Presuming that the heart of Paul's gospel announcement was the news that God had raised Jesus from the dead (as indicated in 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10), Pillar explores the evidence in Paul's letter and in aspects of the Roman imperial culture in Thessalonica in order to imagine what that proclamation would have evoked for its first hearers. He argues that the gospel of resurrection would have been heard as fundamentally anti-imperial: Jesus of Nazareth was executed by means of the epitome of imperial power. The resurrection thus subverts and usurps the empire's immense power. The argument is...

What is the connection between Christian doctrine and concrete social action? This question marks the often unarticulated divide between systematic theology and liberation theology, each often emphasizing one primarily or formally over the other. Examining the work of Karl Barth, T. F. Torrance, and Jon Sobrino, here Nathan Hieb contests this bifurcation, specifically around the nodal points of the crucifixion, or the doctrine of atonement, and the context of suffering. This book is an innovative study that bridges the boundaries of method, doctrine, and praxis, creating a strong theological...

Conley calls into question the outdated historical methodologies in use in Christian social ethics and outlines the consequences stemming from them. By adopting the postmodern post-structuralist position of historian Elizabeth Clark, Conley calls ethicists to learn to read for the gaps, silences, and aporias existent in historical texts as well as in the histories represented by them.The book calls ethicists to a critical self-reflexive historiography. This self-criticism allows the ability to construct new histories and formulate new ethical norms for the world in which we now live. This...

James C Scott's discussion of hidden transcripts of defiance or resistance among subordinate groups has been taken up in suggestive ways by scholars who claim to detect elements of defiant transcripts in or behind Paul's letters. This book uses Scott's theory to explain tensions within the narrative of the Gospel of Luke.

Moving beyond discussions of patriarchy and prescribed women's roles in the Roman world, this title explores what inscriptional data from Asia Minor can tell us about the actual socioeconomic status of women in the first and second centuries C E.

Argues that cosmology is a central focus in John's Apocalypse, but not in the sense that John envisions a stable cosmos. Rather, John employs cosmological themes for persuasive purposes that include a critique of Roman imperial cultic discourse.

Exposits John Howard Yoder's account of peoplehood and develops an appreciative revision of it that considers carefully and exegetically the politics of Jesus in relation to the people of Israel.

The modern and contemporary legacy of Luther's theology is a vital topic of continuing investigation, assessment, and construction. The author offers a constructive retrieval of Luther's theology of the cross for the purpose of establishing a contemporary Lutheran and emerging account of the cross, silence, and eschatology.

The conception of powers and principalities in Paul's thought and that of his successors has been amply explored - but how was this conception expressed? The author traces the distinct function of power-practices in each of Paul's letters and draws comparisons with traditional African religious practices.

If Basil of Caesarea receives mention in a standard course of lectures on Christian theology or history it is as the first person to write a dedicated discourse on the Holy Spirit. The author argues that Basil did regard the Holy Spirit as fully divine and an equal Person of the Holy Trinity.