Ben Witherington, III – författare

This book was the first of its kind: a socio-rhetorical commentary on the Book of Revelation. Without sacrificing scholarly perspective or academic rigor, it is written to be accessible for a wide audience - including pastors, scholars, teachers, seminarians, and interested lay people. A 'Suggested Reading List' - a feature of all volumes in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary - will serve as point of entry for the new student of Revelation and as a helpful annotated bibliography for all readers. Frequent 'Closer-Look' sections examine key elements of the Roman-Greco world that bear on the text's meaning while 'Bridging the Horizons' sub-chapters connect this world with the cultural, political, and religious environments of today. The entire NRSV translation is provided throughout the text. Award-winning author Ben Witherington, III brings a New Testament-scholar's insight and successful clergyman's lucidity to the often opaque passages of the last book of the New Testament.

These seminal essays introduce the reader to the interdisciplinary approach of New Testament scholarship which is affecting the way the Book of Acts is studied and interpreted. Insights from the social sciences, narratological studies, Greek and Roman rhetoric and history, and classics, set the Acts of the Apostles in its original historical, literary and social context; these methods of interpretation have not always been applied to biblical study in a systematic way. The discussions from a shared general perspective range over genre and method, historical and theological problems, and issues of literary criticism. History, Literature and Society in the Book of Acts is an interesting and valuable overview of some of the chief preoccupations of biblical studies with contributions from leading scholars in the Old and New Testaments and the history of antiquity.

Women in the Ministry of Jesus is a study of both of Jesus' attitudes towards women as reflected in his words and deeds, and of the women who were part of his ministry, or who interacted with him according to the Gospel accounts. The book seeks to provide a balanced analysis of the relevant Biblical material, and also the historical background necessary to illuminate the setting of the Gospel events. Particular attention is given to related issues such as Jesus' views on marriage, the family and the single life, as well as his teaching on adultery, the laws of the clean and unclean and the sabbath. Witherington concludes that Jesus cannot be categorized neatly either as chauvinist or as feminist.

Women in the Ministry of Jesus is a study of both of Jesus' attitudes towards women as reflected in his words and deeds, and of the women who were part of his ministry, or who interacted with him according to the Gospel accounts. The book seeks to provide a balanced analysis of the relevant Biblical material, and also the historical background necessary to illuminate the setting of the Gospel events. Particular attention is given to related issues such as Jesus' views on marriage, the family and the single life, as well as his teaching on adultery, the laws of the clean and unclean and the sabbath. Witherington concludes that Jesus cannot be categorized neatly either as chauvinist or as feminist.

This book examines the roles and functions that women assumed in the early Christian communities from AD 33 to the Council of Nicaea. It surveys, too, the views about women held by various New Testament authors including Paul and the Evangelists. In a careful and judicious study, Ben Witherington shows that early Christianity was neither unreservedly patriarchal nor adamantly feminist in its view of women and their roles, but rather charted a middle course which combined a reforming of the predominantly patriarchal framework of society with an affirmation of new religious roles for women. Now available in paperback, this is the first book to survey such a large amount of material exegetically, and make use, at the same time, of original languages and texts.

These seminal essays introduce the reader to the interdisciplinary approach of New Testament scholarship which is affecting the way the Book of Acts is studied and interpreted. Insights from the social sciences, narratological studies, Greek and Roman rhetoric and history, and classics, set the Acts of the Apostles in its original historical, literary and social context; these methods of interpretation have not always been applied to biblical study in a systematic way. The discussions from a shared general perspective range over genre and method, historical and theological problems, and issues of literary criticism. History, Literature and Society in the Book of Acts is an interesting and valuable overview of some of the chief preoccupations of biblical studies with contributions from leading scholars in the Old and New Testaments and the history of antiquity.

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of one of the four New Testament gospels and brings a unique approach to the genre of Bible commentary. Featuring distinct Jewish and Christian voices in respectful conversation, Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington, III methodologically break new ground in exploring why scholars disagree on questions of history (what actually happened, what is authorial invention, how do we address different versions of the same account), literature (what does this story tell us about Jesus and Peter, Mary Magdalene and Judas, among other characters), and theology (what can we say about resurrection and divine justice, or about Jesus as the Messiah). They show how Luke has been used to create both tragedy and hope, as well as to promote sexism, anti-semitism, and religious intolerance, thereby raising important questions regarding ethically responsible interpretation. This volume will be essential reading for theologians, clergy, and anyone interested in biblical studies and Jewish/Christian dialogue.

This book was the first of its kind: a socio-rhetorical commentary on the Book of Revelation. Without sacrificing scholarly perspective or academic rigor, it is written to be accessible for a wide audience - including pastors, scholars, teachers, seminarians, and interested lay people. A 'Suggested Reading List' - a feature of all volumes in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary - will serve as point of entry for the new student of Revelation and as a helpful annotated bibliography for all readers. Frequent 'Closer-Look' sections examine key elements of the Roman-Greco world that bear on the text's meaning while 'Bridging the Horizons' sub-chapters connect this world with the cultural, political, and religious environments of today. The entire NRSV translation is provided throughout the text. Award-winning author Ben Witherington, III brings a New Testament-scholar's insight and successful clergyman's lucidity to the often opaque passages of the last book of the New Testament.

This volume offers a comprehensive overview of one of the four New Testament gospels and brings a unique approach to the genre of Bible commentary. Featuring distinct Jewish and Christian voices in respectful conversation, Amy-Jill Levine and Ben Witherington, III methodologically break new ground in exploring why scholars disagree on questions of history (what actually happened, what is authorial invention, how do we address different versions of the same account), literature (what does this story tell us about Jesus and Peter, Mary Magdalene and Judas, among other characters), and theology (what can we say about resurrection and divine justice, or about Jesus as the Messiah). They show how Luke has been used to create both tragedy and hope, as well as to promote sexism, anti-semitism, and religious intolerance, thereby raising important questions regarding ethically responsible interpretation. This volume will be essential reading for theologians, clergy, and anyone interested in biblical studies and Jewish/Christian dialogue.

Jesus as depicted in the Fourth Gospel is remarkably dissimilar to the Jesus found in the Synoptic Gospels. In this book, Ben Witherington III places the Gospel of John within its proper literary, historical, social, and theological contexts, especially those dealing with the wisdom traditions of Hellenistic Judaism. What emerges is a compelling argument that the Gospel of John has an agenda for mission in addition to concerns for discipleship and community life.

Who was the real Paul? For more than a decade there has been a renewed quest for the figure behind the Pauline letters and the Acts of the Apostles. In this important contribution to the debate, Ben Witherington provides a profile of Paul in his context as a first-century Jewish Christian and a citizen of the classical Roman world. The author engages constructively with recent scholarship in gleaning numerous fascinating insights into the Jew of Tarsus, and show how these contribute to our understanding of his writings.

In Biblical Theology, Ben Witherington, III, examines the theology of the Old and New Testaments as a totality. Going beyond an account of carefully crafted Old and New Testament theologies, he demonstrates the ideas that make the Bible a sacred book with a unified theology. Witherington brings a distinctive methodology to this study. Taking a constructive approach, he first examines the foundations of the writers' symbolic universe - what they thought and presupposed about God - and how they revealed those thoughts through the narratives of the Old and New Testaments. He also shows how the historical contexts and intellectual worlds of the Old and New Testaments conditioned their narratives, and, in the process, created a large coherent Biblical world view, one that progressively reveals the character and action of God. Thus, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, the Son in the Gospels, and the Father, Son, and Spirit in the New Testament writings are viewed as persons who are part of the singular divine identity. Witherington's progressive revelation approach allows each part of the canon to be read in its original context and with its original meaning.

In Biblical Theology, Ben Witherington, III, examines the theology of the Old and New Testaments as a totality. Going beyond an account of carefully crafted Old and New Testament theologies, he demonstrates the ideas that make the Bible a sacred book with a unified theology. Witherington brings a distinctive methodology to this study. Taking a constructive approach, he first examines the foundations of the writers' symbolic universe - what they thought and presupposed about God - and how they revealed those thoughts through the narratives of the Old and New Testaments. He also shows how the historical contexts and intellectual worlds of the Old and New Testaments conditioned their narratives, and, in the process, created a large coherent Biblical world view, one that progressively reveals the character and action of God. Thus, the Yahweh of the Old Testament, the Son in the Gospels, and the Father, Son, and Spirit in the New Testament writings are viewed as persons who are part of the singular divine identity. Witherington's progressive revelation approach allows each part of the canon to be read in its original context and with its original meaning.

There is no doubting the legacy of Protestant Reformers and their successors. Luther, Calvin, and Wesley not only spawned specific denominational traditions, but their writings have been instrumental in forging a broadly embraced evangelical theology as well. Ben Witherington wrestles with some of the big ideas of these major traditional theological systems (sin, God's sovereignty, prophecy, grace, and the Holy Spirit), asking tough questions about their biblical foundations. Advocating a return to Protestantism's sola scriptura roots, Witherington argues that evangelicalism sometimes wrongly assumes a biblical warrant for some of its more popular beliefs.Witherington pushes the reader to engage the larger story and plot of the Bible in order to understand the crucial theological elements of Protestant belief. The Problem with Evangelical Theology casts today's evangelical belief and practice - be it Calvinistic, Wesleyan, Dispensational, or Pentecostal - in the light of its scriptural origins. Witherington offers a comprehensive description of evangelical theology while concurrently providing an insistent corrective to its departures from both tradition and text.

In this final installment of his trilogy on the central ordinances of the Christian faith (baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the proclamation of God's Word), Ben Witherington asks: What does it mean to call the Bible "God's word"? In doing so, he takes on other recent studies which downplay the connection between history and theology, or between historical accuracy and truth claims. The Bible is not merely to be viewed as a Word about God, Witherington argues. Instead, he says, the Bible exhorts us to see the Bible as a living Word from God.

There is no doubting the legacy of the Protestant Reformers and their successors. Luther, Calvin, and Wesley not only spawned specific denominational traditions, but their writings have been instrumental in forging a broadly embraced evangelical theology as well. In this volume, Ben Witherington wrestles with some of the big ideas of these major traditional theological systems (sin, God's sovereignty, prophecy, grace, and the Holy Spirit), asking tough questions about their biblical foundations. Witherington argues that evangelicalism sometimes wrongly assumes a biblical warrant for some of its more popular beliefs, and, further, he pushes the reader to engage the larger story and plot of the Bible to understand these central elements of belief.

In modern times, evangelical Protestants have advocated for the belief that the Bible is the only real standard of truth and true Christian praxis for the church. But is this how the early Jews and Christians, who wrote the biblical books, viewed their sacred texts? And what counted as those sacred texts? Furthermore, there is often a lack of clarity as to what is meant by the famous phrase that became a motto of the German Reformation: sola scriptura. Does it mean that the Bible is the only authority for Christian faith and practice, or does it mean the Bible is the final authority, allowing non-biblical traditions, human reason, and perhaps even experience to have some authority in the church? With this magisterial study, Ben Witherington III invites readers to go back to the time of the writing of the Bible and look at what is said about the sacred texts with a specific focus on how the authority of such texts was viewed. Witherington then walks through Christian history until the point where the phrase sola scriptura actually appears as an authority claim of some kind. Surprisingly, it does not show up until the fourteenth century A.D. and not in the writings of a Protestant. From there, Witherington examines how the phrase continued to be used in the various Reformations and into the modern era. The story of Sola Scriptura also involves the rise of science, the effect of the Enlightenment, and changes in views about human sexuality that have affected the discussion of the Bible's authority in various ways. Students of Scripture, budding scholars, pastors, and laity alike stand to benefit from this book as Christians of all stripes are confronted by the same crises: a profound historical amnesia that is affecting even churches which are bibliocentric; the general chaos in Western culture that has further alienated younger generations from the church and angered the older generations who still attend church; and the increasing biblical illiteracy in the church, including in its pulpits, which has led to churches taking their signals and sense of direction from the culture rather than the biblical witness itself. Such crises will not be overcome without a serious coming to grips with the Bible, its history, and its authority for the Christian life.