Mikeal Parsons, a leading scholar on Luke and Acts, examines cultural context and theological meaning in Luke in this addition to the well-received Paideia series. This commentary, like each in the projected eighteen-volume series, proceeds by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs, showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits, and making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format.

In Acts, the third of eighteen volumes in the Paideia commentary series, leading biblical scholar Mikeal Parsons gleans fresh theological insight into Acts by attending carefully to the cultural and educational context from which it emerges. Parsons see Acts as a charter document explaining and legitimating Christian identity for a general audience of early Christians living in the ancient Mediterranean world. Pastors, graduate and seminary students, and professors will benefit from this readable commentary, as will theological libraries. The Paideia commentaries are designed to be read through and used, not shelved and referenced. The main text is supplemented with maps, sidebars, and photographs. Indexes and reference lists help readers locate discussions in the commentary and in other secondary literature.

In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, two respected New Testament scholars offer a practical commentary on James and Jude that is conversant with contemporary scholarship, draws on ancient backgrounds, and attends to the theological nature of the texts. This commentary, like each in the projected eighteen-volume series, proceeds by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by • attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs • showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits • commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book • focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text • making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format Students, pastors, and other readers will appreciate the historical, literary, and theological insight that John Painter and David deSilva offer in interpreting James and Jude.

In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, Mary Ann Beavis examines cultural context and theological meaning in Mark. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by • attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs • showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits • commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book • focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text • making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format Students, pastors, and other readers will appreciate the insights that Beavis derives from interrogating the text through multiple perspectives.

In this fresh commentary, the fourth of eighteen volumes in the Paideia series, a leading New Testament scholar examines cultural context and theological meaning in Matthew. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by • Attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs • Showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits • Commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book • Focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text • Making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format

There is no doubt that Jerusalem in the Bible is a city of great historical and theological significance. However, many modern readers are unaware that authors writing in Greek used its two names, Ierousalem and Heriosolyma. Among the few who used both names simultaneously is Luke the Evangelist. Commentators of this onomastic phenomenon have tried to explain this fact in various ways, referring to Luke's literary and theological choices or denying its meaning altogether. Krzysztof Mielcarek's monograph proposes a new view and explanation of this phenomenon in a theological-historical key. In his opinion, Luke's choices may be underpinned by his deep immersion in the world and terminological richness of the Septuagint, as well as important historical events that influenced the perception of the Holy City by the Hellenistic Jewish community and later also by the early Christians.

The parable of the good Samaritan is well-known, yet scholarship has not plumbed the depths of its meaning within its first-century Palestinian context. For the majority of Christian history, the parable has suffered either from extreme allegorical treatments or from unimaginative readings limiting the parable to a single-point example story of virtue. A creative reading employing social and historical methods generates a refreshing telling of the story, within Jesus’s context, whereby each variable, from the Samaritan to the priest and even the innkeeper, takes on representative forms, not only indicative of widespread concerns from Jesus’s audience, but also becoming symbols of the eschatological age when the new temple supplants the old.

This book proposes a fresh understanding of the literary composition of Luke-Acts. Picking up on the ancient practice of literary mimesis, the author argues that Luke’s two-part narrative is subtly but significantly modeled on the two-part narrative found in the books of Samuel-Kings and Chronicles. Specifically, Luke’s gospel presents Jesus as the promised, ultimate Davidide, while the Book of Acts presents the disciples of Jesus as the heirs of the kingdom of David. In addition to the proposal concerning the composition of Luke-Acts, the book offers compelling insights on the genre of Luke-Acts and the purpose of Acts.

This book introduces readers to redemptive service, benevolence, and the pursuit of justice. Bringing together expertise in Christian theology and sociology, Lisa Stephenson and Ruthie Wienk write from the conviction that service to others--especially those who are disenfranchised and impoverished--is central to our identity and mission as Christians. Redemptive Service articulates the biblical, theological, and sociological foundations of service and explains why it is an important part of true Christian identity. The authors use the parable of the good Samaritan to frame redemptive service as a twofold process. First, true Christian service must emerge from a genuine love of our neighbor, which can only come about when service emerges from a Christian worldview. Second, our vision must be accompanied by intentional and informed action. We must discern and respond to the cries for help that surround us through relief, development, and advocacy work. The authors highlight why we should engage in service while providing readers with a framework to use when deciding whom to serve and how to serve well.

The third evangelist makes Black-skinned people central to his claim in Luke and Acts that the gospel of Jesus is restoring the children of God. Within Luke's literary environment, the identity of the children of God was linked to national/ethnic identity. Many Jewish texts argued for the Jews' position as God's children because they are bound to God by covenant; they are God's firstborn. But there is also a more general sense within this tradition that all human beings are made in the image of God and are, thus, the children of God through Adam. In the Gospel, Luke asserts that all nations and all ethnicities, including Israel, have questionable filial status vis-ˆ-vis God. Both Israel and the nations are restored in status as God's children through Jesus, the Son of God. In Acts, Luke explores the initial return of Israel and all ethnicities to God through the witness of the church empowered by the Spirit. To epitomize the return of all nations to God, Luke narrates the salvation of Black-skinned Africans. These Black lives are emphasized to signify that their representation in the church demonstrates the universal extent to which the salvation of Jesus Christ will reach. Their presence in the church is also meant to dignify their Black skin against an aesthetic bias that was prevalent in Greco-Roman views at that moment. This subversion of ethnographic bias helped Luke's audience sustain a gospel-centered critique against the devaluation of Black life.