Theology

This volume contributes to the reconstruction of the history of ancient Christians on the basis of an exemplary selection of Greek inscriptions. Fifteen essays discussing inscriptions from Asia Minor and Greece offer striking insights into the lives, beliefs, and diversity of Christian communities that literary sources largely pass over.

Mark S. Smith maps four decades of Psalms research, foregrounding cultural contexts, pilgrimage motifs, and embodied emotion. He explores genre-bending poetics and argues for the Psalter as a carefully composed whole, shaped by its Levitical compilers and structured like an opera in five movements.

The contributors to this volume examine the identity and roles of presbyters in early Christianity in the 1st and 2nd centuries. They explore biblical, Jewish, and Greco-Roman contexts and trace the development from age-related authority to formal leadership.

Matthew Percuoco offers an analysis of the final four chapters of the book of Samuel. Drawing upon the research on the use of various literary devices in biblical scholarship, he proposes that the six sections that comprise 2 Samuel 21-24 serve as a miniature replica of the book of Samuel, which reflects the content and major themes of the book.