I tell my students to read everything by my friend Richard Hays because he is arguably the most significant American New Testament scholar of the last half-century. But Richard’s importance lies not only in his own writings, but also in his influence on so many others, starting with his students. This fine collection of essays (including points of disagreement among the contributors and with Richard) is a fitting tribute to the authors’ teacher, colleague, and friend as well as a contribution to the field of NT studies

Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical and Theological Studies, St. Mary's Seminary & University

In this enriching set of essays, written in tribute to Richard Hays, eleven of his former students discuss key elements of the Christology and ethics of the New Testament. That this conversation with Hays includes, in some cases, profound but respectful disagreement is a reflection of his legacy, continued here: a rigorous but open-minded commitment to understand the text in all its strangeness, combined with generous-spirited dialogue concerning its significance for church and world today.

John M.G. Barclay, Durham University

This collection of essays reveals the legacy of a good teacher. Echoes of Hays’s work are found throughout: the contributors aim to ground their exegesis in the OT Scriptures, draw out the implications of an ecclesiocentric hermeneutic for reading Scripture, or think again about problems of ethics and formation, all in charitable interaction with the work of various scholars, including Hays himself and one another. This is the kind of collection in which any mentor may take pride, for while recognizing his fingerprints on these pieces, he may surely also appreciate the creative and thoughtful directions these scholars have charted.

Marianne Meye Thompson, Fuller Theological Seminary

Probing, provocative, pastoral—this stellar collection of essays truly honors Richard Hays’s scholarly service to the study of the New Testament, and to the church formed by scripture. Pastors and scholars alike will want this on their bookshelves.

Susan Grove Eastman, Duke Divinity School

Stimulated by the signal contributions that New Testament scholar Richard B. Hays has made to Christology and Christian ethics, the essays collected here (authored by his former students) carry forward conversations involving close studies of particular passages in the Gospels and Epistles and wider-ranging forays into big questions in those fields. Some essays build on Hays’s work, pushing forward in new directions on questions of scriptural intertextuality, Christology, and participation in Christ. Others challenge his work on questions of method and substance alike. But all reflect appreciation for the advances made by one of the most distinguished contributors to twentieth and twenty-first century New Testament scholarship.

Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology