Conversations with Scripture

Written in accessible language and sensitive to those who have little or no experience in reading the Bible, each book in the Conversations with Scripture series focuses on exploring the historical and critical background of the biblical texts, while illustrating how these centuries-old writings still speak to us today. Countryman brings his considerable biblical studies erudition as well as his skills as a popular writer and published poet to bear on the Psalms. Though an accomplished scholar of the New Testament, Countryman illumines the Psalms with insight and creativity. Readers will experience this most beloved part of the scriptural canon in a fresh and exciting way.

Roadmap, myth, or history? The Book of Revelation draws readers and repels them. It offers some people hope and instills fear in others. In this volume of the new AABS series Frederick W. Schmidt, also the series editor, explores the approaches that have dominated the interpretation of John's Apocalypse and offers the reader an accessible means of understanding and evaluating them. With this grounding in hand, Schmidt explores how Revelation can shape our understanding of God, and nurture our spiritual lives in unexpected ways. Leaving behind left-behind theology, Schmidt offers instead an approach that allows this obscure, almost opaque text to speak to us anew about God, faith, hope, and justice. Books in this series, co-sponsored by the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars, are written in accessible language, sensitive to the needs of people who have little or no experience in reading the Bible. Each book focuses on exploring the historical and critical background, as well as how the biblical texts written centuries ago can still speak to readers today.

From the very beginning, human beings have loved to listen to stories. And Jesus loved to tell them. The parables are vivid, rich, arresting stories that make us think and teach us lessons about our relationship with God and others. From talents to mustard seeds, from shepherds to Samaritans, Jesus used common reference points to teach important truths. But the parables are filled with ambiguity and room for interpretation. With historical and cultural background, and careful scholarly detail, this book helps readers explore their beauty, richness, and joy. Includes discussion questions and activities. Chapters are organized by parable types such as seeking and growth.

Daniel was written during a time when God's people were struggling to discern how to remain faithful, even as their lives were dominated by the political and cultural forces of the Empire. Daniel's central themes have remained relevant ever since: the challenge of remaining loyal to God despite the alternately seductive and threatening voices of imperial powers; the indispensability of humility before God; the perpetual problem of human arrogance and failure to recognize the overarching power of God; the insatiable and life-denying human thirst for power and control; and the call to find in God the source of just, joyful and abundant living. As people today try to make sense of a newly emerging global reality, Daniel continues to speak an important word about faithful living. Who truly controls our lives? To what or whom do we owe ultimate allegiance? To whom do the kingdom, the power and the glory belong? This book invites readers to consider the questions that Daniel raises and then live out the answers.

Established resource series for church groups and individual use An expert in church renewal takes the opportunity to approach the series in a fresh, new fashion It has been said that we are called not only to read Scripture but to let Scripture read us. In that spirit, this book will guide readers into conversation with Paul's letter to the Romans. The author will help us listen to what that letter said to the people to whom it was written and to hear what it says to us today. Readers will bring their own reflections, personal concerns, and questions to the table as we let this letter challenge us with meaning-letting it read the reader. The thesis of this book is that the letter has demonstrated transforming power to renew lives and the church through a focus on worship; a rigorous assessment of the human condition, especially the failure of human religiosity; a claim of transforming power in the ongoing life of Christ; an expansive vision of who is included in God's life and love; a call to practical application and proclamation of the gospel.

Although the Ten Commandments have been the center of much recent controversy in American politics, scripture contains many laws about which Christians are perplexed. If the Bible contains laws, shouldn't those laws be followed? What does the law that prohibits reaping a harvest to the very edges of your field mean in modern times? Or, what about God's prohibition, in Leviticus, not to round off the hair on your temples or to mar the edges of your beard? The Decalogue and the Holiness Code in Leviticus contain guidelines to ethical behavior that originally helped to shape a covenant community and still have meaning for us today. In the newest addition to the Conversations with Scripture series, Kevin Wilson offers fresh insights into the meaning of the Law for today. In chapters that explore the Law in Exodus and Leviticus, Wilson examines the historical and cultural contexts of these legal codes. He discusses rituals such as sacrifice and rituals related to purification from defilement. Wilson demonstrates the ways in which the temple priests used many of these laws as their own code of purity and their own method of enforcing purity in the covenant community. As with other books in the series, Wilson's book features definitions and sidebars in each chapter on particular topics, as well as study questions.

Sunday School curriculum or an irredeemably violent book? Throughout its history Judges has both entertained and appalled readers-some read it as a series of simple stories about faithfulness and some as a brutal and bloodthirsty book. Heller explores how Judges can shape our understanding of our world, our relationships, and can provide a path to a deeper appreciation of the ways of God among people. Far from seeing the book as either simplistic or cruel, Heller allows this odd text to speak to us anew about God, sin, relationships, and justice.

Most Christians are familiar with the story told in Mark's gospel - from the fishermen leaving their nets, to the miracle of the loaves and fishes, to the political rumblings and the crucifixion. But no one knows who "Mark" really was or why this gospel was written or why it's charged with such a sense of immediacy. For noted Jesus scholar Marcus Borg, reading Mark is like "meeting Jesus again for the first time." Individual readers and parish study groups will learn about this earliest gospel from the perspective of an important Anglican theologian. Conversations with Scripture is the umbrella title of the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars Study Series. Written in accessible language and sensitive to those who have little or no experience in reading the Bible, each book in the series focuses on exploring the historical and critical background, plus modern application of the texts. Other books in the series focus on the Gospel of John, Revelation, the Law, the Parables, and 2 Isaiah. From the Introduction: "In thousands of congregations...this emerging way has been a means of revitalizing and deepening Christian understanding and commitment. It is a way that integrates faith and reason, head and heart, intellect, experience, and yearning. For me, it has made all the difference. This book is a small contribution to this process of adult theological re-education."

The God of Second Isaiah, the "Holy One of Israel," is increasingly foreign to modern Anglicans, who are often uncomfortable with the uncanny, fiery side of God. Unfortunately, this may leave Anglicans frustrated both with God's "non-rational" ways and with morality-centered Christianity. The new research behind this book reveals Second Isaiah as priestly temple literature, expert at the Holy and its coming dawn on earth. Second Isaiah highlights priestly themes and quotes the temple texts to help readers approach that which is utterly mysterious. To study this material is to rediscover the overwhelming, absolute worth of God.

For contemporary Christians, John's gospel is a paradox. On the one hand, it stresses boundaries: "No one comes to the Father except through me," while on the other it stresses community: "I have no longer called you servants, but friends." This book encourages readers to draw out the tensions between these two perspectives to make the gospel more meaningful to their lives.

As Luke's "sequel," the Acts of the Apostles serves as an ideal bridge between the four Gospels and the Epistles, revealing a crucial part of the Christian story. Here we follow the story of Jesus' earliest followers from their call to be his witnesses "to the ends of the earth," through their initial days of concord and numerical success, to the challenges they faced as unfamiliar newcomers entered the scene. We discover the leadership changes that resulted from these challenges, explore a council's response to the struggles, and meet the champion who, against the odds, became the Church's chief protagonist. Author C. K. Robertson presents a well-researched, yet highly readable exploration of the Acts of the Apostles.

This book invites readers to enter the narrative world and the historical context of Matthew's gospel to encounter Jesus Christ in his mighty works and words. Focusing on particular social and theological issues, such as eschatology and Jewish-Christian conflict, it shows how Matthew used Jesus' stories and teachings to instruct and sustain his racially-mixed church to meet the severe challenges posed by Pharisaic opposition, Roman suspicion and intramural tension. It is worth noting that the church today faces similar challenges in its need to articulate its faith and identity, to bear strong witness and unity, and to carry out its missions to baptize and teach the world. Sponsored by the Anglican Association of Biblical Scholars, the Conversations with Scripture series was created just for Episcopalians. Each book is designed for people in the pews eager to learn more about Scripture-and how it applies to their lives today.

The best of therapy and spiritual direction begins with telling stories that describe where we have been and where we are going. Luke is neither a psychologist nor a spiritual director, but intuitively he understands the importance of storytelling as the key to human growth, change, and healing. Speaking to the crisis of faith faced by his church, Luke retells the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, death, and resurrection as a means of addressing the spiritual struggles that resurface generation after generation. Touching on issues of belonging, authority, tradition, behavior, and hope, Schmidt offers a reading of Luke's gospel that speaks to today's reader.