The World Around The Old Testament

Leading Experts Introduce the People and Contexts of the Old Testament What people groups interacted with ancient Israel? Who were the Hurrians and why do they matter? What do we know about the Philistines, the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and others? In this up-to-date volume, leading experts introduce the peoples and places of the world around the Old Testament, providing students with a fresh exploration of the ancient Near East. The contributors offer comprehensive orientations to the main cultures and people groups that surrounded ancient Israel in the wider ancient Near East, including not only Mesopotamia and the northern Levant but also Egypt, Arabia, and Greece. They also explore the contributions of each people group or culture to our understanding of the Hebrew Scriptures. This supplementary text is organized by geographic region, making it especially suitable for the classroom and useful in a variety of Old Testament courses. Approximately eighty-five illustrative items are included throughout the book.

A leading biblical scholar shows that the New Testament texts cannot be understood without careful attention to their Judaic and Second Temple roots.

Most of these thirty-one essays by Richard Bauckham, a well-known New Testament scholar, were first published between 1979 and 2015 in journals and multi-authored volumes. Two are previously unpublished and one has not been published in English before. They range widely over early Christianity and early Christian literature in both the New Testament period and the early patristic period, reflecting the author's conviction that the historical study of early Christianity should not isolate the New Testament literature from other early Christian sources, such as the apostolic fathers and the Christian apocryphal literature. Some of the essays develop further the themes of the author's books on aspects of the Gospels, such as the intended audiences of the Gospels, the way in which Gospel traditions were transmitted, the role of the eyewitnesses in the origins of the Gospels, the importance of Papias's evidence about Gospel traditions, and the relationship between canonical and Gnostic Gospels. Some of the essays relate to important persons, such as Peter, Barnabas, Paul and James. These include a full investigation of the evidence for the martyrdom of Peter and an attempt to locate the estate of Publius where Paul stayed on Malta. There are studies of the Sabbath and the Lord's Day in both the New Testament and patristic periods. There are studies that survey most of the main categories of apocryphal Christian literature, including apocryphal Gospels and Acts, and with a special focus on the non-canonical apocalypses, such as the Apocalypse of Peter and the Latin Vision of Ezra.

Parish Clergy Award It's an exciting time to be reading the Bible. As we increasingly encounter readers with perspectives, experiences, and cultures different from our own, we can incorporate new ideas and approaches to interpreting Scripture. When diverse interpretations from various social locations are gathered together, we gain new vistas and a fuller image of the text. In Reading the Bible Around the World, a crosscultural team of scholars describes and workshops global readings in biblical interpretation, focusing on passages in both the Old and New Testaments. By presenting a range of readings from different regions and people groups, with particular attention to marginalized groups, the authors demonstrate the importance of contextually sensitive approaches. They help us build up key values for reading Scripture in the twenty-first century: self-awareness, other-awareness, and true dialogue. Who we are shapes how we read. Guided by these expert teachers, readers will gain a deeper understanding of the influence of their own social location and how to keep growing in biblical wisdom by reading alongside the global Christian community.

“An instant classic. . . . A pure joy to read.” —Washington Post Book World Both a heart-racing adventure and an uplifting quest, Walking the Bible presents one man’s epic journey- by foot, jeep, rowboat, and camel- through the greatest stories ever told. From crossing the Red Sea to climbing Mount Sinai to touching the burning bush, Bruce Feiler’s inspiring odyssey will forever change your view of history’s most legendary events. The stories in the first five books of the Bible, also known as the Torah, come alive as Feiler searches across three continents for the stories and heroes shared by Christians and Jews. You’ll visit the slopes of Mount Ararat, where Noah’s ark landed, trek to the desert outpost where Abraham first heard the words of God, and scale the summit where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Using the latest archeological research, Feiler explores how physical location affects the larger narrative of the Bible and ultimately realizes how much these places, as well as his experience, have affected his faith. A once-in-a-lifetime journey, Walking the Bible offers new insights into the roots of our common faith and uncovers fresh answers to the most profound questions of the human spirit. “Smart and savvy, insightful and illuminating.” —Los Angeles Times “An exciting, well-told story informed by Feiler’s boundless intellectual curiosity . . . [and] sense of adventure.” —Miami Herald

Three esteemed Old Testament professors introduce students to the first eighty percent of the Bible-freshly illuminating the text as a rich source of theology and doctrine packed with practical principles for modern times.

Detailed historical and archaeological essays give insight into the many people groups who interacted with and influenced ancient Israel.