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Combining a remarkable degree of scholarship, theological depth, and readability, these essays from the journal Interpretation will be an up-to-date and valuable resource for teaching and preaching the prophets. Contributors include: Walter Brueggemann; Brevard S. Childs; R.E. Clements; John J. Collins; James L. Crenshaw; Michael Fishbane; John G. Gammie; Moshe Greenberg; William L. Holladay; Klaus Koch; Werner E. Lemke; James Limberg; Carol A. Newsom; Thomas M. Raitt; J. J. M. Roberts; James A. Sanders; David C. Steinmetz; W. Sibley Towner; Gene M. Tucker; Robert R. Wilson; Hans Walter Wolff.

"Happel and Walter's contribution is in constructing a dialogue between a systematician and a moralist about common foundations for their respective disciplines. This is much needed in theology today and this book helps move the issue of cross-fertilization among theological specialties." -- Kenneth Himes, Chair, Theology Department, Boston College "The project as a whole will be of interest to serious constructive theologians of all denominations.... It is daring in its scope, and I think it will provoke many important discussions." -- Robin W. Lovin, Cary M. Maguire University, Professor of Ethics, Perkins School of Theology, Dallas

Patrick D. Miller seeks to help interpreters of the Psalms "find entre into them in various ways to hear their theological claims and their point of contact with human life." In Part One, Miller examines the dominant "general approaches" that are currently shaping the study of psalms. He pays special attention to the poetic features of the psalms so as to aid the task of understanding their meaning. In Part Two, he offers extended expositions of ten specific Psalms-1, 2, 14, 22, 23, 82, 90, 127, 130, and 139. These Psalms are interpreted with an eye to theological and pastoral issues and with a sensitivity to their features and to their significance as Christian Scripture.

In most Bibles the period between the Old and the New Testaments is represented by a single blank page which, perhaps, has symbolic significance. 'From Malachi to Matthew' has for long remained vague and unfamiliar to many readers of the Scriptures. Many mysteries remain, but in recent times much light has been cast on this whole period. Exciting new insights have been provided by the writings of numbers of scholars and by some remarkable archaeological discoveries. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls caught the popular imagination and engaged the attention of worldwide scholarship. In this small volume an attempt is made to review these years in the light of recent study and discoveries and in particular to assess the religious contribution made by that rather strange company of men known as 'the apocalyptists'. The purpose of this book is selective rather than exhaustive, indicating the part which the apocalyptists had to play within the religious development of Judaism and in the preparation of men's minds for the coming of Christianity.

The basis for a Christian sexual ethic, says Cahill, is a correlation of four sources: Scripture, Christian tradition (of faith, theology, and practice), philosophy, (normative accounts), and the empirical sciences (descriptive accounts).

Using comparative anthropology to get at the social dimensions of prophetic activity, Robert Wilson's study brings the study of Isrealite prophecy to a new level. Looking at both modern societies and Ancient Near Eastern ones, Wilson sketches the nature of prophetic activity, its social location, and its social functions. He then shows how these features appear in Israelite prophecy and sketches a history of prophecy in Israel.

In challenging both traditional and contemporary notions of the nature and history of the Biblical apocalyptic literature, Professor Hanson begins by saying that the origins of apocalyptic cannot be explained by a method which juxtaposes seventh and second century compositions and then proceeds to account for the features of the latter by reference to its immediate environment. "The apocalyptic literature of the second century and after is the result of a long development reaching back to pre-exilic times and beyond, and not the new baby of second century foreign parents. Not only the sources of origin, but the intrinsic nature of late apocalyptic compositions can be understood only by tracing the centuries-long development through which the apocalptic eschatology developed from prophetic and other even more archaic native roots."In this ground breaking study, Professor Hanson focuses on one strand which can be seen running through the heart of many of the so-called apocalyptic works, the strand of apocalyptic eschatology. He seeks to demonstrate that the rise of apocalyptic eschatology is neither sudden nor anomalous, but follows the pattern of an unbroken development from preexilic and exilic prophecy.By means of a detailed analysis of the Hebrew text and a new translation of it into English, Professor Hanson demonstrates why scholars must look again at the apocalyptic eschatology. This contextual-typological approach will call for a reexamination of many opinions about this literature.

The Travail of Nature shows that the theological tradition in the West is neither ecologically bankrupt, as some of its popular and scholarly critics have maintained, nor replete with immediately accessible, albeit long-forgotten, ecological riches hidden everywhere in its deeper vaults, as some contemporary Christians, who are profoundly troubled by the environmental crisis and other related concerns, might wistfully hope to find. This is why it is appropriate to speak of the ambiguous ecological promises of Christian theology.

In African American culture, the church is instrumental in establishing and maintaining social order. Professor Paris shows that a study of black church teachings reveals black social ethics. These ethics aren't "abstract moral principles, but sociopolitical quests for liberation and freedom."

William J. Carl III confronts the problem of using theological language in preaching through a combination of serious theological reflection, rhetorical criticism, cultural analysis, and practical homiletical advice. He examines the approaches of Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Barth, and Tillich to determine how these theologians brought life to the pulpit and what today's preachers can learn from them. Preaching Christian Doctrine organizes and describes the various approaches to doctrinal preaching developed throughout the history of the church and across denominational lines, making this volume a unique systematic homiletics text dealing with the problem of preaching Christian doctrine today.

This comprehensive, systematic survey of Luther's ethical thought and teaching clearly discusses all the major ethical issues that concerned Luther. Contemporary readers will be especially interested in what the Reformer has to say about the Christian's attitude toward secular society, toward the state, and toward war. The Ethics of Martin Luther offers scholars and nonspecialists alike a much-needed explanation of Luther's ideas.

"... brilliantly reasoned, theologically probing, movingly illustrated ... more than achieves the aim of the author to highlight the often overlooked and sometimes suppressed message of Scripture and interpretation of history: the Christian calling to be a part of the transformation of the social order, a transformation inspired by the prophetic-messianic promise of universal justice and peace as the fruits of the present and coming reign of God." -- Alan Neely, Faith and Mission "The author's aim is to help develop a framework, set an agenda, and clarify criteria for making political choices.... This book is a welcome addition to the literature on political ethics, and a substantial antidote to influential works which, in the name of scientific rationality and realism, legitimate the status quo in the Third World." -- Lee Cormie, St. Michael's College, Toronto "Modest and clear, the book has appeal for many students, church people, and activists. Professional ethicists can find good methodological insights and fresh treatment of historical material." -- Nancy Bancroft, Ethics "The author builds into his Christian political ethic the cross of Jesus Christ, the centrality of effective Christian community life, the need to free the oppressors, the reality of suffering and death, and the dynamic of Christian love.... One is impressed throughout the book by the author's own patience and love in the face of continued oppression, frustration, and the killing of friends." -- Herbert T. Mayer, Currents in Theology and Mission "For many Christians who are profoundly concerned about how to live faith as a reality in today's world, Bonino can offer both a challenge and the beginning of a way to think about and act out that concern in a responsible way." -- Randolph A. Nelson, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota

". . . a liberating book about a liberating theological approach." --Christianity and Crisis "Metaphorical Theology is a brilliant piece of writing which will make an important contribution both to new thinking on he nature of religious language and also to the dialogue between Christianity and Feminist Theology." --Rosemary Radford Ruether Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary "The great virtue of Professor McFague's book is that it tackles [some] crucial problems in an extremely perceptive and creative way . . . .All in all it is a most timely book both for the theological and for the church at large." --Maurice Wiles Regius Professor of Divinity Christ Church, Oxford University

In this comprehensive and thought-provoking study, Terence Fretheim focuses on the theme of divine suffering, an aspect of our understanding of God which both the church and scholarship have neglected. Maintaining that "metaphors matter," Fretheim carefully examines the ruling and anthropomorphic metaphors of the Old Testament and discusses them in the context of current biblical-theological scholarship. His aim is to broaden our understanding of the God of the Old Testament by showing that "suffering belongs to the person and purpose of God".

A classic manual that has gone through more than twenty printings, this book is the first Harmony of the Gospels to use the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. This simple and nontechnical book presents the Gospel materials in parallel columns in order that the Bible reader can compare the varied texts. It does not restrict itself simply to the Synoptic Gospels but includes the Fourth Gospel as well, thus enabling an overview of the major New Testament descriptions of the life and ministry of Jesus.Dr. Heim presents the story mainly in terms of the action involved, while at the same time disclosing the substance of the teaching passages as adequately as possible. He exposes the major parallels in several accounts without tearing texts from their contexts and without constantly breaking up passages and transposing verses. He deliberately focuses on the large movements of thought and action, avoiding minutiae of all kinds. Although footnotes and cross references are held to a minimum, an index is provided for easy location of individual passages.

This book gives today's Lutherans a sense of heritage, identity and continuity, a sense of self-understanding. Readers will see themselves as part of a family. They can identify with the struggles, hopes, and frustrations of wave after wave of immigrants adapting to the strange new world of America and at the same time trying to preserve all they had known and loved and brought with them from the homeland. The genius of the entire volume is that it points beyond family memories to an ongoing and continuing life of which we and our children are a living part.Contributors: Theodore G. Tappert, Eugene Fevold, Fred W. Meuser, H. George Anderson, August R. Suelflow, and E. Clifford Nelson.

In this classic study, Reginald H. Fuller approaches the New Testament resurrection narratives as a critic who is concerned with the historical basis of the Easter proclamation. He starts with the earliest record of the Easter traditions in 1 Corinthians 15 and only thereafter turns to the Easter narratives of the four Gospels. In so doing he attempts to reconstruct the history of the tradition using the tools of tradition and redaction criticism to discover the reasons which gave rise to the various Gospel accounts of Jesus' resurrection. Above all else, Fuller's comprehensive study leads to a clear understanding of what the Easter proclamation, "The Lord is risen," means according to the New Testament.

This useful guide offers a critical appraisal of a theological movement within the church catholic. The authors, a church historian and a systematic theologian, describe Lutheranism as centered in the fundamental principle of the Reformation, "justification by faith apart from works of law."The book focuses on the emergence of this chief article of faith as a proposal of dogma to the church ecumenical, its theological formulation, and its significance for the shaping of piety and doctrine. Each issue is treated in terms of both confessional history and systematic theology. Seminarians, pastors, teachers, and interested laypersons of all traditions will gain ecumenical insights as well as pertinent information from this work.

Here is a book that "tells it like it is" regarding what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ in today's world. It is a book that rigorously affirms the freedom of the Christian person, and just as rigorously refutes those who would restrict or negate this freedom in the name of Christian orthodoxy. The author, whose insights were shaped by the agonies of serving as a pastor during the Hitler years in Germany as well as by the discipline of years of careful research in the area of Christian origins, provides here a survey that gets to the heart of the New Testament message. He is ruthlessly honest with himself, with the New Testament, and with the church, as he strives passionately to show that Jesus means freedom - and that this has been so from the beginning.Despite its roots in the experience of the German church in the decades following World War II, Ksemann's work has a broad and enduring relevance. The crisis with which he is concerned is not uniquely that of the German church but affects Christianity throughout the world. It is his conviction that only if the church proclaims boldly the call to freedom that was the Lord's call, and lives in that freedom, can the church remain true to its Lord and of service to humanity.

What should be the Christian attitude toward money and possessions? Have our own possessions left us blind to the utopian vision of the first Christians? Is anything short of a complete renunciation of possessions a compromise with Christian teaching?In this brief and lucid study, esteemed New Testament scholar and historian Martin Hengel examines the views of property and riches to be found in the teachings of Jesus, the early Christian communities, and the church fathers down to the fourth century. He compares Christian ideals with those to be found in Judaism and ancient philosophy, and sets what was taught alongside what was achieved in practice. A final chapter summarizes the relevance of these findings for Christianity today, and an annotated reading list indicates suggestions for further study.

Blackwell explores the Passion Story in Mark 14:116:8, then offers concrete suggestions for preaching, teaching, and Bible study. He contends that "the story of the cross as contained in Mark's Passion Story provides a significant way to understand the Christian faith at large."