Hengel examines the way in which the most vile death of the cross was regarded in the Greek-speaking world and particularly in Roman-occupied Palestine.His conclusions bring out more starkly than ever the offensiveness of the Christian message: Jesus not only died an unspeakably cruel death, he underwent the most contemptible abasement that could be imagined. So repugnant was the gruesome reality, that a natural tendency prevails to blunt, remove, or deomesticate its scandalous impact. Yet any discussion of a theology of the cross must be preceded by adequate comprehension of both the nature and extent of this scandal.

    In Essential Judaism, George Robinson has created the accessible compendium that he sought when he rediscovered his Jewish roots as an adult. Robinson illuminates the Jewish life cycle at every stage, and lays out many fascinating aspects of Judaism -- the Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, the evolution of Hasidism, and much more -- while keeping a firm focus on the different paths to living a good Jewish life in today's world.

    This edition is among the most accurate electronic editions available, but Hebrew characters do not display on the Kindle.This volume includes the writings of Clement of Rome, Mathetes, Polycarp, Ignatius, Barnabas, Papias, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus.This edition features an artistic cover, a new promotional introduction, and a hierarchical table of contents which makes it possible to navigate to any part of the book with a minimum of page turns.

    Author is Nosson Scherman Title is Tanach: The Stone Edition/Black The Torah/Prophets/Writings The Twenty-Four Books of the Bible Newly Translated and Annotated ISBN is 0899062695 Excellent condition, brand new.

    This short study by Stephen Westerholm carefully examines proposals on the subject by Krister Stendahl, E. P. Sanders, Heikki R is nen, N. T. Wright, James D. G. Dunn, and Douglas A. Campbell. In doing so, Westerholm notes weaknesses in traditional understandings that have provoked the more recent proposals, but he also points out areas in which the latter fail to do justice to the apostle.Readers of this book will gain not only a better grasp of the ongoing theological debate about justification but also a more nuanced overall understanding of Paul.

    This book, drawn from the heart of foremost Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann's Theology of the Old Testament, distills a career's worth of insights into the core message of the Hebrew Bible. God is described there, Brueggemann observes, as engaging four "partners"-Israel, the nations, creation, and the human being-in the divine purpose. This volume presents Brueggemann at his most engaging, offering profound insights tailored especially for the beginning student of the Hebrew Bible.

    It seems like something we already know. But do we? Questions haunt the careful reader. Among them: Doesn't the name Passover seem a bit strange? Why not just call it Freedom Day, or Independence Day? And did the Exodus have to be so complicated? Couldn't an All-Powerful deity have teleported the Israelites out of Egypt and spared everyone the arduous process of the Ten Plagues? Then there's the uncomfortable parts of the Exodus: Why, exactly, did God have to harden Pharaoh's heart? Was that really fair? In this book, Rabbi Fohrman invites us to look at the Exodus story with fresh eyes - to join him, as it were, on a guided adventure, a close reading of the ancient Biblical text. In so doing, Rabbi Fohrman reveals a side of the Exodus story that illuminates not just our past, but our future, and tells not only of our freedom, but of our destiny. This book will uncover secrets that lay hidden in this ancient and sacred saga; it tells the tale of the Exodus you thought you knew.

     Drawn from the Hebrew Bible it forms the basis of all Christian denominations, whether Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox, they all refer to the Old Testament in some form. Alfred Edersheim, in this fascinating study, uncovers the Old Testament, removing layers of mystery, allowing readers to more fully engage with the text. He analyzes the books, chapter-by-chapter, thus providing a chronological history of the Jewish people. This work is split into seven volumes to make it manageable for the reader to understand each major period that is covered in the Old Testament. Volume One covers The World Before the Flood, and The History of the Patriarchs, Volume Two: The Exodus and The Wanderings in the Wilderness, Volume Three: Israel In Canaan Under Joshua And The Judges, Volume Four: The History of Israel under Samuel, Saul, and David, Volume Five: Birth of Solomon to Reign of Ahab, Volume Six: The Reign of Ahab to the Decline of the Two Kingdoms, and Volume Seven: From the Decline of the Two Kingdoms to the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivity. Edersheim, at the outset of the book, stated his objective: “I have endeavored to write in a a form so popular and easily intelligible as to be of use to the Sunday-school teacher, the advanced scholar, and the Bible-class; progressing gradually, in the course of this and the next volume, from the more simple to the more detailed.” He certainly achieves this aim in this magnificent study that is worthy of being read by all. Alfred Edersheim (1825-89) was a Vienna-born biblical scholar who converted from Judaism to Christianity. A veteran minister and missionary to the Jews of Romania, Edersheim left an enduring and priceless legacy to followers of Christ. Among his most widely read works are The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, and Bible History Old Testament.

    Ellis R. Brotzman explains the significance of scripts and writings of the ancient Near East, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Hebrew manuscripts for students of Hebrew exegesis.

    Indeed, this relatively small group of twenty-seven works, written during the height of the Roman Empire, not only helped create and sustain a vast world religion, but also have been integral to the larger cultural dynamics of the West, above and beyond particular religious expressions. Looking at the New Testament through the lens of literary study, Kyle Keefer offers an engrossing exploration of this revered religious text as a work of literature, but also keeps in focus its theological ramifications. Unique among books that examine the Bible as literature, this brilliantly compact introduction offers an intriguing double-edged look at this universal text—a religiously informed literary analysis. The book first explores the major sections of the New Testament—the gospels, Paul's letters, and Revelation—as individual literary documents. Keefer shows how, in such familiar stories as the parable of the Good Samaritan, a literary analysis can uncover an unexpected complexity to what seems a simple, straightforward tale. At the conclusion of the book, Keefer steps back and asks questions about the New Testament as a whole. He reveals that whether read as a single document or as a collection of works, the New Testament presents readers with a wide variety of forms and viewpoints, and a literary exploration helps bring this richness to light. A fascinating investigation of the New Testament as a classic literary work, this Very Short Introduction uses a literary framework—plot, character, narrative arc, genre—to illuminate the language, structure, and the crafting of this venerable text.

    Through these works and those of other early Christian thinkers, this book surveys the development of early church theology. Long recognized for the quality of its translations, introductions, explanatory notes, and indexes, the Library of Christian Classics provides scholars and students with modern English translations of some of the most significant Christian theological texts in history. Through these works--each written prior to the end of the sixteenth century--contemporary readers are able to engage the ideas that have shaped Christian theology and the church through the centuries.

    Now in its tenth year of publication, the book remains the clearest, most inviting and readable guide to the Hebrew Bible around—and a profound meditation on the effect that modern biblical scholarship has had on traditional belief.Moving chapter by chapter, Harvard professor James Kugel covers the Bible’s most significant stories—the Creation of the world, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the flood, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and his wives, Moses and the exodus, David’s mighty kingdom, plus the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets, and on to the Babylonian conquest and the eventual return to Zion.Throughout, Kugel contrasts the way modern scholars understand these events with the way Christians and Jews have traditionally understood them. The latter is not, Kugel shows, a naïve reading; rather, it is the product of a school of sophisticated interpreters who flourished toward the end of the biblical period. These highly ideological readers sought to put their own spin on texts that had been around for centuries, utterly transforming them in the process. Their interpretations became what the Bible meant for centuries and centuries—until modern scholarship came along. The question that this book ultimately asks is: What now? As one reviewer wrote, Kugel’s answer provides “a contemporary model of how to read Sacred Scripture amidst the oppositional pulls of modern scholarship and tradition.”

    Those who perserved the ancient tradition rejected the second temple, and longed for the restoration of the original, true temple and the faith of Abraham and Melchizedek, the first priest-king. In this fascinating discussion, the author refutes the scholarly assumption that crucial Christian concepts, such as the Trinty, the earth as a reflection of heaven, and the cosmic nature of the atonement, are informed by Greek culture. Rather, she argues, they are drawn from the eclipsed faith of the first temple. '[Margaret Barker's] interpretation of temple theology should not be ignored by anyone in Judaism and the origins of Christian faith.' John McDade, Principal of Heythrop College, University of London.

    Two thousand years ago, an itinerant Jewish preacher and miracle worker walked across the Galilee, gathering followers to establish what he called the “Kingdom of God.” The revolutionary movement he launched was so threatening to the established order that he was captured, tortured, and executed as a state criminal. Within decades after his shameful death, his followers would call him God. Sifting through centuries of mythmaking, Reza Aslan sheds new light on one of history’s most influential and enigmatic characters by examining Jesus through the lens of the tumultuous era in which he lived: first-century Palestine, an age awash in apocalyptic fervor. Scores of Jewish prophets, preachers, and would-be messiahs wandered through the Holy Land, bearing messages from God. This was the age of zealotry—a fervent nationalism that made resistance to the Roman occupation a sacred duty incumbent on all Jews. And few figures better exemplified this principle than the charismatic Galilean who defied both the imperial authorities and their allies in the Jewish religious hierarchy. Balancing the Jesus of the Gospels against the historical sources, Aslan describes a man full of conviction and passion, yet rife with contradiction; a man of peace who exhorted his followers to arm themselves with swords; an exorcist and faith healer who urged his disciples to keep his identity a secret; and ultimately the seditious “King of the Jews” whose promise of liberation from Rome went unfulfilled in his brief lifetime. Aslan explores the reasons why the early Christian church preferred to promulgate an image of Jesus as a peaceful spiritual teacher rather than a politically conscious revolutionary. And he grapples with the riddle of how Jesus understood himself, the mystery that is at the heart of all subsequent claims about his divinity. Zealot yields a fresh perspective on one of the greatest stories ever told even as it affirms the radical and transformative nature of Jesus of Nazareth’s life and mission. The result is a thought-provoking, elegantly written biography with the pulse of a fast-paced novel: a singularly brilliant portrait of a man, a time, and the birth of a religion.

    But should we accept them as historically accurate? What evidence is there that the recorded events actually happened?Presenting a case for the historical reliability of the Gospels, New Testament scholar Peter Williams examines evidence from non-Christian sources, assesses how accurately the four biblical accounts reflect the cultural context of their day, compares different accounts of the same events, and looks at how these texts were handed down throughout the centuries. Everyone from the skeptic to the scholar will find powerful arguments in favor of trusting the Gospels as trustworthy accounts of Jesus's earthly life.