Biblical scholar Robert Wall and pastoral leader Anthony Robinson here join forces to bring the Acts of the Apostles forward to our time as a resource for congregational renewal and transformation.Featuring both careful exegetical study and exciting contemporary exposition, the fifteen chapters of Called to Be Church each first interpret the text of Acts as Scripture and then engage Acts for today's church. The book dives into many of the most vexing issues faced by the church then and now -- such issues as conflict resolution, pluralism and multiculturalism, sexuality, money, church...

Using a variation of reader-response criticism, Melchert engages thewisdom texts in an effort to determine why the sages said and taught asthey did. He also explores what contemporary teachers and learnersmight pick up from the wisdom texts about teaching, learning, and beingwisely religious in a postmodern world. Melchert argues that the wisdomtexts presumably embody not only what these teachers wanted readers tolearn but also how it was to be learned.

In this commentary, Robert W. Wall explores two letters of Paul, showing how Colossians offers an antidote to a privatized and intellectualized faith and Philemon offers a vital model for conflict resolution and community building. Including background material and passage-by-passage exposition of the texts, Wall stresses throughout the lessons that today's church can draw from Paul's teaching.

Following up on their previous volume, Called to Be Church: The Book of Acts for a New Day, biblical scholar Robert Wall and pastoral leader Anthony Robinson here join forces again.
Featuring both exegetical study and dynamic contemporary exposition, each chapter of Called to Lead first interprets the text of 1 and 2 Timothy as Scripture and then engages 1 and 2 Timothy for today's church leaders. The book covers many vexing issues faced by church leaders then and now -- such issues as the use of money, leadership succession, pastoral authority, and the role of Scripture....

Through a detailed examination of the historical shaping and final canonical shape of seven oft-neglected New Testament letters, Reading the Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude as Scripture introduces readers to the historical, literary, and theological integrity of this indispensable apostolic witness.
While most scholars today interpret biblical texts in terms of their individual historical points of composition, David Nienhuis and Robert Wall argue that a theological approach to this part of Scripture is better served by attending to these texts' historical point of...

This compact, one-semester introduction to the Bible prepares students to begin reading the biblical text as Christian Scripture, focusing on the meaning of Scripture for the church. The editors and contributors--experienced teachers with expertise in different parts of the Bible--orient students to the whole of Scripture so that they may read the biblical text for themselves. The book first explains what Christians believe about Scripture and gives a bird's-eye survey of the whole biblical story. Chapters then introduce the story, arrangement, style, and key ideas of each division of the Old...

Given the way many in the West have read the New Testament in the last century, the church might be regarded as an afterthought at best. But at the worst, it can be viewed as an unnecessary, perhaps even problematic, institutionalization of genuine faith especially in our post-denominational context. These perspectives fly in the face of the robust ecclesiological concerns and commitments of the New Testament documents when read as witnesses from, to, and for congregations of God's people.

For Wall, the problem is spiritual because fewer go to find God in church. Why the church?...