Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Commentaries - O.T./N.T.

Recipient of a Christianity Today 1993 Critics Choice Award!Third Place Winner of Christianity Today's Book of the Year list award!The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels is unique among reference books on the Bible, the first volume of its kind since James Hastings published his Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels in 1909. In the more than eight decades since Hastings our understanding of Jesus, the Evangelists and their world has grown remarkably. New interpretive methods have illumined the text, the ever-changing profile of modern culture has put new questions to the Gospels, and our understanding of the Judaism of Jesus' day has advanced in ways that could not have been predicted in Hasting's day. But for many readers of the Gospels the new outlook on the Gospels remains hidden within technical journals and academic monographs.The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels bridges the gap between scholars and those pastors, teachers, students and lay people desiring in-depth treatment of select topics in an accesible and summary format. The topics range from cross-sectional themes (such as faith, law, Sabbath) to methods of interpretation (such as form criticism, redaction criticism, and death of Jesus) to each of the four Gospels as a whole. Some articles--such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinic traditions and revolutionary movements at the time of Jesus--provide significant background information to the Gospels. Others reflect recent and less familiar issues in Jesus and Gospel studies, such as divine man, ancient rhetoric and the chreiai (aphorisms).Contemporary concerns of general interest are discussed in articles covering such topics as healing, the demonic and the historical reliability of the Gospels. And for those entrusted with communicating the message of the Gospels, there is an extensive article on preaching from the Gospels.The Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels presents the fruit of evangelical New Testament scholarship at the end of the twentieth century--committed to the authority of Scripture, utilizing the best of critical methods, and maintaining dialog with contemporary scholarship and challenges facing the church.

A 2001 ECPA Gold Medallion Award winner!The Dictionary of New Testament Background joins the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters and the Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments as the fourth in a landmark series of reference works on the Bible. In a time when our knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean world has grown by leaps and bounds, this volume sets out for readers the wealth of Jewish and Greco-Roman background that should inform our reading and understanding of the New Testament and early Christianity.The Dictionary of New Testament Background takes full advantage of the flourishing study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and offers individual articles focused on the most important scrolls. In addition, the Dictionary encompasses the fullness of second-temple Jewish writings, whether pseudepigraphic, rabbinic, parables, proverbs, histories or inscriptions. Articles abound on aspects of Jewish life and thought, including family, purity, liturgy and messianism. The full scope of Greco-Roman culture is displayed in articles ranging across language and rhetoric, literacy and book culture, religion and cults, honor and shame, patronage and benefactors, travel and trade, intellectual movements and ideas, and ancient geographical perspectives.No other reference work presents so much in one place for students of the New Testament. Here an entire library of scholarship is made available in summary form. The Dictionary of New Testament Background can stand alone or work in concert with one or more of its companion volumes in the series. Written by acknowledged experts in their fields, this wealth of knowledge of the New Testament era is carefully aimed at the needs of contemporary students of the New Testament. And its full bibliographies and cross-references to other volumes in the series will make it the first book to reach for in any investigation of the New Testament in its ancient setting.

The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters is a one-of-a-kind reference work. Following the format of its hightly successful companion volume, the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, this Dictionary is designed to bring students, teachers, ministers and laypeople abreast the established conclusions and significant recent developments in Pauline scholarship.No other single reference work presents as much information focused exclusively on Pauline theology, literature, background and scholarship. In a field that recently has undergone significant shirts in perspective, the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters offers a summa of Paul and Pauline studies. In-depth articles focus on individual theological themes (such as law, resurrection and Son of God), broad theological topics (such as Christology, eschatology and the death of Christ), methods of interpretation (such as rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches), background topics (such as apocalypticism, Hellenism and Qumran) and various other subjects specifically related to the scholarly study of Pauline theology and literature (such as early catholicism, the center of Paul's theology, and Paul and his interpreters since F. C. Baur). Separate articles are also devoted to each of the Pauline letters to hermeneutics and to preaching Paul today.The Dictionary of Paul and His Letters takes its place alongside the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels in presenting the fruit of evangelical New Testament scholarship at the end of the twentieth century--commited to the authority of Scripture, utilizing the best of critical methods, and maintaining dialogue with contemporary scholarship and challenges facing the church.

The third of IVP's critically acclaimed series of dictionaries of the New Testament provides focused study on the often-neglected portions of the New Testament: Acts, Hebrews, the General Epistles and Revelation. Furthermore, its scope goes beyond the life of the New Testament church to include the work of the apostolic fathers and early Christianity up through the middle of the second century.The Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments offers a summa of New Testament studies. Designed to bring students, teachers, pastors and general readers up to date and up to speed, this one-of-a-kind reference volume presents more information than any other single work--dealing exclusively with the theology, literature, background and scholarship of the later New Testament and the apostolic church.In-depth, comprehensive articles focus on theological themes, methods of interpretation, background topics and various other subjects specifically related to the study of New Testament theology and literature. Expert contributors include Darrell Bock, George R. Beasley-Murray, I. Howard Marshall, Ben Witherington III and James D. G. Dunn. Wide-ranging articles range from the books of James and Jude to household codes, from the Roman emperor cult to gnosticism and docetism, questions of canon to second-century church leaders like Ignatius and Polycarp.The Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments takes its place alongside the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels and Dictionary of Paul and His Letters in presenting mature evangelical scholarship--committed to the authority of Scripture, utilizing the best of critical methods, and maintaining a dialogue with contemporary scholarship and the challenges facing the church.

The English translation of the three-volume Exegetisches Worterbuch zum Neuen Testament, this monumental work by an ecumenical group of scholars is first of all a complete English dictionary of New Testament Greek. Going beyond that, however EDNT also serves as a guide to the usage of every New Testament word in its various contexts, and it makes a significant contribution to New Testament exegesis and theology. EDNT's thorough, lengthy discussions of more significant words and its grouping of words related by root and meaning (with alphabetical cross-references) distinguish it from simpler Greek-English lexicons. Advancing the discussion of the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, EDNT summarizes more recent treatments of numerous questions in New Testament study and takes into consideration newer viewpoints of linguistics.

Doing for the Old Testament what Kittel-Friedrich does for the Old, this major, multivolume reference work discusses key Hebrew and Aramaic words in depth. Stressing meaning, each word study moves from narrow, everyday usages toward more significant theological concepts.

2009 Christianity Today Merit Award winner!2009 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) Christian Book Award winner!The Old Testament books of wisdom and poetry carry themselves differently from those of the Pentateuch, the histories or the prophets. The divine voice does not peal from Sinai, there are no narratives carried along by prophetic interpretation nor are oracles declaimed by a prophet. Here Scripture often speaks in the words of human response to God and God's world. The hymns, laments and thanksgivings of Israel, the dirge of Lamentations, the questionings of Qohelet, the love poetry of the Song of Songs, the bold drama of Job and the proverbial wisdom of Israel all offer their textures to this great body of biblical literature. Then too there are the finely crafted stories of Ruth and Esther that narrate the silent providence of God in the course of Israelite and Jewish lives.This third Old Testament volume in InterVarsity Press's celebrated "Black Dictionary" series offers nearly 150 articles covering all the important aspects of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth and Esther. Over ninety contributors, many of them experts in this literature, have contributed to the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings. This volume maintains the quality of scholarship that students, scholars and pastors have come to expect from this series.Coverage of each biblical book includes an introduction to the book itself as well as separate articles on its ancient Near Eastern background and its history of interpretation. Additional articles amply explore the literary dimensions of Hebrew poetry and prose, including acrostic, ellipsis, inclusio, intertextuality, parallelism and rhyme. And there are well-rounded treatments of Israelite wisdom and wisdom literature, including wisdom poems, sources and theology. In addition, a wide range of interpretive approaches is canvassed in articles on hermeneutics, feminist interpretation, form criticism, historical criticism, rhetorical criticism and social-scientific approaches.The Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings is sure to command shelf space within arm's reach of any student, teacher or preacher working in this portion of biblical literature.Tremper Longman III and Peter E. Enns edit this collection of 148 articles by 90 contributors on Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Lamentations, Ruth and Esther.

Only one hermeneutical text published prior to the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis can be held up reasonably to its measure of quality and the exhaustive nature of the research that produced this immense work. That singular collection worthy of comparison is its counterpart, the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, edited by Colin Brown. This 5 volume addition to that acclaimed work, though intimidating in the achievement it embodies, is intended for serious Old Testament and exegetical study by men and women of all walks of life -- both academics and pastors, students and laypersons. Volume one contains a Guide to Old Testament Theology and Exegesis in which ten essays have been compiled to thoroughly explain proper hermeneutics and interpretation, as well as guidelines for using this source material. Volumes one through four contain the Lexicon of the Old Testament, all words found in the text ordered by Hebrew alphabetization for easy reference, and coupled with a Goodrick / Kohlenberger cross-referencing number to be used in conjunction with Strong's numbering system. The relationship of each word in different contexts and languages is also explained, including alternative words, and the particulars of their semantic domain. All this information is, of course, complete with bibliography. Volume four also begins the Topical Dictionary. Therein can be found articles on the theology of each Old Testament book individually, as well as discussion of biblical concepts, people, places, events, and literary pieces, all information that is cross-referenced to the preceding Hebraic Lexicon. Finally, volume five contains a series of indexes: Hebrew Index, Scripture Index, Subject Index, and an index of Semantic Fields. Taken as a whole, the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis is an unparalleled accomplishment in the field of biblical hermeneutics.

An indispensable and incomparable reference work, this translation of the Theologisches Handworterbuch zum Alten Testament makes accessible for the first time in English a wealth of theological insight. In these volumes outstanding scholars provide in-depth and wide-ranging investigations of the historical, semantic, and theological meanings of Old Testament concepts.Well-organized and clearly written articles analyze a significant portion of the Old Testament vocabulary. This reference work can serve a wide audience, from professors and researchers to pastors and students of the Bible. Even readers with little or no knowledge of Hebrew can use it profitably.Whereas traditional lexicons do little more than offer possible translations in the light of etymological and grammatical evidence, The Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament goes further, evaluating each term's theological relevance by clearly describing its actual usage in the language. In the process, it makes available to readers in many form- and tradition-critical insights hitherto buried in scattered commentaries, monographs, Old Testament theologies, journal articles, etc. Thus the individual articles serve as concise, well-structured histories of research with conclusions, discussion of controversies, and references to the most important literature.The methodological repertoire of the TLOT is deliberately broad because today it is generally agreed that no single approach can fully illuminate a term's meaning. Assumptions that led to ill-advised short-cuts-e.g., the chimera of a basic meaning from which all other meanings developed-have given way to a methodological pluralism, that considers a term's significance from several points of view and thus does more justice to actual usage.Words were included because of their importance within the Hebrew Bible, not their suitability as elements of a secondary system of Old Testament theology. Since the entries are generally ordered according to roots-the traditional and sensible approach for Semitic languages-and many words are treated as derivatives, synonyms, or antonyms of the terms listed in the article titles, thousands of words can be considered in about 330 articles. These other words can easily be found in the index. Besides examining the key verbs, nouns, and adjectives, the TLOT examines theologically noteworthy pronouns and particles in their own entries."Like a diamond, highly prized for its fine cut, sparkle, setting, durability, utility, and symbolism, Jenni-Westermann's Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament has enormous value for a variety of reasons. Its rich data range from the historical to the theological, from the earliest occurrence of a particular word to its post-biblical use, from its distribution in the canon to its attestation in other literature from the ancient Near East, from its grammatical and syntactical peculiarities to its religious nuance. The contributors retain their individual perspectives, which give freshness and excitement to the whole. I have long wished for an English translation of this important work so that my divinity students would have access to it. Now, thanks to Hendrickson Publishers, that whish has been granted." -James L. Crenshaw, Robert L. Flowers Professor of Old Testament, Duke University

Extensive, scholarly discussion of every Hebrew word of theological significance in the Old Testament. Keyed to Strong's Concordance.