This study of the Matthean narrative uses the interpretive lens of food exchange to explore the Matthean community's relationship with the wider world. While many studies depict this community as withdrawing from or in conflict with the larger society, James P. Grimshaw's focus on the daily need for food reveals a community that, while distinct, progressively integrates itself into the larger Jewish and Gentile society and the natural world. In addition, this view of community corresponds to the view of a God who actively provides for and relates to all creation. Grimshaw's alternative portrayal of the Matthean community, whose interactions with its surrounding environment are more complex and sustained than often imagined, is a compelling interpretation for today's stratified and disconnected world.

Despite famously small numbers, Christians have had a distinctive presence in modern Japan, particularly for their witness on behalf of democracy and religious freedom. A translation of Ken'i to Fukuju: Kindai Nihon ni okeru Roma-sho Jusan-sho (2003), Authority and Obedience is "a personal pre-history" of the postwar generation of Japanese Christian intellectuals deeply committed to democracy. Using Japanese Christians' commentary on Paul's injunction in Romans 13: 1-7, the counsel to "let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God...", Miyata offers an intellectual history of how Japanese Christians understood the emperor-focused modern state from the time of the first Protestant missionaries in the mid-nineteenth century through the climax and demise of fascism during the Pacific War. Stressing verse 5's admonition to "conscience" as the reason for obedience, Miyata provides a clear and political perspective grounded in his lifelong engagement with German political thought and theology, particularly that of Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as he calls for a conscientious citizenry in his modern society. Showing both Christians' complicity with the state and the empire - including the formation of a unified church, the Nihon Kirisuto Kyodan - and their attitude toward Christians in Asia, and the complexity of the critical voices of Christians like Uchimura Kanzo, Kashiwagi Gien, Nanbara Shigeru, and many others less well known - Miyata's work aims not at exposing cultural particularity but at showing how the modern Japanese Christian experience can give meaning to a theology and a political theory of how to live within the "freedom of religious belief".

This book demonstrates that the encounter between Christianity and various African cultures gives rise to a number of problems for Africans who become Christians. It draws attention to certain traditional African beliefs and practices that seem to be incompatible with Christianity and create problems for Africans who embrace Christianity. Against this background it argues for the need to inculturate Christianity. It contends that in this exercise African Christianity can learn from the attempts at inculturation found in the New Testament times and in the early church. It offers examples of how the early church sought to make use of non-Christian categories of thought and elements in its articulation of the Christian message and in worship. It suggests a few areas of Ghanaian and African life where inculturation could and should take place. These include funeral rites, widowhood rites, child-naming rites, the rites of marriage, libation and christology. It concludes by offering some guidelines for use in the process of the inculturation of Christianity in Africa today.

This is a detailed study on the uses of the Old Testament in "Luke-Acts", focusing on the theme of the Gentile mission as it relates to the Old Testament.Scholarship on the uses of the Old Testament in "Luke-Acts" has tended to focus upon the role played by the Old Testament in the development of the author's Christology. James Meek, however, draws out the theme of the Gentile mission in Acts as it relates to the Old Testament, and gives particular attention to four texts: 13:47 ("Isaiah" 49:6); 15:16-18 ("Amos" 9:11-12); 2:17-21 ("Joel" 3:1-5 MT); 3:25 ("Genesis" 22:18). The quotations in "Acts" 13 and 15 receive greater attention because they explicitly address the issue of the Gentile mission (the two earlier texts anticipate it) and because of particular interpretive questions raised by these texts.Meek argues that while there are similarities in the quotations in "Acts" with the Old Greek form of the cited texts, the argument never depends on distinctive readings of the Old Greek. He therefore rejects claims that the author's use of Old Testament texts is dependent entirely on the Old Greek. He also maintains that all four quotations are used in a manner consistent with their sense in their original contexts, contrary to the common assertion that the New Testament commonly cites Old Testament texts without regard for original sense or context. His third principal argument is that these Old Testament quotations function as 'proof from prophecy,' contrary to the argument of some. In particular, they are cited to demonstrate the legitimacy of the Gentile mission as conducted by the early church and of the Gentiles' place among the people of God, showing these ideas to be central to the author's purpose.Formerly the "Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement", a book series that explores the many aspects of New Testament study including historical perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and theological, cultural and contextual approaches. "The Early Christianity in Context" series, a part of JSNTS, examines the birth and development of early Christianity up to the end of the third century CE. The series places Christianity in its social, cultural, political and economic context. "European Seminar on Christian Origins" and "Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus Supplement" are also part of JSNTS.

The end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries have involved much discussion on overhauling and refining a scholarly understanding of the verbal system for first-century Greek. These discussions have included advances in verbal aspect theory and other linguistic approaches to describing the grammatical phenomena of ancient languages. This volume seeks to apply some of that learning to the narrow realm of how prohibitions were constructed in the first-century Greek of the New Testament. Part 1 "The Great Prohibition Debate" seeks to demonstrate that verbal aspect theory has a better explanation than traditional Aktionsart theory for authorial choices between the negated present imperative and the negated aorist subjunctive in expressing prohibitions in the Greek New Testament. Part 2 "All the Prohibitions in the Greek NT" continues to examine prohibitions, but is more of an exercise in functional linguistics. That is, rather than apply verbal aspect theory to the grammar of prohibition constructions, Part 2 seeks only to survey the (initially surprising) wide variety of ways prohibitions can be expressed in koine Greek: more than a dozen different constructions. To do this, the NT prohibitions are grouped in their varying grammatical-syntactical and/or pragmatic constructions, all of which function - in varying degrees - in a prohibitory fashion. This taxonomy may prove to be the beginnings of further investigations into how biblical Greek communicates commands.

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.

The Commentary on Revelation is Bede's first venture into Biblical exegesis -- an ambitious choice for a young monastic scholar in a newly Christianized land. Its subject matter - the climax of the great story of creation and redemption, of history and of time itself - adds to the Commentary's intrinsic importance, for these themes lie at the heart of Bede's concerns and of his achievement as a historian, exegete, scholar, and preacher. But Bede was also a man of his age. When he penned the Commentary around 703, speculation and anxiety about the end of the world was in the air. According to conventional chronology, almost 6000 years had passed since creation. If for God 'one day... is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day' (2 Peter 3:8), the world was destined to last six millennia, corresponding to the six days of creation. The end, then, was close. Bede vigorously opposed the temptation to calculate the time of the end. The Commentary argues that Revelation is not a literal prophecy, but a symbolic reflection on the perennial struggle of the Church in this world. At the same time, the young Bede is starting to shape his own account of how the end-times would unfold. This translation, prefaced by a substantial Introduction, will be of interest to students of medieval religious and cultural history, of Anglo-Saxon England, and of the history of Biblical exegesis in the Middle Ages.

In this book, Catherine Sider Hamilton introduces a new lens through which to view the death of Jesus in Matthew. Using the concept of 'innocent blood', she situates the death of Jesus within a paradigm of purity and pollution, one that was central in the Hebrew Scriptures and early Judaism from the Second Temple to the rabbis. Hamilton traces the theme of innocent blood in Matthew's narrative in relation to two Jewish traditions of interpretation, one (in Second Temple literature) reflecting on the story of Cain and Abel; the other (chiefly in rabbinic literature) on the blood of Zechariah. 'Innocent blood' yields a vision that resists the dichotomies (intra muros vs extra muros, rejection vs redemption) that have characterized the debate, a vision in which both judgment and redemption - an end of exile - may be true. 'Innocent blood' offers a new approach not only to the meaning of Jesus' death in Matthew but also to the vexed question of the Gospel's attitude toward contemporary Judaism.

The Book of Revelation is one of the most cryptic books of the Bible and one that raises many scholarly questions. What is its literary genre? Why is it considered to be both a narrative and a drama? Why does John disregard time-space coordinates? Why does the audience have such an important role in the text? What literary guidelines has the author designed to facilitate the reading of the book? Applying the methods of literary theory to her study, Lourdes Garcia-Urena argues that John wrote Revelation as a book to be read aloud in a liturgical context. In her reading, John chose a literary form, similar to the short story, that allows him to use time-space coordinates flexibly, to dramatize the text, and to take his time in describing his visions. Through these techniques the audience re-lives and is made part of the visual and auditory experience every time the book is read.

If God knows human actions in advance, do humans really have freedom of choice? Throughout the centuries various solutions have been offered as to how to retain or reconcile both the concepts of divine omniscience and human freedom. One solution focuses on the idea of middle knowledge. This theory originates with the Spanish Jesuit Luis de Molina, was contested by Reformed theologians such as Herman Bavinck, and makes a remarkable comeback among present-day analytical philosophers such as William Lane Craig. Apart from a wealth of philosophical considerations, the appeal to biblical texts also plays an important role in the work on middle knowledge by each of these thinkers. The book examines their writings and investigates how contemporary biblical scholars interpret the biblical texts used by them. The author elaborates a creative proposal as to how these gained insights apply to the theory of middle knowledge and what this means for our overall evaluation of this theory.

Timothy was a close associate of Paul who was facing problems within the church that he was leading in Ephesus. In these personal letters, Paul gives practical pastoral instruction to his protege, highlighting godliness and holy living to help Timothy fulfill his calling and effectively carry out his important tasks in the church. "Let no one despise your youth," Paul encouraged, "but be an example to believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (1 Timothy 4:12). Paul's gentle encouragement in these letters challenges Timothy to persevere in his faith-a faith that might have been weakening under the pressure of the church and the persecution of the world. Paul's godly counsel was helpful not only to Timothy, a first-century Christian leader, but is also helpful to each of us as believers today. The MacArthur Bible Studies provide intriguing examinations of the whole of Scripture. Each guide incorporates extensive commentary, detailed observations on overriding themes, and probing questions to help you study the Word of God with guidance from John MacArthur.

The Chalcedonian Definition of 451 never completely resolved one of the critical issues at the heart of Christianity: the unity of the 'person' of Christ. In this eagerly-awaited volume - the result of deep and sustained reflection - distinguished theologian Bruce Lindley McCormack examines the reasons for this philosophical and theological failure. His book serves as a critical history that traces modern attempts at resolution of this problem, from the nineteenth-century Lutheran emphasis on Kenoticism (or the 'self-emptying' of the Son in order to be receptive to the will of the Father) to post-Barthian efforts that evade the issue by collapsing the second person of the Trinity into the human Jesus - thereby rejecting altogether the logic of the classical 'two-natures' Christology. McCormack shows how New Testament Christologies both limit and authorize ontological reflection, and in so doing offers a distinctively Reformed version of Kenoticism. Proposing a new and bold divine ontology, with a convincing basis in Christology, he persuasively argues that the unity of the 'person' is in fact guaranteed by the Son's act of taking into his 'being' the lived existence of Jesus.

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.

The Book of Revelation is the last book in the canon of the New Testament, and its only apocalyptic document, though there are short apocalyptic passages in various places in the gospels and the epistles. This second of two volumes on Revelation offers a systematic and thorough interpretation of the latter chapters of the book. Revelation brings together the worlds of heaven, earth and hell in a final confrontation between the forces of good and evil. Its characters and images are both real and symbolic, spiritual and material, and it is frequently difficult to know the difference between them, Revelation's cryptic nature has ensure that it would always be a source of controversy. This commentary focuses on the theological content, gleaning the best from both the classical and modern commentary traditions and showing the doctrinal development of Scriptural truths. Scholarship on the book of Revelation has nonetheless not only endured, but even captured the imagination of generations of Bible students, both professionals and laypeople alike. Through its focus on the message of the book through scholarly analysis, this ITC reconnects to the ecclesial tradition of biblical commentary as an effort in ressourcement, though not slavish repetition.

This book explores Christian origins by examining a key New Testament epistle, Paul's letter to the Galatian churches, seen by Christians as the charter of Christian liberty from the inherited Jewish law. The New Testament in Muslim Eyes provides a close textual commentary on perhaps the earliest declaration of Paul's apostleship and of his undying commitment to the risen Christ. It notes the subtleties of the Greek original against the backdrop of an exciting glimpse of Quranic Arabic parallels and differences. It asks: Does Paul qualify as a prophet of Allah (God)? The thoughts of Paul are assessed by examining his claims against the background of Islam's rival views of Abraham and his legacy. The Arabic Quran framed and inspired the life of the Arab Apostle, Muhammad, who was sent, according to Islam, to all humanity, Jewish and Gentile alike. Pauline themes are set in dialectical tension with the claims of the Quran. Akhtar compares and contrasts the two rival faiths with regard to: the resources of human nature, the salvation of the sinner, and the status of the works of the law. Both Christians and Muslims concur on the need for God's grace, an essential condition of success in the life of faith. The core Pauline Christian doctrine of justification by faith alone is scrutinised and assessed from a variety of non-Christian, especially Islamic, stances. Providing an Islamic view of Christian origins, this book helps to build bridges between the two religions. It will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of Biblical Studies, Islamic Studies, and the Philosophy of Religion.

This book is a controversial new biography of the apostle Paul that argues for his inclusion in the pantheon of key figures of classical antiquity, along with the likes of Socrates, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra and Augustus. It first provides a critical reassessment of the apostle's life in its historical context that focuses on Paul's discourse of authority, which was both representative of its Roman context and provocative to his rivals within Roman society. It then considers the legend that developed around Paul as the history of his life was elaborated and embellished by later interpreters, creating legends that characterized the apostle variously as a model citizen, an imperial hero, a sexual role model, an object of derision and someone to quote from. It is precisely this rewriting of Paul's history into legend that makes the apostle a key transformative figure of classical antiquity.

Discover the transforming message of God in a very personal and powerful way. The Nueva Traduccion Viviente is an outstanding, precise translation of the Word of God. And it's written in the language of the heart-warm, captivating, and easy to understand. "The New Believer's Bible" is uniquely designed to help the new Christian read, study, and understand the Bible. It includes features that help young Christians develop and deepen their faith, while providing a foundation for their new life in Christ. This Bible is a perfect gift for new believers and is also a great tool for new Christians who are looking for an instructional and devotional Bible.
Descubra el mensaje transformador de Dios de una manera muy personal y poderosa. La Nueva Traduccion Viviente es una traduccion extraordinaria y precisa de la Palabra de Dios. Y esta escrita en el lenguaje del corazon: calido, cautivador y facil de entender. "La Biblia del Nuevo Creyente" esta disenada extraordinariamente para ayudar a los nuevos cristianos a leer, estudiar y comprender la Biblia. Incluye caracteristicas que ayudan a los nuevos cristianos a desarrollar y profundizar su fe, mientras que les proporciona una base para su nueva vida en Cristo. Esta Biblia es un regalo perfecto para los nuevos creyentes, y tambien una gran herramienta para los nuevos cristianos que buscan una Biblia para su instruccion y devocion.

This collection of major essays by the distinguished Finnish New Testament scholar will prove an invaluable sourcebook for students of this much-debated complex of problems.

The interest that the Epistle to the Hebrews arouses today is testimony to its enduring message, with its focus on what Jesus Christ did and continues to do for his people. McKelvey provides new insight on Hebrews by demonstrating that two of its chief images, pioneer and priest, function not just independently, but in tandem. Christ is not pioneer without also being priest, and his priesthood is only properly understood in terms of the pioneer figure. This double analogy conveys the meaning of the Christian faith, because only one who is both pioneer and priest can provide the church with the help it needs. Pioneer and Priest will appeal to those who want to know more about Hebrews as well as those who believe that the emerging church must follow Christ 'outside the camp'.

The Shepherd-Flock Motif in the Miletus Discourse (Acts 20:17-38) Against Its Historical Background provides a comprehensive survey of the use of the shepherd-flock motif in the ancient world for the readers of the New Testament. This review of Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish, Greco-Roman, and Christian sources is guided by a motific approach that integrates the concept of metaphor, Semantics, and the comparative method. A chief concern of this study is to apply this knowledge to the study of Luke-Acts, especially the Miletus Discourse (Acts 20:17-38). The shepherd-flock motif appears to be central in this speech and helps to integrate other motifs and themes in this discourse, such as the kingship motif. The Shepherd-Flock Motif in the Miletus Discourse (Acts 20:17-38) Against Its Historical Background is indispensable to the study of motifs in the New Testament and contributes meaningfully to the scholarly research on Luke-Acts.

Where does evil come from? And how did it become so powerful? We can have a sense that when we try to do right by one another, we aren't merely striving against ourselves. The feeling is that we are struggling against something-someone-else. As if there's a force-a person-that wishes us ill. In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul describes just such a person: Sin, a cosmic tyrant who constrains our moral freedom, confuses our moral judgment, and condemns us to slavery and to death. Commentators have long argued about whether Paul literally means to say Sin is a person or is simply indulging in literary personification, but regardless of Paul's intentions, for modern readers it would seem clear enough: there is no such thing as a cosmic tyrant. Surely it is more reasonable to suppose "Sin" is merely a colorful way of describing individual misdeeds or, at most, a way of evoking the intractability of our social ills. In The Emergence of Sin, Matthew Croasmun suggests we take another look. The vision of Sin he offers is at once scientific and theological, social and individual, corporeal and mythological. He argues both that the cosmic power Sin is nothing more than an emergent feature of a vast human network of transgression and that this power is nevertheless real, personal, and one whom we had better be ready to resist. Ultimately, what is on offer here is an account of the world re-mythologized at the hands of chemists, evolutionary biologists, sociologists, and entomologists. In this world, Paul's text is not a relic of a forgotten mythical past, but a field manual for modern living.

This book compares our contemporary preoccupation with ownership and consumption with the role of property and possessions in the biblical world, contending that Christian theology provides a valuable entry point to discussing the issue of private property-a neoliberal tool with the capacity to shape the world in which we live by exercising control over the planet's resources. Babie and Trainor draw on the teaching on property and possessions of Jesus of Nazareth. They demonstrate how subsequent members of the Jesus movement-the writers of early collection of Jesus sayings (called 'Q'), and the gospels of Mark and Luke-reformulated Jesus' teaching for different contexts that was radical and challenging for their own day. Their view of wealth and possessions continues today to be as relevant as ever. By placing the insights of the Galilean Jesus and the early Jesus movement into conversation with contemporary views on private property and consumer culture, the authors develop legal, philosophical and theological insights, what they describe as 'seven theses', into how our desire for ethical living fares in the neoliberal marketplace.

This book looks in detail at Paul's description of apostles in 1 Corinthians 4 and 9 as divinely appointed administrators (oikonomoi) and considers what this tells us about the nature of his own apostolic authority. John Goodrich investigates the origin of this metaphor in light of ancient regal, municipal and private administration, initially examining the numerous domains in which oikonomoi were appointed in the Graeco-Roman world, before situating the image in the private commercial context of Roman Corinth. Examining the social and structural connotations attached to private commercial administration, Goodrich contemplates what Paul's metaphor indicates about apostleship in general terms as well as how he uses the image to defend his apostolic rights. He also analyses the purpose and limits of Paul's authority - how it is constructed, asserted and contested - by examining when and how Paul uses and refuses to exercise the rights inherent in his position.