Bloomsbury Academic Collections: Biblical Studies – serie

First published in 1916, this volume remains an important contribution to studies on the Book of Job, and is an esteemed text by two of the finest biblical scholars of the beginning of the twentieth century.

A comprehensive examination of the Chronicles by Curtis and Madsen, including critical discussions on historical and religious value, variations of the text and the genealogy and history of David, Solomon and Judah.

A key text in the study of the minor prophets, this volume by distinguished academic William Rainey Harper offers a comprehensive look at the pre-prophetic movement, and in-depth analysis of meaning and literary form in these prophetic works.

Covering the period from the Maccabean revolt to the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus, Fairweather's impressive work should be an important point of reference for those wanting to develop their knowledge on the evolution of Judaism as a spiritual movement.

Important essays on Gnosis and Gnosticism. Contributors include Rudolph, Pagels, Grant, and Barrett.

This volume is an original and important contribution to the study of the earliest Palestinian Jewish Christianity. For the first time all the evidence for the role which relatives of Jesus played in the early church is assembled and assessed. Dr. Bauckham discusses a wide range of evidence, not only from the New Testament but also from the Church Fathers, the New Testament Apocrypha, rabbinic literature and Palestinian archaeology. The letter of Jude, in particular, proves to have much to teach us about the theology of the brothers of Jesus and their circle. It illuminates their exegetical methods and their Christology and shows both to have been influential contributions to the development of early Christianity.This study shows that this neglected New Testament book is far more important for the study of early Christianity than has hitherto been recognized. By setting the letter of Jude within the context of the evidence for the role of relatives of Jesus in the early church, new insights can be revealed into the letter and early Jewish Christianity.

A historical examination of the administration in Palestine between 100 BC and AD 70. Detailed case studies of such sources as Josephus, the New Testament and Philo establish who was actually involved in the decision-making process and political manoeuvering. The main issues addressed include: whether there was a system of Jewish government, and whether it included a permanent institution, the Sanhedrin; whether there is evidence that political and religious affairs were separated; whether the Jews were able to convict and execute people under Roman rule; what roles, if any, were played by individuals and social or religious groups in the administration; and what the motivation of those involved in the administration may have been.

What is an 'echo' of Scripture? How can we detect echoes of the Old Testament in Paul, and how does their detection facilitate interpretation of the Pauline text? These are questions addressed by this collection of essays from the SBL programme unit Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity. The first part of the book reports its vigorous 1990 discussion of Richard Hays's 'Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul', including contributions by Craig Evans, James Sanders, William Scott Green and Christiaan Beker, as well as a response by R.B. Hays. The second part of the book studies specific passages where reference is made to the Old Testament explicitly or allusively. The contributors here are James Sanders, Linda Belleville, Carol Stockhausen, James Scott, Nancy Calvert and Stephen Brown.

Lieu examines theological and historical issues within the Johannine tradition.

This probe into Paul's theology argues that in his eschatological thinking there is a conceptual overlap between Jesus and God. As in several pseudepigraphical texts, there is in Paul a certain identification of the roles of God and the messianic figure. Especially in Paul's doctrines of the parousia and the final judgment this overlap features the Old Testament idea of the Day of the Lord Yahweh becoming transposed into the Day of the Lord Christ. In examining Paul's teaching on the messiah and the Kingdom, Kreitzer offers a penetrating analysis of how Paul balanced theocentricity and christocentricity within his eschatology, and how the theme of Christ's subordination to God is interjected into his doctrine.

Towner explores traditional and more contemporary interpretations of Christian existence in the Pastoral Epistles, offering a valuable contribution to studies in this area.

The relationship between the messages of Jesus and Paul, once dubbed by one scholar 'the second founder of Christianity', must count as one of the most central issues in the study of the New Testament. The essays collected in this volume first survey the history of the study of this problem, and look at some of the main evidence for supposing that the connection between Jesus and Paul was slight, notably the paucity of Paul's references to Jesus' teachings and his seeming disinterest in the earthly Jesus. Other essays take up the question of the continuity between the teaching and the manner of life of the two men, and raise the question how this continuity may have been mediated from one to the other. A final essay raises the question how far Paul's statements about Christ were related to the earthly life of Jesus. This volume brings together a number of substantial contributions to this question, by Professor V.P. Furnish of Dallas, by two scholars from the German Democratic Republic, Professor N. Walter and Dr C. Wolff, and by the editor.

To develop a method for identifying Paul's opponents it is first necessary to analyse procedures used by previous scholars. Too little attention has been paid in the past to issues of method, and many procedures have been used which violate the canons of historical research. In the first place, limits should be set upon the use of historical reconstructions and of external sources, and the determinative source for identifying the opponents of any letter must be that letter itself. Secondly, a satisfactory method will analyse passages within the primary text according to the nature of the section (e.g. polemical or didactic) and the types of statements they contain (e.g. explicit statements about opponents or allusions to them). Then each combination of context and statement type is evaluated to determine (1) how certain we can be about whether the passage refers to opponents and (2) how much distortion is likely to be present. The application of the proposed method to the two letters within 2 Corinthians indicates that Paul faced the same group of opponents in both letters. These opponents were pneumatics who demanded a particular manner of life as evidence that a person possesses the measure of the spirit which makes one an apostle.

In this book Fowl examines the role played by three poetic texts, Phil. 2.6-11, Col. 1.15-20, and 1Tim. 3.16 in the arguments of their epistles. Rather than functioning as criteria of christological orthodoxy, these poetic narrations of Christ's person and work are used by Paul to support various ethical positions. For Paul and the Christians he addresses, these stories of Christ are exemplars for the life and practice of the church.

Part I of this work determines where Paul is dependent on Jewish and Hellenistic exegesis of the Moses story where he provides a fresh interpretation. Part II brings form-critical studies of the Greek papyri to bear on the epistolary function of these verses. Part III investigates first-century homiletic patterns, exegetical techniques and material parallels in order to illuminate the sequence of Paul's thought. At issue in these verses is Paul's apostolic credibility. Paul selectively weaves together text, tradition and haggadah, using accepted methods of text interpretation and a common Jewish homiletical form, to provide his readers with reliable standards of apostolic accreditation and to defend himself against those who sought to discredit him as a failure in reaching his own people.

This volume collects the best articles on the Pauline writings from the first fifty issues of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament. The range of the volume reflects the breadth of the journal itself. Here the reader will find ground-breaking studies which introduce new critical questions and move into fresh areas of enquiry, surveys of the state of play in this particular topic of New Testament studies, and articles which engage with each other in specific debates. For students this book offers an invaluable critical introduction to Pauline studies. More advanced students and scholars can use it to find background material or to gain an overview of the research in this area of scholarship. This builds on the reputation of JSNT as a conduit for first-class research and a major influence within the scholarly community.

The essays in this collection edited by Christopher M. Tuckett are taken from two conferences held at Ampleforth Abbey in 1982 and 1983. The discussion at these conferences centred on the issue of the Synoptic Problem, and special consideration was given to a critique of the 'two-document hypothesis' or the idea that the chronological ordering of Luke and Matthew after Mark enabled the two former to draw on the latter and, in addition, a document entitled 'Q'. This established idea has since been challenged, with new arguments suggesting that in fact Matthew originated first, and Mark was reliant on Matthew for its source material. This discussion has since been continued and while no definitive answer can be offered, this collection of essays promises a fascinating view of the issues that have arisen, and the attempts to reconcile and understand the Synoptic Problem.

This book addresses a central issue confronting the reader of the Gospel. Professor Bauer describes the impasse that has been reached in recent investigation of the structure of Matthew and demonstrates that an appreciation of literary design can provide a way forward. After identifying rhetorical features that relate to literary structure, he devotes the major part of his book to a systematic examination of such features as they appear in the Gospel in order to gain a fresh insight into the shape of the work. This study is valuable both for its comprehensive and judicious review of the question of structure in Matthew's Gospel and for the new direction which it establishes.

Mark has written a remarkable Gospel. Deceptively simple on the surface, its mystery and ambiguity have intrigued and challenged scholar and lay reader alike. Through veiled clues, controlled word usage and carefully contrived ambiguity, Mark embeds profound theological reflections in the stories he tells. The eschatological discourse (Mark 13) is a prime example. Modern scholars have attempted in vain to eliminate the ambiguities of Mark 13. Does Mark expect the End to come very soon? What is the relationship between the Fall of the Temple and the End of the Age? But the evidence indicates that Mark has deliberately produced the very uncertainty which has troubled scholars and which they want to eliminate. In Mark, attention is diverted from 'signs' and 'evidences' to the twin and inseparable themes of 'discernment' and 'discipleship'. These themes are captured by the two primary 'watchwords' of Mark 13, which call believers to understand the significance of events they experience and to serve (and if necessary suffer) faithfully in the unknown period before the return of the Son of Man. In his communication techniques, his content and his priorities, Mark models himself after the Jesus he portrays. He calls readers, as Jesus called disciples, to follow and to understand - and sometimes to follow without understanding - until the unknown future when the Son of Man will reveal in its fullness the Kingdom now secretly present for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Matthew's theology of the Spirit has received scant scholarly attention, a regrettable oversight since the evangelist is careful to note that the eschatological redemption described in his Gospel is the direct result of the activity of God's Spirit. Matthew's narrative of God's restoring work, which begins with Jesus and continues through his followers, is informed by, even as it extends, the larger biblical narrative concerning God's creative, redemptive, and restorative work at the centre of which stands his Spirit, his active presence. As the study elaborates upon the broad sweep of Matthew's interest in the Spirit, the operation of the Spirit is examined in relation to the three theological categories of christology, soteriology, and ecclesiology.

This volume collects the best articles on the Synoptic gospels from the first fifty issues of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament. The range of the volume reflects the breadth of the journal itself. Here the reader will find ground-breaking studies that introduce new critical questions and move into fresh areas of enquiry, surveys of the state of play in this particular topic of New Testament studies, and articles that engage with each other in specific debates. For undergraduates this book offers an invaluable critical introduction to Synoptic Gospel studies. More advanced students and scholars can use it to find background material or to gain an overview of the research in this area of scholarship. This builds on the reputation of JSNT as a conduit for first-class research and a major influence within the scholarly community.

Many recent studies recognize the feature of reversal in individual narratives in Luke. What contribution do they make to Luke's eschatology, and how do they enable us to define the historical audience of Luke's Gospel? York's study focuses on the numerous sayings, parables, and narratives in Luke that exhibit a double or 'bi-polar' reversal of fortunes. It concludes that this rhetorical form is a fundamental element in Luke's understanding of the death and resurrection of Jesus and the nature of life in the Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus.

This book offers a distinctive solution to the interpretative difficulties surrounding Matthew's Missionary Discourse. While the discourse proper lies within a narrative framework designating the setting of its delivery, the outlined mission does not at all points agree with the designated setting. Weaver shifts attention from historical-critical to literary-critical concerns. Rather than focusing on the historical setting(s) of the disciples' mission(s), she analyses the role of Mt. 9.35-11.1 within its literary setting in the Gospel and assesses the impact of this text on the reader of the Gospel.

An examination of the literary device of narrative asides, including parenthetical remarks addressed directly to the reader which interrupt the logical progression of the story and establish a relationship between the narrator and the narratee. Narrative asides in Luke-Acts are located, categorized according to their function, and examined within their literary context. With this discussion in mind, the book offers a narrative-critical exploration of the relationship of asides to the plot, narrator, and audience of Luke-Acts.

This book seeks to rehabilitate the Q hypothesis as the most satisfactory explanation of the so-called double tradition.

An extension of Turner's conclusions in Volume III of Moulton's Grammar of New Testament Greek. A positive contribution to the permanent meaning of controversial passages in the New Testament.

Published originally in 1926, Rost's Die Überlieferung von der Thronnachfolge Davids is fundamental to the study of Samuel and Kings. The story of the ark, the account of the Ammonite war, Nathan's prophecy concerning David's dynasty, and, above all, the succession narrative or 'court history' are singled out for thorough examination, with questions of style, theme and religious viewpoint dominating the discussion. His thesis is brilliantly argued and has sustained a remarkable measure of agreement over many decades, though criticism has grown in recent years. It remains mandatory reading for the study of Samuel and Kings, Hebrew narrative art, and history writing in ancient Israel. There is an extensive introduction by the late Edward Ball.

Gunkel's classic work of 1917 is a systematic investigation of the Old Testament in the light of the then emerging principles of folktale scholarship; he makes use, for example, not only of the contributions of the Grimm brothers but is aware of the research into classifications of tale types represented by the ground-breaking work of A. Aarne in 1910 and subsequently.

A translation of the valuable commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians by eminent 16th-century theologian Phlipp Melanchthon.