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Chasing Paper is an important new collection of essays written by senior publishers from around the world who have spent their careers in Christian publishing. Here they discuss the dramatic changes witnessed by the Christian publishing industry over the last fifty years, how they and their companies responded to those changes, and what the future may hold for the Christian publishing industry, authors, and readers everywhere. Find herein a rare glimpse behind the scenes into how some of the gate keepers of Christian culture have navigated quickly shifting cultural and professional realities.

This volume includes eighteen essays on the Gospel of Matthew from historical and theological perspectives. They center around three topics: Matthew in Reception and Research; Matthew in Context; and Themes and Motifs in Matthew. The volume includes studies of both the Gospel in its context and its reception history in ancient Christianity and in churches today. All contributors are leading authorities in biblical studies on different continents, in a variety of countries, and of different confessions. The book therefore showcases the present state of inter-confessional and international biblical studies on Matthew.

This volume combines the papers held at the Minerva Center's'Research on Israel and Aram in Biblical Times'conference (Leipzig 2018) on the subject of writing and re-writing history by deliberate destruction in the regions of Syria, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. An international group of scholars studies the subject using a multi-perspective and interdisciplinary approach. Archeological studies, ancient Near Eastern studies, and biblical studies focused on the destruction of ancient sites in Israel and Judah in the 1st millennium BC. The perspective of the defeated Israelites, Jerusalemites, and Judeans is described in detail in the Old Testament and in postbiblical literature and shows that the destructions in the past were a cultural and identity creator of the first magnitude. The longue durée of the practice of reshaping the past through the deliberate destruction of a cultural heritage in order to shape the present according to current interests becomes evident based on the Neo-Assyrian Empire's practice up to the modern era and is demonstrated by the example of the Arabian-Muslim conquest of Aram as well as current Turkish politics.

After discussing 1 Timothy in the 19th Colloquium Oecumenicum Paulinum in 2006 (published as COP 18), the 21st Colloquium devoted itself to 2 Timothy and Titus. About 30 international Pauline scholars gathered in the Abbey of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome between 14 and 18 September 2010 for scholarly exchanges and discussion of seven scholarly papers on the chapters of 2 Timothy and Titus. In this volume (COP 20) these papers written in French, English and German by famous scholars from Orthodox, Protestant and Catholic traditions are edited and made available to the larger scholarly community. After a synthesis of the discussion presented in the book (Bieringer), four scholars each focus on one chapter of 2 Timothy (2 Tim 1: Wolter; 2 Tim 2: Gourgues; 2 Tim 3: Karakolis and 2 Tim 4: MacDonald). The Letter to Titus is divided into two parts which are each treated in one study (Tit 1-2: Flichy and Tit 3: Herzer). The book concludes with a thematic study on God's philanthropy and human works touching on both letters (Penna). In this way the seven studies of this book treat 2 Timothy and Titus from beginning to end similar to a commentary. It is, however, a commentary that displays great diversity of approaches, methods, presuppositions. In the process of commenting on the texts, they also make a contribution to the highly significant recent discussion on the corpus theory and the question of authenticity.

Ever since its composition, the Song of Songs has fascinated generation upon generation of readers. The words for love expressed in the book have captivated the imagination and have inspired many, in each time and age, to interpret its meaning. Also the Song's love for words - its intricate poetry and its rich and often daring imagery - has caught the attention of its readership. After two centuries of diminished interest in the book, the last two decades have witnessed a remarkable return of scholarly attention for the Song of Songs. In this volume, twenty-nine papers read at the 67th Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense (Leuven, July 25-27, 2018), not only bring together the current state of the art, but also sketch new perspectives and future avenues for the study of this shortest but most fascinating book in the Hebrew Bible. Attention is paid, by established and emerging scholars alike, to the Song's origin and development, to its poetic features and metaphors, and to its rich and complex reception history.

North American study of the Christian Apocrypha is known principally for its interest in using noncanonical texts to reconstruct the life and teachings of Jesus, and for its support of Walter Bauer's theory on the development of early Christianity. The papers in this volume, presented in September 2013 at York University in Toronto, challenge that simplistic assessment by demonstrating that U.S. and Canadian scholarship on the Christian Apocrypha is rich and diverse. The topics covered in the papers include new developments in the study of canon formation, the interplay of Christian Apocrypha and texts from the Nag Hammadi library, digital humanities resources for reconstructing apocryphal texts, and the value of studying late-antique apocrypha. Among the highlights of the collection are papers from a panel by three celebrated New Testament scholars reassessing the significance of the Christian Apocrypha for the study of the historical Jesus. Forbidden Texts on the Western Frontier demonstrates the depth and breadth of Christian Apocrypha studies in North America and offers a glimpse at the achievements that lie ahead in the field.

Der vorliegende Band legt den Fokus auf kosmologische und kosmogonische Vorstellungen im Corpus Hermeticum und in weiteren, der antiken Hermetik zugerechneten Schriften. Die Beiträge untersuchen den synkretistischen Entstehungsprozess der Schriften und deren Gegenstand und Wirkung im Kontext der antiken Religions- und Philosophiegeschichte. Der Band bündelt dazu in interdisziplinärer Perspektive Beiträge verschiedener Forschungsrichtungen und Wissenschaftsdisziplinen wie u.a. Altphilologie, Theologie, Philosophiegeschichte, Religionswissenschaft, Ägyptologie sowie Gnosisforschung und betritt auf diese Weise wissenschaftliches Neuland. Niclas Förster und Uwe-Karsten Plisch publizieren in erweiterter Form Vorträge einer im Februar 2018 an der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen veranstalteten Tagung über'Kosmogonie und Kosmologie in hermetischen Schriften'.

The contributions in this volume are by members of the Colloquium Ioanneum, an international group of Johannine scholars who meet every two years for discussion of a section of the Fourth Gospel. The proceedings of the 2019 meeting focus on the signs and accompanying discourses in John 5 and 6, which contributors approach using different methods of interpretation. Narrative issues include the characterization of Jesus, the disciples, and other figures, the construction of space, assumptions about the audience, creation motifs, and the role of intertextuality. Attention is given to Johannine perspectives on Christology, soteriology, eschatology, and judgment. Careful consideration is given to questions of the Gospel's use of eucharistic language and the origins of Johannine theology.

Die Rede von der Präexistenz Christi wurde lange als problematisches Mythologumenon wahrgenommen und in der Bibelwissenschaft eher vernachlässigt. Die Beiträge des vorliegenden Bandes wollen zu einer neuen Wahrnehmung der Vielfalt der sprachlichen Formen, der Bedeutungshorizonte und Intentionen der relevanten Texte anleiten. Dabei wird das Phänomen dezidiert über den neutestamentlichen Kanon hinaus untersucht. Der Reigen der Texte reicht von frühjüdischen Texten über die Weisheit und den Messias, über Paulus, den Hebräer- und den Judasbrief, das Johannesevangelium und die Apokalypse bis hin zu griechischer Mythologie, zu gnostischen Texten und zur antiken Logostheologie. Systematisch-theologische Überlegungen zu Zeitlichkeit und Kosmologie runden den Band ab.

La Maison de Dieu est un thème aussi riche qu'important. Le présent volume s'emploie à en éclairer différentes facettes essentiellement dans les écrits bibliques et parabibliques, mais aussi chez des auteurs juifs et chrétiens de l'Antiquité et, au-delà, chez les Réformateurs. L'approche est résolument ouverte. C'est ainsi qu'une place est réservée au Coran. Recours est fait notamment, outre à l'exégèse, à l'archéologie, pour aborder le thème, faire apparaîre, sur les plans historique et théologique, les interprétations dont il a fait l'objet et montrer les attentes qu'il a suscitées et qu'il continue de faire naître, dans des milieux juifs et chrétiens, jusqu'à nos jours. Das Haus Gottes ist ein reichhaltiges und wichtiges Thema. Der vorliegende Band versucht, verschiedene Facetten dieses Themas zu beleuchten, vor allem in biblischen und parabiblischen Schriften, aber auch bei jüdischen und christlichen Autoren der Antike und darüber hinaus bei den Reformatoren. Die Herangehensweise ist dezidiert offen. So findet auch der Koran einen Platz. Neben der Exegese wird die Archäologie herangezogen, um sich dem Thema zu nähern, die historischen und theologischen Interpretationen aufzuzeigen, deren Gegenstand es war, und um die Erwartungen aufzuzeigen, die es in jüdischen und christlichen Kreisen bis heute geweckt hat und weiter weckt.

'In my bibliographies there are no women in the evangelical tradition, and no Australian women scholars.'This unique volume addresses this gap, with eighteen biblically rich and academically rigorous chapters by established and emerging Australian women scholars in the evangelical tradition. The authors consider our relationship with the land and Indigenous peoples, neighborhood, embodiment, (dis)ability, abortion, leadership, work, architecture, the media, Song of Songs and domestic violence, and Jeremiah and weaponized rape, and demonstrate recent methodologies such as a social identity reading of Exodus, sensory readings of Psalms and John's Gospel, and discipleship readings of Mary and Martha and the woman at the well. A contemporary Kriol psalm and stories of pioneering Australian women theological students and teachers complete the volume. Valuable for students and teachers across Bible, theology, ministry, and practice subjects, this book is an essential inclusion in any theological library.

Alexandria was one of the main hubs of the Hellenistic world and a cultural and religious'kaleidoscope.'Merchants and migrants, scientists and scholars, philosophers, and religious innovators from all over the world and from all social backgrounds came to this ancient metropolis and exchanged their goods, views, and dreams. Accordingly, Alexandria became a place where Hellenistic, Egyptian, Jewish, and early Christian identities all emerged, coexisted, influenced, and rivaled each other. In order to meet the diversity of Alexandria's urban life and to do justice to the variety of literary and non-literary documents that bear witness to this, the volume examines the processes of identity formation from a range of different academic perspectives. Thus, the present volume gathers together twenty-six contributions from the realm of archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, religious studies, philosophy, the Old Testament, narratology, Jewish studies, papyrology, and the New Testament.

Der vorliegende Sammelband untersucht die Konzepte, Methoden und Inhalte der Auslegung autoritativer religiöser Texte in Antike und Mittelalter. Diese Texte sind Ausgangs- und Ansatzpunkte in Unterweisungen, die zur Orientierung und Identitätsbildung dienen, dem Einzelnen ebenso wie Gemeinschaften und Gesellschaften. Fachvertreterinnen und Fachvertreter unterschiedlicher Disziplinen - aus Geschichte, Philologie, Orientalistik, Religionswissenschaft und Theologie - spüren der vielfältigen Bedeutung der oft'heilig'genannten Schriften für Bildung und Erziehung nach. Sie beleuchten die Rolle, die diese Texte für Lehre und Lernen in ihren Ursprungskulturen hatten und haben. Darüber hinaus zeigen sie interkulturelle Bezüge auf, die heute für Diskussionen um Bildung und Religion in den multikulturellen Demokratien Europas höchst relevant sind.

Der Band stellt die anthropologische Frage nach Transformationen des Personkonzepts von den vorderorientalischen Hochkulturen bis zur Spätantike in einem kulturübergreifenden und religionsgeschichtlichen Horizont. Nachdem die Artikulation von personaler Identität, von Individualität und von »inneren Tiefen« in der Vergangenheit oft erst in der Linie Platon – Paulus – Augustin angesetzt, sie der vorgriechischen Antike aber oft abgesprochen wurde, fragt der Band danach, welche Religionspraxis, gerade auch jenseits des offiziellen Kultes, in den Kulturen der vorhellenistischen Zeit für den Ausdruck von personaler Identität oder von Individualität von Bedeutung waren, was sich mit den Schriften eines Platon, Paulus oder Augustin tatsächlich geändert hat und welche anderen Faktoren in der Religionspraxis hierfür von Bedeutung waren.

A key to understanding the Gospel of John is, in many respects, its prologue; yet questions regarding its origin and background, its structure, use of Greek philosophical terms, and indeed its relationship to the rest of the gospel still remain open. The papers in this volume address each of these questions and were presented at the first meeting of the Colloquium Ioanneum, a group of distinguished international Johannine scholars broadly representing different nationalities, religious traditions and approaches to the gospel. The first part offers differing assessments of the background, literary, and theological elements of the prologue, while the second examines presuppositions, methods, and perspectives involved in philosophical interpretation of the Gospel of John.

Im öffentlichen Sprachgebrauch ist gerne von'religiösen Eiferern'die Rede, etwa im Zusammenhang einer religiös verbrämten Gewalttat oder wenn mit rigorosen und kompromisslosen Mitteln für'die Sache Gottes'fanatisch Meinungsmache betrieben wird und Andersdenkende in ihren Freiheitsrechten eingeschränkt werden sollen. Ausgangspunkt dieser Begrifflichkeit ist die Selbstvorstellung des biblischen Gottes als'eifernder Gott', der mit der Begründung, einziger Retter zu sein, seine alleinige Verehrung in Israel einfordert und im Gegenzug für die Unversehrtheit dieses seines Volkes gegen Unterdrückermächte einsteht. Während letzteres singulär mit der messianischen Figur des Friedenskönigs aus der Davidsdynastie verbunden sein kann, liegen für ersteres mehrere paradigmatische Erzählungen über Männer vor, die für Gottes Einzigkeit, mit Gottes eigenem Eifer erfüllt, in Zornesaufwallung vernichtend Gewalt anwenden: der Stamm der Leviten, der Aaron-Enkel Pinchas, der Prophet Elija sowie der von diesem zum König gesalbte Jehu. Die im vorliegenden Band versammelten Beiträge gehen, auch mithilfe von Impulsen aus Philosophie und Psychologie, den einschlägigen biblischen Texten sowie ihrer Auslegungsgeschichte in der frühjüdischen und rabbinischen Literatur sowie neutestamentlich in Hinsicht auf Jesus von Nazareth und Paulus von Tarsus nach. Zwar ist die Perspektive der Zugänge eine primär historische und literarische, doch stehen die einzelnen Untersuchungen stets auch im Horizont der gesellschaftlichen Debatte um Religion, Fanatismus und Gewalt.

Die Septuaginta ist ein thematisch weit gefächertes Corpus einer Vielfalt an Übersetzungen und eigenständiger Schriften. In den Beiträgen des vorliegenden Bandes werden zentrale Themen der Septuaginta-Schriften ebenso behandelt wie einzelne Manuskripte und Grundfragen der Septuagintaforschung. Darüber hinaus werden Linien der Rezeptionsgeschichte ausgezogen.

Die Erzählungen der Wunder Jesu und der Apostel haben die theologische Wissenschaft immer wieder herausgefordert. Mehrfach glaubte man, sie in historischer, literarischer oder hermeneutischer Hinsicht erklären und damit in den Griff bekommen zu können. Die aktuelle Debatte beweist das Gegenteil. Auf historischer Ebene können sie vor dem Hintergrund der Fact-Fiction-Debatte der Geschichtswissenschaft neu verstanden werden. In kirchengeschichtlicher Perspektive sind insbesondere die zahlreichen Wunder der Apostel in den außerkanonischen Apostelakten eine Fundgrube frühchristlicher Kirchen- und Theologieentwicklung. Als Gattung berühren sie sich mit dem Fantasy-Genre. Sie sind nach wie ein Stimulator hermeneutischer Prozesse gegenwärtigen Verstehens. Der vorliegende Band gibt in multidisziplinärer Weise einen Einblick in den aktuellen Stand der Diskussion, integriert internationale und außertheologische Perspektiven und reflektiert sogar didaktische Potentiale.

The essays in this volume from the 2017 session of the Colloquium Ioanneum in Jerusalem treat aspects of John 2:23-5:18, employing a variety of methods. These early chapters present interpreters with a challenging series of issues, including the strategy of revelation in John 3-4, the characterization of Nicodemus, the only references to the kingdom of God in John, Jesus'role as Son of Man, the erga concept in the Fourth Gospel and the references to John's baptism and Jesus'baptism, the background and universal program of the narrative of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, the universal program in John 4, and the harvest proverbs in John 4:35-38. The last two essays explore the characterization of the royal official in John 4:46-54 and the evidence for associating the Pool of Bethzatha with healing. The essays demonstrate the astuteness of an observation made by Adele Reinhartz: the closer we look at a text the more it'pixilates'and the more open to interpretation it becomes.

This volume consists of previously published articles by Frances Young, a scholar of early Christianity, well-known for her work Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian Culture, together with a few newly composed additions. The studies collected here are concerned with the New Testament, but their approach is often not in the modern historico-critical mode. Rather, they bring new insight through being informed by the author's patristic specialism, by methodological enquiries, by her interest in doctrinal and theological reading, and by exploration of the very nature and function of sacred scriptures. The significance of this volume lies in the way it exemplifies the extraordinarily interesting changes which have taken place in biblical hermeneutics during the last 50-60 years. Many of the essays could be useful, not only to research specialists, but to advanced undergraduates as well as clergy and preachers.

This volume brings together a number of scholars who use archaeology as a tool to question the sometimes easy assumptions made by historians and biblical scholars about the past. It combines essays from both archaeologists and biblical scholars whose subject matter, whilst differing widely in both geographical and chronological terms, also shares a critical stance used to examine the relationship between'dirt'archaeology and the biblical world as presented to us through written sources.

This collection of essays presents the papers given at the Eighth International Orthodox-Western Symposium of New Testament Scholars in the Caraiman Monastery (Romania). The symposium was a project of the Eastern Europe Liaison Committee (EELC) of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. Main subject matters of the volume are images and stories of the human being according to the New Testament and church tradition. All topics are discussed from a'western'(Protestant and Roman-Catholic) exegetical perspective as well as from an eastern orthodox point of view. In addition, several seminar papers deal with anthropological texts and conceptions in Paul, the synoptic Gospels, and John as well as with Philo and extra-canonical writings. A particular section presents reports on biblical scholarship in Romania, past and present.

Josephus Flavius's life was defined by the Jewish war against Rome, about which he wrote his first book as a friend of the imperial family, enjoying the benefits of an end to the conflict. But this dichotomy between war and peace defined not only the life of our author but also the history of all peoples in Late Antiquity, so it is not surprising that war and peace also play a central role in his second book. A broader theme could hardly have been chosen for this volume, which naturally brought with it the diversity of the studies it contains. At a conference in May 2022 at Selye János University in Komárom –'Peace and War in Josephus'– a distinguished, international group of scholars took up this theme, including Tal Ilan (Israel), Steve Mason (Canada), Jiří Hoblík (Czech Republic), and five Hungarian colleagues: Tibor Grüll, Ádám Vér, József Zsengellér, István Karasszon, and Viktor Kókai-Nagy. Their papers in English or German are complemented by three additional papers from Carson Bay (Switzerland), Marin Meiser (Germany), and David R. Edwards (USA). Together, their work ranges from the historical and literary context to the political and philosophical thought of the author.

Most of the papers in this volume originated as presentations at the conference Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew: New Perspectives in Philology and Linguistics, which was held at the University of Cambridge, 8–10th July, 2019. The aim of the conference was to build bridges between various strands of research in the field of Hebrew language studies that rarely meet, namely philologists working on Biblical Hebrew, philologists working on Rabbinic Hebrew and theoretical linguists. This volume is the published outcome of this initiative. It contains peer-reviewed papers in the fields of Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew that advance the field by the philological investigation of primary sources and the application of cutting-edge linguistic theory. These include contributions by established scholars and by students and early career researchers.

This volume contains the proceedings of two international meetings held by the Minerva Center for the Relations between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times (RIAB) in Ramat-Gan/Jerusalem (March 2017) and Leipzig (May 2018). Most of the papers relate to various aspects of the Aramaic epigraphy in different contexts with a second part of the volume dealing with Idumean ostraca. The papers will be of interest to ancient historians, archaeologists of the ancient Near East, scholars of Semitic and Biblical studies and the ancient Near East.

Document from the year 2020 in the subject Theology - Biblical Theology, Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary, language: English, abstract: Money can be a hot topic in Christian churches and the Namibian church is no exception to that. While many traditional mainline denominations struggle to raise the funds they need for their various ministries, prosperity type churches and Pentecostal church bodies seem to flourish financially in Namibia. Some people are quick to point out that the main reason for this phenomenon lies in the churches'differing attitude towards the concept of tithing. While tithing plays a central role in Pentecostal and prosperity churches, most Protestant denominations rely on other ways of funding. In his paper, Thorsten Prill gives a critical overview of the various methods Namibian churches use to raise funds. These methods include collections, membership fees, fundraising events, commercial activities and investment trusts as well as encouraging members to give a tenth of the income to the church. In a second paper, Johann van Wyk examines the concept of tithing from a biblical perspective. He demonstrates that New Testament teachings do not support the claim that Christians are obliged to tithe. There are, however, a number of helpful biblical principles of giving which Namibian churches should apply. Most importantly, van Wyk argues, that giving in Namibian churches needs to become a matter of the heart; giving must be driven by love and grace.

The 12th Origeniana conference took place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, in June 2017. The theme of the conference was Origen's Legacy in the Holy Land - A Tale of Three Cities: Jerusalem, Caesarea and Bethlehem. The present volume contains a large selection from the papers that were given at the conference. Many of the papers discuss various aspects and new perspectives of Origen's career and legacy in the Holy Land in the broad sense. As was the case also in previous conferences, there was an opportunity to deliver papers on other aspects of current Origen research. The volume contains five sections: Jerusalem and the Holy Land: Historical and Mystical Geography; The School of Caesarea and Eusebius; Origen's Latin Legacy: Rufinus and Jerome; Tradition, Innovation, and Heritage: Origen's Exegesis and Theology; and The Origenist Legacy: From Evagrius to Balthasar.

This volume precedes the projected Historical and Theological Dictionary of the Septuagint which is to offer historical studies of Septuagint words, retracing their usage from early authors, over koine Greek and the translation itself, into Jewish-Hellenistic and early Christian literature. The earliest of these phases were the object of a several workshops held between 2013 and 2017, the proceedings of which now appear in this book. The papers focus on the following key questions: what can we say about the meaning, the usage and the semantic development of Greek words attested in the Septuagint; where and how does the Septuagint use these words, and to what extent do they correspond to their Hebrew and Aramaic equivalents? Furthermore, to what extent can papyri contribute to a better understanding of typical Septuagint words? The papers combine the analysis of selected words and word groups with considerations of method.

This tightly focused collection of essays, from an invited seminar of international specialists, centres on the question of the apocalyptic worldview around the time of the Maccabean revolt. What was the nature of apocalyptic at this time? Did the Maccabees themselves have a distinct apocalyptic worldview? These questions lead to other, more specific queries: who of the various groups held such a view? Certain of the essays analyse the characteristics of the apocalypses and related literature in this period, and whether the apocalyptic worldview itself gave rise to historical events or, at least, influenced them.The collection begins with two introductory essays. Both the main and short papers have individual responses, and two considered responses by well-known experts address the entire collection. The volume finishes with a concluding chapter by the lead editor that gives a perspective on the main themes and conclusions arising from the papers and discussion.

Preaching is a very personal process: a minister or speaker prepares his or her own sermon and presents it to the congregation. Sermons draw upon the Bible as a central source, and the source provides a basis of faith for the believing community. The preaching event is also personal for the individual members of the congregation, who receive the preacher's words, based on a biblical text, in their own unique way. In the synthesis of Biblical text, sermon, and listener response, many testimoniesare present. Preaching and the Personal is a collection of papers that have been presented at the Society of Biblical Literature. These papers encourage and nurture dialogue among scholars who share an interest in the unique theological problems inherent to the relationship between biblical interpretation and proclamation. Preaching and the Personal opens a stimulating dialogue in the field.

This volume contains 15 papers written by Christoph Levin between 2001 and 2011, four of them unpublished. One main focus is on the Pentateuch, mainly on the oldest comprehensive narrative source, the Yahwist, which was written at the beginning of the Jewish diaspora. One paper gives an outline of the features of this source as they emerge resulting from an inquiry into their redaction history. In addition the full text of the Yahwist's history is given in an English translation, the sources used by the editor being distinguished from the editorial text. Other papers deal with single stories of the Yahwist's history, such as the narrative of creation and fall in Gen 2-3, the story of Joseph's fate in Egypt in Gen 39, the story of the call of Moses in Exod 3, and the story of the miracle at the sea in Exod 14. A second focus is on the books of Kings, on their chronological structure as well as on the final two chapters 2 Kgs 24-25. The author deals with the prophetical books, in particular with the theology of the word of God in the book of Jeremiah and with the day of Yahweh within the book of Zephaniah. He also studies the Israelite religion in the time of the monarchy, the origins of biblical Covenant theology, and the Old Testament attitude to poverty. All the papers are based on a detailed investigation into the literary growth of the biblical text. The author shows that the Old Testament as we know it originated from a process of continual re-reading during the Second Temple period.

This collection of essays contains the papers given at the Fifth International East-West Symposium of New Testament Scholars in Minsk (Belarus). The symposium was a project of the Eastern Europe Liaison Committee of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. Main subject matters of the volume are the history and methodological questions of modern Jesus research, approaches to the Jesus of history in ancient and modern Christian exegesis, Jesus as a Jew in ancient and modern exegesis, and the portraits of Jesus in Luke and John. The authors of these papers deal with the parables of Jesus, with his Galilean ministry, with the passion narrative in Mark and with the death of Christ according to Paul's letters. All topics are discussed from a'Western'(Protestant and Roman-Catholic) exegetical perspective as well as from an Orthodox point of view. A concluding report recapitulates the group discussions and seminar sessions of the symposium. Contributors: Charalampos Atmatzidis, Reimund Bieringer, Predrag Dragutinović, Carl R. Holladay, Christos Karakolis, Dominika A. Kurek-Chomycz, Ulrich Luz, Joel Marcus, Vasile Mihoc, Tobias Nicklas, Karl-Wilhelm Niebuhr, Marius Reiser, Armand Puig i Tàrrech, Sviatoslav Rogalsky, Ekaterini G. Tsalampouni, Konstantinos Th. Zarras

Christian-Jewish relations have had changing fortunes throughout the centuries. Occasionally there has been peace and even mutual understanding, but usually these relations have been ones of tension, often involving recrimination and even violence. This volume addresses a number of the major questions that have been at the heart and the periphery of these tenuous relations through the years. The volume begins with a number of papers discussing relations as Christianity emerged from and defined itself in terms of Judaism. Other papers trace the relations through the intervening years. And a number of papers confront issues that have been at the heart of the troubled twentieth century. In all, these papers address a sensitive yet vital set of issues from a variety of approaches and perspectives, becoming in their own way a part of the ongoing dialogue.

What is a Galilean? What were the criteria of defining a person as a Galilean - archaeologically or with respect to literary sources such as Josephus or the rabbis? What role did religion play in the process of identity formation? Twenty-two articles based on papers read at conferences at Cambridge, Wuppertal and Yale by experts from 7 countries shed light on a complex region, the pivotal geographic and cultural context of both earliest Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. In these papers, ancient Galilee emerges as a dynamic region of continuous change, in which religion,'ethnicity', and'identity'were not static monoliths but had to be negotiated in the context of a multiform environment subject to different influences.

The volume Qumran and the New Testament comprises the papers read at the 71st meeting of the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense, which was held in 2022 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the textual discoveries at Qumran, and reflects on the relevance of the scrolls for the understanding of the New Testament, now based on the knowledge of the complete Qumran corpus and recent research trends. The topics discussed in this volume go far beyond the previous habit of compiling parallels and the question of possible dependencies. They include sociological issues of comparable group identity, questions of halacha and liturgy, perspectives of performance criticism, and new historical insights into the growth of texts applied to the Synoptic tradition. Characterized by historical sobriety and caution, as well as hermeneutical awareness, the articles in this volume take the practice of textual comparison and the contextualization of the New Testament within the Scrolls to a promising new level.

This set of varied and stimulating papers, by an international group of younger as well as senior scholars, examines the manner in which peoplehood was understood by the Jewish communities of the Second Temple period and by the religious traditions that emerged from those communities and later flourished in Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The Hebrew and Greek terms for'people'and'nation'and the name'Israel'are closely analyzed, especially in forays into wisdom literature, Jewish apologetic and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and their uses are related to geographical, political and theological developments, as well as statehood, authority and rulership in the Persian world, Hasmonean times and Ptolemaic Egypt. Especially interesting are the carefully argued and documented suggestions about how Jewish peoplehood expressed itself with regard to charitable behavior, pagan deities, and marital regulations. Those interested in the history of cultural and theological tensions will be intrigued by the studies centered on how the opponents of Jews behaved towards'the people of God', how Hellenistic Jewish culture located the Jews on the Roman rather than on the Greek side, and how early Christian discourse saw the mission among the peoples and interpreted earlier sources accordingly. The idea of the Jewish'way of life'is seen to have influenced the writer of the longer Greek version of Esther and works of fiction are shown to have had important historical data within them. Modern social theory also has its say here in a careful consideration of Cognitive theory of ethnicity and the dynamic of ethnic boundary-making.

Out Here Down Under is a collection of documents and papers illuminating the development and character of ancient ‎history as a discipline in the Antipodes. It considers especially the distinctive and extraordinarily ‎popular program, championed by E. A. Judge, of studying classical and biblical corpora together under ‎one discipline, with an emphasis on the interpretation of documentary sources. ‎In twenty chapters, this volume considers such issues as the relationship between British and ‎Antipodean scholarship, the story and legacy of Antipodean scholars of the ancient world, the ‎nature and ideology of ancient history programs at schools and universities (especially in NSW ‎and at Macquarie), the interaction between biblical and classical disciplines, and the function of ‎history in contemporary Australia. These texts, mostly written by Judge himself throughout his career, appear here with new introductory notes outlining their historical significance for the discipline and Judge's own practice.

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Theology - Biblical Theology,, language: English, abstract: This paper is about the contribution of Bible translation in advancing the gospel of Christ in Takad land. The study aims primarily at Bible translation as a foundation for Christian mission and learning, which the use of mother tongue has been said to be more impactful. In the study, it was found out that from the original language, there has been a long history with various reasons for advancing Bible translation that were either genuine or non-genuine, ranging from reading the word of God; the necessity of preserving the religious legacy; educational need to selfishness. In particular, since the 19th and 20th century, the significance of the Bible translation in driving mission work worldwide especially the tertiary version increasingly became indisputable among the relevant stakeholders. It was also found out that nothing is more important than one to hear the wonders of God in a language that speaks to one's heart, the mother tongue, a confirmation of how Pentecost was accepted. The study of the Takad project strongly revealed that lack of understanding of scripture by the language speakers has been a hindrance to the growth of the gospel. Furthermore, the use of a secondary language such as Hausa or English in communicating the gospel to the Takad language speaker has not been effective, as the gospel message is not fully understood. The study revealed that adopting the Takad Bible will not only enhance the advancement of the gospel in Takad land, it will also serve as a foundation of learning the Takad language by the various Takad dialects.

This book aims to introduce a distinctively evangelical voice to the discipline of practical theology. Evangelicals have sometimes seen practical theology as primarily a ‘liberal'project. This collection, however, actively engages with practical theology from an evangelical perspective, both through discussion of the substantive issues and by providing examples of practical theology done by evangelicals in the classroom, the church, and beyond. This volume brings together established and emerging voices to debate the growing role which practical theology is playing in evangelical and Pentecostal circles. Chapters begin by addressing methodological concerns, before moving into areas of practice. Additionally, there are four short papers from students who make use of practical theology to reflect upon their own practice. Issues of authority and normativity are tackled head on in a way that will inform the debate both within and beyond evangelicalism. This book will, therefore, be of keen interest to scholars of practical, evangelical, and Pentecostal theology.

This book contains the papers delivered at the 1996 Copper Scroll Symposium which was organized by the Manchester-Sheffield Centre for Dead Sea Scrolls Research to mark the 40th Anniversary of the opening of this enigmatic scroll in Manchester. The papers cover the history of the Scroll's interpretation (P. Muchowski, P. Davies, B. Segal, M. Wise); how it should be conserved, restored and read (N. Cacoudre, M. Lundberg, E. Puech); how it was produced (P. Kyle McCarter); the meaning of its technical terms (J.F. Elwolde, A. Lange, J. Lefkovits, J. Lubbe, L. Schiffman); its genre (M. Bar-Ilan, R. Fidler, T. Lim); its geography (P.S. Alexander); its correlation with archaeological remains (H. Eshel); and not least who wrote it, when and why (S. Goranson, I Knohl, H. Stegemann, B. Thierine, A. Wolters) with an Introduction by G. Brooke. This is volume 40 in the Journal for the Study of Pseudepigrapha Supplement series.

This volume, which is based on the papers given at a panel at the 2019 SBL International Meeting in Rome, represents current discourses in Psalms research. The past decades have been marked by the paradigm shift from form criticism to different exegetical approaches which consider the Book of Psalms as the literary context of the individual Psalms. More recently, it has been pointed out that the complex evidence given by the manuscripts from antiquity to the Middle Ages does not support the notion of a fixed canonical text as presupposed by some approaches. The present volume combines contributions about such basic considerations with studies of individual groups of Psalms. With different methodological and hermeneutical approaches, they open up perspectives on the interrelation between the origin, composition and reception of the Psalms.

What makes the Bible more than ink on paper?The living word, Eberhard Arnold writes, is greater than the words of the Bible, which even the devil used to tempt Jesus. The scriptures on their own can never produce the righteousness, mercy, and faithfulness that count before God.But when the Holy Spirit speaks this living word into the hearts of those who have set out on the way of discipleship to Christ, the deepest meaning of the scriptures are opened up to them. Those who have accepted this living word, which never contradicts the Bible, also agree with one another. Transformed from within, they receive the strength, clarity, and unity they need to carry out the task God has given them – to make God's kingdom a reality on earth.The final volume of five in Inner Land, The Living Word includes a preface by Eberhard Arnold's son J. Heinrich Arnold, who has written elsewhere: “My father not only believed that Inner Land was the most important book he had written; he also believed and told me that he included in this book everything in his life he had ever experienced of Christ, of the suffering of humankind, of the murderous spirit of mammon, of human life and divine life altogether.”About Innerland: It is hard to exaggerate the significance of Innerland, either for Eberhard Arnold or his readers. It absorbed his energies off and on for most of his adult life – from World War I, when he published the first chapter under the title War: A Call to Inwardness, to 1935, the last year of his life.Packed in metal boxes and buried at night for safekeeping from the Nazis, who raided the author's study a year before his death (and again a year after it), Innerland was not openly critical of Hitler's regime. Nevertheless, it attacked the spirits that animated German society: its murderous strains of racism and bigotry, its heady nationalistic fervor, its mindless mass hysteria, and its vulgar materialism. In this sense Innerland stands as starkly opposed to the zeitgeist of our own day as to that of the author's.At a glance, the focus of Innerland seems to be the cultivation of the spiritual life as an end in itself. Nothing could be more misleading. In fact, to Eberhard Arnold the very thought of encouraging the sort of selfish solitude whereby people seek their own private peace by shutting out the noise and rush of public life around them is anathema. He writes in The Inner Life:“These are times of distress. We cannot retreat, willfully blind to the overwhelming urgency of the tasks pressing on society. We cannot look for inner detachment in an inner and outer isolation...The only justification for withdrawing into the inner self to escape today's confusing, hectic whirl would be that fruitfulness is enriched by it. It is a question of gaining within, through unity with eternal powers, a strength of character ready to be tested in the stream of the world.”

Jugendliche zum Bibellesen zu motivieren und mit ihnen in die auf den ersten Blick fremd und lebensfern wirkenden Welten der biblischen Bücher einzutauchen, ist nicht immer leicht. Dabei kann das Erkunden der Bibeltexte so viel Spaß machen, wenn man es auf eine Weise angeht, die jungen Menschen naheliegt und sie aktiv beteiligt. Dieses Ideenbuch für Mitarbeitende enthält 69 innovative Methoden, um gemeinsam mit Jugendlichen einen biblischen Text in der Gruppe zu erarbeiten. Es eignet sich für junge Leute, die schon länger mit der Bibel unterwegs sind, sowie für Neu- oder WiedereinsteigerInnen. Ideal für Konfirmandengruppen, Jugendkreise, Religionsunterricht oder auf Freizeiten. Auch für Erwachsenengruppen und Hauskreise bietet es kreative Impulse. Die übersichtliche Gestaltung und Kategorisierung helfen, schnell eine geeignete Methode für die eigene Gruppensituation zu finden. Mit Ideen wie: Bible Art, Pen&Paper Charakterbogen, Emojis, Hashtags oder Memes, Kreuzverhör, Sportify your text, Insta-Story oder Pinterest-Pinnwand, u.v.m.

This collection of essays contains the papers given at the Sixth International East-West Symposium of New Testament Scholars in Belgrade, Serbia. The symposium was a project of the Eastern Europe Liaison Committee of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. Main subject matters of the volume are the Holy Spirit in New Testament writings (particularly Luke-Acts, the Gospel of John and Paul), the reception and interpretation of biblical texts about the Holy Spirit in patristic theology, ancient Christian liturgy and iconography, and reflection on the role of the Holy Spirit in church life. Contributions from seminars are devoted to extra-biblical ancient Jewish and early Christian sources. All topics are discussed from a'Western'(Protestant and Roman-Catholic) theological and exegetical perspective as well as from an Orthodox point of view. An introduction reflects the results of the symposium, sketches recent research on the Holy Spirit in the New Testament scholarship and briefly points to texts and problems belonging to the topic but not dealt with in the volume.

The studies collected in this volume are the outcome of papers presented at the workshop'David in Cultural Memory,'held at the P zm ny Peter Catholic University Budapest, 9-10 October, 2013. The person of king David of biblical history have long ago been the object of persistent scholarly interest. The present volume aims at offering an assemblage of the diversified memories constructed about David in various collections and communities. Narratives in the Deuteronomistic historiography reflect Ancient Near Eastern social and legal customs, and are added by literary topoi bearing specific meaning, customary motifs of royal biographies. Persian period Chronicles offer a substantially different picture of David. The Psalms'religious poetry memorized him as an author and example, while prophetic literature and its exegesis refer to him in messianic terms. David is one of the rare figures of biblical history remembered also in visual memory, in the synagogue of Dura Europos.

The present volume is focused on the interactions and syncretistic tensions between religion and philosophy in Late Antiquity. A variety of papers examine issues of personal religious attitudes, initiation to the mysteries, Orphism, notions of theurgy, magic, the philosopher's quest for intimacy or union with the divine, magic and Christianity, the role of prayer in philosophical texts, and oracles, dream-visions and divination. The contributions include a wide range of specialisations, such as Neoplatonism, Chaldaean Oracles, Theurgy, Patristic literature, Christian religious texts and Manichaeism.

The present volume contains the proceedings of an international colloquium held in February 2015 at the Arts Faculty of the KU Leuven that brought together specialists in (late) ancient philosophy and early Christian studies. Contributors were asked to reflect on the reception of two foundational texts dealing with the origin of the world - the third book of Plato's Timaeus and the Genesis account of the creation. The organizers had a double aim: They wished to offer a forum for furthering the dialogue between colleagues working in these respective fields and to do this by studying in a comparative perspective both a crucial topic shared by these traditions and the literary genres through which this topic was developed and transmitted. The two reference texts have been studied in antiquity in a selective way, through citations and essays dealing with specific issues, and in a more systematic way through commentaries. The book is divided into three parts. The first one deals with the so-called Middle- and Neoplatonic tradition. The second part is dedicated to the Christian tradition and contains papers on several of the more important Christian authors who dealt with the Hexaemeron. The third part is entitled'Some Other Voices'and deals with authors and movements that combine elements from various traditions. Special attention is given to the nature and dynamics of the often close relationship between the various traditions as envisaged by Jewish-Christian authors and to the remarkable lack of interest from the Neoplatonists for'the other side'.

Ezekiel studies are flourishing. The 27 essays collected in this volume were first presented at two symposia on the theme'Ezekiel in International Perspective'at the Society of Biblical Literature conferences in St Andrews and Vienna. The principal aim was to widen contact, cultivate understanding, and foster collaboration between international colleagues who, though working on the same ancient text, possess diverse points of view and operate from different methodological frames. The meetings allowed moments of introspection, providing the freedom and opportunity to reflect on questions of appropriate evidence, suitable methodology, and argumentative plausibility by juxtaposing papers from diverse perspectives. The resulting collection is a portrait of the discipline in the present and a prospectus for future research.

'Search the Scriptures.'John 5:39'How do you read it?'Luke 10:26 Next to praying, there is nothing so important in practical religion as Bible reading. God has mercifully given us a book which is'able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.'(2 Tim. 3:15.) Learn to read and interpret the Bible. By reading that book, we may learn... what to believe, what to be, what to do; how to live with comfort, and how to die in peace. Happy is that man who possesses a Bible! Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice! Nevertheless, it is a sorrowful fact that man has an unhappy skill in abusing God's gifts. His privileges, and power, and faculties, are all ingeniously perverted to other ends than those for which they were bestowed. His speech, his imagination, his intellect, his strength, his time, his influence, his money instead of being used as instruments for glorifying his Maker are generally wasted, or employed for his own selfish ends. And just as man naturally makes a bad use of his other mercies, so he does of the written Word. One sweeping charge may be brought against the whole of Christendom, and that charge is neglect and abuse of the Bible. To prove this charge we have no need to look abroad: the proof lies at our own doors. I have no doubt that there are more Bibles in Great Britain at this moment than there ever were since the world began. There is more Bible buying and Bible selling, more Bible printing and Bible distributing than ever was since England was a nation. We see Bibles in every bookseller's shop, Bibles of every size, price, and style; Bibles great, and Bibles small Bibles for the rich, and Bibles for the poor. This neglected Book is the subject about which I address the readers of this paper today. Surely it is no light matter what you are doing with the Bible.

The debate between the old and the new perspectives on Paul has been a focal point of Pauline studies in recent years. The exchange has, in turn, given rise to new research projects focussing on potential affinities and differences between the new perspective on Paul and Eastern Orthodox interpretation. This volume therefore takes up the discussion between Eastern Orthodox, new, and old perspectives on Paul and seeks to develop it further. The aim is to foster dialogue between the varying receptions of Paul on an exegetical basis. To this end, the contributions are focused on texts playing a crucial role in the debate regarding participation, justification and conversion in Paul. Three papers at the end provide alternative readings of Paul that go beyond the arguments of the old and new perspectives.