C. Michael Robbins

Over, under, and through John's story of Jesus are unforgettable ideas and concepts, profoundly simple and simply profound, for the author's own audience and beyond. These ideas did not originate in a vacuum. They have recurred and been repeated before and after the writing of the Fourth Gospel. For this reason we will examine the meaning of its words and themes in the context of its Jewish-Greco-Roman milieu. Much of our intertextual understanding will be derived from alleged parallels that involve comparisons of similar vocabulary and phrases, as well as parallel concepts and images from the Old Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, and other relevant writings. Such parallels will help to determine the meaning of a word or expression, the translation of a particular language, determining any direct influences upon the Fourth Gospel, parallel traditions, or the influence of its ideas, as a creative and inspiring work of later antiquity.

For many years, first-year Greek students have relied on James Allen Hewett's New Testament Greek: A Beginning and Intermediate Grammar for its straightforward approach to the fundamentals of language study. Now this trusted grammar will continue to provide beginning scholars with a solid foundation for doing translation, exegesis, and biblical interpretation. New Testament Greek presents complex Greek grammatical concepts clearly and in terms of familiar English grammar. Each concept is then illustrated using multiple examples from the New Testament, and students apply their learning with translation exercises drawn directly from biblical text instead of artificial sentences created by grammarians. Resources for students are available through Textbook eSources. Features include:• chapters providing a foundational understanding of the basic components of language• a linguistically informed chapter on how languages communicate meaning• detailed explanations of complex grammatical constructions that shed light on biblical meanings• grammatical discussions that reflect recent advances in the understanding of Greek tense and case• vocabulary study lists based on NT word frequency• Greek-to-English translation exercises that help students quickly build competency and confidence• optional "Step Beyond" advanced grammar sections and English-to-Greek translation exercises• expanded reference appendixes, including summary word charts, vocabulary lists, and a list of principal parts of common verbs• a dictionary of all the Greek words used in the text

A revised and updated introduction to the New Testament and its study in its literary, historical and cultural context. This second edition of An Introduction to the New Testament provides readers with pertinent material and a helpful framework that will guide them in their understanding of the New Testament texts. Many new and diverse cultural, historical, social-scientific, sociorhetorical, narrative, textual, and contextual studies have been examined since the publication of the first edition, which was in print for twenty years. The authors retain the original tripartite arrangement on 1) The world of the New Testament, 2) Interpreting the New Testament, and 3) Jesus and early Christianity. An appropriate book for anyone who seeks to better understand what is involved in the exegesis of New Testaments texts today.

The temptations of Jesus cast a spell on readers young and old. These temptations are macabre yet triumphant, short yet endless, ominous and dismal yet sacred and hopeful. Scholars have long been obsessed with the attempted seduction of the Saint and the successful sanitation of the Seducer. Where else but from Q could such an enchanting narrative derive? This book reviews scholarship and examines tradition history to argue that the pericope is more than a wisdom-derived scribal legitimation of the Teacher, a popular (and partially correct) theory about the story's origin and function in Q. It is a theological summit ascribing a unique sonship to Jesus. With diabolic dialogue in such sacred sites as Zion, Sinai, and the desert, protology and eschatology brew to form a muse on both the wilderness testing of Israel and the primeval testing of Adam. The brief expedition through the cosmos - from desert to empire to sanctuary - demonstrates a lordship of evil in the world, and thus a need for the reign of God and a context for Jesus' sonship, sermon, prayer, miracles, exorcisms, and even his death and resurrection. The tests present an approved champion (a Son of God), a conflict (a tryst with mortality and cosmic evil), and a conquest (resulting in an enthronement). These narratives, not supplied by Matthew and Luke, are found only in Q.