The familiar idea of a covenant between God and His people is central to much of the literature of the Old Testament. Through analyses of the style, content, and language of biblical and extra-biblical documents, Dr. Hillers renders the complex idea of covenant comprehensible to the layman as he provides insights into such ideas as the love of God and the knowledge of God--both of which are intimately connected with Israel's concept of covenant. (Biblical Studies)

In the last decades of the eighteenth century, old arguments about what constituted true Christianity resumed with the newly refined tools and methods of linguistics, history, and comparative literature. The most sensitive questions sought to probe through the centuries and discover the original Jesus. Why, scholars asked, is the New Testament silent about most of Jesus's life? Why didn't Paul say more about the life of Jesus? To what extent was Jesus Jewish? How significant were the differences among the Gospels? What evidence could be trusted and what views justified? As scholars sought to...

The poetry found in the Book of Lamentations is an eloquent expression of one man's, and one nation's, despair. The poet is deep in mourning as a result of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in the sixth century b.c.e. He looks to Israel's own sins to explain the catastrophe, and yet he recites poignant examples of Israel's suffering in wondering aloud if God has abandoned his people altogether. Thus his lament is both a confession and a prayer for hope in spite of the horrible defeat.
Lamentations is traditionally thought to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah; today the...