The eighth volume in this series continues the exploration of women's representations and roles, constructions of gender, and attitudes toward sexuality in the early church. Jim Aageson, Judith Applegate, Warren Carter, Pamela Eisenbaum, Ruth Hoppin, Luke Timothy Johnson, Catherine Clark Kroeger, Magda Missett van de Weg, John Elliott, Betsy Bauman-Martin, and Timothy Cargal tackle a variety of complex issues involving slavery, prostitution, widows, church leadership, suffering, women's agency, and Evangelical responses to the so-called "texts of terror". This volume advances discussion on these often overlooked and misunderstood general letters.

The twelve essays in this volume explore, through various approaches, not only the biblical portraits of Mary but also both "the quest for the historical Mary" and the understandings of those portraits through the centuries. Valerie Abrahamsen, Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley, John Dominic Crossan, Mary F. Foskett, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Deirdre Good, Jorunn Økland, Jane Schaberg, George H. Tavard, John van den Hengel, Pieter W. van der Horst, and George T. Zervos offer contributions that address such topics as the understandings of sexuality, the divine feminine, soteriology, first-century social history, christology, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox hermeneutics, ecumenical and interfaith relations, and the meaning of "virginity." Volume 10 of the Feminist Companions to the Bible Series>

The eleventh volume in this series examines New Testament Apocryphal texts, including the Acts of Paul and Thecla, the Acts of John, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, the Martyrdom of Perpetua, the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, the Acts of Andrew, the Acts of Thomas, and the Apocalypse of Peter, as well as Joseph and Asenath, the Irish apocrypha, and the Greek novels. In this diverse collection the contributors utilize a variety of approaches to explore topics such as the construction of Christian identity, the Christian martyr, heterodoxy and orthodoxy, conjugal ethics and apostolic homewreckers, trials and temptations, the rhetoric of the body, asceticism, and eroticism.

The thirteenth volume in this landmark series examines the Revelation of John through the categories of post-colonial thought, deconstruction, ethics, Roman social discourse, masculinization, virginity, and violence. The reach of this volume therefore goes beyond that of most feminist studies of Revelation, which frequently focus on the female imagery: the Thyatiran prophet called 'Jezebel', the 'Woman Clothed with the Sun', the 'Whore of Babylon', and the 'Bride'/the 'Heavenly Jerusalem'. The symbols of Revelation remain open and interpetations continue. Some readers will refuse to rejoice at the dismemberment of the Woman-who-is-Babylon; they will resist the (masochistic? infantile?) self-abasement before this imperial Deity who rules by patriarchal domination. Others will conclude that these descriptions are 'only' metaphors, separate form from substance, and worship the transcendent to which the metaphors imperfectly point. Some readers will understand, if not fully condone, John's rhetoric by seeking his political and social location; others will condone, if not fully understand, how the Apocalypse can provide comfort to those undergoing persecution or deprivation. Some readers may reject the coercive aspects of a choice between spending eternity in praise of the divine or being 'tortured' with fire and sulfer; others may rejoice in their own salvation while believing that those being tortured deserve every pain inflicting upon them; still others may use mimicry or parody or anachronistic analogy to challenge, defang, or replace John's message. What we find behind the veil may be beautiful, or terrifying, or both, but we cannot avert our eyes: John's vision is too influential today, in our own political climate, not to look for ourselves. The Feminist Companion to the Apocalypse of John includes contributions by David L. Barr, Mary Ann Beavis, Greg Carey, Adela Yarbro Collins, Lynn R. Huber, Catherine Keller, John Marshall, Stephen Moore, Jorunn Økland, Hanna Stenström, Pamela Thimmes, and Carolyn Vander Stichele. There is an introduction by Amy-Jill Levine and a comprehensive bibliography.

The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament is a detailedintroduction to the New Testament, written by more than 40 scholarsfrom a variety of Christian denominations. Treats the 27 books and letters of the New Testamentsystematically, beginning with a review of current issues andconcluding with an annotated bibliography Considers the historical, social and cultural contexts in whichthe New Testament was produced, exploring relevant linguistic andtextual issues An international contributor list of over 40 scholars representwide field expertise and a variety of Christian denominations Distinctive features include a unified treatment of Lukethrough Acts, articles on the canonical Gospels, and a discussionof the apocryphal New Testament

Maria Mayo questions the contemporary idealization of unconditional forgiveness in three areas of contemporary life: so-called Victim-Offender Mediation involving cases of criminal injury, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa, and the pastoral care of victims of domestic violence. She shows that an emphasis on unilateral and unconditional forgiveness puts disproportionate pressure on the victims of injustice or violence and misconstrues the very biblical passages--especially in Jesus' teaching and actions--on which advocates of unconditional forgiveness rely.

Nonwhite women primarily appear as marginalized voices, if at all, in volumes that address constructions of race/ethnicity and early Christian texts. Employing an intersectional approach, the contributors analyze historical, cultural, literary, and ideological constructions of racial/ethnic identities, which intersect with gender/sexuality class, religion, slavery, and/or power. Given their small numbers in academic biblical studies, this book represents a critical mass of nonwhite women scholars and offers a critique of dominant knowledge production. Filling a significant epistemological gap, this seminal text provides provocative, innovative, and critical insights into constructions of race/ethnicity in ancient and modern texts and contexts.