The German theologian David Friedrich Strauss (1808–1874) first published his highly controversial The Life of Jesus in three volumes between 1835 and 1836. This translation, by George Eliot, is based on the fourth German edition (1840). In this work Strauss applied strict historical methods to the New Testament gospel narratives and caused scandal across the Protestant world by concluding that all miraculous elements in the life of Jesus were mythical and ahistorical. In volume 2 Strauss applies modern historical criticism to 'de-mythologize' the idea of Jesus as Messiah; the narratives about the disciples; the discourses in the Synoptic gospels and the Fourth Gospel; the non-miraculous events; and the miracles' narratives. This is a key text of nineteenth-century theology that pioneered the application of historical and scientific methods to the study of religions and religious texts. It is essential reading for any student of the New Testament.
The theology of communion, or Koinonia, has been at the centre of the ecumenical movement for more than thirty years. It is central to the self-understanding of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and has been prominent in the work of the World Council of Churches. This book, based on the 1996 Hulsean Lectures, examines the significance of Koinonia for contemporary ecumenical theology, tracing the development of contemporary understanding in critical engagement with the thoughts of Plato, Aristotle, the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, the Cappadocian Fathers and Augustine. In each case, reflection on community life is related to actual communities in which texts were produced. The importance of conflict and the place of politics for the Koinonia that constitutes the Christian churches is a major theme throughout. Communion is seen as a gift to be received and a discipline to be cultivated in the continuing practice of ecumenism.
The theology of communion, or Koinonia, has been at the centre of the ecumenical movement for more than thirty years. It is central to the self-understanding of the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and has been prominent in the work of the World Council of Churches. This book, based on the 1996 Hulsean Lectures, examines the significance of Koinonia for contemporary ecumenical theology, tracing the development of contemporary understanding in critical engagement with the thoughts of Plato, Aristotle, the Hebrew Scriptures, the New Testament, the Cappadocian Fathers and Augustine. In each case, reflection on community life is related to actual communities in which texts were produced. The importance of conflict and the place of politics for the Koinonia that constitutes the Christian churches is a major theme throughout. Communion is seen as a gift to be received and a discipline to be cultivated in the continuing practice of ecumenism.
One of the 'borderlands' of theology is the area in which it concerns overlap with those of philosophy. This book charts some of the frontiers that are of most concern in contemporary discussion. Beginning with a study of ontology in the New Testament, it proceeds to consider the borderlands between theology and philosophy from different standpoints in four main groups: the apostolic and patristic age, Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thought, morality and ethics and, finally, contemporary reflection about meaning and truth. This distinguished collection of essays has been produced to honour Donald McKinnon, who retired from the Norris-Hulse Professorship of Divinity in the University of Cambridge in 1978, a bibliography of whose published writings is included in the volume.
In the first three Gospels, Jesus rarely travels to Jerusalem prior to his final week. The Fourth Gospel, however, features Jesus' repeated visits to the city, which occur primarily during major festivals. This volume elucidates the role of the Jewish feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and Dedication in John's presentation of Jesus. Gerry Wheaton examines the Gospel in relation to pertinent sources from the Second Temple and Rabbinic periods, offering a fresh understanding of how John appropriates the symbolic and traditional backgrounds of these feasts. Wheaton situates his inquiry within the larger question of Judaism in John's Gospel, which many consider to be the most anti-Semitic New Testament text. The findings of this study significantly contribute to the ongoing debate surrounding the alleged anti-Jewish posture of the Gospel as a whole, and it offers new insights that will appeal to scholars of Johannine theology, New Testament studies, and Jewish studies.
For the author of the fourth Gospel, there is neither a Christless church nor a churchless Christ. Though John's Gospel has been widely understood as ambivalent toward the idea of 'church', Andrew Byers argues that ecclesiology is as central a Johannine concern as Christology. Rather than focusing on the community behind the text, John's Gospel directs attention to the vision of community prescribed within the text, which is presented as a 'narrative ecclesiology' by which the concept of 'church' gradually unfolds throughout the Gospel's sequence. The theme of oneness functions within this script and draws on the theological language of the Shema, a centerpiece of early Jewish theology and social identity. To be 'one' with this 'one God' and his 'one Shepherd' involves the believers' corporate participation within the divine family. Such participation requires an ontological transformation that warrants an ecclesial identity expressed by the bold assertion found in Jesus' citation of P
C. H. Dodd's Historical Tradition in the Fourth Gospel, published in 1963, marked a milestone in New Testament research and has become a standard resource for the study of John. Historically biblical scholars have concentrated on the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. However, Dodd's book encouraged scholars to take John seriously as a source for the life of Jesus. This volume both reflects upon and looks beyond Dodd's writings to address the implications, limitations and potential of his groundbreaking research and its programmatic approach to charting a course for future research on the Gospel of John. Leading biblical scholars demonstrate the recent surge of interest in John's distinctive witness to Jesus, and also in Dodd's work as the harbinger of advancements in the study of the Fourth Gospel. This volume will be invaluable to all those studying the New Testament, Johannine theology and the history of the early Church.
The Gospels record that Jesus purported to forgive sins. What significance would such a claim have had for his contemporaries and what would the implications have been for his identity as a first-century popular prophet? Tobias Hägerland answers these questions and more as he investigates the forgiveness of sins in the mission of the historical Jesus. The Gospels are interpreted within the context of first-century Judaism as part of a broader reconstruction of Jesus' career as a healer and prophet, and rhetorical criticism is introduced as a tool for explaining how the gospel tradition about Jesus and forgiveness developed. Hägerland combines detailed exegesis and rigorous methodology with a holistic view of the historical Jesus, evaluating recent scholarship about first-century Jewish prophets and utilizing previously neglected textual evidence to present a thorough investigation of the theology of forgiveness in early Judaism and primitive Christianity.
Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828–1892) was a scholar of the Bible, Patristics and theology who served as Hulsean and Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. Among his scholarly contributions are the foundational critical edition of the Greek New Testament as well as portions of the magisterial The Ante-Nicene Fathers. This short book is a posthumous edition of Hort's lectures discussing the authorship, dating and introductory chapters of the Book of Revelation. While the 1908 publication represents, as the preface notes, 'scholarship in undress', it does so with skill. Positing an earlier date of authorship than traditionally held and asserting authorial unity with the rest of the Johannine corpus, this compact work is an important example of focused historical criticism. The commentary on the first three chapters of the Apocalypse further underscores the contribution of this notable scholar at the height of his prowess.
How do Christians reconcile their belief in one God with the concept of three divine 'persons'? This Companion provides an overview of how the Christian doctrine of the Trinity has been understood and articulated in the last two thousand years. The Trinitarian theologies of key theologians, from the New Testament to the twentieth century, are carefully examined and the doctrine of the Trinity is brought into dialogue with non-Christian religions as well as with other Christian beliefs. Authors from a range of denominational backgrounds explore the importance of Trinitarian thought, locating the Trinity within the wider context of systematic theology. Contemporary theology has seen a widespread revival of the doctrine of the Trinity and this book incorporates the most recent developments in the scholarship.
How do Christians reconcile their belief in one God with the concept of three divine 'persons'? This Companion provides an overview of how the Christian doctrine of the Trinity has been understood and articulated in the last two thousand years. The Trinitarian theologies of key theologians, from the New Testament to the twentieth century, are carefully examined and the doctrine of the Trinity is brought into dialogue with non-Christian religions as well as with other Christian beliefs. Authors from a range of denominational backgrounds explore the importance of Trinitarian thought, locating the Trinity within the wider context of systematic theology. Contemporary theology has seen a widespread revival of the doctrine of the Trinity and this book incorporates the most recent developments in the scholarship.
As a text for a basic Christology course this work orients the student of theology by tracing the principal developments in the New Testament and in later Church tradition, giving attention to some of
The purpose of this study is to investigate and compare the basic structures of Matthew's and Paul's ethics, rather than to deal in detail with their teaching on specific moral issues. Dr Mohrlang discusses their perspectives under the five headings of 'law', 'reward and punishment', 'relationship to Christ and the role of grace', 'love', and 'inner forces', and gives special attention to the question of ethical motivation. There is no absolute contrast, however, since elements both of law and of grace are found in both writers, and for both it is their understanding of Christ that is decisive. The comparison is highly illuminating, and serves to throw into clear relief the more striking characteristics of each writer's ethical system. It should prove of considerable value to students both of New Testament ethics and of Matthean and Pauline theology and to those interested in the larger question of unity and diversity in the New Testament as a whole.
A theological and historical study of the Gentiles and the Gentile missions in Luke and Acts. Dr Wilson examines Jesus' attitude to Gentiles and concludes that not only did he fail to anticipate a historical Gentile mission, but that his eschatological expectations logically disallowed it. Luke's views are then set against the tradition on the subject from Jesus up to and including Mark, and his theology is compared in detail with that of Paul. Dr Wilson goes on to consider the historical reliability of Acts and finds that most earlier assessments have been marred by oversimplification; Luke, he concludes, does intend to write good history but for a variety of reasons is not always successful. There has in recent years been a growing interest in the theology of Luke and this is a substantial addition to the literature on the subject. It will be of interest to all theologians and New Testament scholars.
This is a theological commentary on the Greek text; on the foundation of linguistic detail is based a doctrinal exposition. The first section of the Introduction is on the religious ideas of the epistles, and frequent allusion is made throughout the commentary to works on New Testament theology. There are special notes on many of the important theological terms such as 'knowledge', 'mystery', pleroma, as well as on linguistic points, such as the use of the reflexive pronoun. But attention is devoted also to critical and introductory matters, and this is, it is believed, the first commentary on Colossians and Philemon to discuss in some detail the theories of Professors E. J. Goodspeed and J. Knox. The commentary is documented with references to works in English, French and German, for those who wish to follow up the study in greater detail. But the aim has been to make the exposition as far as possible self-contained and intelligible to a reader with no other books before him than the
In The Messianic Hope, book six of the New American Commentary Studies in Bible & Theology series, Jewish Studies professor Michael Rydelnik puts forth a thesis that the Old Testament was intende
James Dunn is regarded worldwide as one of today's foremost biblical scholars. Having written groundbreaking studies of the New Testament and a standard work on Paul's theology, Dunn here turns his pe
The book of Acts contains a strong geographical component. Yet readings of Acts typically ignore or marginalise geography's contribution to the construction of the narrative's theology. In this book Matthew Sleeman argues that Jesus' ascension into heaven is foundational for establishing the 'spatiality' of Acts, showing that the narrative's understanding of place and space is shaped decisively by Christ's heavenly location. Drawing on recent advances in geographical theory, Sleeman offers a 'spatial' interpretation that expands our vision of how space and place inform the theological impulses of Acts. Presenting a complement to conventional 'temporal' readings of Acts, he sheds new light on the theology of the book, and suggests new ways of reading not only Acts but also other New Testament texts. Sleeman's work combines innovative biblical scholarship with accessible and informative geographical analysis, and is suitable for those with research and teaching interests in human geograp
The apostle Paul has been justifiably described as the first and greatest Christian theologian. His letters were among the earliest documents to be included in the New Testament and, as such, they shaped Christian thinking from the beginning. As a missionary, theologian and pastor Paul's own wrestling with theological and ethical questions of his day is paradigmatic for Christian theology, not least for Christianity's own identity and continuing relationship with Judaism. The Cambridge Companion to St Paul provides an important assessment of this apostle and a fresh appreciation of his continuing significance today. With eighteen chapters written by a team of leading international specialists on Paul, the Companion provides a sympathetic and critical overview of the apostle, covering his life and work, his letters and his theology. The volume will provide an invaluable starting point and helpful cross check for subsequent studies.
