This book contains a collection of twenty of David E. Aune's essays on the subjects of apocalypticism, the Apocalypse of John, early Christian prophecy and early Christian magic. Several essays on the Apocalypse of John explore contextual relationships of the Apocalypse to apocalyptic literature from Qumran, Palestinian Jewish apocalyptic, Roman imperial court ceremonial, Greco-Roman revelatory magic and the social setting of the book. Other essays center on aspects of the content and interpretation of the Apocalypse itself by investigating such issues as discipleship, narrative Christology,...

Richard Bell examines the impact of Paul's life changing experience before Damascus on his theological understanding of Israel. The book considers the development of Paul's view concerning the election and salvation of Israel, paying special attention to 1 Thessalonians, Galatians and Romans. The author examines Paul's critique of Israel's religion in the light of traditional protestant approaches and the 'new perspective'. The work concludes by considering some contemporary issues relating to Israel in the light of Paul's theology.

The Gospel of John is well-known for its wealth and depth of figurative language, metaphors and symbols. These articles, written by some of the leading scholars in Johannine exegesis and particularly in the debate on Johannine imagery, utilize a broad variety of methods of interpretation. The authors provide an in-depth discussion of the variety of terms and forms of figurative speech and explore the conceptual and traditio-historical background of central motifs. Some of the most prominent Johannine images (lamb, king, bread, shepherd, vine, eating and drinking and others) are discussed with...

Much has been written about the life of Jesus in works that often claim to be historical and to employ historical methods. Yet only sometimes are the methods and the presuppositions involved made explicit. However, it has also been claimed more recently that a decisive change in our view of the nature of historical knowledge and methods has taken place, in that the 'modern' has given way to the 'postmodern'. After a survey of a number of books on Jesus that have raised the question of how his life should be studied historically, Alexander J. M. Wedderburn starts by looking at such claims,...

The New Testament idea of deliverance from the power of Satan has posed special problems and even acute embarrassment for interpreters since the Enlightenment. Often the Gospel exorcisms are rationalized or a demythologizing agenda is pursued which divorces redemption from the world in which we live.Richard H. Bell stresses that if the deliverance from Satan is understood within an appropriate understanding of myth, then it can lead not only to an enrichment of New Testament Theology but also to a deeper understanding of the world in which we find ourselves. A theory of myth is developed...

Although Simon Peter was evidently a central figure in both the ministry of Jesus and the mission of the earliest church, his life and thought are shrouded in historical uncertainty. Markus Bockmuehl approaches this problem through focused studies of Peter's highly diverse profile and reception in subsequent Christian sources from Rome and Syria. In Part I of this book, Bockmuehl documents the persistent presence of Peter in personal and collective memory - a phenomenon that usefully illustrates his importance as a centrist figure in the early church. The author goes on to examine the...

How do the truth claims of the gospel of Christ square with the biblical testimony to God's abiding election of the Jewish people? In Romans 9-11, the apostle Paul reflects deeply on this fundamental theological question. The interpretation of these chapters has long been contested, however. The present volume assesses the current state of research and opens up fresh lines of inquiry, taking into account insights generated both by the New Perspective on Paul and by ongoing Jewish-Christian dialogue. Twenty-six essays in English and German - representing the fields of Biblical Studies, Judaic...

Andrew Chester focuses on Jewish messianic hope, intermediary figures, and visionary traditions of human transformation, particularly in the Second Temple period, and analyzes their significance for the origin and development of New Testament Christology. He brings together five previously published essays on these themes: these include two long chapters, one on Jewish messianic and mediatorial traditions in relation to Pauline Christology, the other on messianism and eschatology in early Judaism and Christianity, plus one on messiah and Temple in Sibylline Oracles 3-5. Two further essays, on...

The collection of essays highlights a dimension of Paul's theology of justification which has been rather neglected in earlier decades: that his teaching emerged as an integral part of his understanding of his commission to preach the gospel to non-Jews; and that his dismissal of justification 'by works of the law' was directed not so much against Jewish 'legalism' but rather against his fellow Jews' assumption that the law remained a dividing wall separating Christian Jews from Christian Gentiles. The long opening essay interacts with critiques of this 'new perspective on Paul' and seeks to...