James Riley Strange

Insights from Archaeology

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“David Fiensy has given us what we want in an introductory volume on archaeology and the Gospels. In addition to the information he presents, how Fiensy writes provides its own lessons. His clear, spare prose and his careful sieving of his sources set forth the evidence that makes his thesis stick. He has read widely and deeply. He both summarizes previous work and produces original research. His sober conclusions avoid facile claims. Consequently, not only does this book belong in institutional libraries, it also should find its way onto the shelves of seminary and university students and the professors who teach them. I anticipate that interested laypeople who pick it up will only reluctantly put it down.”

James and Jude

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Painter and deSilva are to be congratulated for taking their readers and the biblical text seriously. They do not dumb down their discussions, but neither do they make brute historical, linguistic, and sociological facts the centerpiece of what they say. In these pages, thoughtful and practical reflection ('Theological Issues') always follows a close analysis of the Greek text ('Tracing the Train of Thought'). The authors teach that understanding is not an end in itself; they insist that a robust faith is alien in any culture and that it is lived.”

The People of the Parables

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“It is difficult to take a fresh approach either to the parables of Jesus or to the people of the Synoptic Gospels. Alan Culpepper has done so. One can find books about groups known from the New Testament, Josephus, Philo, and other contemporaries, to which few Galileans belonged (Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees, Essenes, and the like). By contrast, Culpepper spends the bulk of his words on common people. Yes, in his parables, Jesus talked about minority elites but also about children, parents, brides, widows, tenants, laborers, farmers, fishermen, shepherds, and merchants. Such ordinary Galileans are the majority in the pages of The People of the Parables . As a result, Culpepper gives us a comprehensive view not only of the Galilean populace but also of the culture and social structures by which Galileans guided human interactions and organized their institutions and systems. Familiarity with such things is a strong foundation on which to build interpretations of Jesus’ parables. Culpepper’s crystal-clear exposition will make a fine textbook for university and seminary classes on the social world of Jesus, particularly for teachers who want to show students how scholars build arguments. But it is also for anyone, from pastor to layperson to nonspecialist in the gospels, who aims to understand the world in which Jesus ministered and in which his teachings take on meaning.”