Books published by SCM Press

Now that all the Dead Sea Scrolls have been published, here is a complete, comprehensive and reliable guide to their significance from the scholar who has been associated with the study of the Scrolls from the very beginning.

Don Cupitt sets out his own systematic philosophy of life, reviving an old question: how far in the direction of religious belief, and eternal happiness, is it possible to go on the basis of reason alone? His 'expressionist' philosophy leads him to conclusions that are both very startling and more positive than his critics might expect.

Biography of one of this century's most influential churchmen. At home a pioneer campaigner against racism and capital punishment, abroad the opponent of apartheid and friend of ecumenism, Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961-74 was a man of prayer and conviction in an age of doubt and pessimism.

Learning provides an accessible and thorough resource for all those involved in theological education, ministerial formation and ministerial supervision. It explores the nature of ministry and tbrmation for 21st Century church and public life. It argues for the importance of supervision in the learning contexts of placement. parish and pastorate and presents an exciting model of supervision as reflective practice that draws on existing literature from different disciplines, including other helping professions, literature and practical theology and the methods and insights of Clinical Pastoral Education. Chapters cover stimulating and useful areas tbr consideration by the theological educator and ministerial student. such as doing theological reflection in context; resistance to learning; coping with loss and thilure; dynamics of power in ministry and issues of transculturalism, gender and sexuality in ministry. It also offers was in which the effectiveness of placement learning can be evaluated. Frances Ward is a priest in the Diocese of Manchester and is also co-author of Studying Local Churchcs:.4 Handbook, and co-author of Theological Rqlectioir Methods, both SCM Press.

A challenging textbook for level two and three New Testament scholars. The new material is the author's critical refinement of all the original issues covered. New Testament study, the synoptic question, and the origins of Christianity are all fundamental areas of study on theology undergraduate degrees today.

This is a useful text for second and third year level of students on all courses involving this fundamental question within the philosophy of religion. This is the author's most systematic attempt to discuss the problem of evil.

he time between the conquests of Alexander the Great and the Maccabaean wars is one of the obscurest periods of Jewish history. Yet it is vitally important for our understanding of Judaism in the period up to and including the New Testament era because it was then that the foundations of first-century Judaism were being laid. In his now classic - and encyclopaedic - study/tic/aim and Hellenism, Martin Hengel demonstrated how Greek influence on Judaism at this stage was far greater than has usually been supposed, and painted a fascinating picture of a hitherto unexplored culture. Here, in a much slimmer book, he summarizes the results of that larger volume and in some aspects takes it further. First he outlines the history of Palestine from Alexander's expedition to the death of Antiochus III in 187 BC. He then shows the political, social and cultural features of the Hellenistic world, asking in particular how it was possible for a non-Greek to become accepted in it. Finally, he explores the development of Judaism in the various countries of the Diaspora and in Palestine itself.

Building on the conviction of ethics of hope, this title states that Christian existence and social matters are inextricably tied together in the political sphere. It unfolds author's ethics in light of eschatology, clearly distinguishing it from prior and competing visions of Christian ethics.

Written in an easy and accessible style, this book takes musicals seriously from a spiritual, theological and philosophical point of view.

In this book controversial New Testament sch olar Gerd Ludemann investigates all the references in the wr itings of the earliest church and the rival Jewish sources o n the subject of Jesus'' birth and the idyll of the Holy Fami ly '

One of the most fascinating studies to appear from the German-speaking theological world in modern times.

Concilium has long been a household-name for cutting-edge critical and constructive theological thinking. Past contributors include leading Catholic scholars such as Hans Küng, Gregory Baum and Edward Schillebeeckx, and the editors of the review belong to the international "who's who" in the world of contemporary theology.