Richard Bauckham's The Jewish World around the New Testament explored various aspects of the significance of early Judaism for interpreting the New Testament. Now The Christian World around the New Testament brings together Bauckham's well-known work on Gospel origins, early Christianity, and patristic literature in one convenient volume. The book contains thirty-one studies that have been published over Bauckham's distinguished career. This affordable North American paperback by an internationally respected New Testament scholar will be published simultaneously with the prestigious European hardcover.

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship. Overview of Commentary Organization Introduction-covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology. Each section of the commentary includes: Pericope Bibliography-a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope. Translation-the author's own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English. Notes-the author's notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation. Form/Structure/Setting-a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here. Comment-verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research. Explanation-brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues. General Bibliography-occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliographycontains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.

Renowned biblical scholar Richard Bauckham believes that the New Testament texts cannot be adequately understood without careful attention to their Judaic and Second Temple roots. This book contains twenty-four studies that shed essential light on the religious and biblical-interpretive matrix from which early Christianity emerged. Bauckham discusses the "parting of the ways" between early Judaism and early Christianity and the relevance of early Jewish literature for the study of the New Testament. He also explores specific aspects or texts of early Christianity by relating them to their early Jewish context. Originally published by Mohr Siebeck, this book is now available as an affordable North American paperback edition.

This textbook on how to read the Gospels well can stand on its own as a guide to reading this New Testament genre as Scripture. It is also ideally suited to serve as a supplemental text to more conventional textbooks that discuss each Gospel systematically. Most textbooks tend to introduce students to historical-critical concerns but may be less adequate for showing how the Gospel narratives, read as Scripture within the canonical framework of the entire New Testament and the whole Bible, yield material for theological reflection and moral edification.
Pennington neither dismisses nor duplicates the results of current historical-critical work on the Gospels as historical sources. Rather, he offers critically aware and hermeneutically intelligent instruction in reading the Gospels in order to hear their witness to Christ in a way that supports Christian application and proclamation.

Throughout Christian history, the Gospel of John's distinctive way of presenting the life, works, teachings, death, and resurrection of Jesus have earned it labels such as "the spiritual Gospel" and "the maverick Gospel." It has been seen as the most theological of the four canonical Gospels. In this volume Richard Bauckham, a leading biblical scholar and a bestselling author in the academy, illuminates main theological themes of the Gospel of John. Bauckham provides insightful analysis of key texts, covering topics such as divine and human community, God's glory, the cross and the resurrection, and the sacraments. This work will serve as an ideal supplemental text for professors and students in a course on John or the four Gospels. It will also be of interest to New Testament scholars and theologians.

Richard Bauckham explores the historical and literary contexts of the Epistle of James, discussing the significance of James as the brother of Jesus and leader of the early Jerusalem church. He gives special attention to the aphorisms which encapsulate James' wisdom, and to the way that James' teaching closely resembles that of Jesus.

""The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple" is more than a collection of Richard Bauckham's essays on the Fourth Gospel. Taken as a whole, it is a programmatic statement of the author's thesis and argument, the crux of which is embodied in the title. If one infers that Bauckham believes the Johannine community of scholarship has largely gone off the rails, that would not be wrong. He proposes to set it right by paying close attention to the Gospel's own data and claims and by canvassing and assessing the considerable body of evidence bearing on this Gospel in patristic sources. This has not been done in a long time, and perhaps never as thoroughly and with such penetrating critical insight. That Bauckham has a thesis to set out and defend makes his book all the more interesting and important." --D. Moody Smith, The Divinity School, Duke University

"This collection of twelve essays on historical and theological Johannine problems is preluded by a comprehensive introduction containing a scholarly program for Johannine research in the future. These studies will give us quite new stimuli for our understanding of the Gospel of John, for Bauckham illuminates neglected historical and theological features of this unique text. The author demonstrates that in our exegesis of John philological accuracy, profound historical knowledge, and genuine theological understanding must work together to gain new insights." --Martin Hengel, University of Tubingen

"As always, Bauckham is brilliant, providing a fresh rethinking of issues based on his breadth of knowledge of early Judaism and Christianity. While well conversant with current scholarly discussions, he marshals new data and new ideas in ways thatinvite new perspectives. This work offers insights on various Johannine topics and merits center stage in any new discussions of history in John's Gospel." --Craig Keener, Palmer Seminary of Eastern University

"This substantive collection of essays focuses and reenergizes the debate over the historical reliability of the Gospel of John. With probing questions, methodological rigor, and revisionist zeal, Bauckham challenges the 'dominant approach' at every turn. Whether he will manage to unseat it remains to be seen, but Johannine scholarship is well served by his thought-provoking critique." --Jouette M. Bassler, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University

Two billion people today identify as Christians, with the implication that Jesus is the focus of their relationship with God, and their way of living in the world. Such followers of Jesus are now more numerous and make up a greater proportion of the world's population than ever before. Despite its decline in the West, Christianity is rapidly increasing in areas such as Africa and China. Richard Bauckham explores the historical figure of Jesus, evaluating the sources and concluding that they provide us with good historical evidence for his life and teaching. In order to place Jesus in his proper historical context, as a Jew from Galilee in the early first century of our era, Bauckham looks at Jewish religion and society in the land of Israel under Roman rule. He explores Jesus' symbolic practices as well as his teachings, looks at his public career and emphasises how his actions, such as healing and his association with notorious sinners, were just as important as his words. Bauckham shows that Jesus was devoted to the God of Israel, with a special focus on God's fatherly love and compassion, and like every Jewish teacher he expounded the Torah, but did so in his own distinctive way. With a discussion about the way Jesus understood himself and what finally led to his death as a criminal on a Roman cross, he concludes by considering the significance Jesus has come to have for Christian faith worldwide. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Internationally respected scholar Richard Bauckham offers a brief, engaging study of divine revelation in Scripture. He probes the deep meaning of well-known moments in the biblical story in order to address the key question the Bible is designed to answer: Who is God? Accessible for laypeople and important to scholars, this volume begins by exploring three key events in the Bible in which God is revealed: Jacob's dream at Bethel (the revelation of the divine presence), Moses at the burning bush (the revelation of the divine Name), and Moses on Mount Sinai (the revelation of the divine character). In each case, Bauckham traces these themes through the rest of Scripture. He then shows how the New Testament builds on the Old by exploring three revelatory events in Mark's Gospel, events that reveal the Trinity: Jesus's baptism, transfiguration, and crucifixion. This book is based on the Frumentius Lectures for 2015 at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology in Addis Ababa and on the Hayward Lectures for 2018 at Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia.

This work stands among the most important publications in biblical studies over the past twenty-five years. Richard Bauckham, James Davila, and Alexander Panayotov's new two-volume collection of Old Testament pseudepigrapha contains many previously unpublished and newly translated texts, complementing James Charlesworth's Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and other earlier collections. Including virtually all known surviving pseudepigrapha written before the rise of Islam, this volume, among other things, presents the sacred legends and spiritual reflections of numerous long-dead authors whose works were lost, neglected, or suppressed for many centuries. Excellent English translations along with authoritative yet accessible introductions bring those ancient documents to life for readers today.

In this well-argued and timely book, Bauckham considers the relationship of humans to the rest of creation. He argues that there is much more to the Bible's understanding of this relationship than the mandate of human dominion given in Genesis 1, which has too often been used as a justification for domination and exploitation of the earth's resources. He also critiques the notion of stewardship as being on the one hand presumptuous, and on the other too general a term to explain our key responsibilities in caring for the earth. In countering this, he considers other biblical perspectives, including the book of Job, the Psalms and the Gospels, and re-evaluates the biblical tradition of 'dominion', in favour of a 'community of creation'. With its clear analysis and thought-provoking conclusions, The Bible and Ecology is an essential read for anyone interested in a biblically grounded approach to ecology.

A groundbreaking work in New Testament studies expanded and updated. Winner of the 2007 Christianity Today Book Award in Biblical Studies, this momentous volume argues that the four Gospels are closely based on the eyewitness testimony of those who personally knew Jesus. Noted New Testament scholar Richard Bauckham challenges the prevailing assumption that the Jesus accounts circulated as "anonymous community traditions," asserting instead that they were transmitted in the names of the original eyewitnesses. In this expanded second edition Bauckham is adding a new preface, three substantial new chapters that respond to critics and clarify key points of his argument, and a comprehensive new bibliography.

This text presents a collection of studies which focus on personal eschatology in the Jewish and early Christian apocalypses. The apocalyptic tradition, from its Jewish origins until the early Middle Ages, is studied as a continuous literary tradition, in which both continuity of motifs and important changes in understanding of life after death can be charted. As well as better-known apocalypses, much attention is given to those neglected apocalypses which portray human destiny after death in detail, such as the "Apocalypse of Peter," the "Apocalypse of the Seven Heavens," the later apocalypses of Ezra, and the four apocalypses of the Virgin Mary. Relationships with Greco-Roman eschatology are explored, and several chapters show how specific New Testament texts are illuminated by close knowledge of this tradition of ideas and images of the hereafter.

Magdala of Galilee for the first time unifies the results of various excavations of the Galilean city. Here, archaeologists and historians of the Second Temple Period work together to understand the site and its significance to profile Galilee and the region around the lake in the Early Roman period. After a comprehensive overview of the history and character of the city, the volume details the harbor, the domestic and mercantile sectors, the Jewish ritual baths, and the synagogue, with its unique and remarkable engraved stone. There is also a full study of Magdala's fishing industry, which dominated fishing on the lake, and the production of salted fish. The rabbinic traditions about Magdala are fully investigated for the first time, and a study of Josephus' account of the city's role in the Jewish revolt is also included. The in-depth archaeological, historical, and literary analyses are enriched by a wealth of on-site photographs, regional maps, and excavation plans. Edited by Richard Bauckham, this cutting-edge synthesis of international field work and scholarly study brings the City of Fish and its place in Jewish history and culture into sharp relief, providing both specialists and general readers with a richer understanding of the background of early Judaism and Christianity.

Richard Bauckham expounds the theology of the Book of Revelation: its understanding of God, Christ and the Spirit, the role of the Church in the world, and the hope of the coming of God's universal kingdom. Close attention is paid both to the literary form in which the theology is expressed and to the original context to which the book was addressed. Contrary to many misunderstandings of Revelation, it is shown to be one of the masterpieces of early Christian literature, with much to say to the Church today. This study offers a unique account of the theology and message of Revelation.

Synopsis: Evangelical Christians affirm together that a dreadful destiny awaits those who reject God's grace throughout life. According to the traditional view, that destiny will involve unending conscious torment in hell. However, believers are increasingly questioning that understanding, as both unbiblical and inconsistent with the character of God revealed in the Scriptures and in the man Jesus Christ. This internationally acclaimed book--now fully updated, revised, and expanded--carefully examines the complete teaching of Scripture on the subject of final punishment. It concludes that hell is a place of total annihilation, everlasting destruction, although the destructive process encompasses conscious torment of whatever sort, intensity, and duration God might require in each individual case. Endorsements: "I commend this book warmly. It is likely to remain a standard work to which everyone engaged with this issue will constantly return." -Richard Bauckham Emeritus Professor of New Testament Studies University of Saint Andrews, Scotland "The Fire That Consumes has long been recognized as one of the most thorough and compelling statements available of the view that the destiny of the unsaved will be final destruction rather than eternal torment. In this new edition, Edward Fudge provides extended engagement with traditionalist critics and an overview of developments in the last thirty years ensuring that it will remain a definitive work on the issue for years to come." -John R. Franke Theologian in Residence First Presbyterian Church of Allentown Author Biography: Edward William Fudge is a Christian theologian, Bible teacher, author, and, for more than twenty years, a practicing attorney. He maintains an international internet ministry at www.EdwardFudge.com.

This second edition of Bauckham's wonderful work is essential reading for understanding the relationship between the Bible and politics. The enduring value of The Bible in Politics is that it teaches the reader how to read the Bible politically and to gain an understanding of the social relevance of the Bible that is more disciplined, more informed, more imaginative, and more politically fruitful than many interpreters--past and present--have achieved.