Böcker av Bruce J. Malina

There are two major entities at the close of the book of Revelation that explain the author's understanding of forthcoming life with God: the Celestial City (the heavenly Jerusalem) and the cosmic Lamb. The marriage of these two marks the concluding highpoint of John the Seer's work. What are the entities in question? How do they marry and what is the significance of that event for those who believe in Jesus as cosmic Lord? In The New Jerusalem in the Revelation of John, Bruce Malina offers insights into the concluding Vision of the book of Revelation to assist Bible readers to understand what the Visionary of Revelation said, and meant to say, to his first-century Mediterranean audience.The New Jerusalem and the Revelation of John sets out comparative models of what sorts of cities existed during the time of the New Testament and what it meant to live in an ancient Mediterranean city. It further explains the significance of the celestial marriage of the City and the Lamb. The result is a set of reading scenarios that describe and explain Revelation's closing Visions, which mediate the theology of John the Seer. The definition and comparative model of the city in The New Jerusalem and the Revelation of John is also useful for persons interested in understanding those first urban" members of Jesus groups addressed by other New Testament documents.Chapters are "Presuppositions about Language and Reading," "The Genre of the Book of Revelation," "The Holy City in the Sky," and "The Cosmic Lamb Marries." Includes relevant charts.

A classroom standard for two decades, The New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology has introduced students to both the New Testament and the social-scientific study of the New Testament. This revised and expanded third edition offers new chapters on envy and the Jesus movement, updates chapters from earlier editions, augments...

George Smith, a twentieth-century American, moved into a house with a large vineyard in the Eastern Mediterranean during the first century AD, going back in time and space. He needed help on his land and requested that individuals interested in work be at his place at 9 a.m. on August 8. No one showed up. Why not? This is just one of the sixty...

The Social-Science Commentary series pioneers an alternative commentary genre, providing in this volume the text of the deutero-Pauline letters and cultural notes on them. The Social-Science Commentary on the Deutero-Pauline Letters provides essential reading scenarios on specific cultural phenomena in these letters, including forgery, normative conflict, paideia (training), and Household Codes. This volume highlights the transformation of the memory of Paul in early Christianity as reflecting the concerns and interest of communities after Pauls death.

The Social World of Jesus and the Gospels provides the reader with a set of possible scenarios for reading the New Testament: How did first-century persons think about themselves and others? Did they think Jesus was charismatic?