C. Clifton Black

A Month of Prayer and Gratitude

Bible Studies & Devotionals

“This collection directs us to God. No book could do anything more precious.”

Echoes of the Word

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“"Repentance,' observes Leander Keck, 'is the discipline of turning the life Godward and holding it steadily into the wind.' This book testifies to a life and profession of such graced discipline. Palpable on every page are the integrity of Christian faith and the scholar's accountability to God. Echoes of the Word they may be--but their sonority outweighs the babbling of contemporary biblical exegesis and theological interpretation.”

Getting "Saved"

Theology

“Extending previous research in creative directions, this volume should stimulate a return to the primary sources and productive debate over their interpretation.”

Honor Among Christians

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Honor among Christians evinces perhaps the most thorough deployment of cultural anthropology for understanding Mark's Gospel that I know, and one of the most sophisticated. Watson convincingly argues that Wrede's durable prism of 'the Messianic secret' has occluded our exegetical vision, which may be corrected by adopting lenses more appropriate to Mark's own social world. The text, not a method, remains focal in Watson's analysis, which opens rather than shuts down a broad range of productive conversation with other interpretive approaches. This is a work of genuine importance, chiefly because it illumines how subversive the Second Gospel was in its own place and time—and remains so in our own.”

Of Seeds and the People of God

Preaching & Worship

“Studies of homiletical method are legion. Michael Knowles offers us something finer, richer, and more honest: a deep consideration of the God of life, whose cruciform Spirit graces our inadequacy and failures in the pulpit to bear faithful witness to a power that is not our own. Professor Knowles's approach is at once profoundly scriptural, traditionally sensitive, theologically grounded, and spiritual in the most authentically Christian sense. Only an author of seasoned wisdom and great compassion could have written Of Seeds and the People of God. May it find its way into the hands of all who preach, particularly those doubtful that their preaching makes a difference. It does--as surely as we depend on the trustworthy God 'who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.'”

Out of Season

Preaching & Worship

“The church’s most penetrating theologians have invariably been preachers immersed in ‘the word of God, living and active’ (Heb 4:12). Among them stands Luke Timothy Johnson: exegete, prophet, consoler, and—of prime importance—Christian disciple. Perceptive, honest, and faithful, Out of Season is a gathering of sermons for all seasons. Attend carefully. Through them, the Spirit unites us with the mind of Christ.”

Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“New Testament scholars recognize Kenneth Bailey as that rare interpreter with intimate knowledge of Middle Eastern culture, ancient and modern. His latest volume now reveals rumination of the rhetoric that serves Paul's theology and ethics. Bailey's signal achievement is to rebut readings of 1 Corinthians as a haphazard document, obscurely reasoned. At once learned and deeply personal, this commentary will surely stimulate productive debate in the exegesis of one among Paul's weightiest letters.”

Reading the Parables

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Paraboles à la Lischer: Sift approximately twoscore years of homiletics with a decade of pastoral experience. Measure organic, free-range historical study of Scripture into a batter comprising a cup of literary cream, finely grated philosophy, and a dash of political pepper. Whisk in zest of imagery and words freshly squeezed. Carefully strain out all clichés; never overwork the mixture. Pour the blend evenly into a deep theology and bake over a steady, high intelligence. Let cool slightly though not completely before devouring. Yield: Incalculable.”

The Gospel According to Paul

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“With characteristic diligence and insight, Professor Twelftree exhorts biblical interpreters to remove Protestant eyeglasses and to view afresh ‘the gospel’ as Paul demonstrably understood it. . . . The Gospel According to Paul is a vital contribution to scholarship that historians, theologians, pastors, and students would neglect at their peril.”

The New Westminster Dictionary of Christian Spirituality

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“All the names you would expect to find among the contributors are here, and then some. Under Sheldrake’s guidance, they have produced a superb reference work, which belongs in theological, church, and public libraries.”

The People of the Parables

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Professor Culpepper’s latest opus is a one-volume encyclopedia of the social history underlying the people of the parables: well-organized, scrupulously documented, grounded in research both venerable and up-to-date, judicious, and lucid. It illuminates the obvious and probes the unnoticeable. For its insight, concision, and convenience, I shall keep this book at hand in all future study of Jesus’ parables. Others are urged to do likewise.”

The Turning Point in the Gospel of Mark

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“With admirable concision, purified of cant, this monograph offers a reliable guide to Mark's most controversial issues in the service of a creative proposal for that Gospel's exegesis. Consonant with his own 'heuristic device,' Morrison's study is Janus-like: looking backward to assess over a century of Markan study, facing forward to firmer comprehension of Mark's literary and theological intricacy. An illuminating exploration of Markan Christology, The Turning Point in the Gospel of Mark merits a wide readership.”

The Vehement Jesus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Every chapter of The Vehement Jesus contains a biblical bomb ready to explode. David Neville is not in the business of defusing and disposal; he opens the passages carefully and shows us what makes them tick. His exegesis is precise, contextually sensitive, self-critical, and conversant with a range of opinion both contemporary and ancient. His conclusions are judicious and never predetermined. The author deserves our thanks for a tractable treatise on intractable texts.”

Third Voice

Preaching & Worship

“How I wish that this book had been available in my juvenile study of homiletics and ordination to ministry. How certain I am to revisit it before returning to a pulpit. In exegetical acuity, capacious learning, careful reasoning, mature judgment, and eloquent clarity, Third Voice is one of the finest theologies of preaching I have ever read. ‘We are not the ones who make sense of Jesus’ resurrection; it is Jesus’ resurrection that makes sense of us, fashioning us into witnesses by virtue of its ability to create a coherence and vitality that we would otherwise lack.’ Amen.”

Too Sick to Pray

Arts & Literature

“Conversant with theology and musicology, aesthetics and honkytonks, C. M. Howell invites you to a smoky roadhouse where Tillich knocks back a few with Willie, beside Jüngel with Waylon, Pannenberg with Billy Joe, von Balthasar with Van Zandt. It's a helluva trip. How can you resist?”

Travels with St. Mark: GPS for the Journey

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In design and execution, this pedagogical aid is unique. Instead of drowning his reader in data, Lemcio offers carefully constructed charts with which the student may begin to intelligently navigate Mark. Amidst well-honed comments, Lemcio poses incisive questions that continuously return us to the primary text. The result is a valuable collection of maps for the gospel that calls disciples to position themselves properly: following the way of Jesus.”