This goundbreaking volume explores, and challenges, the prejudice and discrimination that gay people experience within South African churches. Drawing from a broad and diverse base, these stories and essays suggest that 'heterosexism' is the problem.

The lectures were delivered quite extemporaneously, without any other preparation than sincere prayer, that God would be graciously pleased to bless his own Word, plainly and simply expounded, to the instruction and edification of those who attended, and they were preserved as delivered, by a reporter whom the congregation assembled there, kindly employed to take them down. These lectures, therefore, consist of a very plain, unadorned exposition of that apostolical Epistle, which next to those addressed to the Romans and the Hebrews, may be said to comprehend the fullest scope of divine truth of any in the New Testament. There are not any vital doctrines which are not fully developed or implied, nor any precepts which are not enforced in the Epistle to the Ephesians, and which must not be consequently treated of, in any consistent scriptural exposition of it. It has been the anxious desire of the writer to adhere with the closest simplicity to the letter of the text. - Preface.

Using a similar method to Kennard's biblical theology of Jesus, Hebrews, Isaiah, and Peter, Kennard's Petrine Studies fills out background issues, narrative biographical theology and practical life concerns from Mark. The companion volume, Petrine Theology, makes contributions to Peter's theology, including: Peter's Jewish heritage, bridging from Jesus to Paul, expressing compatible sovereignty and free will, high Christology, missional Trinity, Hebraic anthropology, Jewish atonement, redemption and new exodus, gospel as allegiance to Christ, contextual sociological ecclesiology, suffering and spiritual warfare in a narrow virtuous way to kingdom, and nuanced consistent eschatology. Following a combination of Mark, Peter's sermons in Acts and Petrine epistles, Gene Green claims that Petrine Theology makes unique contributions to Christian theology. Pheme Perkins concurs, "Peter is the universal 'foundation' for all the churches...There is no figure who compasses more of that diversity than Peter." F. J. Foakes-Jackson concluded, "the very fact that Peter was singled out by the unanimous voice of the writers of the NT for pre-eminence is sufficient reason why he should demand our serious attention." James Dunn celebrated, "Peter was probably in fact and effect the bridge-man (pontifex maximus!) who did more than any other to hold together the diversity of first-century Christianity."

Living as an alien in one’s native land is a familiar reality to marginalized communities. Cultural, economic, and political shifts can cause people to become alienated by a system of greed, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and media manipulation. How can Christians persist under a sustained threat within a social order diametrically opposed to them? This question drives Warner Bailey’s investigation of 1 Peter. The mature Christology of 1 Peter yields a profile of Christian identity. This picture is funded by texts from the Book of the Twelve (Hosea-Malachi) and is counter-intuitive, in that it is able to create new initiatives for behavior that offer hope for redemption in the midst of oppression. Bailey explores how 1 Peter has been used in shaping the life of modern “aliens,” such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, living in his own country under the oppression of Nazism, and feminist, black, immigrant, and LGBTQIA+ readers. Placing 1 Peter within the crisis in U.S. political and economic life opens up fresh implications for faithful ecclesiastical practice and personal witness.

This important study provides the first English translation of both the surviving fragments of Origen's Commentary on Ephesians and of the complete text of Jerome's Commentary on Ephesians. The two translations are placed parallel to one another where they treat the same texts in Ephesians thus showing Jerome's extensive dependence on Origen's commentary. By using collateral texts from other works of Origen, Jerome, and Rufinus, the author is able to show Jerome's dependence on Origen in numerous passages in his commentary where the Greek text of Origen's commentary is lost. The translation is accompanied by Heine's illuminating commentary and a substantial introduction sets the works in their historical context. The book makes a significant contribution not only to scholarship on Origen and Jerome, but also to the wider question of the interpretation of scripture in the early Christian centuries.

The Christian theological tradition provides an embarrassment of riches: from Scripture to modern scholarship, we are blessed with a vast and complex theological inheritance. And yet this feast of traditional riches is too frequently inaccessible to the general reader. The Cascade Companions series addresses the challenge by publishing books that combine academic rigor with broad appeal and readability. They aim to introduce nonspecialist readers to that vital storehouse of authors, documents, themes, histories, arguments, and movements that comprise this heritage with brief yet compelling volumes.

Charles J. Ellicott Bible Commentary on the Whole for English Readers, Volume 3 of 3. Charles Ellicott wrote this exceptional Bible commentary to be used for Pastors and Students. It is written to be explained rather than to be technical so that as to reach all English readers. Charles Ellicott focuses on the English explanation rather than the Greek and addresses the expository side less than the technical since this does not contain Greek words or terminology. Dr. Charles Ellicott assembled and edited this commentary, utilizing 28 different authors, including Rev. Payne Smith, Rev. C. J. Elliott, and Rev. C. H. Waller. This is a must have for anyone desiring a greater understanding of the Bible as a whole. The scripture and commentary are on the same page making it easy to read and understand. This commentary is one that you will treasure in your library and you will not want to let this one pass you by.

Destined to become the definitive commentary on Ephesians, this resource combines detailed exegesis and extensive interaction with contemporary scholarship.