A Preface to Mark is a literary study which, from the standpoint of the newer critical methodologies, explores two questions. First, Bryan attempts to determine what kind of text Mark would have been seen to be, both by its author and by others who encountered it near the time of its writing. He examines whether Mark should be seen as an example of any particular literary type, and if so which. He concludes that a comparison of Mark with other texts of the period leads inevitably to the conclusion that Mark's contemporaries would broadly have characterized...

Bryan approaches St. Paul's letter to the Romans with a number of aims in view. First, he wants to show which literary type or genre would have been seen by Paul's contemporaries as being exemplified in the letter. He also attempts to determine what we can surmise of Paul's attitude and approach to the Jewish bible. The study involves discussion of and comparison with other literature from Paul's time, place and milieu --- including other writings attributed to Paul.

At the end of the 20th century, "postcolonialism" described the effort to understand the experience of those who had lived under colonial rule. This kind of thinking has inevitably brought about a reexamination of the rise of Christianity, which took place under Roman colonial rule. How did Rome look from the viewpoint of an ordinary Galilean in the first century of the Christian era? What should this mean for our own understanding of and relationship to Jesus of Nazareth? In the past, Jesus was often "depoliticized," treated as a religious teacher imparting timeless truths for all people....

His reflections on some of the ways we might answer these questions in the church today became the twelve short chapters of this book. Here scripture scholar and Anglican priest Christopher Bryan looks at the nature of the Bible's authority and inspiration and how the Bible can inform our decision-making today. He explores common questions about scripture, such as: What do we mean when we say that the scriptures are revelatory, that they are inspired, that they are the Word of God? How do we define the Bible's authority for the past and the future? What does a church that takes the Bible's...

In The Resurrection of the Messiah, Christopher Bryan combines literary, historical, and theological approaches in a study of the doctrine of the Resurrection. The book is divided into three parts. The first section provides a careful and sympathetic description of first-century Jewish and pagan opinions and beliefs about death and what might follow. This is followed by a presentation of a general account of early Christian claims about the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

The second part of the book offers a detailed, full-length commentary on and exegesis of the...

When an intruder dies mysteriously in Exeter Cathedral, Detective Inspector Cecilia Cavaliere's investigation becomes anything but routine. Thwarted by her superiors, she finds an unlikely source of help in a family friend: but can a law enforcer believe a priest's stories about an evil she cannot see? Meanwhile, half a world away, a quiet astronomer makes a discovery of his own--his telescope reveals nothing less than the impending destruction of the planet. Christopher Bryan's sharp thriller takes the reader deep into a supernatural world where something dark and sinister has been...

The disengagement of recent academic biblical study from church and synagogue has been widely noted, even by those within the discipline. In Listening to the Bible Christopher Bryan addresses scholars and students who would like to pursue biblical studies in relation to the practice and mission of faith, while also confronting the challenges of the Enlightenment. Is such a combination still possible? And if so, how is the task of biblical interpretation to be understood?

Bryan traces the history of modern approaches to the Bible, particularly historical criticism, noting its...

Christopher Bryan's third fantasy-mystery novel continues the investigations of Detective Inspector Cecilia Cavaliere. Now married, Cecilia and Anglican priest Michael Aarons are living in a Victorian rectory on the outskirts of Exeter, together with their precocious 3-year-old daughter, a dog, two cats, and the occasional wasp. In nearby Edgestow the huge new United Nations Institute for Technological Experimentation and Development (U.N.I.T.E.D.) is being set up, and Cecilia is called on to take temporary charge of police operations in the area. When it appears that there is a link between...

DCI Cecilia Cavaliere, her husband Anglican priest Fr. Michael Aarons, and their precocious three year old daughter Rachel are back in a new mystery. Amid the excitements and fireworks of bonfire night in Edgestow, one of the sisters at the St. Boniface Convent has been murdered, and a precious painting has been stolen. But was the sister really who everyone thought she was? And what is the connection between the two crimes? Was the theft intended, and the murder collateral damage? Or was the murder planned, and the theft opportunistic? Or did someone really intend to commit both crimes in...