This guide to the state of biblical studies features 20 chapters written by scholars from North America and Britain, and represents both traditional and contemporary points of view.

Theology's longest tradition is as a course of study that leads to wisdom. With the growth of the academy, however, theology fell into a fixation with the objective results of science. In this illuminating study Daniel Treier retrieves the older, deeper understanding of theology and connects wisdom in theological education to the theological interpretation of scripture, giving rise to a renewed understanding of the role of virtue in each. Dialoguing with a number of prominent proponents of theological interpretation of scripture, Treier builds on a biblical theology of wisdom that involves the daily lives of all God's people. Ultimately, Treier connects educational discussions of theology and hermeneutical discussions through a trinitarian understanding of wisdom. As a result, the increasingly diverse forms and social locations of theology can be integrated into the mainstream of theological reflection. Filled with interdisciplinary wisdom, Virtue and the Voice of God is a timely recovery of the essential conversation between theological education, virtue, and scriptural interpretation.

More than a guidebook to the postmodernity debate, Paul Lakeland's lively and novel volume clarifies the critical impulses behind the cultural, intellectual, and scientific expressions of postmodern thought. He identifies the issues it presents for religion and for Christian theology. Concentrating on God, Church, and Christ, Lakeland outlines the church's mission to the postmodern world, including a constructive theological apologetics.

A provisional and preliminary attempt to show how the formative hermeneutical thinking of Anthony C. Thiselton - once systematized and critiqued - can begin to resolve the major problems found in the discipline of hermeneutics today, most notably its varying 'disunities' - theoretical, practical, and inter-disciplinary. This book aims to show that the formative thinking of Anthony C. Thiselton provides valuable insights for a programmatic construction towards a unified hermeneutical theory. This construction provides powerful keys for unlocking six contemporary problems in hermeneutics: disorganization, complexity, abstraction, theoretical disunity on several levels, inter-disciplinary polarization, and irresponsible interpretation. Robert Knowles' exhaustive analysis engages critically and creatively.

Most introductions to postmodernism are either wholly negative or wholly positive. Stewart Kelly and James Dew present a balanced introduction and assessment of postmodernism that corrects misunderstandings and examines its shortcomings. This is a clear, accessible text for Christian students of philosophy.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's example of self-sacrificing discipleship has for over fifty years inspired Christians around the world in both their resistance to evil and their devotion to Jesus Christ. Yet for some readers--particularly those who suffer trauma, abuse, and other forms of violence--Bonhoeffer's insistence on self-sacrifice, on becoming a person for others, may prove more harmful than liberating. For those already socialized into self-abnegation, uncritical applications of Bonhoeffer's teachings may reinforce submission, rather than resistance, to evil. This study explores Bonhoeffer's understandings of selfhood and spiritual formation, both in his own experience and writings and in light of the role of gender in psycho-spiritual development. The central constructive chapter creates a mediated conversation between Bonhoeffer and these feminist psychologists on the spiritual formation of survivors of trauma and abuse, including not only dimensions of his thinking to be critiqued from this perspective but also important resources he contributes toward a truly liberating Christian spirituality for those on the underside of selfhood. The book concludes with suggestions regarding the broader relevance of this study and implications for ministry. The insights for spiritual formation developed here provide powerful proof of Bonhoeffer's continuing and concretely contextualized relevance for readers across the full spectrum of human selfhood.

This book provides a survey and critical assessment of the doctrine of universal salvation in contemporary western theology within the context of the historic development of the doctrine.

Jersild responds to a fundamental issue in the theology of the church: what is the nature of our language in addressing the mysteries of our faith, such as speaking of God, or of the incarnation? Advocating a "modest" theology in facing the mystery of God, and acknowledging the impact of postmodern sensibilities, he lifts up the metaphorical language of Jesus as the key to a responsible theology. Jersild makes his case for a "faith-based imagination" centering on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as God's man who brings a divine, redemptive love to the human story. Theology does not give us a line in the sand that divides the saved from the lost, nor is it the truth that makes all other religions false. This is a book for seekers as well as many church members who harbor questions and doubts about the church's theology.

This superb volume in the New International Greek Testament Commentary series provides the most detailed, definitive, and distinctive commentary on 1 Corinthians available in English to date. One of the world's most respected Christian theologians, Anthony Thiselton here provides in-depth discussion of the language of 1 Corinthians, presents his own careful translation of the Greek, traces the main issues of interpretation from the church fathers to the present, and highlights topics of theological, ethical, and sociohistorical interest today, including ethics and "rights," marriage, divorce and remarriage, "headship," gender, prophecy, and many others. No other commentary on 1 Corinthians embodies the wealth and depth of detail presented in Thiselton's work, which takes account of nearly all scholarly research on 1 Corinthians and incorporates substantial bibliographies throughout. In his commentary Thiselton indeed addresses virtually every question that thoughtful, serious readers -- scholars, students, pastors, teachers -- may wish to ask of or about the text of 1 Corinthians. His work truly offers a fresh, comprehensive, and original contribution to our understanding of this major epistle and its contemporary relevance.