Bart Ehrman--the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus and a recognized authority on the early Christian Church--and Zlatko Plese here offer a groundbreaking, multi-lingual edition of the Apocryphal Gospels, one that breathes new life into the non-canonical texts that were once nearly lost to history.
In The Apocryphal Gospels, Ehrman and Plese present a rare compilation of over 40 ancient gospel texts and textual fragments that do not appear in the New Testament. This essential collection contains Gospels describing Jesus's infancy, ministry, Passion, and resurrection, as well as the most controversial manuscript discoveries of modern times, including the most significant Gospel discovered in the 20th century--the Gospel of Thomas--and the most recently discovered Gospel, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. For the first time ever, these sacred manuscripts are featured in the original Greek, Latin, and Coptic languages, accompanied by fresh English translations that appear next to the original texts, allowing for easy line by line comparison. Also, each translation begins with a thoughtful examination of key historical, literary, and textual issues that places each Gospel in its proper context. The end result is a resource that enables anyone interested in Christianity or the early Church to understand--better than ever before--the deeper meanings of these apocryphal Gospels.
The Apocryphal Gospels is much more than an annotated guide to the Gospels. Through its authoritative use of both native text and engaging, accurate translations, it provides an unprecedented look at early Christianity and the New Testament. This is an indispensable volume for any reader interested in church history, antiquity, ancient languages, or the Christian faith.

How can we understand God's revelation to us? Throughout the church's history, theologians have often answered this question by appealing to a doctrine of illumination whereby the Holy Spirit shapes our knowledge and understanding of Scripture. Without denying the role of the Holy Spirit or the cognitive role of illumination, Ike Miller casts a broader vision of divine illumination and its role in the Christian life. In his constructive approach, Miller argues for a fully trinitarian view of illumination that forms not just our intellect, but also appeals to the affections and encourages our ethical action. In order to develop this theology of illumination, he explores both Augustine's and Karl Barth's readings of the Gospel and Epistles of John, including Barth's previously untranslated lectures on the Gospel of John. In light of his careful study of both the Johannine literature and the theologies of two giants from Christian history, Miller lays out a doctrine of illumination whereby we are enabled to know the Father and participate in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture, edited by Daniel J. Treier and Kevin J. Vanhoozer, promotes evangelical contributions to systematic theology, seeking fresh understanding of Christian doctrine through creatively faithful engagement with Scripture in dialogue with church.

In recent decades Giorgio Agamben, Alain Badiou, and Slavoj Zizek have shown the centrality of Paul to western political and philosophical thought and made the Apostle a central figure in left-wing discourses far removed from traditional theological circles. Yet the recovery of Paul beyond Christian theology owes a great deal to the writings of the Jewish rabbi and philosopher Jacob Taubes (1923-1987). Pauline Ugliness shows how Paul became an effective tool for Taubes to position himself within European philosophical debates of the twentieth century. Drawing on Nietzsche's polemical readings of the ancient apostle as well as Freud's psychoanalysis, Taubes developed an imaginative and distinct account of political theology in confrontations with Carl Schmitt, Theodor Adorno, Hans Blumenberg, and others. In a powerful reconsideration of the apostle, Taubes contested the conventional understanding of Paul as the first Christian who broke definitively with Judaism and drained Christianity of its political potential. As a Jewish rabbi steeped in a philosophical tradition marked by European Christianity, Taubes was, on the contrary, able to emphasize Paul's Jewishness as well as the political explosiveness of his revolutionary doctrine of the cross. This book establishes Taubes's account of Paul as a turning point in the development of political theology. Loland shows how Taubes identified the Pauline movement as the birth of a politics of ugliness, the invention of a revolutionary criticism of the 'beautiful' culture of the powerful that sides instead with the oppressed.

This convenient text utilizes material from the award-winning "Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible" ("DTIB") to introduce students to the Bible and theological interpretation through a comprehensive book-by-book survey of the New Testament. The articles, authored by respected scholars, make unique contributions to the study of theological interpretation of Scripture.
"Theological Interpretation of the New Testament "provides a history of interpretation and covers major theological ideas for each book of the New Testament. Contributors include David E. Garland, Robert H. Gundry, I. Howard Marshall, Francesca Aran Murphy, Max Turner, and N. T. Wright. Students of the New Testament, pastors, and lay readers will appreciate this affordable volume. It will also serve as an excellent supplementary text in New Testament/Bible survey courses.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Apocrypha addresses issues and themes that arise in the study of early Christian apocryphal literature. It discusses key texts including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Peter, letters attributed to Paul, Peter, and Jesus, and acts and apocalypses written about or attributed to different apostles. Part One consists of authoritative surveys of the main branches of apocryphal literature (gospels, acts, epistles, apocalypses, and related literature) and Part Two considers key issues that they raise. These include their contribution to our understanding of developing theological understandings of Jesus, the apostles and other important figures such as Mary. It also addresses the value of these texts as potential sources for knowledge of the historical Jesus, and for debates about Jewish-Christian relations, the practice of Christian worship, and developing understandings of asceticism, gender and sexuality, etc. The volume also considers questions such as which ancient readers read early Christian apocrypha, their place in Christian spirituality, and their place in contemporary popular culture and contemporary theological discourse.

In this book, Madison N. Pierce analyzes the use of prosopological exegesis by the author of Hebrews in almost every major quotation of Scripture. She shows that the author uses Scripture in a consistent way that develops his characterization of God - Father, Son, and Spirit - and that results in a triune portrait of God in Hebrews. Offering a detailed reading of several passages, she also demonstrates how the author's portrayal of God is consistent with later theological developments. Pierce's method replaces atomistic approaches and allows readers to see a clear pattern of usage across the entire epistle. It offers researchers a tool for examining quotations of New Testament Scripture and will be of particular interest to those working in the field of trinitarian theology.

This study investigates why 'faith' (pistis/fides) was so important to early Christians that the concept and praxis dominated the writings of the New Testament. It argues that such a study must be interdisciplinary, locating emerging Christianities in the social practices and mentalites of contemporary Judaism and the early Roman empire. This can, therefore, equally be read as a study of the operation of pistis/fides in the world of the early Roman principate, taking one small but relatively well-attested cult as a case study in how micro-societies within that world could treat it distinctively. Drawing on recent work in sociology and economics, the book traces the varying shapes taken by pistis/fides in Greek and Roman human and divine-human relationships: whom or what is represented as easy or difficult to trust or believe in; where pistis/fides is 'deferred' and 'reified' in practices such as oaths and proofs; how pistis/fides is related to fear, doubt and scepticism; and which foundations of pistis/fides are treated as more or less secure. The book then traces the evolution of representations of human and divine-human pistis in the Septuagint, before turning to pistis/pisteuein in New Testament writings and their role in the development of early Christologies (incorporating a new interpretation of pistis Christou) and ecclesiologies. It argues for the integration of the study of pistis/pisteuein with that of New Testament ethics. It explores the interiority of Graeco-Roman and early Christian pistis/fides. Finally, it discusses eschatological pistis and the shape of the divine-human community in the eschatological kingdom.

In the last two decades N. T. Wright has produced a succession of connected volumes that explore the nature and origins of Christianity. Wright has consistently argued that Christianity, while indebted to Second Temple Judaism, represents an explosive new development. With major books on method and background, Jesus, and the resurrection already in print, in Paul and the Faithfulness of God, Wright added a comprehensive study of the Apostle to the Gentiles. Wright's Paul, as well as his reading of Christianity, is not without its detractors. In The Paul Debate, Wright answers his critics. The five chapters represent a response to the five most questioned elements of his understanding of Paul. The first chapter takes up the question of Paul's theological coherence, particularly the way in which his Jewish context, and the story about Israel he inherited, interacted with what he came to believe about Jesus, a Christological story. Chapter two follows on by tackling the debate over the background, origin, and implications of Paul's Christology. The third chapter addresses the questions of covenant and cosmos, narrative and apocalyptic. Chapter four focuses on the debate over Paul's view of who constitutes the people of God; this chapter also addresses the question of whether justification belongs to Paul's soteriology or his ecclesiology, or somehow to both. The final chapter then traces debates about method, both Paul's and ours, as well as questions of discovery and presentation, again, both Paul's and ours. The Paul Debate is essential reading for those who both agree and disagree with Wright, and for all who want to understand the compelling voice of one of the most productive and widely read scholars in past decades. Not for sale in Europe.

After more than 50 years as a lawyer, having been a clerk, Judge's associate, barrister, solicitor, law teacher, and five various types of judicial officer, Alan Hogan decided to retire, in order to do something different. He obtained a Masters degree, majoring in Biblical Studies, at the Catholic Institute of Sydney. He was astonished at how little he had known about the fundamental documents of his religion. This book is an attempt to share some of what he learnt about the New Testament with other Catholics, and with anyone else who may be interested. It is not so much a book about the New Testament as a plan for reading all the books that go to make it up, roughly in the order in which they were written, with such additional information as to make available the message that each author intended to convey.

Join Gary Inrig at the feet of Jesus and experience His parables as though for the first time.

In "The Parables," you'll feel as though you can smell the odors of Jewish villages, feel the dust of Galilean roads, and hear the voice of the Savior putting you into His stories.

You'll be encouraged by what you learn about yourself and God.

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.

Walter Kaiser questions the notion that the New Testament represents a deviation from God's supposed intention to save only the Israelites. He argues that--contrary to popular opinion--the older Testament does not reinforce an exclusive redemptive plan. Instead, it emphasizes a common human condition and God's original and continuing concern for all humanity. Kaiser shows that the Israelites' mission was always to actively spread to gentiles the Good News of the promised Messiah. This new edition adds two new chapters, freshens material throughout, expands the bibliography, and includes study questions.

Updated text and new maps bring this standard introduction up to date.
Throughout Christian history, the works of Josephus have been mined for the light they shed on the world of the New Testament. Josephus tells us about the Herodian family, the temple, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. He mentions James the brother of Jesus, John the Baptist, and even Jesus himself. In "Josephus and the New Testament," an internationally acknowledged authority on Josephus introduces this first-century Jewish historian to readers who want to begin to explore his witness to environment in which early Judaism and Christianity took shape.

Does the church have a future? Across the generations troubled Christians have often asked this question. Even as early as the end of the first century the future of the church hung in the balance. False teaching, internal division and persecution were rife. Emperor Domitian had exiled the apostle John, probably in his 90s, on the island of Patmos. You can imagine John, pacing up and down the island at night, looking across the sea to the cities on the shore, wondering, `Does the church have a future?' Into this situation the Lord comes and makes these glorious revelations. He gives John this vision and tells him to write to the seven churches of Asia Minor, in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, in what is now called Turkey. To each of these churches Jesus says, `I know... I know your hopes and dreams, your faults and failings, your joys and sorrows, your temptations and frustrations.' Jesus knew each church, and so he could speak wisely and truthfully into each circumstance. He said some hard things to shake the believers out of their apathy. He also spoke words of comfort. The letter ends by pointing the believers to heaven, a reminder that despite their present struggles, ultimately they are on the victory side. Today the church still faces internal division, opposition and persecution. It is understandable that some believers ask, `Does the church have a future?' The answer is the same as it always has been. Absolutely.

This study examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, something which itself proceeds from the believer's union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. This demands that we speak of 'virtue' in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ that overcomes sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the intellectual virtue of humility is framed by this conflict, as the minds of believers who live together within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects not just knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgements decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting 'humility of mind' as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped-Jesus Christ-the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.

John Shelby Spong, bestselling author and popular proponent of a modern, scholarly and authentic Christianity, argues that this last gospel to be written was misinterpreted by the framers of the fourth-century creeds to be a literal account of the life of Jesus when in fact it is a literary, interpretive retelling of the events in Jesus' life through the medium of fictional characters, from Nicodemus and Lazarus to the "Beloved Disciple." The Fourth Gospel was designed first to place Jesus into the context of the Jewish scriptures, then to place him into the worship patterns of the synagogue and finally to allow him to be viewed through the lens of a popular form of first-century Jewish mysticism.

The result of this intriguing study is not only to recapture the original message of this gospel, but also to provide us today with a radical new dimension to the claim that in the humanity of Jesus the reality of God has been met and engaged.

The Oxford Bible Commentary is a Bible study and reference work for 21st century students and readers that can be read with any modern translation of the Bible. It offers verse-by-verse explanation of every book of the Bible by the world's leading biblical scholars. From its inception, OBC has been designed as a completely non-denominational commentary, carefully written and edited to provide the best scholarship in a readable style for readers from all different faith backgrounds. It uses the traditional historical-critical method to search for the original meaning of the texts, but also brings in new perspectives and insights - literary, sociological, and cultural - to bring out the expanding meanings of these ancient writings and stimulate new discussion and further enquiry.
Newly issued in a series of part volumes, the OBC is now available in an affordable and portable format for the commentaries to the four canonical Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Includes a general introduction to using the Commentary, in addition to an introduction to study of the New Testament, and a detailed comparison of the four gospels in synopsis.

Radio messages from J. Vernon McGee delighted and enthralled listeners for years with simple, straightforward language and clear understanding of the Scripture. Now enjoy his personable, yet scholarly, style in a 60-volume set of commentaries that takes you from Genesis to Revelation with new understanding and insight. Each volume includes introductory sections, detailed outlines and a thorough, paragraph-by-paragraph discussion of the text. A great choice for pastors - and even better choice for the average Bible reader and student! Very affordable in a size that can go anywhere, it's available as a complete 60-volume series, in Old Testament or New Testament sets, or individually.

Jesus as Philosopher: The Philosophical Sage in the Synoptic Gospels examines the possible ways in which the authors of the Synoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke, were inspired by contemporary philosophical traditions about the ideal philosophical sage in their description of their ideal human being, Jesus Christ. Runar M. Thorsteinsson considers the following questions: How does the author in question speak of Jesus in relation to contemporary philosophy? Do we see Jesus take on a certain 'philosophical' role in the Gospels, either by his statements and reasoning or his way of life? In what way are Jesus' words and actions analogous to that of leading philosophical figures in Graeco-Roman antiquity, according to these texts? Conversely, in what way do his words and actions differ from theirs? While Thorsteinsson discusses a number of Graeco-Roman sources, the emphasis is on the question of how these parallel texts help us better to understand the Gospel authors' perception and presentation of the character of Jesus. While the fields of theology and ethics are often intertwined in these texts, including the philosophical texts, Thorsteinsson's main focus is the ethical aspect. He argues that the Gospel authors drew in some ways on classical virtue ethics. The study concludes that the Gospel authors inherited stories and sayings of Jesus that they wanted to improve upon and recount as truthfully as possible, and they did so in part by making use of philosophical traditions about the ideal sage, especially that of Stoicism and Cynicism.

Ever since Jesus walked the hills of Galilee and Paul travelled the roads of Asia Minor and Greece, Christianity has shown a remarkable ability to adapt itself to various social and cultural environments. Recent research has demonstrated that these environments can only be very insufficiently termed as "rural" or "urban". Neither was Jesus' Galilee only rural, nor Paul's Asia only "urban". On the background of ongoing research on the diversity of social environments in the Early Empire, this volume will focus on various early Christian "worlds" as witnessed in canonical and non-canonical texts. How did Early Christians experience and react to "rural" and "urban" life? What were the mechanisms behind this adaptability? Papers will analyse the relation between urban Christian beginnings and the role of the rural Jesus-tradition. In what sense did the image of Jesus, the "Galilean village Jew", change when his message was carried into the cities of the Mediterranean world from Jerusalem to Athens or Rome? Papers will not only deal with various personalities or literary works whose various attitudes towards urban life became formative for future Christianity. They will also explore the different local milieus that demonstrate the wide range of Christian cultural perspectives.