Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's Iliad, the Bible's book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.

This book, edited by Carey C. Newman, offers a multifaceted and critical assessment of N. T. Wright's work, Jesus and the Victory of God. Wright responds to the essayists, and Marcus Borg offers his critical appraisal.

How should Christians today understand the many promises and prophecies in the Old Testament about the future of Israel and its land? Are Christian Zionists justified in believing that these have been fulfilled in the return of Jews to their land since the 1880s and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948? This book discusses all the key texts about the restoration of Israel that are quoted in these debates, questioning the Christian Zionist interpretation and offering an alternative. This is followed by a detailed study of two important Old Testament texts dealing with the future of Israel, Ezekiel 33-47 and Zechariah 9-13, understanding them in their original context and exploring how they are interpreted in the New Testament. This is no theoretical, ivory-tower debate. We are dealing here with the most bitter and protracted conflict of the last 150 years; and the way we interpret the Bible has profound political consequences.

The impact of The Late Great Planet Earth cannot be overstated. The New York Times called it the "no. 1 non-fiction bestseller of the decade." For Christians and non-Christians of the 1970s, Hal Lindsey's blockbuster served as a wake-up call on events soon to come and events already unfolding -- all leading up to the greatest event of all: the return of Jesus Christ. The years since have confirmed Lindsey's insights into what biblical prophecy says about the times we live in. Whether you're a church-going believer or someone who wouldn't darken the door of a Christian institution, the Bible has much to tell you about the imminent future of this planet. In the midst of an out-of-control generation, it reveals a grand design that's unfolding exactly according to plan. The rebirth of Israel. The threat of war in the Middle East. An increase in natural catastrophes. The revival of Satanism and witchcraft. These and other signs, foreseen by prophets from Moses to Jesus, portend the coming of an antichrist . . . of a war which will bring humanity to the brink of destruction . . . and of incredible deliverance for a desperate, dying planet.

Jesus and Israel's Traditions of Judgement and Restoration examines the eschatology of Jesus by evaluating his appropriation of sacred traditions related to Israel's restoration. It addresses the way in which Jesus' future expectations impinged upon his understanding of key features of Jewish society. Scholars have long debated the degree to which Jesus' eschatology can be said to have been realized. This 2002 book considers Jesus' expectations regarding key constitutional features of the eschaton: the shape of the people of God, purity, Land and Temple. Bryan shows that Jesus' anticipation of coming national judgement led him to use Israel's sacred traditions in ways that differed significantly from their use by his contemporaries. This did not lead Jesus to the conviction that Israel's restoration had been delayed. Instead he employed Israel's traditions to support a different understanding of restoration and a belief that the time of restoration had arrived.

This book is written to counter a new sort of anti-Semitism Replacement Theology and to address other destructive, widespread distortions that cause Christians and Jews to misunderstand each other. History, stretching back to the Reformation, reveals a special commitment of Christians to the Jews as God's still elect people. This story needs to be told to help heal past wounds and to inspire more Christians to stand together in support of Israel. What is the new anti-Semitism that is on the rise in sectors of Christianity? What distortions are blinding people from seeing the Jews as God sees them? What truth does history reveal that has been kept hidden? Don't miss out on the blessings that God has for you when you discover the truth about Israel!

These seminal essays, written by an international group of eminent scholars, introduce the reader to the subject of restoration in a roughly chronological approach, beginning with the formative period (the Old Testament), followed by the Greco-Roman period, formative Judaism, and early Christianity.