Charles B Puskas

Matthew 14:22-33 narrates the nature miracle of Jesus walking on water and Peter's attempt to do the same. It explores the literary form of this epiphany with a sea rescue and its function in Matthew's Gospel.  Synoptic parallels, biblical allusions, and extrabiblical texts are cited with a variety of interpretative approaches explored.

Every speaker, teacher, or preacher has on some occasion encountered an audience that was either unreceptive to or unsympathetic with what he or she had to say. One dominant response to this communication breakdown given by both the Old Testament prophets and New Testament authors was to declare that "they have hardened their hearts to the message" or "God has hardened them." What is this hardness of heart phenomena? Who became hardened and why? Was it “compensation” for some “deficiency” in communication?  What were the consequences of such a disposition? Of what does this unreceptivity consist? Was there any hope for a “change of heart”? The implications of such a study are not only significant for understanding key issues in biblical criticism and theology, but are relevant for anyone concerned with (a) communication issues between an addresser and addressees and (b) for understanding the oppositional behavior and the psychology of resistance.

Gives background to  (e.g., ad infernum; phylake, 1 Peter 3:19; refrigerium) and explores the contents of, chapters 5--8 of C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce (1945).  These chap that focus on the (Apostate) Episcopal Ghost (chap. 5), the BIg (greedy) Ghost (chap. 6), the Hard-Bitten (conspiracy theorist) Ghost (chap. 7), and the (embarrassed) woman Ghost (chap. 8). Attention is also given to the Shining, Bright People who attempt to welcome and guide the (subhuman) Ghosts through the rough terrain that becomes less difficult with the help of the Bright/Solid People.

Introduction to "The Conceptual Worlds of the Fourth Gospel," (Cascade Books, 2021), defining terms, outlining the issues, and announcing approaches in this twelve chapter book comparing the Fourth Gospel with, e.g., the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo, Rabbinic writings, and Nag Hammadi Codices.

November release!  I (with C. Michael Robbins) compare and contrast the Gospel of John with e.g., the other gospels, the Dead Sea Scrolls, wisdom literature, Philo, the Gnostic writings.  Thanks to Jörg Frey, Harold Attridge, and Christopher Skinner for their endorsements!

I wrote this book on the last nine books of the Christian Bible (from Hebrews to Revelation)! I actually started work on it back in the 1980s for an Introduction to the New Testament (all 27 NT books), but many of these chapters were omitted because it made the introduction too long. This problem of length is a characteristic of most NT introductions. So much attention is focused on the Gospels and Letters of Paul (important books), that insufficient space & consideration is given to Hebrews, the General Letters, & Revelation. The title given to seven books of this collection, "General Letters" or "Catholic Epistles," is a reminder of its broad appeal to the whole church (despite slow canonical recognition & authorship questions for some). Nevertheless, these writings continue to capture our attention & ignite our imagination, with urgent warnings, strange prophecies, dire visions of cosmic catastrophe, but also words of faith, comfort, assurance, & hope! I read through final copy at least a dozen times with my patient copy editor, & worked many hours on a glossary of terms for lay readers with a general index of subjects, names, and biblical references!
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The Letters of Paul: An Introduction has been in print for 18 years and has been used with profit in college and seminary classrooms.  It is very accessible guide to the life and times of Paul with an analysis of each of his letters, looking at occasion, purpose, style, structure and content with helpful outlines and comparison charts. Many of these features have not been included in the completing titles which focus on themes and message at the expense of context, occasion, argumentation and flow of thought.  It was one of the first introductions that discusses the so-called new perspective (covenantal nomism) and provides outlines of each letter using Hellenistic rhetoric.  This book has been cited favorably  and some of my charts used by Raymond Brown, in his Introduction to the New Testament, Mark Allan Powell, An Introduction to the New Testament, Ben Witherington’s New Testament Rhetoric and recently in Eerdman’s Companion to the Bible (2011) and reviewed in a number of periodicals and journals. A new chapter on “Religion, Culture, and Political Life” will be added by Mark Reasoner.  Finally, we will add, after each chapter, study questions both for general discussion and more specific problem solving.  This addition will make it more suitable for personal study, classroom use, and small group discussion.

Length and Price of Book
Original edition was 216 pages with 10 pages of front matter.  Revised edition (estimated 208 pages) should be the same length.  Suggested price, $29.95.

Table of Contents
Front Matter and List of Abbreviations                        10 pages
Introduction   4 pages
1. Religion, Culture, and Political Life 12 pages
2. Ancient Letter Genre 15 pages
3. A Chronology of Paul’s Life 15 pages
4. The Letter to the Romans 15 pages
5. The Corinthian Correspondence 24 pages
6. The Letter to the Galatians 12 pages
7. The Letters to the Colossians and Ephesians 30 pages
8. The Letter to the Philippians and Philemon 16 pages
9. The Thessalonian Correspondence 16 pages
10. The Pastoral Letters 26 pages
Bibliography 23 pages

The Objectives of  The Letters of Paul 2nd edition

Target Audience:
The target audience of The Letters of Paul 2nd edtion is  second-year undergraduate college students (with perhaps one religion course prerequisite) and first-year seminarians.  It is written as an introductory textbook for private, religious colleges and universities and seminaries as well as public universities.  It is most appropriate in classes on the Life and Letters of Paul or a supplement al text to New Testament Introduction, Early Christianity or Christian Origins.

By Tyler L March (California, USA) - See all my reviewsThis review is from: An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts (Paperback)
The authors present a very concise introduction to the Gospels and Acts. The book starts with a historical background to the gospels, as well as a review of critical methods used to study ancient texts, before jumping into the texts themselves. The Authors use extensive footnotes to cite their sources. It isn't the most in depth intro to the Gospels and Acts, but with its historical context and readily available sources it's a sure pick for a layperson interested in the subject.

Imagine that we are a group of librarians at the great library of Alexandria in the early third century AD, we have just received copies of Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts, and John. We are asked to categorize and shelf them with the appropriate identifying tags. We must go through these documents and classify them according to the existing generic categories. Under what genre(s) do we classify them? Three prevalent categories of the Hellenistic world are suggested: biography, history, and tragic drama.

Most New Testament (NT) introductions, because of page limitations and other reasons, tend to scale down or minimize their treatment of the last nine books of the Christian Bible (from Hebrews to Revelation). In most cases the focus in these introductions is on the four Gospels and the Letters of Paul.  As important as these books are, one should not neglect, with only a brief survey, the treatment of Hebrews, the General Letters, and the Book of Revelation.

  And also I wrote: 

  My purpose for this book is to supplement my NT introduction  (Cascade, 2011) and others like it with a focus on specific questions related to each book: When and why was it written?  By whom and to whom?  What are some of its special features (genre, structure, style)?  How soon (or late) was it included in the NT collection?  Answers to many of these questions are tentative.  The “assured results of scholarship” are in continual need of reevaluation.  Since the 1980s a host of diverse cultural, historical, ideological, socio-rhetorical, literary and contextual studies have emerged, and I have to endeavored include them when relevant to the topic of discussion.

Imagine that we are a group of librarians at the great library of Alexandria in the early third century AD, we have just received copies of Matthew, Mark, Luke-Acts, and John.  We are asked to categorize and shelf them with the appropriate identifying tags.  We must go through these documents and classify them according to the existing generic categories.  Under what genre(s) do we classify them?  Three prevalent categories of the Hellenistic world are suggested: biography, history, and tragic drama.

Chapter five of Puskas and Crump, An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts (Eerdmans, 2008), 105-27, discusses the alleged sources of Luke and Acts, the Lukan style, e.g., parallelism, chiasm, thematic echo, summary statements, fulfillment motif, figures of speech, and Lukan structure with several different outlines of Luke and Acts presented.

Chapter six of C. B. Puskas and D. Crump, An Introduction to the Gospel and Acts, investigates the key themes, e.g., salvation history, Gentile mission, progression of the gospel, Holy Spirit, prayer, the marginalized, faithful Israel, Roman tolerance, as well as questions of authorship, setting, and date.

Narrator: Let us place ourselves in different roles at a different place and time. We are a group of Gentiles in Asia Minor in the mid-first century CE. We belong to several house churches founded by the Apostle Paul. For many months we rejoiced in our new spiritual home of faith in Christ as God's Messiah, but some problems have now occurred. Claudius, a Galatian leader: Some of our church members are struggling with temptations of the flesh (greed, lust, immorality), and we do not know how to help these people. Many of us feel that perhaps our religious status and the basic message about the Christ from Paul are not enough to cope with the challenges among us. Something else must be needed to remedy this problem. (Claudius stands with Julia & listens to Jewish Influencers) Simon, a Jewish Influencer: Shalom! Why don't you and your people fully embrace the God of Israel according to the Mosaic covenant? Strict Torah observance is the only way to maintain your covenant relationship with God, if you consider yourself a member of God's people. Yacov, a Jewish Influencer: The circumcision of all males, is an important initiation rite. It is the physical sign of one's participation in this covenant that makes you a true partner with God. Even Abraham, the father of many nations (Genesis 12:2; 17:8) observed circumcision (Genesis 17:10-14).

The occasion of the letter may be inferred from its contents. A slave named Onesimus (Greek  Ὀνήσιμος “Onesimos”, "beneficial, profitable") had wronged his owner Philemon (Φιλήμων, “Philemon,” loving” φιλέω, phileō “I love”) a Christian living at Colossae (cf.the names in Phlm 1-2 with Col 4:9, 17), and had run away. Somehow Onesimus had come into contact with Paul, either as a fellow prisoner or because he had sought refuge with the apostle’s associates (a parallel provision in Athenian law may be illuminative here). It appears that Onesimus had vandalized or stolen property and departed precipitously (Phlm 18). Roman law required that whoever gave hospitality to a runaway slave was liable to his master. This law may explain Paul’s promise to pay back the amount Onesimus owed to his master (Phlm 19). Paul therefore writes as the friend of the master (Lat., amicus domini) to ensure that Philemon will receive back his delinquent slave (Lat., fugitivus), although Paul may be hoping that Onesimus be returned to him (Phlm 12-14, 21).

Background reflections on the theology behind The Great Divorce by C S Lewis: the descent of Christ to Hades, Greco-Roman mythology on the descent into Hades, etymology of "hell," the symbolic imagery of hell/hades, the concept of eternality, etc.

Reflections on the text  with discussion questions for adult education class at Living Waters Lutheran Church, Lino Lakes, MN, focusing on God's call of certain individuals in the Bible as part of the"Come Alive" series, Fall 2019. The following Genesis commentaries by Nahum M. Sarna (JPS), George W. Coates (Eerdmans), and Walter Brueggemann (WJK),  were consulted for this study.

An overview of Philippians for a men's Bible study group, looking at its structure and message, deducing from the text and NT, Paul's life and ministry, and from the NT and other ancient sources the situation at the Roman colony of Philippi.

I spent the entire church year of 2016-2017 (meeting once per month) on the Book of Jonah, making use of literary, historical, canonical & theological approaches.  Prof. Mark Throntveit of Luther Seminary gave us a concluding lecture in March of 2017.

Following insights from C S Lewis and Michael Ward, I look at various expressions of indirect communication, e.g., Socratic dialogue, the kappa element in Romance, and the related notion of "looking along" something (Fr. connaître) rather than "looking at" (savoir)-- all contributing to the atmosphere and flavor of the literary work in question.

Reflections on the Hillsdale Course on C. S. Lewis: "How Did Lewis Understand the Relationship between Imagination and Reason?" consisting of 1. Reason, Imagination, and Will, 2. The appeal of Imaginative Myth, 3. The Appeal of Imaginative Lewis, and 4. Summary

An exegetical analysis of John 1--4, paying attention to literary, historical, cultural, geographical, intertextual, and thematic concerns of the text, as well as making suggestions for the applicational usefulness of these texts for people of faith.