19 is reinterpreted in the whole context of the Canon.

This volume offers a compact introduction to one of the most daunting texts in the New Testament. The Letter to the Hebrews has inspired many readers with its encomium to faith, troubled others with its hard sayings on the impossibility of a second repentance, and perplexed still others with its exegetical assumptions and operations drawn from a cultural matrix that is largely alien to modern sensibilities. Long thought to be Paul, the anonymous author of Hebrews exhibits points of continuity with the apostle and other New Testament writers in the letter's (or sermon's) vision of life in the light of the crucified Messiah, but one also finds distinctive perspectives in such areas as Christology, eschatology, and atonement. Gray and Peeler survey the salient historical, social, and rhetorical factors to be considered in the interpretation of this document, as well as its theological, liturgical, and cultural legacy. They invite readers to enter the world of one of the boldest Christian thinkers of the first century.

A Psycho-Spiritual View on the Message of Jesus in the Gospels explores elements of mysticism in the words of Jesus. Four fields are analyzed with the help of two key concepts of mysticism: presence of the divine and transformation of the self. Analyses, semantic and otherwise, reveal alternative understandings on each of the four fields. Psuche appears as 'self' ('mind-and-heart') rather than as 'life,' for example, in the Good Shepherd passage (dedicating one's self), or in the saving and losing logia in Mark 8.35 par, calling for transformation. Pneuma in the Gospels appears both in a definite form and indefinitely: next to the Holy Spirit, there is holy spirit active and present, implying that baptism literally is immersing in holy spirit. Repentance (metanoia) is alternatively to be understood as transformation of the self, and is not necessarily connected to 'sin.' Finally, the Kingdom of God, in line with theologian Adolf von Harnack, is found to be present (it has approached,eggiken) and is a reality inside (entos) the human being, a musterion, apart from its references to the eschaton or to a paradisiacal new world. Parables teach about the Kingdom as a spiritual entity in and around the human being: presence of the divine, closely connected with transformation of the self. These findings open up to a psycho-spiritual understanding of the message (euaggelion) of Jesus.

Scholarly consensus on the relationship of the Letter to the Hebrews to the Old Testament is far from universal or uniform. This book aims to address this area in Hebrews scholarship, which is lacking a critical account of the dependence of Hebrews on the Old Testament, especially Leviticus, in constructing a meaningful text. The book examines how the author of Hebrews uses the textual levitical tabernacle theme to construct the central motif of the heavenly tabernacle in Hebrews. In analysing the ways in which Hebrews relates to the Old Testament, the author makes use of literary theorist Gerard Genette's concepts of transtextuality and transformation. These concepts help set in relief the variegated textual relationships Hebrews has with the Old Testament in general, and Leviticus in particular, and the transformations that are central to constituting meaning in Hebrews.

In this study, the First Farewell Discourse of Jesus (Jn 14) is read in the light of the Old Testament and Early Judaism. At the beginning of the chapter, influence of Psalm 42/43 can be shown. In the central part of the chapter, the subjects of loving God / Jesus and keeping the commandments seem to go back to Deuteronomic covenant theology. In the final part, prophetic announcements of eschatological salvation are echoed. Thus, Jn 14 makes use of the three parts of the Hebrew Bible: the Law, the Prophets and the Writings. This is important for Jewish-Christian dialogue. The English edition of this book is based on the German original of 1984. In a Postscript the contributions on the chapter since the first publication are reviewed, and an additional bibliography has been added.

Using the method of critical intertextual research, this book analyses the phenomena of hypertextuality and ethopoeia in the New Testament writings against the background of the Second Temple literature, the historical Jesus, and the historical Paul. The work demonstrates that all twenty post-Pauline writings including the Gospels, like some of Paul's letters, are only loosely related to history. On the other hand, the New Testament writings constitute a logically consistent network of intertextual-rhetorical relationships which have to be properly investigated and interpreted. Only analyses of this kind enable us to understand the internal logic of the New Testament as a whole and the true meaning of its individual works.

This collection of essays examines Christian martyrdom by locating it in different historical, cultural and social contexts. Chronologically, the book analyses traditions predating the Christian martyr literature and ideology proper, and studies an example of how this ideology was transformed in the post-Constantinian era. Within this chronological span the following contextual themes are discussed: the arena and the values represented by gladiatorial combat and executions; the reaction of 'others' to Christian martyrdom and martyr ideology; how Christians differentiated suicide from martyrdom; the relationship between Christian apologetic literature and martyr literature; and the conceptions of gender and sexuality in Jewish and Christian martyr literature in their Greco-Roman setting.

As the only book of its kind in the New Testament, Revelation can be difficult to understand, and for readers without specialized training, the historical-critical approach used in many commentaries can provide more complication than illumination. Here James Resseguie applies the easily understandable tools introduced in his primer on narrative criticism to this challenging book. He shows how Revelation uses such features as rhetoric, setting, character, point of view, plot, symbolism, style, and repertoire to construct its meaning. This literary approach draws out the theological and homiletical message of the book and highlights its major unifying themes: the need to listen well, an overwhelmingly God-centered perspective, and the exodus to a new promised land. Here is a valuable aid for pastor and serious lay reader alike.

The author of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus argues in favor of a "traditional" Greco-Roman gender ideology: that because men and women are biologically different, they ought to behave differently in the family and society. His gender-specific beliefs carry over into his teachings for the house churches, where only free married men are eligible to serve as leaders, teachers, and preachers, while women are expected to take up the subordinate female domestic roles of wife, mother, and household manager. This volume encourages a deeper engagement with the difficult issues-gender, race, and power-raised by these letters. By studying the Pastoral Letters with our minds sharpened and our hearts turned toward a generous freedom, we can struggle most productively with the influences of their teachings, past and present, and we can create a future church and a future world that are more just, truly inclusive, and indelibly marked by God's grace. From the Wisdom Commentary series Feminist biblical interpretation has reached a level of maturity that now makes possible a commentary series on every book of the Bible. It is our hope that Wisdom Commentary, by making the best of current feminist biblical scholarship available in an accessible format to ministers, preachers, teachers, scholars, and students, will aid all readers in their advancement toward God's vision of dignity, equality, and justice for all. The aim of this commentary is to provide feminist interpretation of Scripture in serious, scholarly engagement with the whole text, not only those texts that explicitly mention women. A central concern is the world in front of the text, that is, how the text is heard and appropriated by women. At the same time, this commentary aims to be faithful to the ancient text, to explicate the world behind the text, where appropriate, and not impose contemporary questions onto the ancient texts. The commentary addresses not only issues of gender (which are primary in this project) but also those of power, authority, ethnicity, racism, and classism, which all intersect. Each volume incorporates diverse voices and differing interpretations from different parts of the world, showing the importance of social location in the process of interpretation and that there is no single definitive feminist interpretation of a text.

Does Paul teach a hierarchy of authority of man over woman, or does he teach the full equality of man and woman in the church and home? In Man and Woman, One in Christ, Philip Barton Payne answers this question and more, injecting crucial insights into the discussion of Paul s view of women. Condensing over three decades of research on this topic, Payne s rigorous exegetical analysis demonstrates the consistency of Paul s message on this topic and its coherence with the rest of his theology. Payne s exegetical examination of the Pauline corpus is thorough, exploring the influences on Paul, his practice as a church leader, and his teachings to various Christian communities. Paul s theology, instruction, and practice consistently affirm the equal standing of men and women, with profound implications for the church today. Man and Woman, One in Christ is required reading for all who desire to understand the meaning of Paul s statements regarding women and their relevance for Christian relationships and ministry today. This work has the potential of uniting the church on this contentious issue."

It has been widely recognized that the Book of the Twelve, Hosea to Malachi, was considered a single composition in antiquity. Recent articles and monographs have discussed the internal clues to this composition, but there has been little effort to understand the way the New Testament authors quote from the Twelve in light of the compositional unity of the book. The Twelve Prophets in the New Testament contends that New Testament quotations from the Twelve presuppose knowledge of the larger whole and cannot be understood correctly apart from awareness of the compositional strategy of the Twelve.