David L. Baker offers a rare and valuable study of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, within their biblical and ancient Near Eastern setting. In addition to an informative discussion of introductory and background issues, he gives each commandment focussed attention, offering commentary as well as consideration of its meaning for today. What is the Decalogue? (Shape, form, origin, purpose) Loving God (1 - 5: loving God, worship, reverence, rest, family) Loving neighbour (6 - 10: life, marriage, property, truth, coveting) The Decalogue Today Bibliography

In this work, Dan Lioy first investigates the biblical concept of the law. He then conducts a thoroughgoing analysis of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. He gives particular attention to the connection between these two great bodies of biblical literature. The result is a comprehensive study that argues for the enduring relevance of the moral law. This volume is appropriate for personal study and is also suitable as a college and seminary text.

This collection of papers arrives from the eighth annual symposium between the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies of Tel Aviv University and the Faculty of Protestant Theology of the University of Ruhr, Bochum held in Bochum, June 2007. The general theme of the Decalogue was examined in its various uses by both Jewish and Christian traditions throughout the centuries to the present. Three papers deal with the origin of the Decalogue: Yair Hoffman on the rare mentioning of the Decalogue in the Hebrew Bible outside the Torah; E. L. Greenstein considers that already A. ibn Ezra doubted that God himself spoke in the Ten Commandments and states that more likely their rhetoric indicates it was Moses who proclaimed the Decalogue; A. Bar-Tour speaks about the cognitive aspects of the Decalogue revelation story and its frame. The second part considers the later use of the Decalogue: G. Nebe describes its use with Paul; P. Wick discusses the symbolic radicalization of two commandments in James and the Sermon on the Mount; A. Oppenheimer explains the removal of the Decalogue from the daily Shem'a prayer as a measure against the minim's claim of a higher religious importance of the Decalogue compared to the Torah; W. Geerlings examines Augustine's quotations of the Decalogue; H. Reventlow depicts its central place in Luther's catechisms; Y. Yacobson discusses its role with Hasidism. The symposium closes with papers on systematic themes: C. Frey follows a possible way to legal universalism; G. Thomas describes the Decalogue as an "Ethics of Risk"; F. H. Beyer/M. Waltemathe seek an educational perspective.

This collection of essays by prominent scholars surveys the ways in which the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, has been understood and appropriated from biblical times until today. With chapters devoted to major thinkers such as Aquinas, Barth, Calvin, Luther, Maimonides, and Wesley, the writers explore ways the Decalogue has provided theological, ethical, moral, and devotional reflection throughout many facets of religious thought. The pieces reveal both the continuities in interpretation through the centuries as well as ways in which individual theologians departed from reigning readings to develop new directions. Contributors include Daniel I. Block, Craig A. Evans, George Hunsinger, Matthew Levering, D. Stephen Long, William E. May, David Novak, Alison G. Salvesen, Susan E. Schreiner, Carl R. Trueman, and Timothy J. Wengert.

An important book for theology, ethics, and the church. James H. Cone This book displays all the depth, penetrating insight, and clarity of thinking that have become the hallmarks of Lehmann's writing. It mercilessly and wonderfully exposes the superficiality and frivolousness of many of the arguments surrounding the Decalogue.... Theologically instructive, intellectually satisfying, and spiritually uplifting. Allan Boesak Paul Lehmann was one of the greatest of America's Christian ethicists and one of its most influential teachers. His work has had a profound impact on many persons, especially pastors and lay folk. This final work brings him back to some of his major themes - the relation of the gospel and law, the commitment to a truly human life in this world that is shaped by God's just and loving activity in Jesus Christ, and the need for the gift of discernment to see what it is that makes and keeps human life human.... One does not expect to hear much that is fresh on such worked-over moral issues as abortion and homosexuality, but in these pages Lehmann makes us think afresh and challenges us even on those familiar topics. It is sad to think that we shall hear no more from this deeply Christian and moral thinker. Patrick D. Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary This is vintage Lehmann. His koinonia ethic continues to make enormous sense - not least in South Africa and other transitional situations where people are seeking moral discernment amid complexity and ambiguity in the quest for social justice. This book's development of Lehmann's ethic around the Ten Commandments makes it more than a textbook for students. It is a book for pastors, the laity, and the general public. It is also a wonderful culmination to the work of a great theologian. Charles Villa-Vicencio, University of Cape Town, South Africa