John the Baptist as a Rewritten Figure in Luke-Acts compares the Gospel of Luke’s account of John’s ministry with those of Matthew, Mark, and John to make the case for the hypertextual relationship between the synoptic gospels. The book is divided into three parts. Part I situates the Gospel of Luke within the broader context of biblical rewritings and makes the general case that a rewriting strategy can be detected in Luke, while Parts II and III combined offer a more detailed and specific argument for Luke’s refiguring of the public ministry of John the Baptist through the use of omitted, new, adapted, and reserved material. While the "two source hypothesis" typically presupposes the independence of Luke and Matthew in their rewritings of Mark and Q, Chauchot argues that Luke was heavily reliant on Matthew as suggested by the "L/M hypothesis". Approaching the Baptist figure in the synoptic gospels from a literary-critical perspective, Chauchot examines "test cases" of detailed comparative analysis between them to argue that the Gospel of Luke makes thematic changes upon John the Baptist and is best characterized as a highly creative reshaping of Matthew and Mark. Making a contribution to current research in the field of New Testament exegesis, the book is key reading for students, scholars, and clergy interested in New Testament hermeneutics and Gospel writing.

This volume offers fifteen studies on the Gospel of Luke by Nico Riemersma, who specialized in this gospel. It contains both articles in which special pericopes from the Gospel of Luke are central (Mary’s visit to Elizabeth in Luke 1,39-56; the twelve-year-old Jesus in de temple, in Luke 2,40-52; the baptism of Jesus in 3,21-23 and his testing in 4,1-13; the Fernheilung of a centurion’s slave in 7,1-10 and the raising of a young man at Naïn in 7,11-17) and studies on details (καθεξῆς in Luke 1,3; ἐν τοῖς τοῦ πατρός μου in Luke 2,49; ἐγέρθητι in 7,14 and ὁ ἐρχόμενος in 7,19.20). In addition, there are thematic studies (the parallelism between John and Jesus, Elijah in relationship with John and Jesus; the travelling motif in Luke-Acts) and articles with an eye for the structure (of the overture, 1,5-2,52 and of the whole book, 1,1-24,53). Through ‘close reading’, the book reveals Luke’s high-quality literary form and rich theological content. This meticulous way of reading allows for a deeper understanding of the text, giving this gospel extra shine. This method is extremely helpful in solving text problems that the reader(s) will face.

Plato’s Timaeus and the Biblical Creation Accounts argues that the creation of the world in Genesis 1 and the story of the first humans in Genesis 2-3 both draw directly on Plato’s famous account of the origins of the universe, mortal life and evil containing equal parts science, theology and myth. This book is the first to systematically compare biblical, Ancient Near Eastern and Greek creation accounts and to show that Genesis 1-3 is heavily indebted to Plato’s Timaeus and other cosmogonies by Greek natural philosophers. It argues that the idea of a monotheistic cosmic god was first introduced in Genesis 1 under the influence of Plato’s philosophy, and that this cosmic Creator was originally distinct from the lesser terrestrial gods, including Yahweh, who appear elsewhere in Genesis. It shows the use of Plato’s Critias, the sequel to Timaeus, in the stories about the Garden of Eden, the intermarriage of "the sons of God" and the daughters of men, and the biblical flood. This book confirms the late date and Hellenistic background of Genesis 1-11, drawing on Plato’s writings and other Greek sources found at the Great Library of Alexandria. This study provides a fascinating approach to Genesis that will interest students and scholars in both biblical and classical studies, philosophy and creation narratives. .

Studies of the historical Jesus typically reduce John the Baptist to a subordinate role in the story of Christian origins. This meticulous historical study focuses on John himself, revealing his extensive and enduring influence. In the popular imagination, John the Baptist plays the supporting role of Jesus’s unkempt forerunner. But meticulous historical study reveals his wide-reaching and enduring influence on the history of religion. The first study of its kind, John of History, Baptist of Faith sheds light on the historical John the Baptist and his world. James F. McGrath applies historical-critical methodology not only to the New Testament but also to the Mandaean Book of John, a holy text of the last extant gnostic sect. McGrath uses the teachings of John’s pupil, Jesus, as a window into his mentor’s beliefs. Along the way, he brings new clarity to questions of contention among scholars, such as John’s use of immersion as a substitute for temple sacrifice. Bold in its claims yet careful in its method, John of History, Baptist of Faith lends fresh insight into John, Jesus, and their world. McGrath’s pioneering monograph will challenge and intrigue students and scholars of the New Testament and Second Temple Judaism.

This volume by the late Bernd J. Diebner presents an anthology of studies previously published only in German from 1971 to 2020 on a wide range of topics in biblical studies. The 18 essays in this collection offer profound insight into the works of German scholarship which have strongly influenced biblical studies and related research in the 20th century. Being an important, but lesser recognized ‘member’ of the Copenhagen school, Diebner voiced serious criticism of contemporary biblical scholarship which is discussed in the first seven chapters. The remaining chapters offer challenging new perspectives on well-known themes, narratives, and compositions related to history, ideology, and archaeology, on the one hand, and text and canon, on the other, as alternatives to traditional historical–critical approaches. Now published in English for the first time, this volume makes these essays available to Anglophone students and scholars of biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies.

This book examines the relationship between several of the most prominent American biblical archaeologists and Zionism. While these scholars have been studied and historicized to some extent, little work has been done to understand their role in the history of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict. Two defining differences in the archaeologists’ arguments were their understanding of culture and their views on objectivity versus relativism. Brooke Sherrard Knorr argues that relativist archaeologists envisioned the ancient world as replete with cultural change and opposed the establishment of a Jewish state, while those who believed in scholarly objectivity both envisioned the ancient world’s ethnic boundaries as rigid and favored Zionism. Combining readings of the archaeologists’ writings with archival research, this book studies the views of William Foxwell Albright, Millar Burrows, Nelson Glueck, George Ernest Wright, Paul Lapp, and William G. Dever regarding the establishment of an ethno-national state in Palestine in detail. The volume culminates with an epilogue commenting on the relevance of this topic in the present regarding the political ramifications of archaeology in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. American Biblical Archaeology and Zionism is of interest to students and scholars of Biblical and Near Eastern archaeology, American religious history, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly its role in regional archaeology.

This volume presents an anthology of 19 seminal studies, some for the first time in English, that explore the history and tradition of the ancient relationship between Samaritans and Jews. The book is arranged into three parts: Methods, Traditions, and History; Samaritan and Jewish Pentateuchs; and Studies in Bible and Tradition, each of which is chronologically ordered. It represents a collection of the author’s previous publications on the relationship between Samaritans and Jews, expanding and supplementing the conclusions of her published books. Recent archaeological developments on Mount Gerizim have demonstrated that our paradigms for writing the ancient histories of the kingdoms and provinces of Samaria and Judah in the Iron II, Persian, and Hellenistic periods must change. These developments also affect how we evaluate and read ancient literary traditions, and several chapters offer challenging new perspectives on well-known themes, narratives, and compositions in this subject area. Samaritans and Jews in History and Tradition: Changing Perspectives 10 will be of interest to students and scholars of biblical studies, theology, comparative religion, the ancient Near East, and in particular, Samaritan and Jewish studies.

A combination of two classic discussions in New Testament scholarship, the contributions in this volume shed light on the still unsolved synoptic problem by using the well-coined concept of rewriting to describe the relationship between the synoptic gospels. The contributions work with the hypothesis that the synoptic tradition can be conceived of as a process of rewriting: Matthew rewrote Mark and Luke rewrote Mark and Matthew. This approach to the synoptic problem dismantles the grounds for the otherwise widely accepted two-source theory. If it can be shown that Luke knew Matthew's Gospel the Q-hypothesis is superfluous. One group of articles focuses on the general question of Luke's literary relation to the other gospels. In these essays, the concept of rewriting describes Luke's use of his sources. The second part of the collection examines a number of texts in order to shown how Luke rewrites specific passages. In the final section the contributions concern Luke's relation to Roman authorities. It is shown that Luke's literary creativity is not limited to his predecessors in the gospel tradition. Rewriting is his literary strategy.

How may the notion of Trinity become a practical, down to earth, living reality? The parable of the Good Samaritan must be one of the most familiar stories of Jesus. Yet we often miss what prompted it. Jesus asks the lawyer pointedly, "How do you read?" This workbook seeks to show how people may read their Bibles in a most constructive way that leads to their living with and so loving truly the triune God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shares life-giving Holy Spirit with his people. In nine study sessions, for either individuals or small groups, with Questions for Reflection after each, readers are taken through the Story of Salvation. From Abraham to the New Testament church's catechism, they are presented with a particular strategy on how to approach the Christian Scriptures that the central actor in the drama, the triune God, more readily comes into view. This workbook therefore addresses what seems an intractable problem. No longer a formal creed from the fourth century, and certainly not just a medieval scholastic "game," the goal is for the notion of Trinity to become a practical, down to earth, living reality, for the church and for individual disciples of Jesus.

Dr Wink examines the treatment of John in the Gospels, Acts and the Q source.