The disengagement of recent academic biblical study from church and synagogue has been widely noted. Even within the discipline, there are those who suggest it has lost its way. As the discipline now stands, is it mainly concerned with studying and listening to the texts, or with dissecting them in order to examine hypothetical sources or situations or texts that might lie behind them. Christopher Bryan seeks to address scholars and students who do not wish to avoid the challenges of the Enlightenment, but do wish to relate their work to the faith and mission of the people of God. Is such a combination still possible? And if so, how is the task of biblical interpretation to be understood? Bryan traces the history of modern approaches to the Bible, particularly "historical criticism," noting its successes and failures-and notably among its failures, that it has been no more able to protect its practitioners from (in Jowett's phrase) "bringing to the text what they found there" than were the openly faith-based approaches of earlier generations. Basing his work on a wide knowledge of literature and literary critical theory, and drawing on the insights of the greatest literary critics of the last hundred years, notably Erich Auerbach and George Steiner, Bryan asks, what should be the task of the biblical scholar in the 21st century? Setting the question within this wider context enables Bryan to indicate a series of criteria with which biblical interpreters may do their work, and in the light of which there is no reason why that work cannot relate faithfully to the Church. This does not mean that sound biblical interpretation can ignore the specificity of scientific or historical questions, or dragoon its results into conformity with a set of ecclesial propositions. It does mean that in asking those questions, interpreters of the biblical text will not ignore its setting-in-life in the community of faith; and they will concede that although textual interpretation has scientific elements, it is finally an exercise in imagination: an art, and not a science.

His reflections on some of the ways we might answer these questions in the church today became the twelve short chapters of this book. Here scripture scholar and Anglican priest Christopher Bryan looks at the nature of the Bible s authority and inspiration and how the Bible can inform our decision-making today. He explores common questions about scripture, such as: What do we mean when we say that the scriptures are revelatory, that they are inspired, that they are the Word of God? How do we define the Bible s authority for the past and the future? What does a church that takes the Bible s authority seriously actually look like? How does it read, study, and pray with the Bible? And God Spoke offers essential guidelines for everyone who wonders about the authority of the Bible, and who wants to read it with attentiveness and understanding.

Bryan approaches St. Paul's letter to the Romans with a number of aims in view. First, he wants to show which literary type or genre would have been seen by Paul's contemporaries as being exemplified in the letter. He also determines what we can surmise of Paul's attitude and approach to the Jewish bible. The study involves discussion of and comparison with other literature from Paul's time, place and milieu -- including other writings attributed to Paul.

At the end of the 20th century, "postcolonialism" described the effort to understand the experience of those who had lived under colonial rule. This kind of thinking has inevitably brought about a reexamination of the rise of Christianity, which took place under Roman colonial rule. How did Rome look from the viewpoint of an ordinary Galilean in the first century of the Christian era? What should this mean for our own understanding of and relationship to Jesus of Nazareth? In the past, Jesus was often "depoliticized," treated as a religious teacher imparting timeless truths for all people. Now, however, many scholars see Jesus as a political leader whose goal was independence from Roman rule so that the people could renew their traditional way of life under the rule of God. In Render to Caesar, Christopher Bryan reexamines the attitude of the early Church toward imperial Rome. Choosing a middle road, he asserts that Jesus and the early Christians did indeed have a critique of the Roman superpower -- a critique that was broadly in line with the entire biblical and prophetic tradition. One cannot worship the biblical God, the God of Israel, he argues, and not be concerned about justice in the here and now. On the other hand, the biblical tradition does not challenge human power structures by attempting to dismantle them or replace them with other power structures. Instead, Jesus' message consistently confronts such structures with the truth about their origin and purpose. Their origin is that God permits them. Their purpose is to promote God's peace and justice. Power is understood as a gift from God, a gift that it is to be used to serve God's will and a gift that can be taken away byGod when misused. Render to Caesar transforms our understanding of early Christians and their relationship to Rome and demonstrates how Jesus' teaching continues to challenge those who live under structures of government quite different from those that would have been envisaged by the authors of the New Testament.

What do Christians mean when they call Jesus "son of God"? In this study of the phrase "son of God" as applied to Jesus of Nazareth, Christopher Bryan examines the testimony of various New Testament witnesses who used this expression to speak of him, and asks where they got it, what they meant by it, and how it might have been understood. In Bryan's view, any attempt to address these questions stands self-condemned if it does not point to both the words and works of Jesus himself in the memory of early Christians, and the Torah of Israel as then understood, centering on Israel's Scriptures. Of course Paul and his fellow believers did not proclaim Jesus in a vacuum. They proclaimed Jesus in the Roman Empire during the decades following the death of Augustus. With regard to the meaning of the phrase "son of God," what becomes clear, Bryan argues, is that whereas "Lord" (another expression frequently used in the New Testament for Jesus of Nazareth) reflects believers' sense of Jesus' relationship to them, "son of God" reflects their sense of his relationship to God. It is a title that reflects their consciousness of Jesus' holiness-that is, his "set-apartness," his consecration, and even his divinity. Readers of Son of God will gain a well-rounded understanding of classic and recent research in Christology and the New Testament, as well as an in-depth, historically situated view of the evidence that paints a clearer picture of what New Testament witnesses meant when they called Jesus "son of God."

Bryan combines literary, historical, and theological approaches in this study of the doctrine of the Resurrection. In the first part of the book, the author provides a careful and sympathetic description of first-century Jewish and pagan opinions and beliefs about death and what might follow. He then presents a general account of early Christian claims about the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. In the second part, Bryan offers a detailed, full-length commentary on and exegesis of the main New Testament texts that speak of Jesus' death and resurrection: 1 Corinthians 15 and the narratives in the four canonical gospels. In the third part, Bryan discusses and evaluates various proposals that have been made by those attempting to explain the data in ways that differ from the traditional Christian explanation. Finally, Bryan asks, "So what?" and considers various theological and ethical implications of accepting the claim "Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead." Throughout his study, Bryan exhibits a willingness to face hard questions as well as an appropriate reverence for a faith that for almost two thousand years has enabled millions of people to lead lives of meaning and grace.

A Preface to Mark is a literary study which, from the standpoint of the newer critical methodologies, explores two questions. First, Bryan attempts to determine what kind of text Mark would have been seen to be, both by its author and by others who encountered it near the time of its writing. He examines whether Mark should be seen as an example of any particular literary type, and if so which. He concludes that a comparison of Mark with other texts of the period leads inevitably to the conclusion that Mark's contemporaries would broadly have characterized his work as a "life." Second, Bryan looks at the evidence that exists to indicate whether Mark, like so much else of its period, was written to be read aloud. He points out ways in which Mark's narrative would have worked particularly well as rhetoric. The first examination of Mark as a whole in the light of contemporary studies of orality and oral transmission, A Preface to Mark not only shows us Mark in its original setting, but also suggests ways in which our own encounter with Marks text may be significantly enriched. Its accessible style will serve as a good introduction to the Gospel for students as well as the general reader.

"A good introduction to Mark for both students and general readers....As interesting as it is informative." -- Choice

"The book is informative and refreshing due to its interaction with a variety of Graeco-Roman sources." -- Journal for the Study of the New Testament

..".a readable, well-argued discussion....Byran has written a useful book hat should be given due consideration." -- Biblical Studies

"A well-reasoned discussion..." -- Church Times

Why read poetry? Why not? Do you need a reason for everything? If you do one thing for no reason in your entire life, get this book and read it. Put a few moments of poetry in your life. There might be something for anyone in this book. Enjoy the moment for no reason.

When an intruder dies mysteriously in Exeter Cathedral, Detective Inspector Cecilia Cavaliere's investigation becomes anything but routine. Thwarted by her superiors, she finds an unlikely source of help in a family friend: but can a law enforcer believe a priest's stories about an evil she cannot see? Meanwhile, half a world away, a quiet astronomer makes a discovery of his own--his telescope reveals nothing less than the impending destruction of the planet. Christopher Bryan's sharp thriller takes the reader deep into a supernatural world where something dark and sinister has been awakened.