Naas die 66 boeke wat ons in die Bybel vind, is daar ook ander geskrifte wat uit die tyd van die Ou en Nuwe Testament dateer, naamlik die Apokriewe Boeke. Hierdie verlore boeke uit die Bybelse tyd is in hierdie bundel nuut vertaal in moderne Afrikaans.

Die Apokriewe maak vir lesers die venster oop tot ’n beter begrip van die denk- en leefwêreld van die vroeë Christene en die ou kerkvaders. Dit bied belangrike inligting oor die intertestamentêre tyd en gee antwoorde op vrae waaroor talle Bybellesers wonder. Dit bevat Ou-Testamentiese Apokriewe soos Die Wysheid van Ben Sirag, 1 en 2 Makkabeërs, Tobit en Die Wysheid van Salomo. Die Nuwe Testament sluit boeke soos Die Kindheidsevangelie van Tomas, Die Evangelie van Maria, Die Didagé en Die Openbaring van Paulus in.

In die Apokriewe sal lesers die fassinerende wêreld van die vroeg-Christelike biblioteek ontdek.

Elke boek bied:

• Tydlyne wat die boek histories posisioneer t.o.v. ander belangrike gebeure
• Inligting oor deur wie, waar, wanneer en vir wie die boek geskryf is
• Die waarde van dié spesifieke boek vir Christene vandag
• ’n Lys verwysings wat aandui waar die spesifieke Apokriewe Boek met die Bybel ooreenstem
• Verrykingsblokkies wat die inhoud verhelder en begrippe duidelik maak
• Meer as 35 000 eksemplare reeds verkoop

This book is dedicated entirely to the interpretation of Paul's Letter to Philemon. The letter is approached from a wide variety of perspectives, thus yielding several new insights into its interpretation. In a first essay the tendencies in the research on the letter since 1980 are outlined. This is followed by essays devoted to the epistolary analysis and to a rhetorical-psychological interpretation of the letter; as well as an essay devoted to the rhetorical function of stylistic form in the letter. After this there are two essays devoted to situating the letter in its ancient context: one views the letter against the background of ancient legal and documentary sources and another one against the background of slavery in early Christianity. The next two essays focus on theological aspects, namely on the letter as ethical counterpart of Paul's doctrine of justification and on the role that love plays in the letter. Three essays focus on ideological issues: the contextual interpretation of the letter in the US, a post-colonial reading of the letter and the letter's legacy of hierarchy and obedience. The volume concludes with four essays on the way in which the letter was interpreted by the some of the Church Fathers: Origen, Jerome, Chrystostom, Augustine and Theodore of Mopsuestia.

Using various narrative approaches and methodologies, an international team of forty-four Johannine scholars here offers probing essays related to individual characters and group characters in the Gospel of John. These essays present fresh perspectives on characters who play a major role in the Gospel (Peter, Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, Thomas, and many others), but they also examine characters who have never before been the focus of narrative analysis (the men of the Samaritan woman, the boy with the loaves and fishes, Barabbas, and more). Taken together, the essays shed new light on how complex and nuanced many of these characters are, even as they stand in the shadow of Jesus. Readers of this volume will be challenged to consider the Gospel of John anew.

Synopsis: Scholars interested in narrative critical / narratological analyses of the Old Testament and New Testament Bible will welcome this extensive practical study that discusses all aspects that should be evaluated when a narratological analysis is undertaken. All the relevant aspects, such as the relationship between narrator and narratee, plot development, characterization, temporal relationships, focalization, and setting are discussed in such a way that it is easy to follow, yet of high academic quality. Each aspect is illustrated by several examples from the Old Testament and New Testament. At the end of each chapter is a bibliography directing readers to more technical books/articles on the subject. Author Biography: Francois Tolmie is Dean of the Faculty of Theology and Professor in New Testament at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Other books published by him: Jesus' Farewell to the Disciples: John 13:1--17:26 in Narratological Perspective (Brill, 1995) and Persuading the Galatians: A Text-Centred Rhetorical Analysis of a Pauline Letter (Mohr-Siebeck, 2005).