This luminous book on texts Jesus knew and quoted is the fruit of the author's lifelong engagement with the Psalms. As a broadcaster and writer, John is loved for being entirely genuine and, in the words of Archbishop Justin Welby, 'his cogent and penetrating contributions reach an audience well beyond the churches'. Here John explores the Psalms as they relate to daily life, drawing on stories and personal testimonies to help us to rejoice, grieve or draw encouragement from this most extraordinary and fascinating collection of sacred poems and songs.

Drawing insights from gender studies and the environmental humanities, Demonic Bodies and the Dark Ecologies of Early Christian Culture analyzes how ancient Christians constructed the Christian body through its relations to demonic adversaries. Through case studies of New Testament texts, Gnostic treatises, and early Christian church fathers (e.g., Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian of Carthage), Travis W. Proctor notes that early followers of Jesus construed the demonic body in diverse and sometimes contradictory ways, as both embodied and bodiless, "fattened" and ethereal, heavenly and earthbound. Across this diversity of portrayals, however, demons consistently functioned as personifications of "deviant" bodily practices such as "magical" rituals, immoral sexual acts, gluttony, and pagan religious practices. This demonization served an exclusionary function whereby Christian writers marginalized fringe Christian groups by linking their ritual activities to demonic modes of (dis)embodiment. The tandem construction of demonic and human corporeality demonstrates how Christian authors constructed the bodies that inhabited their cosmos-human, demon, and otherwise-as part of overlapping networks or "ecosystems" of humanity and nonhumanity. Through this approach, Proctor provides not only a more accurate representation of the bodies of ancient Christians, but also new resources for reimagining the enlivened ecosystems that surround and intersect with our modern ideas of "self."

These helpful guides in the Cover to Cover series are ideal for group and individual study. Experience the reality of Bible events like never before and live through the inspiring lives of key characters in Scripture. Learn how to apply God's Word to your life as you explore seven compelling sessions and gain a new depth in your Bible knowledge.A closer look at the lives of Old Testament patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joshua. The book of Genesis reveals a family history - a human history - with division, forgiveness, betrayal, and love. Generation after generation, God is at work in these otherwise ordinary people, and despite their many failings, we can see the character and hand of God in the lives of our spiritual forefathers. These seven insightful sessions help us to realise that: God has a purpose for each of our lives, and is constantly working out His redemptive plan for humanity There are significant parallels between these ancient stories and the teachings of Jesus Despite being highly revered, these figures shared the same human nature that we do, and we can learn from them today Icebreakers, Bible readings, eye openers, discussion starters, personal application make this a rich resource for group or individual study.

The Elder Testament serves as a theological introduction to the canonical unity of the Scriptures of Israel. Christopher Seitz demonstrates that, while an emphasis on theology and canonical form often sidesteps critical methodology, the canon itself provides essential theological commentary on textual and historical reconstruction.Part One reflects on the Old Testament as literature inquiring about its implied reader. Seitz introduces the phrase "Elder Testament" to establish a wider conceptual lens for what is commonly called the "Old Testament" or the "Hebrew Bible," so that the canon might be read to its fullest capacity. Part Two provides an overview of the canon proper, from Torah to Prophets to Writings. Seitz here employs modern criticism to highlight the theological character of the Bible in its peculiar canonical shape. But he argues that the canon cannot be reduced to simply vicissitudes of history, politics, or economics. Instead, the integrated form of this Elder Testament speaks of metahistorical disclosures of the divine, correlating the theological identity of God across time and beyond. Part Three examines Proverbs 8, Genesis 1, and Psalms 2 and 110-texts that are notable for their prominence in early Christian exegesis. The Elder Testament measures the ontological pressure exerted by these texts, which led directly to the earliest expressions of Trinitarian reading in the Christian church, long before the appearance of a formally analogous Scripture, bearing the now-familiar name "New Testament." Canon to Theology to Trinity. This trilogy, as Seitz concludes, is not strictly a historical sequence. Rather, this trilogy is ontologically calibrated through time by the One God who is the selfsame subject matter of both the Elder and New Testaments. The canon makes the traditional theological work of the church possible without forcing a choice between a minimalist criticism or a detached, often moribund systematic theology. The canon achieves "the concord and harmony of the law and the prophets in the covenant delivered at the coming of the Lord" of which Clement of Alexandria so eloquently spoke.