While the first American edition of this book, published more than a decade ago, was a revised translation of the German book, Einfuhrung in das Neue Testament, this second edition of the first volume of the Introduction to the New Testament is no longer dependent upon a previously published German work. The author hopes that for the student of the New Testament it is a useful introduction into the many complex aspects of the political, cultural, and religious developments that characterized the world in which early Christianity arose and by which the New Testament and other early Christian writings were shaped.

Volume one of three -- birth narratives through the Galilean ministry of Jesus.

Comprehensive and careful, this is the first and only full-length commentary on "The Shepherd" in English. The revelations are glimpses of the religious imagination, social world, and moral ideals among early second-century Roman Christians.

There are many English commentaries on these letters, but none so replete with quotations (some quite extensive) from extra-biblical materials, whether Hellenistic, Jewish, or Christian, that bear on the linguistic and conceptual problems the letters contain.

A distinguished contribution to New Testament scholarship . . . Represents a classic position that must be taken into account by all other interpreters.

This volume brings together studies of Ephesos--a major city in the Greco-Roman period and a primary center for the spread of Christianity into the Western world--by an international array of scholars from the fields of classics, fine arts, history of religion, New Testament, ancient Christianity, and archaeology. The studies were presented at a spring 1994 Harvard Divinity School symposium on Ephesos, focusing on the results of one hundred years of archaeological work at Ephesos by members of the Austrian Archaeological Institute.

The contributors to this volume discuss some of the most interesting and controversial results of recent investigations: the Processional Way of Artemis, the Hadrianic Olympieion and the Church of Mary, the so-called Temple of Domitian, and the heroa of Androkolos and Arsinoe.

Since very little about the Austrian excavations at Ephesos has been published in English, this volume should prove useful in introducing the archaeology of this metropolis to a wider readership.

This volume brings together international scholars of religion, archaeologists, and scholars of art and architectural history to investigate social, political, and religious life in Roman and early Christian Thessalonike, an important metropolis in the Hellenistic, Roman, and early Christian periods and beyond. This volume is the first broadly interdisciplinary investigation of Roman and early Christian Thessalonike in English and offers new data and new interpretations by scholars of ancient religion and archaeology. The book covers materials usually treated by a broad range of disciplines: New Testament and early Christian literature, art historical materials, urban planning in antiquity, material culture and daily life, and archaeological artifacts from the Roman to the late antique period.

The first major and comprehensive English- language commentary on Hebrews in over fifty years. Presents a balanced and richly documented interpretation.

Representing a cooperative effort between archaeologists and New Testament scholars, this volume presents a full account of all archaeological finds related to Philippi as it existed in the early Roman Imperial period. In addition, it contains a discussion of the consequences of the discovery in Philippi of the early fourth-century "Basilika of Paul" and the subsequent construction of an octagon around an older tomb of a hero, suggesting that a cult of the martyr Paul flourished in Philippi during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. The volume also includes the first-ever publication of a recently discovered inscription mentioning a Jewish synagogue, photographs, and illustrations.

This work has established itself as a classical text in the field of New Testament studies. Written in a readable, non-technical style, it has become an indispensable textbook and reference for teachers, students, clergy, and the educated layperson interested in a scholarly treatment of the New Testament and its background in the Judaic and Greco-Roman world.

In this magisterial volume, which is destined to become the standard test for studying the tradition and history of the early Christian Gospel literature, the author treats more than a dozen Gospel writings from the first two centuries. These Gospels include more than the standard canonical Gospels, covering also such writings as the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocryphon of James, and the Gospel of Mary and others. The book is divided into six major sections. The first examines the origins and meanings of the term Gospel. Then follows a section on early collections of saying including, of course, a study of Q. A third section traces the movement from the dialogue Gospels through narratives about Jesus to the Gospel of John. Mark, Matthew and Like receive thorough consideration in the fourth section, followed by an exploration of the early extant harmonization s of the canonical Gospels (Justin martyr, Tatian, Epistula Apostolorum, etc.) The concluding section deals with various Gospel fragments known from papyri and from casual mentions in the church fathers. Throughout Ancient Christian Gospels, the author provides all technical information (attestation, manuscripts, etc.) needed by the scholar, but also translations of all data, general introductions and explanations in an effort to make the book accessible and useful for the general reader. Helmut Koester is John H. Morison Professor of New Testament and Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History of Harvard University and author of the widely used two-volume Introduction to the New Testament.

Francois Bovon's magisterial commentary on the Gospel of Luke is justly renowned for its combination of judicious historical and literary treatment of the Evangelist's context and for its theological sensitivity, informed by the wealth of the Christian interpretative tradition. Luke is clearly writing history in the manner of his Hellenistic and Jewish contemporaries, but Bovon insists he remains as well "a theologian of the Word of God." This volume completes the three-volume work (based upon Bovon's four volumes in the German EKK series) and represents the author's careful revision and updating of the German original.

In the early '70s, James M. Robinson (Claremont) and Helmut Koester (Harvard), both students of Bultmann, broke new ground in their Trajectories through Early Christianity . The eight essays that comprise this volume seek a wholesale redefinition of the task of New Testament studies, as well as illustrating this newly conceived task. Robinson and Koester claim that the New Testament cannot be read apart from other early Christian literature and that the regnant designation of "canon" is misleading because it obscures the essential fluidity of early Christianity. Robinson and Koester not only question the artificial limits of the New Testament as a whole, but also the utility of the most commonly accepted forms ( Gattungen ) that constitute the New Testament. In the end, even the labels "orthodoxy" and "heresy" should be abandonedaalong with an outmoded belief that orthodoxy preceded heresy and formed the center of Christianity. From its birth, Christianity was pluriform, and what later came to be known as "orthodoxy" and "heresy" were only two of many equally legitimate trajectories running through Christianity. Robinson and Koester's bold wrestling with the basic question of Christian origins proves as instructive today as it did over forty years ago: was there ever identifiable unity in early Christianity, or has diversity always been the measuring stick?

This work has established itself as a classical text in the field of New Testament studies. Written in a readable, non-technical style, it has become an indispensable textbook and reference for teachers, students, clergy, and the educated layperson interested in a scholarly treatment of the New Testament and its background in the Judaic and Greco-Roman world.

This is the second volume of Franois Bovon's three-volume commentary on the Gospel of Luke, covering the narration of Jesus' travel on the road to Jerusalemthe occasion in Luke of most of Jesus' teachings to the disciples regarding faithfulness, perseverance, and the practice of justice and mercy. Bovon's theological interest in Luke is at the forefront here: as he declares in the preface, "I wish to examine his Gospel with the sober reserve of a scholar and with the confidence of a believer. For I hope in this manner to arrive at genuine understanding." Also distinctive is Bovon's attention to the history of interpretation of this Gospel through time.

The birth narrative, the baptism and temptation of Jesus, the beginnings of his Galilean ministry, and the Sermon on the Mount are all brilliantly illumined by Ulrich Luz's expert textual and historical-critical analysis and theological commentary. Luz brings special attention to the subsequent history of Christian appropriation of Matthew in homiletical and artistic interpretation, and addresses the terrible legacy of Christian anti-Judaism. This volume completes Luz's three-volume commentary on the Gospel of Matthew in the Hermeneia series. A translation of the earlier German edition of Matthew 1-7 appeared in Fortress Press's Continental Commentary series. The text has been thoroughly revised and updated.

This is the second of a three-volume commentary on the gospel of Matthew from Europe's leading Matthew scholar. Volume 1 Matthew 1-7 was previously published in the "Continental Commentaries" series. Luz's commentary is especially noteworthy, not only for his incisive exegesis, but also his keen eye for the importance of the history of interpretation and his attention to the relevance of the New Testament for contemporary Christian ethics. This commentary includes excursuses on Son of David; Matthew's Interpretation of the Parables; Peter in the Gospel of Matthew; and Son of Man.

Lohse gives the reader solid interpretation and access to other scholars' efforts.

IN