Scripture, Texts, and Tracings in Galatians and 1 Thessalonians advances the interpretation of these letters by exploring how the Apostle Paul quotes, alludes to or "echoes" the Jewish Scriptures and other ancient materials. Comparative wording is at the forefront, whether in relation to Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, or prophecies and promises from Genesis, Habakkuk, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, the Psalms, or other texts such as Philo. Issues and controversies include such topics as faith (ἐκ πίστεως), the Torah, the Holy Spirit, holiness, suffering, eschatology, allegorical interpretation, identity of the Israel of God, Zion and the return from exile, Roman piety, imperialism, and hidden transcripts.

In this fifth volume of the Baylor-Mohr Siebeck Studies in Early Christianity series, Michael Wolter provides a detailed, verse-by-verse interpretation of the Third Evangelist's Gospel (Luke 9:51-24). Wolter's commentary fully complements the great tradition of "Handbooks of the New Testament" published by Mohr Siebeck. Replacing the third edition of Erich Klostermann's commentary on Luke, Wolter's volume rightly joins those by Conzelmann (Acts), Kasemann (Romans), and Lietzmann (1 Corinthians) in this venerable series.Wolter's approach to a sustained reading of Luke's Gospel is comprehensive. He carefully places Luke's narrative of Jesus in its cultural context, paying close attention to the relationship of the Gospel with its Jewish and Greco-Roman environment. Wolter performs form-critical and narrative analysis of the specific stories; however, Wolter also emphasizes Luke as a theologian and his Gospel as a work of theology. Centrally, Wolter recognizes how Luke's narrative of Jesus forms the first part of a unified work-the Acts of Apostles being the second-that represents a new moment in Israel's history. But in surprising new ways, Wolter makes clear that it is God alone who works in and through the words and deeds of Jesus to bring salvation to Israel. His commentary shows that Luke succeeds in preserving the history of Jesus and its theological impact and that this history stands on equal footing with the history of early Christianity. Wolter's thorough, careful reading follows Luke as the Evangelist seeks to explain how the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of God for Israel results in a parting of the ways between the Christian church on the one side and Judaism on the other. Scholars and students alike will benefit from access to new German scholarship now available to English-language audiences.

Paul has been regarded as being uncritical of the Roman Empire for a long time, not least because of his apparent call to obey the state in Romans 13:1-7. However, recent scholarship has questioned this assumption by pointing to "hidden criticism" in the letters of the apostle. But how can we decide, in a methodologically sound way, whether such a counter-imperial message lies beneath the surface of the text? On the basis of insights from the philosophy of science, Christoph Heilig suggests several analytical steps for examining this paradigm. He concludes that the hypothesis that we can identify critical "echoes" of the Roman Empire in Paul's letters needs to be modified if it is to be maintained. In particular, the hypothesis of Paul's concern that any overt criticism would be dangerous and lead to subsequent persecution of himself or his congregations is dubious and does not sufficiently justify this interpretative approach. Nevertheless, Heilig concludes that the search for a counter-imperial subtext in Paul could turn out to be heuristically fruitful, so long as the limitations of the approach are heeded. Hence, a reevaluation of Pauline passages in light of Paul's engagement with ideas from his Roman environment is encouraged.

In this fourth volume of the Baylor-Mohr Siebeck Studies in Early Christianity, Michael Wolter provides a detailed, verse-by-verse interpretation of the Third Evangelist. Wolter's commentary fully complements the great tradition of "Handbooks of the New Testament" published by Mohr Siebeck. Replacing the third edition of Erich Klostermann's commentary on Luke, Wolter's volume rightly joins those by Conzelmann (Acts), K?nsemann (Romans), and Lietzmann (1 Corinthians) in this venerable series. Wolter's approach to a sustained reading of Luke's Gospel is comprehensive. He carefully places Luke's narrative of Jesus in its cultural context, paying close attention to the relationship of the Gospel with its Jewish and Greco-Roman environment. Wolter performs form-critical and narrative analysis of the specific stories; however, Wolter also emphasizes Luke as a theologian and his Gospel as a work of theology. Wolter recognizes how Luke's narrative of Jesus forms the first part of a unified work - the Acts of Apostles being the second - that represents a new moment in Israel's history. But in surprising new ways, Wolter makes clear that it is God alone who works in and through the words and deeds of Jesus to bring salvation to Israel. His commentary shows that Luke succeeds in preserving the history of Jesus and its theological impact and that this history stands on equal footing with the history of early Christianity. Wolter's thorough, careful reading follows Luke as the Evangelist seeks to explain how the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises of God for Israel results in a parting of the ways between the Christian church on the one side and Judaism on the other. Scholars and students alike will benefit from access to new German scholarship now available to English-language audiences. Not for sale in Europe.