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| Maps, Time Lines, and Diagrams | |
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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Notes on Suggestions for | |
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| Further reading | |
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| Credits | |
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| Master Time Line | |
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| What Is The New Testament? The Early Christians And Their Literature | |
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| The Canon of Scripture | |
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| The Diversity of Early Christianity | |
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| The Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament | |
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| The New Testament Canon of Scripture | |
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| The Common Era and Before the Common Era | |
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| The Layout of the New Testament | |
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| The New Testament: One Other Set of Problems | |
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| Implications for Our Study | |
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| The New Testament Canon | |
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| Excursus: Some Additional Reflections: The Historian and the Believer | |
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| The World Of Early Christian Traditions | |
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| The Problem of Beginnings | |
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| Pagan and Gentile | |
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| The Greco-Roman World | |
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| One Remarkable Life | |
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| The Environment of the New Testament: Religions in the Greco-Roman World | |
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| The Roman Empire | |
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| Divine Rulers as Savior Gods | |
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| Christianity as a Mystery Cult | |
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| The World of Early Christianity | |
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| The Jewish Context Of Jesus And His Followers | |
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| Judaism as a Greco-Roman Religion | |
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| The Septuagint: The Hebrew Bible in Greek | |
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| Political Crises in Palestine and Their Ramifications | |
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| Flavius Josephus | |
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| The Formation of Jewish Sects | |
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| Divine Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls | |
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| Women in the Synagogues | |
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| Other Jewish Miracle-Working Sons of God | |
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| The Jewish World of Early Christianity | |
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| The Traditions Of Jesus In Their Greco-Roman Context | |
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| Oral Traditions behind the Gospels | |
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| Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World | |
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| Mark and John on the Time of Jesus' Death | |
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| The Traditions of Jesus | |
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| Excursus: Some Additional Reflections: The Authors of the Gospels | |
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| The Christian Gospels: A Literary And Historical Introduction | |
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| The Question of Genre | |
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| Biography as a Greco-Roman Genre | |
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| Plutarch on Biography | |
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| The Gospels as Ancient Biographies | |
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| The Christian Gospels | |
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| Jesus, The Suffering Son Of God: The Gospel According To Mark | |
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| The Beginning of the Gospel: Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God Who Fulfills Scripture | |
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| The Jewish Messiah | |
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| Jesus the Authoritative Son of God | |
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| Jesus the Opposed Son of God | |
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| Jewish Scribes, Herodians, and Chief Priests | |
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| Jesus' Opponents in Mark | |
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| Jesus the Misunderstood Son of God | |
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| Jesus the Angry Healer | |
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| Jesus the Acknowledged Son of God | |
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| The Messianic Secret in Mark | |
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| Jesus the Suffering Son of God | |
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| Son of God and Son of Man | |
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| Jesus the Crucified Son of God | |
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| The Charge of Blasphemy according to Mark | |
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| Jesus the Vindicated Son of God | |
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| Conclusion: Mark and His Readers | |
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| The Gospel of Mark | |
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| The Synoptic Problem And Its Significance For Interpretation | |
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| Methods for Studying the Gospels | |
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| The Synoptic Problem | |
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| Ironing Out the Problems: One Potential Difficulty in Mark's Account | |
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| The Contents of Q | |
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| The Methodological Significance of the Four-Source Hypothesis | |
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| The Synoptic Problem | |
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| Jesus, The Jewish Messiah: The Gospel According To Matthew | |
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| The Importance of Beginnings: Jesus the Jewish Messiah in Fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures | |
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| Matthew's Scheme of Fourteen | |
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| The Women in Matthew's Genealogy | |
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| Jesus and His Forerunner from Matthew's Perspective | |
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| The Portrayal of Jesus in Matthew: The Sermon on the Mount as a Springboard | |
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| The Golden Rule | |
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| Jesus and the Jewish Cultic Practices Prescribed by the Law | |
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| Jesus Rejected by the Jewish Leaders | |
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| Gentiles in Matthew's Community | |
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| Was Matthew a Jew? | |
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| Matthew and His Readers | |
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| Matthew | |
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| Jesus, The Savior Of The World: The Gospel According To Luke | |
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| The Comparative Method and the Gospel of Luke | |
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| A Comparative Overview of the Gospel | |
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| Preface to Luke's Gospel | |
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| Apologetic Literature in Early Christianity | |
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| Luke's Birth Narrative in Comparative Perspective | |
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| Historical Problems with Luke's Birth Narrative | |
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| The Virginal Conception in Matthew and Luke | |
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| From Jew to Gentile: Luke's Portrayal of Jesus the Rejected Prophet | |
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| Luke's Distinctive Emphases throughout His Gospel | |
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| Jesus' Bloody Sweat in Luke | |
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| Jesus as a Righteous Martyr | |
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| The Institution of the Lord's Supper in Luke | |
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| Conclusion: Luke in Comparative Perspective | |
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| Luke | |
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| Luke's Second Volume: The Acts Of The Apostles | |
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| The Genre of Acts and Its Significance | |
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| The Book of Acts: An Ancient Novel? | |
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| The Thematic Approach to Acts | |
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| From Gospel to Acts: The Opening Transition | |
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| Luke's Mysterious Two Men | |
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| Luke's Artistry as a Storyteller 1 | |
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| Luke's Artistry as a Storyteller 2 | |
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| Themes in the Speeches in Acts | |
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| The Death of Judas | |
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| Christianity before Paul | |
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| The Book of Acts | |
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| Excursus: The Author of Luke-Acts and His Audience | |
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| Conclusion: The Author and His Themes in Context | |
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| Jesus, The Man Sent From Heaven: The Gospel According To John | |
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| The Gospel of John from a Literary-Historical Perspective | |
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| Jesus' Signs in the Fourth Gospel | |
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| "The Jews" in the Fourth Gospel | |
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| The Gospel of John from a Thematic Perspective | |
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| The Gospel of John from a Comparative Perspective | |
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| Jesus and the "I Am" Sayings in John | |
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| The Gospel of John from a Redactional Perspective | |
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| The Socio-Historical Method | |
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| The Death of the Beloved Disciple in the Johannine Community | |
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| The Gospel of John from a Socio-Historical Perspective | |
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| John's De-Apocalypticized Gospel | |
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| Did the Early Christians Think That Jesus was Good? | |
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| The Author of the Fourth Gospel | |
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| The Gospel of John | |
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| From John's Jesus To The Gnostic Christ: The Johannine Epistles And Beyond | |
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| The Questions of Genre and Author | |
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| A Letter from Greco-Roman Egypt | |
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| The New Testament Epistolary Literature and the Contextual Method | |
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| The Gospel and Epistles of John: Some Thematic Similarities | |
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| The Johannine Epistles from a Contextual Perspective | |
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| Methods for Studying the New Testament | |
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| House Churches in Early Christianity | |
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| Reflections on the Contextual Method | |
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| The Johannine Epistles | |
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| Beyond the Johannine Community: The Rise of Christian Gnosticism | |
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| How Do You Know a Gnostic When You See One? | |
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| Gnostics and the Jewish Scriptures | |
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| Gnostics and the Johannine Community | |
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| Gnosticism | |
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| Jesus From Different Perspectives: Other Gospels In Early Christianity | |
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| Narrative Gospels | |
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| The Gospel of the Ebionites and Early Gospel Harmonies | |
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| Sayings Gospels | |
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| Judas Thomas as Jesus' Twin Brother | |
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| The Older Sayings of the Gospel of Thomas | |
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| Infancy Gospels | |
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| Passion Gospels | |
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| Conclusion: The Other Gospels | |
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| The Other Gospels | |
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| The Historical Jesus: Sources, Problems, And Methods | |
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| Problems with Sources | |
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| Non-Christian Sources | |
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| Christianity as a Superstition in the Roman World | |
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| The Testimony of Flavius Josephus | |
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| Christian Sources | |
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| Using Our Sources: Some of the Basic Rules of Thumb | |
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| Specific Criteria and Their Rationale | |
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| Aramaisms as a Criterion of Authenticity | |
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| Judas and the Roasting Chicken | |
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| Conclusion: Reconstructing the Life of Jesus | |
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| The Sources for the Historical Jesus | |
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| Excursus: The Historian And The Problem Of Miracle | |
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| Miracles in the Modern World and in Antiquity | |
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| The Historian and Historical Method | |
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| The Problem of Miracles | |
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| Jesus In Context | |
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| Popular Modes of Resistance to Oppression | |
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| An Ideology of Resistance | |
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| Prophecy and Apocalypticism | |
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| First-Century Palestinian Judaism | |
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| Jesus in His Apocalyptic Context | |
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| O Little Town of Nazareth | |
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| Jesus of Sepphoris? | |
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| Jesus as an Apocalyptic Prophet | |
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| Jesus, The Apocalyptic Prophet | |
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| The Apocalyptic Deeds of Jesus | |
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| Explaining Away the Apocalyptic Traditions: Seeking the Lost | |
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| Explaining Away the Apocalyptic Traditions: Getting a Date | |
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| Was Jesus a Cynic Philosopher? | |
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| The Temple Incident as an Enacted Parable | |
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| Another Apocalyptic Jesus | |
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| The Apocalyptic Teachings of Jesus | |
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| Was Jesus Married with Children? | |
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| The Cosmic Deliverer of Israel | |
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| Jesus and "Family Values" | |
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| The Apocalyptic Death of Jesus | |
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| Jesus and Judas, the Betrayer | |
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| Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet | |
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| From Jesus To The Gospels | |
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| The Beginning of Christianity | |
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| Jesus' Resurrection from an Apocalyptic Perspective | |
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| The Women and the Empty Tomb | |
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| Jesus, the Messiah, and the Resurrection | |
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| Jesus' Death, according to the Scriptures | |
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| Vicarious Suffering in Jewish Martyrologies and Other Greco-Roman Literature | |
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| The Emergence of Different Understandings of Jesus | |
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| From Jesus to the Gospels | |
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| Paul The Apostle: The Man And His Mission | |
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| The Study of Paul: Methodological Difficulties | |
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| The Pauline Corpus | |
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| Other Sources for the Life of Paul | |
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| The Life of Paul | |
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| What Did Paul Look Like? | |
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| Paul on the Road to Damascus | |
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| Paul and His Mission | |
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| Paul And His Apostolic Mission: 1 Thessalonians As A Test Case | |
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| The Founding of the Church in Thessalonica | |
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| The Beginnings of the Thessalonian Church: A Socio-Historical Perspective | |
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| Rules for a Private Association | |
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| The Church at Thessalonica after Paul's Departure | |
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| Christians Maligned as Perverts and Criminals | |
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| The Thessalonians' Perplexity | |
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| Conclusion: Paul the Apostle | |
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| Thessalonians | |
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| Paul And The Crises Of His Churches: 1 And 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, And Philemon | |
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| Corinthians | |
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| Possibilities of Existence in the Afterlife | |
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| Corinthians | |
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| Corinthians | |
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| The Partitioning of 2 Corinthians | |
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| Corinthians | |
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| Galatians | |
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| The Logic of the Opponents' Position in Galatia | |
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| Why Does Paul Appeal to the Law to Deny the Importance of the Law? | |
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| Just Say "No": Paul's Gospel of Sexual Abstinence | |
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| Galatians | |
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| Philippians | |
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| The Christ Hymn of Philippians | |
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| Was Paul Contemplating Suicide? | |
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| Philippians | |
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| Philemon | |
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| Philemon | |
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| The Gospel According To Paul: The Letter To The Romans | |
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| The Occasion and Purpose of the Letter | |
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| The Beginnings of the Roman Church | |
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| The Theme of the Epistle | |
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| Paul's Gospel to the Romans | |
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| Pauline Models for Salvation | |
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| Two Different Ways of Salvation in Paul? | |
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| Judicial and Participationist Models of Salvation in Paul | |
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| The Flow of Paul's Argument | |
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| Other Models of Salvation in Paul | |
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| Conclusion: Paul and the Romans | |
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| Romans | |
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| Does The Tradition Miscarry? Paul In Relation To Jesus, James, Thecla, And Theudas | |
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| Paul in Relation to What Came Before | |
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| Jesus and Paul: Some of the Similarities | |
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| Jesus and Paul: Some of the Differences | |
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| Paul in Relation to What Came After | |
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| Conclusion: Pauline Christianities | |
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| Paul in Relation to What Came Before and After | |
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| In The Wake Of The Apostle: The Deutero-Pauline And Pastoral Epistles | |
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| Pseudonymity in the Ancient World | |
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| Paul's Third Letter to the Corinthians | |
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| The Deutero-Pauline Epistles | |
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| The Resurrection of Believers in Paul and Colossians | |
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| The "Household Rules" in Colossians and Ephesians | |
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| The Vocabulary of Salvation in Paul and Ephesians | |
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| The Deutero-Pauline Epistles | |
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| The Pastoral Epistles | |
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| The Historical Situation and Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles | |
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| Church Hierarchy in Ignatius | |
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| Conclusion: The Post-Pauline Pastoral Epistles | |
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| The Pastoral Epistles | |
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| From Paul's Female Colleagues To The Pastor's Intimidated Women: The Oppression Of Women In Early Christianity | |
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| Women in Paul's Churches | |
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| Women Associated with Jesus | |
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| Mary Magdalene | |
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| Paul's Understanding of Women in the Church | |
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| Women in the Aftermath of Paul | |
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| Similarities between 1 Tim 2:11-15 and 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 | |
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| Ancient Ideologies of Gender | |
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| Gender Ideology and the Pauline Churches | |
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| Women in Early Christianity | |
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| Christians And Jews: Hebrews, Barnabas, And Later Anti-Jewish Literature | |
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| Early Christian Self-Definition | |
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| Early and Diverging Views of Christians and Jews | |
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| Continuity and Superiority: The Epistle to the Hebrews | |
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| Divergent Views of Christ in Hebrews | |
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| Hebrews | |
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| Discontinuity and Supremacy: The Epistle of Barnabas | |
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| Six Thousand Years and Counting | |
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| Gematria in Early Christianity | |
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| The Epistle of Barnabas | |
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| Conclusion: The Rise of Christian Anti-Judaism | |
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| Melito's Passover Sermon | |
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| Christians And Pagans: 1 Peter, The Letters Of Ignatius, The Martyrdom Of Polycarp, And Later Apologetic Literature | |
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| The Persecution of the Early Christians | |
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| The Christian Disruption of the Family: The Case of Perpetua | |
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| Christians in a Hostile World: The Letter of 1 Peter | |
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| The Spread of Christianity | |
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| 1 Peter | |
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| Christians Sentenced to Death: The Letters of Ignatius | |
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| An Alternative View of Christian Martyrdom | |
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| The Letters of Ignatius | |
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| Christians before the Tribunal: The Martyrdom of Polycarp | |
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| The Martyrdom of Polycarp | |
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| Christians on the Defense: The Later Apologetic Literature | |
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| Christians And Christians: James, The Didache, Polycarp, 1 Clement, Jude, And 2 Peter | |
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| The Epistle of James | |
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| The Didache | |
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| The Development of the Lord's Prayer | |
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| Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians | |
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| Polycarp and the Early Christian Tradition | |
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| Clement | |
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| Birds Raised from the Dead and Other Problems in the Corinthian Church | |
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| Jude | |
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| Peter | |
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| Peter, the Smoked Tuna, and the Flying Heretic | |
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| Conclusion: Conflicts within the Early Christian Communities | |
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| Christian Internal Conflicts | |
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| Christians And The Cosmos: The Revelation Of John, The Shepherd Of Hermas, And The Apocalypse Of Peter | |
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| Introduction: The End of the World and the Revelation of John | |
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| The Content and Structure of the Book of Revelation | |
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| The Book of Revelation from a Historical Perspective | |
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| Apocalyptic Worldviews and Apocalypse Genre | |
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| The Book of Revelation as Underground Literature | |
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| The Author of Revelation in the Early Church | |
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| The Revelation of John in Historical Context | |
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| An Ancient Copyright Curse | |
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| Futuristic Interpretations of the Book of Revelation | |
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| The Book of Revelation | |
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| The Shepherd of Hermas | |
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| The Shepherd of Hermas and the Muratorian Canon | |
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| The Apocalypse of Peter | |
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| Epilogue: Do We Have The Original New Testament? | |
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| The Manuscripts of the New Testament | |
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| 30,000 Variant Readings?! | |
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| Kinds of Changes in Our Manuscript | |
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| Citing Chapter and Verse | |
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| Women in the Manuscript Tradition of the New Testament | |
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| Criteria for Establishing the Original Text | |
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| Is the Doctrine of the Trinity Explicitly Taught in the New Testament? | |
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| Conclusion: The Original Text of the New Testament | |
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| The Text of the New Testament | |
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| Glossary of Terms | |
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| Index | |