Dietmar Neufeld

Gathered around Jesus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In a splendid presentation, Eric R. Stewart guides the reader through the intricacies of critical social theory of spatiality and argues that Mark eschews the space of the synagogue, house, and city in which to locate the movement of Jesus, and instead founds Jesus's movement in the borderland territories of the wilderness/desert, the sea, and the mountain. There Jesus creates the new space of the kingdom of God in gathering people around himself. This is an important book.”

Joseph's Dilemma

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Marohl's systematic analysis of the cultural presuppositions of Matthew's presentation of Mary's shameful pregnancy leads him to conclude that Joseph contemplated killing Mary which, while shocking, reveals a narrative pattern that is evident throughout the gospel--'from unexpected death comes unexpected, new life.' It is a pattern that is to be replicated in the lives of the Jesus followers. Marohl's unique combination of cultural anthropology and honor killings casts new light on the Gospel's meaning and intended outcome.”

Text, Image, and Christians in the Graeco-Roman World

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“"Richly decorated with images, this remarkably diverse yet unified collection of twenty-one essays serves up a fitting tribute to David Lee Balch. As David Balch has noted throughout his research career, material culture, visual and constructed worlds, and texts are deliberate acts of communication and persuasion. Thus, convinced that archaeology, art, literary documents, and the iconography of the Greeks and Romans situate text in context, each of the essayists picks up on these social-cultural elements and covers a stunning variety of texts, topics, representative artistic images, sculptures, reliefs, and epigraphic remains. Stimulating, provocative, and challenging are the operative words for this festschrift and the person to whom it gives honor.”