John Barton

A Journey through the World of Leviticus

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“‘God in everything.’ Mark Scarlata calls for a re-sacralization of the world in this Christian reading of Leviticus. He shows how features of the book that have led it to be neglected by Christians—purity, food laws, sacrifice, and holiness—are central to the religion of ancient Israel. They can also inform a modern Christian attitude to the created world.”

A Theology of the Old Testament

Theology

“John Rogerson's A Theology of the Old Testament shows how the Old Testament can address modern concerns with theological sophistication. This is no antiquarian study, but a lively modern reading of the biblical text, in the light of a concern for how we can change the world, not merely understand it. It will find many sympathetic readers.”

A Unicorn Dies

Fiction

“The plot is absolutely ingenious and both characterization and dialogue are wonderful.”

Adventures in Belief

History & Biography

“Adventures in Belief combines Keith Ward’s autobiographical reminiscences with highly readable accounts of his religious and philosophical beliefs, all done with self-deprecating wit and humor. Readers of his many books will be delighted to know more about their context in his life, while anyone looking for an introduction to philosophy and theology will find it here in a wonderfully approachable form.”

Appealing to Scripture in Moral Debate

“Charles Cosgrove writes lucidly and with profundity about various ways of using the Bible in ethics, drawing on a very wide range of literature. His book introduces clarity into a confused area and will be essential reading for both ethicists and students of the Bible. A wise, learned, and highly readable work.”

David Remembered

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“Joseph Blenkinsopp's treatment of the king of Israel who became the prototype for the Messiah is characteristically lucid and informed with intense historical and theological learning. . . . An enthralling read.”

Discovering Psalms

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“In this lively and engaging book Jerome Creach introduces contemporary Christians to the book of Psalms and encourages them to use it for both study and worship. At a time when many churches are losing touch with the Psalms, he convincingly shows that they are at the spiritual heart of the Bible.”

Embracing Vulnerability

Theology

“Roberto Sirvent argues powerfully that the call to imitate God in our actions is incompatible with the idea of divine impassibility found in much Christian philosophy. By exploring the biblical roots of imitatio Dei he demonstrates that it implies a God who can suffer with his creation, as a number of modern theologians have argued. An impassible God is not worth imitating! An important contribution to an ongoing debate, unusual in combining both doctrinal and biblical expertise in a creative way.”

Old Testament Story and Christian Ethics

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“This work rehabilitates the importance of stories within biblical and Christian ethics. Anyone concerned with ethics and the Bible will benefit greatly from Parry's sophisticated and subtle presentation.”

Reality, Grief, Hope

Ethics, Culture & Social Issues

“Challenges the churches to a prophetic task in the face of the twin ills in American exceptionalism: complacency when things go well and self-centered despair when (as after 9/11) they go badly. Brueggemann shows how the witness of the Old Testament prophets can be a resource for faithful hope that does not rest on cynical self-concern. Calling for a wider vision of society and its possible futures than the imperialistic self-assertion of an elite, this book calls for inclusion and for justice.”

Reconciling Justice

World Religions

“Based in his context of Israel/Palestine and forged on the crucible of his own experience, research, and faith, Salim Munayer offers a groundbreaking comparative study of ‘reconciling justice.’ While optimism is in short supply these days, this book provides secure anchor points for something better—enduring and active hope.”

Sex, Wives, and Warriors

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“"Philip Esler has done much to make biblical scholars aware of social-scientific approaches. In this book he brings this perspective to a reading of Old Testament narrative texts, showing just how much social science can illuminate the Bible. The stories of wives, warriors, kings, and madmen are here read against the backdrop of the real society in which they were first told, and so become three-dimensional to the modern reader.”

Silence: A User’s Guide, Volume Two

Prayer & Spiritual Formation

“Maggie Ross continues her exploration of silence in this second volume, on the transfiguration of the world and of human beings in it through ‘beholding.’ She studies Old and New Testament ideas about silence, and presents a eucharistic liturgy focused on silent meditation. Readers will be challenged and encouraged in equal measure.”

The Bible after Babel

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“The Bible after Babel provides a reliable guide to the present state of Old Testament studies and also offers characteristically original and stimulating ideas on future directions. It contains a fine discussion of many contemporary issues, including the place of postmodernism, 'minimalism,' and feminist/gender studies. Collins is always both judicious and original.”

The Book of Love

Biblical Studies & Commentaries

“This book is as timely as it is significant. In our current season of cultural confusion and division, many of us long to explore how God's love shapes--or reshapes--our experience of Scripture. In The Book of Love, Richard Beck guides Jesus-followers back to the core message and calling of the Bible.”

The Thiselton Companion to Christian Theology

Theology

“This is a tour de force by one of Britain's leading theological scholars. It offers an authoritative guide to every part of theology and is accessibly written, with excellent suggestions for further reading. Invaluable.”

When the Son of Man Didn't Come

Theology

“When the Son of Man Didn’t Come is intriguingly ecumenical, with Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox voices, and draws on a correspondingly wide range of theological scholarship—biblical, patristic, and systematic. An important contribution to a topic that is very much alive in all the churches.”

Written for Our Learning

Theology

“In much postmodern discourse it has become usual to argue that the biblical text has many meanings (as many as there are interpreters). Benjamin Sargent shows, in this tightly argued book, that many readers in the past believed it had a single, determinate meaning. This is a book that will challenge many assumptions, on the basis both of detailed examination of many texts and of a wide knowledge of secondary literature about biblical interpretation down the centuries.”