Southwestern Journal of Theology 2025 Book Award (Biblical Reference / Biblical Backgrounds)A fundamental principle of biblical interpretation is the importance of context--historical, literary, and canonical. But an often-neglected source of context for understanding Scripture is the field of archaeology. The physical and cultural world we inhabit affects us deeply, and that was no less true for the original writers and readers of Scriptu...

This comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to the Old Testament apocryphal books summarizes their context, message, and significance. The first edition has been very well reviewed and widely adopted. It is the most substantial introduction to the Apocrypha available and has become a standard authority on the topic. The second edition has been substantially revised and updated throughout to reflect the latest scholarship. The book includes a foreword by James H. Charlesworth.

Grow in the Scriptures throughout the church year with David deSilva as your mentor.Beginning with Advent and moving through the church year, David deSilva brings his years of experience as a biblical scholar to the church in the form of sermons delivered to his home congregation throughout the church year, now adapted into a thoughtful and inspiring collection of reflections.These reflections, which draw on readings from the Revised Common Lectionary, will...

Southwestern Journal of Theology 2025 Book Award (Biblical Reference / Biblical Backgrounds)A fundamental principle of biblical interpretation is the importance of context--historical, literary, and canonical. But an often-neglected source of context for understanding Scripture is the field of archaeology. The physical and cultural world we inhabit affects us deeply, and that was no less true for the original writers and readers of Scriptu...

The gospel is often presented as little more than a "get out of hell free" pass. But is that all there is to it? What made it so compelling that the Apostle Paul would give up everything, enduring hardships and deprivation to preach good news? David deSilva argues that some Christians have unintentionally reduced the gospel to a message Paul would hardly recognize. The "gift of righteousness" is far richer than many of us have dared to imagine!In Transformation: The Heart of Pa...

In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, two respected New Testament scholars offer a practical commentary on James and Jude that is conversant with contemporary scholarship, draws on ancient backgrounds, and attends to the theological nature of the texts.This commentary, like each in the projected eighteen-volume series, proceeds by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by

What happens when old meets newAs David deSilva has experienced the ancient wisdom of the Book of Common Prayer, he's been formed spiritually in deep and lasting ways. In these pages, he offers you a brand new way to use the Book of Common Prayer, that you too might experience new growth, new intimacy with God and a new lens through which to view the world.Focusing on the four sacramental rites of baptism, Eucharist, marriage and burial, deSilva explores ea...

Professor deSilva's outstanding textbook sets a new standard for the genre. The usual topics of New Testament introduction are integrated with instruction in interpretative strategies and application to ministry formation. The attractive layout includes numerous maps, photographs and text-boxes.

For contemporary Western readers, it can be easy to miss or misread cultural nuances in the New Testament. To hear the text correctly we must be attuned to its original context. As David deSilva demonstrates, keys to interpretation are found in paying attention to four essential cultural themes: honor and shame, patronage and reciprocity, kinship and family, and purity and pollution.Through our understanding of honor and shame in the Mediterranean world, we gain ne...

A fundamental principle of biblical interpretation is the importance of context--historical, literary, and canonical. But an often-neglected source of context for understanding Scripture is the field of archaeology. The physical and cultural world we inhabit affects us deeply, and that was no less true for the original writers and readers of Scripture. Archaeology provides insights into important questions like, What did these believers see day to day? What messages did they receive from t...

What if the book of Revelation isn't a playbook for the end times? What if it isn't a fanciful letter to be decoded? What if the apostle John actually had a pressing and relevant message for the first-century churches he addressed?Amid the fervor for popular apocalyptic books and speculative end-times theology, New Testament scholar David deSilva offers a book to help readers thoughtfully approach Revelation as it was intended to be read by John's audience....

Fourth Maccabees is a superbly crafted oration that presents a case for the Jewish way of life couched almost entirely in terms of Greek ethical ideals. Its author delights in the Torah, the Law of Moses, as the divinely given path to becoming our best selves now. In this collection of essays spanning two decades of study, David deSilva examines the formative training that produced such an author, the rhetorical crafting and effect of his work, the author's creative use of both Jewish and ...