Books by Greg Carey

Every significant layer of the New Testament features the distinctiveconcerns of apocalyptic literature, including the expectation of amessiah, hope for a resurrection, expectation of a final judgment, and aspiritual world that includes angels and demons. Yet many contemporaryreaders shy away from things apocalyptic, especially the book ofRevelation. This introduction considers the influence ofapocalyptic literature throughout the Gospels and Acts, Paul's letters,and Revelation. It argues that early Christian authors drew uponapocalyptic topics to address an impressive array of situations andconcerns, and it demonstratesexample after examplehow apocalypticdiscourse contributed to their ongoing work of contextual theology.

Carey presents an introduction to the elements of apocalyptic discourse in the Hebrew Bible, the intertestamental texts of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and the Jewish and Christian apocalyptic texts. He seeks to help modern readers perplexed by the rampant and somewhat outrageous depiction and interpretation of apocalyptic literature to see apocalyptic discourse as a flexible set of resources that early Jews and Christians could employ for a variety of persuasive tasks. Examining each of the literary works that exhibit apocalyptic discourse, Carey briefly introduces the date and language of each text and shows its basic contents. He examines the particular topics and purposes of the work and concludes by showing a way to read particular examples of apocalyptic discourse as a whole in its own setting with its own purposes.

How did early Christians remember Jesus - and how did they develop their own "Christian" identities and communities? In this accessible and revelatory book, Greg Carey explores how transgression contributed to early Christian identity in the Gospels, Acts, Letters of Paul, and Revelation.