The Gospels Today discusses and challenges popular interpretations of familiar gospel texts and themes and quickly presents overviews of important controversies and debates. Does it matter whether Jesus was born in Bethlehem, or that he is understood as a prophet? What do the expressions "Son of Man" and "Son of God" really mean? Is there more to Jesus' words about the Bread of Life than meets the eye? How differently might we understand the stilling of the storm if we considered it as having to do with ancient near eastern creation myths rather than an account of a miracle? Throughout, we are invited by Need to join scholars in the stimulating and constructive work of learning how to critique familiar interpretations of the Bible.

Paul Today discusses and challenges popular interpretations of familiar Pauline texts in view of important controversies and debates. Who was Paul? What do we know about his relationship to Jesus? What was the role of the city of Ephesus? Can Paul's attitudes towards marriage and slavery be redeemed? And what of Paul's attitude to women and their ministry, and to homosexuality? Do we appropriately attribute to Paul ideas about justification and faith? Or is there more to know than meets the eye? Throughout, Need debates and reframes familiar interpretations of Paul through challenge and critique informed by both scholarship and pastoral experience. These essays make constructive, critical approaches to Paul available to a wider circle of interested readers.

There have been many responses to the problem of how human language and knowledge function in relation to God. Human Language and Knowledge in the Light of Chalcedon breaks new ground by suggesting that the relation between humanity and divinity found in the Chalcedonian Definition of the Faith (A.D. 451) can make one of Christian theology's basic tasks look rather different. In the light of a dynamic reading of Chalcedonian christology, the author discusses analogy, metaphor, and symbol, as well as fundamental questions about human knowledge. Some old pitfalls are avoided and an essential link between christology, language, and knowledge is exposed.