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What does it mean to read the Bible'literally'? Recent debates on the Protestant reformers have focused on whether they were stridently literal interpreters or maintained a place for allegorical readings. However, in this nuanced book, Lundeen argues that the question of what in fact constituted the Bible's literal sense was also a key question in early modern debates.There is no clean binary of literal versus allegorical; instead, reformers subtly produced a variety of competing literalisms. There was not one literal sense in the Reformation, but many.To make this case, Lundeen comparatively analyzes Reformation-era commentaries on the prophet Isaiah. He further highlights the little-known but influential works of the Basel reformer Johannes Oecolampadius, who was the first Christian to publish commentaries on most of the biblical prophets in the sixteenth century. By placing Oecolampadius in conversation with a host of his better-known Christian and Jewish predecessors and contemporaries, this book reframes a central aspect of Reformation-era biblical exegesis, while also providing a constructive resource for those who seek to read the Bible's ancient prophets as Christian scripture today.

Daniel L. Smith-Christopher focuses on the life and efforts of Keir Hardie, one of the founders of the UK Labour Party and one of the foremost figureheads of trade unionism. Drawing upon the work of two contemporary and significant American theorists-Herbert Gutman's classic essay on “Working-Class Religion” and Michael Gold's call for “Proletarian Literature”-Smith-Christopher marries British and American historical and theoretical debates to argue that Hardie's work is surely the quintessential example of a “proletarian exegesis” of the Bible.Beginning with a summary of the major events in Hardie's life, Smith-Christopher draws both upon existing biographies and more recent historical discussions that question assumption of British social history. He then reviews previous debates upon the influence of Hardie's own Christian faith upon his journalistic output, and assesses three Christian Socialists whose work was advertised and reviewed by Hardie himself: Dennis Hird, John Morrison Davidson, and Caroline Martyn. Smith-Christopher proceeds to Hardie's copious writings, both for The Labour Leader and separately published lectures, pamphlets, and somewhat longer works of autobiography and comment. Highlighting Hardie's tendency to cite favorite texts (heavily from the Gospels and James, but also some notable Old Testament discussions), Smith-Christopher proves Hardie's serious discussion of these texts beyond mere political rhetoric; concluding by comparing a selection of Hardie's favorite Biblical arguments with contemporary research in Biblical Studies about these same passages, evaluating the problems and possibilities of proposing a “Proletarian Exegesis”.

A comprehensive and orthodox guide to biblical origins and interpretation How did we get the Bible? How do we interpret it? And what does it mean for our lives today? Michael B. Shepherd introduces undergraduates and seminarians to these crucial questions in this reliable and thorough new textbook. Shepherd covers textual criticism, formation of the canon, and history of translation, all while remaining committed to Scripture's ultimate purpose—inviting us to salvation through Jesus Christ. Showing how the Bible directs its own interpretation, Shepherd encourages learners to listen to the Word of God, rather than twisting it to fit their own ends. His section-by-section treatment of the Bible encourages students to view the Bible as cohesive, while remaining sensitive to its diverse genres. Thorough and accessible, this textbook goes beyond typical historical introductions to spiritually form students learning to understand Scripture. An Introduction to the Making and Meaning of the Bible is the serious, evangelical introduction your students need and will reference for years to come.

'The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul, discerning the thoughts of the heart.''So proclaims the Letter of the Hebrews. Yet for many persons biblical word of God is less a sharp sword than a crutch, supporting rather than piercing them. Interpreted as they have'always'heard it, Scripture tells exactly what they want to hear. Modern critical investigation of the Bible can change that radically.'Raymond E. Brown, a Catholic Sulpician priest who died 25 years ago on August 8, 1998, wrote the above words for the original edition of this book. He was convinced that modern, historical-critical study of the Bible as the word of God was neither a threat to the Christian faith nor a denial of its spiritual and theological dimensions. On the contrary, his goal was to demonstrate Scripture's profound impact on the life of the Church, leading to ongoing conversation in every era.'I consider Raymond Brown the greatest biblical scholar America has ever produced. This important new edition of The Critical Meaning of the Bible, expanded beautifully by Ron Witherup, illuminates the Bible's central truths critically and meaningfully.'—Paul N. Anderson'In this book the eminent scholar Raymond Brown raised critical issues and perspectives that we are still engaging with today. Ronald Witherup's helpful preface and insightful addenda update this important volume.'—Michael J. Gorman'Mapping recent shifts in the history of Catholic Biblical Scholarship warrants renewed attention to this important updated version of Raymond Brown's work. As Ronald Witherup writes in his fresh and insightful preface, these issues are still current today.'—Gina-Hens-Piazza

Rilettura di alcune pagine della Bibbia prestando attenzione al tema del vestito, alle dinamiche esistenziali e spirituali che determinano un cambio d'abito.

The volume presents Stanley E. Porter's considered thoughts and reflections on key questions of meaning and context, addressing the problems of biblical interpretation and how a close collaboration between hermeneutics and linguistics can help to solve them.The chapters display Porter's work in both fields, examining how hermeneutics functions as a field in modern biblical studies, and how the quest for meaning in biblical texts is underpinned by the study of linguistics. The volume focuses on context for understanding the meanings of biblical texts. Porter suggests that linguists can learn more from the philosophical questions around meaning that hermeneutics apply in their study of biblical texts, and that there is more fruitful work to be done in the field of hermeneutics using insights from linguistics.

This book provides biblical evidence of the structural and systemic factors that have long been part of the story of poverty. The people of God have often denied such structural claims in favor of the belief that individuals are poor because of personal choice. This absolves the social institutions of society, including the church, from responsibility to address these structural forces, including within the church itself. Charity and benevolence become the antidote for such a diagnosis of poverty, rather than the deeply rooted change that God intended for the Year of Jubilee and that the early church reflected. This book supports the biblical mandate of neighborliness as both a personal and a corporate response to systemic poverty, a mandate that is the second of the two great commandments.

The Bible throughout the Ages examines several crucial issues related to the Bible: its status as God's truth and revelation, the history of reading and interpreting Scripture, and its ongoing relevance in the world today. This edited volume is the result of collaboration between English- and French-speaking scholars, who collectively address a range of issues regarding Scripture, including literal vs. metaphorical interpretations, how theologians like Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin read the Bible, and how Scripture continues to shape the Christian faith today.

The Bible and Gender-based Violence in Botswana foregrounds the rampancy of gender-based violence against women and girls in biblical texts and how it resonates with gender-based violence (GBV) in the author's contemporary context of Botswana.The volume reads selected texts from the Bible alongside newspaper reports of GBV against women and girls in Botswana to show that while the Bible is taken as an authoritative text within the Botswana context, it is riddled with GBV against female persons. It asserts that by acknowledging and naming GBV in biblical texts and not concealing, ignoring, or spiritualizing it, contemporary communities of faith will be able to confront the problem in these contexts. By so doing, the book argues, the Bible will become a resource for positive transformation rather than a tool for supporting gender injustice.The book appeals to everyone willing to see positive change in regard to gender in/equality and is intended for a wide readership including researchers, postgraduates, church and other representatives of religious institutions, and upper-level undergraduates.

This volume by the late Bernd J. Diebner presents an anthology of studies previously published only in German from 1971 to 2020 on a wide range of topics in biblical studies.The 18 essays in this collection offer profound insight into the works of German scholarship which have strongly influenced biblical studies and related research in the 20th century. Being an important, but lesser recognized ‘member'of the Copenhagen school, Diebner voiced serious criticism of contemporary biblical scholarship which is discussed in the first seven chapters. The remaining chapters offer challenging new perspectives on well-known themes, narratives, and compositions related to history, ideology, and archaeology, on the one hand, and text and canon, on the other, as alternatives to traditional historical–critical approaches.Now published in English for the first time, this volume makes these essays available to Anglophone students and scholars of biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies.

El estudio de la Biblia avanza hoy por sus márgenes, por campos de estudio que contribuyen a reconocer los infinitos sentidos de las Escrituras: los originarios de los libros bíblicos, los desarrollados en la exégesis judía, cristiana e islámica, los desplegados en la cultura y las artes a lo largo de los siglos y los de las múltiples interpretaciones propuestas desde perspectivas actuales. En La Biblia desde los márgenes se tratan temas como los manuscritos de Qumrán, las identidades judía y cristiana, el trasvase de tradiciones cristianas al islam o las conexiones entre Ley, Sabiduría, apocalíptica y mística, y también se desarrollan ejercicios de exégesis y de lectura de la Biblia a partir de recreaciones literarias contemporáneas.

The contributions gathered in this volume honor the work of Silvia Schroer in biblical exegesis, iconography, feminist criticism, and the broad exploration of texts and images from Ancient Israel and neighboring cultures. Across 35 contributions, companions representing different generations of researchers relate their own work to Silvia's scholarship, pointing to some of the latter's highlights and connectivity in a colorful Festschrift.

3 Effective Ways to Study Scripture for an Essential Understanding of Who God Is The Bible invites us to know God and have eternal life. That makes reading, understanding, and applying Scripture the most important journey we will ever take, but it can be difficult without a guide to provide direction. In Come and See, Jonathan Pennington helps readers understand what it means to know God from the Bible and details 3 effective approaches to interpreting Scripture. Using the engaging analogy of a road trip, he introduces 3 friends who each have distinct, clear ways of navigating the Bible: informational (understanding genres in Scripture and avoiding exegetical mistakes); theological (reading canonically, traditionally, and creedally); and transformational (focusing on the goal of reading Scripture, our posture as readers, and the role of the Holy Spirit). Pennington gives detailed advice for employing all 3 reading modes, equipping readers to gain wisdom and know God better. - Comprehensive: Explores 3 approaches to studying Scripture—informational, theological, and transformational—and includes exercises to practice each - Enhances Personal or Group Bible Study: Helps readers engage in deeper communion with God by purposefully journeying through his word - Ideal for Pastors, Seminary Students, and Laypeople: With an engaging, conversational style, Pennington teaches deep truths about knowing God and interpreting Scripture

In his forty-plus years of work as a biblical scholar, Dennis Thorald Olson has illumined the meaning of the Bible for his readers and hearers in diverse ways. Among the topics he has taken up in his scholarship and teaching are the nature of leadership, life in community, the relation of science and theology, Jewish-Christian relations, repentance and forgiveness, and many, many more. In this essay collection, a number of Dennis's students, colleagues, and friends respond to the profound values and seminal ideas at the heart of his work and take up the profound question of truth as it pertains to Scripture, a question that Olson himself urged biblical scholars to consider in his inaugural address from over twenty years ago.

God reveals his true nature in the first five books of the Bible.While the broader story of the Bible is known to many Christians, careful readers of the Pentateuch still have many questions. The origin story of the Jewish nation is one of hardship and loss. The Transforming Word will encourage you to examine the Scriptures and discover the God who sustains everything.

Scripture shares a basic story, from God's first creative act in the beginning to its final scene—the renewal of all creation as a new heaven and earth. Around the Bible in 80 Days offers you an accessible guide to the Bible's high points that can enrich your faith and help you better understand God's overall redemptive story. On this 80-day excursion, join master teacher John Mark as he encourages you to reflect deeply on specific Scriptures and what they say about God's unfolding drama. Each short section ends with prayer and meditative questions that can help you better understand God and yourself.

Menschsein in Weisheit und Freiheit - der Titel der Festschrift fur Thomas Kruger benennt ein zentrales Reflexionsfeld im theologischen und exegetischen Schaffen des Geehrten. In seinen Forschungsbeitragen, die sich uber Exegese und Theologie hinaus auch in die Bereiche altorientalische Religionsgeschichte, Literatur- und Sprachwissenschaften erstrecken, untersucht Kruger diesen Themenkomplex in vielfaltiger Art. Der vorliegende Band beinhaltet Beitrage von 39 Kolleginnen und Kollegen aus der Schweiz, aus Deutschland, Osterreich, Israel, den Niederlanden und den USA und spiegelt so die gedanklich und geographisch weite Vernetzung des Geehrten. Inhaltlich machen Arbeiten zum Tanach den Auftakt, sortiert nach den drei Kanonteilen Tora, Propheten und Schriften. Es folgen Beitrage, die sich altorientalischen und biblischen Sprach- und Vorstellungswelten widmen, sowie zuletzt Arbeiten, die mit der Bibel uber die Bibel hinaus denken.

A Centennial, writes Hebrew College President Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld, “is an invitation to reflect on the last century of teaching and learning at Hebrew College, to ask ourselves what has changed and what has endured, to explore accomplishments and share ongoing struggles, to articulate our aspirations for the next one hundred years.” A compilation of captivating essays on Jewish studies alongside powerful personal memoirs from the College's earliest years until today, Ḥiddushim captures and celebrates the spirit of a learning community connected to its source and brimming with spiritual and intellectual creativity as it carries forward its legacy of rootedness and renewal into the future.

You know the eternal value of the Bible and have been moved in your heart to pick it up, but you've found it hard to navigate. Perhaps you've already tried reading the Bible and have been overwhelmed. Maybe you're more familiar with the Bible but don't understand how its wisdom can be useful in the world right now. If you're trying to get more out of Sacred Scripture, Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STD, is here to provide you with some down-to-earth, pastoral guidance in Understanding the Bible: A Catholic Guide to Applying God's Word to Your Life Today. This book shows that the Bible is accessible, understandable, livable, and enjoyable. Each chapter provides a quick, easy-to-read summary of a book of the Bible, touching on the history and themes, applying the book to our own issues and struggles today, and offering guidance for getting started reading that specific book. By growing in confidence and understanding of the Bible, we can discover more fully the words and deeds of God and apply the revelation and wisdom contained in Sacred Scripture to our lives today. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Fr. Jeffrey Kirby, STD, is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in Indian Land, South Carolina. He is a moral theologian and Papal Missionary of Mercy. He serves as an adjunct professor of theology at Belmont Abbey College and is the author of several books, including Way of the Cross for Loved Ones Who Have Left the Faith and Living in Peace.

Don't keep asking God for forgiveness. Do judge one another. And you're not going to heaven for all eternity!How have we misunderstood the teachings of Jesus? Often His message to the leaders and disciples was: You're getting this wrong! Somewhere along the way you got confused, lost, way off track. Would He have the same assessment of us today?In Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, pastor and author Ben Connelly shows us how to recover God's original intentions in light of the story of redemption. Connelly helps us celebrate and understand how Jesus'life, death, and resurrection are truly good news for the tangible situations in our everyday lives. Biblical misunderstandings can lead to a small view of God—but truth overturns that. It expands our hearts for God and enables us to truly love others! Using theology, humor, and practical examples the author reveals shockingly common ways we get the Bible wrong. Connelly invites Christians to see themes and teachings with new eyes—or, rather, with old eyes—on topics like confession and forgiveness... what it means to be blessed or happy... whether we're commanded to or prohibited from passing judgement. How does the gospel inform our understanding and answer these questions? Connelly gives readers a new gospel-focused lens that addresses common frustrations and helps them see with renewed hope, clarity, and courage.

Discover five innovative ways to read the BibleDo you feel guilty that you don't read your Bible every day? When you do sit down to study the Bible, do you find yourself easily distracted and feeling like you're missing something? Are you looking to connect with God's Word in a fresh way that makes you look forward to your daily time in Scripture? If so, The Abide Bible Course is for you!In this study, a professor and a pastor—Dr. Phil Collins and Randy Frazee—will walk you through five innovative practices that will take you beyond just reading and help you deeply engage with Scripture in a way that fits your unique personality and learning style. In each session, they will explain the practice and walk you through each one—with practical examples—so you can try it out for the upcoming week. These practices include:Praying Scripture: pray with the words of Scripture instead of your ownEngage Through Art: looking at works of art to help you see a passage in a new wayJournal: writing out your thoughts and feelings on a passage to give you greater clarityPicture It: putting yourself into the stories of the Bible to experience them firsthandContemplate: deeply reflecting and praying through a passage in God's WordJesus instructed his followers to'abide'in him so they could lead fruitful lives (see John 15:4). The Abide Bible Course will equip you to establish a daily, lifelong habit of abiding in God's Word so you can hear his voice.This study guide has everything you need for a full Bible study experience, including:The study guide itself—with video notes, a comprehensive structure for group discussion time, daily exercises to help you engage in each practice during the week and a guide to best practices for leading a group.An individual access code to stream all six video sessions online (you don't need to buy a DVD!).Watch on any device!Streaming video access code included. Access code subject to expiration after 12/31/2027. Code may be redeemed only by the recipient of this package. Code may not be transferred or sold separately from this package. Internet connection required. Void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Additional offer details inside.

The fruit of the Spirit isn't just something we display. It's the way God loves us!Every Christian cherishes the famous passage in Galatians 5:22–23 that lists the fruit of the Spirit. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. And self-control. These are the marks of godly character that we strive to display. But has it ever occurred to you that these are also the characteristics of God? Can it be that God loves us with the fruit of the Spirit? And only when we are secure in that love can we display it to others?Jessica Thompson wants to take you deeper into the love that your Heavenly Father has for you. Focusing on the majority of the fruit of the Spirit, she shows how God Himself has these attributes and lavishes them on us. In 40 readings designed for daily devotions, Jessica takes you across the whole arc of the Bible to reveal the character of the triune God. This journey will surely bless you. For the more you behold who He is and the nature of his love, the more you will, by the work of the Spirit, become like Him.“My hope is that the readers will come away from this book more aware of what a magnificent God we serve. My hope is that the readers will remember their first love. My hope is that the readers will come back to this book again and again when they're looking for a place of healing and hope.” – Jessica Thompson

An Invitation to Biblical Poetry is an accessibly written introduction to biblical poetry that emphasizes the aesthetic dimensions of poems and their openness to varieties of context. It demonstrates the irreducible complexity of poetry as a verbal art and considers the intellectual work poems accomplish as they offer aesthetic experiences to people who read or hear them. Chapters walk the reader through some of the diverse ways biblical poems are organized through techniques of voicing, lineation, and form, and describe how the poems'figures are both culturally and historically bound and always dependent on later reception. The discussions consider examples from different texts of the Bible, including poems inset in prose narratives, prophecies, psalms, and wisdom literature. Each chapter ends with a reading of a psalm that offers an acute example of the dimension under discussion. Students and general readers are invited to richer and deeper readings of ancient poems and the subjects, problems, and convictions that occupy their imagination.

Arguing that Scripture is interpreted correctly only when read through the lens of creedal orthodoxy, a leading scholar and public theologian defends a classical model of interpretation.

Kierkegaard's religious discourses provide extended reflections on the Biblical text, and this book explores Kierkegaard's hermeneutical project as a form of theological interpretation in the service of religious upbuilding. Comparing Kierkegaard's metaphorical view of Scriptural language with Ricoeur's theory of metaphor and second-order reference, and comparing Kierkegaard's movement from'ordinary'to'actual'reading with the Medieval movement from literal to spiritual reading of Scripture, Storer argues that Kierkegaard's project of upbuilding may be best classified as a form of tropological reading of Scripture in which appropriation opens the meaning of the text as the reader is remade into the image of God. Through the lens of Kierkegaard's use of Scripture, the book further explores theological and rhetorical development of the discourses, focusing on Kierkegaard's move from general religious upbuilding to specifically Christian upbuilding, Kierkegaard's construction of new rhetorical strategies in the pursuit of a distinctly Christian communication, and Kierkegaard's increasing focus on Scriptural authority in the later discourses. The discourses, it is shown, exhibit a plurality of instructional and evangelistic aims, and these shape, and are shaped by, Kierkegaard's use of Scripture. Storer concludes that Scripture is used so freely and imaginatively because Kierkegaard assumes the framework of historic creedal Christianity as his foundation for upbuilding, and then utilizes Scriptural texts to enable readers to imagine, and thereby to appropriate Christian truth.

Two experts in exegesis and dogmatics show how Christology and the doctrine of the Trinity are grounded in Scripture and how knowledge of these topics is critical for exegesis.

The impact of Gilles Deleuze on critical thought in the opening decades of the twenty-first century rivals that of Jacques Derrida or Michel Foucault on critical thought in the closing decades of the twentieth. The'Deleuze and...'industry is in overdrive in the humanities, the social sciences, and beyond, busily connecting Deleuzian philosophy to everything from literature to architecture, metaphysics to mathematics, ethics to physics, sexuality to technology, and ecology to theology. What of Deleuze and the Bible? What does the Bible become when it is plugged into the Deleuzian corpus? An immense affective assemblage, among other things. And what does biblical criticism become in the process? A practice of close reading that is other than interpretation and renounces the concept of representation. Not just for those already familiar with the work of Deleuze, the book begins with an extended introduction to Deleuzian thought. It then proceeds to unexegetical explorations of five successive themes: Text (how to make yourself a Bible without Organs, and why); Body (why there are no bodies in the Bible, and how to read them anyway); Sex (a thousand tiny sexes, a trillion tiny Jesuses); Race (Jesus and the white faciality machine); and Politics (democracy, despots, pandemics, ancient prophets). Cumulatively, these explorations limn the fluid contours of a Bible after Deleuze.

The life and work of Jesus Christ must not be overlooked.Born under Roman occupation, Jesus lived his entire life without writing anything down. His earliest followers, the Christians that were shaped by his life and teachings, carefully recorded his words as good news. They also experienced his resurrection and believed that he had entrusted them with a mission to transform the world.

The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in Orthodox Christianity investigates the various ways in which Orthodox Christian, i.e., Eastern and Oriental, communities, have received, shaped, and interpreted the Christian Bible. The handbook is divided into five parts: Text, Canon, Scripture within Tradition, Toward an Orthodox Hermeneutics, and Looking to the Future. The first part focuses on how the Orthodox Church has never codified the Septuagint or any other textual witnesses as its authoritative text. Textual fluidity and pluriformity, a characteristic of Orthodoxy, is demonstrated by the various ancient and modern Bible translations into Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian among other languages. The second part discusses how, unlike in the Protestant and Roman-Catholic faiths where the canon of the Bible is'closed'and limited to 39 and 46 books, respectively, the Orthodox canon is'open-ended,'consisting of 39 canonical books and 10 or more anaginoskomena or'readable'books as additions to Septuagint. The third part shows how, unlike the classical Protestant view of sola scriptura and the Roman Catholic way of placing Scripture and Tradition on par as sources or means of divine revelation, the Orthodox view accords a central role to Scripture within Tradition, with the latter conceived not as a deposit of faith but rather as the Church's life through history. The final two parts survey'traditional'Orthodox hermeneutics consisting mainly of patristic commentaries and liturgical interpretations found in hymnography and iconography, and the ways by which Orthodox biblical scholars balance these traditional hermeneutics with modern historical-critical approaches to the Bible.

We live in turbulent times. The question is why, and now what. The principal aim of this volume is to provide additional interpretive lenses through which themes of hope and redemption might be seen from a range of biblical and literary texts. Thus, the volume will explore a range of texts, characters, and ideas--from Antigone and Jephthah's daughter to Nabal to the parable of the good Samaritan, from Tobit and Ruth to ideas such as charity and trauma. So, this is a time to Take Heart. In the use of the unusual term Resouling the study emphasizes and accentuates nefhesh. Resouling underlines the possibility of being refreshed after an existential or even routine reality of pain or injustice. The study seeks to understand the possibility of new beginnings, where text and new contexts intersect and shape one another. This study will further enrich the manner in which biblical texts continue to speak to a range of societies and peoples, applying universal themes of social justice and belonging while challenging a status quo that thrives on otherness.

Don't just read the Bible literally—read it Literarily.A lot of times, we treat Scripture like it's all the same from Genesis to Revelation. After all, it only has one Author. Isn't it just one big book, identical from beginning to end?While it's true that the Bible is unified, it is also diverse. The Bible can be grouped according to key categories, called genres, that help us to read and properly interpret the Scriptures. An understanding of these genres, and the literary themes and devices used within them, makes all the difference when encountering God's Word.Long-time Bible teacher Kristie Anyabwile discovered as she prepared her lessons that a single inductive approach doesn't do justice to the variety of genres that make up the Word of God. Because Scripture is a collection of writings that spans 1,500 years, many literary styles are represented and each must be taken into account for the fullest understanding of God's Word. Kristie shows you the immense value of studying the Bible literarily—that is, according to the literary style presented in a particular book, chapter, or passage. In Literarily, Kristie will take you through these eight distinct genres:LawHistoryProphecyPoetryGospelsEpistlesWisdomApocalypticThe Bible is an epic story that God has revealed to us through diverse genres and literary features. Its message and method are both meant to transform our hearts. Our goal as interpreters isn't to meld the Scriptures into a bland conglomerate, but to recognize the multiple forms in which God's Word comes to us. In so doing, we'll encounter the ongoing story of Jesus's redemption and learn how He calls His people to live in our complex world today.

Curieusement, à notre surprise à tous, l'amitié n'est pas un thème biblique central. Bien des encyclopédies qui traitent de toute la Bible n'ont pas, comme porte d'entrée : « l'amitié », « die Freundschaft », « Friendship »! Et si l'on se concentre sur le mot comme tel, on ne le retrouve que rarement. Ainsi dans tout le Nouveau Testament le mot grec philia qui dit justement « amitié », n'apparaît qu'une seule fois et encore dans un sens avant tout péjoratif : « Ne savez-vous pas que l'amitié envers le monde est inimitié contre Dieu » (Jc 4,4)! Mais l'absence du mot ne signifie pas encore l'absence de la réalité! Ce fut pour moi une recherche passionnante d'examiner d'abord dans le Premier Testament, puis dans le Nouveau tout ce qu'on vit et pratique comme amitié. Qu'en pensent les prophètes, les sages, les milieux sacerdotaux? Comment Paul, Luc, Jean s'y retrouvent-ils? Et Jésus lui-même? Partons en excursion et découvrons les fleurs de l'amitié dans ce qui au premier abord avait l'allure d'un désert. Or chacun sait que la moindre fleur dans le creux d'un rocher après de longues promenades arides au désert, est une grande joie!Amitié et fraternité, en dialectique constante. Thème grec entré progressivement dans la révélation biblique et bien assimilé dans le milieu chrétien ultérieur. Aujourd'hui encore bien des milieux rêvent d'une Église d'amis, avec réciprocité dans la confiance et la transparence. « Elle coûte aux yeux du Seigneur la mort de ses amis » (Ps 116,15).À PROPOS DE L'AUTEURP. Benoît Standaert est moine bénédictin du monastère de Saint-André à Bruges, entré en 1964. Après des études à Anvers, Rome, Jérusalem et Nimègue en philosophie, philologie classique, théologie et spécialisation biblique, il a enseigné l'Écriture sainte et la Christologie à l'Institut international Gaudium et Spes, au monastère de Bruges, donné des cours sur le Nouveau Testament à Rome (Saint Anselme) et à Bangalore (Sint Peter's Seminary), et en France au STIM (formation théologique pour moines et moniales). Il a dirigé la revue de spiritualité Heiliging (« Sanctifier ») de 1978 à 2006. Il est engagé depuis plus de vingt-cinq ans dans le dialogue interreligieux monastique (DIMMID). Il a vécu sept ans en ermite près de-Malmedy (Belgique) et mène pour l'instant encore une vie semi-érémitique à Clerlande (Ottignies). Formé à l'analyse rhétorique ancienne et bon connaisseur de l'histoire de la spiritualité, il est l'auteur de plusieurs commentaires bibliques et d'ouvrages de-spiritualité, composés en néerlandais et en français, et traduits en italien, hongrois, polonais, anglo-américain et espagnol.

Expanding Scriptures: Lost and Found is the second book in the Wisdom Series. Don MacGregor considers what could be added to the Bible from rediscoveries of recent years, supports a new role for Mary Magdalene and looks at how it can all be reframed within the Perennial Wisdom teachings.

The Bible, we are constantly reminded, is the best-selling book of all time. It is read with intense devotion by hundreds of millions of people, stands as authoritative for Judaism and Christianity, and informs and affects the politics and lives of the religious and non-religious around the world. But how well do we really know it? The Bible is so familiar, so ubiquitous that we have begun to take our knowledge of it for granted. The Bible many of us think we know is a pale imitation of the real thing. In A Most Peculiar Book, Kristin Swenson addresses the dirty little secret of biblical studies — that the Bible is a weird book. It is full of surprises and contradictions, unexplained impossibilities, intriguing supernatural creatures, and heroes doing horrible deeds. It does not provide a simple worldview: what'the Bible says'on a given topic is multi-faceted, sometimes even contradictory. Yet, Swenson argues, we have a tendency to reduce the complexities of the Bible to aphorisms, bumper stickers, and slogans. Swenson helps readers look at the text with fresh eyes. A collection of ancient stories and poetry written by multiple authors, held together by the tenuous string of tradition, the Bible often undermines our modern assumptions. And is all the more marvelous and powerful for it. Rather than dismiss the Bible as an outlandish or irrelevant relic of antiquity, Swenson leans into the messiness full-throttle. Making ample room for discomfort, wonder, and weirdness, A Most Peculiar Book guides readers through a Bible that will feel, to many, brand new.

A Clear Guide to Help Readers Understand Why They Can Trust the BibleWe are often told we can no longer assume that the Bible is trustworthy. From social media memes to popular scholarship, so many attacks have been launched on the believability of Scripture that many have serious questions about the Bible, such as:Did Jesus actually live?Did the biblical writers invent their message?How can we trust the gospels since they were written so long after Jesus lived?How can we believe a Bible that is full of internal contradictions with itself and external contradictions with science?Aren't the biblical manuscripts we have just copies of copies that are so corrupted they don't represent what the original authors wrote?Why should we believe the books that are in the Bible, since many good ones were left out, like the Gospel of Thomas?Why trust the Bible when there are so many contradictory translations of it?If you find yourself unable to answer questions such as these, but wanting to, Why I Trust the Bible by eminent Bible scholar and translator William Mounce is for you. These questions and more are discussed and answered in a reasoned, definitive, and winsome way.The truth is that the Bible is better attested and more defensible today than it ever has been. Questions about the Bible are perhaps the most significant challenge confronting Christian faith today, but they can be answered well and in a way which will lead to a deeper appreciation for the truth and ongoing relevance of the Bible.

Zur Exegese des Alten Testaments wird ein differenziertes, weithin unstrittiges und mithin relativ stabiles Instrumentarium an Methoden und Arbeitsschritten genutzt. Materialiter blickt die jüngere alttestamentliche Forschung indes auf tiefgreifende Umbrüche, insbesondere die Auflösung jahrzehntelang geltender Konsense zurück. Dieser Stand der Dinge wirft die Frage auf, wie die Diastase zwischen einem stabilen Methodenkanon und nachhaltigem Dissens in den damit erzielten Ergebnissen zu erklären ist. Ihr stellt sich die Exegetik. Sie fragt, so das von den hier versammelten Beiträgen vorausgesetzte Verständnis, nach den Bedingungen exegetischer Arbeit. Dieser metakritische Ansatz steht im Dienste einer eminent konstruktiven Absicht, nämlich der Kalibrierung der exegetischen Kritik selbst. Unter Bündelung des bisherigen Diskussionsstandes bietet der Band Bausteine für eine Theorie der Exegese.

The Wesleyan Theology Series aims to discuss Christian doctrines in easy to understand language that states clearly what Christians believe and why. Each volume is written by an author with a particular expertise who also has the ability to simplify and clarify complex issues. This 13-book series is written specifically for the theologically curious layperson, student, or pastor.

Focusing on linguistic signs, New Testament Semiotics navigates through different realist and nominalist traditions. From this perspective, Saussure's and Peirce's traditions exhibit similarities. Questioning Derrida's and Eco's semiotics based on their misuse of Peirce's innovations, Dr. Privatdozent Timo Eskola rehabilitates Benveniste and Ricoeur. A sign is about conditions and functions. Sign as a role is a manifestation of participation. Serving as a sign entails participation in a web of relations, participation in a network of meanings, and adoption of a set of rules. We should focus on sentences and networks, not primitive reference or binary oppositions. Enunciations are postulations producing evanescent meanings. Finally, the study suggests a linguistic approach to metatheology that is based on hermeneutics of discursive resistance.

“To relish the feast that is Scripture, we need to use multiple models.” A Christian never gains all that Scripture offers by reading it with just one approach. Yet too often this is attempted—whether through an academic obsession with the historical-critical method or through a consumerist approach that seeks only the motivation of the moment. Mark Reasoner broadens the options for scriptural engagement by describing five models of Scripture: documents, stories, prayers, laws, and oracles. To illustrate each, he uses examples from throughout the history of interpretation. While he concedes that certain books of the Bible will naturally lend themselves to particular models, Reasoner shows how an appreciation for all five will enrich one's scriptural insights while also bridging divides between the various branches of the Christian family. In addition to the five models, Reasoner surveys Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant constructions of the biblical canon and addresses specific issues relevant to their respective interpretations of Scripture, including scriptural metanarratives, the use of the Bible in Christian worship, and the principle of sola Scriptura. Through it all, Reasoner remains unequivocally focused on his goal: “to help readers grow in their love for Scripture in ways that will help them plant this love in those to whom they minister.”

Answers to the most common questions and misconceptions about the Bible Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew about the Bible is a short and readable introduction to the Bible—its origins, interpretation, truthfulness, and authority.Bible scholar, prolific author, and Anglican minister Michael Bird helps Christians understand seven important'things'about this unique book:how the Bible was put together;what'inspiration'means;how the Bible is true;why the Bible needs to be rooted in history;why literal interpretation is not always the best interpretation;how the Bible gives us knowledge, faith, love, and hope; andhow Jesus Christ is the center of the Bible.Seven Things presents a clear and understandable evangelical account of the Bible's inspiration, canonization, significance, and relevance in a way that is irenic and compelling. It is a must read for any serious Bible reader who desires an informed and mature view of the Bible that will enrich their faith.

Mit dem Kirchenjahr 2018/19 trat eine neue Perikopenordnung in Kraft, die über siebzig neue alttestamentliche Predigttexte vorsieht. Mit diesen macht der Band vertraut. Jede Perikope wird exegetisch kommentiert und liturgisch-homiletisch in den Kontext des betreffenden Propriums eingebettet. Dabei werden auch Fragen behandelt, die immer schon die Predigt alttestamentlicher Texte begleitet haben: Was bedeutet es exegetisch, theologisch und homiletisch, dass diese Texte nicht unter dem Eindruck des Christusereignisses verfasst wurden? Macht es einen Unterschied, ob man über einen neu- oder alttestamentlichen Text predigt? Und welche Bedeutung hat, dass dieselben Texte zum christlichen und jüdischen Kanon gehören? Die erweiterte Neuauflage enthält nun auch die 16 neuen alttestamentlichen Texte, die den sogenannten'Weiteren Fest- und Gedenktagen'der Perikopenordnung – wie Reformationsfest, Johannis- und Michaelistag, Martins- und Nikolaustag, dem Tag des Gedenkens an die Novemberpogrome und an die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus – zugeordnet sind. [The New Old Testamenr Pericope Texts] With the church year 2018/19, a new pericope order came into force, providing for just over seventy new Old Testament sermon texts. The volume familiarizes the reader with these texts. Each pericope is commented on exegetically and embedded liturgically-homiletically in the context of the respective proper. Also questions which have always accompanied the preaching of Old Testament texts are dealt with: What does it mean exegetically, theologically and homiletically that these texts were not written under the influence of the Christ event? Does it make a difference whether one preaches about a New or Old Testament text? And what does it mean that the same texts are part of both, the Christian and the Jewish canon? The extended new edition now also contains the 16 new Old Testament texts that are assigned to the so-called'further feast and commemoration days'of the pericope order – such as Reformation Day, St. John's and St. Michael's Day, St. Martin's and St. Nicholas'Day, the Day of Commemoration of the November Pogroms and the Victims of National Socialism. Zusatz 78 27. Januar – Tag des Gedenkens an die Opfer des National- sozialismus Gen 4,1–10 79 27. Januar – Tag des Gedenkens an die Opfer des National- sozialismus Pred 8,10– 14.17 80 2.2. – Lichtmess Ex 13,1.2.14–16 81 2.2. – Lichtmess Jes 49,1–6 82 29.9. – Michaelis Gen 21,8–21 83 29.9. – Michaelis Num 22,31–35 84 Erntedankfest Dtn 8,7–18 85 Reformationsfest Dtn 6,4–9 86 Reformationsfest Ps 46 87 1.11. – Gedenktag der Heiligen Dan 7,1–3.13–18.27 88 9.11. – Tag des Gedenkens an die Novemberpogrome Spr 24,10–12 89 9.11. – Tag des Gedenkens an die Novemberpogrome Ex 1,15–22 90 11.11. – Martinstag Jes 58,6–11 91 6.12. – Nikolaustag Jes 61,1–2.10 92 26.12. –Tag des Erzmärtyrers Stephanus Jer 26,1–13 93 Kirchweih 1Kön 8,27–30 94 Kirchweih Ps 84,2–13

Loving God means loving His Word.If you're feeling distant from God, could it be because you're ignoring His Word? But maybe you don't know where to start. Maybe the long books and strange names feel overwhelming. Maybe you just don't like reading. Whatever the case, How to Eat Your Bible will help you cultivate an appetite for life-long study of God's Word. Find practical guidance for overcoming the hurdles that have kept you from making Bible study a regular part of your life. You'll also become encouraged to pursue God's Word by learning how other Christians throughout time maintained this crucial practice. Pastor Nate Pickowicz also includes a unique Seven Year Bible Plan so that you can apply what you've learned and continue drawing near to God as you consume His Word.

A literature professor shows how learning to read and love poetry can increase our understanding of the biblical text, helping us learn to read and love God's Word.

“The Making of the Bible is invaluable for anyone interested in Scripture and in the intertwined histories of Judaism and Christianity.”—John Barton, author of A History of the Bible: The Book and Its FaithsThe authoritative new account of the Bible's origins, illuminating the 1,600-year tradition that shaped the Christian and Jewish holy books as millions know them today.The Bible as we know it today is best understood as a process, one that begins in the tenth century BCE. In this revelatory account, a world-renowned scholar of Hebrew scripture joins a foremost authority on the New Testament to write a new biography of the Book of Books, reconstructing Jewish and Christian scriptural histories, as well as the underappreciated contest between them, from which the Bible arose.Recent scholarship has overturned popular assumptions about Israel's past, suggesting, for instance, that the five books of the Torah were written not by Moses but during the reign of Josiah centuries later. The sources of the Gospels are also under scrutiny. Konrad Schmid and Jens Schröter reveal the long, transformative journeys of these and other texts en route to inclusion in the holy books. The New Testament, the authors show, did not develop in the wake of an Old Testament set in stone. Rather the two evolved in parallel, in conversation with each other, ensuring a continuing mutual influence of Jewish and Christian traditions. Indeed, Schmid and Schröter argue that Judaism might not have survived had it not been reshaped in competition with early Christianity.A remarkable synthesis of the latest Old and New Testament scholarship, The Making of the Bible is the most comprehensive history yet told of the world's best-known literature, revealing its buried lessons and secrets.

Erotik und Ethik – eine Verhältnisbestimmung, die seit Jahrtausenden gleichbleibend aktuell ist. In gegenwärtigen Debatten wird deutlich, dass der Bibel häufig sexualitätsfeindliche Positionen zugeschrieben werden – doch ist dem so? Die Notwendigkeit einer fundierten Auseinandersetzung ist gegeben und wird in dieser Festschrift geliefert. Ist Sexualität ein Menschenrecht? Welche Utopien sind mit ihr verbunden? Ist das Patriarchat eine Strafe? Hat die Spiritualität des Paulus homoerotische Aspekte? Teilt die Bibel die Vorstellung eines Hymens? Wie ist das biblische Verhältnis zur Prostitution? Diese Festschrift vereint eine Vielzahl verschiedener Schlaglichter namhafter Exegetinnen und Exegeten, die gemeinsam das spannungsreiche Feld erhellen. [Erotica and Ethics in the Bible. Festschrift in Honour of Manfred Oeming Presented on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday] Eroticism and ethics – an underlying issue of mankind that never ceased to be relevant. In current debates it becomes clear that positions hostile to sexuality are often ascribed to the Bible––but is this indeed the case? The necessity of a well-founded debate is given and is delivered in this commemorative publication. Is sexuality a human right? What utopias are associated with it? Is patriarchate a punishment? Does Paul's spirituality have homoerotic aspects? Does the Bible share the idea of the maidenhead? What is the biblical relationship to prostitution? This volume collects a number of different highlights from well-known exegetes who together shed light on this exciting field.

Are you settling for half the story? Highlighting connections that have been hidden from non-Jewish eyes, Rabbi Jason Sobel will connect the dots between the Old and New Testament, helping you see the Bible with clarity as God intended.Most people—even people of faith—do not understand how the Bible fits together. Too many Christians accept half an inheritance, content to embrace merely the New Testament, while Jewish people may often experience the same by embracing only the Old Testament. But God has an intricate plan and purpose for both the Old and the New.In Mysteries of the Messiah, Rabbi Jason Sobel reveals the many connections in Scripture hidden in plain sight. Known for his emphatic declaration “but there's more!” he guides us in seeing the passion and purpose of the Messiah. Mysteries of the Messiah:Uncovers connections between the Old and New TestamentsConnects the dots for readers with details about Jesus, the Torah, and biblical charactersWritten with the unique perspective of a rabbi with an evangelical theological degreeNo matter how many times you have read the Bible, Mysteries of the Messiah will bring fresh perspective and insight. God's Word, written by many people over thousands of years, is not a random selection of people and stories. Rabbi Jason Sobel connects the dots and helps us see with clarity what God intended.

Bonhoeffer's writings include a significant amount of biblical interpretation, but his potential contributions in the fields of biblical studies and theological exegesis of Scripture have not been sufficiently explored. This study reassesses some of his key exegetical writings in light of his theology of revelation and bibliology, unfolding the ways in which his reading of the Bible is determined by his theology of Scripture. Through this analysis, Joel Banman demonstrates that the uniting factor of Bonhoeffer's biblical interpretation is not methodological but bibliological: he reads Scripture as the living word of the present Christ.

Biblical ABCs is a theological resistance primer. Its author, Kornelis Heiko Miskotte, was a Dutch pastor, theologian, and antifascist who lived and worked under the Nazi occupation of his country. Miskotte's family hid Jews inside their home, and Miskotte facilitated underground Christian discussion groups. In 1941, he published an illegal pamphlet as a study guide for these groups. In an atmosphere saturated with propaganda and lies, Miskotte felt that Christians needed a refresher course in the basics of biblical language—an anti-Nazi catechism, as it were. Miskotte presents this instruction in twelve brief, poetic meditations on important terms drawn from the Bible. Like his teacher Karl Barth, Miskotte insists on the primacy of the Word, and like his imprisoned colleague Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he emphasizes the this-worldliness of the Old Testament. Miskotte also shows his deep debt to the Jewish theologian, Franz Rosenzweig. He begins his primer with the A of the biblical ABCs: the Name of God, the Tetragrammaton, which Miskotte sees as the cornerstone of all resistance to authoritarianism and truth decay.

When Holy Scripture is read aloud in the liturgy, the church confesses with joy and thanksgiving that it has heard the word of the Lord. What does it mean to make that confession? And why does it occasion praise? The doctrine of Scripture is a theological investigation into those and related questions, and this book is an exploration of that doctrine. It argues backward from the church's liturgical practice, presupposing the truth of the Christian confession: namely, that the canon does in fact mediate the living word of the risen Christ to and for his people. What must be true of the sacred texts of Old and New Testament alike for such confession, and the practices of worship in which they are embedded, to be warranted? By way of an answer, the book examines six aspects of the doctrine of Scripture: its source, nature, attributes, ends, interpretation, and authority. The result is a catholic and ecumenical presentation of the historic understanding of the Bible common to the people of God across the centuries, an understanding rooted in the church's sacred tradition, in service to the gospel, and redounding to the glory of the triune God.