In the Gospel of John, the character of Jesus repeatedly comes into conflict with a group pejoratively designated as 'the Jews'. In chapter 8 of the Gospel this conflict could be said to reach a head, with Jesus labeling the Jews as children 'of the devil' (8:44) - a verse often cited as epitomizing early Christian anti-Judaism.

Using methods derived from modern and post-modern literary criticism Ruth Sheridan examines textual allusions to the biblical figures of Cain and Abraham in John 8:1-59. She pays particular attention to how these allusions give shape to the Gospel's alleged...

The act of martyrdom in the worldview of the Apocalypse has been considered to be an exemplification of non-violent resistance. Paul Middleton argues here, however, that it is in fact a representation of direct participation by Christians, through their martyrdom, in divine violence against those the author of Revelation portrays as God's enemies. Middleton shows that acceptance of martyrdom is to grasp the invitation to participate in the Revelation's divine violence. Martyrs follow the model laid down by the Lamb, who was not only slain, but resurrected, glorified, and who executes...

John Barton and Peter Groves present a range of chapters by leading scholarly voices from the worlds of biblical studies and the Church, looking at the study of the New Testament within and around the Church and the impact it has had and can have on Christian theology.

The essays in the volume adopt a style of critical engagement with biblical texts, through the prism of a modern and living Church. The focus of the volume is thus not only upon the New Testament itself, but upon how reading the New Testament is important for dialogue within the Church and within Christian...

Having established the context of mockery and shame in Ancient Mediterranean cultures, Dietmar Neufeld shows how Mark presented Jesus as a person with a sense of honour and with a sense of shame, willing to accept the danger of being visible and the mockery it attracted. Neufeld also considers the social functions of ridicule/mockery more broadly as strategies of social sanction, leading to a better understanding of how social, religious, and political practices and discourse variously succeeded or failed in Mark.

Finally, Neufeld investigates the author of Mark's preoccupation with...

Text, Context and the Johannine Community adopts a new approach to the social context of the Johannine writings by drawing on modern sociolinguistic theory. Sociolinguistics emphasizes language as a social phenomenon, which can be analysed with reference not only to its broad context of culture, but also, through the use of register analysis, to its narrower context of situation.

The Johannine writings have increasingly been seen as the product of a distinct Johannine Community, depicted by some scholars as a sectarian group, opposed both to wider Jewish society and to other...

Revelation studies have been typically characterised by two very different types of study emanating from academia and the church. Academia has been engaged in historical critical and source critical studies which typically dissect the text. Whilst the methods used in the church treat Revelation as scripture and keep the text intact, these approaches often lack the tools for sound interpretation. Toniste observes the need for a more holistic and thoughtful methodology to study Revelation.

Toniste develops an approach that respects Revelation as a part of Christian scripture composed...

The four Gospels unanimously present Jesus as someone who quoted from, commented on, and engaged with the Scriptures of Israel. Whether this portrayal goes back to the historical Jesus has been a hotly debated issue among scholars. In this book, eleven expert researchers from four different continents tackle the question anew. This is done through detailed study of specific themes and passages from the Scriptures which Jesus, according to the Gospels, quoted or alluded to.

Among the various topics investigated are Jesus' use of Genesis 2 to bolster his teaching on divorce, his...

The contributors to this volume (J.D. Punch, Jennifer Knust, Tommy Wasserman, Chris Keith, Maurice Robinson, and Larry Hurtado) re-examine the Pericope Adulterae (John 7.53-8.11) asking afresh the question of the paragraph's authenticity. Each contributor not only presents the reader with arguments for or against the pericope's authenticity but also with viable theories on how and why the earliest extant manuscripts omit the passage.

Readers are encouraged to evaluate manuscript witnesses, scribal tendencies, patristic witnesses, and internal evidence to assess the...

This study seeks to make a contribution to current debates about the nature of Wirkungsgeschichte or reception history and its place in contemporary Biblical Studies. The author addresses three crucial questions: the relationship between reception history and historical-critical exegesis; the form of reception history itself, with a focus on the issue of which acts of reception are selected and valorized; and the role of tradition, pre-judgements and theology in relation to reception history. Disagreements about these matters contribute to what many characterise as the fragmentation...