The purpose of this book is to illustrate that reading is a subjective process which results in multivalent interpretations. This is the case whether one looks at a text in its historical contexts (the diachronic approach) or its literary contexts (the synchronic approach). Three representative texts are chosen from the Law (Genesis 2-3), the Writings (Isaiah 23) and the Prophets (Amos 5), and each is read first by way of historical analysis and then by literary analysis. Each text provides a number of variant interpretations and raises the question--is any one interpretation superior?...

Bolin analyses biblical and extra-biblical traditions and motifs in the book of Jonah, and argues that the book's portrayal of the relationship between God and humanity, much like those of Job and Ecclesiastes, emphasizes an absolute divine sovereignty beyond human notions of mercy, justice, or forgiveness. God is understood as free to forgive, yet he still punishes, and is unfettered by the constraints imposed by attributes of benevolence. The only proper human response to God is fear at his power and acknowledgment of him as the source of welfare and woe.

In this volume of essays the Graeco-Roman background and context of early Christianity are explored for significant parallels. From the athlete metaphor in 1 Corinthians 9 to the role of Aphrodite as the goddess of love and sexuality, the important cultural symbols and terminology that the first Christians employed are examined. Garrison maintains that the Graeco-Roman setting of early Christianity is essential to our understanding of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers.

This challenging volume offers a timely and extensive overview of the current state of archaeology in Israel. Contributed by leading scholars, the essays focus on current problems and cutting-edge issues, ranging from reviews of ongoing excavations to new analytical approaches. Of interest not only to archaeologists, but to social historians as well, the topics include archaeology and social history, archaeology and ethnicity, as well as the overarching issue of how texts and archaeological knowledge are to be combined in the reconstruction of ancient Israel.

Isaiah 59 portrays a deity in armour warring against rebellious human foes. In this historical investigation, Yoder Neufeld maps the transformation of an ancient tradition into a creative new reading in which God's people put on God's armour and go to battle against God's heavenly foes, as in Ephesians 6. The Pauline recasting of the Isaianic motif, argues the author, is a bracing one.

This is the first full-scale assessment of the theological, social and ideational implications of our new understandings of ancient Israel's social and religious development. Scholars now stress the gradual emergence of Israel out of the culture of ancient Palestine and the surrounding ancient Near East rather than contrast Israel with the ancient world. Our new paradigms stress the ongoing and unfinished nature of the monotheistic 'revolution', which is indeed still in process today. Gnuse takes a further bold step in setting the emergence of monotheism in a wider intellectual context: he...

Pickett explores how Paul appealed to the death of Jesus in the Corinthian correspondence in order to promote a community ethos and ethic consistent with the ideals and values it symbolized. In so doing, Paul was responding to interpersonal conflicts within the community and criticisms of his ministry-criticisms he saw as founded on Graeco-Roman cultural values of the cultivated elite. His consistent emphasis on the weakness of the cross served to critique social expressions of power in Corinth. More constructively, Paul attempted to secure conduct befitting the gospel by invoking the...

This two-part commentary argues that Chronicles, placed as it is among the 'historical books' in the traditional Old Testament of the Christian church, is much misunderstood. Restored to its proper position as the final book in the canon as arranged in the order of the Hebrew Bible, it is rather to be understood as a work of theology essentially directed towards the future. The Chronicler begins his work with the problem facing the whole human race in Adam-the forfeiture of the ideal of perfect oneness with God's purpose. He explores the possibility of the restoration of that ideal through...

Matthew's Gospel is a witness to conflicting interests. The leaders of Israel are part of the so-called 'retainer class', who pursue their own interests by promoting the interests of the Roman rulers. Jesus (and the Matthaean community), on the contrary, acts on behalf of the marginalized in society. Jesus challenges the underlying values of the leaders who, contrary to what is expected, do not forgive and act mercifully. The leaders try to resolve the conflict negatively by labelling Jesus as possessed by the devil. At the same time, the conflict spirals onward: the Matthaean community is...