Latest volume in the AOTC series

In this book, Benjamin Wold builds on recent developments in the study of early Jewish wisdom literature and brings it to bear on the New Testament. This scholarship has been transformed by the discovery at Qumran of more than 900 manuscripts, including Hebrew wisdom compositions, many of which were published in critical editions beginning in the mid-1990s. Wold systematically explores the salient themes in the Jewish wisdom worldview found in these scrolls. He also presents detailed commentaries on translations and articulates the key debates regarding Qumran wisdom literature, highlighting the significance of wisdom within the context of Jewish textual culture. Wold's treatment of themes within the early Jewish and Christian textual cultures demonstrates that wisdom transcended literary form and genre. He shows how and why the publication of these ancient texts has engendered profound shifts in the study of early Jewish wisdom, and their relevance to current controversies regarding the interpretation of specific New Testament texts.

A clear, concise outline is the cornerstone of a well-developed sermon. That's why hard-working pastors and teachers gather fresh ideas and creative approaches from a variety of sources.

This collection presents 100 sermon outlines by popular Bible teacher John Phillips. Some outlines are short and pithy, others are longer and more detailed, but all of them will help the busy preacher build and deliver powerful, life-changing messages.

Topics include: My Brother's KeeperPharaoh Versus God Jeremiah's Foreview of the CrossThe Names of God

Das biblische Buch Esther erzahlt den Aufstieg des judischen Waisenkindes zur Koenigin Persiens und die Erhebung des loyalen Juden Mordechai zum zweiten Mann nach dem Koenig sowie die gleichsam wunderbare Errettung des Gottesvolkes Israel, dessen Existenz durch den perfiden Statthalter Haman bedroht ist. Mit der Auslegung des vorliegenden Stoffes, der in einer hebraischen Fassung und zwei griechischen, unterschiedlich gestalteten Fassungen vorliegt, sind basale linguistische, literarische, redaktionsgeschichtliche, theologische und hermeneutische Fragestellungen verbunden, die innerhalb der hebraischen Bibel singular sind. Die Auslegung der Megilla nimmt das Gesprach mit den griechischen UEberlieferungen sowie der zeitgenoessischen Literatur und altesten rabbinischen Exegese auf. Einleitend werden die wesentlichen Fragestellungen der Auslegung dargestellt.

Study of the wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible and the contemporary cultures in the ancient Near Eastern world is evolving rapidly as old definitions and assumptions are questioned. Scholars are now interrogating the role of oral culture, the rhetoric of teaching and didacticism, the understanding of genre, and the relationship of these factors to the corpus of writings. The scribal culture in which wisdom literature arose is also under investigation, alongside questions of social context and character formation. This Companion serves as an essential guide to wisdom texts, a body of biblical literature with ancient origins that continue to have universal and timeless appeal. Reflecting new interpretive approaches, including virtue ethics and intertextuality, the volume includes essays by an international team of leading scholars. They engage with the texts, provide authoritative summaries of the state of the field, and open up to readers the exciting world of biblical wisdom.

Study of the wisdom literature in the Hebrew Bible and the contemporary cultures in the ancient Near Eastern world is evolving rapidly as old definitions and assumptions are questioned. Scholars are now interrogating the role of oral culture, the rhetoric of teaching and didacticism, the understanding of genre, and the relationship of these factors to the corpus of writings. The scribal culture in which wisdom literature arose is also under investigation, alongside questions of social context and character formation. This Companion serves as an essential guide to wisdom texts, a body of biblical literature with ancient origins that continue to have universal and timeless appeal. Reflecting new interpretive approaches, including virtue ethics and intertextuality, the volume includes essays by an international team of leading scholars. They engage with the texts, provide authoritative summaries of the state of the field, and open up to readers the exciting world of biblical wisdom.

The Cambridge Companion to Genesis explores the first book of the Bible, the book that serves as the foundation for the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. Recognizing its unique position in world history, the history of religions, as well as biblical and theological studies, the volume summarizes key developments in Biblical scholarship since the Enlightenment, while offering an overview of the diverse methods and reading strategies that are currently applied to the reading of Genesis. It also explores questions that, in some cases, have been explored for centuries. Written by an international team of scholars whose essays were specially commissioned, the Companion provides a multi-disciplinary update of all relevant issues related to the interpretation of Genesis. Whether the reader is taking the first step on the path or continuing a research journey, this volume will illuminate the role of Genesis in world religions, theology, philosophy, and critical biblical scholarship.

Most studies on violence in the Hebrew Bible focus on the question of how modern readers should approach the problem. But they fail to ask how the Hebrew Bible thinks about that problem in the first place. In this work, Matthew J. Lynch examines four key ways that writers of the Hebrew Bible conceptualize and critique acts of violence: violence as an ecological problem; violence as a moral problem; violence as a judicial problem; violence as a purity problem. These four 'grammars of violence' help us interpret crucial biblical texts where violence plays a lead role, like Genesis 4-9. Lynch's volume also offers readers ways to examine cultural continuity and the distinctiveness of biblical conceptions of violence.

What the Bible Really Says About Politics, Sex, Creation, Suffering, and More

Unraveling the controversies surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination-and controversy-than perhaps any other archaeological find. They appear to have been hidden in the Judean desert by the Essenes, a Jewish sect that existed around the time of Jesus, and they continue to inspire veneration to this day. In this concise and accessible book, John Collins tells the story of the scrolls and the bitter conflicts that have swirled around them since their startling discovery. He explores whether the scrolls were indeed the property of an isolated, quasi-monastic community or more broadly reflected the Judaism of their time. He unravels the impassioned disputes surrounding the scrolls and Christianity, and looks at attempts to "reclaim" the scrolls for Judaism after the full corpus became available in the 1990s. Collins also describes how the decades-long delay in publishing the scrolls gave rise to sensational claims and conspiracy theories.

The Book of the Twelve Prophets contains an abundance of passages that discuss ancient cities (Samaria, Bet-El, Jerusalem, Ninive, Babel, among others) and their identity. Wide in scope, this volume demonstrates the sensitivity and critical awareness shown by the prophetic tradition which observed processes of urbanization that were very much double-edged. In addition to historical analysis, the essays assembled here offer important perspectives for current theological research on urban studies.

Environmental issues are an ever-increasing focus of public discourse and have proved concerning to religious groups as well as society more widely. Among biblical scholars, criticism of the Judeo-Christian tradition for its part in the worsening crisis has led to a small but growing field of study on ecology and the Bible. This volume in the Oxford Handbook series makes a significant contribution to this burgeoning interest in ecological hermeneutics, incorporating the best of international scholarship on ecology and the Bible. The Handbook comprises 30 individual essays on a wide range of relevant topics by established and emerging scholars. Arranged in four sections, the volume begins with a historical overview before tackling some key methodological issues. The second, substantial, section comprises thirteen essays offering detailed exegesis from an ecological perspective of selected biblical books. This is followed by a section exploring broader thematic topics such as the Imago Dei and stewardship. Finally, the volume concludes with a number of essays on contemporary perspectives and applications, including political and ethical considerations. The editors Hilary Marlow and Mark Harris have drawn on their experience in Hebrew Bible and New Testament respectively to bring together a diverse and engaging collection of essays on a subject of immense relevance. Its accessible style, comprehensive scope, and range of material means that the volume is a valuable resource, not only to students and scholars of the Bible but also to religious leaders and practitioners.

In this book, Molly Zahn investigates how early Jewish scribes rewrote their authoritative traditions in the course of transmitting them, from minor edits in the course of copying to whole new compositions based on prior works. Scholars have detected evidence for rewriting in a wide variety of textual contexts, but Zahn's is the first book to map manuscripts and translations of biblical books, so-called 'parabiblical' compositions, and the sectarian literature from Qumran in relation to one another. She introduces a new, adaptable set of terms for talking about rewriting, using the idea of genre as a tool to compare and contrast different cases. Although rewriting has generally been understood as a vehicle for biblical interpretation, Zahn moves beyond that framework to demonstrate that rewriting was a pervasive textual strategy in the Second Temple period. Her book contributes to a powerful new model of early Jewish textuality, illuminating the rich and diverse culture out of which both rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity eventually emerged.

Vita Daphna Arbel uses critical theories of gender to offer an alternative reading of the multilayered conceptualization of the Song of Song's feminine protagonist: "the most beautiful woman". Arbel treats "the most beautiful woman" as a culturally constructed and performed representation of "woman," and situates this representation within the cultural- discursive contexts in which the Song partly emerged. She examines the gender norms and cultural ideologies it both reflects and constructs, and considers the manner in which this complex representation disrupts rigid, ahistorical notions of femininity, and how it consequently indirectly characterizes "womanhood" as dynamic and diverse. Finally, Arbel examines the reception and impact of these ideas on later conceptualizations of the Song of Songs' female protagonist with a heuristic examination of Mark Chagall's Song of Songs painting cycle, Le Cantique des Cantiques. These compositions-selected for their diverse depictions of the Song's protagonist, their impact on European art, and their vast popularity and bearing in the broader cultural imagination-illustrate a fascinating dialogue between the present and the past about the "most beautiful woman" and about multiple femininities.

In this study, Michael Hundley explores the diverse deities of ancient Near Eastern and biblical literature, from deified doors and diseases to the masters of the universe. Using data from Mesopotamia, Hittite Anatolia, Egypt, the Levant, and non-priestly Genesis and Exodus, Hundley explains their context-specific approach to deity, which produces complex and seemingly contradictory portraits. He suggests that ancient deities gained prominence primarily by co-opting the attributes of other deities, rather than by denying their existence or inventing new powers. He demonstrates that the primary difference between biblical and ancient Near Eastern presentations lies in their rhetorical goals, not their conceptions of gods. While others promote divine supremacy, Genesis and Exodus promote exclusive worship. Hundley argues that this monolatry redefined the biblical divine sphere and paved the way for the later development of monotheism and monotheistic explanations of evil.

In this book, Arthur Keefer offers a timely assessment of Ecclesiastes and what it has to do with the meaning of life. Drawing on recent psychological research, he argues that this Hebrew Bible text associates the meaning of life with various types of suffering in life. Keefer here situates Ecclesiastes within its ancient intellectual world. Offering an analysis of contemporary texts from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, he demonstrates that concerns about meaning and suffering were widespread in the greater Mediterranean world. Ecclesiastes, however, handled the matters of suffering and meaning in an unprecedented way and to an unprecedented degree. With its rigorous commitment to precise definitions of life's meaning, Keefer's book provides a comprehensive set of definitions for "the meaning of life" as well as a conclusive point of reference for interpreters of Ecclesiastes. It also opens avenues for the interdisciplinary interpretation of texts from the ancient world.

In this accessible book, Ian J. Vaillancourt gives Christians a helpful introduction to the Pentateuch as the essential first act in the Bible's grand story of redemption.

In this book, Yitzhaq Feder presents a novel and compelling account of pollution in ancient Israel, from its emergence as an embodied concept, rooted in physiological experience, to its expression as a pervasive metaphor in social-moral discourse. Feder aims to bring the biblical and ancient Near Eastern evidence into a sustained conversation with anthropological and psychological research through comparison with notions of contagion in other ancient and modern cultural contexts. Showing how numerous interpretive difficulties are the result of imposing modern concepts on the ancient texts, he guides readers through wide-ranging parallels to biblical attitudes in ancient Near Eastern, ethnographic, and modern cultures. Feder demonstrates how contemporary evolutionary and psychological research can be applied to ancient textual evidence. He also suggests a path of synthesis that can move beyond the polarized positions which currently characterize modern academic and popular debates bearing on the roles of biology and culture in shaping human behavior.

This amazing, bestselling guide presents hundreds of facts about the Temple. The full-color, glossy 12-panel pamphlet covers the Tabernacle in the wilderness to the Temple built by King Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod's Temple, the one Jesus knew so well. The Temple pamphlet has colorful illustrations of the Temple drawn to scale based on Bible measurements. Each of the Temple furnishings are explained in detail, as well as their functions, purposes, and the meanings they have for believers today. Size: 8.5x 5.5 unfolds to 33 long. Fits inside most Bible covers. A beautiful cutaway illustration of the first temple, Solomon's Temple, shows what the Temple may have looked like inside and out. Teachers can show students the outer courtyards of the Temple and the area where Jesus praised the widow who gave sacrificially to the Lord, giving the widow's mite. The Temple pamphlet explains each of the Temple's key features: the Ark of the Covenant, the Veil, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place (the Holy of Holies), to name a few. The Temple pamphlet includes: A tour of the temple and its features An historical time line and fascinating facts A Q & A about the Temple A beautiful illustration of Herod's Temple (sometimes called the third temple) References to Jesus in the Temple Biblical encounters that happened in God's Temple The Temple pamphlet provides a numbered list indicating each of the key features of the temple and explains their original purposes and what their uses mean to us today. For example: The Brazen Altar (Bronze Altar). Back THEN it was the place where the perfect animal was sacrificed for the sins of the people. NOW Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. Old andNew Testament Scripture references are provided for each Temple feature: Sacrifice / the Brazen Altar (Bronze Altar) The Sea (Bronze Basin) Brass Pillars (Bronze Pillars) Holy Place Golden Lampstand and Tables of Showbread Golden Incense Altar The Veil Most Holy Place Cherubim Ark of the Covenant and Mercy Seat Storerooms An historical timeline shows the years the Temples were built, destroyed, and rebuilt. The timeline covers: The Tabernacle Solomon's Temple Zerubbabel's Temple Herod's Temple The Temple pamphlet provides fascinating details: Learn who made the plans for the Temple Who raided and destroyed the Temples Whether the Temple will be restored

Middle school students are exposed to a lot of outside influences they don t necessarily understand. It s important to establish moral guidelines and role models early on, so they can grow with a strong understanding of Christian values. Where better to look for these role models than in the godly heroes of the Bible? The Talksheets series returns with another year of thought-provoking stories from the Old Testament to discuss with your youth group or bible studies. David Lynn shares discussion topics and questions written specifically with middle school students in mind, promoting meaningful and thought-provoking conversations. The stories in these pages highlight pure moral principles and practices for teenagers to learn about and emulate. Each of the 52 epic bible stories is easy to use and fit to your lesson plan, including hints and tips to facilitate conversation. These lessons also include optional activities, giving teenagers the opportunity to actively participate and have fun while they learn."

This is the first book to systematically investigate the texts in the Hebrew Bible in which a character expresses a wish to die. Contrary to previous scholarship on these texts that assumed these death wishes were simply a desire to escape suffering, Hanne Loland Levinson employs narrative criticism and conversation analysis, together with diachronic methods, to carefully hear each death-wish text in its literary context. She demonstrates that death wishes embody powerful, multi-faceted rhetorical strategies. Grouping the death-wish texts into four main rhetorical strategies of negotiation, expression of despair and anger, longing to undo one's existence, and wishing for a different reality, Loland Levinson portrays the complex reasons why characters in the Hebrew Bible wish for death. She concludes that the death wishes navigate the tension between longing for death and fighting for survival - a tension that many live with also today as they attempt to claim agency and autonomy in life.

Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication

Was he the sleek-and-trim, funloving animated man in "The Prince of Egypt" or the handsome, strong-hearted, superstar played by Charlton Heston in "The Ten Commandments"?

The most likely answer is "neither." The Bible gives a much more accurate picture of the Moses God used in such remarkable ways, Charles Swindoll paints a portrait of the biblical Moses in this fascinating look into the heart and mind of "Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication."

Swindoll gives us straight facts based squarely on the truth revealed in God's Word. He also fills in the fine-line details of Moses' life with emotion and feeling, because Moses, like all of us, was a human being with faults and frailties. And finally, Swindoll helps us apply the lessons of Moses' life to our own daily dilemmas.

When you face your personal Red Sea test, will you be prepared? Your decision to go forward in life instead of retreating will be bolstered by your having studied the real Moses of the Bible―the Moses who tried to decline his assignment from God; the Moses who dazzled Pharaoh; the Moses who received the Ten Commandments; the Moses who was sometimes disobedient and weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of God's people in all of history; the Moses of faith and selfless dedication to his God.

The environmental crisis has prompted religious leaders and lay people to look to their traditions for resources to respond to environmental degradation. In this book, Mari Joerstad contributes to this effort by examining an ignored feature of the Hebrew Bible: its attribution of activity and affect to trees, fields, soil, and mountains. The Bible presents a social cosmos, in which humans are one kind of person among many. Using a combination of the tools of biblical studies and anthropological writings on animism, Joerstad traces the activity of non-animal nature through the canon. She shows how biblical writers go beyond sustainable development, asking us to be good neighbors to mountains and trees, and to be generous to our fields and vineyards. They envision human communities that are sources of joy to plants and animals. The Biblical writers' attention to inhabited spaces is particularly salient for contemporary environmental ethics in their insistence that our cities, suburbs, and villages contribute to flourishing landscapes.