Catholic scholar on the Bible explores the identity of Jesus in the New Testament. +

    Following the format of its hightly successful companion volume, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, this Dictionary is designed to bring students, teachers, ministers and laypeople abreast of the established conclusions and significant recent developments in Pauline scholarship. No other single reference work presents as much information focused exclusively on Pauline theology, literature, background and scholarship. In a field that recently has undergone significant shifts in perspective, theDictionary of Paul and His Letters offers a summa of Paul and Pauline studies. In-depth articles focus on individual theological themes (such as law, resurrection and Son of God), broad theological topics (such as Christology, eschatology and the death of Christ), methods of interpretation (such as rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches), background topics (such as apocalypticism, Hellenism and Qumran) and various other subjects specifically related to the scholarly study of Pauline theology and literature (such as early catholicism, the center of Paul's theology, and Paul and his interpreters since F. C. Baur). Separate articles are also devoted to each of the Pauline letters to hermeneutics and to preaching Paul today. TheDictionary of Paul and His Letters takes its place alongside the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels in presenting the fruit of evangelical New Testament scholarship at the end of the twentieth century--commited to the authority of Scripture, utilizing the best of critical methods, and maintaining dialogue with contemporary scholarship and challenges facing the church.

    This book is a greatly revised and expanded edition of Richard Bauckham's acclaimed God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (1999), which helped redirect scholarly discussion of early Christology.

    It has been over twenty-five years since an evangelical New Testament scholar has written a textbook survey of this type. Today the landscape of Jesus and Gospel studies has been radically transformed by new questions and critical challenges. No less remarkable is the contemporary renaissance of our knowledge of the world of Jesus. In Jesus the Messiah Robert Stein draws together the results of a career of research and writing on Jesus and the Gospels. Every episode in the life of Jesus is here treated with historical care and attention to its significance for understanding the life and ministry of Jesus. Clearly written, ably argued and geared to the needs of students, Jesus the Messiah will give probing minds a sure grounding in the life and ministry of Jesus.

    A miracle-worker? A radical revolutionary? A wise teacher? There have been many of these, too. In his latest book, renowned Scripture scholar Gerhard Lohfink asks, What is unique about Jesus of Nazareth, and what did he really want?Lohfink engages the perceptions of the first witnesses of his life and ministry and those who handed on their testimony. His approach is altogether historical and critical, but he agrees with Karl Barth’s statement that “historical criticism has to be more critical.”Lohfink takes seriously the fact that Jesus was a Jew and lived entirely in and out of Israel’s faith experiences but at the same time brought those experiences to their goal and fulfillment. The result is a convincing and profound picture of Jesus.

    Wright's 'Paul and the Faithfulness of God' and 'Pauline Perspectives' is essential reading for all with a serious interest in Paul, the interpretation of his letters, his appropriation by subsequent thinkers, and his continuing significance today.

    G. Dunn brings together more than two decades of vigorous and creative work on interpreting the letters of Paul into an integrated, full-scale study of Paul's thought.Using Paul's letter to the Romans as the foundation for constructing a fuller exposition of Paul's whole theology, Dunn's thematic treatment clearly describes Paul's teaching on such topics as God, humankind, sin, christology, salvation, the church, and the Christian life. In the process Dunn engages in a concise way what other important scholars have said regarding each area of inquiry.The Theology of Paul the Apostle represents a major contribution to the ongoing discussion regarding what Paul's theology is and what its continuing relevance is to the study and practice of religion and theology.

    In this book, Richard B. Hays investigates Paul’s appropriation of Scripture from a perspective based on recent literary-critical studies of intertextuality. His uncovering of scriptural echoes in Paul’s language enriches our appreciation of the complex literary texture of Paul’s letters and offers new insights into his message. "A major work on hermeneutics. . . . Hays’s study will be a work to use and to reckon with for every Pauline scholar and for every student of Paul’s use of Old Testament traditions. It is sophisticated, in both a literary and theological sense, and written with considerable wit and confidence."—Carol L. Stockenhausen, Journal of Biblical Literature"Hays has without doubt posed the right question at the right time within the horizon of a particularly important problematic. . . . A new beginning for the question concerning the reception of the Old Testament in the New."—Hans Hübner, Theologische Literaturzeitung"A powerful reading. . . . [Hays’s] careful and fresh exegesis . . . challenges not a few traditional or highly regarded readings. . . . A major contribution both to Pauline studies and to our understanding of earliest Christian theology as a living dialogue with the scriptures of Israel."—James D. G. Dunn, forthcoming in Literature and Theology"A fresh interpretation of Paul’s references to the Jewish Scriptures. . . . Written in a lively, semipopular style, this important study succeeds in showing that Paul’s scriptural quotations and allusions are often more ’polyphonic’ and rhetorically meaningful than traditional exegesis has allowed."—David M. Hay, Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology

    In Reading Romans in Context a team of Pauline scholars go beyond a general introduction that surveys historical events and theological themes and explore Paul’s letter to the Romans in light of Second Temple Jewish literature.In this non-technical collection of short essays, beginning and intermediate students are given a chance to see firsthand what makes Paul a distinctive thinker in relation to his Jewish contemporaries. Following the narrative progression of Romans, each chapter pairs a major unit of the letter with one or more thematically related Jewish text, introduces and explores the theological nuances of the comparative text, and shows how these ideas illuminate our understanding of the book of Romans.

    Paul's historical and religious context affects the theological interpretation of Paul's writings, no small issue in the whole of Christian theology.Recent years have seen much controversy about the apostle Paul, his religious and social context, and its effects on his theology. In the helpful Counterpoints format, four leading scholars present their views on the best framework for describing Paul's theological perspective, including his view of salvation, the significance of Christ, and his vision for the churches.Contributors and views include:Reformed View: Thomas R. SchreinerCatholic View: Luke Timothy JohnsonPost-New Perspective View: Douglas CampbellJewish View: Mark D. NanosLike other titles in the Counterpoints: Bible and Theology collection, Four Views on the Apostle Paul gives theology students the tools they need to draw informed conclusions on debated issues.General editor and New Testament scholar Michael F. Bird covers foundational issues and provides helpful summaries in his introduction and conclusion. New Testament scholars, pastors, and students of Christian history and theology will find Four Views on the Apostle Paul an indispensable introduction to ongoing debates on the apostle Paul's life and teaching.The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop reference that allows readers to evaluate the different positions on a specific issue and form their own, educated opinion.

    He offers a new appraisal of Paul's theology of the Christ-event as gift as it comes to expression in Galatians and Romans, and he presents a nuanced and detailed discussion of the history of reception of Paul. This exegetically responsible, theologically informed, hermeneutically useful book shows that a respectful, though not uncritical, reading of Paul contains resources that remain important for Christians today.

    "The goal of writing a Pauline theology," he writes, "is to unearth Paul's worldview and to present it to contemporaries. Our task is not merely to reproduce Paul's thinking on various topics but to rightly estimate what is most important in his thinking and to set forth the inner connections between the various themes." Like most writers of a Pauline theology, Schreiner discerns something at the heart and soul of Paul's theology. As Schreiner puts it, "The passion of Paul's life, the center and foundation and capstone of his vision, and the animating motive of his mission was the supremacy of God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ." Schreiner has stitched this theme into the fabric of his book, and the result is a Pauline theology that is not only informative, but spiritually uplifting, as well. Here is a Pauline theology eminently suited to the needs of theological students and preachers.

    An undesigned coincidence is an apparently casual, yet puzzle-like -fit- between two or more texts, and its best explanation is that the authors knew the truth about the events they describe or allude to. Connections of this kind among passages in the Gospels, as well as between Acts and the Pauline epistles, give us reason to believe that these documents came from honest eyewitness sources, people -in the know- about the events they relate. Supported by careful research yet accessibly written, Hidden in Plain View provides solid evidence that all Christians can use to defend the Scriptures and the truth of Christianity.

    This book breaks new ground by focusing on the source and nature of Paul's spirituality. Taking his cue from Paul's express desire to "know nothing but Christ crucified," Michael Gorman shows how Paul's personal experience of God constantly intersects with the story of the cross, an event that both reveals the cruciform character of God and shapes believers into a community of "cruciformity" (conformity to the crucified Christ). Expertly combining biblical studies and theological reflection, this noteworthy volume presents a model of the Christian life marked by faith, love, power, and hope.

    While Bruce's primary concern is to portray the life of the apostle Paul, he also examines the main themes of Paul's thought, set in their historical background and illustrated from his letters. Originally published in 1977, this new paperback edition of Paul will be used with profit by all who have an interest in the primitive church--from general readers to the most advanced biblical scholar.