Is it important to revere the Old Testament as inspired Scripture, or can one be a "New Testament Christian" without it? The purpose of this book is (a) to show that Yeshu`a reveres the Old Testament as inspired Scripture; (b) that there is a high price to be paid for excluding the Old Testament from the biblical canon; and (c) to encourage readers to follow Yeshu`a's example by taking seriously his question, "Have you not read?"

Contemporary nativism gathers much of its steam from what many Westerners fear to be a free-for-all of desperate refugees invading peaceful Western countries to seek shelter from dictatorial violence and civil war, but in antiquity its impact is much more difficult to measure, given (a) that so few extant texts overtly or covertly reference it; and (b) that so many of those which do are inadequately, incompetently, even speciously interpreted. Complicating this is the fact that at root the...

Today there are many books about worship and many books about the book of Psalms, but only a few books about the relationship between the two. Contemporary studies of the Psalter are in flux between those focused upon each psalm in its literary-historical environment (micro-structuralists) and those focused upon the Psalter as a great literary text comparable to other "great texts" from the ancient world (macro-structuralists). Contemporary worship is also in flux between traditionalists (...

The purpose of this book is to introduce the Pentateuch to (under)graduate students by approaching it from the perspective of five theological polarities: chaos-creation (Genesis), slavery-freedom (Exodus), defilement-holiness (Leviticus), wilderness-homeland (Numbers), and conflict-covenant (Deuteronomy). It examines these polarities in light of other great texts from the ancient Near East (and Qur'an) in the hope of ushering the reader into a deeper understanding of the one God revered b...

Like the first two books in this series (WealthWatch and WealthWarn), this volume attempts to do two things: (a) examine the primary socioeconomic motifs in the Bible from a comparative intertextual perspective, and (b) trace the trajectory formed by these motifs through Tanak into early Jewish and Nazarene texts. Where WealthWatch focuses on Torah and WealthWarn focuses on the Prophets, WealthWise focuses on wisdom literature. The texts examined here include the Instructions of Shuruppak,...

Like the first volume in this series (WealthWatch, Pickwick, 2011) this book attempts to do two things: (a) examine the primary socioeconomic motifs in the Bible from a comparative intertextual perspective, and (b) trace the trajectory formed by these motifs through Tanak into early Jewish and Nazarene texts. Where WealthWatch focuses on Torah, WealthWarn focuses on the single largest section of the Bible--the Prophets. Where the ancient Near Eastern texts surveyed in WealthWatch include t...

The purpose of this book is to help postmodern Westerners understand what the Bible has to say about wealth and possessions, basing itself on the presumption that (a) nobody can understand themselves apart from some recognition of their spiritual roots, and (b) that these roots sink deeper into the pages of the Bible than most Westerners realize. Focusing upon that part of the Bible most widely recognized to be its ideological core--that which is called Torah by some, Pentateuch by others-...

This book is a collection of revised-and-updated essays about the Hebrew Bible written by a North American scholar over a period of several decades. Subdivided into three parts--Torah, Prophecy/Apocalyptic, and Wisdom--these seventeen essays attempt to model for younger scholars and students what the discipline of biblical interpretation can look like, attending carefully to literary, historical, canonical, and comparative intertextual methods of investigation.

Every Saturday morning Glenn goes to the cafe to meet his friend Richard, a brilliant but eccentric and struggling artist. Richard cares far more about achieving his artistic vision than he does making money. Glenn would like Richard to be able to pay his studio rent. Between pots of tea, they discuss life and art.After Richard leaves an unintentional defect in one of his drawings, the piece of art soars in popularity and value as it is traded among collectors. Richard has no idea ...

Andrew has always dreamed of being a guitarist in a rock band. The problem is he doesn't play guitar. When he sees an ad asking for a guitarist who doesn't play guitar, he thinks his dream could finally come true. However, the eccentric band leader's uncompromising vision of jazz and noise creates many obstacles. Can Andrew keep the band going and fulfill his dream?Richard is a former struggling artist dealing with the new pressure of fame and money. While he can appreciate the ide...

The concept of causation is fundamental to ascribing moral and legal responsibility for events. Yet the relationship between causation and responsibility remains unclear. What precisely is the connection between the concept of causation used in attributing responsibility and the accounts of causal relations offered in the philosophy of science and metaphysics? How much of what we call causal responsibility is in truth defined by non-causal factors? This book argues that much of the legal d...

Mechanical Choices details the intimate connection that exists between morality and law: the morality we use to blame others for their misdeeds and the criminal law that punishes them for these misdeeds. This book shows how both law and morality presuppose the accuracy of common sense, a centuries-old psychology that defines people as rational agents who make honorable choices and act for just reasons. It then shows how neuroscience is commonly taken to challenge these fundamental...