THIS COMPREHENSIVE, WIDELY USED TEXT by Michael Gorman presents a theologically focused, historically grounded interpretation of the apostle Paul and raises significant questions for engaging Paul today. After providing substantial background information on Paul's world, career, letters, gospel, spirituality, and theology, Gorman covers in full detail each of the thirteen Pauline epistles. Enhancing the text are questions for reflection and discussion at the end of each chapter as well as numerous photos, maps, and tables throughout. The new introduction in this second edition helpfully situates the book within current approaches to Paul. Gorman also brings the conversation up-to-date with major recent developments in Pauline studies and devotes greater attention to themes of participation, transformation, resurrection, justice, and peace.

Peter and Paul have fascinated Christians since the first century. Though often pitted against one another in scholarship and popular imagination, they respected one another. In seventeen essays the contributors probe enduring issues in ways that provide fresh insights. They strive to advance New Testament scholarship by addressing Peter and Paul's historical interaction, their intertextual exegesis, and Paul's view of Pastoral Theology. Their focus on intertextuality reflects Peter's and Paul's saturation in scripture and their focus on Jewish and Gentile relationships seeks to foster unity in church and culture. Contributors: Michael Allen, Christopher A. Beetham, John Dennis, Wesley Hill, Paul R. House, Panagiotis Kantartzis, Alexander N. Kirk, Sean McDonough, Douglas C. Mohrmann, Elizabeth E. Shively, Peter Stuhlmacher, Joel White, William N. Wilder, H. H. Drake Williams III, Joel Willitts, Todd A. Wilson, Jeff Wisdom

Paul the Apostle has traditionally been viewed as a thinker and theologian, and scholars have focused almost exclusively on his ideas rather than on his religious experience. In this book, a leading New Testament scholar challenges this view of Paul. John Ashton demonstrates how closely Paul’s own career resembles that of a typical shaman, and he shows how every important aspect of Paul’s life and ministry may be illuminated by focusing on his experience. Drawing not only on Paul’s letters but also on contemporary writings in the Jewish and Hellenistic worlds, Ashton discusses a number of important issues relevant to the understanding of Paul and to the origins of Christianity: whether Paul is properly described as a convert, a mystic, an apostle, a prophet, or a charismatic; what his attitude was to the Jewish traditions he inherited; why he felt called upon to preach, not to his fellow Jews, but to the Gentiles; what accounts for the remarkable success of his strange new Gospel; and how we can explain his language of spirit-possession ("Christ lives in me”). In addressing these issues, Ashton demonstrates that to regard Christianity simply as a religion of the word is to ignore a vital truth about its origins.

When it was first published in 2001, Cruciformity broke new ground with a vision of Pauline spirituality that illuminated what it meant to be a person or community in Christ. Beginning with Paul’s express desire to “know nothing but Christ crucified,” Gorman showed how true spirituality is telling the story, in both life and words, of God’s self-revelation in Jesus, so that we might practice “cruciformity”—the impossible possibility of conformity to the crucified Christ. Two decades later, Gorman’s seminal work is still a powerful model for combining biblical studies and theological reflection to make Paul’s letters more immediately relevant to contemporary Christian life. This twentieth-anniversary edition includes a new foreword by Nijay Gupta—a next-generation Pauline scholar heavily influenced by Gorman—as well as an afterword by the author, in which he reflects on the legacy of Cruciformity in the church and the academy, including his own subsequent work in Pauline theology.

Ancient iconography of Paul is dominated by one image: Paul as martyr. Whether he is carrying a sword--the traditional instrument of his execution--or receiving a martyr's crown from Christ, the apostle was remembered and honored for his faithfulness to the point of death. As a result, Christians created a cult of Paul, centered on particular holy sites and characterized by practices such as the telling of stories, pilgrimage, and the veneration of relics. This study integrates literary, archaeological, artistic, and liturgical evidence to describe the development of the Pauline cult within the cultural context of the late antique West.

You don't have to be perfect to do God's work. Look no further than the twelve disciples, whose many weaknesses are forever preserved throughout the pages of the New Testament. Join bestselling author John MacArthur in Twelve Ordinary Men as he draws principles from Christ's careful, hands-on training of the original disciples for today's modern disciple, you! Jesus chose ordinary men--fishermen, tax collectors, political zealots--and turned their weakness into strength, producing greatness from people who were otherwise unremarkable. The twelve disciples weren't the stained-glass saints we imagine. On the contrary, they were truly human, all too prone to mistakes, misstatements, wrong attitudes, lapses of faith, and bitter failure. Simply put, they were flawed people, just like us. But under Jesus' teaching and touch, they became a force that forever changed the world. MacArthur takes you into the inner circle of the disciples--their selection, their training, their personalities, and their incredible impact. As MacArthur took a closer look at the lives of the twelve disciples, he found himself asking difficult questions along the way, including: Why did Jesus pick each of the twelve disciples? How did Jesus teach them everything he could in just eighteen short months? Can the lessons that Jesus taught the disciples can still influence our faith today? In Twelve Ordinary Men, you'll learn that disciples are living proof that God's strength is made perfect in weakness. As you get to know the men who walked with Jesus, you'll see that if he can accomplish his purposes through them, he can do the same through you.

How should students of Scripture engage with discerning the shape of Paul's thought? In this second edition of a trusted resource, Thomas R. Schreiner seeks to unearth Paul's worldview by observing what Paul actually says in his writings and laying out the most important themes and how they are connected. While thoroughly informed by contemporary Pauline studies, Schreiner offers an accessible account of Paul's theology.

"In David D. Visser's illuminating mediation, Paul -- The Apostle to the Gentiles, the author shares an in-depth biography of Paul's life, and why his role as an apostle differed from that of the other apostles."--Publisher's description on back cover.

Sydney and Alex are classic LDS high school sweethearts. Sydney is an A+ student trying to decide between scholarships and Alex is a quiet jock preparing to serve a mission. But finding out on the eve of graduation that Sydney is pregnant changes all their plans. Now they both journey to rebuild their futures and their lives...but it may rip them apart forever.

Sir William Mitchell Ramsay was a British archaeologist and New Testament scholar. Initially, he was one of the biggest Bible critics of his day. However, after decades of research, by his death in 1939, he had become the foremost authority of his day on the history of Asia Minor and a leading scholar in the study of the New Testament, as well as the advocate for the trustworthiness of the New Testament. There were many Bible critics of the early 19th century like there are today, who questioned Luke’s accuracy as a historian. Furthermore, they maintained that the history in Acts was merely invented in the middle of the second century A.D. The author of this book, the British archaeologist and Bible scholar Sir William Mitchell Ramsay was one who believed these things. But after a lengthy investigation of the names and places mentioned by Luke, he declared: “It was gradually borne in upon me that in various details the narrative showed marvelous truth.” This classic defense of the book of Acts was, again, written by a scholar whose initial motivation was to disprove Luke's authorship. After many years of research into the internal evidence of Luke’s books, he became one of the greatest advocates for the authenticity and accuracy of Luke's accounts. We have taken some liberties with Ramsay’s book in that we tweaked the title. We updated his archaic English and changed the UK English to US English. We have added many Bible background chapters and an appendix that we now consider this book a 12th edition. I am most certain that Ramsay would not mind the enhancements that we have made that have made a great book and even better book that can grow the faith of its readers.