Christopher W. Skinner – författare

Volumes in New Word Biblical Themes: New Testament series offer short, accessible studies of the key themes of each book of the New Testament.

Each volume offers an introduction to the book, a brief exposition of the text with its basic background and a survey of its contents, an overview of its themes, and a deeper look at 3-5 key themes for understanding the book and for preaching and teaching.

The Gospel of Mark provided the church with its first written narrative of Jesus''s life and ministry. While often overlooked by early commentators in favor of the Gospels of Matthew and John, Mark''s seemingly understated account contains a remarkably organized literary structure with a distinctive vision of Jesus''s identity and mission, the in-breaking of God''s Kingdom, and a theology of discipleship.

In this volume, Skinner raises historical and literary questions with a view to elucidating some of Mark''s important themes and his unique contributions to our understanding of Jesus of Nazareth. In the process of outlining the valuable contributions of the gospel, Skinner attempts to provide a coherent reading of Mark''s themes in their broader literary context. This volume explores themes related to Jesus''s mission to the Jewish and Roman worlds and his role in inaugurating of God''s Kingdom, while demonstrating that Mark''s understanding of Jesus Christ was foundational to what became the written gospel tradition.

What does it mean to participate in the cruciform Lord Jesus Christ so that our life together becomes a living exegesis of the gospel?

Michael Gorman has been tremendously influential in exploring this question within the New Testament, particularly in the letters of Paul, the Gospel of John, and the book of Revelation. His 2001 book Cruciformity: Paul’s Narrative Spirituality of the Cross inspired a generation of scholars and was the first in a trilogy of New Testament theology devoted to exploring the role of the cross, participation in Christ, and becoming the gospel in mission. Here, an assemblage of some of the best and brightest current New Testament exegetes honor Gorman’s work with contributions of their own, each of which further explores these three critical themes in various passages of the New Testament.

Cruciform Scripture is more than a tribute to a giant of biblical scholarship. Its contributors (including N. T. Wright, Sylvia Keesmaat, and Richard Hays) are masters in their own right who offer incisive interpretations of essential themes of New Testament theology and the core concerns of Christian life in community. As they reason together in this volume, they amplify one another’s voices as well as Gorman’s, modeling a way that careful reflection on Paul’s determination to “know nothing . . . except Jesus Christ and him crucified” can engender fruitful insights on the nature of discipleship.Contributors

Ben C. Blackwell, Sherri Brown, Frank E. Dicken, Dennis R. Edwards, Rebekah Eklund, Dean Flemming, Patricia Fosarelli, Stephen E. Fowl, Nijay K. Gupta, Richard B. Hays, Andy Johnson, Sylvia C. Keesmaat, Brent Laytham, Christopher W. Skinner, Klyne R. Snodgrass, Drew J. Strait, and N. T. Wright.