This new revised edition, of the landmark 1988 text, includes updated text and notes throughout, taking advantage of recent studies of sexual ethics and, where appropriate, criticizing them. A new chapter engages the presumed "ethic of creation7#34; that has become a major theme among more conservative thinkers and writers in biblical ethics. A concluding chapter on sex is thoroughly rewritten and offers a positive statement of a New Testament sexual ethic.

In Speech-in-Character, Diatribe, and Romans 3:1-9, Justin King argues that the rhetorical skill of speech-in-character (prosopopoiia, sermocinatio, conformatio) offers a methodologically sound foundation for understanding the script of Paul's imaginary dialogue with an interlocutor in Romans 3:1-9. King focuses on speech-in-character's stable criterion that attributed speech should be appropriate to the characterization of the speaker. Here, speech-in-character helps to inform which voice in the dialogue speaks which lines, and the general goals of diatribe help shape how an "appropriate" understanding of the script is best interpreted. King's analyses of speech-in-character, diatribe, and Romans, therefore, make independent contributions while simultaneously working together to advance scholarship on a much debated passage in one of history's most important texts.

The expression "in the heavenlies" appears five times in Ephesians and is not found at any other point in the New Testament. The two appearances which have provoked the most debate are the session of earthly believers in 2:6 and the presence of the spiritual forces of evil in 6:12.
M. Jeff Brannon conducts a lexical, exegetical, and conceptual analysis of the expression arguing against the prevailing interpretation of the term and provides in-depth examinations of three significant concepts associated with it; namely the redeemed on earth having a heavenly status, evil powers in heaven, and the cosmology of Ephesians. Brannon uses a wide range of souces; Greek, Jewish, the Apostolic Fathers, and the Septuagint. Brannon concludes that there is no basis for a distinction between the terms 'heavens' and 'in the heavenlies' in Ephesians . He also asserts that Qumran and apocalyptic texts can shed light upon and assist in a proper understanding of the difficult passages in which the expression appears.

The last thirty years have witnessed increasing diversity in methodology and perspectives within biblical studies. One of the most dynamic and continually expanding contributions to this development is that of postcolonial studies, known for its fresh approaches as well as for its complex theoretical foundations. The present book aims at introducing both student and scholar to this emerging field. Part One discusses in a structured and pedagogical way the theoretical location of postcolonial biblical studies as well as its critique of and contributions to New Testament exegesis more specifically. Part Two presents five articles by scholars from Africa, Asia, and North America, illustrating the diversity of current postcolonial studies as applied to individual New Testament texts.

This book explores the Matthean Posteriority Hypothesis (MPH), a largely neglected solution to the Synoptic Problem which holds that the author of the Gospel of Luke used the Gospel of Mark as a source, and that the author of the Gospel of Matthew used both the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke as sources. MacEwen begins with a survey of the scholars who have defended various forms of the MPH. Chapter 2 discusses two key lines of evidence which support the MPH. The first line of evidence is textual - demonstrating that Matthew could have known the contents of Luke's Gospel beyond merely the double tradition material. The second line of evidence, involving a study of strings of verbatim agreements in the Gospels, supports the view that Matthew depended directly on Luke. Chapter 3 explores evidence and arguments which can be seen as problematic for the MPH. MacEwen concludes that the MPH has been neither definitely proved nor disproved, and deserves further scholarly scrutiny.

Reconsidering Johannine Christianity presents a full-scale application of social identity approach to the Johannine writings. This book reconsiders a widely held scholarly assumption that the writings commonly taken to represent Johannine Christianity - the Gospel of John and the First, Second and Third Epistles of John - reflect the situation of an introverted early Christian group. It claims that dualistic polarities appearing in these texts should be taken as attempts to construct a secure social identity, not as evidence of social isolation. While some scholars (most notably, Richard Bauckham) have argued that the New Testament gospels were not addressed to specific early Christian communities but to all Christians, this book proposes that we should take different branches of early Christianity, not as localized and closed groups, but as imagined communities that envision distinct early Christian identities. It also reassesses the scholarly consensus according to which the Johannine Epistles presuppose and build upon the finished version of the Fourth Gospel and argues that the Johannine tradition, already in its initial stages, was diverse.

The richly varied collection of 15 essays in this volume showcase the afterlife of the Book of Revelation. It is a biblical book that has left its mark in many fields of intellectual endeavour: literature, film, music, philosophy, political theology, and religious ideology. It is perhaps paradoxical that this book, which promises God's punishment upon anyone expanding on its contents, has nevertheless accumulated to itself over two millennia vast amounts of commentary, exposition, and appropriation. Offered at the close of the 'Blair/Bush years', this volume also exposes and highlights the often deeply ironic resonances generated while studying the reception history of Revelation during a period when the book has both significant public currency and a potentially terrifying global impact. Contents. Decoding, Reception History, Poetry: Three Hermeneutical Approaches to the Apocalypse (Jonathan Roberts); Self-Authorization in Christina Rossetti's The Face of the Deep (Jo Carruthers); Revelation, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Alison Jack); Revelation and Film (Melanie J. Wright); The Apocalypse according to Johnny Cash (William John Lyons); The Johannine Apocalypse and the Risk of Knowledge (James E. Harding); Revelation, Violence, and War (Heikki Raisanen); The Reception of Revelation, c. 1250-1700 (Anke Holdenried); A Seventeenth-Century Particular Baptist on Revelation 20.1-7 (Simon Woodman); The Book of Revelation, the Branch Davidians and Apocalyptic (Self-)destruction? (Kenneth Newport); Ecological Readings of the Apocalypse of John in Contemporary America (Michael S. Northcott); Feminist Reception of the Book of Revelation (Hanna Stenstrom); Revelation as Form and Content in the Works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Jorunn Okland)

In History of the Pauline Corpus in Texts, Transmissions, and Trajectories , Chris S. Stevens examines the Greek manuscripts of the Pauline texts from P46 to Claromontanus. Previous research is often hindered by the lack of a systematic analysis and an indelicate linguistic methodology. This book offers an entirely new analysis of the early life of the Pauline corpus. Departing from traditional approaches, this text-critical work is the first to use Systemic Functional Linguistics, which enables both the comparison and ranking of textual differences across multiple manuscripts. Furthermore, the analysis is synchronically oriented, so it is non-evaluative. The results indicate a highly uniform textual transmission during the early centuries. The systematic analysis challenges previous research regarding text types, Christological scribal alterations, and textual trajectories.

No portion of Scripture deals more clearly with the vitality of faith than Hebrews 11. "This chapter is to faith what the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is to love, " writes Richard Phillips. "Hebrews 11 is the work of a master teacher and loving pastor who is convinced that the fate of his readers hinges on their faith." Like the first audience of the Book of Hebrews the church today faces mounting opposition--even persecution--and the danger of falling away from the truth. Faith Victorious opens the fascinating world of Old Testament men and women whose vision of a sure hope beyond their struggles led them to acts of great courage. It likewise calls us to persevere in faith and to spur each other on to love and good deeds. "Rick Phillips combines in one person an extraordinary range of gifts and experiences: disciplined military training and teaching, deep personal commitment to Christ, a well-groomed understanding of Scripture, and a powerful enthusiasm for the spread of the gospel. Together these qualities leave a distinctive mark on his work."--Sinclair B. Ferguson

Mark's Gospel tells the complete story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Accurate and readable, the NIV (New International Version) is the world's most popular modern English Bible translation.

Based on recent studies in intercultural communication Kathy Ehrensperger applies the paradigm of multilingualism, which includes the recognition of cultural distinctiveness, to the study of Paul. Paul's role as apostle to the nations is seen as the role of a go-between - as that of cultural translator. This role requires that he is fully embedded in his own tradition but must also be able to appreciate and understand aspects of gentile culture. Paul is viewed as involved in a process in which the meaning of the Christ event is being negotiated 'in the space between' cultures, with their diverse cultural coding systems and cultural encyclopaedias. It is argued that this is not a process of imposing Jewish culture on gentiles at the expense of gentile identity, nor is it a process of eradication of Jewish identity. Rather, Paul's theologizing in the space between implies the task of negotiating the meaning of the Christ event in relation to, and in appreciation of both, Jewish and gentile identity.

This collection examines the allusions to the Elijah- Elisha narrative in the gospel of Luke. The volume presents the case for a "maximalist" view, which holds that the Elijah-Elisha narrative had a dominant role in the composition of Luke 7 and 9, put forward by Thomas L. Brodie and John Shelton, with critical responses to this thesis by Robert Derrenbacker, Alex Damm, F. Gerald Downing, David Peabody, Dennis MacDonald and Joseph Verheyden. Taken together the contributions to this volume provide fascinating insights into the composition of the gospel of Luke, and the editorial processes involved in its creation. Contributions cover different approaches to the text, including issues of intertextuality and rhetorical-critical examinations. The distinguished contributors and fast-paced debate make this book an indispensable addition to any theological library.

Scholars have long puzzled over the distinctive themes and sequence of John's narrative in contrast to the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels. Brian Neil Peterson now offers a remarkable explanation for some of the most unusual features of the Fourth Gospel, including the exalted language of the Johannine prologue; the focus upon Jesus as Word; the imagery of light and darkness, of glory and "tabernacling"; the role-and rejection-of prophecy; the early placement of Jesus' "cleansing" of the temple and his relation to it; the emphasis on "signs" confirming Jesus' identity; and the prominence ofJesus' "I Am" sayings. Peterson finds important connections with motifs, themes, and even the macrostructure of the book of Ezekiel at just the points of John's divergence from the synoptic narrative. His examination of events and sequence in the Fourth Gospel produces a novel understanding of John as steeped in the theology of Ezekiel-and of the Johannine Christ as the fulfillment of the vision of Ezekiel.

In Public Reading in Early Christianity: Lectors, Manuscripts, and Sound in the Oral Delivery of John 1-4 Dan Nasselqvist investigates the oral delivery of New Testament writings in early Christian communities of the first two centuries C.E. He examines the role of lectors and public reading in the Greek and Roman world as well as in early Christianity. Nasselqvist introduces a method of sound analysis, which utilizes the correspondence between composition and delivery in ancient literary writings to retrieve information about oral delivery from the sound structures of the text being read aloud. Finally he applies the method of sound analysis to John 1-4 and presents the implications for our understanding of public reading and the Gospel of John.