This book challenges conventional accounts of early Christian exegesis of the Bible by placing its interpretation in the context of the Greco-Roman world. Professor Young describes how the Jewish scriptures were taken over, added to and reinterpreted as part of the process of forming the identity of the new Christian "race" with its distinct culture. Young emphasizes the importance of the way education was based on literature in the Roman Empire, and demonstrates how the methods and assumptions then taken for granted shaped Christian exegesis of scripture.

Sets thinking and preaching about atonement in new directions. ""Dr. Young surveys the different types of ideas of sacrifice current in the ancient world, and indicates both their limitations and lasting force. She shows what early Christianity made of the idea of Christ's sacrifice and discusses the spiritual sacrifice it demanded of Christians. A perceptive treatment of the different theories of atonement follows and the continuing moral force of the idea of sacrifice is illustrated and defended."" --Journal of Theological Studies ""This happy blend of understanding of the past with...

Frances Young, who won high critical acclaim for her deeply committed book, Sacrifice and the Death of Christ, seeks to convey the excitement of the theological quest, the excitement of studying the Bible, the excitement of wrestling with what might seem outmoded and irrelevant ways of thinking and discovering that there is a chiming with experience. She offers a study of atonement as a demonstration of the possibilities. It stems from a deep preoccupation with suffering and its meaning, the outstretched arms of the crucified Christ, the image of the woman in travail. But this suffering and...

In this study of the influence of the late ancient educational system on patristic biblical exegesis, simplistic reductions to discrete methods (moral, typological, allegorical) and schools (Alexandrian, Antiochene) give way to a more nuanced appreciation. Professor Young's lucid study shows how early Christians used the interpretive tools of Greco-Roman culture to build an alternative Christian culture on the basis of the biblical text.

Focus on God is a plea to do just that--focus on God. In recent years, many ministers and priests have lost confidence in the value of their work. Many have wondered whether the clergy still have a role in the life of the community. Here is an exciting picture of the minister as a resource person, able to communicate some of the riches of our theological heritage to the new generation of Christians and able to appropriate some of the rewards of scientific and cultural explorations for the nourishment of the life of the church. The minister is seen as the person who can bring together...

This book reconsiders ways in which the cross of Christ was construed before ""atonement theories"" narrowed the categories. The ""typology"" of Passover is explored as probably the very first way in which Christians came to understand the passion. The use of sacrificial imagery is re-examined. The significance of identifying the cross with the Tree of Life is traced across the centuries into medieval times, along with other surprising links with the Eden narrative. The validity of seeking imaginative insights to grasp what the cross signifies is given theological consideration in a chapter...