The Cambridge Companion to the Bible

Howard Clark Kee is William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Biblical Studies, Emeritus, at Boston University. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the first edition of The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, Beginnings of Christianity: Introduction to the New Testament (2005), Understanding the New Testament, 5th edition, and Jesus in History, 3rd edition.

The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, Second Edition provides in-depth data and analysis of the production and reception of the canonical writings of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, and also of the apocryphal works produced by Jewish and Christian writers. Unique among single-volume introductions, this book focuses on the ever-changing social and cultural contexts in which the biblical authors and their original readers lived. The authors of the first edition were chosen for their internationally recognized expertise in their respective fields: the history and literature of Israel; postbiblical Judaism; biblical archaeology; and the origins and early literature of Christianity. In this second edition, all chapters have been updated and thoroughly revised,under the direction of a new volume editor, Bruce D. Chilton. More than 22 new maps, 90 new photographs and a full-color section help illustrate the book.

The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, Second Edition focuses on the ever-changing social and cultural contexts in which the biblical authors and their original readers lived. The authors of the first edition were chosen for their internationally recognized expertise in their respective fields: the history and literature of Israel; postbiblical Judaism; biblical archaeology; and the origins and early literature of Christianity. In this second edition, all chapters have been updated and thoroughly revised, with a view towards better investigating the social histories embedded in the biblical texts.

The concept of God's people; Bibliographic essay; Part I. The Old Testament World: 1. The world of the ancestors; 2. The world of Israel's 'historians'; 3. The world of Israel's prophets; 4. The world of Israel's worship; 5. The world of Israel's sages and poets; 6. The world of apocalyptic; Bibliographical essay; Part II. Jewish Responses to Greco-Roman Culture: 1. Preservation and adaptation: the encounter with Hellenism; 2. Antiochus IV and the Maccabean Crisis; 3. Roman invasion and Jewish response; 4. Herod the Great; 5. Herod's heirs; 6. Roman rule in the first century CE; 7. Mid-first-century crises; 8. The Jewish world after the fall of Jerusalem; Bibliographical essay; Part III. The Formation of the Christian Community: 1. Jesus and the covenant; 2. Paul: the Jesus movement in the Roman world; 3. Christianity responds to formative Judaism; 4. Christianity responds to Roman culture and imperial policy; 5. Diversity in the church; 6. Attempts to unify faith and practice; Bibliographical essay.