Paul's letter to the Roman church is one of the most widely read, rigorously discussed and minutely dissected epistles ever written. What more could there be to say?

Plenty, it turns out.

In this highly engaging, perceptive and accessible commentary, J. R. Daniel Kirk situates Romans firmly in its first-century context, redirecting our attention from a modern-day concern with individual salvation towards the theological questions that consumed the apostle Paul. Questions such as what are the Jews and Gentiles to make of one another? Practically, how are they to live, worship and be community together in the right here and now? And, most importantly for Paul, how can God be faithful if God's great act of salvation excludes God's own chosen people: the covenantal community to whom all promises had been made?

By approaching the text from a first-century perspective, Kirk illuminates a letter and its writer deeply concerned with the day-to-day lives of its readers. A letter written not to provide answers and rules, but encouragement and inspiration. A writer concerned less with waiting for the new creation, than living it. And a God intent on inviting outsiders into a worldwide family.

Romans for Normal People is an invitation to lay down everything you think you know about Romans and discover the text as it is. And, in doing so, encounter a letter as relevant today as it was some 2000 years ago.

Readers of the Bible are often drawn to Jesus's message and ministry, but they are not as positively inclined toward Paul. What should people who love Jesus do with Paul? Here Pauline scholar J. R. Daniel Kirk offers a fresh and timely engagement of the debated relationship between Paul's writings and the portrait of Jesus contained in the Gospels. He integrates the messages of Jesus and Paul both with one another and with the Old Testament, demonstrating the continuity that exists between these two foundational figures. After laying out the narrative contours of the Christian life, Kirk provides fresh perspective on challenging issues facing today's world, from environmental concerns to social justice to homosexuality.

If the God of Israel has acted to save his people through Christ, but Israel is not participating in that salvation, how then can this God be considered righteous? Unlocking Romans is directed in large extent toward answering this question in order to illuminate the righteousness of God as revealed in the book of Romans.

The answer here, J. R. Daniel Kirk claims, comes mainly in terms of resurrection. Even if only the most obvious references in Romans are considered -- and Kirk certainly delves more deeply than that -- the theme of resurrection appears not only in every section of the letter but also at climactic moments of Paul's argument. The network of connections among Jesus' resurrection, Israel's Scriptures, and redefining the people of God serves to affirm God's fidelity to Israel. This, in turn, demonstrates Paul's gospel message to be a witness to the revelation of the righteousness of God.

Gain Insights on Mark's Christology from Today's Leading Scholars

The Gospel of Mark, widely assumed to be the earliest narrative of Jesus's life and the least explicit in terms of Christology, has long served as a worktable for the discovery of Christian origins and developing theologies. The past ten years of scholarship have seen an unprecedented shift toward an early, high Christology, the notion that very early in the history of the Jesus movement his followers worshipped him as God. Other studies have challenged this view, arguing that Mark's story is incomplete, intentionally ambiguous, or presents Jesus in entirely human terms.

Christology in Mark's Gospel: Four Views brings together key voices in conversation in order to offer a clear entry point into early Christians' understanding of Jesus's identity: Sandra Huebenthal (Suspended Christology), Larry W. Hurtado (Mark's Presentation of Jesus; with rejoinder by Chris Keith), J. R. Daniel Kirk (Narrative Christology of a Suffering King), and Adam Winn (Jesus as the YHWH of Israel in the Gospel of Mark).

Each author offers a robust presentation of their position, followed by lively interaction with the other contributors and one last-word rejoinder. The significance of this discussion is contextualized by the general editor Anthony Le Donne's introduction and summarized in the conclusion.

The CriticalPoints Series offers rigorous and nuanced engagement between today's best scholars for advancing the scholarship of tomorrow. Like its older sibling, the CounterPoints Series, it provides a forum for comparison and critique of different positions, focusing on critical issues in today's Christian scholarship: in biblical studies, in theology, and in philosophy.

Thought-provoking alternative perspective on the full humanity of Jesus Christ

In A Man Attested by God J. R. Daniel Kirk presents a comprehensive defense of the thesis that the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus not as divine but as an idealized human figure.

Counterbalancing the recent trend toward early high Christology in such scholars as Richard Bauckham, Simon Gathercole, and Richard Hays, Kirk here thoroughly unpacks the humanity of Jesus as understood by Gospel writers whose language is rooted in the religious and literary context of early Judaism. Without dismissing divine Christologies out of hand, Kirk argues that idealized human Christology is the best way to read the Synoptic Gospels, and he explores Jesus as exorcist and miracle worker within the framework of his humanity.

With wide-ranging exegetical and theological insight that sheds startling new light on familiar Gospel texts, A Man Attested by God offers up-to-date, provocative scholarship that will have to be reckoned with.