This unique approach to the compilation of Hebrew Scripture will affect the way it is read and understood

This landmark work represents an imaginative and important new analysis of the basic development of the Scriptures through the centuries. Christensen explores the overall unity of the entire Bible, not just as a collection of sixty-six or seventy-two individual books, nor just as the Old and New Testaments, but as a single literary work that comprises today's Christian Bible. He shows how it emerged over the course of centuries in distinct stages. The Hebrew Scriptures or Old Testament developed in three steps from the formation of the Pentateuch and Prophets that took place up to the time of Josiah in the seventh century B.C.E., followed by the production of the Deuteronomic Canon during and following the Exile, and then the completion of the whole Hebrew Canon as we now have it. This was followed by a second major phase - the development of the Apostolic writings to be added to the First Testament as a Second (or New) Testament. After tracing the growth of the Bible in these stages, Christensen examines the structure and literary art of each major section from the Pentateuch (Torah) to the New Testament.

The Unity of the Bible represents Daniel Fuller’s lifelong effort to understand and expound this purpose by seeking the Bible’s answer to questions such as these. It is written especially to equip laypersons to carry out both evangelism and edification, and it will also help all Christians to put the Bible together to grasp “the whole purpose of God” (Acts 20:27

Recovering the Unity of the Bible helps readers grasp the Bible’s progressive witness on various theological concepts. Walter C. Kaiser challenges the common scholarly posture that sees mostly diversity throughout the biblical canon, pointing instead to the way several Biblical themes substantially support the case for unity, including: - Messianic Promises - The People of God - The Law of God - The Doctrine of Salvation - The Mission of the Old Testament Recovering the Unity of the Bible exhibits sound techniques for students, pastors, and Bible teachers who seek to make sense of the Bible’s many and different texts.

Writing from a Jewish perspective, Jon Levenson reviews many often neglected theoretical questions. He focuses on the relationship between two interpretive communities--the community of scholars who are committed to the historical-critical method of biblical interpretation and the community responsible for the canonization and preservation of the Bible.

Founded on a lifetime’s research and creative thought, this is the crowning work of an internationally celebrated Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scholar. Part I provides an engaging running commentary on the text from a final-form, canonical perspective, and Part II deals with a range of thematic issues, including: creation, covenant and election, the patriarchs, the promised land, torah, cult, Moses, David, Zion, language about God, prophecy, wisdom, Israel’s historical consciousness, hermeneutics, Jewish and Christian theology of the Hebrew Bible. It is both an invaluable tool for students and a significant work demanding the attention of professionals.

This work, the first of its kind, describes all the aspects of the Bible revolution in Jewish history in the last two hundred years, as well as the emergence of the new biblical culture. It describes the circumstances and processes that turned Holy Scripture into the Book of Books and into the history of the biblical period and of the people – the Jewish people. It deals with the encounter of the Jews with modern biblical criticism and the archaeological research of the Ancient Near East and with contemporary archaeology. The middle section discusses the extensive involvement of educated Jews in the Bible-Babel polemic at the start of the twentieth century, which it treats as a typological event. The last section describes at length various aspects of the key status assigned to the Bible in the new Jewish culture in Europe, and particularly in modern Jewish Palestine, as a “guide to life” in education, culture and politics, as well as part of the attempt to create a new Jewish man, and as a source of inspiration for various creative arts.

What are the roles of canon and community in the understanding and articulation of Christian doctrine? Should the church be the doctrinal arbiter in the twenty-first century? In Canonical Theology John Peckham tackles this complex, ongoing discussion by shedding light on issues surrounding the biblical canon and the role of the community for theology and practice. Peckham examines the nature of the biblical canon, the proper relationship of Scripture and tradition, and the interpretation and application of Scripture for theology. He lays out a compelling canonical approach to systematic theology — including an explanation of his method, a step-by-step account of how to practice it, and an example of what theology derived from this canonical approach looks like.

Translations of the Bible take place in the midst of tension between politics, ideology and power. With the theological authority of the book as God’s Word, not focusing on the process of translating is stating the obvious. Inclinations, fluency and zeitgeist play as serious a role as translators’ person, faith and worldview, as do their vocabulary, poetics and linguistic capacity. History has seen countless retranslations of the Bible. What are the considerations according to which Biblical retranslations are being produced in current, 21st century, contexts? From retranslations of the Hebrew Bible to those of the Old and New Testaments, to mutual influences of Christian and Jewish translational traditions – the papers collected here all deal with the question of what is to be [re]gained with the production of a new translation where, at times, many a previous one has already existed.

The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and Dr. Scott Hahn present the ninth annual edition of Letter & Spirit with the theme "Christ and the unity of Scripture". The seven highly-readable articles explore, from the Gospels of Matthew and John, to the letters of St. Paul, how the seemingly disparate themes and images are unified - and therefore properly understood - in Christ. The articles, while academic in nature, are easily accessible to the average reader and can be read with great profit, both spiritually and in coming to learn the truths of the Catholic faith more deeply.