Using both ancient and modern rhetoric, linguistics, and argumentation theory, this study offers a fresh approach to 1 Peter and New Testament ethics. It is often claimed that the growing interest in paraenesis, or ethical teaching, among early Christians indicates how Jesus' revolutionary teaching and the Pauline notion of justification by faith were gradually replaced by an emphasis on good works and ethics borrowed from the surrounding Hellenistic and Jewish culture. The Motivation of the Paraenesis challenges this traditional view of ethics in early Christianity, arguing that paraenesis was an original, essential part of early Christian doctrine and life. The book also provides a new, well-balanced picture of 1 Peter and its message, giving a natural interpretation to many puzzling sections and clarifying the internal logic of the text and the theology behind it.>

For far too long, Lauri Thuren argues, the parables of Jesus have been read either as allegories encoding Christian theology - including the theological message of one or another Gospel writer - or as tantalizing clues to the authentic voice of Jesus. Thuren proposes instead to read the parables "unplugged" from any assumption beyond those given in the narrative situation in the text, on the common-sense premise that the very form of the parable works to propose a (sometimes startling) resolution to a particular problem. Thuren applies his method to the parables in Luke with some surprising results involving the Evangelist's overall narrative purposes and the discrete purposes of individual parables in supporting the authority of Jesus, proclaiming God's love, exhorting steadfastness, and so on. Eschatological and allegorical readings are equally unlikely, according to Thuren's results. This study is sure to spark learned discussion among scholars, preachers, and students for years to come.

In 1 Thess 1:8 Paul claims: "In every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to speak a word." We can smile at a call to stop missionary activity based on that verse. Lauri Thuren argues that Paul and his original addressees would smile at us for the very same reason, were they aware of many of the problems of modern Pauline scholarship. Expressions, which were never meant to be taken at their face value, may have promoted sophisticated but erroneous theological and historical reflections. This is due not only to the scholars' ignorance of ancient rhetorical and epistolary conventions, but also to their static attitude to the text itself. Lauri Thuren offers a different study which is based on a natural, dynamic view of Paul's letters. In order to describe any theology beyond the texts, they need to be derhetorized. This means an identification of the persuasive devices in Pauline texts in order to filter out their effect on the theological ideas expressed. This principle is applied to a controversial issue in Pauline theology, the question of law. Lauri Thuren claims that Paul's exaggerated statements correspond to his hyperbolic way of thinking. His search for consistency in the Old Testament was a major reason for his revolt against the law.