Today the "land of promise" is a spark in the tinder dry atmosphere of Middle Eastern affairs. Events there continue to wield influence among peoples and in places well beyond the region itself. This raises for Christians the acute theological problem of how to relate to the "land of promise" today and in light of the land of the Bible. Our hope is that this volume of essays will contribute to a more informed and theologically coherent response to the "Land of Promise." It is offered here in the name of peace for all peoples in that place and among those who continue to look to her as a place...

About the Contributor(s): Miriam Bier teaches Old Testament at the London School of Theology. Tim Bulkeley has taught Old Testament at the Universite protestante du Congo, the University of Auckland, and at Carey Baptist College."

Every life, and every land and people, has reasons for lament and complaint. This collection of essays explores the biblical foundations and the contemporary resonances of lament literature. This new work presents a variety of responses to tragedy and a world out of joint are explored. These responses arise from Scripture, from within the liturgy of the church, and from beyond the church; in contemporary life (the racially conflicted land of Aotearoa- New Zealand, secular music concerts and cyber-space). The book thus reflects upon theological and pastoral handling of such experience, as it...

The God of the Bible is not a member of any class of comparable beings. Beyond and other than all gods and every creature, God is not gendered. However, Christian language for God and the pictures we use to help us talk about God are predominantly male. Among the pictures one of the most often used and appreciated is 'father'. Yet God (unlike many of the gods of the ancient world) is not only a father. The Bible and the early Christian theologians used motherly as well as fatherly language and pictures to speak of God. In this way at least their image of God was richer and deeper than ours ...

Interpreting Isaiah requires attention to empire. The matrix of the book of Isaiah was the imperial contexts of Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. The community of faith in these eras needed a prophetic vision for life. Not only is the book of Isaiah crafted in light of empire, but current readers cannot help but approach Isaiah in light of imperial realities today. As a neglected area of research, Isaiah and Imperial Context probes how empire can illumine Isaiah through essays that utilize archaeology, history, literary approaches, post-colonialism, and feminism within the various sections of...