Christ's Victorious Church: Essays on Biblical Ecclesiology and Eschatology in Honor of Tom Friskney


Book Description

Christ's Victorious Church represents the synthesis of concerns that made the teaching of Tom Friskney so influential. Written by some of his former students and colleagues, the essays in this collection combine interests in critically informed exegesis, the construction of a genuinely and comprehensively biblical theology, the lived experience of Christianity, and the proclamation of the gospel to the church and the world. Emphasizing the crucial biblical perspectives on the church as the people of God and the last things as the climax and fulfillment of God's work in the world, this volume celebrates and carries forward the legacy of a quietly inspiring scholar, teacher and minister.From 1954 to 2001, Tom Friskney taught as a professor at Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary. Though his many interests enabled him to teach a variety of subjects, his greatest impact was in New Testament studies. That impact can be seen in a generation of former students - serving as college and seminary educators, ministers and volunteers - who cite him as their formative influence. These essays, written by former students and colleagues to honor their mentor and friend, discuss the twin emphases of Tom Friskney's teaching, the church and the last things. In keeping with the honoree's wide-ranging pursuits, they vary from the scholarly to the homiletical to the reflective.




1 Timothy, Volume 2


Book Description

1 Timothy is one of the more controversial documents in the New Testament. For years, critical scholars have rejected Pauline authorship, highlighted the apparent misogynistic quality of the text, and argued against any coherence in the letter. Jeon takes a fresh look at the letter, incorporating many recent advancements in NT scholarship. In detail he demonstrates the macro- and micro- chiastic arrangement of the entire letter and explains how the presumed first-century audience would have heard and responded to an oral performance of the letter. In doing so, Jeon offers a fresh challenge to more popular ways of (mis)understanding the letter and points a way forward for appropriating the letter both in academia and in the church.







The Apocalypse of Peter


Book Description

The Apocalypse of Peter is the first modern collection of studies on this intriguing Early Christian book, that has mainly survived in Ethiopic. The volume starts with a short survey of the Forschungsgeschichte and a discussion of the old question regarding its eventual inspiration: Greek or Jewish. It is followed by a new look at the circumstances of its finding, the composition of the codex and its character, and also by a new edition of the Bodleian and Rainer fragments. The major part of the book studies various aspects and passages of the Apocalypse the nature of the Ethiopic pseudo-Clementine work that contained the Apocalypse, false prophets, the Bar Kokhba hypothesis, Paradise, the post-mortem 'baptism' of sinners, the grotesque body, the pattern of justice underlying our work, the Old Testament quotations and the reception of the Apocalypse in ancient Christianity. The book concludes with a study of the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter. As has become customary, the volume is rounded off by a bibliography and a detailed index.




Church Order in the New Testament


Book Description

Schweizer listens carefully to the testimony of the various New Testament writers in order to understand the theological problem of how the New Testament church understood itself, and how it expressed that understanding in its order. The purely historical question about the form of the church at different times is seen by Schweizer as necessary, but need only be asked insofar as the actual shaping of the church is always evidence of the concept of its own nature to which it testifies. Thus, Schweizer arranges the New Testament writings primarily by the theological kinship of their idea of the church, providing a comprehensive examination of the church in the New Testament and Apostolic Fathers. He treats both the diversity of views and the unity found in these writings. He also discusses issues relating to church office, ministry, and ordination.




I Alone Am Left


Book Description

"In examining Luke's multiple appeals to the figure of Elijah, this study not only provides clarity to a fascinating but often misunderstood element of the Lukan narrative, but also provides a helpful model for understanding an even more perplexing question in Lukan studies, namely, the presentation of the nation of Israel. No New Testament author takes more interest in Elijah than Luke, who may allude to the Elijah-Elisha narratives as many as forty times. This study pushes past questions of typology and one-to-one correlation that have stalled scholarly discussion on the topic, examining the theological significance of Elijah in Luke-Acts as a literary motif. It is argued that, in drawing on a common association between Elijah and the Old Testament concept of remnant, Luke appeals to Elijah at key moments in the narrative in order to signal the development of his remnant theology. For Luke, as in the days of the prophets, the concept of remnant holds in tension God's irrevocable promises to Israel with the widespread rejection of God's new work of salvation; the faithfulness of a few with a hope for the nation as a whole; and the particular election of Israel with the message of salvation for all nations."--Publisher.




The Apocryphal New Testament


Book Description

The Apocryphal New Testament includes new translations of the most significant and famous of the non-canonical Christian works. These apocryphal texts reveal the popular legends of Christians after the New Testament era, and throw light on the origins of many later beliefs and practices.




The Elder and Overseer


Book Description

Recent challenges to the traditional view that the terms «elder» and «overseer» in the New Testament refer to the same office has caused the majority opinion to shift. After examining the background of the terms in Jewish and Greco-Roman sources, Paul's view of organized ministry in his letters to churches, and the relevant material in Acts and the Pastoral Epistles, Merkle concludes that the two terms are used interchangeably, representing the same office.




The Letters to Timothy and Titus


Book Description

The Pastoral Letters—1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus—have made an enduring contribution to understanding the role of pastors in the church. With a spirited devotion to the text, Robert Yarbrough helps unlock the meaning of these short but rich letters in this commentary. In keeping with the character of Pillar New Testament Commentary volumes, The Letters to Timothy and Titus offers a straightforward reading of these texts. Their primary concerns—God, salvation, and the pastoral task—remain central to Yarbrough’s thorough and comprehensive exegesis. Engaging with the best scholarship and resources, Yarbrough shows how these letters are as relevant today as they were to the early Christians.




Serve the Community of the Church


Book Description

This volume explores the nature of leadership in the Christian community, especially as it was variously taught by Paul and practiced in the congregations of the first century. Exploring valuable ancient source material as well as the New Testament texts, Andrew Clarke describes the theories and practices of organization and leadership in key areas of first-century society-the city, the colony, associations, Jewish synagogues, the family-and discusses the extent to which these models influenced the first-century Christians as they sought to define the parameters and distinctives of their own communities.