This book, first published in 1901, examines the methods employed by ancients in order to travel through the Roman Empire.

What we think of our bodies and what we wear says something about who we are and how we belong. This was the same in the ancient world. Rosemary Canavan explores the imagery of clothing and body in the first century CE Christian writing. An examination of statuary, funerary monuments and coins in this geographical location contemporaneous with the letter's writing reveals how clothing and body images were understood. This is then placed in dialogue with the metaphorical use of clothing and body in other texts, especially the Letter to the Colossians. Social identity and rhetorical studies draw on archaeological, epigraphical, iconographical and literary sources to formulate a new approach to biblical interpretation aptly named "visual exegesis."

The elusive disposition of John's language has been noted by biblical scholars throughout the history of New Testament studies. The Fourth Gospel is seen as so simple to grasp and yet often pointing beyond itself and beckoning the reader to read deeper. Various socio-linguistic studies have explained this feature as the reflection of the sectarian tendencies in the Johannine Christianity. In his study Saeed Hamid-Khani questions these approaches as inadequate. In turn, he examines John's language within an exegetical and theological framework. He argues that the Sitz im Leben of Johannine language was an environment in which the Hebrew Scriptures were the dominant conceptual force for both the Jews and the Christians. In this context he argues that the essential function of John's enigmatic language is wedded to the Evangelist's purpose in writing the Gospel: namely a steadfast focus upon setting forth that Jesus is the Christ according to the witness of Israel's Scriptures. It is here in these echoes and thematic allusions to the Scriptures that we find the answer to the function and significance of John's unique language: i.e., Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, and he is the visible image of the invisible God, the embodiment of the self-revelation of God according to the Scriptures. However, these truths are concealed from the undiscerning and are only revealed by the spirit of God to those who are born of God.