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This is a study of biblical reading from a woman-centred perspective. Its specific focus is the prologue of John's Gospel and its interpretation in Christian tradition. In this book, Jasper takes the prologue of John's Gospel as a case-study in feminist biblical analysis.

This historical and exegetical strongly challenges the widely held view that Paul regarded idol food as a matter of indifference. Instead, it proposes that Paul considers conscious consumption of idol food a denial of one's allegiance to Christ.

This large-scale work is the application of modern theories of discourse analysis to questions of Greek grammar, especially with respect to the debate over the literary integrity of Philippians. Chapter 1 introduces the linguistic theory of discourse analysis, defining key terms, sketching its historical evolution and outlining its major tenets. Chapter 2 sets forth a model of discourse analysis primarily based on the systemic functional theories of M.A.K. Halliday. Chapter 3 outlines the historical-critical debate over the literary integrity of Philippians. Chapter 4 inspects the genre of Philippians, challenging rhetorical approaches to the text and proposing instead an epistolary classification, viz. ''personal, hortatory letter''. Chapter 5 focuses on the discourse structure of the letter, investigating its use of ideational, interpersonal and textual functions of Hellenistic Greek. In chapter 6, relevant issues of biblical hermeneutics are addressed.

Was Jesus a prophet of the eschatological Kingdom or a teacher of wisdom? These two characterizations of Jesus appear to be incompatible and, since the last century, the former has dominated our understanding of the Gospels at the expense of the latter. Proverbial sayings in the Synoptics have either been pressed into the service of eschatology-and have thus lost their character as wisdom-or have been disregarded as ''inauthentic'', representing a later stage in the tradition. This book offers a critique of the method of historical reconstruction which leads to such conclusions. It also suggests an approach to the rhetoric or function of proverbial sayings, based on pragmatics, which develops the distinction between sense and force and offers some account of the rhetorical strategies involved in the use of proverbs in speech. A final chapter attempts to show how proverbial sayings might be given more significance in our understanding of Jesus'' message through a reconsideration of the relationship between wisdom, eschatology and the Kingdom of God.

This collection of essays attempts to display through theoretical discussion and practical application a number of the most prominent approaches to New Testament study being practised in the guild today. The contributors and their topics include: C.A. Evans on source, form and redation criticism, T.R. Hatina on Jewish religious backgrounds, S.E. Porter on literary approaches, D.L. Stamps on rhetorical criticism, K.D. Clarke on canonical scientific criticism, D. Tombs on the hermeneutics of liberation, and B. Clack on feminist hermeneutics. The goal of the volume is to provide workable models for those interested in expanding or deepening their knowledge of the various approaches to New Testament study.

Examining how Matthew's gospel reflects the situation in which the community found itself after the fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent humiliation of Jews, this volume 276 in the "Journal for the Study of the New testament Supplement" series considers the extent to which he was seeking to oppose Rome's claims to authority and more.

Can we psycho-analyze Jesus? What benefits might such analysis have for Historical Jesus Research? This title examines the key problems which surround writing a 'phsycho-biography' of Jesus - lack of data from his childhood, or information on his sexual identity - and goes on to apply psycho-analytical theory to the evidence we do have.

This study covers the Johannine Christian response to the fall of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 CE. A crucial text is John 2.13-22 and its context, which provide a lens through which other texts in John are viewed. The book also examines the Temple festivals of Passover, Tabernacles and Dedication.

This book maps the relationship between Matthew's Gospel and the Didache. No consensus regarding the nature of this relationship has yet been achieved; nor has serious consideration been given to the possibility that Matthew depended directly on the Didache.

Presents an investigation, which builds upon developments in the study of Paul's use of Scripture that centre around the concept of 'intertextuality.' This book also finds that many of the themes Paul deals with in "Romans 9-11" are also present in ancient Jewish and Christian interpretive traditions surrounding the passages he invokes.

Provides a study to Paul's use of enthymemes as a rhetorical and argumentative tool and evaluates what this reveals about his thought, his teaching, and his social world. This study begins with a discussion of the problem of enthymeme definition, followed by a clarification of criteria for identifying enthymemes in texts.

Acts 1-2 shows the apostles' change of status from followers to leaders. This book uses the model of a modern day ritual in examining the stages of this transformation.

This study applies linguistic research on discourse markers to sentence conjunctions in Matthew's Gospel, examining in detail Matthew's use of kai, de and similar conjunctions in narrative passages. It also has a verse by verse commentary on the structure of the "miracle chapters", Matthew 8-9.

The fifth in a series exploring the use of rhetoric in the study of biblical literature, this volume has essays on the theory of rhetoric and biblical interpretation and the rhetorical interpretation of Luke's Gospel and Acts, Paul's writings, Hebrews and Ignatius.