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CONTENTSIntroductionPART ONE: The Social-Political Context of Apocalyptic and Wisdom Texts1. Ben Sira and the Sociology of the Second Temple2. The Politics of Cultural Production3. The Social Settings of the Components of 1 EnochPART TWO: Reconsiderations of Texts in Historical Contexts4. Israel at the Mercy of Demonic Powers: An Enochic Interpretation of Imperialism5. Social Relations and Social Conflict in the Epistle of Enoch6. Fourth Ezra: Anti-Apocalyptic Apocalypse7. Late Twentieth-Century Scribes' Study of Late Second Temple ScribesPART THREE: Questioning the Categories as Applied to the Gospels and James8. Questions about Wisdom and Apocalypticism9. Sayings of the Sages or Speeches of the Prophets? Reflections on the Genre of Q10. Apocalypticism and Wisdom: Missing in Mark11. Apocalypticism in the Gospels? The Kingdom of God and the Renewal of Israel12. The Rich and Poor in James: An Apocalyptic Ethic

Magisterial in scope and scrupulous in its investigation and attribution of sources, Church and Ethical Responsibility in the Midst of World Economy will take its place as an important document that contributes much in terms of prophetic praxis--it challenges those who are comfortably complacent and unwilling to be disturbed.

Description:This collection of essays celebrates the contribution of John Tudno Williams to the church, to biblical scholarship and teaching, and to the culture of Wales. Written by biblical scholars, historians, theologians, and authorities on Welsh culture, the papers gather around the central theme of the Bible: its interpretation and exegesis and its place in hymns as well as in the visual culture of Welsh Presbyterianism, in theological colleges, and in theological reflection and construction.Endorsements:CONTRIBUTORSWilliam S. Campbell Eryl W. Davies Kathy Ehrensperger Owen E. Evans Gareth Lloyd Jones John Gwynfor Jones D. Densil Morgan D. Huw Owen Brynley F. Roberts Alan P. F. Sell Allison A. Trites Stephen N. Williams About the Contributor(s):Alan P. F. Sell is a philosopher-theologian and ecumenist who has held posts in England, Geneva, Canada, and Wales. He publishes and lectures widely at home and abroad. His most recent book is Four Philosophical Anglicans (2010).

Patrick is dying a slow, agonizing death. He wants his friend, Dr. Ron Grey to help him-but not to help him get better. Instead Patrick wants Ron to help him end his suffering by helping him end his life.This is the premise of a story that Paul Chamberlain employs to reveal the ethical and emotional complexities of a movement that is gaining supporters daily. It is a story that sends Ron Grey on a difficult journey across a continent and through a minefield of conflicting ideas and values.Should people have a legal right to choose the time of their death? Can adequate safeguards be employed to protect the public from potential abuses of physician-assisted suicide laws? What does it mean for people to die with dignity? Will people feel an obligation not to burden their families with their prolonged illness? What has been the experience in the Netherlands, which has had a physician-assisted suicide law for over twenty-five years? What about the possibility of misdiagnosis? Is there a legitimate public interest in what appears to be a purely private act? Can morality be legislated at all?All of these vital issues are clearly and carefully considered. Yet as we move through the legal, political, medical and ethical questions, we also see the personal side of these topics played out in the context of a caring family and a deep friendship. Here is a timely and helpful book on one of the most controversial concerns of our day.

Studying the early church can feel like entering a maze of bishops, emperors, councils, and arcane controversies. This book introduces early Christian theology by focusing on one particularly influential figure, Basil of Caesarea (ca. AD 330-378). It views Basil against the backdrop of a Roman Empire that was adopting Christianity. In Basil's day, Christians were looking for unity in the teaching and practice of their faith. This study acquaints the student with Basil's brilliant--and often neglected--theological writings. In particular, Saint Basil's reflections on the Trinity emerge from these pages as fascinating and illuminating testimonies to the faith of early Christians.

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.

Author Biography:Alan P. F. Sell, a philosopher-theologian and ecumenist, is employed in research, writing, and lecturing in the United Kingdom and abroad. He has held academic posts in England, Canada, and Wales, and ecclesiastical posts in England and Geneva. He is the author or editor of over thirty books, of which the most recent are Convinced, Concise and Christian: The Thought of Huw Parri Owen (Pickwick Publications, 2012) and Christ and Controversy: The Person of Christ in Nonconformist Thought and Ecclesial Experience (Pickwick Publications, 2012).

Endorsements:"Mill on God is Professor Sell's latest impressive study in a long list of substantial theological writings, and historical and philosophical works on religion. Drawing upon several of Mill's classic philosophical texts, his posthumous publications on religion, and a range of informal communications, Sell has produced easily the best available introduction to Mill's religious thought, the intellectual context of his religious views, and the reception of his ideas and arguments. This combative and elegant work of historical and philosophical interpretation teases out the important ambiguities and tensions in Mill's thoughts, and amply demonstrates the centrality of his concern with religion."--James E. Crimmins, International Academic Advisor and Professor of Political Science, Huron University College, CanadaAuthor Biography:Alan P. F. Sell, a philosopher-theologian and ecumenist, is employed in research, writing, and lecturing in the United Kingdom and abroad. He has held academic posts in England, Canada, and Wales, and ecclesiastical posts in England and Geneva. He is the author or editor of over thirty books, of which the most recent are Convinced, Concise and Christian: The Thought of Huw Parri Owen (Pickwick Publications, 2012) and Christ and Controversy: The Person of Christ in Nonconformist Thought and Ecclesial Experience (Pickwick Publications, 2012).

For over four hundred years, the city of Geneva has been important in Western history. The character of this city--steady, serious, erudite, clannish, and proud--has remained virtually unchanged since Calvin's time, the heroic age when she first became famous. Professor Monter relates the ""success story"" of this fascinating city through a fresh synthesis of printed and archival sources. In the sixteenth century, Geneva succeeded in winning and maintaining her independence, a feat unique in Reformation Europe. Into this special environment came Calvin--and his triumph was the result of a brilliant mind and an undeviating will being placed in the midst of the crude and confused surroundings of a revolutionary commune. Professor Monter explores the components of Geneva's and Calvin's fame in a number of ways. First, he outlines the history of the city from the early sixteenth century to Calvin's death in 1564, showing the tumultuous environment of the city where Calvin worked and the means by which local opposition to Calvin dissolved. He next describes the principal institutions and social groups of Calvin's Geneva: the established church, the civil government, and the foreign refugee communities. Finally, he assesses Calvin's legacy to Geneva and discusses the workings of Calvinism after its founder's death. As a whole, Calvin's Geneva is a revealing portrait of a major city and an acute analysis of its effect on one of the most important men in the sixteenth century.

We live in an era when the Bible appears to be less and less relevant to mainstream cultures. Those who do care about the Scriptures tend to derive their interpretations secondhand, from the preacher's pulpit or from generalized study guides written by complete strangers. These approaches overlook the communal and conversational nature of the Bible itself. If we hope to recover the transformative power of these ancient texts, and invite our world to reconsider their significance, we will need to engage whole communities together in the bottom-up task of interpretation. People of the Book was written to offer an organic-holistic approach to communal interpretation, an approach that can work for your community and appeal to your wider culture. Halcomb and McNinch envision the Bible as a conversation we are privileged to enter: listening, questioning, wrestling, reasoning, and responding together as authentic people of the Book.

Endorsements:"A wise old adage of faith states, 'Read the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.' The slogan is an invitation to notice the complex engagement of faith and culture. In Useless Beauty, Johnston takes up the interface of faith and culture with specificity and immediacy. His discussion permits an instructive dialogue, whereby we read Ecclesiastes differently, and we read contemporary film with fresh eyes of faith. Neither the text nor the films can be easily dismissed as 'absurd.' Both are thickened, and we are driven deeper in our self-discernment by the process. Johnston's alertness and urbaneness constitute a model for faith that is not simplistic and a model for culture that is not thin or transparent." --Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary"Johnston reads Ecclesiastes with a rich, postmodern hermeneutic--not the more common simplistic, linear, moralistic, or formulaic approach that threatens to drown Bible readers in the shallows. His reading has great value for people seeking new ways to find meaning in Scripture. Personally, it helped me weave my life experience with my viewing of film and my reading of the Bible, and it left me feeling alive and energized." --Brian McLaren, pastor (crcc.org) and author (anewkindofchristian.com)"Johnston weaves the wisdom of Ecclesiastes into contemporary narrative films and vice versa, merging theology and film into a smart and insightful dialogue to enhance understanding of both."--William D. Romanowski, Calvin College, author of Eyes Wide Open"Some of the most helpful contemporary interpretation of Scripture comes from those who look at the text with eyes other than those of the biblical scholar. Johnston's interpretation of Ecclesiastes through the lens of film is an excellent example. The text comes to life in the interaction he creates with the narratives of major contemporary movies. They in turn are better understood by the careful theological interpretation Johnston gives them through the lens of Ecclesiastes. The possibilities for preaching and teaching are obvious."--Patrick O. Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary"This book is a well-informed and sensitive example of how, in our uncertain and contradictory times, to engage film and Scripture without denying the integrity of either. It is highly recommended."--Rikk E. Watts, Regent CollegeAuthor Biography:Robert K. Johnston (PhD, Duke University) is professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author or editor of over twelve books, including Reel Spirituality and Finding God in the Movies. A past president of the American Theological Society and the recipient of two major research grants from the Luce Foundation, Johnston is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church.

What is the purpose of animals? Didn't God give humans dominion over other creatures? Didn't Jesus eat lamb? These are the kinds of questions that Christians who advocate compassion toward other animals regularly face. Yet Christians who have a faith-based commitment to care for other animals through what they eat, what they wear, and how they live with other creatures are often unsure how to address these biblically and theologically based challenges. In A Faith Embracing All Creatures, authors from various denominational, national, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds wrestle with the text, theology, and tradition to explain the roots of their desire to live peaceably with their nonhuman kin. Together, they show that there are no easy answers on "what the Bible says about animals." Instead, there are nuances and complexities, which even those asking these questions may be unaware of. Editors Andy Alexis-Baker and Tripp York have gathered a collection of essays that wrestle with these nuances and tensions in Scripture around nonhuman animals. In so doing, they expand the discussion of nonviolence, peacemaking, and reconciliation to include the oft-forgotten other members of God's good creation.

This book reveals--for the first time ever--the extraordinary impact of Huldah the prophet on our Bible. She was both a leader of exilic Jews and a principal author of Hebrew Scripture. She penned the Shema: the ardent, prayerful praise that millions of worshipers repeat twice daily. Moreover, Jesus quoted as his own last words the ones that Huldah had written centuries before--""Into your hand I commit my spirit."" Huldah was an extraordinary writer--arguably she ranks among the best in Hebrew Scripture. As such, she added to God's Word a feminine aspect that has inspired numberless believers--men and women alike. This book's new techniques reveal that though subjected to extreme verbal abuse, Huldah surmounted her era's high barriers to women. As elder, queen mother, and war leader during the sixth century BCE, she helped shape Israel's history. And what, then, can this book mean to scholars--both women and men? Feminists need a rallying point and a heroine, and Huldah makes a superb one. In years ahead, experts might well place Huldah alongside the very greatest women of antiquity; indeed, they may even conclude that she is among the most influential people in human history.

Today, many evangelicals in the Russian-speaking world emphasize sanctification as a distinctive mark of their Christian faith. This is a unique characteristic, particularly in the European context. Their historic tapestry has been woven from a number of threads that originated in the second half of the nineteenth century. Missionary efforts of the German Baptists, a revival sparked by a British evangelist, and a pietistic awakening among the Mennonites in the South converged to form a tapestry that displays Protestant, Baptist, and Anabaptist heritage. Ivan Kargel uniquely participated in the formation and ministry of each of these threads. His life spans from Tsarist Russia to the Soviet Union. Kargel refused to adhere to a systematic view of theology. Instead, he urged believers to go to Scripture and draw from the riches of a life united with Christ. Kargel's influence today is keenly felt across the Russian-speaking evangelical world as they seek to identify the roots of their spiritual identity. This book examines the influences on Ivan Kargel and offers insights into how his life and work are expressed in the tapestry of Russian evangelical spirituality.

Is the Old Testament still relevant for Christians today? Which fountains of wisdom, which never-failing streams, which wells of joy-filled salvation are we missing out on, if we neglect the Old Testament (Prov 18:4; Amos 5:24; Isa 12:3)? In this celebratory volume, fifteen scholars collaborate to explain and expound diverse aspects of the Christian life, with a special focus on drawing lines from the Old Testament through the New Testament toward the daily reality of living together as pilgrims in the church of Christ. This book commemorates the retirement of Dr. Cornelis Van Dam, professor of Old Testament, from the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. For three decades, Dr. Van Dam taught seminary students to draw living water from the wells of salvation. All the contributors to this book have benefited in one way or another from his knowledge and instruction.

Mark's Gospel is much maligned for its redundancy and stylistic sloppiness. But is this indignity justified? The answer to this question hangs not only on the genre of this work but also on the life setting of its target audience. Rather than unwitting slip-ups of an inept writer, Mark's narrative repetitions and temporal dislocations are better understood as rhetorical strategies for a didactive oral performance. There is ""method"" to Mark's ""madness,"" and the method maps his meaning. In recent decades, some scholars have become enamored with what they see as a generic affinity between Mark's Gospel and fictive literature, particularly ancient romance novels. Could this be the ""method"" behind Mark's madness? This book offers readers an exciting and profitable journey into two story worlds that likely share a common historical-cultural setting: Mark's ""Gospel"" and Chariton's ""passion of love."" Analyzing these works from the vantage point of narrative sequence, Starner identifies two contrasting worldviews: for Chariton, the world is controlled by the goddess Aphrodite who serves as a powerbroker distributing political, economic, and sociological power to agents who use that power for self-serving ends; for Mark, the world is governed by an All-Powerful God who, shockingly, operates from a posture of powerlessness, inviting (not coercing) humans to accept his lordship and urging them to adopt the self-sacrificial, service-oriented program of living that finds its quintessential expression in the historical Jesus of the Gospels.

Can we know truth even though certain proof is unattainable? Can we be known by Truth? Is there a relationship between belief and truth, and if so, what is the nature of that relationship? Do we need to have faith in reason and in real meaning to be able to reason towards truth? These are the sorts of questions this book seeks to address. In Faith's Knowledge, Paul Tyson argues that all knowledge that aims at truth is always the knowledge of faith. If this is the case, then--against our modernist cultural assumptions about knowledge--truth cannot be had by proof. Yet, if this is true, then mere information and simply objective facts do not (for us as knowers) exist. Knowledge is always embedded in belief, and knowledge and belief is always expressed in relationships, histories, narratives, shared meanings, and power. Hence, a theological sociology of knowledge emerges out of these explorations in thinking about knowledge as a function of faith.

The cross of Christ is undeniably central to the Christian faith. But, how can the cruelty and brutality of a two-thousand-year-old Roman cross touch base with a hedonistic world that has been so desensitized towards violence? Within the postmodern setting of a body-obsessed culture, Christianity urgently requires an innovative and stimulating way of understanding the cross and its atoning significance. At the heart of this book is the Naked Christ--an emblem through which the author draws on the rich resources of the Christian tradition in its portrayal of the cross. He explores how the metaphors of nakedness and clothing can encapsulate aspects of atonement and enable them to be understood within a variety of contemporary contexts. The Naked Christ is a useful resource for anyone seeking fresh ways to express what the cross of Christ means to contemporary culture.

Liberating Biblical Study is a unique collaboration of pioneering biblical scholars, social-change activists, and movement-based artists. Well known and unknown, veterans and newcomers, these diverse practitioners of justice engage in a lively and critical conversation at the intersection of seminary, sanctuary, and street. The book is divided into eight sections; in each, a scholar, activist, and artist explore the justice issues related to a biblical text or idea, such as exodus, creation, jubilee, and sanctuary. Beyond the emerging themes (e.g., empire, resistance movements, identity, race, gender, and economics), the book raises essential questions at another level: What is the role of art in social-change movements? How can scholars be accountable beyond the academy, and activists encouraged to study? How are resistance movements nurtured and sustained? This volume is an accessible invitation to action that will appeal to all who love and strive for justice--whatever their discipline, and whatever their familiarity with the Bible, scholarship, art, and activist communities.

Does religion need to look more like a science? If much of the contemporary work published in science and religion is any indication, the answer appears to be a resounding "yes." Yet the current tendency to dress religion up in the language and methods of science does more harm than good. In Kneeling at the Altar of Science, Robert Bolger argues that much of the recent writing in science and religion falls prey to the practice of what he calls "religious scientism," or the attempt to use science to explain and clarify certain religious concepts. Bolger then shows, with clarity and humor, how religious scientism harms rather than helps, arguing in the end that religious concepts do better when their meaning is found in the context of their religious use. This book promises to be a fresh approach to the ever-popular dialogue between science and religion.

Radical Orthodoxy, whose founding father is John Milbank, claims that God has been pushed to the margins in modernity and that a false and misleading neo-theology has taken hold that needs to be revisited and contested. It is this return to the premodern that often leads theologians to have reservations about Radical Orthodoxy when they might otherwise have some sympathy for many of its positions. Radical Orthodoxy, like most traditional theology, claims that the power of God is in all creation and that God sits everywhere for all to partake of. But there appears to be a failure to see that the church and theology do not set in place systems that live out this basic assumption. Liberation theology, while sharing much of the same assumption that God is everywhere and to be shared, at the same time engages in a critique of the structures that claim to facilitate this vision, and finds them wanting. From here, then, liberation theologians attempt to refigure our understanding of shared power in order to broaden the vision, while it may be argued that Radical Orthodoxy simply restates the assumption with little political critique of the issues. Perhaps this point explains why this book is titled The Poverty of Radical Orthodoxy rather than Radical Error!

Have you ever wondered if there might be more to Genesis than fodder for anti-evolutionism? Or have you ever thought, ""Revelation has to be more than simply a roadmap for the future of the Middle East""? You're not alone.In The Beginning and the End Michael Pahl surveys the opening chapters of Genesis and the concluding chapters of Revelation, taking seriously both their historical and literary features as ancient texts and their theological purposes as inspired Scripture. The result is a reading of the first and last books of the Bible that sketches out, from beginning to end, a story of God, humanity, and all creation--a grand narrative in which we are placed in the middle, and which calls us to live in a particular way as our identity and our values are shaped in light of our origins and our destiny.

This book arose from the author's sense of urgency. The Protestant church that we know and love has grown silent about the judgment of God. It seems that our church is bent upon living up to H. Richard Niebuhr's caricature of liberal Protestantism: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross." The book is meant to remedy this silence regarding God's judgment. It demonstrates the pervasiveness of the judgment of God in both Old and New Testaments. Not only do we find the act of judgment in every era, but judgment is a necessary stage in God's saving work. Moreover, the illuminating power of the concept is confirmed by common human experience.

A cursory glance through the Psalter reveals numerous allusions to events in Israel's literary history. While a range of literary and oral sources were obviously available to psalmists, the relationships between these sources and the psalmists' final work are more obscure. Concerning these relationships, numerous questions remain unanswered: - How strictly did the psalmists replicate their sources? - What kinds of alterations did they make (additions, omissions, etc.)? - Did they alter the meaning of their sources in their own compositions? Departing from the more classical approaches to researching the psalms--engaging in the determination of Sitz im Leben and Gattungen--this intertextual study addresses the aforementioned issues by focusing on a group of psalms associated with Israel's exodus tradition (105, 106, 135, and 136). Through a detailed comparison of lexical correspondences between the psalms and other biblical texts, together with a relative dating of each psalm, the study identifies literary sources employed by the psalmists. It additionally includes a close reading of each psalm to establish the unity and meaning of each composition. Emanuel then analyzes and categorizes lexical variances between each psalm and its sources, providing potential explanations for alterations found between the two, and revealing how the psalmists reinterpreted their biblical sources.

Endorsements:"Karl Barth and Hans Frei are close to the center of contemporary hermeneutical debate. David Demson's illuminating study offers an authoritative account of their respective ways of reading Scripture, arguing that, for all its fruitfulness, Frei's work lacks a theology of inspiration such as Barth provides. Scrupulous and nuanced in its handling of the texts, this book is a perceptive contribution to the literature of both Frei and Barth. It is also a place to begin exploring key theological issues concerning biblical interpretation, theory of interpretation, and Christology."--John Webster, Oxford University"The whole of Christian discourse is contained in the tiny, glittering questions that Demson so marvelously brings to light. His work is the work of a hermeneutical master in the service of other hermeneutical masters--Hans Frei and Karl Barth. The result is a brilliant restatement of Frei on 'the identity of Jesus Christ'--amplified and qualified by astute attention to Barth. An outstanding contribution to the ecclesial reading of Holy Scripture."--George Hunsinger, Center of Theological Inquiry"Taking a narrow focus--a single difference in the interpretation of Scripture by two twentieth-century theologians--Demson has succeeded in opening up a wide theme. Here is a fascinating account of how the reading of the Bible remains a living challenge for contemporary Christians."--Kenneth Hamilton, University of Winnipeg"A careful description and able comparison of two significant theologians' expositions of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' ministry, passion, and resurrection. Demson, who is impartial but not neutral in his stance, provides helpful synthetic insight into how Barth and Frei each treat a broad theological theme and, at the same time, gives readers constructive proposals for explicating New Testament texts. This book is a welcome contribution to all for whom attending to the Bible and doing theology are inseparable."--H. Martin Ruscheidt, Atlantic School of TheologyAuthor Biography:David E. Demson is professor of systematic theology at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Karl Barth Society of North America.

Not a reference tool, this unique work is a teaching-learning guide to studying the earliest Gospel. The focus is on showing how rather than on telling what. "Maps" followed by leading questions and statements help both faculty and students to see how the Evangelist adopted and adapted his sacred texts (as well as Jewish and Greco-Roman resources) in light of his convictions about and experience of Jesus. Noticing the dominance of words and themes leads one to discover the primary concerns of the Author and his readers. Observing how St. Mark internally arranged his materials provides a clue as to the kind of work it is and how it was meant to function.

The accomplished poet and preacher, J. Barrie Shepherd, retells a series of dramatic Old Testament "encounters" from a contemporary point of view, using poetic imagery and diction. Among the stories he reexamines are Jacob at Jabbok, Moses on the Mountain, Jacob at Bethel, Elijah and the Voice, Gideon at Harod, Adam and Eve at the Garden, Abraham in Moriah, Sarah at the tent flap, Joshua at Jericho, Isaiah at the Altar, and Ezekiel and the Wheel. By retelling these familiar stories in new and unexpected ways, Shepherd challenges us to reexamine many of the basic issues of biblical theology and their relevance to the contemporary world.