James offers a concise and accessible introduction to a New Testament text, in this case aimed specifically at undergraduate-level students. John S. Kloppenborg introduces the reader to a series of critical issues bearing on the reading of James and provides a balanced presentation and assessment of the range of scholarly views, with guidance for further reading and research.

In this accessible and erudite commentary, the respected New Testament scholar Linda Belleville shows how Pauls letter to the Philippians provides a unique opportunity to see the similarities between the culture of his day and ours and to understand not only what is needed to cope in a hostile society but also to be bold in sharing the sole hope for our global world: knowing Christ and eternal citizenship in heaven. Philippians was written while Paul was imprisoned in the imperial barracks, awaiting the outcome of a life-or-death trial. His most beloved church was facing strong opponents without and selfish division within. Pauls strategy is to remind the church of the reasons to rejoice and forgo selfish opinion differences. There is much cause to rejoice because, despite imprisonment, the gospel had reached the entire imperial guard and emboldened Christians everywhere to boldly proclaim Christ; even if he dies, Pauls ministry of preaching Christ will continue. Yet the Philippians best exemplar is Christ himself, who, while enjoying his heavenly riches, willingly took on the human condition with its pain, suffering, and death so that they might gain their own heavenly riches.

St Paul was a pivotal and controversial figure in the fledgling Jesus movement of the first century. The New Cambridge Companion to St Paul provides an invaluable entryway into the study of Paul and his letters. Composed of sixteen essays by an international team of scholars, it explores some of the key issues in the current study of his dynamic and demanding theological discourse. The volume first examines Paul's life and the first-century context in which he and his communities lived. Contributors then analyze particular writings by comparing and contrasting at least two selected letters, while thematic essays examine topics of particular importance, including how Paul read scripture, his relation to Judaism and monotheism, why his message may have been attractive to first-century audiences, how his message was elaborated in various ways in the first four centuries, and how his theological discourse might relate to contemporary theological discourse and ideological analysis today.

In der Reihe Arbeiten zur Neutestamentlichen Textforschung (ANTF) publiziert das Institut fur Neutestamentliche Textforschung (Munster) seit 1963 grundlegende Untersuchungen und Studien zur Textkritik und Textgeschichte des griechischen Neuen Testaments. Die Reihe versteht sich als Forschungs- und Diskussionsforum und stellt Editionen und Instrumente zur Erforschung und Auswertung der neutestamentlichen Primaruberlieferung und der fruhen UEbersetzungen bereit.

As a commemorative gift for the 65th birthday celebration of the Salzburgian Old Testament scholar Friedrich V. Reiterer, whose research on Biblical wisdom literature has been devoted primarily to the book of Ben Sira, his colleagues and students presented him with this bouquet of studies related to Professor Reiterer s areas of interest. In addition to Ben Sira, these studies examine the part played by Wisdom in subsequent Late-Biblical texts, and in intertestamental and New Testament texts."

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 Pauline Epistles. Includes a general introduction to using the Commentary, in addition to an introduction to study of the New Testament, and to the Pauline Corpus in particular.

In der Reihe Arbeiten zur Neutestamentlichen Textforschung (ANTF) publiziert das Institut fur Neutestamentliche Textforschung (Munster) seit 1963 grundlegende Untersuchungen und Studien zur Textkritik und Textgeschichte des griechischen Neuen Testaments. Die Reihe versteht sich als Forschungs- und Diskussionsforum und stellt Editionen und Instrumente zur Erforschung und Auswertung der neutestamentlichen Primaruberlieferung und der fruhen UEbersetzungen bereit.

Do you ever feel like Jesus couldn't possibly know what you are going through? He's the God of the universe after all! Does he really know your daily struggles? The good news is: he does. For thirty-three years Jesus felt everything you have ever felt: weakness, weariness, sadness, rejection. His feet got tired and his head ached. He was tempted and his strength was tested. And you know why? Because in becoming human, Jesus made it possible for us to see God. His tears, God's tears. His voice, God's voice. Want to know what matters to God? Find out what matters to Jesus. Want to know what in the world God is doing? Ponder the words and life of Jesus. For more than three decades, pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado has shown us Jesus. In this capstone book, he takes us further on the journey to know the life and character of the Savior. This book describes both the person Jesus was on earth and how to live in a personal relationship with him. It is divided into six sections: Immanuel Friend Teacher Miracle Worker Lamb of God Returning King This compilation from Max Lucado gives readers the chance to become more familiar with the man at the center of the greatest story ever told. Max explores Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, including how Jesus interacted with his friends and his enemies, what he did with time alone, and how he acted at a party. Max writes, "Don't settle for a cursory glance or a superficial understanding. Look long into the heart of Christ and you'll see it. Grace and life. Forgiveness of sin. The defeat of death. This is the hope he gives." Jesus wants you to know him. As you read these pages, may the hero of all history talk to you personally, and may you find in him the answer to your deepest needs.

St Paul was a pivotal and controversial figure in the fledgling Jesus movement of the first century. The New Cambridge Companion to St Paul provides an invaluable entryway into the study of Paul and his letters. Composed of sixteen essays by an international team of scholars, it explores some of the key issues in the current study of his dynamic and demanding theological discourse. The volume first examines Paul's life and the first-century context in which he and his communities lived. Contributors then analyze particular writings by comparing and contrasting at least two selected letters, while thematic essays examine topics of particular importance, including how Paul read scripture, his relation to Judaism and monotheism, why his message may have been attractive to first-century audiences, how his message was elaborated in various ways in the first four centuries, and how his theological discourse might relate to contemporary theological discourse and ideological analysis today.

Despite novel approaches to the study of Early Christianity - New Historicity, New Philology, Gender and Queer Studies; many turns - Material, Linguistic, Cultural; and developments in Reception History, Cultural Transfer, and Entangled History, much scholarship on this topic differs little from that written a century ago. In this study, Markus Vinzent challenges the interpretation of the sources that have been used in the study of the Early Christian era. He brings a new approach to the topic by reading history backwards. Applying this methodology to four case studies, and using a range of media, he poses radically new questions on the famous 'Abercius' inscription, on the first extant apologist Aristides of Athens, on the prolific Hippolytus of Rome, and on Ignatius and the first non-canonical collection of letters. Vinzent's novel methodology of a retrospective writing thus challenges many fundamental and anachronistic assumptions about Early Christian history.

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.

This book views the strange imagery of Revelation not as prophecies of historical events, but as an expression of the entire destiny of humankind on earth.

In this commentary, Michael Bird and Nijay Gupta situate Paul's letter to the Philippians within the context of his imprisonment as well as the Philippians' situation of suffering and persecution. Paul draws the Philippians' attention to the power and progress of the gospel in spite of difficult circumstances. He also warns them about the dangers of rival Christian groups who preach out of poor motives or have a truncated gospel. Bird and Gupta unpack the rich wisdom and theology of the Christ Hymn (2:6-11). Throughout the commentary, they apply a broad range of exegetical tools to interpret this letter including historical, sociological, rhetorical, and literary analysis, and they give attention to the reception of this important Pauline text throughout history. Bird and Gupta also includes short reflections on the meaning of Philippians for today.

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.

A new translation of the oldest non-canonical Christian gospels In the early years of Christianity, several groups produced 'hidden' or 'apocryphal' gospels, alternative versions of the story of Christ. Sometimes these texts complemented the four canonical gospels of the New Testament, sometimes they subverted them and often they were completely different. Here, in the widest selection of non-canonical gospels gathered in one volume - which also includes two modern forgeries - we see the young Jesus making live birds from clay, hear his secret words of wisdom, discover gnostic cosmologies and witness the Harrowing of Hell. Preserved by their readers and attacked by their detractors, these gospels shine a fascinating light on the early Christian Church. Translated with an Introduction by Simon Gathercole

As the value and importance of the non-canonical Jesus tradition continues to be recognized, there is an ever-increasing need for scholarly introductions to this tradition. This co-edited edition comprises the Greek critical editions, with full translations, of several key gospel fragments including P.Egerton 2, P. Oxy. 840, and P.Oxy. 1224. These fragments, preserved despite the widespread destruction of non-canonical manuscripts, are invaluable primary witnesses of ancient Christianity and the transmission of early Christian texts. Introductions to the fragments discuss dates, origins, interpretations, and the relationship of the texts to the canonical gospels. Detailed commentaries expand points of interest to facilitate further scholarly research on these texts in the future.

New larger format, featuring larger text size and additional margin space for personal annotations The larger format enhances both individual and group study.

Based on the Revised Standard Version-Catholic Edition, this volume leads readers through a penetrating study of the Letters of St. James, St. Peter and St. Jude, using the biblical text itself and the Church's own guidelines for understanding the Bible. Ample notes accompany each page, providing fresh insights and commentary by renowned Bible teacher Curtis Mitch, as well as time-tested interpretations from the Fathers of the Church. These helpful study notes make explicit what the Letters of St. James, St. Peter and St. Jude often assume. Or they provide rich historical, cultural, geographical or theological information pertinent to the Letters--information that bridges the distance between the biblical world and our own.

The Ignatius Study Bible also includes Topical Essays, Word Studies and Charts. The Topical Essays explore the major themes of the Letters of St. James, St. Peter and St. Jude, often relating them to the doctrines of the Church. The Word Studies explain the background to important Bible terms, while the Charts summarize crucial biblical information at a glance.

Each page also includes an easy-to-use Cross-Reference Section that runs between the biblical text at the top of the page and the annotations at the bottom. Study Questions are provided for each Letter to deepen your personal study of God's Holy Word. There is also an introductory essay covering questions of authorship, date, destination, structure and themes.Outlines of the Letters and a map are also included.

The historical claims of the New Testament--that Jesus performed miracles, fulfilled prophecy, died and rose again, and ascended into heaven--come to us as received tradition, and we receive them in faith, trusting that the New Testament is indeed an inspired collection of writings, that it indeed tells us the truth. Increasingly, the reliability of not just the New Testament but really any document of history is called into question. If everyone writes from a point of view and with an agenda, can we reasonably expect any historical account to be objective--to tell us the truth? In this newly revised edition of Is the New Testament Reliable? Paul Barnett defends the task of the historian and the concept of history. He then addresses questions about the New Testament of importance to people of faith and skeptics alike: How close in time are the New Testament documents to the life of Jesus? Why should we believe the writings of "biased" early Christians? Were any of the writers of the New Testament books eyewitnesses to the events it records? How can we know that what was originally written has not been altered through the centuries? It is no small thing to trust ancient claims, but Barnett shows that we can take confidence in the New Testament, for it tells us the truth.

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.

Study Scripture with John Stott Readers' reactions to the book of Revelation are remarkably varied. Some Christians are obsessed with it, viewing it as a kind of secret history of the world and seeking the key to decipher it. Other Christians go to the opposite extreme of neglect. They are mystified and even intimidated by the unfamiliar, so they ignore the book or give up reading it in despair. The truth is that Revelation is a part of God's holy Word, and with a bit of help and sound interpretation it has much to offer to nurture our spiritual lives. John Stott was one of the world's leading and most-loved Bible teachers and preachers. In this Bible study guide you can explore Scripture under his guidance, enhancing your own in-depth study with insights gained from his years of immersion in God's Word.