The incarnation-the act of God assuming mortal flesh through Jesus Christ-reveals God's radical love for a world marked by the rebellion of the created against their creator. God becomes human to create life and restore the disrupted divine-human relationship. This doctrine is thus the theme of the Christian faith par excellence. However, the incarnation does not begin with its ultimate realization in Jesus Christ; that single event is preceded by a long history of a God who continually reunites with his people to lead them from death to life, from bondage to freedom.God Becoming Human pursues the astonishing arc of the incarnation, chronicling the varying ways Scripture recounts the divide between God and the creatures of his likeness as well as the diverse expressions the text gives regarding the desire for reconciliation. As the expectations of an existing intermediary that can somehow bridge this gap between God and humans dwindle throughout the Old Testament, hope is increasingly placed on new forms of closeness to God. The closeness made possible by Jesus Christ receives a wide range of interpretations by New Testament witnesses and is continued by a rich chorus that culminates in the early church with the theology of the incarnation. Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann invite readers to see that the doctrine of the incarnation, the pinnacle of the scriptural saga of redemption, reveals that God's ultimate purpose in dealing with creation was to become human. As narrated in the story of the fall, if paradise was lost because humanity wanted to emulate God, the one reconciled with God through Christ is now given the opportunity-and challenge-to become a child of God. In accordance with the One who descended from the heavenly throne, one must precisely lower oneself and thus fully embrace one's created humanness. It is through the flesh that the created and their creator are joined; there is no other path to unity.

This lecture addresses the question of when and under what conditions the reception of Oriental traditions took place in ancient Greek culture. As a result of spectacular theories about the Oriental origins of Homer's epics, the question has once again become an issue of current interest, arousing controversial debate. Albrecht Dihle covers the relevant material step by step: from the Oriental loanwords used in Greek to the art-historical influences of the classical period, right up to the philosophical debates and the mystery cults of the later period. In doing so, his portrayal of the meeting and reciprocal exchange between the East and West in the course of ancient Greek history is at once both vivid and differentiated.

In God of the Living , noted biblical scholars Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckermann provide a comprehensive theology of the God of the Christian Bible. A remarkable achievement, God of the Living joins together the very best of Old and New Testament scholarship to craft a comprehensive biblical theology. Feldmeier and Spieckermann wrestle with the whole of scripture to give a definitive and decisive voice to the church's central missionabearing witness to the living God. Both historical and systematic, God of the Living explores God's multifaceted, complex, and sometimes contradictory character presented in the scriptures. Yet, whether in wrath or reconciliation, judgment or justification, suffering or salvation, God has given and shares divine life in the person of Jesus Christ. Thus, Feldmeier and Spieckermann uncover God's profound affirmation of human life, as the God of the livingathe God of the Bibleafinds fulfillment in relation to the living partners of his own creation.