David E. Aune

Jesus the Teacher

“Robbins proposes a challenging alternative to current approaches to the study of Mark by demonstrating that its literary qualities are inseparable from ancient social conventions in which Greco-Roman traditions are no less relevant than those of the Old Testament and early Judaism. This book is a major contribution to Markan scholarship as well as an incisive critique of some of the self-imposed limitations of contemporary New Testament research.”

Jesus, the New Testament, and Christian Origins

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

Foreword

“This unique introduction to early Christianity provides a textual resource without parallel for academic courses concerned with a comprehensive, multidimensional treatment of the historical study of early Christianity in all its complexity.”

New Testament Christological Hymns

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Scholars have identified several New Testament passages (e.g., Phil. 2:6-11, Col. 1:15-20; John 1:1-18) as Christological hymns or hymn-like compositions that very likely originated in the setting of early Christian worship. These are some of the most theologically dense Christological passages in Scripture. Matthew Gordley, an expert on the subject (he has published two important and well-received monographs on ancient didactic hymnody), has now crowned his previous work on the subject with an indispensable and up-to-date discussion of a dozen of the most important of these hymnic texts, providing a carefully nuanced and judicious reading of these hymnic passages in the context of their overlapping Jewish, Greco-Roman, and early Christian settings.”

Patterns of Persuasion in the Gospels

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“"An impressive, programmatic argument, which successfully challenges conventional approaches to the Jesus tradition. It demonstrates the relevance of Hellenistic rhetorical theory for composition analysis of the sayings tradition. A groundbreaking study, which all serious students of the gospels must consider.”

The Jewish Apocalyptic Tradition and the Shaping of New Testament Thought

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This stimulating collection of eighteen essays focuses on a neglected but arguably central aspect of apocalyptic tradition: the fundamental role played by the divine disclosure of hidden knowledge. This emphasis on the revelatory component of apocalyptic tradition, sketched out in the introduction, has been generally ignored by New Testament scholars in favor of regarding apocalyptic almost exclusively in terms of eschatology. Each of the essays in this collection apply one or more aspects of this thesis of the fundamentally revelatory character of apocalyptic tradition to virtually every component of the New Testament, strikingly confirming its hermeneutical utility. While this collection of studies convincingly affirms the value of reading the New Testament in light of the fundamentally revelatory character of apocalyptic tradition, it represents only an initial foray into the subject. Given the interpretive potential of this approach to the New Testament, I would highly recommend this book to all serious students of the New Testament.”