John Riches

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring The Bible is one of the world's most read and most influential books. It has provided many rules for people to live by, and has shaped our language and our shared beliefs in ways that have both drawn communities together and fueled bitter disputes and conflicts. Having played a major role in the development of Western culture, the Bible continues to exert an enormous influence over millions of lives. This Very Short Introduction explores the material, cultural, and religious history of the Bible. Looking first at how the books of the Bible came to be written down and collected as authoritative sacred texts, John Riches goes on to show how they were produced and distributed across the world, and how they have been read and interpreted by differing communities in different languages. Riches compares how Jewish and Christian communities have interpreted the same passage of the Bible, and looks at some of the strikingly varied readings a very short book like Galatians has received over 2,000 years. Finally, he explores post-colonial and feminist readings of the Bible, and concludes by surveying the uses of the Bible in art, music, poetry, and politics. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Karl Ludwig Schmidt's classic Die Stellung der Evangelien der allgemeinen Literaturgeschichte was one of a handful of twentieth-century essays on the New Testament to set the agenda for an entire generation of New Testament scholars. First published in 1923, the text laid out Schmidt's contention that the gospels represent a literary genre that does not derive from others in the ancient world. In portraying the gospels as the written record of an oral tradition rather than as biographical or historical text, the German scholar found points of comparison with Sayings of the Desert Fathers and the later collections of Faust legends. Schmidt's powerful argument has commanded attention in Germany for decades but has never before been fully available in English. In recent years the question of gospel genre has reemerged as an issue of debate. With this translation, Byron R. McCane enables a new generation of English-speaking scholars to engage with Schmidt's classic perspective on an enduring question. In an introduction to the volume, John Riches places Schmidt's landmark study in its context. He locates the text among the writings of the form critics, with whom Schmidt allied himself, and relates it to Schmidt's own still untranslated study of the topography and chronology of the gospels. He documents the essay's reception in the English-speaking world and critically examines the way Schmidt is understood in present-day discussion of the genre of the gospels. Riches also explores how recent efforts to classify the gospels as ancient biographies have in many ways misread and misrepresented Schmidt's views - errors that this translation will help rectify.

This commentary on Paul’s highly autobiographical letter to the Galations traces the history of the book’s reception through the ages. Explores the influence and history of this important New Testament bookDemonstrates the crucial role that Galatians has played in the development of very diverse forms of Christian spiritualityConsiders the influence of Galatians on a wide range of theological figures, including Chrysostom, Augustine, and LutherExamines the ways in which Galatians has influenced images of Paul, suggesting that it is the indeterminacy and complexity of his text that cause it to be interpreted in such widely differing waysFocuses on verses, themes or arguments that have been the subject of particularly influential readingsPublished in the innovative and stimulating Wiley-Blackwell Bible Commentaries reception history series, which focuses on the broad spectrum of interpretations rather than the traditional verse by verse analysis typically found in commentaries.

Contextual Bible Study (CBS) is an exciting approach to group Bible study that encourages people of all ages and all walks of life to read the Bible together and to allow it to shape their understanding of the burning issues of the day.

This commentary on Paul’s highly autobiographical letter to the Galations traces the history of the book’s reception through the ages. Explores the influence and history of this important New Testament bookDemonstrates the crucial role that Galatians has played in the development of very diverse forms of Christian spiritualityConsiders the influence of Galatians on a wide range of theological figures, including Chrysostom, Augustine, and LutherExamines the ways in which Galatians has influenced images of Paul, suggesting that it is the indeterminacy and complexity of his text that cause it to be interpreted in such widely differing waysFocuses on verses, themes or arguments that have been the subject of particularly influential readingsPublished in the innovative and stimulating Wiley-Blackwell Bible Commentaries reception history series, which focuses on the broad spectrum of interpretations rather than the traditional verse by verse analysis typically found in commentaries.

Adjudication has been the main means of settling construction disputes since it was first introduced by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, and a substantial body of case law has now built up. This book established itself as the key authority on adjudication when it was first published. It has now been revised to reflect the authors' experience of adjudication in practice and to cover the large number of court decisions. It features useful appendices on adjudication materials.

This book examines the social, economic, political, and cultural context of first-century Judaism. Precipitated by the coming of the Romans during the previous century, Judaism experienced a crisis of cultural erosion in the first century A. D. The author first describes the ways in which foreign domination threatened the Jewish community - for example, by causing a migration away from the countryside into cities. He then discusses how various groups of Jews tried to preserve their cultural identity through their definitions of Jewishness and through the ethical codes they devised. Groups examined include the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, the Essenes, and John the Baptist and his followers. The author locates Jesus’ teaching in relation to the teachings of these groups, arguing that Jesus was deeply committed to the values of the Jewish tradition even while he proposed radical change that he believed would bring renewal.