Need a quick summary of the best insights from today's Gospel scholarship? These commentaries on the Gospels by William Loader, a leading international scholar, seek to provide just that, offering a careful contemporary translation and a concise, informed commentary, as a resource for preachers, for people wanting an intelligent faith, and for group study and discussion. Following Luke engages the text as cross-cultural, reading it in the world of its time and acknowledging distance but al...

This is an alternative commentary, concise, up-to-date, readable, and engaging the biblical text as a cross-cultural encounter. It both acknowledges the distance and difference of John's Gospel from our contemporary world as well as highlighting its proximity and relevance. The commentary explores John's special emphases, imagery, and distinctive creativity in portraying Jesus' significance in a way that is able to address a universal audience. The volume includes a new translation of the ...

This book raises thorny questions about the themes of faith, hope, and love. Is God really like Jesus or was Jesus a temporary exception to the way God usually is? Was there forgiveness before the cross? Will God one day stop loving? What do we do with the fact that the hopes they had for change were not fulfilled? What happened to good news for the poor? Why did some replace it with something else? Does Christian freedom mean we no longer need the Law? Were early responses to rejection al...

This book comes from the playground of imagination. It is the work of a leading international specialist in New Testament studies with a passion for making the findings of New Testament research accessible for a wide readership. From children's stories to liturgies, poems to subversively provocative fantasies, it invites the reader to play, to reflect, and to be confronted. This is a book to keep coming back to, rather than one to be read from cover to cover. It invites the reader to engag...

Loader looks at hotly contested New Testament passages on sexuality and offers a fair and balanced treatment of what scholars say about them. He also offers an analysis of why interpreters say what they say, and demonstrates how texts may be interpreted specifically to support a preformed opinion.Written in straightforward, non-technical language, this classroom text is also ideal for Bible study groups.

Communities of faith regularly turn to texts written two millennia ago to explore their questions about sexuality. This book introduces readers to the key passages that must be examined when trying to understand what the New Testament says about sexual ethics.

A scholarly examination of same-sex sexuality in the Bible in the context of the ancient worldScriptural prohibitions of same-sex sexual acts (so-called "clobber passages") are often used as prooftexts to support the oppression of LGBT communities in the West today. However, such interpretation of these scant references ignores critical sociohistorical context from the ancient world.Analyzing a wealth of primary sources, Thomas Kazen brings biblical studies...

Bill Loader has been one of the leading New Testament scholars not just in Australia, but globally, for half a century. What is immediately apparent is that the clarity of communication and the exceptional precision in analyzing the details of ancient texts, which are the hallmarks of his scholarship, were present even in the earliest essays. Without exception every essay in this volume is a contribution of exceptional insight for all who seek to learn from an exemplary scholar.

How do you deal with disappointment? For instance, how do you feel when you offer something you cherish and you want others to cherish, and they reject your offer? How do you cope with someone rejecting your view? How do you cope with dissent? People's responses vary. They may range from "I hate you! Why don't you love me?!" to disparagement and denigration. At worst, you may embrace the hatred that generates violence and war. At best, you may engage with the other to understand and accept...

The culmination of a lifetime of work on the Gospel of John, William Loader's Jesus in John's Gospel explores the Fourth Gospel with a focus on ways in which attention to the structure of Christology in John allows for greater understanding of Johannine themes and helps resolve long-standing interpretive impasses.Following an introductory examination of Rudolf Bultmann's profound influence on Johannine studies, Loader turns to the central interpretive issues and debates su...

What are the main things one needs to be aware of in order to take Matthew seriously as a witness to faith? This commentary seeks to read Matthew in the context of its world without glossing over the challenges that such an open and positive critical engagement presents. It provides a careful contemporary translation and a concise, informed commentary designed as a practical resource for preachers, for people wanting an intelligent faith, and for group study and discussion. Its author, Wil...

This book offers an alternative commentary--concise, up-to-date, readable, engaging the text as a cross-cultural encounter, acknowledging distance and difference from our contemporary world as well as highlighting proximity and relevance. It is written by a leading international New Testament scholar and designed for individual and group use. The commentary looks at Mark's special emphases, with attention also to its use by other Gospel writers and its use for recovering the emphases of Je...