In this incisive commentary, Nancy Bedford explores Paul's Letter to the Galatians as it addresses pressing issues in the earliest Christian churches. Paul argues that it is not necessary for Gentiles to become full-fledged Jews in order to follow Jesus. In Jesus Christ, differences among people will continue. Bedford sees that equality in Christ (Galatians 3:28) does not erase differences but instead breaks down hierarchical relationships among many different people and groups. She considers the implications of these convictions for Christian faith today, particularly for those outside of Western Christian traditions. Bedford's unique theological-interpretive approach to Galatians is suitable for preaching and teaching preparation and is a welcome addition to the Belief series.

This reading of Hosea explores the book from a feminist, psychoanalytical and poetic perspective. What is God doing with a prostitute? How does the theme of prostitution relate to the abjection of the woman as the other, and the fantasy of sexual ecstasy, precisely because she escapes patriarchal order? Where is the prophet situated in the dialectic of rage and desire that both seduces and condemns Israel? His voice is both masculine and feminine, and poetically embodies the sensuality of wayward Israel. The ambiguity of voice is also that of the prophet's role, which is both to nurture Israel, as on its Exodus from Egypt, and to be the trap that destroys it. The problematic of voice and prophetic function is evident in the vivid dissection of Israel's social institutions, whose disintegration is inversely related to the centrality of the discussion in the structure of the book, and in the violent swings from despair to impossible hope. The focus on immediate and uncontrollable entropy, manifest in extended tangled metaphors, that occupies the centre of the book, is framed in the outer chapters by intertextual references to Israel's primordial vision, and the romantic distantiation of the Song of Songs, in which the erotic and poetic contradictions of the book find their perhaps ironic resolution.

What if we lived in a world of abundance? In the Beatitudes, Jesus offers nine sayings that move us beyond our first instincts and instead embrace the deeper reality of the kingdom of God. They name the illusions and false beliefs that have kept us chained and imprisoned. We've learned to live from a mentality of anxiety and greed, but what if a world of abundance with solace and comfort are actually near? We've learned to live by striving, competition, and comparison, but what if we all have equal dignity and worth? Mark Scandrette shows how the Beatitudes invite us into nine new postures for life. Instead of living in fear, we can choose radical love. It's often assumed that the good life is only for the most wealthy, attractive, and powerful. Poor, sad, and suffering people are left out. But the ninefold path of the Beatitudes is for everyone. Whatever your story, whatever your struggle, wherever you find yourself, this way is available to you.

Prophet Joseph Patrick Oyone Meye brings a complete summary of each of the gripping moments of the life and Epistles of St. Paul into a single account and so gives us a living picture of the Apostle himself and the circumstances by which he was surrounded. The short biography of the Apostle is compiled from the Bible within two sources: First, his own letters, and secondly, the narrative in the Acts of the Apostles. The latter, after a slight sketch of his early history, supplies us with details of his middle life; and his Epistles afford much subsidiary information concerning his missionary labors during the same period. This book is an outstanding text on the Apostle Paul, his times and lands in which he labored to bring the Gospel of Christ, and also a way to personalize Jesus AFTER His resurrection through the life and words of St. Paul, Apostle Thirteen. This in the attempt to gift all of us alive today and future generations with insights that bring our understanding about Christ into better focus. About the author: ABOUT PROPHET JOSEPH: My name is Prophet Joseph Patrick Oyone Meye and am a servant of Abba Father God Almighty, made scribe of Jesus Christ, and a Minister of the Word. I am called by the grace of Almighty God, to be a Prophet unto HIM for the Nations to the Nations, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. I was born a native of Gabon, in west central Africa, and was the former #1 tennis & Davis Cup player in the country for several years. I was summoned to leave my country for Paris France to pursuit my tennis career, and there the Lord began to get my attention in many ways. However, it was in Gabon that I felt a calling on my life but in Paris France as the Lord was continually getting my attention; I knew for certain that God wanted to do something with me but did not understand it. God caused me to leave Paris France to come to the United States of America where the Lord Christ Jesus revealed my calling as a Prophet unto Him and thus Anointed me to the office of Prophet and ever since I have been forged by my commitment unto Him. I am married to Evangelist Nostalia Oyone Meye, and we live in Los Angeles California. We believe in the entire Bible (66 Books) as the Sacred Writings breathed out by God through human being divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit for the sake of our Salvation, revealing God s Will to Mankind by which through Christ, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to HIM and came to share in the Divine Nature through this revelation. Amen FUNCTION & DESCRIPTION: Workmanship for Christ Jesus but Independent in the Religious Institution, principally in the Body of Christ.Prophet, Seer, called and Anointed by Almighty God to the office of Prophet. Received from God through Christ by the Holy Spirit a unique perspective and understanding of the will of God over the lives of individuals, career, ministries, communities and nations. Sought by many for Divine directions and counsel.

In prophetic and poetic literature of the Old Testament references to textual participants are inconsistent with regard to their gender, number and person characteristics. Oliver Glanz for the first time provides a systematic study of the phenomenon of participant-reference shifts. The study is restricted to the book of Jeremiah and reflects upon the methodological conditions that should guide the analysis of participant-reference shifts. Focusing on computer assisted pattern recognition the research suggests that Jeremiah's participant-reference shifts should not be understood from a diachronic perspective. Understanding the origin and function of participant-reference shifts rather from the perspective of syntax, text grammar and rhetorics proves to be more consistent with the textual evidence. With this insight participant-reference shifts no longer have to distort textual coherence.

The interpretation of this gospel integrates an objective analysis of its historical context and a subjective semantic disclosure of meaning. To that end, a close reading of the text is combined with consistency building in order to achieve textual congruence and plenitude of meaning. The subject/ object split of traditional biblical scholarship that requires analysis in order to produce explanation as a definable object is superseded in this book by the event of reading as a dynamic happening of personal experience from which the reader cannot detach herself or himself.

Like other volumes in the New Testament Guides series, James offers a concise and accessible introduction to a New Testament text, in this case aimed specifically at undergraduate-level students. 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.

This is a creative study of how differing levels of educational attainment may affect ancient hearer's interpretation of the cosmological and visionary imagery of "Revelation 9". This study considers how a significant variable, namely educational-level, might affect an ancient hearer's interpretation of "Revelation 9". This volume focuses on how two hypothetical ancient hearer-constructs, with very different 'mental libraries', may interpret the rich cosmological imagery of "Revelation 9". Part I considers the range of literary texts studied at various points on the circle of enkuklios paideia. Attention is focused on texts that had a particular significance for an ancient student's cosmological knowledge (e.g. Homer, Hesiod, Aratus, Plato). Part II reconstructs the hypothetical responses of two ancient hearer-constructs. The first, HC1, has received only a minimal literary education and adopts a tripartite cosmological model. The second, HC2, by contrast, is the recipient of a tertiary-level education, with a preference for a seven-planetary sphere model, such that he allegorically reinterprets the figures in "Revelation 9" as Aratean constellational figures. This volume concludes by critically comparing the hypothetical responses of HC1 and HC2 with the earliest extant commentators on the Apocalypse (Victorinus, Tyconius, Lactantius, Oecumenius), as well as the intriguing 'Arateans' cited by Hippolytus. Formerly "The Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement", a book series that explores the many aspects of New Testament study including historical perspectives, social-scientific and literary theory, and theological, cultural and contextual approaches. "The Early Christianity in Context series", a part of "JSNTS", examines the birth and development of early Christianity up to the end of the third century CE. The series places Christianity in its social, cultural, political and economic context. European Seminar on Christian Origins and "Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus Supplement" are also part of "JSNTS".