The Bible appears to give mixed and even conflicting signals on the four case issues of slavery, Sabbath, war, and women. New Testament scholar Willard Swartley seeks to identify the difficulties surrounding these discussions and clarify basic learnings in biblical interperation in a spirit of unity and dialogue. As a predecessor to his 2003 publication, Homosexuality, this book rounds out a thorough spirit-filled discussion of some of the most contentious and sensitive issues facing the church today.

Willard M. Swartley effectively demonstrates how the Bible can be used for authoritative guidance on social issues. Includes introduction, appendices, and index.

This volume by William J. Webb explores the hermeneutical maze that accompanies any treatment of these three controversial topics and takes a new step toward breaking down walls within the evangelical community related to them.

Global Voices on Biblical Equality is a fresh look at the contextualizing of gender equality throughout the world. Biblical equality is a burgeoning, global reform movement led by scholars and leaders not only in North America but also on every continental landmass in the world. What inroads is biblical equality making around the globe? What is its appeal? What still needs reform? How is biblical equality transforming each culture? In this book, female and male writers who are ethnically part of every continent explore the contextual challenges, successes, and adaptations of engaging the biblical text on gender and ministry. The contributors write on Asia and Asian America (India, China, Korean America), Africa (Zimbabwe)and African America Indigenous America and Latin America (Native America, Hispanic America, Brazilian America), and Western Europe and Australia and North America. The editors and authors are Aida Besancon Spencer, William David Spencer, Ranked Adjunct, and Mimi Haddad. Other contributors are Ellen Alexander, Beulah Wood, Cecilia Yau, Matthew D. Kim, Constantine M. Murefu, Darin Vincent Poullard, Sandra Gatlin Whitley, Awilda Gonzalez-Tejera, John Runyon, and Eliana Marques Runyon, Elke Werner, Roland Werner, Kevin Giles, and Roberta Hestenes.

But after all, it may be said, our fathers were certainly mistaken, for the Bible sanctions Slavery, and that is the highest authority. Now the Bible is my ultimate appeal in all matters of faith and practice, and it is to this test I am anxious to bring the subject at issue between us. Let us then begin with Adam and examine the charter of privileges which was given to him. "Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

The publication of Stony the Road We Trod thirty years ago marked the emergence of a critical mass of Black biblical scholars--as well as a distinct set of hermeneutical concerns. Combining sophisticated exegesis with special sensitivity to issues of race, class, and gender, the authors of this scholarly collection examine the nettling questions of biblical authority, Black and African people in biblical narratives, and the liberating aspects of Scripture. The original volume reshaped and redefined the questions, concerns, and scholarship that determine how the Bible is appropriated by the church, the academy, and the larger society today. To the original eleven essays this expanded edition adds a new introduction by Brian K. Blount and three new chapters by Kimberly D. Russaw, Shively T. J. Smith, and Jennifer T. Kaalund. Not only does Blount's new introduction access the impact of the first edition, but the new contributions extend the implications of Cain Hope Felder's vision for the book.