Christian-Jewish relations have had changing fortunes throughout the centuries. Occasionally there has been peace and even mutual understanding, but usually these relations have been ones of tension, often involving recrimination and even violence. This volume addresses a number of the major questions that have been at the heart and the periphery of these tenuous relations through the years. The volume begins with a number of papers discussing relations as Christianity emerged from and defined itself in terms of Judaism. Other papers trace the relations through the intervening years. And a...

The first part of this volume includes a summary of this important area of study in both Septuagintal and New Testament Greek, and a review of these issues in the context of linguistic research generally. A second part includes contributions on aspects of research into the Greek of both Testaments, featuring both new areas of research, such as critical discourse analysis, and more traditional issues such as the nature of the Septuagint translation.

This book is a study of the parables unique to the Third Gospel, aiming in particular to establish a link between Luke's choice of these parables and his overall purpose in writing. In comparison to the synoptic kingdom parables, one distinguishing feature of the Lukan parables is their more personal portrait of the character and the nature of God himself. Luke's desire is to demonstrate to his readers, whoever they are, that in Christianity the realization of the Jewish hope has occurred. The parables promote this idea by offering both continuity (OT) and contrast (contemporary Judaism)...

Green argues that the Beatitudes in Matthew's version are a carefully constructed poem, exhibiting a number of the characteristics of Hebrew poetry as we know it from the Old Testament; but as certain of these, such as rhyme and alliteration, cannot survive translation, what we have here is an original composition in Greek. This is shown to be no isolated phenomenon in the gospel; a series of texts found at specially significant points in it disclose similar characteristics. The findings cut across conventional source attributions and reveal the creative hand of the evangelist. By studying...

Luke's interest in the Holy Spirit is well-known, so when instead of having Jesus say, ' If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God...', as Matthew has it, he writes, 'If I by the finger of God..', Luke poses a question that has puzzled many commentators since. Woods argues that in fact the phrase 'finger of God' holds the key to understanding the role of the Spirit in Luke-Acts. Taking into account the background to the phrase, Luke's larger theological interests within the Beelzebub section itself, the Travel Narrative, and the programme of Luke-Acts as a whole, he offers a new solution...

This book deals with the place of the source document Q and its compilers within late Second Temple Judaism, with special attention to Q's relationship to the Herodian Temple. The investigation of this perspective is fraught with problems because the passages that are associated with the Temple in Q do not speak with the same voice, raising the question of how to reconcile the seemingly positive view with the rather more hostile views. Using a comparative approach, Han analyses the essential differences in the two types of positions, and concludes that the negative attitude is original,...

Johnson's study of Hebrews is unusual in adopting a social-scientific analysis. By examining the implicit sociological data in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and locating the implied society within the context of the larger Graeco-Roman world, he concludes that the author of Hebrews advocates an ideal society that is both more open to outsiders and more willing to assimilate fully new members than was first-century ce hellenistic Judaism. According to the group/grid paradigm developed by Mary Douglas, the implied society can be categorized as +weak' group/'weak' grid, in contrast to +strong'...

This historical-critical study of the Gospel of John and the First Epistle of John challenges the commonly held view that the first Johannine epistle is related to the Gospel. Sproston argues that the two writings are indirectly related through a common Johannine tradition. A comparison of the two therefore allows traditional material in the evangelist's work to be isolated, enhancing our understanding of the creative processes involved in its composition. The account of the raising of Lazarus is rigorously analysed as a test case for this kind of analysis.