Keine ausführliche Beschreibung für "Papers presented to the Second International Congress on New Testament Studies held at Christ Church, Oxford, 1961" verfügbar.

A fresh analysis of the Book of Romans for scholars, pastors, and students that blends scholarly depth with readability.

There is a body of religious literature, most of which was written centuries after the New Testament, that attempts to provide supplemental or alternative accounts of the life of Jesus Christ. The most exhaustive surviving alternative versions to the New Testament come from orthodox circles and are often creative "imaginings" that try to fill holes in the canonical gospel accounts of Jesus' life. This work investigates the origins and nature of noncanonical retellings in detail--both orthodox and heretical as well as Roman and traditionalist Jewish ones. Extensive summaries of the text as well as substantial verbatim extracts of key incidents and assertions are provided to give the reader a "feel" for the character and intents of the various sources. A concise introduction to a much neglected area of Bible-related study that should be of potential use to students of Biblical literature, comparative religion, and early medieval thought.

Studies on the Intersection of Text, Paratext, and Reception brings together the latest research on how the fields of textual criticism, manuscript studies, and reception history can and should inform one another.

The Holy Spirit and the Lake of Fire! What does the Spirit have to do with God's final judgment? The Holy Spirit and God's judgment upon sin are not two topics that are often connected, but to understand the full work of the Spirit, they need to be. It is not enough to view judgment as the work of just the Father and the Son, but in full Trinitarian fashion, it must be understood as the work of all three persons of the Trinity. In The Spirit and the Lake of Fire Rustin Umstattd establishes the Spirit's role in judgment by connecting several symbols that are used for both the Spirit and judgment, such as fire, God's breath, and God's arm. Furthermore, by examining Augustine's position that the Spirit is the mutual-love of the Father and the Son, and Luther's position that God's wrath is the underside of his love, Umstattd demonstrates how one comes to the conclusion that the Spirit is operative in God's judgment upon sin.

The story of the woman taken in adultery features a dramatic confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over whether the adulteress should be stoned as the law commands. In response, Jesus famously states, “Let him who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” To Cast the First Stone traces the history of this provocative story from its first appearance to its enduring presence today. Likely added to the Gospel of John in the third century, the passage is often held up by modern critics as an example of textual corruption by early Christian scribes and editors, yet a judgment of corruption obscures the warm embrace the story actually received. Jennifer Knust and Tommy Wasserman trace the story’s incorporation into Gospel books, liturgical practices, storytelling, and art, overturning the mistaken perception that it was either peripheral or suppressed, even in the Greek East. The authors also explore the story’s many different meanings. Taken as an illustration of the expansiveness of Christ’s mercy, the purported superiority of Christians over Jews, the necessity of penance, and more, this vivid episode has invited any number of creative receptions. This history reveals as much about the changing priorities of audiences, scribes, editors, and scholars as it does about an “original” text of John. To Cast the First Stone calls attention to significant shifts in Christian book cultures and the enduring impact of oral tradition on the preservation—and destabilization—of scripture.

Mark has written a remarkable Gospel. Deceptively simple on the surface, its mystery and ambiguity have intrigued and challenged scholar and lay reader alike. Through veiled clues, controlled word usage and carefully contrived ambiguity, Mark embeds profound theological reflections in the stories he tells. The eschatological discourse (Mark 13) is a prime example. Modern scholars have attempted in vain to eliminate the ambiguities of Mark 13. Does Mark expect the End to come very soon? What is the relationship between the Fall of the Temple and the End of the Age? But the evidence indicates that Mark has deliberately produced the very uncertainty which has troubled scholars and which they want to eliminate. In Mark, attention is diverted from 'signs' and 'evidences' to the twin and inseparable themes of 'discernment' and 'discipleship'. These themes are captured by the two primary 'watchwords' of Mark 13, which call believers to understand the significance of events they experience and to serve (and if necessary suffer) faithfully in the unknown period before the return of the Son of Man. In his communication techniques, his content and his priorities, Mark models himself after the Jesus he portrays. He calls readers, as Jesus called disciples, to follow and to understand - and sometimes to follow without understanding - until the unknown future when the Son of Man will reveal in its fullness the Kingdom now secretly present for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.