In Hermeneutics of Holiness , Naomi Koltun-Fromm examines the ancient nexus of holiness and sexuality and explores its roots in the biblical texts as well as its manifestations throughout ancient and late-ancient Judaism and early Syriac Christianity. In the process, she tells the story of how the biblical notions of "holy person" and "holy community" came to be defined by the sexual and marriage practices of various interpretive communities in late antiquity. Koltun-Fromm seeks to explain why sexuality, especially sexual restraint, became a primary demarcation of sacred community boundaries among Jews and Christians in fourth-century Persian-Mesopotamia. She charts three primary manifestations of holiness: holiness ascribed, holiness achieved, and holiness acquired through ritual purity. Hermeneutics of Holiness traces the development of these three concepts, from their origin in the biblical texts to the Second Temple literature (both Jewish and Christian) to the Syriac Christian and rabbinic literature of the fourth century. In so doing, this book establishes the importance of biblical interpretation for late ancient Jewish and Christian practices, the centrality of holiness as a category for self-definition, and the relationship of fourth-century asceticism to biblical texts and interpretive history.

Sanctification is a vital aspect of the Christian experience. Those who come to Christ are sanctified; that is, set apart for God s plan and purpose. However, sanctification is not just a positional work of grace, but also a conditional work of believers as they grow in the knowledge of Christ. In this issue, we will discuss the doctrine of sanctification and its place in the Christian s life. In addition, we will explore the conditional and positional aspects of sanctification and its relationship to holiness.

A reference book for scholarship on Edmund Spenser offering a detailed, literary guide to his life, works and influence. Over 700 entries by 422 contributors, an index and extensive bibliography.

Here, Webster presents a trinitarian theology of holiness, which is aimed at a wide range of audiences, including ordinands, students of theology and interested laypeople. According to this account, God's holiness is known not in his simple transcendence but in his gracious and free relationship to his creatures. That holiness finds an echo in the holiness of the Christian community, especially in worship and witness, and in the life of the individual disciple. Integrating biblical, dogmatic and practical theology, the book - which is based on the Day-Higginbotham lectures delivered in the University of Toronto in 2002 - offers a succinct account of a central theme in Christian teaching and practice.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.