Dale C. Allison

In this book, Dale Allison addresses ongoing historical-theological questions concerning Jesus Christ. What should one think of the modern quest for the historical Jesus when there is such enduring discord among the experts, and when personal agendas play such a large role in the reconstructions? How much history is in the Gospels, and how much history does Christian theology require that there be? How does the quest impinge on conventional Christian beliefs, and what might it contribute to contemporary theological reflection? --From publisher's description.

The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus

William David Davies

'How should this massive work of scholarship be assessed? The three volumes stand as one of the major commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew in which all future interpreters of the Gospel will find a source of fruitful dialogue and helpful ideas. It is a "must have", both in libraries and in footnotes. Davies and Allison are to be thoroughly commended on the fruits of their considerable toil.' Robert K. McIver, Seminary Studies>

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew

For over one hundred years the International Critical Commentary has had a special place amongst works on the Bible. This new volume on James brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary and theological - to enable the scholar to have a complete knowledge and understanding of this old testament book. Allison incorporates new evidence available in the field and applies new methods of studies. No uniform theological or critical approach to the text is taken.

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary

James (ICC)

Despite widespread skepticism on the matter, a significant number of people today have stories of religious experience—moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions. How should rationally minded people respond? What would your reaction be if someone told you that, one night while sitting alone, she saw through the window a brilliant light descend from the sky until it was so large that it filled the room—and that it radiated a feeling of “pure love”? And what would you say if a friend confided that one night he woke up and could not move, felt he was being suffocated, and sensed an evil spirit in the room? By default in the secular age we are skeptical about anything mysterious or supernatural. More likely than not, most people would respond to the stories above with embarrassment and concern about the person’s grasp of reality, or they would attempt to explain them away through rational or scientific means. But the truth is that religious experiences like these are not as uncommon as they seem—although talking about such experiences often is. This is the case even in a faith tradition such as Christianity, despite the Bible’s numerous accounts of miraculous and mysterious happenings. In Encountering Mystery, noted biblical scholar Dale Allison makes the argument that stories of religious experience are meaningful and not to be marginalized—and that we have a moral prerogative to lovingly engage with such stories regardless of whether we have had similar experiences. Through a close look at phenomena such as moments of inexplicable terror or rapturous joy, visions, near-death experiences of the afterlife, encounters with angels, heavenly voices, and premonitions, Allison shows how ordinary practices of faith need not be at odds with individual religious experiences. Above all, he enjoins us to be honest about the persistence of religious experience in a secular age and to make space for those who encounter mystery in their lives.

Religious Experience in a Secular Age

Encountering Mystery

When he was 23 years old, Dale Allison almost died in a car accident. That terrifying experience dramatically changed his ideas about death and the hereafter. In Night Comes Allison wrestles with a number of difficult questions concerning the last things — such questions as What happens to us after we die? and Why does death so often frighten us? Armed with his acknowledged scholarly expertise, Allison offers an engaging, personal exploration of such themes as death and fear, resurrection and judgment, hell and heaven, in light of science, Scripture, and his own experience. As he ponders and creatively imagines — engaging throughout with biblical texts, church fathers, rabbinic scholars, poets, and philosophers — Allison offers fascinating fare that will captivate many a reader’s heart and soul.

Death, Imagination, and the Last Things

Night Comes

Dale C. Allison, Jr.

Examines the history of the search for the Historical Jesus and argues that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet.

The Earliest Christian Tradition and Its Interpreters

Resurrecting Jesus

Allison's six elegant and profound essays call Christians to a life of sustained wonder, open to God and connected to the creation, a life that chooses divine ascent over culture's reflexive mediocrity.

Finding God in the Deep, Still Places

The Luminous Dusk

This fresh and stimulating work is the first book entirely given to the subject of Moses and Mosaic allusions in the Gospel of Matthew. Also included are the history of the discussion of the subject from Bacon to the present as well as a comprehensive analysis of the depiction of ancient Jewish and Christian persons in Mosaic categories.

A Matthean Typology

The New Moses

Testament of Abraham

This first verse-by-verse commentary on the Greek text of the Testament of Abraham places the work within the history of both Jewish and Christian literature. It emphasizes the literary artistry and comedic nature of the Testament, brings to the task of interpretation a mass of comparative material, and establishes that, although the Testament goes back to a Jewish tale of the first or second century CE, the Christian elements are much more extensive than has previously been realized. The commentary further highlights the dependence of the Testament upon both Greco-Roman mythology and the Jewish Bible. This should be the standard commentary for years to come.

Dale C. Allison

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