Anderson, Gary A.

In the episodes of Zakharka's life, the reader sees him as a little boy, a bitterly drinking grave-digger, a nightclub bouncer or a soldier in Chechnya. He has no money, but the ability to enjoy life. He is contagiously full of passion for living, taking large gulps of it while being happy, despite the crudeness of his reality.

The Old Testament offers a rich palette of ideas, images, and narratives that help us unpack some of the more compact and opaque theological ideas of the New Testament. In conversation with both Christian and Jewish interpreters, prominent scholar Gary Anderson explores the exegetical background of key Christian doctrines. Through a deeper reading of our two-Testament Bible, he illustrates that Christian doctrines have an organic connection to biblical texts and that doctrine can clarify meanings in the text that are foreign to modern, Western readers. Anderson traces the development of doctrine through the history of interpretation, discussing controversial topics such as the fall of man, creation out of nothing, the treasury of merit, and the veneration of Mary along the way. He demonstrates that church doctrines are more clearly grounded in Scripture than modern biblical scholarship has often supposed and that the Bible can define and elaborate the content of these doctrines.

"The beginning is everything, and the tale of human beginnings is no exception. We cannot understand our destiny until we find our place within the story of our origins. Two great faiths, Judaism and Christianity, trace their heritage back to the very same Garden of beginnings. In this book, Gary Anderson explores both Jewish and Christian readings of the account of Adam and Eve and charts how human ends are configured by human beginnings. The Genesis of Perfection uncovers the ways evil, sin, sex, forgiveness, and redemption vexed the story of these first humans, and it illustrates how their story portends the fortunes of us all."--BOOK JACKET.