Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James
For many Christians and believers of all faith traditions, the nine books explored in The Catholic Epistles, Hebrews, and Revelation are the least-known parts of the New Testament. This book also presents eleven even less-known, important extracanonical writings produced during roughly the same period as those included in the Bible. Scholz explores themes of authorship, audience, style, and context to offer a broad sense of the history, theology, and culture that formed early Christians. With review and discussion questions and helpful content summaries, he offers fresh insights into the turbulent years following the deaths of the first generation of believers.
“Borg and Crossan reveal a figure who, besides being neither anti-Semitic, anti-sex, nor misogynist, stresses social and political equality among Christians and between them and others. A refreshing and heartening exculpation of a still routinely maligned figure of the first importance to culture and civilization.” — Booklist (starred review) John Dominic Crossan and Marcus J. Borg—two of the world’s top-selling Christian scholars and the bestselling authors of The Last Week and The First Christmas—once again shake up the status quo by arguing that the message of the apostle Paul, considered by many to be the second most important figure in Christianity, has been domesticated by the church. Borg and Crossan turn the common perception of Paul on its head, revealing him as a radical follower of Jesus whose core message is still relevant today.
Bart D. Ehrman, the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus, Interrupted and God’s Problem reveals which books in the Bible’s New Testament were not passed down by Jesus’s disciples, but were instead forged by other hands—and why this centuries-hidden scandal is far more significant than many scholars are willing to admit. A controversial work of historical reporting in the tradition of Elaine Pagels, Marcus Borg, and John Dominic Crossan, Ehrman’s Forged delivers a stunning explication of one of the most substantial—yet least discussed—problems confronting the world of biblical scholarship.
This commentary on the Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation, excerpted from the Fortress Commentary on the Bible: The New Testament, engages readers in the work of biblical interpretation. Contributors connect historical-critical analysis with sensitivity to current theological, cultural, and interpretive issues. Introductory articles describe the challenges of reading the New Testament in ancient and contemporary contexts, as well as exploring other themes ranging from the Jewish heritage of early Christianity to the contexts of diaspora. These are followed by the survey “Introduction to Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation.” Each chapter (Hebrews through Revelation) includes an introduction and commentary on the text through the lenses of three critical questions: The Text in Its Ancient Context. What did the text probably mean in its original historical and cultural context? The Text in the Interpretive Tradition. How have centuries of reading and interpreting shaped our understanding of the text? The Text in Contemporary Discussion. What are the unique challenges and interpretive questions that arise for readers and hearers of the text today? Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation introduces fresh perspectives and draws students, as well as preachers and interested readers, into the challenging work of interpretation.
The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." Hebrews 1:1. God has been speaking from the beginning. Creation itself is an expression of His thought, and all His providential government — where there are eyes to see — gives witness to His eternal power and Godhead, so that men are without excuse. In a special way, He has spoken through the prophetic ministry of His servants during the entire period covered by the Old Testament. These Old Testament Scriptures give us the record and manner of God's speaking in time past. The instruments He used were the prophets, but the Author is God. But there is a change in the Gospels — the Son Himself has come, and is speaking. "In these last days" — an expression significant of a change from His former methods of appealing to man, as well as a declaration that no further unfolding remains to be revealed — "He hath spoken unto us by His Son," or to be absolutely literal, "in a Son." This does not suggest that there are other sons, but gives the great fact of His Son standing out all alone. There is but One; no need even to designate Him in any exclusive way. The expression shows us that God's manner of communication has changed. It is not merely that we have inspired and authoritative messengers who declare unto us the will of God in many parts and in many ways — in details of biography, in historic events, in types, etc. but God Himself is present in the Son.
This careful, sometimes innovative, mid-level commentary touches on an astonishingly wide swath of important, sensitive issues - theological and pastoral - that have urgent resonances in twenty-first-century life. This thorough commentary presents a coherent reading of 1 Corinthians, taking full account of its Old Testament and Jewish roots and demonstrating Paula's primary concern for the unity and purity of the church and the glory of God. Those who preach and teach 1 Corinthians will be grateful to Ciampa and Rosner for years to come and scholars will be challenged to see this letter with fresh eyes.