In an era marked by profound upheaval and transformation, the Baruch Apocalypses emerged as powerful expressions of Jewish faith and enduring hope. Echoes of the End invites readers into the captivating world of apocalyptic literature, where the search for divine justice, the struggle with suffering, and the longing for redemption are central themes. Amos C. Miles offers a comprehensive analysis of the Baruch Apocalypses, exploring their origins, historical contexts, and rich symbolic meanings, as well as their lasting influence on Jewish theology. He examines the cultural and religious forces that shaped these texts and reveals how they articulated a response to the challenges and uncertainties of their time. This work is an essential read for theologians, historians, and anyone interested in the development of Jewish eschatology. Through keen insights into the significance of these apocalyptic visions and their messages, Echoes of the End offers new perspectives on the enduring impact of the Baruch Apocalypses—not only within Jewish tradition but also as a source of universal themes of hope, resilience, and faith in times of trial.

The Day of Atonement was a day of rest, penitence, and purification for Israelites of loyal character. On this day, sins and impurities that had accumulated throughout the year were removed from the tabernacle by the application of sacrificial blood to its altars and compartments and transferred by the high priest's confession onto the goat for Azazel, which carried them to the desert. Israel was thus rendered "clean" before the Lord, ensuring that he would continue to dwell in their midst. As it became ingrained in the veil of Jewish consciousness, the Day of Atonement underwent a process of reflection and reimagination as shown in Second Temple literature, where Azazel plays a significant eschatological role. Arriving in New Testament times, the day's imagery and typology presented irresistible motifs which its authors used to proclaim Jesus Christ's atoning death and heavenly intercession on behalf of believers. By utilizing a coherent intertextual approach, this book explores how John wove the Day of Atonement into the colorful literary tapestry of Revelation.

This study addresses the chief critical issues in the interpretation of 3 Baruch -- including text, genre, setting, function, literary integrity, and original authorship -- and offers a reading of the document as both a Jewish and a Christian text.

In recent years, scholars from both Christian and Jewish backgrounds have tried to rethink the relationship between earliest Christianity and its Jewish milieu; and Paul has emerged as a central figure in this debate. Francis Watson contributes to this scholarly discussion by seeing Paul and his Jewish contemporaries as, above all, readers of scripture. However different the conclusions they draw, they all endeavour to make sense of the same normative scriptural texts - in the belief that, as they interpret the scriptural texts, the texts will themselves interpret and illuminate the world of contemporary experience. In that sense, Paul and his contemporaries are standing on common ground. Far from relativizing their differences, however, it is this common ground that makes such differences possible. In this new edition Watson provides a comprehensive new introduction entitled 'A Response to My Critics' in which he directly engages with the critics of the previous edition. There is a substantial new Preface and two new Appendices, and the text has been fully revised throughout.

In this study, John R. Markley argues that the generic portrayal of apocalyptic seers, which he reconstructs through an analysis of fourteen Jewish and Christian apocalypses, shaped Matthew's portrayal of Peter. This influence of the apocalypse genre has come to bear on the Matthean Peter indirectly, through Matthew's appropriation of Markan and Q source material, and directly, through Matthew's redaction and special material. This suggests that Matthew has portrayed Peter, in part, as an apocalyptic seer who was an exclusive recipient of mysteries about Jesus and mysteries mediated by Jesus. In other words, Matthew primarily conceived of Peter as a recipient of revelation, analogously to the venerated seers portrayed in the apocalypses of the Second Temple period. Markley states that these conclusions require substantial revision to the predominant scholarly estimations of the Matthean Peter, which mainly hold him to be a typical or exemplary disciple.

Breaking with common views on Jewish proto-apocalyptic literature, in a postmodern manner, this work approaches one particular proto-apocalyptic text, Isaiah 24-27, the so-called "Isaiah Apocalypse", intertextually. This reading finds that the Isaiah Apocalypse redeploys and controls other texts, helping secure the authority of those texts as well as its own vision of the end. The first chapter surveys approaches to late Israelite prophecy and presents a new "intertextual" way of viewing this material. The chapters that follow investigate the "eternal covenant" and its role in intertextual space; Isaiah 25's construal of Israel's relationship to other nations; the central role of the "righteous" in Isaiah 26; and Isaiah 27, which points towards the victory of YHWH’s order over chaos. Readers interested in the development of Jewish apocalyptic literature, the social arrangements of second-Temple Judaism, and postmodern treatments of biblical texts will find this volume useful.