Robert Wilken

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  Song Of Songs

  $48.99

  The Song of Songs, traditionally attributed to Solomon, is a collection of lyrics that celebrate in earthly terms the love of a bridegroom and a bride. Throughout the course of early Christian history, the Song of Songs was widely read as an allegory of the love of Christ both for the church and for its individual members. In reading the Song this way, Christians were following in the steps of Jewish exegetes who saw the Song as celebrating the love of God for Israel.

  In The Song of Songs, the inaugural volume of The Church’s Bible, Richard A. Norris Jr. uses commentaries and sermons from the church’s first millennium to illustrate the original Christian understanding of Solomon’s beautiful poem. In recent times, the Song of Songs has been more a focus of literary than of religious interest, but Norris’s work shows that for early Christians, this text was counted, with the Psalms and the Gospels, among those Scriptures that touched most deeply on the believer’s relation to God.

  All in all, Norris’s Song of Songs is a masterful work that aptly acquaints contemporary readers with the church’s traditional way of discerning in this text a guide to the character of Christian belief and life. This volume — and the entire Church’s Bible series — will be welcomed by preachers, teachers, students, and general readers alike.

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  1 Corinthians : Interpreted By Early Christian Commentators

  $47.50

  Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, one of the earliest Christian writings, had enormous influence on the formation of Christian teaching. In this Church’s Bible volume Judith L. Kovacs weaves comments from all the commentaries and sermon series written in Latin or Greek between the years 250 and 800, illustrating the historic Christian understanding of this crucial text.

  The church fathers gathered here include Augustine of Hippo, Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius, Origen, John Chrysostom, and many more. Preceding the line-by-line exegesis are a lucid essay by Robert Louis Wilken on how the church fathers interpreted the New Testament, an informative introduction to 1 Corinthians by Kovacs, and two chapters of general patristic commentary on Paul and on this letter. Completing the volume are several helpful appendixes and indexes.

  Freshly translating many passages into idiomatic English for the first time, Kovacs does not merely excerpt random quotes from the church fathers but instead produces a sustained interaction with their direct comments on 1 Corinthians. This soaking in the wisdom of the past is sure to spiritually refresh and intellectually sharpen contemporary readers who seek to better understand this part of Scripture.

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  Romans : Interpreted By Early Christian Commentators

  $39.99

  The Church’s Bible series serves to bring the rich classical tradition of biblical interpretation to life. Compiled, translated, and edited by leading scholars, these volumes draw extensively from early and medieval commentators, illuminating Holy Scripture as it was understood during the first millennium of Christian history. Designed for clergy, Bible teachers, men and women in religious communities, and all serious students of Scripture, The Church’s Bible will lead contemporary readers into the inexhaustible spiritual and theological world of the early church and hence of the Bible itself.

  This Church’s Bible volume brings together select lengthy excerpts from early Christian writings on Romans, Paul’s most comprehensive statement of Christian teaching. J. Patout Burns Jr. has judiciously chosen extended passages from such church fathers as Origen, Rufinus, Pelagius, Chrysostom, Ambrosiaster, Augustine, and Theodoret, enabling readers today to benefit from the church’s rich treasure trove of commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Covering the first five hundred years of Christian history, this volume incorporates new translations made from the best texts currently available.

  Both Burns’s pastoral sensitivity and his extensive study of patristics shine through his selection of ancient passages, which run the full gamut of perspectives on Romans. Each passage is relevant and applicable to our current understanding and living of the Christian life, not just historically valuable. This volume — and the entire Church’s Bible series — will be welcomed by preachers, teachers, students, and general readers alike.

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  Isaiah : Interpreted By Early Christian Medieval Commentators

  $67.99

  In his extremely thorough work on Isaiah, Robert Wilken brings to bear his considerable knowledge of early Christianity. Drawing on writings of the church fathers — Eusebius of Caesarea, Ambrose, Jerome, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodoret of Cyrus, Bernard of Clairvaux, and nearly sixty others — all of them masterfully translated, this work allows the complex words of Isaiah to come alive.

  Wilken’s selection of ancient commentators clearly illuminates how Isaiah was used by the New Testament writers and understood by the early church fathers. Each chapter begins with a modern English translation of the septuagint, prepared by Moises Silva. Editorial comments provide a foundation for understanding the excerpted commentaries and other writings that follow for each chapter.

  Isaiah: Interpreted by Early Christian and Medieval Commentators is ideal for devotional and spiritual reading and for a deeper understanding of the church’s historical interpretation of this major prophet.

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  Remembering The Christian Past A Print On Demand Title

  $23.99

  This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

  Prompting readers to reacquaint themselves with forgotten aspects of Christian tradition, this collection of essays points out the importance of remembering the enduring truths of the faith. Robert Wilken touches on a host of topics that are still pertinent today: the role of commitment in the study of religion, religious pluralism, Christian apologetics, the biblical roots of the doctrine of the Trinity, the spiritual interpretation of the Bible, the importance of examples for living a virtuous life, and the place of the passions in our relation to God.

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