Eerdmans New Testament Studies Collection (23 vols.)

by Robert W. Wall; Anthony B. Robinson; Jerome H. Neyrey; Joel B. Green

and

31 more

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 1989–2013

Overview

This collection gathers the insights of some of the brightest New Testament scholars, presenting their careful research and lively commentary on a wide variety of topics. You’ll get a first-class overview of the New Testament, perfect for solidifying and refreshing foundational knowledge of the text, and many engaging studies on specific subjects within the New Testament. Dive into an interactive study of Roman house churches, explore Luke’s portrayal of women, examine Jesus’ attitude towards the Law, study different interpretations the book of Revelation, and learn about poverty in the first century as well as Paul’s teaching on it. You’ll also find studies on communal meals, the art of reading Scripture, Jesus in relation to the fundamentalism of his day, imaginative storytelling as applied to the New Testament, and much more.

Key Features

• Provides a well-rounded introduction to the New Testament, as well as rigorous scholarship on specific issues
• Includes material for individual study as well as interactive small-group study
• Addresses unique topics in New Testament studies

Product Details

• Title: Eerdmans New Testament Studies Collection
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Volumes: 23
• Pages: 7,763

Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day

• Authors: Robert W. Wall and Anthony B. Robinson
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2006
• Pages: 298

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Biblical scholar Robert Wall and pastoral leader Anthony Robinson join forces to bring the Acts of the Apostles forward to our time as a resource for congregational renewal and transformation. Featuring both careful exegetical study and exciting contemporary exposition, the 15 chapters of Called to Be Church interpret the text of Acts as Scripture and then engage Acts for today’s church. This text dives into many of the most vexing issues faced by the church then and now—conflict resolution, pluralism and multiculturalism, sexuality, money, church and state, the role of the Holy Spirit, and much more.

Enhanced by study questions at the end of each chapter, Called to Be Church is well suited to small-group study. Pastors, lay readers, and students alike can find helpful and inspiring insights.

This splendid book offers a readable, accessible, stimulating, and engaging reading of Acts for today’s students, preachers, and thoughtful laypeople. Anthony Robinson and Robert Wall illuminate passage after passage through the creative interplay between Wall’s lucid exegetical discussions and Robinson’s fresh reflections on hearing Acts for today’s church

—Steve Walton, senior lecturer in Greek and New Testament studies and director of research, London School of Theology

The authors show the central place that the book of Acts occupies in the New Testament canon. They show that though Acts was originally Luke’s second volume, it played a far more important role as the pivot between the four Gospels and Paul’s letters . . . Following Irenaeus’ understanding of Acts, the authors sketch a view of ecumenism and catholicity that was not a uniformity of belief but a pluriformity of faith that reflected the high diversity among the early churches.

—James A. Sanders, professor emeritus, Claremont Graduate University

Robinson and Wall’s remarkably engaging interpretation of Acts ‘for a new day’ deftly combines expert scholarly exegesis with astute pastoral insight. Never settling for easy modern applications based on thin biblical analysis, the authors wrestle seriously with the book of Acts as living Scripture for today’s church and a prime resource for ecclesial renewal. This work represents a model bridging of biblical and contemporary horizons—an ideal text for seminary and Christian education classes.

—F. Scott Spencer, professor of New Testament, Baptist Theological Seminary

At last! We can put aside the latest book that attempts to analyze what is going on in the contemporary church. Tony Robinson and Rob Wall make the claim that one of the best ways to understand what is happening—and needs to happen—in the church today is found in a very old book indeed—the Acts of the Apostles . . . They amply demonstrate that the old, old story has not lost any of its power to renew us and the church we all care about.

—Martin B. Copenhaver, senior pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church

This is a splendid book. The two authors provide a winning combination—sound, up-to-date biblical scholarship, paying critical attention to hearing the story of Acts in its own time and place, combined with the equally vital task of paying attention to the critical issues that face churches today . . . Called to Be Church is a thought-provoking and insightful must-read for ministers and congregations across denominational and cultural divides.

—Loveday Alexander, professor of biblical Studies, University of Sheffield

Robert W. Wall is the Paul T. Walls Professor of Scripture and Wesleyan Studies at Seattle Pacific University. In addition to his commentary on Revelation, he has authored numerous journal articles and several books, including commentaries on Colossians/Philemon, James, Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles.

Anthony B. Robinson travels throughout North America as a speaker, teacher, preacher, consultant, and coach, serving congregations and their leaders. He is also president of the Seattle-based Congregational Leadership Northwest and an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. His other books include the award-winning What’s Theology Got to Do with It? and Stewardship for Vital Congregations.

Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology

• Authors: Marianne Meye Thompson, Joel B. Green, and Paul J. Achtemeier
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 636

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Introducing the New Testament is a helpful guide to the writings of the New Testament, relevant for experienced Bible students and those approaching the Christian Scriptures for the first time. Written by three leading Bible specialists, this book discusses the New Testament’s literature in a clear and balanced way. Wonderfully readable and well supplied with maps and photographs, this volume is both an ideal textbook for courses covering the New Testament, and a useful introduction for general readers looking for straight-forward instruction on the writings of the New Testament. Additional chapters also explore the types of literature found in the New Testament, the life and teachings of Jesus, Paul’s life and world, and the formation of the New Testament canon. Sidebars also offer a wealth of highly relevant background information that helps modern readers more fully grasp biblical themes.

This introduction to the New Testament is exceptional for its balance of historical, literary, and theological considerations. It is also exceptional for the conciseness and clarity with which it is written. An ideal introduction for seminary courses.

—John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School

Anyone coming to the New Testament for the first time needs a clear and comprehensible guide, abreast of recent scholarship but not forbiddingly long or technical. Here it is.

—N. T. Wright, professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, St. Andrews University

Introducing the New Testament offers the beginning student an engaging tour through a collection of writings whose importance would be difficult to measure and hard to exaggerate. The content and essential message of these ancient works is described in simple but dynamic language that reveals why they continue to inspire and challenge readers two millennia later and half a world away. Numerous sidebars and relevant explanations provide background information for understanding the original intent of the writings in ways that could not be grasped without such assistance. Fueled by both a commitment to critical scholarship and an appreciation for the theological significance of these documents, this book is an excellent text for presenting the New Testament as historical literature that continues to serve modern religious needs.

—Mark Allen Powell, Robert and Phyllis Leatherman Professor of New Testament, Trinity Lutheran Seminary

Finally, we have an introduction to the New Testament that is as sensitive to the theological content of its writings as it is their historical and literary background. Achtemeier, Green, and Thompson provide just the right combination of history and theology, making this the best text yet for college and seminary students.

—Frank J. Matera, Andrews-Kelly-Ryan Professor of Biblical Studies and a professor of New Testament, Catholic University of America

Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson provide a clear, historically informed introduction to the New Testament as the Scripture of the Christian church. This book’s structure, theological content, and balanced critical judgments should make it a valuable resource for introductory New Testament courses.

—Richard B. Hays, dean of the Divinity School and George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament, Duke University

Marianne Meye Thompson is George Eldon Ladd Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Her previous books include The Exegetical Commentary on John and the Johannine Epistles.

Joel B. Green is the professor of New Testament interpretation and associate dean of the Center for Advanced Theological Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including the the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, Introducing the New Testament, and commentaries on Luke and 1 Peter. He is also editor-in-chief of the Journal of Theological Interpretation.

Paul J. Achtemeier is professor emeritus of biblical interpretation at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. He is the author of many books, including the Interpretation Commentary on Romans. He is also a past president of the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association.

Reading the New Testament for the First Time

• Author: Ronald J. Allen
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 216

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In Reading the New Testament for the First Time, Ronald Allen offers a useful introductory guide to the New Testament’s world, its story, and its message. The purpose of this book is to introduce the New Testament to those who have never read it, walking readers through the New Testament, covering key topics such as how and when the New Testament was written; background of important characters like Jesus, Paul, and the 12 disciples; big ideas found in the New Testament such as love, righteousness, and the realm of God; how to apply the New Testament to your life today, and much more.

It is a rare book that delivers more than its title promises. This one does—and then some! Ronald Allen has produced the cleanest, clearest, humblest, most non-doctrinaire, accessible, and absorbing general work on reading the New Testament that I have ever seen. It should be required reading for all of us.

—Phyllis Tickle, founding editor of the religion department, Publishers Weekly

At last! A first-rate Bible scholar has put together a book that makes the New Testament accessible. Reading the New Testament for the First Time grows out of Allen’s years of teaching experience. He covers every question that is likely to arise when a ‘first-timer’ wants to read the New Testament. Like a good and trusted friend, he walks the novice down a spiraling staircase into the wonders of this ancient and strange book, pointing out the most provocative, profound, and inspirational aspects of the New Testament. Strongly recommended.

—John S. McClure, Charles G. Finney Professor of Preaching and Worship, Vanderbilt University

Clear, engaging, and genuinely helpful! This is the first book I would recommend to anyone who wants a basic and informed guide into the rich but sometimes confusing terrain of the New Testament.

—Matthew L. Skinner, associate professor of New Testament, Luther Seminary

Here is a book that respects both Bible and reader, providing basic information for both the serious reader and the merely curious without talking down to them. A good first step into deeper Bible study.

—M. Eugene Boring, professor emeritus of New Testament, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University

Ronald J. Allen is professor of preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, where he has taught since 1982. He is the author of almost 40 books, including Thinking Theologically: The Preacher as Theologian.

Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith

• Author: David Crump
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 155

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Personal, experiential faith is seldom given a seat at the table of academic theology and biblical studies. David Crump, however, with the assistance of Soren Kierkegaard’s religious philosophy, claims that “authentic understanding, and thus authentic Christian commitment, can only arise from the personal commitment that is faith.”

Examining the various biblical, historical, cultural, theological, and academic hurdles which demand a Kierkegaardian leap of faith before one can meet the resurrected Jesus, Crump’s Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture provides an insightful discussion of key New Testament texts and issues, revealing how truth is discovered only through the subjectivity of faith.

Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture is part bombshell, part pastoral epistle. . . . Both Kierkegaard and Crump have a way of chopping a path through all the brush of hermeneutical debates and academic wrangling about historical criticism to remind us of a simple but still disconcerting truth—that the point of Scripture is to encounter Jesus. . . . Students and other interpreters need to read this book to be reminded that what’s at stake in biblical studies is an encounter with the lover of our souls.

—James K. A. Smith, associate professor of philosophy and adjunct professor of congregational and ministry studies, Calvin College

It is not surprising that David Crump’s Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture exhibits a deep understanding of the issues raised by historical-critical biblical scholarship. But Crump’s book is far more than a learned piece of New Testament scholarship. He shows how it is possible for a person who knows about the critical issues to read the Bible as God’s word for today, addressed to existing human beings. Crump carries on a continual conversation with Kierkegaard that I found illuminating and that the great Danish thinker would have found gratifying.

—C. Stephen Evans, distinguished university professor of philosophy and humanities, Baylor University

David Crump is professor of religion at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of Jesus the Intercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts and Knocking on Heaven’s Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer.

Of Widows and Meals: Communal Meals in the Book of Acts

• Author: Reta Halteman Finger
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 336

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Though “community” has become a common byword in the contemporary Western church, the practice of communal sharing has effectively fallen by the wayside. Unfortunately, it is often the poor who are left in need because we no longer come together. In Of Widows and Meals, Reta Halteman Finger finds a solution to this modern problem by learning from the ancient Mediterranean Christian culture of community. She reminds us that in the earliest Jerusalem church, in holding the responsibility for preparing and serving communal meals, women were given a place of honor. With the table fellowship and goods-sharing of the early church, Luke says, “there were no needy persons among them” (Acts 4:34). Throughout her insightful text, Finger examines this agape-meal tradition, challenging traditional interpretations of the “community of goods” in the Jerusalem church, and arguing convincingly that the communal sharing lasted for hundreds of years longer than previously assumed. Of Widows and Meals begins an important discussion about need and community, highly important and relevant in the contemporary church’s interaction with the world at large.

Of Widows and Meals is a first—the only comprehensive analysis and unbiased interpretation that I have seen of the references to koinonia in Acts 2 and 6. Reta Halteman Finger surveys everything written about this issue and shows that the Jerusalem church was sharing resources of its members to support daily communal meals, and that the widows played a decisive role in this ministry. A brilliant, provocative, and courageous study, with revolutionary implications for the contemporary church.

—Robert Jewett, emeritus professor of New Testament interpretation, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

With impeccably detailed scholarship, Reta Finger examines the traditions in the book of Acts about shared property and daily meals in the early Jerusalem church. She shows that this tradition represented a real commitment to a new community in Christ that cut across class divisions and extended food and support to the poorest. For Finger, those traditions are not just a historical footnote on a curious and short-lived practice at the beginning of Christianity, but are an ongoing legacy that must be taken seriously as central to living out the Christian gospel today.

—Rosemary Radford Ruether, visiting professor of feminist theology, Claremont School of Theology, Claremont Graduate University

Written by the foremost feminist New Testament scholar from the Mennonite-Anabaptist tradition, Of Widows and Meals demonstrates, once and for all, the historical actuality of sharing common meals and other possessions in the earliest Christian communities. Finger masterfully utilizes a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on the results of the most recent scholarship pertaining to meals in the ancient world . . . She clarifies that the widows mentioned in Acts 6 were not the poor recipients of ‘handouts’ but important members of the Christian community in Jerusalem who, themselves, had a significant role in the production of the daily meals for that community. This well-written and fascinating book, full of carefully nuanced corrections to earlier inadequate theories, is a treasure trove of enlightening new insights.

—William Tabbernee, former president and Stephen J. England Distinguished Professor of the History of Christianity, Phillips Theological Seminary

Reta Halteman Finger is assistant professor of New Testament at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.

Roman House Churches for Today: A Practical Guide for Small Groups

• Author: Reta Halteman Finger
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 221

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Placing the book of Romans in its historical and cultural context, Reta Halteman Finger creates a simulation of the Roman house churches that first heard Paul’s Romans letter and its call for inclusiveness among the people of God. In this unique text, Finger guides readers in small groups through a recreation of house churches as in first-century Rome. Based on the text of Romans, participants play various roles and converse, even debate, with other characters from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. This experiential approach makes Romans come alive in new, concrete ways—it provides fuller understanding of that early church environment for small groups and individuals, applying Romans theology to current issues that often still divide groups of Christians.

Roman House Churches for Today includes aids and suggestions for simulation leaders, sample character sketches, and website links with resources for further, deeper study. Not only small groups but also individuals will profit from this unique Bible study.

The book is a delight to read and a joy to use in teaching, and I highly commend Finger for her imaginative, yet grounded, reconstruction of the first churches to read Romans.

—Interpretation

It is rare to find original ideas, rigorous research, and contemporary application combined in one volume. This is exactly what Reta Halteman Finger has done, also including stimulating questions for individual or group study. I highly recommend this book for use in Bible studies, cell groups, house churches, base communities, and emerging churches—and for all who wish to align their gatherings more with the spirit and impact of the earliest Christian congregations.

—Robert Banks, professor, Macquarie Christian Studies Institute

The door is open! This book is an unusual and creative invitation to walk through it into a first-century Roman villa or tenement, and to sit there with other Jesus believers listening to Paul’s words. Join in a complete and tasty agape meal. Then walk back out into your own living room or classroom, and think through what Paul’s claims about good news for all, despite our differences, mean today. You’ll never participate in livelier or more challenging Bible study.

—Nancy R. Heisey, professor, Eastern Mennonite University

This study of Paul’s letter to the Romans takes a thoroughly innovative approach . . . Provides in accessible form a wealth of information about Rome and Paul’s letter.

—Bible Today

Reta Halteman Finger is assistant professor of New Testament at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.

The Prophet Jesus and the Renewal of Israel: Moving Beyond a Diversionary Debate

• Author: Richard A. Horsley
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 167

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Debate over whether or not Jesus can be best interpreted within an “apocalyptic scenario” has continued to dominate historical Jesus studies since Schweitzer and Bultmann. In The Prophet Jesus and the Renewal of Israel Richard A. Horsley shows that the apocalyptic scenario—with its supposed expectation of “the end of the world,” the fiery “last judgment,” and “the parousia of the Son of Man”—is a modern scholarly construct that obscures the particulars of texts, society, and history.

Drawing on his wide-ranging earlier scholarship, A. Horsley refocuses and reformulates investigation of the historical Jesus in a thoroughly relational-contextual approach. He recognizes that the sources for the historical Jesus are not separate sayings, but rather the sustained Gospel narratives of Jesus’ mission. A. Horsley’s new approach finds Jesus the popular prophet engaged in a movement of renewal, resistance, and judgment against Roman imperialism, Jerusalem rulers, and the Pharisees.

Richard A. Horsley has marshaled a strong argument to break through and move beyond the traditional apocalyptic/nonapocalyptic debate concerning the historical Jesus. . . . Through a holistic reading of the earliest Gospel sources, A. Horsley provides us with a fresh portrait of Jesus, one that is rooted in the realia of Galilee’s first-century social and cultural context. An impressive work!

—Robert L. Webb, sessional lecturer, McMaster University

If it’s true that you can’t judge a book by its cover, it is equally true that you can’t judge the significance of a book by its size. This small volume by Richard A. Horsley is proof of that truth. It provides that rarest of qualities—perspective—and distills a lifetime of study even as it revisits debates past and present. . . . A must-read for anyone studying the ongoing quest of the historical Jesus.

—William R. Herzog II, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, Andover Newton Theological School

A brilliant book that challenges much that is assumed by modern scholars. A. Horsley brings into focus a better method for ascertaining Jesus’ message, urging us to ponder that Jesus was a prophet who sought to launch a renewal of Israel. This refreshing and challenging book would be ideal in classrooms.

—James H. Charlesworth, George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature, Princeton Theological Seminary

The clearest expression yet of A. Horsley’s distinctive and important contribution to the quest for the historical Jesus. . . . This is must reading for students and scholars seeking a picture of Jesus as one who truly belongs to first-century Palestine.

—David Rhoads, professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology

In this superbly written and clearly argued little book, A. Horsley restates his case for a prophetic Jesus actively engaged in the struggle against Roman imperial rule. But this time he brings to the table new claims about method and sharp criticism for both the defenders and opponents of Schweitzer’s apocalyptic hypothesis. . . . Scholars and questers of every level of expertise will want to read this new book from one of our most prolific and treasured scholars.

—Stephen J. Patterson, George H. Atkinson Professor of Religious and Ethical Studies, Willamette University

A. Horsley persuasively argues that neither Jesus’ sayings nor apocalyptic texts (Daniel, 1 Enoch) envision ‘cosmic catastrophe’ or the ‘end of the world.’ Rather, in the midst of historical crises, these texts proclaim judgment of oppressive empires and restoration of the people by God—a compelling future on earth.

—Barbara R. Rossing, professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

This stimulating study offers insightful critique, important challenge, and significant results.

—Warren Carter, professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School

Richard A. Horsley is distinguished professor emeritus of liberal arts and the study of religion at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Among his many previous books are Jesus and Empire and Jesus and the Powers.

The New Testament with Imagination: A Fresh Approach to Its Writings and Themes

• Author: William Loader
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 216

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The dynamic teachings of the New Testament are often lost in the dryness and formality of academic study. In The New Testament with Imagination William Loader seeks to bridge this divide, bringing imagination into play in order to help readers enter the world of the New Testament more with more vibrancy. This book offers a unique way of approaching the New Testament, as Loader uses creative storytelling to make it come alive. Accessible to a broad readership, it will also give long-time students of Scripture a fresh perspective. Loader’s historically sound methodology focuses on imagining what we know about the New Testament through established research, not fanciful reconstruction.

This book is a delightful exercise in reimagining the New Testament by creative storytelling about Jesus, Paul, and the early Christians. It engages discussion of key texts, sometimes difficult ones, in new ways for the general reader who wants to know more about the New Testament without intimidation by scholarly apparatus. Yet the solid foundation it provides will serve well for personal reading or Bible study groups.

— Carolyn Osiek, professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School

The gap between the insights of critical study of the New Testament and the picture available to the interested reader, whether inside or outside of the church, is often bemoaned. William Loader builds a steady bridge across that gap through both his seasoned, firmly rooted scholarly understanding and his invitation to readers to imaginatively enter into the world of the texts. The journey on which Loader leads his readers will still be a challenging one, but he is a reliable guide; newcomers should find the effort rewarding, and even those who feel familiar with the territory will discover new ways of envisaging the world of the New Testament.

— Judith M. Lieu, professor of New Testament Studies, King’s College

Bill Loader is not only a superb scholar but also a great teacher with the heart of a pastor . . . Here he does in a contemporary style what great spiritual masters of the past did when they taught people how to meditate by having them imagine themselves in a specific biblical locale, taking part in the action. To weld this traditional technique of ‘composition of place’ to modern biblical scholarship in an easy-to-read form is a notable feat of academic imagination in itself. One hopes that, as in Mark 3:9–10, so with this book, a large multitude will press close to touch something of the Word.

— John P. Meier, Catholic priest and professor of New Testament, University of Notre Dame

William Loader is professor emeritus of New Testament at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. He has written numerous other books including Philo, Josephus, and the Testaments on Sexuality, The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality, The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality, and Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees on Sexuality.

Jesus and the Fundamentalism of His Day

• Author: William Loader
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 168

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In Jesus and the Fundamentalism of His Day, Loader investigates each of the four Gospels, as well as the major streams of tradition that stand behind them. What emerges from this fascinating study is a diverse range of interpretations of Jesus. Mark depicts a Jesus prepared to jettison some parts of biblical law. Matthew and Luke, following “Q,” portray a Jesus who remained fully observant of the Torah and made his impact though the placement of emphasis. John, by contrast, has Jesus assume the qualities of divine law within himself, never disparaging its requirements though for him they are no longer in force. Loader sets these diverse pictures of Jesus side by side, highlighting both their similarities and their differences, and exploring the implications of his study for interpreting the Bible today.

William Loader has written the book we all need. In our time of rapid change he looks back to Jesus and the Gospel traditions to find guidance for our approach to Scripture. How did Jesus assess the traditions he received? How did his earliest interpreters? Loader’s study points the way forward for all who have a passion for the givenness of our Christian past and the exhilarating experience of the present.

— Francis J. Moloney, senior professorial fellow, Australian Catholic University

In this new work, as in all his writings, Loader proves himself a judicious scholar with a profound command of the secondary literature in the field.

— John P. Meier, Catholic priest and professor of New Testament, University of Notre Dame

William Loader is professor emeritus of New Testament at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. He is the author of numerous books including Philo, Josephus, and the Testaments on Sexuality, The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality, The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality, and Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees on Sexuality.

Jesus’ Attitude towards the Law: A Study of the Gospels

• Author: William Loader
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2002
• Pages: 584

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This book provides a critical reassessment and fresh analysis of Jesus’ attitude towards the Law as portrayed in each of the canonical gospels, Q, Thomas, and the apocryphal gospels. Representing William Loader’s definitive work on the subject, this comprehensive study helps readers gain a clearer picture of Jesus and his message.

William Loader is already well known among New Testament exegetes for his fine studies of Hebrews, the Gospel of John, and New Testament Christology. In this monumental work he surveys with skill the very difficult question of the way the Law is treated in the four canonical Gospels. The thoroughness of the survey is seen in the fact that separate chapters are devoted to the Law in the Q document and in noncanonical Gospels. This is indeed an impressive achievement and a most useful tool for New Testament scholars.

— John P. Meier, Catholic priest and professor of New Testament, University of Notre Dame

William Loader is professor emeritus of New Testament at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. He is the author of numerous books including Philo, Josephus, and the Testaments on Sexuality, The Pseudepigrapha on Sexuality, The Dead Sea Scrolls on Sexuality, and Enoch, Levi, and Jubilees on Sexuality.

Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World

• Author: Bruce W. Longenecker
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 400

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Many scholars engaged in exploring the economic dimensions of early Christianity simply don’t bother with Paul, mistakenly believing that he had little regard for the poor and that his theological deliberations therefore have little relevance to studies of wealth and poverty in the Greco-Roman world. In Remember the Poor, Bruce Longenecker counters this view, arguing persuasively that care for the impoverished was integral to Paul’s teaching and standard practice in the Jesus-groups that he founded. Longenecker sets out a robust “economy scale” for urban Greco-Roman society, using his in-depth analysis of poverty in the first century as the backdrop for a compelling presentation which integrates economics, history, exegesis, and theology. Questioning a number of established interpretive paradigms, Longenecker offers a fresh vision in which Paul’s convictions regarding care for the poor are shown to be historically significant and theologically challenging.

This important book reveals an economic dimension of Paul’s gospel that has only rarely been identified and never expounded so fully and convincingly. It also builds up a realistic picture of the way that care for the poor was embodied in the life of the communities Paul founded. Longenecker’s well-informed and careful arguments deserve wide attention.

—Richard Bauckham, professor of New Testament studies, St. Mary’s College

Bruce W. Longenecker is professor of religion and holds the W. W. Melton Chair at Baylor University. His books include Rhetoric at the Boundaries, The Lost Letters of Pergamum, and Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception.

Jesus Is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John

• Author: Leon Morris
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 1989
• Pages: 232

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More than simply a series of chapters on the theology of John’s Gospel, Jesus Is the Christ relates each of John’s teachings to his declared aim, expressed in John 20:30–31: “Jesus did many other signs before his disciples, which have not been written in this book; but these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.” Each chapter in Morris’ book takes up some facet or aspect of John’s expressed aim. For an age still asking the question “who is Jesus?,” Leon Morris argues convincingly that John’s entire Gospel was written to show that the human Jesus is the Christ, or Messiah, as well as the Son of God. But it is Morris’ firm conviction that John’s purpose was evangelical as well as theological—that is, John wrote his book so that readers might believe in Christ and as a result have eternal life.

Leon Morris (1914–2006) retired as principal of Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia, in 1979. He was the author of more than 40 books, including The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, the volumes on Matthew and Romans in The Pillar New Testament Commentary, and the volumes on John.

Give God the Glory: Ancient Prayer and Worship in Cultural Perspective

• Author: Jerome H. Neyrey
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2007
• Pages: 273

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In this volume, Jerome Neyrey offers an intriguing work which seeks to bring readers into an understanding and appreciation of the “otherness” of the culture in which Christian scriptures and early church worship came to be. In Give God the Glory, Neyrey takes a new approach by reading the materials in terms of social science models and the theory of communication. He examines New Testament passages in context of both the Hebraic ethos and the Greco-Hellenistic culture in which these scriptures were conceived and written. Neyrey compares New Testament prayer and worship to contemporary works by classical authors, particularly Philo, the Didache, and a portion of Justin Martyr’s First Apology. Illuminating the New Testament text in their original light, this book focuses on interpretation rather than history, supplementing and enhancing the existing wealth of scholarship.

Jerome H. Neyrey, a Jesuit priest, is professor of New Testament at the University of Notre Dame. He received his PhD from Yale University, was associate editor of the Catholic Biblical Quarterly, and is currently associate editor of the Biblical Theology Bulletin.

Salty Wives, Spirited Mothers, and Savvy Widows: Capable Women of Purpose and Persistence in Luke’s Gospel

• Author: F. Scott Spencer
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 358

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Engaging feminist hermeneutics and philosophy alongside more traditional methods of biblical study, Salty Wives, Spirited Mothers, and Savvy Widows demonstrates and celebrates the remarkable capability and ingenuity of several women in the Gospel of Luke. While recent studies have exposed women’s limited opportunities for ministry in Luke, Scott Spencer pulls the pendulum back from a negative feminist-critical pole toward a more constructive center. While acknowledging that Luke sends somewhat “mixed messages” about women’s work and status as Jesus’ disciples, Scott Spencer sheds fresh light on his portrayal of women with his engaging analysis of the interesting host of female characters found in Luke, including Mary, Elizabeth, Joanna, Martha and Mary, and the infamous wife of Lot—whom Jesus exhorts his followers to remember—as well as female characters in Jesus’ parables.

Scott Spencer is one of the most engaging, uncannily perceptive biblical interpreters I know! In this insightful volume he enters the fray of feminist debate over Luke’s decidedly ‘mixed messages’ regarding women, masterfully negotiating the tension between liberating and limiting elements of Luke’s presentation. . . . He shows Luke’s women to be remarkably capable—even if not as liberated as we might hope! Without whitewashing the difficulties, Spencer thereby reclaims Luke’s narrative for liberating, life-enhancing ends.

—Frances Taylor Gench, associate professor of biblical studies, Lutheran Theological Seminary

Is Luke’s Gospel the most dangerous book in the Bible for women and men? Is it a mixed bag? Is it to be read against the grain in order to find good news? In this thoughtful, insightful, and engaging study, Scott Spencer investigates the women who inhabit Luke’s narrative. Recognizing mixed messages and avoiding anachronism, Spencer offers a nuanced presentation of capable women of purpose and persistence.

—Warren Carter, professor of New Testament, Brite Divinity School

Spencer’s study of women in the Gospel of Luke is spirited enough to engage students and savvy enough to cause scholars to rethink, once again, the representation of gender in the Third Gospel.

—Jennifer Glancy, Joseph C. George Professor of Religious Studies, Le Moyne College

Insightfully challenges and complements feminist scholarship on a Gospel that is notoriously equivocal for women. . . . A welcome contribution to feminist discourse on the Gospel of Luke.

—Mary Ann Beavis, professor of religion and culture, St. Thomas More College

For more than two decades, Scott Spencer has engaged with feminist interpretation of the New Testament. With this provocative, stimulating, and lively treatment of women in the Lukan writings, Spencer offers mature but—in the best sense—entirely unpredictable readings resulting in fresh, at times stunning, analyses of these old, old stories. . . . A must-read for anyone—male or female—interested in gender issues, then and now.

—Mikeas C. Parsons, Kidd L. and Buna Hitchcock Macon Chair in Religion, Baylor University

F. Scott Spencer is professor of New Testament and preaching at Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. His other books include Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth and The Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles.

The Word Leaps the Gap: Essays on Scripture and Theology in Honor of Richard B. Hays

• Authors: J. Ross Wagner, C. Kavin Rowe, and Katherine Grieb
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 732

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This Festschrift celebrates the work of Richard Hays in honor of his sixtieth birthday. A token of gratitude from colleagues and friends whose scholarly imaginations have been sparked in numerous ways by his generative insights, this volume provides many valuable thoughts about the important work of this distinguished New Testament scholar.

Contributors:

• Dale C. Allison Jr.
• Gary A. Anderson
• John M. G. Barclay
• Markus Bockmuehl
• Douglas A. Campbell
• Stephen B. Chapman
• Brian E. Daley
• Ellen F. Davis
• James D. G. Dunn
• Susan G. Eastman
• Bruce N. Fisk
• Roberts Gaventa
• Joel B. Green
• A. Katherine Grieb
• Stanley Hauerwas
• Christopher B. Hays
• Judith C. Hays
• Sarah Hays
• George Hobson
• Luke Timothy Johnson
• Leander E. Keck
• Joel Marcus
• R. W. L. Moberly
• David P. Moessner
• C. Kavin Rowe
• E. P. Sanders
• D. Moody Smith
• David C. Steinmetz
• Marianne Meye Thompson
• Allen Verhey
• J. Ross Wagner
• Francis Watson
• N. T. Wright

J. Ross Wagner is associate professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. His other books include Heralds of the Good News: Paul and Isaiah in Concert in the Letter to the Romans and Reading the Sealed Book: Old Greek Isaiah and the Problem of Septuagint Hermeneutics.

C. Kavin Rowe is associate professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He has been a Fulbright Scholar and Regional Scholar for the Society of Biblical Literature. Rowe is the author of Early Narrative Christology and World Upside Down: Reading Acts in the Graeco-Roman Age.

A. Katherine Grieb is professor of New Testament at Virginia Theological Seminary. She has also taught at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine.

The Epistle to the Hebrews and Christian Theology

• Authors: Richard Bauckham, Daniel R. Driver, Trevor A. Hart, and Nathan MacDonald
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2009
• Pages: 474

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The second annual St. Andrews Conference on Scripture and Theology brought leading biblical scholars and systematic theologians together in conversation, seeking to bridge the growing gap between these disciplines. Reflecting the convergence of the Old Testament’s cultic theology, Hellenistic ideas, and early Christian thinking, the epistle to the Hebrews provides a perfect foundation for this fruitful dialogue.

The contributors examine a number of key theological themes in the letter to the Hebrews: the person and nature of the Son, his high-priestly work, cosmology, the epistle’s theology of Scripture, supersessionism, the call to faith, and more. Unlike many modern treatments, this substantial volume considers Hebrews in both its ancient context and against our modern backdrop.

Contributors:

• Edward Adams
• Richard Bauckham
• Douglas Farrow
• Stephen R. Holmes
• Mariam J. Kamell
• I. Howard Marshall
• Mark Nanos
• Ken Schenck
• John Webster
• Loveday Alexander
• Markus Bockmuehl
• Trevor Hart
• Morna Hooker
• Bruce L. McCormack
• R. Walter L. Moberly
• Nehemia Polen
• Oskar Skarsaune
• Ben Witherington III
• Harold W. Attridge
• Daniel Driver
• Richard B. Hays
• Edison M. Kalengyo
• Nathan MacDonald
• Carl Mosser
• John Polkinghorne
• Daniel J. Treier
• Terry J. Wright

This is a remarkable collection and it deserves a place on every New Testament student’s bookshelf.

—Jim West, adjunct professor of biblical studies, Quartz Hill School of Theology

Richard Bauckham is professor emeritus of New Testament studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and senior scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. A fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, he has also written Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern World.

Daniel R. Driver is assistant professor of religious studies at Tyndale University College in Toronto.

Trevor Hart is professor of divinity at St. Mary’s College, University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Nathan Macdonald is university lecturer in Hebrew Bible at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of St John’s College.

Revelation and the End of All Things

• Author: Craig R. Koester
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 223

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Revelation and the End of All Things is a accessible guide to Revelation that engages the questions people most often ask about this difficult book in the Bible. Craig Koester ably takes readers through the entire book of Revelation, drawing on the best of recent scholarship while also giving attention to questions arising from events like the siege at Waco, the phenomenal sales of books in the Left Behind series, and the use of Revelation in hymnody and art.

While many of the questions that people ask about Revelation are sparked by sensationalistic interpretations of the book, these questions also point to major issues concerning our understanding of God and the future, death and life, judgment and hope. Rather than simply dismissing popular interpretations of Revelation, Koester first considers these approaches and why they are problematic. The rest of the book looks carefully at each section of Revelation, keeping the situations of first-century and twenty-first-century readers in mind. Koester’s exceptional grasp of Revelation’s history, text, and purpose allows him to present the message of Revelation in a way that is clear, engaging, and meaningful to modern readers.

Anyone looking for a good, interesting, and nontechnical study of the book of Revelation will want to consider this fine work. Koester begins by tracing the remarkable history of interpretation of this haunting New Testament book . . . He then turns to his own reading of the text which is rich and insightful and filled with good Christian sense. This would make a fine background text for parish Bible study groups and their leaders.

—The Bible Today

Craig Koester communicates current scholarship on Revelation with clarity, passion, and concern that the message of the Bible be understood and appropriated in today’s world. Not merely an antidote or alternative to Left Behind and ‘Jesus is coming soon’ commercialism, Revelation and the End of All Things is a substantial contribution to good literature on Revelation in its own right.

—M. Eugene Boring, professor emeritus of New Testament, Brite Divinity School

A popular and easy to read work on Revelation . . . For laity and those in the churches who are seeking alternatives to the unsound and popular views of Revelation, Koester’s book is a good recommendation.

—Review & Expositor

This book offers an innovative introduction to Revelation, drawing on the history of interpretation, art, and music as well as on sound literary and historical analysis. It will help readers understand a wide variety of current approaches to Revelation by explaining briefly their origins and intentions. Highly recommended for ministry students, church study groups, and general readers.

—Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingam Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale University

Koester has written a book of singular significance for the contemporary Christian community. The puzzle of Revelation is normally resolved by ignoring its original setting or by rendering it irrelevant to the Christian Bible through an intense focus on that setting. Koester shows that the horizons of the Christian past, present, and future merge in John’s remarkable ‘revelation.’ I cannot recommend this book highly enough to all Christians.

—Francis J. Moloney, Katharine Drexel Professor of Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America

Koester presents his case exceptionally well. He writes clearly and continually draws readers back to his understanding of Revelation’s main theme. His arguments are well-reasoned, and he balances the text’s application to John’s day and today. Also helpful is his overview of how Revelation has been interpreted through church history.

—CBA Marketplace

Craig R. Koester is professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. His other books include Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel, The Dwelling of God, A Beginner’s Guide to Reading the Bible, and the commentary on Hebrews from the Anchor Yale Bible.

The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology: Essays in Honor of Max Turner

• Authors: I. Howard Marshall, Volker Rabens, and Cornelis Bennema
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 387

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This volume gathers writings about the Spirit and Christ by notable scholars including Richard Bauckham, D. A. Carson, James Dunn, and many others. It covers topics that are relevant for the worldwide church today—the life-giving work of the Spirit, the Spirit in Luke and Acts, the gift of the Spirit in John 19–20, pneumatology and justification, community life through the Spirit, and more. The 20 essays included are a useful resource for scholars and ministers. The Spirit and Christ in the New Testament and Christian Theology is a fitting tribute to honoree Max Turner, whose outstanding scholarship has focused on pneumatology and Christology.

Contributors

• Richard Bauckham
• Cornelis Bennema
• D. A. Carson
• James D. G. Dunn
• Conrad Gempf
• Joel B. Green
• Desta Heliso
• Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen
• Anthony N. S. Lane
• John R. Levison
• I. Howard Marshall
• Graham McFarlane
• Robert P. Menzies
• Steve Motyer
• André Munzinger
• Volker Rabens
• Mark L. Strauss
• John Christopher Thomas
• Chris Tilling
• Robert W. Wall
• Steve Walton

I. Howard Marshall is professor emeritus of New Testament exegesis and honorary research professor at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. His many books include New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel and Beyond the Bible: Moving from Scripture to Theology.

Volker Rabens is a research scholar of the Käte Hamburger Kolleg and lecturer in New Testament at Bochum University in Germany. His publications include The Holy Spirit and Ethics in Paul.

Cornelis Bennema is associate professor of New Testament at the South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies in India. His books include Encountering Jesus and Excavating John’s Gospel.

Getting “Saved”: The Whole Story of Salvation in the New Testament

• Authors: Charles H. Talbert and Jason A. Whitlark
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 336

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What does it mean to “get saved”? Is conversion a gift of God’s grace but the post-conversion Christian life in our own hands? Is the covenant relationship sustained by a sense of personal gratitude for God’s past gift of conversion—or is post-conversion faithfulness itself an ongoing gift from God?

In this book, Charles H. Talbert and Jason A. Whitlark, together with Andrew E. Arterbury, Clifford A. Barbarick, Scott J. Hafemann, and Michael W. Martin, address such questions about God’s role in the Christian’s life. Through careful, consistent exegesis of relevant New Testament texts, they show that “getting saved” involves both God’s forgiveness and God’s enablement to obey—or “new covenant piety”—from initial conversion to eschatological salvation.

This book presents with sparkling clarity the core theological ideas about salvation contained in the New Testament. It is theologically rich, intellectually innovative, and beautifully crafted. Scholars, pastors, and general readers will be grateful for the lucidity with which the authors write.

—Paul Foster, lecturer in New Testament literature, language, and theology, University of Edinburgh

A balanced collection that brings clarity and critical nuance to the complex issue of New Testament soteriology. The essays offer a number of fresh—and mostly convincing—readings of important biblical books and outline some new approaches to several important topics.

—Dale C. Allison Jr., Errett M. Grable Professor of New Testament Exegesis and Early Christianity, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

Extending previous research in creative directions, this volume should stimulate a return to the primary sources and productive debate over their interpretation.

—C. Clifton Black, Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary

Explores the role of divine enablement in soteriology, demonstrating how different New Testament authors develop that theme in diverse and sometimes surprising ways. . . . Provocative and revelatory, these studies shed new light on biblical texts and will provide new avenues for Jewish-Christian dialogue.

—Mark Allan Powell, Robert and Phyllis Leatherman Professor of New Testament, Trinity Lutheran Seminary

Charles H. Talbert is distinguished professor of religion at Baylor University. His many other books include Reading the Sermon on the Mount and Reading Acts: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles.

Jason A. Whitlark is assistant professor of New Testament at Baylor University. He is also the author of Enabling Fidelity to God: Perseverance in Hebrews in Light of the Reciprocity Systems of the Ancient Mediterranean World.

The Art of Reading Scripture

• Authors: Richard B. Hays and Ellen F. Davis
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2003
• Pages: 354

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The Art of Reading Scripture is written by a group of eminent scholars and teachers seeking to recover the church’s rich heritage of biblical interpretation in a dramatically changed cultural environment. Asking how best to read the Bible in a postmodern context, the contributors together affirm “Nine Theses” that provide substantial guidance for the church. The essays and sermons that follow both amplify and model the approach to Scripture outlined in the Nine Theses.

Lucidly conceived, carefully written, and packed with fresh insights, The Art of Reading Scripture proposes a far-reaching revolution in how the Bible is taught in theological seminaries, calling pastors and teachers in the church to rethink their practices of using the Bible.

Contributors

• Gary A. Anderson
• Richard Bauckham
• Brian E. Daley
• Ellen F. Davis
• Richard B. Hays
• James C. Howell
• Robert W. Jenson
• William Stacy Johnson
• L. Gregory Jones
• Christine McSpadden
• R. W. L. Moberly
• David C. Steinmetz
• Marianne Meye Thompson

‘Theological interpretation,’ like a modern-day holy grail, is mentioned often, but claims of actual sightings are both few and exaggerated. Ellen Davis and Richard Hays have given us access to a multidisciplinary conversation concerned with and exemplifying the genuine relocation of the Bible within the church—that is, as authoritative Scripture. The result is a bold, impassioned, open-ended invitation and guide to the craft of reading Scripture. This is must reading for Christian pastors, theological students, exegetes, theologians, and preachers.

—Joel B. Green, professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary

This is surely one of the most helpful books on interpreting biblical texts that has come along in a long time. While the authors do not all say the same thing, there is an impressive consistency of interpretive approach that serves to open the Scriptures for the church so that they truly enrich, teach, and illumine the life we live. Postmodernists, historical critics, and theologians here engage in thinking about how to read the Bible in a way that frees it from the captivity of postmodernism, historical criticism, and theology and returns it to the church as its true lifeblood. I especially commend this book to those who are interested in seeing how rich and deep can be a reading of the Bible that is truly done in community.

—Patrick D. Miller, professor of Old Testament Theology in the Department of Biblical Studies, Princeton Theological Seminary

These distinguished scholars go a long way forward toward recovering an exciting and coherent exegetical agenda for reading the Bible as Sacred Scripture.

—Brevard S. Childs, Emeritus Sterling Professor of Divinity, Yale Divinity School

With contributions from major figures across the disciplines, this book offers a superb look at the present state of play for a renewed theological interpretation of Scripture. Especially helpful is its attention—critical and not nostalgic—to the church’s earlier history of interpretation and the place that it might have in the late-modern recovery of theological reading.

—Christopher R. Seitz, professor of Old Testament and theological studies, University of Saint Andrews

Richard B. Hays is dean and the George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He is internationally recognized for his work on the letters of Paul and on New Testament ethics. His book The Moral Vision of the New Testament was selected by Christianity Today as one of the 100 most important religious books of the twentieth century.

Ellen F. Davis is Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina.

Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation

• Editor: Joel B. Green
• Edition: 2nd
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 440

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In this text, a distinguished group of scholars introduces and illustrates the array of strategies and methods used in New Testament study today. Standard approaches—text criticism, historical methods, etc.—appear side by side with newer approaches—narrative criticism, Latino-Latina hermeneutics, theological interpretation of the New Testament, and more. First published in 1995, Hearing the New Testament is now revised and updated, including rewritten chapters, new chapters, and new suggestions for further reading.

Contributors

• Efrain Agosto
• Loveday C. A. Alexander
• James L. Bailey
• Stephen C. Barton
• Richard Bauckham
• C. Clifton Black
• Holly J. Carey
• Bart D. Ehrman
• Stephen E. Fowl
• Joel B. Green
• Richard B. Hays
• Mark Allan Powell
• Emerson B. Powery
• F. Scott Spencer
• Max Turner.
• Kevin J. Vanhoozer
• Robert W. Wall

Highly recommended for supplementary reading in New Testament classes. Its general accuracy, moderation, freedom from bias, and concision are welcome.

—Religious Studies Review

Beautifully written and edited, deceptively sophisticated, and uncommonly rich in insights into biblical interpretation.

—Interpretation

Joel B. Green is professor of New Testament interpretation and associate dean for the Center of Advanced Theological Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Reading the Epistles of James, Peter, John & Jude as Scripture: The Shaping and Shape of a Canonical Collection

• Author: Robert W. Wall and David R. Nienhuis
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2013
• Pages: 332

Through a detailed examination of the historical shaping and final canonical shape of seven oft-neglected New Testament letters James, 1 & 2 Peter, 1, 2, & 3 John, and Jude, this text introduces readers to the historical, literary, and theological integrity of this indispensable apostolic witness. While most modern scholars interpret biblical texts against the diversity of their individual historical points of composition, Robert Wall and David Nienhuis make the case that a theological approach to the Bible as Scripture is better served by attending to issues that occasioned these texts’ historical point of canonization—those key moments in the ancient church’s life when apostolic writings were grouped together into collections designed to maximize the Spirit’s communication of the apostolic rule of faith to believers everywhere.

In this groundbreaking book David Nienhuis and Robert Wall show that the New Testament collection called the ‘Catholic Epistles’ has a structure and a rationale that profoundly impact the way its individual texts should be read. Like the fourfold canonical Gospel, this collection represents a decisive intervention in the process of creating a well-ordered Christian scripture out of the mass of early Christian writing.

—Francis Watson, professor of New Testament Exegesis, University of Aberdeen

In this eloquent challenge to current exegetical communis opinio, the authors argue forcefully for a reading of the seven Catholic Epistles as a canonical unit, which then reveals their common theology, their collective role in the scriptural canon as balance to the Pauline letters, and their cogent apostolic instruction on Christian discipleship and community both in antiquity and in today’s world.

—John H. Elliott, professor of theology, University of San Francisco

David Nienhuis and Robert Wall argue that if we shift our focus from the point of composition to much later matters of canonization, we can begin to see that the Catholic Epistles as a group round out and enrich the theological emphases of the Gospels and Paul’s letters in ways that form a more complete and even more attractive canonical whole. . . . Nienhuis and Wall present a challenging argument sustained by detailed theological attention to the canonical process and by close and lively readings of the Catholic Epistles. If taken up, their views can dramatically alter the interpretive patterns and concerns the church and the academy bring to these letters.

—Stephen E. Fowl, chair of the department of theology, Loyola College

Robert W. Wall is the Paul T. Walls Professor of Scripture and Wesleyan Studies at Seattle Pacific University. In addition to his commentary on Revelation, he has authored numerous journal articles and several books, including commentaries on Colossians/Philemon, James, Acts, and the Pastoral Epistles.

David R. Nienhuis is associate professor of New Testament studies at Seattle Pacific University.

In God’s Time: The Bible and the Future

• Author: Craig C. Hill
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2002
• Pages: 237

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Enormous confusion exists today concerning the Bible’s teaching about the future. Millions of contemporary Christians are caught up in “rapture” fever, evidenced by the phenomenal success of the Left Behind novels. At the opposite end of the spectrum are those, such as the leaders of the Jesus Seminar, who believe that Jesus did not teach about the approaching Kingdom of God. In God’s Time offers an alternative to these two poles in the debate, an alternative that is at once faithful and sane, readable and scholarly. Author Craig C. Hill encourages Christians both to take seriously and to think sensibly about the hope of God’s ultimate victory. His new book includes chapters on the nature of the Bible, the history of prophecy, the meaning of apocalyptic writings, the interpretation of Daniel and Revelation, the expectations of Jesus, and the hopes of the early Christians. It also includes an appendix—“Not Left Behind”—on the subject of the rapture.

Endorsed by a wide array of top scholars and church leaders, In God’s Time is a reliable guide to this often bewildering but always fascinating subject.

Sane, convincing, biblical writing. Pastors, teachers, and parents—all of us who are responsible for providing Christian guidance through the verbal clutter and emotional hysteria associated with the “end times”—will welcome Craig Hill’s accessible and timely teaching.

—Eugene H. Peterson, emeritus professor of spiritual theology, Regent College

When Christians talk about the end of the world, they often think that they are repeating what the Bible says when in fact the text is far more subtle and interesting. Craig Hill is both a first-rate scholar and a lucid communicator, and he manages in this admirable book to clarify decisively what Scripture does and doesn’t say about the last days. He cuts through much nonsense and helps us see the really important themes in the texts he discusses.

—Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

Such clarity, such vigor, such color! I love the metaphors, down-home examples, and faith insights—mixed right in with erudite scholarship. In God’s Time is a must-read book for all serious students of Scripture.

—Richard B. Wilke, founder of the DISCIPLE Bible study series

Craig Hill has done the Christian community a great service by spelling out in a sensible, scholarly, and readable manner what the Bible says about the end times. At a time when popular books on the second coming are leading to confusion and a right-wing political mind-set, here is a book that is balanced and inspiring and helpful.

—Tony Campolo, professor, Eastern University

This book is written in accordance with the Scripture and simultaneously in accordance with our present time—a wonderful gift and a rare fortune in theology. It is a masterpiece on the biblical foundations of the Christian hope in the coming of God, without doomsday speculations and without the banalities of modern feeling-good-in-the-present-and-after-us-the-flood religion.

—Jürgen Moltmann, professor of systematic theology, the University of Tübingen

A remarkable achievement—a discussion of biblical eschatology that is fully informed by contemporary scholarship and written in such a way as to be accessible to any layperson. There is a tremendous need for this kind of writing, and very few scholars can write at this level of clarity.

—John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale Divinity School

There is nothing easy about eschatology. Thankfully, Craig Hill has produced a wonderful road map for laypeople and experts alike to follow during the difficult journey through God’s time. Hill plays a fine Sherlock Holmes, discovering new insights and fresh clues as to the meaning of the Bible’s prophetic and apocalyptic texts. Contemporary events make Hill’s treatment all the more compelling and his evaluation of popular biblical interpretations all the more urgent.

—Mike McCurry, White House Press Secretary, 1995–1998

This is a splendid, well-written book on a topic of continuing importance for the health of the church. A gifted teacher and a wise guide, Craig Hill explains the Bible’s teaching on ‘God’s time’ clearly and judiciously. He doesn’t assume any prior knowledge, nor does he duck the awkward questions his readers are likely to have. His book is packed with helpful insights for a wide range of readers. Many will wish the could have read this book years ago.

—Graham Stanton, professor of New Testament studies, King’s College

Hill writes for Christians who don’t know what (or how)to think about the End Time and what Scripture says about it. He tackles the hard questions and comes up with answers that are both specific and remarkably sane. While completely informed by the best scholarship, his prose is lively, unaffected, and clear. Here is the sort of writing too seldom found—work by an expert who actually says something helpful to ordinary people.

—Luke Timonthy Johnson, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins, Candler School of Theology

Every Sunday Christians confess belief in the ‘last things’—the second coming of Jesus, resurrection of the dead, and final judgment. Hill here provides students, pastors, and interested laity with a much-needed guide to New Testament eschatology and its Jewish roots. He includes a helpful guide to reading apocalypses like Daniel and Revelation and explains the origins of contemporary beliefs about ‘the rapture.’ This book should be required seminary reading. Christians living in the twenty-first century need not abandon the core elements of their ancestors’ faith.

—Pheme Perkins, professor of New Testament, Boston College

Craig Hill’s book ranges widely over the biblical text to consider the way the Bible hopes. The book is attentive to the many different nuances given the permeating act of hope in Scripture.Hill shows how characteristic and crucial is hope for biblical faith and yet how liable it is to distortion and misreading. His book is an invitation to rethink the odd claim of faith in a cultural context where hope is either impossible or transposed into fanciful escape.

—Walter Brueggmann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary

Craig C. Hill is research professor of theological pedagogy and executive director of DMin and M.A.C.P. programs at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina.