Bücher der Reihe Studies in Biblical Literature

The Apostle Paul sought to exert his influence and authority over the congregations he founded long after they had been established. Such ongoing oversight by Christianity¿s prototypical «evangelist» has not been adequately understood. In a brief 1987 article, W. Paul Bowers challenged John Knox¿s assertion that Paul¿s «pastoral and administrative work irked him and that he wanted to be free of it». This book confirms and significantly develops Bowers¿s little-known thesis, examining a wide range of passages in the apostle¿s undisputed letters and highlighting crucial implications of Paul¿s broadly conceived vocation for understanding his mission and moral reflection.

In this thought-provoking study, Dan Lioy asserts that a Christocentric and Christotelic perspective is an unmistakable feature of Paul's discourse.

Modern Christian theology has been problematic with schism between Bible and theology, and between biblical studies and systematic theology. This title analyzes Brevard Springs Childs' concept of theological exegesis in biblical canons. He demonstrates forcefully the inadequacies of the historical-critical method in practicing biblical theology.

How do philosophical theories influence the reading of the Bible? How did the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance alter the views of God, miracles, prophecy, creation, and evil? This book explores these questions in detail through the work of Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508), a great Jewish statesman, philosopher, and biblical interpreter who embodied the fundamental paradigm shift from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. This book also serves as an invaluable reference guide to such medieval Jewish philosophers as Saadia, Maimonides, and Gersonides, as well as some of their Muslim counterparts such as Averroes, Avicenna, and al-Ghazali, in most of the fundamental issues of philosophy and biblical interpretation.

This book is an analysis of inner-biblical exegesis which ordinarily involves examination of the intertextual relationship between two texts within the biblical corpus. The direction of dependence between texts of this kind is not as important in the present study as the direction in which these texts were meant to be read by those who gave them their final shape.

Worship and the Risen Jesus in the Pauline Letters approaches the subject of Christian worship in respect to its origins from the perspective of the earliest New Testament writer: Paul. This book seeks to address the relative absence in scholarship of a full treatment of worship in the Pauline Letters.

The Textual World of the Bible explores the patterns of figuration in biblical composition and the way in which these patterns are read within the Bible (inner-biblical exegesis). This book is an excellent choice for courses in biblical theology and hermeneutics.

Mother Zion in Deutero-Isaiah is an invaluable resource in courses that deal with issues in Isaiah, biblical interpretation, and feminist hermeneutics, especially regarding the feminine personification of Zion and the maternal imagery of God.

This book argues that the sanctuary mentioned in Exod. 15:17 does not refer to Solomon's temple or to any other "man-made" structure but to an eschatological sanctuary distinctively established by divine hands. Such an understanding of this sanctuary impacts the theology of the Pentateuch and provides a reference point for predictions of an eschatological temple in the Prophets and the Writings.

This book is a reading of the text of the Gospel of John in light of a tradition of Johannine authorship represented by the Muratorian Fragment, Papias of Hierapolis, and the Anti-Marcionite Prologue, all which are taken to reflect the influence of a common tradition represented by Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, and Victorinus of Pettau.

The author examines Second Samuel 16:5-14, which is an important text for defining the character of both King David and Yahweh, the God of Israel.

The key to a balanced and accurate understanding of the book of Ecclesiastes lies in the inter-dependent relationships between the prominent motifs within the book. An Analysis of the Inter-Dependency of the Prominent Motifs Within the Book of Qohelet explores this dynamic.

Examines the five dream passages of "Matthew 1:18-2:23" to demonstrate that "Matthew" employed dream narratives to defend allegations concerning Jesus' birth and to provide etiological reasons both for why Jesus went to Egypt and how Jesus happened to live in Nazareth.

Evolutionary Creation in Biblical and Theological Perspective

A Postcolonial Reading of the Acts of the Apostles

A Hermeneutic on Dislocation as Experience

In fact, the Gospel of Matthew was the most Jewish of the Synoptic Gospels, and Matthew's paradigm was the needed transition for understanding the role of the new community post-70 AD. This book examines how Matthew used Jewish concepts as paradigmatic utterances for the Matthean community.

Assesses Tertullian's varying interpretive principles and also considers the effects of Montanism on his interpretive procedures. This title demonstrates that "Pastoral Epistles", "Hebrews", and "1 Peter" provided Tertullian with significant material for his theological controversies.

Illustrates how traditions and hermeneutics have significantly determined people's valuations of the relationship between the Old and New Covenants in "Hebrews". This book offers an epistemological lens from Exodus to identify the correct view of the relationship between the Old and New Covenants.

Contends the New Testament quotations from the Twelve presuppose knowledge of the larger whole and cannot be understood correctly apart from awareness of the compositional strategy of the Twelve.

A Biblical Theology of Gerassapience

Demonstrates that the evolution of the New Testament text, which began in the earlier centuries, continued into the Middle Ages. In this title, the author undertakes a study of this mixed phenomenon by studying 407 Greek manuscripts of the "Catholic Epistles".

An interpreter of Paul must understand his metaphors in order to arrive at a complete understanding of the Pauline pneumatological perspective. This title examines how the Pauline Spirit metaphors express the intangible Spirit's tangible presence in the life of the Christian.

Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament

Reveals the connection between John and the Synoptics with a focus on "John" 6.1-15. This book analyzes the Matthean and Lukan redaction of Mark in their versions of the feeding of the five thousand and their influence on the Johannine narrative, as well as how John's narrative can be understood as a thorough rewriting of the Synoptic accounts.