Exegetical

Leading evangelical scholar John Walton surveys the cultural context of the ancient Near East, bringing insight to the interpretation of specific Old Testament passages. This new edition of a top-selling textbook has been thoroughly updated and revised throughout to reflect the refined thinking of a mature scholar. It includes over 30 illustrations. Students and pastors who want to deepen their understanding of the Old Testament will find this a helpful and instructive study.

Gagnon offers the most thorough analysis to date of the biblical texts relating to homosexuality. He demonstrates why attempts to classify the Bible's rejection of same-sex intercourse as irrelevant for our contemporary context fail to do justice to the biblical texts and to current scientific data. Gagnon's book powerfully challenges attempts to identify love and inclusivity with affirmation of homosexual practice.

. . . the most sophisticated and convincing examination of the biblical data for our time. --Jürgen Becker, Professor of New Testament, Christian-Albrechts University

The second of Victor P. Hamilton's two-volume study of Genesis for the NICOT series, this prodigious and scholarly work provides linguistic, literary, and theological commentary on Genesis 18-50. Beginning with Abraham's reception of the three visitors and his intercession before Yahweh on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18) and continuing through the end of the Joseph story (Gen. 50), the overarching theme of Hamilton's commentary is Yahweh's faithfulness to his promised word and his covenant commitments to those whom he has chosen to receive that promised word. Special features of this commentary include its serious attention to important matters of biblical translation from the Hebrew language into English, copious footnotes that direct readers to further and more extensive sources of information, and frequent references to the New Testament writers' reading of Genesis. Hamilton's work will greatly benefit scholars, seminarians, and pastors who seek solid exegesis of the Bible's foundational book.

This long-anticipated work completes John Oswalt's two-volume commentary on the book of Isaiah. After opening with a valuable discussion on the state of Isaiah studies today, Oswalt provides an insightful verse-by-verse explanation of Isaiah 40-66, giving special attention to the message of the prophet not only for his own time but also for modern readers.

How did the books of the Bible come to be recognized as Holy Scripture? After nearly nineteen centuries the canon of Scripture still remains an issue of debate. Adept in both Old and New Testament studies, F. F. Bruce brings the wisdom of a lifetime of reflection and biblical interpretation to bear in addressing the criteria of canonicity, the canon within the canon, and canonical criticism.

The Psalms run like a golden thread through the beautiful garment of Orthodox worship. In addition to inspiring the public prayer of the church, the Psalms are an indispensable part of the private devotions of all who seek a closer relationship with God.Most important, however, the Psalms point toward the ultimate liberation of humanity from sin, death and despair through Jesus Christ.Father Pat Reardon, drawing on his long experience as an Episcopal, and then as a priest in the Orthodox Church, has produced a work of depth and devotion. He rightly understands that one cannot truly probe the deep meaning of the Psalms unless one understands them in the light of the redemption brought by Christ...He provides the fresh and intensely personal insights of a pastor to the study of the Book of Psalms."Every now and then a book comes along that is a small classic. Here is such a book: elegantly written, deceptively simple, and utterly absorbing."Father Addison Hart, Priest, Newman Center, Northern Illinois University

In this addition to the award-winning BECNT series, leading New Testament scholar and bestselling author G. K. Beale offers a substantive evangelical commentary on Colossians and Philemon. With extensive research and thoughtful chapter-by-chapter exegesis, Beale leads readers through all aspects of Colossians and Philemon--sociological, historical, and theological--to help them better understand the meaning and relevance of these biblical books.

As with all BECNT volumes, this commentary features the author's detailed interaction with the Greek text and an acclaimed, user-friendly design. It admirably achieves the dual aims of the series--academic sophistication with pastoral sensitivity and accessibility--making it a useful tool for pastors, church leaders, students, and teachers.

The Greek edition of the New Testament known as the Textus Receptus, from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, has thousands more words than earlier manuscripts of the second through fourth centuries. Major English translations based on the Textus Receptus, such as Tyndale's New Testament and the King James Version, have all these extra verses, phrases, and words.

This book clearly presents these additions to English readers and then explains why they were added. Scribes often made insertions based on their knowledge of the other gospels, other passages of Scripture, Christian theology, and oral traditions. By understanding the sources and probable reasons for the insertions, students and teachers of the Bible can make informed translation and interpretive decisions.

A 2003 LOGOS Book Award Winner! An ECPA 2003 Gold Medallion Finalist! The first five books of the Old Testament lay the foundation on which the rest of Scripture stands. Its great themes, epochal events and towering figures set down vectors on which the biblical story is played out. The very shape of the rest of the Old Testament would collapse were the Penteteuch to be removed. The structure of New Testament thought would be barely intelligible without it. Here we meet the great ancestral figures of Israel--Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--and the towering figure of Moses, whose presence dominates four of these five books. The creative act of God, the paradisal garden, the exile of Adam and Eve, the judgment of the great flood, the call of Abraham from among the nations, the covenant of Abraham, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law at Sinai, the plan of the tabernacle, the varied experiences of Israel in the wilderness, and the announcement of the covenant blessings and curses--all of these and more contribute to a work of world-formative power. This dictionary explores the major themes and contours of the Pentateuch. Behind and beneath the grandeur of the Pentateuch, issues of historicity have both puzzled and beckoned. But whereas in the mid-twentieth century many English-speaking scholars were confident of archaeological support for the patriarchal accounts, the climate has now changed. In the most extreme cases, some contemporary scholars have radically challenged the antiquity of the ancestral stories, arguing for their final composition even as late as the Hellenistic era. This dictionary examines and weighs the historical issues and poses possible solutions. The documentary hypothesis, the former reigning critical consensus, is now widely rumored to be on life support with no heir apparent. Meanwhile, conservative scholars reconsider what indeed a claim to Mosaic authorship should entail. This dictionary offers an assessment of the array of questions surrounding these issues and considers some possible ways forward for evangelical scholarship. At the same time, there has been a fruitful turning to the nature, message and art of the received text of the Pentateuch. Literary studies of brief episodes, sprawling sagas, complex narrative and even the fivefold composition of the Pentateuch itself have delivered promising and exciting results. This dictionary offers both appreciative panoramas and close-up assessments of these developments and their methods. TheDictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch is the first in a four-volume series covering the text of the Old Testament. Following in the tradition of the four award-winning IVP dictionaries focused on the New Testament and its background, this encyclopedic work is characterized by close attention to the text of the Old Testament and the ongoing conversation of contemporary scholarship. In exploring the major themes and issues of the Pentateuch, editors T. Desmond Alexander and David W.Baker, with an international and expert group of scholars, inform and challenge through authoritative overviews, detailed examinations and new insights from the world of the ancient Near East. TheDictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch is designed to be your first stop in the study and research of the Pentateuch, on which the rest of the Bible is built.

This work gives a philosophical and theological account of the belief that Scripture enables people to encounter the life-giving reality of God. The authors examine the biblical foundations for this belief as given in a variety of witnesses from both Testaments and explain the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Christian exegesis. The book sums up and makes accessible the teaching of revered senior scholar and teacher Francis Martin and is aimed squarely at students, assuming no advanced training in philosophy or theology. It includes a foreword by Robert Sokolowski.

Exodus, Cole says, is "the centre of the Old Testament." It recounts the supreme Old Testament example of the saving acts of God, narrates the instituting of Passover and enshrines the giving of God's law. It portrays Moses, the prototype of all Israel's prophets, and Aaron, the first high priest. The book of Exodus is especially important to Christians because Christ fulfilled its great themes: He accomplished God's greatest act of deliverance. He became the passover lamb. He sealed a new covenant with his blood. "No book therefore will more repay careful study, if we wish to understand the central message of the New Testament, than this book." The original, unrevised text of this volume has been completely retypeset and printed in a larger, more attractive format with the new cover design for the series.

In this addition to the successful Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS) series, two esteemed scholars interpret Galatians from within the living tradition of the Church. The CCSS relates Scripture to Christian life today, is faithfully Catholic, and is supplemented by features designed to help pastoral ministers, lay readers, and students understand the Bible more deeply and use it more effectively. Its attractive packaging and accessible writing style make it a series to own--and to read!