The letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude are among the most neglected letters of the NT. Thus, methodological advances in NT study tend to arise among the Gospels or Pauline letters. But these letters are beginning to receive increased attention in the scholarly community. Reading Second Peter With New Eyes is the third of four volumes that incorporate research in this area. The essays collected here examine the impact of recent methodological developments in New Testament studies to Second Peter, including, for example, rhetorical, social-scientific, socio-rhetorical, ideological and hermeneutical methods, as they contribute to understanding this letter and its social context.

Vernon K. Robbins has changed the face of New Testament studies through his commitment to exploring the interface of several disciplines. His Exploring the Texture of Texts introduces students to the ways that society and rhetoric form part of the fabric out of which literary texts are woven, and he began the Emory Studies in Early Christianity Series as a way of disseminating works using this method. His Jesus the Teacher remains a classic work in rhetorical criticism of the New Testament. Finally, he has been instrumental in gathering the rhetorical forms of the ancient world into a large database that will aid both New Testament and classical studies.David B. Gowler is Associate Professor and Pierce Professor of Religion at Emory University and Associate Editor of the Emory Studies in Early Christianity.L. Gregory Bloomquist is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Theology at St. Paul Univeristy. Duane F. Watson is Professor of New Testament Studies at Malone College in Canton, Ohio.

In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, New Testament scholars Duane Watson and Terrance Callan examine cultural context and theological meaning in First and Second Peter. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by
- attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
- showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
- commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
- focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
- making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format
This commentary, like each in the projected eighteen-volume series, proceeds by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Students, pastors, and other readers will appreciate the historical, literary, and theological insight Watson and Callan offer in interpreting First and Second Peter.

In this commentary, Duane F. Watson provides a careful verse-by-verse interpretation of the Letters of John that foregrounds the author's rhetorical strategy. He emphasizes the means that John uses to persuade the churches he addresses to continue affirming the Johannine tradition and to resist secessionists who corrupt it. While illuminating the sophistication of the author's rhetorical approach, Watson also explores traditional exegetical questions, demonstrating how many issues of interpretation are clarified or resolved by rhetorical analysis. He also sheds new light on the relationship between the author, his audience, and opposition in their original context. This commentary features 'closer look' sections giving more detail on related subjects and 'bridging the horizons' sections that suggest how these epistles address our world. The commentary is aimed at the educated laity, clergy, college and graduate students, and scholars interested in the Letters of John, the history of the churches addressed, and the social formation and location of these early Christians.

In this commentary, Duane F. Watson provides a careful verse-by-verse interpretation of the Letters of John that foregrounds the author's rhetorical strategy. He emphasizes the means that John uses to persuade the churches he addresses to continue affirming the Johannine tradition and to resist secessionists who corrupt it. While illuminating the sophistication of the author's rhetorical approach, Watson also explores traditional exegetical questions, demonstrating how many issues of interpretation are clarified or resolved by rhetorical analysis. He also sheds new light on the relationship between the author, his audience, and opposition in their original context. This commentary features 'closer look' sections giving more detail on related subjects and 'bridging the horizons' sections that suggest how these epistles address our world. The commentary is aimed at the educated laity, clergy, college and graduate students, and scholars interested in the Letters of John, the history of the churches addressed, and the social formation and location of these early Christians.

It has been more than two decades since the publication of George Kennedy's influential New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism (1984). The essays in Words Well Spoken demonstrate the influence of Kennedy's work on New Testament studies. The essays offer applications of his method to canonical New Testament books and provide more general discussions of rhetorical analysis. Kennedy's thoughtful response articulates his present thinking about the New Testament and demonstrates why this scholar continues to be of such value to New Testament studies.

The letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude are among the most neglected letters of the NT. Thus, methodological advances in NT study tend to arise among the Gospels or Pauline letters. But these letters are beginning to receive increased attention in the scholarly community. Reading Second Peter With New Eyes is the third of four volumes that incorporate research in this area. The essays collected here examine the impact of recent methodological developments in New Testament studies to Second Peter, including, for example, rhetorical, social-scientific, socio-rhetorical, ideological and hermeneutical methods, as they contribute to understanding this letter and its social context.

At first glance, it may seem strange that after more than two thousand years of biblical interpretation there are still major disagreements among biblical scholars about what the Jewish and Christian Scriptures say and about how one is to read and understand them. Yet the range of interpretive approaches now available is the result both of the richness of the biblical texts themselves and of differences in the worldviews of the communities and individuals who have sought to make the Scriptures relevant to their own time and place. A History of Biblical Interpretation provides detailed and extensive studies of the interpretation of the Scriptures by Jewish and Christian writers throughout the ages. Written by internationally renowned scholars, this multivolume work comprehensively treats the many different methods of interpretation, the many important interpreters who have written in various eras, and the many key issues that have surfaced repeatedly over the long course of biblical interpretation. This first volume of A History of Biblical Interpretation explores interpreters and their methods in the ancient period, from the very earliest stages to the time when the canons of Judaism and Christianity gained general acceptance. The first part of the book concentrates on the use of the Scriptures within Judaism. Chapters examine inner-biblical exegesis in the Tanak, the development of the Septuagint, the exegetical approach of Philo of Alexandria, biblical interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Targumim, the nature of rabbinic midrash, the stabilization of the Hebrew Bible, and the interpretation of the Bible in the Jewish Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. The second part of the book probes themes specific to Christian interpretation of the biblical texts. Chapters here discusses how Israel's Scriptures are used in the New Testament writings, the hermeneutical approaches of the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists, Alexandrian and Antiochene exegesis, the contributions of Jerome and Augustine, the formation of the New Testament canon, and the interpretation of Scripture in the New Testament Apocrypha and Gnostic writings. In addition to these in-depth studies, the volume includes a substantial introduction by the editors that gives readers both a broad overview of the primary issues and features of ancient biblical interpretation as treated in this volume and a means of sampling the ways in which the key figures, schools of interpretation, and issues discussed interweave and contrast with each other. Up to date, balanced, and engagingly written, this superb work - and those to follow - will soon become a standard resource on the history of biblical interpretation. Contributors: Peder Borgen Dennis Brown James H. Charlesworth Philip R. Davies Craig A. Evans Harry Gamble Leonard Greenspoon Alan J. Hauser Donald H. Juel Martin McNamara Esther Menn Richard A. Norris Jr. Gary G. Porton James A. Sanders Joseph Trigg Duane F. Watson Frances Young