In this book, Philip Tite explores the role of biblical texts in the promotion of peace and violence. He begins by exploring the function of religious texts as ideological elements, recognizing that the New Testament affects the social construction of 'realities' or cultures within which people read and apply authoritative writings to ethical discussions. Arguing that an 'engaged reading ' of these texts is central within moral discourse, Dr. Tite explores such issues as feminist challenges to biblical ethics, Jewish-Christian relations, and gay and lesbian ethical disputes in Christianity.

Offering a fresh assessment of the presence and function of paraenesis within Valentinianism, this book places Valentinian moral exhortation within the context of early Christian moral discourse. Like other early Christians, Valentinians were not only interested in ethics, but used moral exhortation to discursively shape social identity. Building on the increasing recognition of ethical and communal concerns reflected in the Nag Hammadi sources, this book advances the discussion by elucidating the social rhetoric within, especially, the Gospel of Truth and the Interpretation of...

Challenging nearly two centuries of scholarship, this book offers the first close analysis of the apocryphal epistle to the Laodiceans. A near consensus in scholarship has emerged in which Laodiceans is dismissed as a random collection of phrases plucked from the undisputed Pauline letters, which lacks any organizational structure or theological sophistication. In The Apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans, Philip Tite offers a detailed analysis of this Latin letter by exploring the epistolary conventions utilized by the letter writer. What emerges is a pseudonymous text that is a carefully...