This landmark handbook, written by distinguished Pauline scholars, and first published in 2003, remains the first and only work to offer lucid and insightful examinations of Paul and his world in such depth. Together the two volumes that constitute the handbook in its much revised form provide a comprehensive reference resource for new testament scholars looking to understand the classical world in which Paul lived and work. Each chapter provides an overview of a particular social convention, literary of rhetorical topos, social practice, or cultural mores of the world in which Paul and his audiences were at home. In addition, the sections use carefully chosen examples to demonstrate how particularly features of Greco-Roman culture shed light on Paul's letters and on his readers' possible perception of them.For the new edition all the contributions have been fully revised to take into account the last ten years of methodological change and the helpful chapter bibliographies fully updated. Wholly new chapters cover such issues as Paul and Memory, Paul's Economics, honor and shame in Paul's writings and the Greek novel.

Product Description: Across the history of Christianity, Paul's letters have been mined for doctrines like original sin and the "Fall" of Adam or for arguing that justification is by faith, not by works. J. Paul Sampley's concern is not first with doctrines but with how Paul instructed, encouraged, built up—and, at times, chided—the followers who trekked behind him in "the upward call of God in Christ Jesus," (Phil...read more

Product Description: Paul and Rhetoric contains essays that have been presented in a seminar called "Paul and Rhetoric" in the annual meetings of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, the leading international forum for New Testament and Christian Origin scholars...read more

Product Description: In this detailed exegesis of Ephesians 5: 21-33 Dr Sampley not only elucidates the meaning of this difficult and historically important passage, but he also discusses and describes the background and sources of the Epistle. In particular he traces the history of the traditions incorporated in it and demonstrates convincingly that the writer of Ephesians drew heavily on certain passages in Genesis and Leviticus...read more

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Product Description: Four distinguished biblical scholars explore the meaning and significance of New Testament letters that, by wide-spread agreement, give evidence of Paul's influence in the generation that followed him. Paul's students and others in his tradition aimed at preserving his image and his legacy, and, in the process, they also struggled with each other...read more

Product Description: In this detailed exegesis of Ephesians 5: 21-33 Dr Sampley not only elucidates the meaning of this difficult and historically important passage, but he also discusses and describes the background and sources of the Epistle. In particular he traces the history of the traditions incorporated in it and demonstrates convincingly that the writer of Ephesians drew heavily on certain passages in Genesis and Leviticus...read more