This book will offer an account not so much of God's Providence an sich, but rather of divine providence as experienced by believers and unbelievers. It will not ask questions about whether and how God knows the future, or how suffering can be accounted for (as is the case in the treatments by William Lane Craig, Richard Swinburne, or J. Sanders), but will focus on prayer and decision-making as a faithful and/or desperate response to the perception of God as having some controlling influence. The following gives an idea of the ground to be covered: The patristic foundations of the Christian view of Providence; The medieval synthesis of 'objective' and 'subjective' views; Reformational and Early Modern: the shift towards piety; Modern Enlightenment: Providence and Ethics; Barth and the Sceptics; The sense of Providence in the Modern Novel and World.

Providing a model of how to 'do' biblical theology, this book also explores important emerging trends over the last five years including: reception-history as a means to grasping the theology of the bible; theological interpretation as a new form of lectio divina (meditative reading); the place of Jewish interpretation in forming a biblical theology; and the ever-present problem of losing Old Testament theology in New Testament theology. The second half of the book discusses the theme of Providence, as found in both Testaments, with insights gained from the history of biblical interpretation and from major attempts at working out a theology of Providence. Elliott focuses on Providence as it has been perceived rather than the themes of God's goodness and powerfulness in themselves.

Addressing a topic of perennial interest in Christian theology, this volume offers a constructive account of the doctrine of providence. Mark Elliott shows that, contrary to received opinion, the Bible has a lot to say about providence as a distinct doctrine within the wider scope of God's acts of salvation. This book by a leading scholar of Christian theology and exegesis is a capstone of years of research on the history and theology of the doctrine of providence.

Providing a model of how to 'do' biblical theology, this book also explores important emerging trends over the last five years including: reception-history as a means to grasping the theology of the bible; theological interpretation as a new form of lectio divina (meditative reading); the place of Jewish interpretation in forming a biblical theology; and the ever-present problem of losing Old Testament theology in New Testament theology. The second half of the book discusses the theme of Providence, as found in both Testaments, with insights gained from the history of biblical interpretation and from major attempts at working out a theology of Providence. Elliott focuses on Providence as it has been perceived rather than the themes of God's goodness and powerfulness in themselves.

This book demonstrates a number of approaches made by biblical scholars to find a theology of the Christian Scripture. It then considers attempts to bridge the gap between exegesis and dogmatics by appeal to the discipline of 'fundamental theology' and the doctrine of Revelation. It finds that, for all the interesting questions raised, one is forced back to the Bible from where one must form the themes and concepts which have been developed by theologians through the ages, and which with help from biblical historical critics can be made to refresh theology and serve the Church. This is done by examining the role of 'faith' in the two testaments and by considering how the Bible's understanding of that which receives revelation is itself useful for the total enterprise of theology.

Synopsis: This commentary weaves together the interpretations of Christian exegetes, spanning the past two thousand years, who have concerned themselves with that most mysterious of texts, the book of Leviticus. Even when their commentaries seem most fanciful, the depths of meaning of the Hebrew text comes through in all its many and diverse translations and applications. What we discover is evidence of a biblical text at work in some of the most eloquent of spokespersons throughout the generations. The third book of the Bible is happily enjoying a resurgence of interest in Jewish and Christian quarters alike, being received as a book for the life of the faithful community. What is attempted here is the story of its Western-Christian reception. Endorsements: "In this sparkling synthesis of the Christian Church's traditional exegesis of Leviticus, Mark Elliott does what any good theologian should do with the Bible: help us learn how to read it within the Church. More than a collection of past perspectives, Engaging Leviticus is ordered by Elliott's own acute sense of key interpretive questions and of the larger purposes of the scriptural book. His own arguments are historically and intellectually illuminating; but more importantly, they orient us properly to Leviticus' pointed theological challenges in an exciting way. This is necessary scholarship for all students of Scripture." --Ephraim Radner Wycliffe College "The book of Leviticus has been something of a sealed book for sometime in the modern imagination. But with the recent efforts of Mary Douglas in the field of anthropology and Jacob Milgrom in biblical studies there has been something of a renaissance in interest. Elliot has pushed the envelope even further by bringing to our attention the rich resources of the history of interpretation. His reading is almost impossibly vast, only matched by his erudition and eye for that which is truly important. No reader will look at Leviticus the same way having spent some time with this marvelous book." --Gary A. Anderson University of Notre Dame "The theological Cinderella status of Leviticus, cemented by Reformational and historical-critical certainties, appears to leave it languishing as the epitome of rule-bound ritualism and archaic moral strictures against which progressive religion confidently defines itself. Here, by contrast, Mark Elliott's learned album of theological commentary through the ages retrieves a sparkling treasury of attentive reflection on the awkwardly alien particularities of Leviticus as holding forth and anticipating the word of truth." --Markus Bockmuehl Keble College Author Biography: Mark W. Elliott is Senior Lecturer in Church History at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. He is author of The Song of Songs and Christology in the Early Church (2000), Isaiah 40-66 in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture series (2007), and The Reality of Biblical Theology (2007).

How was the scriptural imagery used in the Song of Songs to speak of the Bridegroom and the Bride? Mark W. Elliott presents a range of interpretations paying attention to the context of the commentators in the Early Church.

No book of the Old Testament is more frequently quoted in the New than Isaiah, and no portion of Isaiah is more frequently quoted in the New than the typologically fertile soil of Isaiah 40-66. Still, as interpreted by the fathers, Isaiah presents a message that is far more soteriological than christological, leading readers to a deeper understanding of God's judgment and salvation. Isaiah 40-66 provides us with the closest thing the Old Testament has to offer regarding a systematic theology. The excerpts included in this Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume offer us a rich array of differing styles, principles, and theological emphases, from Theodoret of Cyr to Eusebius and Procopius, to Cyril of Alexandria, Jerome and Augustine. Readers will be enriched by the wide-ranging selections, some of which are translated here into English for the first time.

No book of the Old Testament is more frequently quoted in the New than Isaiah, and no portion of Isaiah is more frequently quoted in the New than the typologically fertile soil of Isaiah 40-66. Still, as interpreted by the fathers, Isaiah presents a message that is far more soteriological than christological, leading readers to a deeper understanding of God's judgment and salvation. Isaiah 40-66 provides us with the closest thing the Old Testament has to offer regarding a systematic theology. The excerpts included in this volume offer us a rich array of differing styles, principles and theological emphases from Theodoret of Cyr to Eusebius and Procopius, to Cyril of Alexandria, Jerome and Augustine. Readers will be enriched by the wide-ranging selections, some of which are translated here into English for the first time.

Genesis and Christian Theology contributes significantly to the renewed convergence of biblical studies and systematic theology -- two disciplines whose relational disconnect has adversely affected not only the academy but also the church as a whole. In this book twenty-one noted scholars consider the fascinating ancient book of Genesis in dialogue with historical and contemporary theological reflection. Their essays offer new vistas on familiar texts, reawakening past debates and challenging modern clich s. Contributors: Gary A. Anderson Knut Backhaus Richard Bauckham Pascal Daniel Bazzell William P. Brown Stephen B. Chapman Ellen T. Charry Matthew Drever Mark W. Elliott David Fergusson Brandon Frick Trevor Hart Walter J. Houston Christoph Levin Nathan MacDonald Eric Daryl Meyer R. Walter L. Moberly Michael S. Northcott Karla Pollmann R. R. Reno Timothy J. Stone

This three-volume work comprises over eighty essays surveying the history of Scottish theology from the early middle ages onwards. Written by an international team of scholars, the collection provides the most comprehensive review yet of the theological movements, figures, and themes that have shaped Scottish culture and exercised a significant influence in other parts of the world. Attention is given to different traditions and to the dispersion of Scottish theology through exile, migration, and missionary activity. The volumes present in diachronic perspective the theologies that have flourished in Scotland from early monasticism until the end of the twentieth century. The History of Scottish Theology, Volume I covers the period from the appearance of Christianity around the time of Columba to the era of Reformed Orthodoxy in the seventeenth century. Volume II begins with the early Enlightenment and concludes in late Victorian Scotland. Volume III explores the 'long twentieth century'. Recurrent themes and challenges are assessed, but also new currents and theological movements that arose through Renaissance humanism, Reformation teaching, federal theology, the Scottish Enlightenment, evangelicalism, missionary, Biblical criticism, idealist philosophy, dialectical theology, and existentialism. Chapters also consider the Scots Catholic colleges in Europe, Gaelic women writers, philosophical scepticism, the dialogue with science, and the reception of theology in liturgy, hymnody, art, literature, architecture, and stained glass. Contributors also discuss the treatment of theological themes in Scottish literature.