Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's Iliad, the Bible's book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.

Donald Gowan offers a unified reading of the prophetic books, showing that each has a distinctive contribution to make to a central theme. These books--Isaiah through Malachi--respond to three key moments in Israel's history: the end of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE, the end of the Southern Kingdom in 587 BCE, and the beginning of the restoration from the Babylonian exile in 538 BCE. Gowan traces the theme of death and resurrection throughout these accounts, finding a symbolic message of particular significance to Christian interpreters of the Bible.

This book, edited by Carey C. Newman, offers a multifaceted and critical assessment of N. T. Wright's work, Jesus and the Victory of God. Wright responds to the essayists, and Marcus Borg offers his critical appraisal.

"The near sacrifice and miraculous restoration of a beloved son is a central but largely overlooked theme in both Judaism and Christianity. This book explores how this notion of child sacrifice constitutes an overlooked bond between the two religions."--

This volume highlights the sustained focus in Acts on the resurrection of Christ, bringing clarity to the theology of Acts and its purpose. Brandon Crowe explores the historical, theological, and canonical implications of Jesus's resurrection in early Christianity and helps readers more clearly understand the purpose of Acts in the context of the New Testament canon. He also shows how the resurrection is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. This is the first major book-length study on the theological significance of Jesus's resurrection in Acts.

This work makes Christ's revelation to John applicable for today. Explains Revelations' interpretation, author, date, recipients, and literary characteristics.

Explores ancient beliefs about life after death, highlighting the fact that the early Christians' belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions, forcing readers to view the Easter narratives not simply as rationalizations, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his "appearances." Simultaneous. Hardcover no longer available.

Writing from a Jewish perspective, Jon Levenson reviews many often neglected theoretical questions. He focuses on the relationship between two interpretive communities--the community of scholars who are committed to the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation and the community responsible for the canonization and preservation of the Bible.

Publisher description

'But God Raised Him from the Dead' is the first comprehensive study of Jesus' resurrection in Luke-Acts. Through wide-sweeping research and detailed exegesis, Dr. Anderson supports the claim that the resurrection of Jesus is the focus of the message of salvation in Luke-Acts. The study situates Luke's resurrection theology within Jewish and Hellenistic conceptions of the afterlife, and addresses critical questions in Lukan studies, such as the relationship between resurrection, ascension, and exaltation and the vital linkage between Jesus' resurrection, the hope of Israel, and the final resurrection of the dead. 'But God Raised Him from the Dead' demonstrates how the resurrection of Messiah-Jesus is indispensable to the major theological dimensions of Luke's narrative of God's saving action. Jesus' resurrection is a key component in the divine plan to raise up the Savior for Israel, to extend God's saving benefits to the ends of the earth, and to guarantee the complete fulfillment of the hope of Israel and salvation of the people of God at the final resurrection of the dead.