This book addresses two crucial, related questions in current research on the Epistle to the Hebrews: when and where did Jesus offer himself? And what role does Jesus' death play both in Hebrews' soteriology as a whole, and specifically in Jesus' high-priestly self-offering? The work argues that the cross is not when and where Jesus offers himself, but it is what he offers. After his resurrection, appointment to high priesthood, and ascent to heaven, Jesus offers himself to God in the inner sanctum of the heavenly tabernacle, and what he offers to God is the soteriological achievement enacted in his death. Hebrews figures blood, in both the Levitical cult and the Christ-event, as a medium of exchange, a life given for life owed. Represented as blood, Christ's death is both means of access and material offered: what he achieved in his death is what he offered to God in heaven.

How did the author of the Gospel of Luke intend it to be read? In The Spiral Gospel, Rob James shows that the assumptions many modern readers bring to the text - that it claims to be historically factual, or merely regurgitates existing stories - are not those of antiquity. Building on the central insight that it was written for a community who would have used it as their pre-eminent text, James argues convincingly for a continuous, cyclical reading of Luke's narrative. The evidence for this view, and also its consequences, can be seen in the gospel's intratextuality. Context is given at the end of the gospel that informs the beginning, and there are countless other intratextual elements throughout the text that are most readily noticeable on a second or subsequent reading. This deliberate, creative interweaving on the author's part opens up new levels of appreciation and faith for those who read in the way Luke's first audience received his work.

It is widely accepted by New Testament scholars that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles probably originated as two parts of one work by a single author. In spite of this, the books have been assigned to very different genres: Luke is traditionally viewed as a biography of Jesus, and Acts as a history of the early church. Comparing in detail the structure and content of Acts with the formal features of history, novel, epic and biography, Sean A. Adams challenges this division. Applying both ancient and modern genre theory, he argues that the best genre parallel for the Acts of the Apostles is in fact collected biography. Offering a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of genre theory, along with an insightful argument regarding the composition and purpose of Acts, this book will be of interest to those studying the New Testament, Acts, genre theory and ancient literature.

The first letter to the Corinthians is one of the most discussed biblical books in New Testament scholarship today. Despite this, there has been no consensus on its arrangement and central theme, in particular why the topic of the resurrection was left until the end of the letter, and what its theological significance would have been to the Corinthian church. Matthew R. Malcolm analyses this rhetoric of 'reversal', examines the unity of the epistle, and addresses key problems behind particular chapters. He argues that while Jewish and Greco-Roman resources contribute significantly to the overall arrangement of the letter, Paul writes as one whose identity and rhetorical resources of structure and imagery have been transformed by his preaching, or kerygma, of Christ. The study will be of interest to students of New Testament studies, Pauline theology and early Christianity.

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of one of the four New Testament gospels and brings a unique approach to the genre of Bible commentary. Featuring distinct Jewish and Christian voices in respectful conversation, Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington, III methodologically break new ground in exploring why scholars disagree on questions of history (what actually happened, what is authorial invention, how do we address different versions of the same account), literature (what does this story tell us about Jesus and Peter, Mary Magdalene and Judas, among other characters), and theology (what can we say about resurrection and divine justice, or about Jesus as the Messiah). They show how Luke has been used to create both tragedy and hope, as well as to promote sexism, anti-semitism, and religious intolerance, thereby raising important questions regarding ethically responsible interpretation. This volume will be essential reading for theologians, clergy, and anyone interested in biblical studies and Jewish/Christian dialogue.

This volume presents in new English translations the scattered fragments and testimonies regarding Hermes Thrice Great that complete Brian Copenhaver's translation of the Hermetica (Cambridge, 1992). It contains the twenty-nine fragments from Stobaeus (including the famous Kore Kosmou), the Oxford and Vienna fragments (never before translated), an expanded selection of fragments from various authors (including Zosimus of Panopolis, Augustine, and Albert the Great), and testimonies about Hermes from thirty-eight authors (including Cicero, Pseudo-Manetho, the Emperor Julian, Al-Kindi, Michael Psellus, the Emerald Tablet, and Nicholas of Cusa). All translations are accompanied by introductions and notes which cite sources for further reading. These Hermetic texts will appeal to a broad array of readers interested in western esotericism including scholars of Egyptology, the New Testament, the classical world, Byzantium, medieval Islam, the Latin Middle Ages, and the Renaissance.

This commentary offers a concise, incisive view of Galatians, Paul's most polemical letter. Here, Paul is fighting for the spiritual life and loyalty of some of his hard-won converts. Taking advantage of a range of persuasive rhetorical approaches, his letter appears to bristle with anger at the interlopers and the anguish of spurned affection. In this commentary, Craig S. Keener mines insights from the ancient world to highlight Paul's persuasive tactics and how the Galatian Christians would have heard his intense yet profound message. In so doing, Keener also helps readers to confront Galatians afresh today, so they can hear more closely what Paul is and is not saying for the church universal. Drawing on a wide range of ancient Mediterranean sources to reconstruct the context of Galatians, Keener helps us to grasp the issues that Paul was addressing, the reasons that Paul wrote the letter, and its continuing relevance for contemporary audiences.

This commentary offers a concise, incisive view of Galatians, Paul's most polemical letter. Here, Paul is fighting for the spiritual life and loyalty of some of his hard-won converts. Taking advantage of a range of persuasive rhetorical approaches, his letter appears to bristle with anger at the interlopers and the anguish of spurned affection. In this commentary, Craig S. Keener mines insights from the ancient world to highlight Paul's persuasive tactics and how the Galatian Christians would have heard his intense yet profound message. In so doing, Keener also helps readers to confront Galatians afresh today, so they can hear more closely what Paul is and is not saying for the church universal. Drawing on a wide range of ancient Mediterranean sources to reconstruct the context of Galatians, Keener helps us to grasp the issues that Paul was addressing, the reasons that Paul wrote the letter, and its continuing relevance for contemporary audiences.

"I have never met a person whose goal was to ruin his or her life. We all want to be happy, and we want it all of the time." So begins James Bryan Smith in The Good and Beautiful Life. The problem is, he tells us, we have bought into false notions of happiness and success. These self-centered decisions lead us further into the vices that cause ruin: anger, lust, lying, worry, and judging. Eventually we find ourselves living a beautifully packaged life of self-destruction. Following the Sermon on the Mount, this follow-up to The Good and Beautiful God guides us to look behind these character flaws and to replace our false beliefs with Jesus' narratives about life in the kingdom of God. The Good and Beautiful Series includes four essential discipleship books from James Bryan Smith. Work through these proven Bible study resources individually or with a group to learn who God is, what it means to be a Christian, how to live in community, and how to address toxic self-narratives that hinder spiritual growth.

In this book, Will N. Timmins provides a close rereading of Romans 7 within its literary-argumentative context and offers a fresh and compelling solution to the identity of the 'I' in this text. Challenging existing paradigms, which fail to provide both literary coherence and theological plausibility, he develops his own positive theory about the device. Along the way he also re-examines a number of key texts within the letter, which have hitherto not been given due weight within the scholarly discussion. This study offers a fresh and satisfying solution to one of the Bible's most notorious cruxes, and contributes to our understanding of the apostle Paul's thought. It will be of interest to all scholars and students within the fields of biblical studies and Christian theology.

What terms did early Christians use for outsiders? How did they refer to non-members? In this book-length investigation of these questions, Paul Trebilco explores the outsider designations that the early Christians used in the New Testament. He examines a range of terms, including unbelievers, 'outsiders', sinners, Gentiles, Jews, among others. Drawing on insights from social identity theory, sociolinguistics, and the sociology of deviance, he investigates the usage and development of these terms across the New Testament, and also examines how these outsider designations function in boundary construction across several texts. Trebilco's analysis leads to new conclusions about the identity and character of the early Christian movement, the range of relations between early Christians and outsiders, and the theology of particular New Testament authors.

Time has always held a fascination for human beings, who have attempted to relate to it and to make sense of it, constructing and deconstructing it through its various prisms, since time cannot be experienced in an unmediated way. This book answers the needs of a growing community of scholars and readers who are interested in this interaction. It offers a series of innovative studies by both senior and younger experts on various aspects of the construction of time in antiquity. Some articles in this book contain visual material published for the first time, while other studies update the field with new theories or apply new approaches to relevant sources. Within the study of antiquity, the book covers the disciplines of Classics and Ancient History, Assyriology, Egyptology, Ancient Judaism, and Early Christianity, with thematic contributions on rituals, festivals, astronomy, calendars, medicine, art, and narrative.

Acts of the Apostles is normally understood as a historical report of events of the early church and serves as the organizing centerpiece of the New Testament canon. In this book, Drew W. Billings demonstrates that Acts was written in conformity with broader representational trends and standards found on imperial monuments and in the epigraphic record of the early second century. Bringing an interdisciplinary approach to a text of critical importance, he compares the methods of representation in Acts with visual and verbal representations that were common during the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (98-117 CE). Billings argues that Acts adopts the rhetoric of Roman imperialism as articulated in the images and texts from the period. His study bridges the fields of classics, art history, gender studies, Jewish studies, and New Testament studies in exploring how early Christian texts relate to wider patterns in the cultural production of the Roman Empire.

The Book of Revelation and Early Jewish Textual Culture explores the relationship between the writing of Revelation and its early audience, especially its interaction with Jewish Scripture. It touches on several areas of scholarly inquiry in biblical studies, including modes of literary production, the use of allusions, practices of exegesis, and early engagements with the Book of Revelation. Garrick Allen brings the Book of Revelation into the broader context of early Jewish literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and other important works. Arguing that the author of the New Testament Apocalypse was a 'scribal expert, someone who was well-versed in the content of Jewish Scripture and its interpretation', he demonstrates that John was not only a seer and prophet, but also an erudite reader of scripture.

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.

For the author of the fourth Gospel, there is neither a Christless church nor a churchless Christ. Though John's Gospel has been widely understood as ambivalent toward the idea of 'church', Andrew Byers argues that ecclesiology is as central a Johannine concern as Christology. Rather than focusing on the community behind the text, John's Gospel directs attention to the vision of community prescribed within the text, which is presented as a 'narrative ecclesiology' by which the concept of 'church' gradually unfolds throughout the Gospel's sequence. The theme of oneness functions within this script and draws on the theological language of the Shema, a centerpiece of early Jewish theology and social identity. To be 'one' with this 'one God' and his 'one Shepherd' involves the believers' corporate participation within the divine family. Such participation requires an ontological transformation that warrants an ecclesial identity expressed by the bold assertion found in Jesus' citation of Psalm 82: 'you are gods'.

Originally published in 1953, this book was written to provide a companion to the syntax of the New Testament. It does not set out to be a systematic guide, but gives sufficient material for the student acquainted with the language to form opinions on matters of interpretation involving syntax. Notes are incorporated throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in biblical studies and the language of the New Testament.

The first publication in a new series-Christian Arabic Texts in Translation, edited by Stephen Davis-this book presents English-language excerpts from thirteenth-century commentaries on the Apocalypse of John by two Egyptian authors, Bulus al-Bushi and Ibn Katib Qas.ar. Accompanied by scholarly introductions and critical annotations, this edition will provide a valuable entry-point to important but understudied theological work taking place at the at the meeting-points of the medieval Christian and Muslim worlds.

The Passion Translation is a modern, easy-to-read Bible translation that unlocks the passion of God's heart and expresses his fiery love-merging emotion and life-changing truth. This translation will evoke an overwhelming response in every reader, unfolding the deep mysteries of the Scriptures. If you are hungry for God, The Passion Translation will help you encounter his heart and know him more intimately. Fall in love with God all over again.

The first publication in a new series-Christian Arabic Texts in Translation, edited by Stephen Davis-this book presents English-language excerpts from thirteenth-century commentaries on the Apocalypse of John by two Egyptian authors, Bulus al-Bushi and Ibn Katib Qas.ar. Accompanied by scholarly introductions and critical annotations, this edition will provide a valuable entry-point to important but understudied theological work taking place at the at the meeting-points of the medieval Christian and Muslim worlds.

A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story. The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike. Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's story: LISTEN to the Story: Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story. EXPLAIN the Story: Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting. LIVE the Story: Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students. -Mark- Mark's Gospel is highly subversive and challenges disciples in ways that are unique from the other three accounts of Jesus' ministry. His narrative addresses Christian audiences who know Jesus' teaching and who have made a Christian confession but who are failing to grasp the character of the gospel as thoroughly shaped be the cross of Christ. Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.