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Description:This novel tells the story of the scribes who produced the book of Genesis. It is narrated by Keziah, the wife of Jonathan, one of the scribes. They collected the stories and put them together according to a detailed plan. These same scribes worked in the Jerusalem Academy during the time of the Davidic monarchy about 1000 BCE. The scribes understood their work to be a Royal Epic, and it helped bring Judah and Israel together and legitimize the throne of David. This epic was performed at the dedication of David''s palace, and it is interesting to note the interplay between the scribes'' text and the performance of the minstrels.About the Contributor(s):Loren R. Fisher was Professor of Hebrew Bible at the Claremont School of Theology and Professor of Semitic Languages and Literature at the Claremont Graduate University. He has taught at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Montana, and is author of Genesis: A Royal Epic (Wipf & Stock, 2011) and coeditor of The Claremont Ras Shamra Tablets.

Description:Servantship is essentially about following our Lord Jesus Christ, the servant Lord, and his mission--it is a life of discipleship to him, patterned after his self-emptying, humility, sacrifice, love, values, and mission. Servantship is humbly valuing others more than yourself, and looking out for the interests and wellbeing of others. Servantship is the cultivation of the same attitude of mind Christ Jesus had: making yourself nothing, being a servant, humbling yourself, and submitting yourself to the will and purposes of the triune God. Since servantship is the imitation of Christ, it involves an unreserved participation in the missio Dei--the Trinitarian mission of God.In this pioneering work, sixteen servants describe the four movements of radical servantship. Servantship is the movement1. from leadership to radical servantship; 2. from shallowness to dynamic theological reflection; 3. from theories to courageous practices; and 4. from forgetfulness to transforming memory. Servantship recognizes, in word, thought, and deed, that ""whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.""

The interpretation of any written discourse is problematic, which is the concern of this book. The relevant hermeneutical questions are: Do authors communicate their intention so that understanding of their intent is possible? Can a person other than an author speak through an author's text? Can individual meaning, which is personal, ever be regarded as equivalent to that of the author? Any assertion of God speaking in and through the biblical text must first deal with these hermeneutical questions. Questions of the existence and speaking of God are matters of belief. However, questions asking can a God who exists speak so that I understand His intention, and can my meaning be relative to His, these are matters of hermeneutics. The answer in contemporary philosophical approaches to texts has been to declare a resounding no, creating confusion for someone seeking to deal with God's intention for their lives in understanding biblical text. This must be addressed and not treated dismissively. When this is done a resounding yes is disclosed as valid hermeneutically, opening new horizons not only in dealing with biblical text but with any author's text. This is not Christianized hermeneutics but an answer for the Christian hermeneut.

Most commentaries on Acts are written by Western scholars for a Western audience. This book comes out of more than forty years of teaching in the Majority World. It is aimed at the new breed of emerging missionaries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The apostles in Acts faced a hostile world. Yet in that context, the Holy Spirit gave them incredible courage. The scenes of Peter, Stephen, and Paul facing angry mobs and the fury of the Jewish Sanhedrin are being played out in India, China, and Eritrea today. Acts teaches us how to have a "courageous witness in a hostile world." Further, this work addresses the powerful forces that assault the worldwide church--particularly the racism that splits the church all over the world. Acts: Courageous Witness in a Hostile World will thrill you as you see how God's Spirit overcomes every obstacle and keeps the church on track, even when we think all is lost. Read this book for yourself and become courageous.

In November 2010, Republican Scott Walker was elected Governor of Wisconsin. In something of a Tea Party sweep, the iconic Russ Feingold lost his seat in the U.S. Senate and the Wisconsin legislature became Republican in both chambers. In early 2011, Governor Walker announced a ""budget repair bill"" that, among other things, gutted collective bargaining rights for most public sector unions. Outraged citizens occupied the state capitol for weeks in an outpouring of opposition, the likes of which had not been seen in Wisconsin since the protests against the war in Vietnam in the 1960s.Various recall elections were held in the summer of 2011 (all in regard to the state senate), with another set of elections in June 2012; among them the governor's recall was paramount. Democrats regained control of the senate, but Scott Walker defeated Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett and kept the governor's mansion. Many Democrats were stunned by the failed recall.These essays probe that failure. Every contributor has a unique perspective, but lurking near the core of that probing are two key issues: the extent to which corporations have taken over government and whether ecological crises are revealing conventional politics as complicit in disaster.

No portion of Scripture has been more influential in renewing church and society than Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. This book invites groups and individuals into a transformative engagement with these remarkable teachings of Jesus. Accessible consideration of each major text is complemented by suggestions for multisensory methods by which to enrich the study--quotes, questions, application exercises, songs, and prayers. Faith communities are challenged not only to study the Sermon on the Mount but to begin practicing these radical teachings of Jesus. In addition to use in congregations, this volume is recommended for college and seminary classes that seek holistic methods for engaging biblical texts.

The Ministry of Vincent Van Gogh in Religion and Art surveys the historical venues where Van Gogh's life and work unfolded--Aldersgate, England, Amsterdam, Au Borinage, Antwerp, Asnieres-sur-Seine, Arles, Auvers-sur-Oise--culminating in an assessment of his legacy. Arguing that he is a painter-evangelist, a man of authentic religious calling, it demonstrates a novel thesis that theological spirituality is the genius of both his religious ministry and his art.

Committing theology to poetry is not new, but it's not wildly common. The Sunrise Liturgy aims to do just that. It is a sequence, like liturgy, with a start and a procession and a finish. The sun does the processing, and the play on sun and Son is never far from sight. Sunrise gives the cantus firmus to this theological theme and variations, where the going is by turns easy, by turns thickly polyphonic--take a deep breath! The cantus firmus shifts from voice to voice, disappearing, towards year's end, beyond the audible range of human mortals. But there are other mortals in this procession of the year, "acolytes of the Holy Impotence," and under and beside and through it all flows the St. Lawrence River, le fleuve, winding across the page, a tidal presence at once natural and mystical. As are the snow geese. As is the heron. There is an attempt to wrestle with a credible theodicy, especially environmental. There is a profound penchant for the eremitic, with nods to The Cloud of Unknowing and Gregory of Nyssa. And always there is the priestly sense of "performance," enactment, and Eucharist, for this is a priest speaking.

Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them"" (Psalm 111:2, NASB).When treating the life of Moses the psalmist wrote: ""The Lord remembered His promise given to his servant Abraham, and brought His people out of Egypt with rejoicing, His chosen ones with shouts of joy. He also gave them the lands of the nations, that they might take possession of the fruit of other people's labor ..."" (Psalm 105:42-44)The story of the Exodus is an intriguing one. Moses first attempted to help his people without God's call, expecting success as a result of his own ability. In the end he never undertook anything without God's guidance, and it is no wonder that He is linked with Samuel as an example of the power of intercessory prayer (Jeremiah 15:1).As to Moses' character, the only strong personal trait which we are able to glean from the biblical text comes from Numbers 12:3, where the word ""meek"" should be rendered ""much enduring, or strength under control,"" for he persevered through extremely difficult, trying circumstances. It is no wonder, therefore, that after performing the task the Lord had given him, he became known as a man of enduring faith (cf. Hebrews 11:24-29).

In 1843 the Church of Scotland split apart. In the Disruption, as it was called, those who left to form the Free Church of Scotland claimed they did so because the law denied congregations the freedom to elect their own pastor. As they saw it, this fundamental Christian right had been usurped by lay patrons, who, by the Patronage Act of 1712, had been given the privilege of choosing and presenting parish ministers.But lay patronage was nothing new to the Church in Scotland, and to this day it remains an acceptable practice south of the border. What were the issues that made Scotland different?To date, little work has been done on the history of Scottish lay patronage and how antipathy to it developed. In A Great Grievance, Laurence Whitley traces the way attitudes ebbed and flowed from earliest times, and then in the main body of the book, looks at the place of Scottish lay patronage in the extraordinary and complex period in British history that followed the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The book examines some of the myths and controversies that sprung up and draws some unexpected conclusions.

Luke-Acts is an impressive two-volume narrative seeking to convince and engage readers regarding the spiritual impact of Jesus of Nazareth on the Jewish people and other nations. To this end, Luke employs an impressive arsenal of literary and narrative techniques. This book focuses on a motif and its performance, the thoroughfare motif, which includes those figurative and concrete expressions involving ways, roads, city streets, and country paths. This study traces this motif's performance within the unfolding plot asking what difference the motif makes--progressively and cumulatively--to the reader's encounter with the story's emphasis on salvation. For example, why does Luke take pleasure in describing transformational events on or in relation to thoroughfares? What are the connections between expressions like "the way of peace," "the way of salvation," and "the way of God/Lord"? Why does Luke use such an unusual expression like "the Way" to describe Jesus' followers? How do such expressions contribute to the spiritual landscape of Luke-Acts, the intermingling of concrete and figurative uses of physical imagery? Like an instrument in an orchestra, the thoroughfare motif works together with other motifs and themes to create a captivating exploration of spiritual transformation, received and opposed.

Global Christianity has been experiencing an unprecedented historical transition from the West to the non-Western world. The leadership of global Christianity has taken on a new face since the twentieth century. Christendom in Europe and America has experienced a great decline while there has been a rise in Majority World Christianity. Churches in the Global South have given their voices to global Christianity through their leadership, world mission movements, and theology. The phenomenal church growth has risen from the Pentecostal and Charismatic movement. Pentecostalism has become the dominant force in global Christianity today. The Rise of the Global South examines the significance this shift has had on global Christianity by going through the history of Christianity in the West and the causes of the shift.

Alan Sell here presents a selection of his wide-ranging, informative, and entertaining reviews. Among philosophical themes discussed are Locke and the Enlightenment, Richard Price, John Stuart Mill, philosophical idealism, and analytical philosophy of education and of religion. Historical studies run from the Middle Ages onwards, and encompass English, Welsh, and Scottish Nonconformity, the Evangelical Revival, the Oxford Movement, theological education, American Reformed thinkers, the crisis of belief and the Social Gospel in Canada, and evangelical and liberal theology. Theological topics include Origen, Calvin, and Dutch Reformed thinkers, American Baptists, Mercersburg Theology, Scottish theology, liberation theology, assurance, the atonement, ecclesiology, ecumenism, art and theology, Christian ethics, worship and spirituality.

John Goodwin (1593-1665), the eminent Puritan Arminian divine, was a man ahead of his time who lived in a turbulent era in which many principals, both theological and governmental, were subjects of controversy. This new edition of Redemption Redeemed (originally published in 1651), provides a major refutation of the Calvinistic limited atonement doctrine. Goodwin has written an adversarial treatise in which he, step by step, examines the overwhelming scriptural and theological evidence supporting the idea that Christ died for all mankind. He also refutes the opposing arguments of his day and argues that God, through his grace, provides the opportunity for all people to be saved. The Methodist Quarterly Review noted: "Had Redemption Redeemed been his only publication, it should have been enough in itself to perpetuate his (Goodwin's) fame. Its great learning, clear reasoning, sound judgment, and admirable spirit, render it worthy of the study of the lovers of this glorious doctrine, and the name of its author is one which all Arminians should delight to honor. A volume so ably written, and going to the bottom of the controversy, could not in that polemical age fail to create a storm." In the contemporary period, as Christians enter the 21st Century and Calvinism with its disturbing implications is making a resurgence, Goodwin's masterful work is a welcome and much needed contribution to those seeking to understand the truths of God's word.

William Palmer Ladd''s Prayer Book Interleaves was the most influential book on liturgical reform in the U.S. Episcopal Church of the mid-twentieth century. At the centenary of his appointment as Dean of Berkeley Divinity School, and as a new period of liturgical renewal beckons, this new edition of Ladd''s reflection offers wisdom, insight, and humor which remain relevant to the practice of liturgy and to its renewal.William Palmer Ladd (1870-1941), was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire. He received his BA from Dartmouth in 1891 and his BD from the General Theological Seminary in 1897. He also studied at the University of Paris, Oxford University, and the University of Leipzig.

A study of the sixteenth century Anabaptist theology of baptism. Armour specifically looks at the thought of Balthasar Hubmaier, Hans Hut, Melchior Hofmann, and Pilgram Marpeck.

In the sea of Luther studies, this volume stands out as one of the best available in English. It is a condensed retrospective of the most significant Reformation research of the last decade, and it is clearly written with verve, insight, and humor. -- CHOICE Gritsch has provided us with a full-scale, one-volume biography of Luther. The work is meticulously documented and the bibliography at the end will alone warrant the price of the book. -- Roland H. Bainton This book will be an invaluable source of information for students of the Lutheran Reformation. Ecumenists will find in its pages a great resource in their efforts to deal with issues that have been church - divisive. -- Carl J. Peter, Catholic University of America

Wisdom literature, asserts the author, is grounded in the theological tradition of creation. For the Wisdom writers of Israel and early Judaism, God is the maker of heaven and earth, whose creativity both forms and sustains the world. The very nature of God is to create life, to sustain it, and to ensure that it flourishes. God's originating acts of creation and sustaining providence provide the basis for faith, worship, and ethics. Leo G. Perdue grounds his reconstruction of the theology of Wisdom in the creation metaphors residing witin the language of the sages--metaphors that derive from Israelite creation traditions and the mythologies of the ancient Near East. He focuses on the differences and interactions between two sets of creation metaphors: those dealing with the creation of the world (cosmology), and those centering on the creation of humankind (anthropology). The contemporary importance of the creation theology of Wisdom literature, says the author, is that it can move the church away from one-sided emphasis on salvation history and eschatology to a serious participation in environmental concerns and social justice. Wisdom and Creation provides a thorough yet accessible discussion of the theological message of this important part of the Bible.

This book is concerned with religious revivalism in the United States since 1825. It attempts to explain the part which revivalism has played, and is playing today, in the social, intellectual, and religious life of America. The aim has been, in describing the development of modern revivalism and the men who devoted their lives to it, to look below the surface phenomenon in an effort to discover why revivals have constantly recurred, what their effects have been, and what they meant not only to those directly concerned but to all Americans. If the revivals of the past century and a quarter have not always been the crucial factors in the course of American history that their devout exponents claimed, they have nevertheless been more significant than the social historians have yet acknowledged. from the Preface

The United Nations Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) entrusted author James Robinson with tracking down the place where the Nag Hammadi Codices had been discovered. Priests whom the author interviewed in the region told Robinson that the codices had once been in the possession of a priest in the town of Dishna, a bit further upstream than Nag Hammadi itself. Robinson found that this priest had not had the Nag Hammadi Codices but rather the Bodmer Papyri. For Dishna is where the monastery headquarters of the first monastic order was located. The Bodmer Papyri discovery consisted of all that was left of the library of the Pachomian monastic order: Coptic letters of Pachomius and very early Greek copies of Luke and John, perhaps donated when Athanasius was in hiding at the monastery. These treasures were preserved in a jar hidden in the mountain where monks were buried. This book traces the story of the Bodmer Papyri from beginning to end.

I would urge everyone to receive this book with openness and understanding. Written by an African Christian woman, it is a serious attempt to speak of the fullness of the Gospel to the specific African context. As one individual's struggle to give account of the hope that lies in her, it is a passionate and sincere work, and a welcome contribution to the growing genre of religious literature known as liberation theology. The author seeks not only to speak to us but also to move us and bring us to different ways of 'hearing and knowing.' She has succeeded with me. -Lamin Sanneh Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard University This book is a remarkable synthesis of history, theology, and missions. It is one of the most important books of the decade because it is written by a Ghanian Christian woman who resides in Nigeria and has travelled the world-over demanding that we no longer allow traditional theological puzzles to go unexamined. Oduyoye's writings are like a breath of fresh air to women in ministry and in the church. -Katie G. Cannon Episcopal Divinity School Amber Oduyoye is Africa's leading woman theologian. In this book we meet a woman of faith reflecting in a scholarly and meditative way on Christianity in Africa. Learned in both the Western and African theological traditions, Professor Oduyoye brings constructive criticism to bear on each in the interest of promoting a wider community of wholeness. -Peter J. Paris Princeton Theological Seminary

How does a Christian render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and unto God what is God's? This book is the result of the Bingham Colloquium of 2007 that brought scholars from across North America to examine the New Testament's response to the empires of God and Caesar. Two chapters lay the foundation for that response in the Old Testament's concept of empire, and six others address the response to the notion of empire, both human and divine, in the various authors of the New Testament. A final chapter investigates how the church fathers regarded the matter. The essays display various methods and positions; together, however, they offer a representative sample of the current state of study of the notion of empire in the New Testament.

Too often the negative characterization of ""others"" in the biblical text is applied to groups and persons beyond the text whom we wish to define as the Other. Otherness is a synthetic and political social construct that allows us to create and maintain boundaries between ""them"" and ""us."" The other that is too similar to us is most problematic. This book demonstrates how proximate characters are constructed as the Other in the Acts of the Apostles. Charismatics, Jews, and women are proximate others who are constructed as the external and internal Other.

The Aims of Jesus by Ben Meyer is volume 48 of the Princeton Theological Monograph Series. This edition is a digitally scanned facsimile originally published my SCM Press in 1979.

Mark Yantzi provides new methods for dealing with the pervasive problem of sexual abuse. He shows caring ways to confront and support those who have offended. He also calls for understanding and compassion toward those victimized by sexual wrongdoing. Yantzi's unique approach is illustrated through case examples and candid dialogue by a group of victims and those who have offended. Readers hear authentic voices and share in the process toward healing. The book honors the words of victims, offenders, their families, and communities.

In this challenging and vividly written book Dr. Wilken shows that there never was a golden age in the Christian past. Christian hope did not come to fulfillment in the age of apostles, nor in the time of Constantine, nor in the Middle Ages, nor during the Reformation, nor in the revivals of the 19th century, nor in the movements of renewal in our own time. The history of Christianity is a story of imperfection and fragmentation, but also a history of hoping and striving for an end that cannot be seen yet bears on the present. With lively examples from the Christian past Wilken shows that change has been an abiding feature of Christian tradition. Often those who proposed new ways of thinking and acted in unexpected ways turned out to be more faithful than those who repeated the old formulas. As much as the past may give specificity and concreteness to renewal in the present Christian hope is set on things that are yet to be.

Christian communities today face enormous challenges in the new contexts and teachings that try to redefine what churches should be. Christians look to the New Testament for a pattern for the church, but the New Testament does not present a totally uniform picture of the structure, leadership, and sacraments practiced by first-century congregations. There was a unity of the Christian communities centered on the teaching that Jesus is the Christ, whom God has raised from the dead and has enthroned as Lord, yet not every assembly did exactly the same thing and saw themselves in exactly the same way. Rather, in the New Testament we find a collage of rich theological insights into what it means to be the church. When leaders of today see this diversity, they can look for New Testament ecclesiologies that are most relevant to the social and cultural context in which their community lives. This volume of essays, written with the latest scholarship, highlights the uniqueness of individual ecclesiologies of the various New Testament documents and their core unifying themes.

This volume is not, as a glance at any page will show, a translation of St. Augustine's 'Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount', but an attempt to draw from the whole circle of his writings (that one of course included), what of most valuable he has contributed for the elucidation, or for the turning to practical uses, of this portion of Holy Scripture. . . . It is not my intention to offer in the pages which follow any estimate of the worth and significance of St. Augustine's theology, regarded as a whole; but so far as possible to restrict myself to the subject indicated by thte title of this Essay, and to consider him in a single light, that is, as an interpreter of Scripture. -- from the Preface