Understanding the New Testament is a daunting but exciting task. Our world is so different from that of the first century. The dress, travel, vocation, and custom of biblical characters are all foreig...[More]

Understanding the New Testament is a daunting but exciting task. Our world is so different from that of the first century. The dress, travel, vocation, and custom of biblical characters are all foreign to us. Yet it is important to understand the context and content of the New Testament if we are to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ. A Popular Survey of the New Testament is designed to help ordinary people enrich their understanding of New Testament people and events.

It addresses many questions that readers of the Bible may have, such as:

• Who wrote the books of the New Testament and to whom were they writing?

• When were these books written and why?

• How can a warning about first-century Gnostics help Christians today?

• What can today's believers get out of a letter about a slave returning to his master?

• How can we tell if what is written in the New Testament is true history or just mythology?

Illustrated throughout with color photos, charts, and maps, and written in an easy, informal style, this survey of the New Testament is accessible and enjoyable to Christians of all backgrounds.[Less]

Ben Witherington III attempts to reenchant our reading of Paul in this creative reconstruction of ancient Corinth. Following a fictitious Corinthian man named Nicanor through an eventful week of busin...[More]

Ben Witherington III attempts to reenchant our reading of Paul in this creative reconstruction of ancient Corinth. Following a fictitious Corinthian man named Nicanor through an eventful week of business dealings and conflict, you will encounter life at various levels of Roman society--eventually meeting Paul himself and gaining entrance into the Christian community there. The result is an unforgettable introduction to life in a major center of the New Testament world. Numerous full-page text boxes expand on a variety of aspects of life and culture as we encounter them in the narrative.

"This very readable--indeed, gripping--book gives us an imaginative insight into the Greco-Roman world of Paul's mission to Corinth. The details of everyday life for Paul and those he met are set in their historical context by an expert scholar who knows the New Testament and its background very well. I recommend it to all who want to understand the setting in which early Christianity grew and flourished." —Alanna Nobbs, professor of ancient history, Macquarie University

- Uses historical fiction to introduce the social and cultural world of Corinth
- Includes close-up looks at important features of social and cultural life of Corinth
- Gives a sense of what early Christian life and worship was like
- Makes the social world of Paul’s Corinth come alive
- Supplements or replaces customary textbooks on Paul's social and cultural world
- Written by an authority on Paul and the New Testament world[Less]

Christianity Today Book Awards 2005. The "curse of Ham" has been used to legitimize slavery. Both Ethiopians and Arabians claim the queen of Sheba. Could Moses and Jesus have been black?...[More]

Christianity Today Book Awards 2005. The "curse of Ham" has been used to legitimize slavery. Both Ethiopians and Arabians claim the queen of Sheba. Could Moses and Jesus have been black? Edwin Yamauchi explores the historical and archaeological background of biblical texts that refer to Africa and traces the results of past interpretations and misinterpretations. He covers such topics as the curse of Ham's son Canaan, Moses' Cushite wife, Simon the Cyrene, and afrocentric biblical interpretation. Along the way, he dispels myths, interacts with current theories, and provides readers with sound judgments as to what the Bible does and does not say. Readers interested in the connections between Africa and the Bible will enjoy this insightful book. More then eighty photos, maps, and charts are included. (Publisher)[Less]

Widely used as a textbook since its publication in 1987, this work provides an analytical and systematic introduction to the Roman, Greek and Jewish political, social, literary, and religious backgrou...[More]

Widely used as a textbook since its publication in 1987, this work provides an analytical and systematic introduction to the Roman, Greek and Jewish political, social, literary, and religious backgrounds necessary for a historical understanding of the New Testament in the early church. New to this expanded third edition are substantial revisions of Everett Ferguson's original material, an updated bibliography, and fresh discussions of social life in the first-century, of Gnosticism, and of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other Jewish literature.[Less]

According to the authors, the doctrine of inerrancy has been standard, accepted teaching for more than 1,000 years. In 1978, the famous "Chicago Statement" on inerrancy was adopted by the Evangelical ...[More]

According to the authors, the doctrine of inerrancy has been standard, accepted teaching for more than 1,000 years. In 1978, the famous "Chicago Statement" on inerrancy was adopted by the Evangelical Theological Society, and for decades it has been the accepted conservative evangelical doctrine of the Scriptures. However, in recent years, some prominent evangelical authors have challenged this statement in their writings.

Now eminent apologist and bestselling author Norman L. Geisler, who was one of the original drafters of the "Chicago Statement," and his coauthor, William C. Roach, present a defense of the traditional understanding of inerrancy for a new generation of Christians who are being assaulted with challenges to the nature of God, truth, and language. Pastors, students, and armchair theologians will appreciate this clear, reasoned response to the current crisis.[Less]

No one familiar with the Bible needs to be told that it is a truly remarkable work. But it takes help to understand this ancient collection of diverse forms of literature written by different people a...[More]

No one familiar with the Bible needs to be told that it is a truly remarkable work. But it takes help to understand this ancient collection of diverse forms of literature written by different people across many centuries. The "Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible" is the finest, most up-to-date single-volume Bible handbook now available.

James D. G. Dunn and John Rogerson presents in nontechnical language the best of modern scholarship on each of the sixty-six canonical books of the Bible plus the eighteen apocryphal works.[Less]

Reclaiming The Apostolic Witness (Beeson Divinity Studies) The Nicene Creed is the most universally accepted statement of Christian faith by Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox believers alike. ...[More]

Reclaiming The Apostolic Witness (Beeson Divinity Studies) The Nicene Creed is the most universally accepted statement of Christian faith by Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox believers alike. In this volume, top scholars examine the Nicene Creed's connection with the evangelical tradition, presenting evangelicalism as a renewal movement within the one holy catholic and apostolic church. Particular focus is given to the Creed's practical outworking in the life of the church--its theology, spirituality, worship, and mission. Topics include pastoral work, biblical exegesis, the emerging phenomena, and Christian orthodoxy's revival in the Global South. "Evangelicals and Nicene Faith" will be useful for students of theology, church history, and spirituality. It will also appeal to pastors, church leaders, scholars, and all who wish to present the traditional Christian faith to twenty-first-century people.

Contributors include Thomas C. Oden, Gerald Bray, Carl E. Braaten, Curtis W. Freeman, Elizabeth Newman, and Ralph C. Wood, among others.[Less]

The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" How should a Christian interpret this passage? What implications does the cross have for the trinitari...[More]

The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters. "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" How should a Christian interpret this passage? What implications does the cross have for the trinitarian theology? Did the Father kill the Son?

Theologian Thomas McCall presents a trinitarian reading of Christ's darkest moment--the moment of his prayer to his heavenly Father from the cross. McCall revisits the biblical texts and surveys the various interpretations of Jesus’ cry, ranging from early church theologians to the Reformation to contemporary theologians. Along the way, he explains the terms of the scholarly debate and clearly marks out what he believes to be the historically orthodox point of view. By approaching the Son's cry to the Father as an event in the life of the Triune God, Forsaken seeks to recover the true poignancy of the orthodox perspective on the cross.

- Confronts hard questions for trinitarian theology: Did God forsake Jesus? Did the Father turn his back upon the Son in rage? Was the Trinity ruptured on that day?
- Surveys interpretations from the early church to the Reformation to today
- Help readers sort out the options by revisiting the biblical texts and pursuing a theologically faithful understanding
- Explains technical terms for non-specialists

Introduction
1. Was the Trinity Broken? The Father, the Son and Their Cross
2. Did the Death of Jesus Make It Possible for God to Love Me? Righteous Wrath, Holy Love and the Heart of the Triune God
3. Was the Death of Jesus a Meaningless Tragedy? Foreknowledge, Fulfillment and the Plan of the Triune God
4. Does It Make a Difference? The Brokenness of Humanity and the Unbroken Work of the Triune God
Conclusion: A Personal Theological Testimony
Name Index
Scripture Index[Less]

How God's Grace Makes Us Just. Author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Reason for God" and nationally renowned pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Timothy Keller with his most provoca...[More]

How God's Grace Makes Us Just. Author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Reason for God" and nationally renowned pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Timothy Keller with his most provocative and illuminating message yet.

It is commonly thought in secular society that the Bible is one of the greatest hindrances to doing justice. Isn't it full of regressive views? Didn't it condone slavery? Why look to the Bible for guidance on how to have a more just society? But Timothy Keller sees it another way. In "Generous Justice," Keller explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace: a generous, gracious justice. Here is a book for believers who find the Bible a trustworthy guide as well as those who suspect that Christianity is a regressive influence in the world.

For those who have truly experienced grace, pursuing justice for the weak and abused will naturally go hand in hand with preaching the Gospel. Social justice efforts should not be dismissed as merely the domain of overzealous liberals.

Keller's church, founded in the eighties with fewer than one hundred congregants, is now exponentially larger. More than five thousand people regularly attend Sunday services, and another twenty-five thousand download Keller's sermons each week. A recent profile in "New York" magazine described his typical sermon as "a mix of biblical scholarship, pop culture, and whatever might have caught his eye in The New York Review of Books or on Salon.com that week." In short, Timothy Keller speaks a language that many thousands of people yearn to comprehend. In "Generous Justice," he offers them a new understanding of modern justice and human rights.[Less]

How God's Grace Makes Us Just. Author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Reason for God" and nationally renowned pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Timothy Keller with his most provoca...[More]

How God's Grace Makes Us Just. Author of the "New York Times" bestseller "The Reason for God" and nationally renowned pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church Timothy Keller with his most provocative and illuminating message yet.

It is commonly thought in secular society that the Bible is one of the greatest hindrances to doing justice. Isn't it full of regressive views? Didn't it condone slavery? Why look to the Bible for guidance on how to have a more just society? But Timothy Keller sees it another way. In "Generous Justice," Keller explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace: a generous, gracious justice. Here is a book for believers who find the Bible a trustworthy guide as well as those who suspect that Christianity is a regressive influence in the world.

For those who have truly experienced grace, pursuing justice for the weak and abused will naturally go hand in hand with preaching the Gospel. Social justice efforts should not be dismissed as merely the domain of overzealous liberals.

Keller's church, founded in the eighties with fewer than one hundred congregants, is now exponentially larger. More than five thousand people regularly attend Sunday services, and another twenty-five thousand download Keller's sermons each week. A recent profile in "New York" magazine described his typical sermon as "a mix of biblical scholarship, pop culture, and whatever might have caught his eye in The New York Review of Books or on Salon.com that week." In short, Timothy Keller speaks a language that many thousands of people yearn to comprehend. In "Generous Justice," he offers them a new understanding of modern justice and human rights.[Less]

Recapturing God's Global Vision For Women. Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a ...[More]

Recapturing God's Global Vision For Women. Women comprise at least half the world, and usually more than half the church, but so often Christian teaching to women either fails to move beyond a discussion of roles or assumes a particular economic situation or stage of life. This all but shuts women out from contributing to God’s kingdom as they were designed to do. Furthermore, the plight of women in the Majority World demands a Christian response, a holistic embrace of all that God calls women and men to be in his world.

The loudest voices speaking into women’s lives in the twenty-first century thus far come from either fundamentalist Islam or radical feminism. And neither can be allowed to carry the day.

The Bible contains the highest possible view of women and invests women’s lives with cosmic significance regardless of their age, stage of life, social status, or culture. Carolyn Custis James unpacks three transformative themes the Bible presents to women that raise the bar for women and calls them to join their brothers in advancing God’s gracious kingdom on earth. These new images of what can be in Christ free women to embrace the life God gives them, no matter what happens. Carolyn encourages readers with a positive, kingdom approach to the changes, challenges, and opportunities facing women throughout the world today.[Less]

The pivotal values of the ancient world were honor and shame--the worth one had in the eyes of one's neighbor. Here, Jerome Neyrey clarifies what praise and blame meant to Matthew and his audience. He...[More]

The pivotal values of the ancient world were honor and shame--the worth one had in the eyes of one's neighbor. Here, Jerome Neyrey clarifies what praise and blame meant to Matthew and his audience. He examines the traditional literary forms for bestowing honor and praise and the conventional grounds for awarding them in Matthew's world.[Less]

Unlocking New Testament Culture. Contemporary Western readers may find it surprising that honor and shame, patronage and reciprocity, kinship and family, and purity and pollution offer us keys ...[More]

Unlocking New Testament Culture. Contemporary Western readers may find it surprising that honor and shame, patronage and reciprocity, kinship and family, and purity and pollution offer us keys to interpreting the New Testament. But as recent scholarship has proposed and as David deSilva demonstrates, paying attention to these cultural themes opens our eyes and ears to new discoveries and deeper understanding. Through our understanding of honor and shame in the Mediterranean world, we gain new appreciation of the way in which the personhood of early Christians connected with group values. By examining the protocols of patronage and reciprocity, we more firmly grasp the meaning of God's grace--and our response has fresh meaning. In exploring the ethos of kinship and household relations, we enlarge our perspective on the early Christian communities that met in houses and functioned as a new family or "household" of God. And by investigating the notions of purity and pollution along with their associated practices, we come to realize how the ancient "map" of society and the world was revised by the power of the gospel. DeSilva's work will reward you with a deeper appreciation of the New Testament, the gospel and Christian discipleship. More than that, it will also inform your participation in contemporary Christian community.[Less]

The Forgotten Story Of The Gospels. New Testament scholar N.T. Wright reveals how we have been misreading the Gospels for centuries, powerfully restoring the lost central story of the Scripture...[More]

The Forgotten Story Of The Gospels. New Testament scholar N.T. Wright reveals how we have been misreading the Gospels for centuries, powerfully restoring the lost central story of the Scripture: that the coronation of God through the acts of Jesus was the climax of human history. Wright fills the gaps that centuries of misdirection have opened up in our collective spiritual story, tracing a narrative from Eden, to Jesus, to today.

Wright’s powerful re-reading of the Gospels helps us re-align the focus of our spiritual beliefs, which have for too long been focused on the afterlife. Instead, the forgotten story of the Gospels reveals why we should understand that our real charge is to sustain and cooperate with God's kingdom here and now. Echoing the triumphs of "Simply Christian" and "The Meaning of Jesus," Wright’s "How God Became King" is required reading for any Christian searching to understand their mission in the world today.[Less]

The Origins and Effects of Replacement Theology. Modern Israel and its relations with its Arab neighbors has been conspicuously in the daily news ever since World War II. Until that time, the c...[More]

The Origins and Effects of Replacement Theology. Modern Israel and its relations with its Arab neighbors has been conspicuously in the daily news ever since World War II. Until that time, the concept of Israel and a continuing Jewish people had been hovering in the distant background of Christian thought and doctrine since the post-apostolic era. In this important work, Dr. Diprose demonstrates the uniqueness of Israel and its special place in the divine plan.

By carefully reviewing relevant New Testament and post-apostolic writings, the author traces the origin and development of Replacement Theology—the concept that the Church has completely and permanently replaced ethnic Israel in the outworking of God's plan throughout history—challenging its origin and role in the development of Christian thought on the future of ethnic Israel.[Less]

Cultural Studies in the Gospels Ken Bailey presents a collection of essays on the Gospels. You will gain new insights as you view the Gospel stories through the lens of Middle Eastern peasant c...[More]

Cultural Studies in the Gospels Ken Bailey presents a collection of essays on the Gospels. You will gain new insights as you view the Gospel stories through the lens of Middle Eastern peasant culture.[Less]

Christian Origins and the Question of God N.T. Wright brilliantly surveys the field of Jesus scholarship in the twentieth-century, presenting Jesus firmly within the political and social settin...[More]

Christian Origins and the Question of God N.T. Wright brilliantly surveys the field of Jesus scholarship in the twentieth-century, presenting Jesus firmly within the political and social setting of the first-century--as a Jewish apocalyptic prophet. A major scholarly contribution to the current "quest" for the historical Jesus.[Less]

Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? N.T. Wright, a renowned historian, biblical scholar, and bishop, offers a Christian response to the discovery (and the sensation surrounding that di...[More]

Have We Missed the Truth about Christianity? N.T. Wright, a renowned historian, biblical scholar, and bishop, offers a Christian response to the discovery (and the sensation surrounding that discovery) of the Gospel of Judas.[Less]

God's Plan & Paul's Vision N. T. Wright offers a comprehensive account and defense of his perspective on the crucial doctrine of justification. Along the way Wright responds to critics, such as...[More]

God's Plan & Paul's Vision N. T. Wright offers a comprehensive account and defense of his perspective on the crucial doctrine of justification. Along the way Wright responds to critics, such as John Piper, who have challenged what has come to be called the New Perspective. Ultimately, he provides a chance for those in the middle of, and on both sides of the debate, to interact directly with his views and form their own conclusions.[Less]