Paul and the Resurrection of Israel


Book Description

Promotes an exciting new idea: Paul's gospel of Gentile inclusion is intrinsic to Israel's salvation promised in the Hebrew Bible.




Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel


Book Description

Many famous antique texts are misunderstood and many others have been completely dismissed, all because the literary style in which they were written is unfamiliar today. So argues Mary Douglas in this controversial study of ring composition, a technique which places the meaning of a text in the middle, framed by a beginning and ending in parallel. To read a ring composition in the modern linear fashion is to misinterpret it, Douglas contends, and today's scholars must reevaluate important antique texts from around the world. Found in the Bible and in writings from as far a field as Egypt, China, Indonesia, Greece, and Russia, ring composition is too widespread to have come from a single source. Does it perhaps derive from the way the brain works? What is its function in social contexts? The author examines ring composition, its principles and functions, in a cross-cultural way. She focuses on ring composition in Homer's Iliad, the Bible's book of Numbers, and, for a challenging modern example, Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, developing a persuasive argument for reconstruing famous books and rereading neglected ones.




The Hope of Israel


Book Description

This volume highlights the sustained focus in Acts on the resurrection of Christ, bringing clarity to the theology of Acts and its purpose. Brandon Crowe explores the historical, theological, and canonical implications of Jesus's resurrection in early Christianity and helps readers more clearly understand the purpose of Acts in the context of the New Testament canon. He also shows how the resurrection is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures. This is the first major book-length study on the theological significance of Jesus's resurrection in Acts.




Gospelbound


Book Description

A profound exploration of how to hold on to hope when our unchanging faith collides with a changing culture, from two respected Christian storytellers and thought leaders. “Offers neither spin control nor image maintenance for the evangelical tribe, but genuine hope.”—Russell Moore, president of ERLC As the pressures of health warnings, economic turmoil, and partisan politics continue to rise, the influence of gospel-focused Christians seems to be waning. In the public square and popular opinion, we are losing our voice right when it’s needed most for Christ’s glory and the common good. But there’s another story unfolding too—if you know where to look. In Gospelbound, Collin Hansen and Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra counter these growing fears with a robust message of resolute hope for anyone hungry for good news. Join them in exploring profound stories of Christians who are quietly changing the world in the name of Jesus—from the wild world of digital media to the stories of ancient saints and unsung contemporary activists on the frontiers of justice and mercy. Discover how, in these dark times, the light of Jesus shines even brighter. You haven’t heard the whole story. And that’s good news.




Paul and the Vocation of Israel


Book Description

The Apostle Paul was the greatest early missionary of the Christian gospel. He was also, by his own admission, an Israelite. How can both these realities coexist in one individual? This book argues that Paul viewed his mission to the Gentiles, in and of itself, as the primary expression of his Jewish identity. The concept of Israel’s divine vocation is used to shed fresh light on a number of much-debated passages in Paul’s letter to the Romans.




The Resurrection of Jesus


Book Description

I accept the resurrection of Jesus not as an invention of the community of disciples, but as an historical event.Ó When a leading orthodox Jew makes such a declaration, its significance can hardly be overstated. Pinchas Lapide is a rabbi and theologian who has specialized in the study of the New Testament. In this book he convincingly shows that an irreducible minimum of experience underlies the New Testament account of the resurrection, however much of the details of the narrative may be open to objection. He maintains that life after death is part of the Jewish faith experience, and that it is Jesus' messiahship, not his resurrection, which marks the division between Christianity and Judaism. Dr. Lapide quotes Moses Maimonides, the greatest Jewish thinker, in his support: All these matters which refer to Jesus of Nazareth...only served to make the way free for the King Messiah and to prepare the whole world for the worship of God with a united heart.Ó




To the Jew First or to the Jew at Last


Book Description

Many missions to the Jewish people, such as Jews for Jesus, use Romans 1:16 as a proof text to encourage the evangelisation of the Jewish people as a priority: 'to the Jew first, and then to the Greek' (Jewish Missional Priority). Is this interpretation of the text legitimate? After considering when this priority first appeared, the author exposes and evaluates the arguments commonly used to promote it. His thorough exegesis of Romans 1:16-17 ultimately resolves the question. He takes the opportunity to explore some possible eschatological implications developed from Romans 9-11 and the parables of Jesus. Will the first also be the last?




Apostle of the Last Days


Book Description

Paul’s life, letters, and theology are unified by the theme of the overlapping of two ages—this age and the age to come. With the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the age to come (i e , kingdom of God) broke into this present age but didn’t end it. Where other important doctrines such as justification by faith, reconciliation, and the cross of Christ were key players in Paul’s theology, Marvin Pate compellingly demonstrates that the overarching theme driving the Pauline corpus was indeed Paul’s inaugurated eschatology. In fact, Paul’s apocalyptic framework was only one of a number of other rival eschatologically focused religious perspectives of the day, such as the Imperial Cult, Hellenistic/syncretistic religion, and the merkabah Judaizers. Paul’s vigorous debates with the churches he served centered on the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ that he preached: the nonnegotiable apocalypse of Jesus the Messiah. Apostle of the Last Days will be welcomed in the classroom as a one-volume treatment of Paul’s life and letters as well as his theology.




The Last Adam


Book Description

There is much discussion today about how we are to understand the life of Jesus in the Gospels. What was Jesus doing between his birth and death and how does this relate to salvation? This book corrects the Christian tendency to minimize the life of Jesus, explaining why the Gospels include much more than the Passion narratives. Brandon Crowe argues that Jesus is identified in the Gospels as the last Adam whose obedience recapitulates and overcomes the sin of the first Adam. Crowe shows that all four Gospels present Jesus's obedient life as having saving significance.




Jesus and the Restoration of Israel


Book Description

This book, edited by Carey C. Newman, offers a multifaceted and critical assessment of N. T. Wright's work, Jesus and the Victory of God. Wright responds to the essayists, and Marcus Borg offers his critical appraisal.