Recent years have seen an explosion of talk about the historical Jesus from scholarly settings as well as media outlets (including sensational TV documentaries and national magazines). How is the student of the Bible to assess these various claims about Jesus? And what difference does knowledge of his time and place make for Christian faith, theological thinking, and historical research? James Charlesworth presents the solid results of modern study into the life and times of Jesus, especially regarding the role of the Essenes, the significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the nature of messianic expectation, and much more. No one today is better equipped than James Charlesworth to lead students through the thickets of controversy that surround much of contemporary historical Jesus research. This Abingdon Essential Guide will fulfill the need for a brief, substantive, yet highly accessible introduction to this core area of New Testament studies. Drawing on the best in current scholarship, written with the need of students foremost in mind, addressed to learners in a number of contexts, this Essential Guide will be the first choice of those who wish to acquaint themselves or their students with the broad scope of issues, perspectives, and subject matters relating to modern quests for the historical Jesus. It will also be a preferred text for those who need or want to refresh their knowledge regarding the context within which Jesus lived in preparation for leading church discussion groups in studies of the Gospels.
Most Jews, Muslims, and Christians are devoted and faithful. Still, on any given day, it’s difficult to avoid the vigorous and heated disputes between them, whether over the “Ground Zero” mosque, lobbying state legislatures against Sharia law, sharing worship space, dissecting the fallout of the Arab Spring, protecting civil rights, or challenging the authority of sacred texts. With so much rancor, can there be any common ground? Do they even worship the same God? And can religion, which often is so divisive, be any help at all? Four internationally known scholars set out to tackle these deceptively simple questions in an accessible way. Some scholars argue that while beliefs about God may differ, the object of worship is ultimately the same. However, these authors take a more pragmatic view. While they may disagree, they nevertheless assert that whatever they answers to these questions, the three faiths must find the will (politically, socially, and personally) to tolerate differences. Perhaps what can help us move forward as pluralistic people is ia focus on the goal – peace with justice for all.
Every significant layer of the New Testament features the distinctive concerns of apocalyptic literature, including the expectation of a messiah, hope for a resurrection, expectation of a final judgment, and a spiritual world that includes angels and demons. Yet many contemporary readers shy away from things apocalyptic, especially the book of Revelation. This introduction considers the influence of apocalyptic literature throughout the Gospels and Acts, Paul’s letters, and Revelation. It argues that early Christian authors drew upon apocalyptic topics to address an impressive array of situations and concerns, and it demonstrates—example after example—how apocalyptic discourse contributed to their ongoing work of contextual theology.
Biblical texts create worlds of meaning and invite readers to enter them. When readers enter such textual worlds, which are strange and complex, they are confronted with theological claims. With this in mind, the purpose of the IBT series is to help serious readers in their experience of reading and interpreting by providing guides for their journeys into textual worlds. The focus of the series is not so much on the world behind the text as on the worlds created by the texts in their engagement with readers. Nowhere is the world of the biblical text stranger than in the apocalyptic literature of both the Old and New Testaments. In this volume, Stephen Cook makes the puzzling visions and symbols of the biblical apocalyptic literature intelligible to modern readers. He begins with definitions of apocalypticism and apocalyptic literature and introduces the various scholarly approaches to and issues for our understanding of the text. Cook introduces the reader to the social and historical worlds of the apocalyptic groups that gave rise to such literature and leads the reader into a better appreciation and understanding of the theological import of biblical apocalyptic literature. In the second major section of the book, Cook guides the reader through specific examples of the Bible’s apocalyptic literature. He addresses both the best-known examples (the biblical books of Daniel and Revelation) and other important but lesser known examples (Zechariah and some words of Jesus and Paul).
Salvation is the bedrock of our faith and the touchstone for faithful living. It is the good news of God drawing near to us as individuals but also as communities of faith. This book helps us understand that when we say "Jesus saves," we stand on scripture that proclaims a God who, through Jesus, heals, liberates, and rescues. Like each generation that has gone before, we too must find our own awareness and then respond and participate in God’s work as transformed people, serving together as the Body of Christ, who have also signed up for ongoing, personal and social transformation. This book is an invitation to a journey of salvation oriented toward increased understanding but also to transformed commitments, renewed allegiances, and fresh practices. To address the grand narrative of Scripture in a way that takes seriously its essential focus on the journey of salvation is to open ourselves to fresh (and perhaps refreshed) perspectives on the world and, thus, on life in the world. In this book Joel Green show how salvation can illumine new categories for conceiving the world, for making sense of our experiences, and for directing our lives.
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