Product Description: The letters of James, 1 and 2 Peter, and Jude are among the most neglected letters of the NT. Thus, methodological advances in NT study tend to arise among the Gospels or Pauline letters. But these letters are beginning to receive increased attention in the scholarly community...read more

At first glance, it may seem strange that after more than two thousand years of biblical interpretation there are still major disagreements among biblical scholars about what the Jewish and Christian Scriptures say and about how one is to read and understand them. Yet the range of interpretive approaches now available is the result both of the richness of the biblical texts themselves and of differences in the worldviews of the communities and individuals who have sought to make the Scriptures relevant to their own time and place.A History of Biblical Interpretation provides detailed and extensive studies of the interpretation of the Scriptures by Jewish and Christian writers throughout the ages. Written by internationally renowned scholars, this multivolume work comprehensively treats the many different methods of interpretation, the many important interpreters who have written in various eras, and the many key issues that have surfaced repeatedly over the long course of biblical interpretation.This first volume of A History of Biblical Interpretation explores interpreters and their methods in the ancient period, from the very earliest stages to the time when the canons of Judaism and Christianity gained general acceptance. The first part of the book concentrates on the use of the Scriptures within Judaism. Chapters examine inner-biblical exegesis in the Tanak, the development of the Septuagint, the exegetical approach of Philo of Alexandria, biblical interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Targumim, the nature of rabbinic midrash, the stabilization of the Hebrew Bible, and the interpretation of the Bible in the Jewish Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha.The second part of the book probes themes specific to Christian interpretation of the biblical texts. Chapters here discusses how Israel's Scriptures are used in the New Testament writings, the hermeneutical approaches of the Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists, Alexandrian and Antiochene exegesis, the contributions of Jerome and Augustine, the formation of the New Testament canon, and the interpretation of Scripture in the New Testament Apocrypha and Gnostic writings.In addition to these in-depth studies, the volume includes a substantial introduction by the editors that gives readers both a broad overview of the primary issues and features of ancient biblical interpretation as treated in this volume and a means of sampling the ways in which the key figures, schools of interpretation, and issues discussed interweave and contrast with each other.Up to date, balanced, and engagingly written, this superb work -- and those to follow -- will soon become a standard resource on the history of biblical interpretation.Contributors:Peder BorgenDennis BrownJames H. CharlesworthPhilip R. DaviesCraig A. EvansHarry GambleLeonardGreenspoonAlan J. HauserDonald H. JuelMartin McNamaraEsther MennRichard A. Norris Jr. Gary G. PortonJames A. SandersJoseph TriggDuane F. WatsonFrances Young

Product Description: It has been more than two decades since the publication of George Kennedy's influential New Testament Interpretation Through Rhetorical Criticism (1984). The essays in Words Well Spoken demonstrate the influence of Kennedy's work on New Testament studies...read more

Product Description: Vernon K. Robbins has changed the face of New Testament studies through his commitment to exploring the interface of several disciplines. His Exploring the Texture of Texts introduces students to the ways that society and rhetoric form part of the fabric out of which literary texts are woven, and he began the Emory Studies in Early Christianity Series as a way of disseminating works using this method...read more

Product Description: This volume is designed as a resource for using rhetorical criticism as a methodology for interpreting the Bible. Rhetorical criticism is treated in the broader context of the growing interest in the study of the literary character of the Bible...read more