Coins have long been a vital part of the discipline of classical studies of the ancient world. However, many scholars have commented that coins have not been adequately integrated into the study of the New Testament. This book provides an interdisciplinary gateway to the study of numismatics for those who are engaged in biblical studies. Wenkel argues that coins from the 1st century were cultural texts with communicative power. He establishes a simple yet comprehensive hermeneutic that defines coins as cultural texts and explains how they might be interpreted today. Once coins are understood to be cultural texts, Wenkel proceeds to explain how these texts can be approached from three angles. First, the world in front of the coin is defined as the audience who initially read and responded to coins as cultural texts. The entire Roman Empire used coins for payment. Second, the world of the coin refers to the coin itself – the combination of inscriptions and images. This combination of inscription and image was used ubiquitously as a tool of propaganda. Third, the world behind the coin refers to the world of power and production behind the coins. This third angle explores the concept of authorship of coins as cultural texts.

Coins have long been a vital part of the discipline of classical studies of the ancient world. However, many scholars have commented that coins have not been adequately integrated into the study of the New Testament. This book provides an interdisciplinary gateway to the study of numismatics for those who are engaged in biblical studies. Wenkel argues that coins from the 1st century were cultural texts with communicative power. He establishes a simple yet comprehensive hermeneutic that defines coins as cultural texts and explains how they might be interpreted today. Once coins are understood to be cultural texts, Wenkel proceeds to explain how these texts can be approached from three angles. First, the world in front of the coin is defined as the audience who initially read and responded to coins as cultural texts. The entire Roman Empire used coins for payment. Second, the world of the coin refers to the coin itself – the combination of inscriptions and images. This combination of inscription and image was used ubiquitously as a tool of propaganda. Third, the world behind the coin refers to the world of power and production behind the coins. This third angle explores the concept of authorship of coins as cultural texts.

Written by scholars with extensive experience teaching in colleges and universities, the Exploring the Bible series has for decades equipped students to study Scripture for themselves. Filled with classroom-friendly features, this first volume, now it its third edition, provides an accessible introduction for anyone studying Jesus, the Gospels, and Acts.

This volume sets out a novel approach to theatre historiography, presenting the history of performances of Greek tragedies in Germany since 1800 as the history of the evolving cultural identity of the educated middle class throughout that period. Philhellenism and theatromania took hold in this milieu amidst attempts to banish the heavily French-influenced German court culture of the mid-eighteenth century, and by 1800 performances of Greek tragedies had effectively become the German answer to the French Revolution. Tragedy's subsequent endurance on the German stage is mapped here through the responses of performances to particular political, social, and cultural milestones, from the Napoleonic Wars and the Revolution of 1848 to the Third Reich, the new political movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and the fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification. Images of ancient Greece which were prevalent in the productions of these different eras are examined closely: the Nazi's proclamation of a racial kinship between the Greeks and the Germans; the politicization of performances of Greek tragedies since the 1960s and 1970s, emblematized by Marcuse's notion of a cultural revolution; the protest choruses of the GDR and the subsequent new genre of choric theatre in unified Germany. By examining these images and performances in relation to their respective socio-cultural contexts, the volume sheds light on how, in a constantly changing political and cultural climate, performances of Greek tragedies helped affirm, destabilize, re-stabilize, and transform the cultural identity of the educated middle class over a volatile two hundred year period.

Michael P. Theophilos explores the fascinating variety of numismatic contributions to Greek lexicography, pertaining to lexicographic studies of the Second Temple period in general, and the New Testament in particular. Theophilos considers previous scholarly attempts to grapple with, and incorporate, critical numismatic material into the emerging discipline of Greek lexicography - including foundational work by F. Preisigke and E. Kiessling - before outlining his own methodological approach. Theophilos' then examines the resources available for engaging with the numismatic material, and presents a series of specific case studies throughout the New Testament material. His carefully annotated images of coins draw readers in to a greater understanding of the material culture of the Greco-Roman world, and how this impacted upon the Greek language and the New Testament.

Like the first volume in this series (WealthWatch, Pickwick, 2011) this book attempts to do two things: (a) examine the primary socioeconomic motifs in the Bible from a comparative intertextual perspective, and (b) trace the trajectory formed by these motifs through Tanak into early Jewish and Nazarene texts. Where WealthWatch focuses on Torah, WealthWarn focuses on the single largest section of the Bible--the Prophets. Where the ancient Near Eastern texts surveyed in WealthWatch include the Epic of Gilgamesh, Atrahasis, and the Epic of Erra, the texts examined here include Inanna's Descent, the Babylonian Creation Epic (enūma elish), the Disappearance of Telipinu, and the Ba`al Epic. Where the Jewish texts surveyed in WealthWatch include historical and sectarian texts, the texts studied here include Ezra-Nehemiah, the Epistle of Jeremiah and Tobit. Where the Nazarene texts in WealthWatch focus on the stewardship parables found in the Gospel of Luke, the texts examined here focus on several prophetic vignettes from the Gospel of Matthew and Acts of the Apostles.

This authoritative volume brings together a team of world-class scholars to cover the full range of New Testament backgrounds studies in a concise, up-to-date, and comprehensive manner. Drawing on the expertise of specialists in the areas of archaeological, historical, and biblical studies, this book provides concise treatments of a wide breadth of topics related to the world of the early Christ followers. The book offers compact overviews of key historical issues, facilitating enriched understandings of the significance and force of the texts of the New Testament in their original contexts. Meant to be used alongside traditional literature-based canonical surveys, this one-stop introduction to New Testament backgrounds fills a gap in typical introduction to the Bible courses and is ideal for undergraduate or seminary classes. It is beautifully designed and includes photographs, line drawings, maps, charts, and tables, which will facilitate its use in the classroom.

All of Scripture testifies to the person of Jesus, yet the Gospels offer a face-to-face encounter. This newly revised third edition of Jesus and the Gospels prepares readers for an in-depth exploration of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Esteemed New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg considers the Gospels’ historical context while examining fresh scholarship, critical methods, and contemporary applications for today. Along with updated introductions, maps, and diagrams, Blomberg’s linguistic, historical, and theological approach delivers a deep investigation into the Gospels for professors, students, and pastors alike.

2000 Catholic Press Association Award Winner! Interpreting the Bible respectfully is a cross-cultural enterprise. For those who seek to understand the Bible as a document from the ancient Mediterranean world and communicate it to people in other cultures, The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible is an ideal tool. Scripture expert John Pilch gives the modern Bible reader an appreciation for the world in which each book of the Bible originated and an in-depth look at the Mediterranean personalities who populate the pages of the Bible. With more than 100 distinctive, Middle-Eastern notions, from Abba" to "Work," this collection provides a cultural system of shared interpretations of persons, things, and events relating to the Mediterranean region. By applying a social-scientific approach to interpreting the Bible, Pilch shows how a multi-cultural understanding, enriched with the discoveries and insights taken from contemporary anthropological studies, can bemused to examine the distinctive, Middle Eastern cultural world of the Bible. Since each article discusses a variety of persons, things, and events under its title, the alphabetized tale of contents presents a comprehensive list of these subjects for ready reference. Uppercase entries identify complete articles; lowercase entries list some of the related topics treated in the articles. A bibliography is provided at the end of each major article. A list of basic resources at the end of the volume presents a selection of dictionaries, atlases, and similar books for supplemental information on each topic. Preachers, readers, RCIA participants and students alike will appreciate the index to the Sunday Lectionary readings for the full three-year cycle that is provided and its citation of the words defined in the dictionary that appear in the given readings. Includes illustrations of appropriate entries. Entries include: ABBA Agriculture Alternate Reality ANGER Animals Antonia Fortress Bailey Beard Bread Blindness Boat Burial Carpenter Caves Centurion Christians CLOTHES COINS Corban COSMETICS AND JEWELRY Culture DANCE DEATH DECEPTION AND LYING DRINKING AND EATING Earrings Eating Emotions Evil Eye Eyes Fishing FORGIVENESS Fortresses Frankincense Goats Good Shepherd HAIR Hands HEALING Heaven HOLY MAN Honey Honor and Shame HOUSE HUMOR Individualism Insider/Outsider Israelite Jewelry JEWS ANDCHRISTIANS John the Baptist Judeans Laughter Life Literary Forms Lying MILITARY Milk MUSIC Mother Nazirite NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION Oath Oil Perfume Peter's House Poor PRAYER Puns Rabbi Revenge Roads Salt Satan Sea SECRECY Shalom Shame SHEEP AND GOATS SICKNESS Sign Sin Singing SKY SMELLS AND TASTES Sorghum Space SPIRITS Stonemason SYMBOLISM Tastes Teeth Tents Translation TRAVEL Vengeance Water WEATHER Wheat Wine Wool WORK

This useful, concise introduction to the worlds around the New Testament focuses on seven key moments in the centuries before and after Jesus. It enlightens readers about the beginnings of the Christian movement, showing how religious, political, and economic factors were interwoven in the fabric of the New Testament world. Leading New Testament scholar Warren Carter has a record of providing student-friendly texts. This introduction offers a "big picture" focus and is logically and memorably organized around seven events, which Carter uses as launching pads to discuss larger cultural dynamics and sociohistorical realities that were in some way significant for followers of Jesus and the New Testament. Photos and maps are included.