A compelling commentary on the four Gospels which utilizes modern historical-critical methods yet it is still easy to read and understand. This book will teach you, inspire you and motivate you to study and experience the Word of God expressed in Mark, Luke, Matthew and John. A must read for anyone takes bible study seriously.

In the last hundred and fifty years the kingdom of God has emerged as one of the most important topics in theology, New Testament studies, and the life of the church. But what exactly is the kingdom of God? What does it mean for the people of God and what does it mean for how they live in the world? In The Kingdom of God, part of the Biblical Theology for Life series, Nicholas Perrin explores this dominant biblical metaphor, one that is paradoxically the meta-center and the mystery in Jesus' proclamation. After survey interpretations by figures from Ritschl to N. T. Wright, Perrin examines the "what, who, and how" questions of the kingdom. In his sweepingly comprehensive study, Perrin contends that the kingdom is inaugurated in Jesus' earthly ministry, but its final development awaits later events in history. In between the times, however, the people of God are called to participate in the reign of God by living out the distinctly kingdom-ethic through hope, forgiveness, love, and prayer. X

In addition to lucid introductions to each of the New Testament writings, this book offers a comprehensive survey of approaches to biblical studies, historical and cultural backgrounds, the historical Jesus, the rise of the resurrection faith, and attention to extracanonical materials. 63 illustrations. 3 charts. 6 maps. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Redeeming Gender argues that the problems about sexuality which continue to sap the churches' energies are really about gender. The dominant understanding of women's bodies in the Christian West has been that they are inferior versions of the superior male body. This 'one-sex model' of the human body was replaced during the Enlightenment with a model of two opposite sexes. However, both models are inadequate for a theological or a secular understanding of the sexed body. In this innovative work, Adrian Thatcher envisages relations between women and men no longer blighted by long-term patriarchy, androcentrism and sexism in church and world, but redeemed from these structural sins by the grace of Jesus Christ. Dissected into two parts, Part One explains the legacy of both the one-sex and two-sex theories. It uncovers the one-sex theory and its assumptions, and indicates its presence in early Christian thought. It then describes what happened in our social, intellectual and theological history, which leaves us thinking that there are two sexes. In Part Two, Thatcher contributes to an emerging theology of gender in which women and men are fully and equally valued, and in which sexual difference (insofar as it exists at all), is capable of transformation into joyful communion, reflecting the very life of God the Holy Trinity. He exposes the reliance of much Church and theological teaching about sex and gender either on biblical proof texts or upon the language and nomenclature of late modernity, rather than upon considerations of Theology and Christology. Thatcher also indicates how Theology and Christology, in the area of gender, envisions the redemption of human relationships.

"Contributors include O. Wesley Allen Jr., Samuel E. Balentine, Craig Bartholomew, Nancy R. Bowen, Brad R. Braxton, Michael Joseph Brown, William P. Brown, Allan Dwight Callahan, L. Juliana Claassens, Stephen L. Cook, Katharine Dell, Joanna Dewey, Frank H. Gorman Jr., Patrick Gray, Theodore Hiebert, E. Elizabeth Johnson, Luke Timothy Johnson, Melody D. Knowles, Stephen J. Kraftchick, Deborah Krause, Tod Linafelt, Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, Carleen Mandolfo, Gregory Mobley, Carol A. Newsom, Julia M. OBrien, Gail R. ODay, Dennis T. Olson, David L. Petersen, Sandra Hack Polaski, David Rensberger, Stanley P. Saunders, Carolyn J. Sharp, Matthew L. Skinner, Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, Ken Stone, Brent A. Strawn, Patricia K. Tull, James Buchanan Wallace, Sze-kar Wan, and Harold C. Washington."--BOOK JACKET.

A basic guide to reading the Bible from the perspective of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. This readable and provocative introduction to hermeneutics emphasizes how issues of race, class, and gender influence our reading and understanding. Reading the Bible from the Margins begins where other texts fail to go: with the perspectives of those who society ignores. De La Torre shows how traditional or standard ways of approaching the Bible can be unacceptable to those who are discriminated against, and that the insights and understandings of biblical texts from the margins are enriching and valuable to all readers.