The overriding importance of Sunday as a Christian feast day is emphasized by many apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts from Late Antiquity, above all the broadly received Letter from Heaven. This volume presents versions of this letter together with other texts, partly based on a new edition, including introduction, translation, and commentary.

A range of apocryphal and pseudepigraphic texts from Late Antiquity points to the importance of Sunday as a holiday for baptized Christians. First and foremost is the so-called Letter from Heaven, which has experienced a broad and long-lasting reception up to modern times, although it was also criticized as a forgery from its beginning. Unfortunately, these texts have not received sufficient attention so far. This volume presents various versions of the Letter from Heaven, as well as other texts (the pseudepigraphic Acts of the Synod of Caesarea; pseudepigraphic sermons of Eusebius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, and Basil of Caesarea; passages from the Didascalia or Diataxis of Jesus Christ; the Second Apocryphal Apocalypse of John; the Visio Pauli; a sermon of Sophronius of Jerusalem; and the Apocalypse of Anastasia), together with a translation and commentary. An introduction tells the story of this letter and integrates it and the other texts into the cultural history of Sunday. It becomes clear that Sunday as a day of rest and a feast day was not in the foreground of the development of an ecclesiastical festival calendar for a long time, although Emperor Constantine enacted a law on holiday rest on Sunday in 321 CE. Sunday, rather, marks the end of the Christianization of time and the calendar, when Easter, Pentecost, Christmas, and martyrs' feasts were already taken for granted. The authors of these texts obviously wanted to accelerate this process, which is why an anonymous person even resorted to presenting Christ himself as the author of this letter. Here, severe punishments are threatened to all who do not observe Sunday, who work as if it were a weekday, and who skip worship. The broad tradition shows that the letter was read and distributed despite all the criticism, and was even turned into an early form of a chain letter.

According to Christian sources from before the middle of the third century AD, the ancient evidence is unanimous that, although there were a few slight differences as to how weekends should be observed, one thing is certain and was uncontroversial: the main day of the week for early Christians to gather and worship was not the seventh-day Saturday Sabbath, but Sunday, which they sometimes called "the first day" or "the eighth day," or "the Lord's Day." The booklet also considers (1) whether the Lord's Day replaces the Sabbath, (2) whether the Sabbath was abolished, (3) whether Sabbath-keeping is forbidden, (4) whether the Roman Catholic church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, (5) whether Sunday is to be a day of rest as well as the chief day of public worship, (6) a critique of sources and authorities on which Sabbatarians rely in advancing their contentions, (7) whether some Christians before Constantine observed Sunday rather than Saturday to prevent the Roman government from considering them to be Jews, who were allegedly persecuted before his reign, and (8) where readers can find translations of the sources for themselves. Focusing on pagan Roman and Jewish sources, this second edition considers whether Sunday-keeping began as a result of the Jewish revolts of AD 66-70 and/or AD 132-135 and examines the work of Samuele Bacchiocchi.

Preaching pastors, ministers, and priests know how quickly Sundays come and go. The Lectionary Commentary will not slow the pace of the weekly calendar, but it will help assure that sermon preparation begins with a solid engagement with Scripture. Designed to "jump start" the difficult task of sermon preparation, this indispensable three-volume work gathers exegetical essays on biblical texts from the Revised Common Lectionary. Covering every Sunday of the three-year liturgical cycle, as well as Christmas Day, Epiphany, and Ascension Day, the readings are arranged in canonical order so as to be of use to all preachers. Seventy-eight pastors, priests, and teachers from a variety of Christian traditions have contributed their insights to The Lectionary Commentary. Designed to answer the question What does the preacher need to know about this text in order to preach a faithful sermon from it?, each of their essays closely considers its specific biblical text, all the while remaining alert to the contemporary context in which the sermon will be spoken and heard. The result is an invaluable resource that will aid in the difficult task of facilitating a meaningful encounter between Holy Scripture and our modern world. This volume, The Third Readings: The Gospels, provides exegetical commentary on the lectionary readings for the witnesses to Jesus Christ written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Also unique to this volume is an excellent essay by C. Clifton Black on Augustinian preaching and the nurture of Christians. Consulting Editors: Richard A. Burridge Thomas W. Gillespie Colin E. Gunton Robert W. Jenson James F. Kay Hughes Oliphant Old Fleming Rutledge Marguerite Shuster