Why did Peter cease eating with the Gentile Christians at Antioch (Gal 2:11-14) after defending his decision to eat with Cornelius before the entire Jerusalem church (Acts 11:1-18)? Beginning with a character study of Peter throughout the Gospels and Acts, Jack Gibson demonstrates that Peter is consistently portrayed as being a faithful disciple whose pre-Pentecost impetuosity is due to a lack of understanding of the message of Jesus and his post-Pentecost boldness is due to his newly-revealed understanding of this message. The historical background to the Antioch incident is considered, with special consideration given to the Jewish response to Roman rule. Peter's relationship with James and Paul is analyzed, culminating in an evaluation of Peter's motivations for ceasing to eat with the Gentiles.

Lively, well-informed portrait of the complex figure who was the apostle Paul Though Paul is often lauded as the first great Christian theologian and a champion for Gentile inclusion in the church, in his own time he was universally regarded as a strange and controversial person. In this book Pauline scholar Michael Bird explains why. An Anomalous Jew presents the figure of Paul in all his complexity with his blend of common and controversial Jewish beliefs and a faith in Christ that brought him into conflict with the socio-religious scene around him. Bird elucidates how the apostle Paul was variously perceived — as a religious deviant by Jews, as a divisive figure by Jewish Christians, as a purveyor of dubious philosophy by Greeks, and as a dangerous troublemaker by the Romans. Readers of this book will better understand the truly anomalous shape of Paul’s thinking and worldview.

Martin Luther drew a strong parallel between the religion of medieval Catholicism and the religion of first-century Judaism against which his hero, Paul, contended. Luther asserted that both taught that salvation was earned by works of merit. E.P. Sanders challenged Luther's view of Judaism in his landmark work Paul and Palestinian Judaism (1977). Judaism was not in principle a religion in which salvation was earned through obeying the law: it was a religion based upon God's election and grace. The debate which Sanders initiated continues, issuing in a flood of articles and monographs. Dr. Kruse insists, however, that the issues raised in the debate must not be allowed to set the agenda. Instead, he takes the loner route of inductive exegesis, allowing each of Paul's letters to speak for itself before attempting a synthesis of Paul's teaching on the law and justification. He faces squarely and honestly the problems which Paul's attitude to the law raises, and he proposes thoroughly researched and considered solutions. His book is an important contribution to the ongoing debate.

Join New Testament Scholar Thomas Schreiner as He Explores the Meaning and Purpose of Galatians In a time marked by confusion and change, the pathway to salvation for the Galatians seemed unclear. While the false teachers contended for circumcision and obedience to the law as necessary for justification before God, Paul presented the truth of the gospel and redrew the lines of salvation around the cross of Jesus Christ. In this addition to the New Testament Theology series, scholar Thomas R. Schreiner addresses the conflict between Paul and his opponents in Galatia, examines the gospel itself, and shows what it looks like to live out the truth of the gospel in the new era. After examining the dominant biblical-theological themes of Galatians, readers will be reminded of the gift of grace Christ offers through his death on the cross—the only possible path to salvation and true unity among believers. For Those Interested in Biblical Theology: Ideal for college and seminary students, pastors, and professors Helpful Bible Study Resource: A great companion to commentaries on Galatians Part of the New Testament Theology Series: Other volumes include Ministry in the New Realm; To Walk and to Please God; and more

The intimate, fly-on-the wall tale of the decline and fall of an America icon With one notable exception, the firms that make up what we know as Wall Street have always been part of an inbred, insular culture that most people only vaguely understand. The exception was Merrill Lynch, a firm that revolutionized the stock market by bringing Wall Street to Main Street, setting up offices in far-flung cities and towns long ignored by the giants of finance. With its “thundering herd” of financial advisers, perhaps no other business, whether in financial services or elsewhere, so epitomized the American spirit. Merrill Lynch was not only “bullish on America,” it was a big reason why so many average Americans were able to grow wealthy by investing in the stock market. Merrill Lynch was an icon. Its sudden decline, collapse, and sale to Bank of America was a shock. How did it happen? Why did it happen? And what does this story of greed, hubris, and incompetence tell us about the culture of Wall Street that continues to this day even though it came close to destroying the American economy? A culture in which the CEO of a firm losing $28 billion pushes hard to be paid a $25 million bonus. A culture in which two Merrill Lynch executives are guaranteed bonuses of $30 million and $40 million for four months’ work, even while the firm is struggling to reduce its losses by firing thousands of employees. Based on unparalleled sources at both Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, Greg Farrell’s Crash of the Titans is a Shakespearean saga of three flawed masters of the universe. E. Stanley O’Neal, whose inspiring rise from the segregated South to the corner office of Merrill Lynch—where he engineered a successful turnaround—was undone by his belief that a smooth-talking salesman could handle one of the most difficult jobs on Wall Street. Because he enjoyed O’Neal’s support, this executive was allowed to build up an astonishing $30 billion position in CDOs on the firm’s balance sheet, at a time when all other Wall Street firms were desperately trying to exit the business. After O’Neal comes John Thain, the cerebral, MIT-educated technocrat whose rescue of the New York Stock Exchange earned him the nickname “Super Thain.” He was hired to save Merrill Lynch in late 2007, but his belief that the markets would rebound led him to underestimate the depth of Merrill’s problems. Finally, we meet Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, a street fighter raised barely above the poverty line in rural Georgia, whose “my way or the highway” management style suffers fools more easily than potential rivals, and who made a $50 billion commitment over a September weekend to buy a business he really didn’t understand, thus jeopardizing his own institution. The merger itself turns out to be a bizarre combination of cultures that blend like oil and water, where slick Wall Street bankers suddenly find themselves reporting to a cast of characters straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. BofA’s inbred culture, which perceived New York banks its enemies, was based on loyalty and a good-ol’-boy network in which competence played second fiddle to blind obedience. Crash of the Titans is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold and people responsible for billion of dollars of other people’s money gamble recklessly to enhance their power and their paychecks or to save their own skins. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.

Five years of hope and frustration, beginning in November of 2006, filled the pages of Wheres Opie? Vanished in Chicago, story of our family and our missing son Jesse Opie Ross. Wheres Opie? Life goes on beginning in January 2012, takes you on a year long journey inside our lives, day by day; A chance to feel what we felt; do what we did. An opportunity to sense the reality of a missing loved one, without the terrible sacrifice our family has had to endure in order to make this journey. A journal, a book of verse, a soul searching chronicle of finding value in an incomplete life. Meet those who have made our lives fuller, and those who have made our lives frustrating and tragic. Make your own judgments as to what is right and what is wrong. My name is Donald Ross, Jesses father. I make no apologies for the contents of this book. It is life as my family has lived it, uncensored and uncut. My hope is that it will reach someone with a heart and motivate them to help us write the last great chapter, when Jesse is united with his family once more.

In this thoroughly revised and updated edition of a classic reference work, topics like Christology, justification, and hermeneutics receive careful treatment by trusted specialists. New topics like politics, patronage, and different cultural perspectives expand the volume's breadth and usefulness for scholars, pastors, and students today.