This original and unusual book investigates a continuing Johannine apocalyptic tradition, represented in three strange Greek texts that are also linked to a Coptic manuscript. None of the Greek texts has been published in recent years, and they have never been published together or associated in studies of Christian apocrypha. John Court, well known for his studies on Revelation, supplies the text of the Greek manuscripts, with English translations, introductions and detailed explanatory notes that set the texts and their ideas in the context of Christian views on the future and the afterlife.>

Embracing two thousand years of intense and fiery admonition, "Approaching the Apocalypse" offers students of religion, history and politics the definitive handbook to Doomsday. Ideas about divinely-inspired disaster have an enduring place in the history of Christian thought. For centuries men and women have made preparations for the imminent end of the world, and for the thousand year reign of Christ and his saints. Inspired principally by the startling texts of the "Book of Revelation", Christianity has a rich and varied tradition of looking forward to the purifying fires of Armageddon. But what do recurring motifs like the Rapture, pestilence, biblical prophecy and the building of the New Jerusalem really add up to? And how have interpretations of these patterns differed from century to century?Charting a steady course between the feverish predictions of early Christian heretics like the Montanists, and the febrile outpourings of modern-day millennialists such as the Branch Davidians and Christian Zionists in America, John M Court explores the continuities and differences between their violent visions of cataclysm. His history comprises an incisive analysis of such movements and figures as the Levellers and Diggers, James Jezreel and his Trumpeters, Seventh-Day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, cargo-cults and drug cultures. Approaching the Apocalypse shows why prophecies of plague, earthquake and flame continue to resonate so powerfully in the Christian imagination, and beyond.

Over the last hundred years there has been a great deal of interest in the nature of religious diversity in the Graeco-Roman World and a variety of scholars have attempted to untangle the complexities of reliogious interaction and conflict. For students of this period there is a need for an introduction to this vast field of scholarship. This book makes a comprehensive survey of this field of enquiry.
The first three chapters deal with Judaism: Palestinian Judaism, Diaspora Judaism and Essenes. Philip Esler's account of Palestinian Judaism draws particular attention to the introduction of the analytic methods of social-scientific research to religious research. The next three chapters form a triptych of studies on Christianity, examining in turn the Jesus of history, the apostle Paul, and the early church The final group of three contributors are concerned with religious diversity within the pagan and syncretistic phenomena of the Roman world, treating political, philosophical and practical aspects in the legacy of Greek religion, in Gnosticism, and in Mithraism as an example of the Mystery Religions.

This is a valuable resource book for historical studies on biblical interpretation, comprising a variety of detailed essays, including documented examples of important stages in the history of biblical exegesis. It also contains a general introduction to the history of reading the Bible. Falling into three parts, from the New Testament to the Reformation, from the Reformation to the modern period, and readings of the Bible today and in the future, the book is designed to challenge some present-day assumptions of the uniformity of approaches to the Bible and of modes of exegesis. It illustrates that basic continuities do exist, and informs the student and non-specialist of the long tradition of reading the Bible to which we are heirs, with the aim of making us more competent interpreters ourselves.

The highly popular Sheffield New Testament Guides are being reissued in a new format, grouped together and prefaced by one of the best known of contemporary Johannine scholars. This new format is designed to ensure that these authoritative introductions remain up to date and accessible to seminary and university students of the New Testament while offering a broader theological and literary context for their study. Alan Culpepper introduces the Johannine Writings as a whole, illuminating their distinctive historical and theological features and their importance within the New Testament canon.

The first question is: Should Revelation be studied at all? Is it monopolised by fundamentalists, or of such a minority interest that it doesn't belong in the New Testament? This study guide introduces the text anew by a series of thematic readings. The text is seen to deal with essential themes-God and Christ, the Church in the World, Creation and the end of the Universe, Politics and Rival Powers, and the Future Hope. Special attention is paid to the living traditions within which Revelation is interpreted, including art, literature and music. Not only does this guide seek to orientate the reader within the whole range of the text and its traditions; it also focusses discussion in three substantial chapters dealing in turn with the key literary, historical, and theological issues raised. How can one describe Revelation's literary character? From what historical and social context did it come? What are its abiding theological values and doctrines? This study is set in the context of modern approaches to the biblical text and is supported by selected bibliographies and recommendations for further reading.>