R.T. France believes that much of today's popular use of "kingdom" language runs the risk of distorting Jesus' words, and trivializing the depth and richness of his teaching. This book will help many Christians avoid that risk, while also providing helpful and persuasive answers to a range of questions thrown up by modern scholarship. What would "the Kingdom of God" have meant to Mark's first readers? Is "kingdom" the best translation? What did Jesus mean when he said the kingdom would come "with power"? And what are we to make of those passages which seem to predict the coming of the "Son of Man" within the lifetime of the first disciples? R. T. France has taught at London Bible College and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, from 1989 to 1995. He is the author of Matthew in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, The Evidence for Jesus, The Living God, and Jesus and the Old Testament.

"We live in an age in which the reflecting portion of mankind are much addicted to the contemplation of the works of nature. It is the object of the author in this Treatise to "interrogate nature," with the view of making her utter her voice in answer to some of the most important questions which the inquiring spirit of man can put. To guard against misapprehension, he wishes it to be understood that he treats in this book of the Method of the Divine Government in the world rather than in the Church; of the ordinary providence of God rather than his extraordinary dealings towards his redeemed people." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Reprint of the original, first published in 1857.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.