This first verse-by-verse commentary on the Greek text of the Testament of Abraham places the work within the history of both Jewish and Christian literature. It emphasizes the literary artistry and comedic nature of the Testament, brings to the task of interpretation a mass of comparative material, and establishes that, although the Testament goes back to a Jewish tale of the first or second century CE, the Christian elements are much more extensive than has previously been realized. The commentary further highlights the dependence of the Testament upon both Greco-Roman mythology and the Jewish Bible. This should be the standard commentary for years to come.

The 1st Testament of Abraham is the Christian version of the Testament of Abraham, a Christianized version of the 2nd Testament of Abraham. The designation of 1st and 2nd were determined by early Christian scholars, who decided that the 2nd version was a corrupted version of the 1st version. Modern scholars have come to the conclusion that the 1st version was a Christianized version of the older 2nd version, which itself was likely a Jewish version, originally written in Aramaic or Hebrew. One of the reasons that the 2nd version is considered older, is because it has survived in a number of languages, including Greek, Coptic, Old Slavonic, Arabic, Ge'ez, and Romanian, while the 1st version has only survived in Greek and Romanian. The 2nd version has also been considered scripture by several Churches and Israelite groups, including the Coptic Church in Egypt, Beta Israel in Ethiopia, and Beta Abraham in Sudan. The Testament of Abraham was also quoted by Origen circa 200 AD, and later in the Qur'an, showing it's significance to the people of the Middle East in the early Christian era. It is generally accepted that Origen was quoting the 1st version, meaning the text had already been Christianized by his time, however, the final paragraph is believed to be a later addition by an Orthodox cleric some time after the Council of Nicene in the 4th-century.

This book examines the narratives of the two Greek recensions of the Testament of Abraham. The genre, characterization, and plot of each recension are discussed and then compared. Ludlow illustrates that Recension A used comedy and humour to give a sophisticated treatment of death, the figure death, and judgment and mercy. Through a careful comparison of narrative elements and vocabulary correspondences between the manuscripts of each recension, he discusses a possible transmission model for the recensions, concluding that Recension A, written in comic form, preceded Recension B. Recension B then excised most of these comic elements.

From God's surprising call to Abraham to leave home and family to God's enigmatic commands that he evict one son and sacrifice another, Genesis 12-25 is one of the most dramatic stories of the Old Testament. In an inviting style that showcases his literary discernment, theological sophistication, and passion for the biblical text, Terence E. Fretheim guides readers through the intricacies of the plot. Abraham, called "the father of a multitude" (Gen 17:5), lives up to his name as the patriarch of three major religious traditions. Fretheim examines Abraham's family and assesses the significant roles it plays across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In addition, Fretheim contributes to the increasingly important interreligious dialogue surrounding Abraham by examining the continuing conversation among Muslims, Christians, and Jews about the place of Hagar and Ishmael in Abraham's family. Relating biblical narrative to theological concerns, Fretheim wrestles with such controversial concepts as God's selection of an elect people, the gift of land and other promises, the role of women and outsiders, the character of God, and the suffering of innocents. Throughout the text, Fretheim frames the narrative as rooted in the trials of family and faith that define Abraham as the father of three religions.

In this book, John Morgan-Wynne examines the very different ways in which Paul’s epistles, Hebrews, James, Luke-Acts, John’s Gospel, and Matthew’s Gospel utitiize the critical figure of Abraham, the father of the people of Israel. He explores the question of the extent to which various New Testament authors developed something already present in the tradition and the extent to which they molded their depiction of Abraham to suit their own purposes in novel and creative ways. The book also considers how the diverse New Testament depictions and interpretations of the patriarch affect the preaching of the Abrahamic tradition today.

Lawrence M. Wills here traces the literary evolution of popular Jewish narratives written during the period 200 BCE-100 CE. In many ways, these narratives were similar to Greek and Roman novels of the same era, as well as to popular novels of indigenous peoples within the Roman Empire. Yet, as a group, they demonstrated a variety of novelistic innovations: the inclusion of adventurous episodes, passages of description and of dialogue, concern with psychological motivation, and the introduction of female characters. Wills focuses on five novels: Greek Esther, Greek ,Daniel, Judith, Tobit, and Joseph and Aseneth.. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical works, he delineates the techniques and motifs of the Jewish novel, shows how the genre both initiated and distanced itself from nonfictional prose such as historical and philosophical writing, discusses its relation to Greco-Roman romance, and describes the social conditions governing its emergence and reception. Wills also places the novels in historical context, situating them between the Hebrew Bible, on the one hand, and subsequent developments in Jewish and Christian literature on the other. Wills sees the Jewish novel as a popular form of writing that provided amusement for an expanding audience of Jewish entrepreneurs, merchants, and bureaucrats. In an important sense, he maintains, it was a product of the "novelistic impulse": the impulse to transfer oral stories to a written medium to reach a more literate audience.

Paul R. House provides a comprehensive theology of the Old Testament, carefully exploring each Old Testament book, thematically summarizing its content and showing its theological significance within the whole of the Old Testament canon.

This inaugural volume in the John Phillips Bible Characters series provides a rich exposition of the lives of twenty-seven significant--and sometimes overlooked--people in the Old Testament. An excellent resource for pastors and teachers.