First and Second Peter, James, and Jude have existed on the edges of the canon throughout the centuries. In this volume, Pheme Perkins casts light on these often neglected writings, ably demonstrating that they have, in fact, much to offer to today's readers. The epistles are more than a compilation of traditional material. They are concerned with very specific and concrete issues facing the early Christian communities and offer a counterpoint to the letters of Paul. They deal with issues such as how to conduct oneself with others, how to live in a non-Christian world, and how to "shepherd the flock of God", as well as with theological issues such as the early Christian understanding of God, the relationship between faith and works, prayer, and suffering. Teachers, preachers, and others will find much intriguing material here as they rediscover the world of the first Christians through these letters.

Reading 1 Peter through the lens of feminist and diaspora studies keeps front and center the bodily, psychological, and social suffering experienced by those without stable support of family or homeland, whether they were economic migrants or descendants of those enslaved by Roman armies. In the new "household" of God, believers are encouraged to exhibit a moral superiority to the society that engulfs them. But adoption of "elite" values cannot erase the undertones of randomized verbal abuse, general scorn, and physical violence that women, immigrants, slaves, and freedmen faced as the "facts of life." First Peter offers the "honor" of identifying with the Crucified, "by his bruises you are healed" (2:24). A Christian liberation ethic would challenge 1 Peter's approach. Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia-Pontus in north-western Asia Minor, is a contemporary of 2 Peter's writer. The polemical, accusatory genre of 2 Peter, like Jude, originates in Roman judicial rhetoric. The pastor, in the persona of a prosecuting attorney, condemns immoral defendants, including influential women. Their "crimes" encode community tensions over women's leadership, Gentile-members' sexual ethics, their syncretistic deviations from Jewish doctrine on creation, and the certainty of divine judgment and punishment. Citations to Elizabeth Cady Stanton's A Woman's Bible enliven the commentary. The doctrinal disorder prompts the male pastor to sustain loyalists in their commitment to "Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Second Peter dramatizes an ecclesial crisis whose "solution" was the eventual imposition of a magisterium to silence dissent. Brief, combative, and assuming a familiarity with a literary culture that most twenty-first-century readers do not have, the Letter of Jude would be an obvious candidate for being the most neglected book of the New Testament. As a model for a pastoral strategy, it can be recommended only with great reservations: almost everyone will find in it something problematic, if not offensive. Yet, in addition to giving a window on a Greek-speaking Jewish-Christian milieu, Jude's energetic prose testifies to the author's visceral concern for those attempting to live by the gospel in difficult circumstances. Furthermore, to the extent that over familiarity with parts of the New Testament can blunt their challenge, this letter provides a salutary reminder that the entire canon originated in a world that is radically unfamiliar to us.

The Fourth Gospel is at the same time a sublime work that has inspired and enriched the faith of countless Christians and a problematic text that has provided potent anti-Jewish imagery exploited in anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic discourse over the course of two millennia. The Fourth Gospel contains approximately 70 references to hoi ioudaioi, a designation most often (and best) translated as "the Jews." Several of these references are neutral or descriptive, referring to Jewish festivals or specific practices, and some depict individual Jews or Jewish groups as interested in Jesus' message. The vast majority, however, express a negative or even hostile stance towards the Jews. These passages express several themes that became central to Christian anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic discourse. These include the charge of deicide - killing God - and the claim that the Jews have the devil as their father (8:44). The essays in this book address both the Gospel's stance towards the Jews and the Gospel's impact on Jewish-Christian relations from antiquity to the present day, in a range of media, including sermons, iconography, art, music, and film. A short volume of collected essays cannot hope to address the full history of the Fourth Gospel's impact on Jewish-Christian relations. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this volume will contribute to the efforts of Christians and Jews alike to find ways to appreciate what is good and life-affirming about the Gospel of John, while also acknowledging the damaging impact of its portrayal of Jews as the children of Satan and the killers of Christ. Only when Christians disavow this portrayal can the Gospel of John continue to be a true source of inspiration and perhaps even a path forward in the relationships between Jews and Christians in the modern world.

For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles. This fifth edition of the Annotated remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition. * Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. * Introductory essays on major groups of biblical writings - Pentateuch, Prophets, Gospels, and other sections - give readers an overview that guides more intensive study. * General essays on history, translation matters, different canons in use today, and issues of daily life in biblical times inform the reader of important aspects of biblical study. * Maps and diagrams within the text contextualize where events took place and how to understand them. * Color maps give readers the geographical orientation they need for understanding historical accounts throughout the Bible. * Timelines, parallel texts, weights and measures, calendars, and other helpful tables help navigate the biblical world. * An extensive glossary of technical terms demystifies the language of biblical scholarship. * An index to the study materials eases the way to the quick location of information. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, with twenty new essays and introductions and others-as well as annotations-fully revised, offers the reader flexibility for any learning style. Beginning with a specific passage or a significant concept, finding information for meditation, sermon preparation, or academic study is straightforward and intuitive. A volume that users will want to keep for continued reference, The New Oxford Annotated Bible continues the Oxford University Press tradition of providing excellence in scholarship for the general reader. Generations of users attest to its status as the best one-volume Bible reference tool for any home, library, or classroom.

For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles. This fifth edition of the Annotated, thumb-indexed and in a protective two-piece box, remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition. * Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. * Introductory essays on major groups of biblical writings - Pentateuch, Prophets, Gospels, and other sections - give readers an overview that guides more intensive study. * General essays on history, translation matters, different canons in use today, and issues of daily life in biblical times inform the reader of important aspects of biblical study. * Maps and diagrams within the text contextualize where events took place and how to understand them. * Color maps give readers the geographical orientation they need for understanding historical accounts throughout the Bible. * Timelines, parallel texts, weights and measures, calendars, and other helpful tables help navigate the biblical world. * An extensive glossary of technical terms demystifies the language of biblical scholarship. * An index to the study materials eases the way to the quick location of information. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, with twenty new essays and introductions and others-as well as annotations-fully revised, offers the reader flexibility for any learning style. Beginning with a specific passage or a significant concept, finding information for meditation, sermon preparation, or academic study is straightforward and intuitive. A volume that users will want to keep for continued reference, The New Oxford Annotated Bible continues the Oxford University Press tradition of providing excellence in scholarship for the general reader. Generations of users attest to its status as the best one-volume Bible reference tool for any home, library, or classroom.

Professor Perkins compares Jesus with other types of teachers in his day: philosophers, interpreters of the law, prophets, and visionaries. Jesus is characterized as a charismatic teacher and prophet who addressed his message to all people, as opposed to the elite groups taught in formal schools in ancient times. Readers are shown how Jesus used parables, proverbs, and legal and prophetic sayings to challenge the imagination and to allow his listeners to discover his message. The book contains detailed analyses of many Gospel passages and covers themes of particular prominence in Jesus' teaching, including justice, wealth, forgiveness and love.

The gnostic writings found at Nag Hammadi have stimulated much controversy about the relationship between early Christians and the diverse religious movement of the first three centuries. Perkins fills the New Testament student's need for a guide to recent developments in scholarship with a helpful survey that addresses the origins of Gnosticism, its relationship to Judaism, Redeemer myths and New Testament hymns, and other relevant topics.

For decades students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha as an unparalleled authority on the Apocrypha. This fifth edition remains the best way to study and understand the material at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition. * Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. * Introductory essay on the Apocrypha gives readers an overview that guides more intensive study. * Maps and diagrams within the text contextualize where events took place and how to understand them. * A timeline, calendar, and essay on the Persian and Hellenistic Periods help to contextualize the books. A volume that users will want to keep for continued reference, The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha continues the Oxford University Press tradition of providing excellence in scholarship for the general reader. Generations of users attest to its status as the best one-volume Bible reference tool for any home, library, or classroom.

For over 50 years students, professors, clergy, and general readers have relied on The New Oxford Annotated Bible as an unparalleled authority in Study Bibles. This fifth edition of the Annotated remains the best way to study and understand the Bible at home or in the classroom. This thoroughly revised and substantially updated edition contains the best scholarship informed by recent discoveries and anchored in the solid Study Bible tradition. * Introductions and extensive annotations for each book by acknowledged experts in the field provide context and guidance. * Introductory essays on major groups of biblical writings - Pentateuch, Prophets, Gospels, and other sections - give readers an overview that guides more intensive study. * General essays on history, translation matters, different canons in use today, and issues of daily life in biblical times inform the reader of important aspects of biblical study. * Maps and diagrams within the text contextualize where events took place and how to understand them. * Color maps give readers the geographical orientation they need for understanding historical accounts throughout the Bible. * Timelines, parallel texts, weights and measures, calendars, and other helpful tables help navigate the biblical world. * An extensive glossary of technical terms demystifies the language of biblical scholarship. * An index to the study materials eases the way to the quick location of information. The New Oxford Annotated Bible, with seventeen new essays and introductions and others-as well as annotations-fully revised, offers the reader flexibility for any learning style. Beginning with a specific passage or a significant concept, finding information for meditation, sermon preparation, or academic study is straightforward and intuitive. A volume that users will want to keep for continued reference, The New Oxford Annotated Bible continues the Oxford University Press tradition of providing excellence in scholarship for the general reader. Generations of users attest to its status as the best one-volume Bible reference tool for any home, library, or classroom.

Reading the New Testament is an excellent introduction to the writings of the New Testament, written by a prominent scholar who is able to communicate the main ideas and results with a clear and simple style. This third edition, although leaving intact the structure of the book, has been rewritten extensively, updating the information and adding the results of new biblical approaches and research. Highlights of this new revised edition: * Extensively rewritten * New results of biblical exegesis incorporated * Updated and expanded bibliography * New maps and illustrations "With this third edition of her fine work, Dr. Pheme Perkins has taken a great book and made it still better.... Both teachers and students owe her a great debt for distilling the rich experience of a great teacher in a single book." -John P. Meier, University of Notre Dame. "This third revised edition of Reading the New Testament continues to make solid biblical scholarship accessible to a broad spectrum of readers....Already impressive for its longevity, this highly recommended book will continue to serve new readers for a long time to come." -John J. Pilch, Johns Hopkins University "For conciseness, clarity, and the ability to offer a balanced introduction to the literary, historical, and theological dimensions of the New Testament, the volume is unrivaled.... I can think of no others scholar today that I would rather have as a guide for my students as they begin their journey in understanding the New Testament!" -Margaret Y. MacDonald, St. Francis Xavier University

First and Second Peter, James, and Jude have existed on the edges of the canon throughout the centuries. In this volume in the Interpretation series, Pheme Perkins casts light on these often neglected writings. She ably demonstrates that these "catholic epistles" have, in fact, much to offer to today's readers.

A lively and engaging reading of Galatians that argues Paul's rhetoric actually created harsh divisions between Christians and Jews.

In this volume, Pheme Perkins mines the writings from Nag Hammadi and Qumran for illuminating parallels to Ephesians, showing how a first-century audience would have heard and responded to the various parts of the letter. Under her sure guidance, contemporary readers are led to see the rhetorical power and the theological depth of this pseudonymous letter.

In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, a respected New Testament scholar examines cultural context and theological meaning in First Corinthians. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by
- attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
- showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
- commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
- focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
- making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format
Students, pastors, and other readers will appreciate the historical, literary, and theological insight Pheme Perkins offers in interpreting First Corinthians.

In this book respected New Testament scholar Pheme Perkins delivers a clear, fresh, informed introduction to the earliest written accounts of Jesus -- Matthew, Mark, and Luke -- situating those canonical Gospels within the wider world of oral storytelling and literary production of the first and second centuries. Cutting through the media confusion over new Gospel finds, Perkins?'s Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels presents a balanced, responsible look at how the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke came to be and what they mean.