Biblical History
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Old Testament Between Theology And History
$57.00Add to cartFrom its inception at the time of the Enlightenment until the mid-twentieth century, the historical-critical method constituted the dominant paradigm in Old Testament studies. In this magisterial overview, Niels Peter Lemche surveys the development of the historical-critical method and the way it changed the scholarly perception of the Old Testament. In part 1 he describes the rise and influence of historical-critical approaches, while in part 2 he traces their decline and fall. Then, in part 3, he discusses the identity of the authors of the Old Testament, based on the content of the literature they wrote, demonstrating that the collapse of history does not preclude critical study. Part 4 investigates the theological consequences of this collapse and surveys Old Testament and biblical theology in its various manifestations in the twentieth century. An appendix includes a history of Palestine from the Stone Age to modern times, constructed without recourse to the Old Testament.
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Q The Earliest Gospel
$30.00Add to cartDid the lost gospel known as “Q” exist? What is its significance to modern Christianity? In this thought-provoking study, Kloppenborg contends that this “sayings gospel” predated the Synoptic accounts and focused not on Jesus’ salvific death but on his nature as a prophetic critic of unbelief and his vision for a just society.
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Rose Guide To The Tabernacle
$34.99Add to cartFull color, reproducible book on the The Tabernacle, with clear plastic overlays of the coverings of the “tent of meeting.” The Tabernacle was the place where the Israelites worshiped God after the Exodus. Learn how the sacrifices, utensils, and even the structure of the tabernacle were designed to show us something about God. See the parallels between the Old Testament sacrifices and priests’ duties, and Jesus’ service as the perfect sacrifice and perfect high priest. See how: * The Tabernacle was built and moved * The sacrifices pointed Jesus Christ * The design of the tent revealed God’s holiness and humanity’s need for God * The Ark of the Covenant was at the center of worship.
See how: * The Tabernacle was built * The sacrifices pointed Jesus Christ * The design of the tent revealed God’s holiness and humanity’s need for God * The Ark of the Covenant was at the center of worship.
Contains illustrations, charts, and diagrams not available elsewhere.
128 pages, full color with 8 clear plastic overlays showing inside/outside of the tabernacle; plus dozens of reproducible charts. You may reproduce up to 300 copies of any chart free of charge for your classroom.
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Palestine In The Time Of Jesus (Revised)
$40.00Add to cartVii
Contents
Maps, Figures, Illustrations, And Sidebars Xi
Abbreviations Xiii
Preface To The First Edition Xvii
Preface To The Second Edition Xxi
1. Catching The Drift 1
Introduction To The Social System Of Roman Palestine
Growing Awareness Of The Biblical Social World / 3
Developing More Adequate Scenarios / 6
Addressing Critiques / 14
Applying The Perspectives / 17
Suggested Reading / 17
2. All In The Family 19
Kinship In Agrarian Roman Palestine
Introduction / 20
Gender / 24
Genealogy And Descent / 26
Marriage / 30
Endowment At Marriage / 35
Divorce / 40
Inheritance / 43
Jesus’ Family In The Gospels / 47
Summary / 54
Applying The Perspectives / 54
Suggested Reading / 55
3. Pyramids Of Power 57
Politics And Patronage In Agrarian Roman Palestine
Introduction /58
Elite Interests: Patronage / 65
Peasant Interests: Rebellion And Social Banditry / 80
Crucifixion: Elite Force In Action / 85
Summary / 89
Applying The Perspectives / 89
Suggested Reading / 90
viii Contents
4. The Denarius Stops Here 93
Political Economy In Roman Palestine
Introduction / 94
Political Economy In Agrarian Roman Palestine / 95
Jesus And The Palestinian Political Economy / 117
Summary / 119
Applying The Perspectives / 120
Suggested Reading / 120
5. Was Bigger Better? 123
Political Religion In Roman Palestine
Introduction / 124
The Jerusalem Temple And Its Expansion Under Herod The Great / 127
The Personnel And Sacrifices Of The Jerusalem Temple / 130
The Social Impact And Implications Of Herod’s Temple / 137
Political Religion, God’s Reign, And The Jesus Movement / 144
Summary / 145
Applying The Perspectives / 145
Suggested Reading / 146
6. In The Rearview Mirror 149
Conclusion
Glossaries
1. Ancient Groups, Institutions, Objects, And Events 155
2. Ancient Documents, Collections, And Authors 173
3. Social-Scientific And Cross-Cultural Terms 179
Bibliographies
1. Ancient Documents 189
2. Social-Science Theory And Terminology 191
3. References Consulted Or Cited 193
Indexes
1. Index Of Ancient Sources 215
2. Index Of Subjects 224
3. Index Of Authors 229Additional Info
Hanson and Oakman’s award-winning and enormously illuminating volume quickly has become a widely used and cited introduction to the social context of the early Jesus movement. This second edition updates all the discussions in light of more recent scholarship, improves clarity and readability of diagrams and maps, provides additional diagrams and images to enhance the book for student use, and includes new classroom resources, for professors and students, on a Companion Web site.Along with an overview of the ancient Mediterranean worldview, Palestine in the Time of Jesus explores major domains and institutions of Roman Palestine: kinship, politics, economy, and religion.
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Original King James Bible
$18.99Add to cartThe “Original King James Bible The History before it is, is a compilation of 12 years of writing snippets from the King James Bible that match secular history as taught in schools and colleges. Ecclesiastes 1:9 states, “There is no new thing under the sun.” I had to search for the main key in scripture, which is the lineage of Jesus through David. David’s great-great grandson was named Melea, which in Greek is Black and mentioned once. Also Jesus was taken into Egypt to be hidden from Herod who wanted to kill him. The Tribe of Judah would be taken out of Egypt by ships and sold as bondsmen and bondswomen and taken to Isles afar off they know not of, which happened to be America. This was the twelfth time slavery was done to a people, which is also a completion number.
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1st To Follow
$24.95Add to cartOne of the first things that Jesus did in his ministry was to reach out to twelve individuals and draw them into a circle of close companionship with him. This series is about those twelve apostles, their relationships with Jesus and with each other, and what the dynamics of that community can teach us. By studying those whom Jesus selected and what he did for them, to them, with them, and through them, we can learn much about how we can we experience the Holy in our own day. Jesus did not wait for people to be perfect in order to call them into the circle of God’s love. As we look at those that Jesus called, and consider ourselves as part of that enlarging circle, we gain not only a deeper sense of our own reality, but also a deeper sense of how Christ would like to work with us.
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Kingdom Of Priests (Reprinted)
$48.00Add to cartFrom the origins and exodus to the restoration and new hope, Kingdom of Priests offers a comprehensive introduction to the history of Old Testament Israel. Merrill explores the history of ancient Israel not only from Old Testament texts but also from the literary and archeological sources of the ancient Near East. After selling more than 30,000 copies, the book has now been updated and revised. The second edition addresses and interacts with current debates in the history of ancient Israel, offering an up-to-date articulation of a conservative evangelical position on historical matters. The text is accented with nearly twenty maps and charts.
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Archaeology And The New Testament (Reprinted)
$48.00Add to cartCan a new understanding of Scripture be wrung from ancient stones and papyri? Systematically exploring sites and finds from NT times through the first years of the early church, McRay discusses excavation methodology, first-century social structure, and archaeology’s contribution to textual criticism. Includes dozens of maps, diagrams, and charts; over 150 photos; glossary; and extensive notes.
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Partakers Of The Divine Nature
$37.00Add to cartThis critical volume focuses on the concept of deification in Christian intellectual history. It draws together Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant scholars to introduce and explain the theory of deification as a biblically rooted, central theme in the Christian doctrine of salvation in diverse eras and traditions. The book addresses the origin, development, and function of deification from its precursors in ancient Greek philosophy to its nuanced use in contemporary theological thought. The revival of interest in deification, which has often been seen as heresy in the Protestant West, heralds a return to foundational understandings of salvation in the Christian church before divisions of East and West, Catholic and Protestant. Originally published in hardcover, this book is now available in paperback to a wider readership.
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Last 12 Verses Of Mark
$30.00Add to cartBurgon demonstrates that the methodology of modern textual criticism fails to hold up when examined against the last 12 verses of Mark. His work is a fatal blow to the manuscripts “B” and “Aleph,” which are the favorite manuscripts of the modern textual critics. (Christian)
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Historical Reliability Of The Gospels (Reprinted)
$38.99Add to cartAre the Gospels trustworthy as history? Dr. Blomberg describes this century’s ”search for the historical Jesus” and the faulty presuppositions that led to mistaken conclusions about Him. He discusses problems in the miracle stories and alleged inconsistencies. And he provides scholarly criteria for evaluating the Gospels.
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Christ In The Old Testament Pamphlet
$4.99Add to cartHistory is about Christ. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God setting up history for the coming of Christ, not simply by speaking prophetic words, but by arranging the lives of human beings. “Typology” deals with significant historical people that have symbols or events in their lives that correspond to symbols and events in the life of Christ. In quick reference chart format, this pamphlet highlights the lives of people who “prefigure” that central Life who is the Life of the World Himself. Includes Melchizedek, King David, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, and more.
Features:
* 12 Old Testament people who foreshadowed Jesus
* Types and Illustrations of Jesus
* Actions and events that anticipate JesusPamphlet has 14 panels and fits inside most Bible covers. Unfolds to 38″ long.
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Dead Sea Scrolls
$34.99Add to cartAn essential guide to the most significant discovery in the history of biblical studies — the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd literally stumbled upon a cave near the Dead Sea, a settlement now called Qumran, to the east of Jerusalem. This cave, along with the others located nearby, contained jars holding hundreds of scrolls and fragments of scrolls of texts both biblical and nonbiblical-in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The biblical scrolls would be the earliest evidence of the Hebrew Scriptures, or Old Testament, by hundreds of years; and the nonbiblical texts would shed dramatic light on one of the least-known periods of Jewish history-the Second Temple period. This find is, quite simply, the most important archaeological event in two thousand years of biblical studies. The scrolls provide information on nearly every aspect of biblical studies, including the Old Testament, text criticism, Second Temple Judaism, the New Testament, and Christian origins.
It took more than 50 years for the scrolls to be completely and officially published, and there is no comparable brief, introductory resource that brings this astounding body of information up to date.
Peter Flint, world-renowned scholar, will address all areas of the Dead Sea Scrolls: the many texts involved; the context of Jewish history; impact on the canon, text, and modern translations of the Old Testament; theological significance; connections between Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls; and the Scrolls and other New Testament writings
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In The Name Of Jesus
$36.00Add to cartPart 1: Jesus And The Problem Of Exorcism
1. The Problem Of Exorcism
2. Jesus And Other Exorcists
Part 2: The First Century
3. Paul
4. Q
5. Mark
6. Luke-Acts
7. Matthew
8. 1 Peter, Hebrews, And James
9. Johannine Christianity
Part 3: The Second Century
10. Fathers, Apologists, And The Early Second Century
11. Mark’s Longer Ending And The Later Second Century
12. Critics Of Christianity
Part 4: Exorcism Among Early Christians
13. Conclusions And Contemporary CodaAdditional Info
The author thoroughly examines New Testament and early Christian teaching on exorcism and suggests some contemporary applications of his findings. -
Scribes Visionaries And The Politics Of Second Temple Judea
$40.00Add to cartJudaism and Christianity both arose in times of empire, with roots in Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman periods. In order to understand these religious movements, we must first understand the history and society of these imperial cultures. In these formative years, wisdom and apocalyptic traditions flourished as two significant religious forms. In Scribes, Visionaries, and the Politics of Second Temple Judea, distinguished New Testament scholar Richard A. Horsley analyzes the function and meaning of these religious movements within their social context, providing essential background for the development of early Judaism and early Christianity. It is an ideal textbook for classes on the rise of Judaism or the Second Temple period, as well as Dead Sea Scrolls and Apocrypha.
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What Are The Dead Sea Scrolls And Why Do They Matter
$31.99Add to cartThe Dead Sea Scrolls are on exhibit; thousands will journey to see them. But will they understand what they see? Certainly, scholarly volumes on the Dead Sea Scrolls abound, full of indices, footnotes, and jargon for those in the know. What about the majority of the population non-specialists who just want a basic understanding of what the Dead Sea Scrolls are, what they mean, and why they’re so important? Finally, here is a book for the rest of us! David Noel Freedman and Pam Fox Kuhlken offer a slim but thorough volume for a down-and-dirty understanding of these important texts. Designed to equip students in religion, history, archaeology, and any who have an interest in the scrolls, Freedman and Kuhlken have provided a fascinating and accessible guidebook. Full of humor and behind-the-scenes glimpses into research on the Scrolls, So What’s Up with the Dead Sea Scrolls? is the perfect book for readers who want a quick understanding of an otherwise untouchable subject.
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Then And Now Bible Maps Pamphlet
$4.99Add to cartWhere are Bible Lands today? This handy quick reference fold-out shows you! It contains more than a dozen Bible maps that include the modern-day boundaries in red. Fantastic for comparing places in the news with places in the Bible.
Includes the following maps:
*The Middle East during Old Testament Times
*The Assyrian Empire, Babylonian Kingdoms and Persian Empire
*The Holy Land during the time of the Old Testament
*United Kingdom, Divided Kingdom compared with modern-day Israel and surrounding countries
*The Holy Land during the time of JesusAll of Paul’s Journeys (Roman Empire at AD 60)
Fits in the back of most Bibles. Size: 8.5″ x 5.5″ Unfolds 38 inches.
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Gods Judgments : Interpreting History And The Christian Faith
$32.99Add to cartInterVarsity Press Publication
Steven J. Keillor pursues the thesis that divine judgment can be a fruitful category for historical investigation. In fact, he argues that Christianity is an interpretation of history more than a worldview or philosophy. Grounding his thesis on a study of God’s judgments in both the Old and New Testaments, Keillor then takes up two events in U.S. history, the burning of Washington in 1814 and the Civil War, to explore and make his case. He concludes by suggesting the relevance his thesis has to some contemporary concerns, including the attacks of September 11.
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2000 Years Of Amazing Grace
$26.95Add to cart2000 Years of Amazing Grace is an accessible and easy-reading history of Christianity that focuses on the essentials of the Christian message, centrally, salvation by grace. It presents a luminous and enthusiastic digest of vital Christian beliefs and an account of how Christianity evolved from Jesus to the present. It also features biographical sketches of key figures, extensive citation from founding documents, and discusses Christianity’s relationship to other world religions today.
What distinguishes this book from other overviews of Christianity is Paul Zahl’s lively and accessible style of writing and his vigorous advocacy of orthodox Christian faith. His own personal commitment to Christianity is a guiding force in the book. He also readily acknowledges the ways in which Christians and Christian institutions have failed to live up to the founder’s teachings and have distorted his message. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand Christianity’s long history, and how that history has led to a thriving faith today.
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Christian History : An Introduction
$35.00Add to cartFirst published in 1987, this book has been a primer for theological college students, undergraduates, lay readers and all interested in the history and development of Christianity. Now published in a new and attractive edition with an updated bibliography, Diarmaid MacCulloch still manages to argue his case convincingly that history need not be boring. He takes his readers from the earliest days of the fledgling Christian Church to the end of the twentieth century and enables readers to put characters, movements and places in their wider context and make connections between them.
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Why Christianity Happened
$46.00Add to cartLooking beyond theological narratives and offering a sociological, economic, and historical examination of the spread of earliest Christianity, James Crossley presents a thoroughly secular and causal explanation for why the once law-observant movement within Judaism became the beginnings of a new religion. First analyzing the historiography of the New Testament and stressing the problematic omission of a social scientific account, Crossley applies a socioeconomic lens to the rise of the Jesus movement and the centrality of sinners to his mission. Using macrosociological approaches, he explains how Jesus’ Jewish teachings sparked the shift toward a gentile religion and an international monotheistic trend. Finally, using approaches from conversion studies, he provides a sociohistorical explanation for the rise of the Pauline mission.
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When Christians Were Jews That Is Now
$16.95Add to cartWhen Christians Were Jews tells the story of identity rediscovered. Narrating recent biblical scholarship as a story of family strife, Berard recounts how early Christians dissociated from their Jewish origins and reflects on the spiritual loss suffered by Christianity because of this division. He calls Christians to explore with open mind and heart . . . the Jewishness not only of Jesus but of themselves.
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Creation And Chaos In The Primeval Era And The Eschaton
$63.99Add to cartForeword by Peter Machinist
Hermann Gunkel’s groundbreaking Schopfung und Chaos, originally published in German in 1895, is here translated in its entirety into English for the first time. Even though available only in German, this work by Gunkel has had a profound influence on modern biblical scholarship.
Discovering a number of parallels between the biblical creation accounts and a Babylonian creation account, the Enuma Elish, Gunkel argues that ancient Babylonian traditions shaped the Hebrew people’s perceptions both of God’s creative activity at the beginning of time and of God’s re-creative activity at the end of time.
Including illuminating introductory pieces by eminent scholar Peter Machinist and by translator K. William Whitney, Gunkel’s Creation and Chaos will appeal to serious students and scholars in the area of biblical studies.
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Unfolding Drama Of The Bible
$22.00Add to cartIn this concise and accessible volume, newly revised, one of the most revered contemporary biblical theologians introduces the first-time reader to the dramatic sweep of the Bible in eight carefully crafted study sessions, reminding even veteran readers of the Bible’s central messages. Study resources and discussion questions, now carefully updated, make this book the ideal resource for introductory Bible courses and adult inquirer classes.
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History Of Ancient Israel And Judah (Revised)
$55.00Add to cartThis classic textbook, widely used for over two decades, constructs a history of ancient Israel and Judah through a thorough investigation of epigraphical, archaeological, and biblical sources. Approaching biblical history as history, Miller and Hayes examine the political and economic factors that give context to the Israelite monarchy’s actions and the biblical writers’ accounts. Now updated with the latest research and critical discoveries, including the Tell Dan Inscription, and considering the lively debate surrounding the reliability of biblical accounts, Miller and Hayes’s judicious and evenhanded portrayal gives detailed attention to the nature, strengths, and limitations of various forms of evidence for understanding Israel’s origins and early history. The new edition also includes thirty-four new maps, helpful notes, and numerous charts and photographs.
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From The Maccabees To The Mishnah (Revised)
$40.00Add to cartIn this new edition of a best-selling classic, Shaye Cohen offers a thorough analysis of Judaism’s development from the early years of the Roman Empire to the formative period of rabbinic Judaism. Cohen’s synthesis of religion, literature, and history offers deep insight into the nature of Judaism at this key period, including the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, the function of Jewish religion in the larger community, and the development of normative Judaism and other Jewish sects. In addition, Cohen provides clear explanations concerning the formation of the biblical canon and the roots of rabbinic Judaism. Now completely updated and revised, this book remains the clearest introduction to the era that shaped Judaism and provided the context for early Christianity.
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Biblical Law And Its Relevance
$70.99Add to cartPreface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1. The Mosaic Law And The Christian
2. Is There Truth In The Law (John 1:17)? On The Gospel Of John’s View Of The Mosaic Revelation
3. Near Eastern And Biblical Laws Compared
4. Law And Narrative In Exodus 19-24
5. Exodus 21:22-25 (Lex Talionis) And Abortion
6. “Do Not Steal”: Biblical Laws About Theft
7. Understanding Laws Of Clean And Unclean
8. The Red Heifer
9. Old Testament Perspectives On Divorce
10. The Law’s Theology Of Sex
11. “Just War” In Deuteronomy 20 And 2 Kings 3
12. Law And Justice In The Historical Books
13. Conclusion: Is The Law Relevant For Today?
Bibliography
Indexes
Additional Info
This book approaches the laws of the Pentateuch from theological, historical, moral, and spiritual perspectives. Theologically, this book raises a question of hermeneutics: What are Christians to make of the law? Biblical Law and Its Relevance, while taking into consideration the approaches of Reformed, Dispensationalist, Lutheran, and Theonomist scholars, proposes a distinctive hermeneutic of seeking to find the abiding moral and religious principles inherent in the laws. In pursuing this goal, this book employs a comparative-legal methodology that examines biblical laws in their ancient Near Eastern historical setting and in comparison with rabbinic, modern, and especially cuneiform laws. It seeks to determine the original significance of the lex talionis formula (“eye for an eye”) and the rules of clean / unclean. It also surveys how the laws were administered from the time of Joshua to the end of the Old Testament period.From an ethical-spiritual viewpoint, this book shows how the laws were meant to foster a relationship with God and identifies the ethical relevance of the laws to today’s issues of abortion, rights of the underclass, theft, divorce, sexuality, and the conduct of war.
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Whose Bible Is It
$24.00Add to cartPreface
Introduction: The Bible, The While Bible, And Nothing But The Bible?
1: The God Who Speaks
2: The Truth In Hebrew
3: Moses Speaking Greek
4: Beyond Written Torah: Talmud And Continuing Revelation
5: The LAw And The Prophets Fulfilled
6: Formation Of A Second Testament
7: The Peoples Of The Book
8: Back To The Sources
9: The Bible Only
10: The Canon And The Critics
11: A Message For The While Human Race
12: The Strange Ne World Within The Bible
Afterword
Appendix I: Alternative Canons Of The Tanakh/Old Testament
Appendix II: New Testament
Notes And Further ReadingAdditional Info
Jaroslav Pelikan, widely regarded as one of the most distinguished historians of our day, now provides a clear and engaging account of the Bible’s journey from oral narrative to Hebrew and Greek text to today’s countless editions. Pelikan explores the evolution of the Jewish, Protestant, and Catholic versions and the development of the printing press and its effect on the Reformation, the translation into modern languages, and varying schools of critical scholarship. Whose Bible Is It? is a triumph of scholarship that is also a pleasure to read. -
Bible After Babel
$26.99Add to cartBiblical scholars today often sound as if they are caught in the aftermath of Babel – a clamor of voices unable to reach common agreement. Yet is this confusion necessarily a bad thing? Many postmodern critics see the recent profusion of critical approaches as a welcome opportunity for the emergence of diverse new techniques. In The Bible after Babel noted biblical scholar John J. Collins considers the effect of the postmodern situation on biblical, primarily Old Testament, criticism over the last three decades. Engaging and even-handed, Collins examines the quest of historical criticism to objectively establish a text’s basic meaning. Accepting that the Bible may no longer provide secure “foundations” for faith, Collins still highlights its ethical challenge to be concerned for “the other” – a challenge central both to Old Testament ethics and to the teaching of Jesus.
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In Search Of Paul
$20.99Add to cartJohn Dominic Crossan, the eminent historical Jesus scholar, and Jonathan L. Reed, an expert in biblical archaeology, reveal through archaeology and textual scholarship that Paul, like Jesus, focused on championing the Kingdom of God–a realm of justice and equality–against the dominant, worldly powers of the Roman empire.
Many theories exist about who Paul was, what he believed, and what role he played in the origins of Christianity. Using archaeological and textual evidence and taking advantage of recent major discoveries, eminent New Testament scholar John Dominic Crossan and biblical archaeologist Jonathan L. Reed discover the real Paul as a dedicated successor of Jesus, carrying on Jesus’s mission of inaugurating the Kingdom of God on earth against the reign of Rome.
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Rethinking The Pentateuch
$40.00Add to cartScholars have long attempted to explain how the Pentateuch was put together. According to the predominant theory–the documentary hypothesis–the material in these books, which varies in historical and theological points of view, came from four hypothetical sources designated as J, E, D, and P. Answering the increasing scholarly call to rethink this theory, Antony Campbell and Mark O’Brien offer a revolutionary explanation for the development of plurality and multiplicity within the text.
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Cave Of John The Baptist
$23.00Add to cartThe first archaeological evidence of the historical reality of the Gospel story.
From a historical point of view, the uniqueness of this cave is that it contains archaeological evidence that comes to us from the very time of the personalities and events described in the Gospels. For here is the largest ritual bathing pool ever found in the Jerusalem area, and found in the village where John the Baptist was born, showing unmistakable signs of ritual use in the first century AD. Also in the cave is the earliest ever Christian art, depicting John the Baptist as well as the three crosses of the crucifixion.
By using the forensic techniques available to the modern archaeologist, Gibson and his international team have been able to draw information from the drawings, pottery, coins, bones, remains of ritual fire and pieces of cloth found in the cave and match these up with the contemporary literary sources. This is a unique opportunity to build up a picture of the very first Christians, how they lived and even what they believed.
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How The Bible Was Built
$31.99Add to cartThe Bible continues to be the world’s runaway best-seller. But very few people could say just how its seemingly disparate jumble of writings – stories, letters, poems, collections of laws, religious visions – got there. Filling this knowledge gap, How the Bible Was Built clearly tells the story of how the Bible came to be.
Penned by Charles Merrill Smith in response to his teenage granddaughter’s questions, the manuscript was discovered after Smith’s death and has been reworked by his friend James Bennett for a wider audience. Free of theological or sectarian slant, this little volume provides a concise, factual overview of the Bible’s construction throughout history, outlining how its various books were written and collected and later canonized and translated.
Written in an easy conversational style and enhanced by two helpful appendixes (of biblical terms and dates), How the Bible Was Built will give a more informed understanding of the Bible to people of virtually any reading level and any religious persuasion.
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Lord Jesus Christ
$70.99Add to cartThis outstanding book provides an in-depth historical study of the place of Jesus in the religious life, beliefs, and worship of Christians from the beginnings of the Christian movement down to the late second century.
Lord Jesus Christ is a monumental work on earliest Christian devotion to Jesus, sure to replace Wilhelm Bousset’s Kyrios Christos (1913) as the standard work on the subject. Larry Hurtado, widely respected for his previous contributions to the study of the New Testament and Christian origins, offers the best view to date of how the first Christians saw and reverenced Jesus as divine. In assembling this compelling picture, Hurtado draws on a wide body of ancient sources, from Scripture and the writings of such figures as Ignatius of Antioch and Justin to apocryphal texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Truth.
Hurtado considers such themes as early beliefs about Jesus’ divine status and significance, but he also explores telling devotional practices of the time, including prayer and worship, the use of Jesus’ name in exorcism, baptism and healing, ritual invocation of Jesus as “Lord,” martyrdom, and lesser-known phenomena such as prayer postures and the curious scribal practice known today as the nomina sacra.
The revealing portrait that emerges from Hurtado’s comprehensive study yields definitive answers to questions like these: How important was this formative period to later Christian tradition? When did the divinization of Jesus first occur? Was early Christianity influenced by neighboring religions? How did the idea of Jesus’ divinity change old views of God? And why did the powerful dynamics of early beliefs and practices encourage people to make the costly move of becoming a Christian?
Boasting an unprecedented breadth and depth of coverage – the book speaks authoritatively on everything from early Christian history to themes in biblical studies to New Testament Christology – Hurtado’s Lord Jesus Christ is at once significant enough that a wide range of scholars will want to read it and accessible enough that general readers interested at all in Christian origins will also profit greatly from it.
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Walking The Bible
$14.95Add to cartBoth a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible describes one man’s epic odyssey-by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel-through the greatest stories every told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler’s inspiring journey will forever change your view of some of history’s most storied events.
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Enoch And Qumran Origins
$52.99Add to cartThe rediscovery of Enochic Judaism as an ancient movement of dissent within Second Temple Judaism, a movement centered on neither temple nor torah, is a major achievement of contemporary research. After being marginalized, ancient Enoch texts have reemerged as a significant component of the Dead Sea Scrolls library unearthed at Qumran.
Enoch and Qumran Origins is the first comprehensive treatment of the complex and forgotten relations between the Qumran community and the Jewish group behind the pseudepigraphal literature of Enoch. The contributors demonstrate that the roots of the Qumran community are to be found in the tradition of the Enoch group rather than that of the Jerusalem priesthood.
Framed by Gabriele Boccaccini’s introduction and James Charlesworth’s conclusion, this book examines the hypotheses of five particularly eminent scholars, resulting in an engaging and substantive discussion among forty-seven specialists from nine countries. The exceptional array of essays from leading international scholars in Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins makes Enoch and Qumran Origins a sine qua non for serious students of this period.
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Remembering Abraham : Culture Memory And History In The Hebrew Bible
$97.00Add to cartDescription
According to an old tradition preserved in the Palestinian Targums, the Hebrew Bible is “the Book of Memories.” The sacred past recalled in the Bible serves as a model and wellspring for the present. The remembered past, says Ronald Hendel, is the material with which biblical Israel constructed its identity as a people, a religion, and a culture. It is a mixture of history, collective memory, folklore, and literary brilliance, and is often colored by political and religious interests. In Israel’s formative years, these memories circulated orally in the context of family and tribe. Over time they came to be crystallized in various written texts. The Hebrew Bible is a vast compendium of writings, spanning a thousand-year period from roughly the twelfth to the second century BCE, and representing perhaps a small slice of the writings of that period. The texts are often overwritten by later texts, creating a complex pastiche of text, reinterpretation, and commentary. The religion and culture of ancient Israel are expressed by these texts, and in no small part also created by them, as they formulate new or altered conceptions of the sacred past. Remembering Abraham explores the interplay of culture, history, and memory in the Hebrew Bible. Hendel examines the Hebrew Bible’s portrayal of Israel and its history, and correlates the biblical past with our own sense of the past. He addresses the ways that culture, memory, and history interweave in the self-fashioning of Israel’s identity, and in the biblical portrayals of the patriarchs, the Exodus, and King Solomon. A concluding chapter explores the broad horizons of the biblical sense of the past. This accessibly written book represents the mature thought of one of our leading scholars of the Hebrew Bible. -
Presumed Guilty : How The Jews Were Blamed For The Death Of Jesus
$17.00Add to cartA premier New Testament scholar explores how Jesus’ trial and execution are portrayed in the New Testament and how that portrayal has affected biblical studies, Christian theology, and Jewish-Christian relations through history. Tomson has written an accessible, responsible analysis of the biblical accounts of Jesus’ death, demonstrating how, through compounded misunderstandings, they contributed to anti-Jewish sentiment in the early church and later history. Tomson’s question of how Jesus is to be understood in his first-century Judean context is a critical one not only for biblical scholars, but for anyone concerned about human rights and interreligious dialogue today.
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Black And Tan
$15.00Add to cartForeword
Introduction
Regenerate But Unreconstructed
Black And Tan
Scripture And Slavery
Southern Slavery And Our Culture Wars
Plowing The Same Ground
Black Confederates
Dabney In Full
Fragments From The Controversy
Epilogue
AppendixAdditional Info
If we want to understand culture wars on the contemporary American scene, we must first come to grips with the American culture wars of the nineteenth century. That our nation did not remove slavery in a biblical way helps explain many of our contemporary social evils. But who is qualified to talk about such things? What is a biblical view of racism? Why do the biblical answers to such questions so infuriate the radical left and the radical right? This collection of essays lays out some of the answers from a view unashamed of historic biblical absolutism. -
Love Supreme : A History Of The Johannine Tradition
$20.00Add to cartPrologue
1.Root Conflict
2.Disciples Of The Beloved Community
3.The Spiritual Gospel
4.In Those Parts
5.Love In Extremis
6.A King Of Shreds And Patches
7.EpiloguesAbbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index Of Ancient SourcesAdditional Info
Callahan suggests that scholars have wrongly placed the sequence and therefore the importance of the works collectively known as the Johannine tradition – the Gospel of John and the Johannine Epistles. His proposal includes literary, theological, and historical analysis as he argues for the reevaluation of a significant part of the biblical canon. -
Biblical Interpretation At Qumran
$29.99Add to cartThe Dead Sea Scrolls are an invaluable source of information about Jewish biblical interpretation in antiquity. This volume by preeminent scholars in the field examines central aspects of scriptural interpretation as it was practiced at Qumran and discusses their implications for understanding the biblical tradition.
While many of the forms of biblical interpretation found in the Scrolls have parallels elsewhere in Jewish literature, other kinds are original to the Scrolls and were unknown prior to the discovery of the caves. These chapters explore examples of biblical interpretation unique to Qumran, including legal exegesis and the Pesher. Readers will also find discussion of such fascinating subjects as the “rewritten Bible,” views on the creation of humanity, the “Pseudo-Ezekiel” texts, the pesharim, and the prophet David.
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Related Strangers : Jews And Christians 70-170 CE
$26.00Add to cartTHE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT
The Jewish Revolts And Their Consequences
Jews, Christians, And Roman Politics
The Jews In Roman Society
The Christians In Roman Society
ConclusionJEWS AND JUDAISM IN THE CANONICAL NARRATIVES
Mark: The Shadow Of War – Apocalypse And Crisis
Matthew: The Shadow Of Yavneh – Authority And Praxis
Luke-Acts: The Shadow Of Rome – Synagogue And State
John: The Shadow Of Orthodoxy – From Messianism To Ditheism
ConclusionAPOCRYPHA
Christian Apocrypha
Christian Adaptations Of Jewish Apocrypha
ConclusionSUPERSESSION: HEBREWS AND BARNABAS
The Epistle To The Hebrews
The Epistle Of Barnabas
SummaryJEWISH CHRISTIANS AND GENTILE JUDAIZERS
Jewish Christians
Gentile Judaizers
ConclusionJEWISH REACTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY
Jewish Persecution Of Christians
The Yavnean Sagas
Jewish Allusions To Jesus And Christians
ConclusionGNOSTICS AND MARCIONITES
Gnosticism
Marcion
ConclusionPATTERNS OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
Dependence And Independence In Early Christian Worship
From Sabbath To Sunday
From Passover To Easter
Melito’s Paschal Homily
SummaryDIALOGUE AND DISPUTE: JUSTIN
Address
Main Themes
Background And Sources
Justin’s Trypho And Celsus’ Jew
SummaryAN OVERVIEW
Notes
Modern Author Index
Subject Index
Ancient Sources IndexAdditional Info
This book examines Jewish-Christian relations during one of the most formative but also most obscure centuries, when many of the features that have characterized the interaction of Jews and Christians down to this day were first formulated. Starting from incisive description of canonical and noncanonical literature of this period, Wilson clarifies perceptions of the different groups that were in dialogue and dispute. -
Augustus To Constantine
$52.00Add to cartThis masterful study of the early centuries of Christianity vividly brings to life the religious, political, and cultural developments through which the faith that began as a sect within Judaism became finally the religion of the Roman empire. First published in 1970, Grant’s classic is enhanced with a new foreward by Margaret M. Mitchell, which assesses its importance and puts the reader in touch with the advances of current research.
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Memoirs Of God
$29.00Add to cartThis insightful work examines the variety of ways that collective memory, oral tradition, history, and history writing intersect. Integral to all this are the ways in which ancient Israel was shaped by the monarchy, the Babylonian exile, and the dispersions of Judeans and the ways in which Israel conceptualized and interacted with the divine–Yahweh as well as other deities.
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Paul And First Century Letter Writing
$28.99Add to cartE. Randolph Richards has extensively studied ancient letter writing and secretaries. Informed by the historical evidence and with a sharp eye for telltale clues in Paul’s letters, he takes us into this world and places us on the scene with Paul the letter writer. What first appears to be just a study of secretaries and stationery turns out to be an intriguing glimpse of Paul the letter writer that overthrows our preconceptions and offers a new perspective on how this important portion of Christian Scripture came to be.
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Future Of Biblical Archaelogy
$39.99Add to cartBiblical archaeology has long been a discipline in crisis. “Biblical minimalists,” who believe that the Bible contains little of actual historical fact, today are challenging those who accept the historicity of Scripture. In this volume Jewish and evangelical Christian archaeologists, historians, and biblical scholars confront the minimalist critique and offer positive alternatives.
Bringing a needed scientific approach to biblical archaeology, the contributors construct a new paradigm that reads the Bible critically but sympathetically. Their work covers the full range of subjects relevant to understanding the context of the Bible, including proper approaches to scriptural interpretation, recent archaeological evidence, and new studies of Near Eastern texts and inscriptions.
