Evangelicals are no strangers to the debate over creation and evolution. Now the battle has spread from the contents of the creation account into Genesis 2-3 and the historicity of Adam and therefore the Fall. What, then, is at stake? Is this merely an ivory-tower debate or can it actually impact the Christian life? The faculty of The Master's College have here come together to contend that the second and third chapters of Genesis are indeed historical, that there are excellent reasons for believing so, and that it is an essential issue within Christian thought and life. The contents of these chapters become the history of how everything in the world came to be what it is today, its reflection in an account in our everyday lives. This Scripture--Chapter 3 especially--explains what we observe in the legal system, literature, gender roles, education, psychology, and science. Therefore the issue of the theology and historicity is not irrelevant, but something critical to our everyday lives. What Happened in the Garden? includes new research, scientific, literary, business, educational, and legal perspectives. This multi-disciplinary approach strengthens the conclusion of the contributors that to change our understanding of the Fall is to change the way we understand reality, and a shift in the Christian worldview and the faith itself.

Together with my story of travelling through the tough circumstances of a brain tumour diagnosis; 'Embracing the Father' takes us on a journey through some of the well known stories from the Old Testament, and some less well known ones, in order to grasp a fuller understanding of the true nature of God, and how we react to those difficult situations we come across. Is he a mean and self centred being or is he kind and generous? Is the Old Testament God relevant to us today? Does he become in the New Testament a much more approachable God, or maybe a different God altogether? I explore our relationship with God as a Father, and how that has developed in my own journey, in both serious and humorous ways.

The Psalms have long served a vital role in the individual and corporate lives of Christians, expressing the full range of human emotions, including some that we are ashamed to admit. The Psalms reverberate with joy, groan in pain, whimper with sadness, grumble in disappointment, and rage with anger. The church fathers employed the Psalms widely. In liturgy they used them both as hymns and as Scripture readings. Within them they found pointers to Jesus both as Son of God and as Messiah. They also employed the Psalms widely as support for other New Testament teachings, as counsel on morals, and as forms for prayer. Especially noteworthy was their use of Psalms in the great doctrinal controversies. The Psalms were used to oppose subordinationism, modalism, Arianism, Apollinarianism, Nestorianism, Eutychianism, and Monophysitism, among others. More than fifty church fathers are cited in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume from Ambrose to Zephyrinus. From the British Isles, Gaul, and the Iberian Peninsula, we find Hilary of Poitiers, Prudentius, John Cassian, Valerian of Cimiez, Salvian the Presbyter, Caesarius of Arles, Martin of Bruga, Braulio of Saragossa, and Bede. From Rome and Italy, we find Clement, Justin Martyr, Callistus, Hippolytus, Novatian, Rufinus, Maximus of Turin, Peter Chrysologus, Leo the Great, Cassiodorus, and Gregory the Great. Carthage and North Africa are represented by Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine, and Fulgentius. Fathers from Alexandria and Egypt include Clement, Origen, Dionysius, Pachomius, Athanasius, Cyril, and Poemen. Constantinople and Asia Minor supply the Great Cappadocians-Basil the Great and the two Gregorys, from Nazianzus and Nyssa-plus Evagrius of Pontus and Nicetas of Remesiana. From Antioch and Syria we find Ephrem, John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyr, Philoxenus of Mabbug, Sahdona, and John of Damascus. Finally, Jerusalem, Palestine and Mesopotamia are represented by Eusebius of Caesarea, Aphrahat, Cyril, Jacob of Sarug, Jerome, and Isaac of Nineveh. Readers of these selections, some of which appear here for the first time in English, will glean from a rich treasury of deep devotion and profound theological reflection.

The trauma of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the exile of thousands of Judea's citizens, and the subsequent return after seventy years to the homeland with the difficult task of starting the new covenant community virtually from scratch- all contributed to a reassessment of Israel's meaning and destiny. The chronicler-theologian thus composed his work not just as a history of his people from their ancient beginnings but as an interpreted history, one designed to offer hope to the beleaguered community as well as to issue warnings that should they fall back into the ways of their fathers they could expect the judgment of God to be repeated. Eugene Merrill's work on 1 and 2 Chronicles promises to be a significant contribution to the academic dialogue on these important books. This volume is helpful for the scholar but accessible and useful for the pastor. Merrill provides an exegetical study of each passage in these books, examining a number of themes, especially drawing out three principal theological subjects: (1) David and his historical and eschatological reign; (2) the renewal of the everlasting covenant; and (3) the new temple as a symbol of a reconstituted people. Merrill offers astute guidance to preachers and teachers in his insightful doctrinal commentary on the text.

Traditions at Odds explores the Pentateuch's literary influence on other biblical texts. There exist a number of content discrepancies between pentateuchal and non-pentateuchal texts that treat the same subject. Through a detailed analysis, the author argues that the discrepancies are not alterations of pentateuchal material, as is generally argued, but rather indications of independent traditions. Thus, much of biblical literature was written outside of the Pentateuch's purview. Corroborating evidence is found in literature from the Second Temple Period, which also exhibits a lack of conformity to the Pentateuch. After demonstrating this independence, this study explores its implications on the composition of biblical texts and the process of canonization. Marked by an interdisciplinary approach, the study incorporates recent theoretical developments in literary and ideological criticism, as well as ritual, historiography and textual citation. It not only provides a broader base of study, but serves to address a deficiency in biblical studies: most studies of intertextuality operate with little theoretical grounding, while studies in ritual or historiography are based on models from the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

The Scriptures of Ancient Judaism: A Secular Introduction provides students with a scholarly exploration of the literature and themes of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible and cognate Near Eastern materials. The text features diverse interdisciplinary and methodological points of view from secular biblical scholars, offering readers a comprehensive, thoughtful, and accessible point of entry to the study of the ancient world and the religious heritage of Judaism. The text approaches the scriptures of ancient Judaism without religious bias or dogmatic intent. Rather, the book is designed to ignite interest in the history and literature of the ancient world and to present the latest scholarship related to the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. Students are introduced to Israelite religious traditions, their unique worldviews, and offered a primer on how to read ancient texts. Later chapters examine the histories and cultures of the ancient Near East and Jewish historiography. Legal texts, prophetic texts, biblical poetry and wisdom literature, and apocalyptic writings found within the Hebrew Bible and other related texts are analyzed. Providing students a rich and complete introduction, The Scriptures of Ancient Judaism is an ideal text for courses in biblical studies.

This book is concerned with ascertaining the value of having two versions of the same monarchic history of Israel within the Hebrew Bible (focusing on the books of Kings and Chronicles). It is furthermore concerned with how the book of Chronicles is read in relation to the book of Kings as Chronicles is so often considered to be a later rewritten text drawing upon an earlier version of the Masoretic Text of Samuel and Kings. The predominant scholarly approach to reading the book of Chronicles is to read it in light of how the Chronicler emended his source texts (additions, omissions, harmonizations). This approach has yielded great success in our understanding of the Chronicler's theology and rhetoric. However, Cook asserts, it has also failed to consider how the book of Chronicles can be read as an autonomous and coherent document. That is, a diachronic approach to reading Chronicles sometimes misses the theological and rhetorical features of the text in its final form. This book shows the great benefit of reading these narratives as autonomous and coherent by using the Solomon narratives as a case study. These narratives are first read individually, and then together, so as to ascertain their uniqueness vis-a-vis one another. Finally, Cook addresses questions related to the concordance of these narratives as well as their purposes within their respective larger literary contexts.

In the Song of Songs the son of David, King in Jerusalem, overcomes hostility and alienation to renew intimacy between himself and his Bride. This most sublime Song sings of a love sure as the seal of Yahweh, a flashing flame of fire many waters could never quench. James M. Hamilton Jr, in this latest addition to the popular Focus on the Bible series, pours fresh light on this inspiring and uplifting book.

Dr Gillow Reynolds argues for a unique interpretation of this sensual and mysterious poem, long considered the most important book of the Hebrew Scriptures but nowadays relatively unknown. The Wisdom of Love in the Song of Songs brings cohesion and context to the disparate mystical, academic and secular interpretations of the Song, shedding new light on, and insight into, one of the greatest love poems of all time. The book includes a complete reproduction of the verses from The Song of Songs. `...A tour de force, The Wisdom of Love in the Song of Songs deserves to be read by all who are willing to have their hearts and minds stretched and enlarged . . . A book for scholars and for a more general readership, it will be a great help in bringing the Song back to life today . . . written with passion - heart and soul - like the Song itself.' Graeme Watson, author of The Song of Songs: A Contemplative Guide `The Wisdom of Love in the Song of Songs is a beautifully enigmatic biblical text - St Augustine called it `a puzzle' - that jumps alive in Stefan Gillow Reynolds' close reading. A text usually met in fragments at weddings is presented here as a new whole in a fresh commentary with theological and psychological insight. Dream, erotic story or mystical revelation, or all three? The merging of the different forms of love yields new insight into the divine and human affair.' Laurence Freeman, The Tablet, Books of the Year `This biblical book, currently neglected, save for an occasional reading at weddings, deserves more attention. Beautifully produced and enhanced by its illustrations, Gillow Reynolds's distinctive interpretation, drawing on his wide general learning, including psychology, the church Fathers, and literature, would be a good place to start.' Canon Anthony Phillips, The Church Times