"The name Hermann Gunkel is as familiar to biblical scholars as their own. Gunkel founded a 'school, ' fathered form-critical research, and taught most of the giants of the last generation. . ." --from the Introduction This little book, the first by Hermann Gunkel, shattered the reigning images of the New Testament idea of the Spirit. Gunkel's argument not only revolutionized the theology of his time but has continued to be foundational for most subsequent studies on the subject. As he did in so much of his work, Gunkel not only explores the milieu of the New Testament but also demonstrates the dependence of the biblical message upon its religious environment. Hermann Gunkel was a leading exponent of the History of Religions School and author of major historical-critical studies of the Psalms and Genesis. He was editor of the monumental Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, to which he contributed over one hundred articles. Roy A. Harrisville is Professor of New Testament Emeritus at Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of Fracture: The Cross as Irreconcilable in the Language and Thought of the Biblical Writers and, with Walter Sundberg, of The Bible in Modern Culture: Baruch Spinoza to Brevard Childs. Philip A. Quanbeck II is Associate Professor and Chair of Religion at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Fortress Press fortresspress.com

In this biography -- translated for the first time into English -- German theologian Oswald Bayer describes the life and work of journalist-theologian Johann Georg Hamann (1730 1788). At a time when it seemed that the forces of secularization were attempting to claim the future, Hamann churned out small publications aimed at undermining the Enlightenment zeitgeist, turning its assumptions upside down and skewering its pretensions. Although largely forgotten until recent times, Hamann as radical dissenter -- whom Goethe called the "brightest man of his age" -- remains relevant today, as Bayer shows in this book.

Since the advent of formal biblical criticism, many have come to see the crucifixion as merely one event in the process of religious development. Yet for the New Testament writers it was so much more, representing a radical break that forever affected their perception of God and the world.

In this book Roy Harrisville examines the thought worlds of the New Testament writers, showing how the cross fractured their previously held ideas, causing a profound reorientation centered on the story of the cross. Focusing chronologically on Paul, the Synoptic writers, John, and the authors of Hebrews and 1 Peter, Harrisville demonstrates changes in the writers' understanding of sacrifice, law, Hellenism, apocalyptic, and other areas -- changes that created the new values of the radically different Christian community.

An insightful work of careful critical scholarship, Harrisville's "Fracture" will appeal to anyone interested in reviewing the New Testament's witness to that which lies at the heart of earliest Christian confession and which has provoked such bitter conflict in history.

Historical-critical method in biblical scholarship has been a Pandora's box for the intellectual life of the church. No achievement of modern scholarship has been more effective in understanding the Bible, yet it has also seriously challenged a church trying to preserve the integrity of its cherished theological traditions. In this critically acclaimed book Roy Harrisville and Walter Sundberg trace the development and drama of historical-critical method by surveying the major figures who created and employed it -- from Baruch Spinoza in the seventeenth century to present-day interpreters. This expanded second edition of "The Bible in Modern Culture includes three new chapters detailing the work of Adolf Schlatter, Paul Ricoeur, and Brevard Childs.

Harrisville begins by describing the emergence and use of the historical-critical method. He then attends to the malaise that has come over the method, which he says still persists. Finally, Harrisville commends the historical-critical method, though shorn of its arrogance. He claims that the method and all its users comprise a "Pandora's Box" that, when opened, releases "a myriad other pains," but hope still remains.