Cultural Studies

Ancient and New Testament concepts of the human body, procreation, gender, and marriage differed fundamentally from contemporary understandings. Drawing on social history and intersectional analysis, this volume explores these differences within their original cultural contexts, revealing the diversity and otherness of New Testament texts rather than imposing modern categories upon them.

Luther used and coined a rich arsenal of battle names and pejorative terms with which he labelled his 'radical' opponents and through which he marked 'deviation' from his own position. Thomas Hahn-Bruckart explores these and other strategies of linguistic inclusion and exclusion to trace how identity and alterity was marked and contoured in the early Wittenberg Reformation.

This handbook brings together both classic and cutting-edge methods for interpreting the New Testament. Chapters on historical-critical, literary, and reader-response approaches showcase the wide methodological range through which the text's original setting and its contemporary significance can be explored.