Ben Witherington III
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Reading the Book of Isaiah in its original context is the crucial prerequisite for reading its citation and use in later interpretation, including the New Testament writings, argues Ben Witherington III. Here he offers pastors, teachers, and students an accessible commentary to Isaiah, as well as a reasoned consideration of how Isaiah was heard and read in early Christianity. By reading "forward and backward" Witherington advances the scholarly discussion...
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This volume completes Ben Witherington's contributions to the set of Eerdmans socio-rhetorical commentaries on the New Testament.
In addition to the usual features of these commentaries, Witherington offers an innovative way of looking at Colossians, Ephesians, and Philemon as interrelated documents written at different levels of moral discourse. Colossians is first-order moral discourse (the opening gambit), Ephesians is second-order moral discourse...
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Widespread unemployment. Record home foreclosures. A vulnerable stock market. Government bailouts. In the wake of a sobering global recession, many Christians realize they need to rethink their approach to money. Here respected New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III explores what the Bible does--and doesn't--say about money. He clearly and concisely examines what Jesus and his earliest followers taught about wealth and poverty, money and debt,...
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Scholars recognize that prophetic traditions, expressions, and experiences stand at the heart of most religions in the ancient Mediterranean world. This is no less true for the world of Judaism and Jesus. Ben Witherington III offers an extensive, cross-cultural survey of the broader expressions of prophecy in its ancient Mediterranean context, beginning with Mari, moving to biblical figures not often regarded as prophets, Balaam, Deborah, Moses, and...
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This unprecedented commentary applies an exegetical method informed by both sociological insight and rhetorical analysis to the study of 1 and 2 Corinthians. In addition to using traditional exegetical and historical methods, this unique study also analyzes the two letters of Paul in terms of Greco-Roman rhetoric and ancient social conditions and customs to shed fresh light on the context and content of Paul's message. Includes 21 black-and-white...
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This is a print on demand book and is therefore non-returnable.
This informative, clearly written book introduces the New Testament in two main ways: (1) it explains where the New Testament came from, and (2) it examines the New Testament writings themselves.
Ben Witherington first tells how and why the New Testament documents were written and collected and how they came to be known as the New Testament that we have today. He then discusses the...
7) What Have They Done With Jesus?: Beyond Strange Theories and Bad History--Why We Can Trust the Bible
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"Admirably learned, shrewdly argued, and thoroughly readable - exactly what we have come to expect from Ben Witherington!" - Philip Jenkins, Professor of History and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University
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Southern Discomfort tells the story of Masey Bumgarner, recently widowed, who returns from her summer vacation to discover that her town, Pineville, North Carolina, has decided to pave a four-lane highway through her front yard . . . without her permission or even sufficient advance notice. After consultation with her pastor, she decides to contest the location of this project in court. Along the way, her lawyer and his detective discover all sorts...
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Most Christians spend most of their waking hours working, yet many regard work as at best a necessary evil-just one more unfortunate by-product of humanity's fall from grace. Not so, says Ben Witherington III, and in Work: A Kingdom Perspective on Labor, he considers work as neither the curse nor the cure of human life but, rather, as something good that God has given us to do. In this brief primer on the biblical theology and ethics of work, Witherington...
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Reading the books of the Law, the Pentateuch, in their original context is the crucial prerequisite for reading their citation and use in later interpretation, including the New Testament writings, argues Ben Witherington III. Here, he offers pastors, teachers, and students an accessible commentary on the Pentateuch, as well as a reasoned consideration of how these books were, heard and read in early Christianity. By reading "forward and backward,"...
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We Have Seen His Glory sounds a clarion call to worship in light of the coming Kingdom. Ben Witherington here contends that Christian worship cannot be a matter of merely continuing ancient practices; instead, we must be preparing for worship in the Kingdom of God when it comes on earth. The eight chapters in this thought-provoking book each end with questions for reflection and discussion-ideal fare for church study groups.
"In this study I hope...
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Many people assume that becoming a serious student of the Bible merely requires diligent study of English Bible translations, but biblical scholarship is much more complex. Is There a Doctor in the House? demonstrates what it takes to be a responsible Bible teacher, a well-published Bible scholar, or even a good student of the Bible: exacting knowledge of biblical languages and the languages in which most Bible scholarship is done; a love for history...
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Grace in Galatia is an innovative socio-rhetorical study of Paul's most polemical letter. Ben Witherington breaks new ground by analyzing the whole of Galatians as a deliberative discourse meant to forestall the Galatians from submitting to circumcision and the Jewish law.
The commentary features the latest discussion of major problems in Pauline studies, including Paul's view of the law and the relationship between the historical data in Galatians...
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Do you know the character of our God--do you know who God is?
What does it mean to say that God is love, light, life, and spirit? In Who God Is, world-renowned New Testament scholar Ben Witherington III explores the nature and character of the God of the Bible by focusing specifically on the nouns used to describe who God is. This rich exploration has its foundation in a deep reading of the biblical text. Reflecting on these descriptions of God...
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The impact Jesus had on numerous lives during his earthly ministry is obvious from the Gospel records themselves. But what we do not have is personal testimonies by those persons whom Jesus helped, healed, befriended, or recruited as disciples. In this creative exploration of what sort of testimonies those original encounters might have produced, Ben Witherington paints a picture for us of what the well-known and the less well known eyewitnesses might...
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Reading the Book of Psalms in its original context is the crucial prerequisite for reading its citation and use in later interpretation, including the New Testament writings, argues Ben Witherington III. Here he offers pastors, teachers, and students an accessible commentary to the Psalms, as well as, a reasoned consideration of how they were, heard and read in early, Christianity. By reading "forward and backward," Witherington advances the scholarly...
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While Paul's letter to the Romans is the most studied and commented-on document from the biblical period, the major exegetical books on Romans from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been overwhelmingly shaped by the Reformed tradition. Through a careful survey of work on Romans by both ancient Church Fathers and modern exegetical scholars, Ben Witherington III here argues that the interpretation of Romans since the Reformation has been far...
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When was the last time you heard a sermon on the theological importance of play? What do rest, eating, studying - and sex - have to do with the Kingdom of God? Strangely, although these activities together take up much of our time, they seldom receive much discussion from a biblical point of view.
In The Rest of Life Ben Witherington explores these subjects in the light of biblical teaching about the Kingdom of God and the Christian hope for the...
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Paul's two letters to the Thessalonians stand as some of the very earliest Christian documents, yet they appear well into Paul's missionary career, giving them a unique context well worth exploring. In this first full-scale socio-rhetorical commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Ben Witherington gleans fresh insight from reading Paul's text in the light of rhetorical concerns and patterns, early Jewish theology, and the first-century historical situation...