Persecution in 1 Peter : differentiating and contextualizing early Christian suffering /
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In Persecution in 1 Peter , Travis B. Williams offers a comprehensive and detailed socio-historical investigation into the nature of suffering in 1 Peter. While interpreters commonly portray the conflict situation addressed by the epistle as \'unofficial\' persecution consisting of discrimination and verbal abuse, Williams demonstrates the inadequacy of this modern consensus by situating the letter against the backdrop of conflict management in first-century CE Asia Minor. Drawing on a wide range of historical evidence and on modern social-psychological perspectives, this work reconstructs the conflict situation of the Anatolian audience and offers important insights regarding the legal culpability of Christians following the Neronian persecution, the roles of local and provincial authorities in the judicial process, and the variegated conflict experiences of different socio-economic groups within the Christian communities.
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1 online resource (xxvii, 483 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [387]-446) and indexes. :
9789004242012 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jubilee in the Bible : using the theology of Jürgen Moltmann to find a new hermeneutic /
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The biblical message of Jubilee is becoming more credible in our days in dealing with the socio-economic and moral-spiritual issues of today's world. It continues to exercise a powerful influence on the religious thoughts and actions of God's people. In addition to that, this book reveals a new hermeneutical code of reading and interpreting the message of Jubilee. The synthesis of the exegetical analysis of the biblical texts regarding the Jubilee and Sabbath/Sabbath year and Moltmann's understanding of this subject reveals the meaning and significance of the topic, how it is recognized, as well as its implications in today's world. This synthesis reveals a new vision and starting point for socio-economic and moral-spiritual reform in our time. "The biblical Sabbat / Jubilee-traditions are much richer than we thought. This book shows it. Theologically often neglected they are a source of new ideas to solve problems of human community and the ecology of the earth. That my theological works can be used to apply them today, is a surprise to me, a happy surprise." Jürgen Moltmann
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004343474 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Logos and law in the letter of James : the law of nature, the law of Moses, and the law of freedom /
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This study examines the association of \'implanted logos \' and the \'perfect law of freedom\' in the Letter of James. It argues that James understands the Torah to be a written expression of the divine law the Stoics correlated with human reason. After showing how past interpretation of James's logos has been guided by a problematic essentialist approach to Christian origins, the Stoic theory of law is reconstructed with special attention to Cicero's concept of \'implanted reason.\' Adaptations of the Stoic theory in ancient Jewish and Christian literature are examined, and the Letter of James is analyzed in detail. The work makes original contributions to the study of James and of Stoicism. It also highlights the importance of broad reconstructions of Christian origins for the interpretation of the early Christian literature.
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Revision of the author's thesis--University of Chicago, 1998. :
1 online resource (xiii, 281 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [255]-263) and indexes. :
9789004267510 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Where is God in the Megilloth? : a dialogue on the ambiguity of divine presence and absence /
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In Where is God in the Megilloth? Brittany N. Melton constructs a dialogue among Ruth, Esther, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs centred on this question, in an effort to settle the debate about whether God is present or absent in these books. Their juxtaposition in the Hebrew Bible highlights their shared theme of apparent divine absence, but, paradoxically, traces of God's presence are unearthed as well. By examining various aspects of this theme, including the literary absence of God, divine abandonment, God-talk, allusive language, God's providence, and divine silence, it becomes clear that the ambiguity of divine presence and absence in the Megilloth presents a significant challenge to current conceptualizations of divine presence and absence in the Hebrew Bible.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004368958 :
0169-7226 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Historiography and self-definition : Josephos, Luke-Acts, and apologetic historiography /
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For centuries scholars have recognized the apologetic character of the Hellenistic Jewish historians, Josephos, and Luke-Acts; they have not, however, adequately addressed their possible relationships to each other and to their wider cultures. In this first full systematic effort to set these authors within the framework of Greco-Roman traditions, Professor Sterling has used genre criticism as a method for locating a distinct tradition of historical writing, apologetic historiography. Apologetic historiography is the story of a subgroup of people which deliberately Hellenizes the traditions of the group in an effort to provide a self-definition within the context of the larger world. It arose as a result of a dialectic relationship with Greek ethnography. This work traces the evolution of this tradition through three major eras of eastern Mediterranean history spanning six hundred years: the Persian, the Greek, and the Roman.
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1 online resource (xiv, 500 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 394-426) and indexes. :
9789004266940 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Salvation for the righteous revealed : Jesus amid covenantal and messianic expectations in Second Temple Judaism /
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Why is there such an ethical emphasis in Jesus' gospel proclamation? This work finds the answer in Jesus meeting his audience within their own conceptual realms and then expanding those realms to point to the nature of his salvation. The bulk of this work investigates the soteriology of Second Temple Judaism, especially of the Qumran Scrolls. The apocalyptic lesson was the demand of a greater covenantal obedience, held in tension with God's grace, a demand met through sectarian revelation and involving a somewhat diverse messianism. Within these conceptions, Jesus affirms that salvation is indeed for the "righteous," but as defined through himself as the unique Messiah. This work is particularly useful regarding the Jesus-Paul debate, for it provides a diachronic solution grounded in the cultural-historical milieu of the times.
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1 online resource (xvii, 391 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 331-362) and indexes. :
9789004331129 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Interpretation of Tongues and Prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12-14, with a Pentecostal Hermeneutics /
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Bringing "spiritual experience" into the domain of biblical hermeneutics, this book will certainly stimulate current debates within this field, among both Pentecostals and Christians of other traditions. The author also applies a Pentecostal hermeneutical methodology to Paul's teaching on tongues and prophecy in 1 Corinthians 12-14, opening possibilities to a Pentecostal pneumatology that tends instead to focus on the Lukan narrative. Paul's texts are reconsidered not as doctrinal or situational documents but as dynamic communication within a living community.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004397170
Judgment and community conflict : Paul's use of apocalyptic judgment language in 1 Corinthians 3:5-4:5 /
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This study demonstrates that Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:5 - 4:5 is led by the rhetorical situation to emphasize God's final judgment as the affirmation of the individual Christian's work. Paul is not simply opposing his future eschatology to a Corinthian \'realized\' eschatology. Rather, he is teaching the Corinthians to adapt their inherited belief in a corporate judgment to new concerns within the community. The exegetical study is set in the context of past scholarship on the questions of Paul's eschatology, his beliefs concerning judgment, and the role of eschatology in 1 Corinthians. Chapters on the functions of divine judgment in Jewish and Greco-Roman writings help to define the way early Christians thought of God's judgment and to suggest how Corinthian sensibilities influenced Paul's application of judgment language. This book contributes to ongoing debates about the apocalyptic theology of Paul and the eschatological views of the Corinthians. It will also be useful to scholars who are interested in the role played by ideas of divine judgment in the world of the New Testament.
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Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Yale University, 1989. :
1 online resource (xiii, 318 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-289) and indexes. :
9789004266964 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The law in the fourth gospel : the Torah and the gospel, Moses and Jesus, Judaism and Christianity according to John /
: Originally presented as the author's thesis, Münster. : 1 online resource (xvi, 571 pages) : Includes bibliographical references and indexes. : 9789004266537 : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
New perspectives on healing, restoration, and reconciliation in John's gospel /
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In New Perspectives on Healing, Restoration and Reconciliation in John , Jacobus (Kobus) Kok investigates the depth and applicability of Jesus' healing narratives in John's gospel. Against the background of an ancient group-oriented worldview, it goes beyond the impasse of most Western approaches to interpreting the Biblical healing narratives to date. He argues that the concept of healing was understood in antiquity (as in some parts of Africa) in a much broader way than we tend to understand it today. He shows inter alia why the interaction between Jesus and the Samaritan woman could be interpreted as a healing narrative, illustrating the ancient interrelationship between healing, restoration and reconciliation.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004267800 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Resurrection and Parousia : a traditio-historical study of Paul's eschatology in I Corinthians 15 /
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This is a traditio-historical study of three ideas concerning the eschatological resurrection which Paul brings forward in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23: (a) Jesus' resurrection forms the beginning of the eschatological resurrection; (b) the eschatological resurrection will take place through participation in Jesus' resurrection; (c) the eschatological resurrection will take place at the time of Jesus' parousia. The three ideas are investigated in the following way. Firstly, their occurrence and function in Paul is set out, subsequently their origin is reconstructed, and, finally, analogous Jewish concepts are compared. A critical review of earlier research on these ideas and a literary and historical exegesis of the relevant sections of 1 Corinthians 15 precede the investigations.
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1 online resource (xiv, 233 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-223) and index. :
9789004267305 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Justification by faith : the origin and development of a central Pauline theme /
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This study offers a fresh analysis of the place which "justification by faith" held in Paul's life and thought. In distinction from past attempts to define "justification" in relation to a logical "center", the investigation proceeds by assessing the relationship between this theme and two significant points in Paul's career: his conversion and his letter to Rome. The first chapter surveys a number of interpreters of Paul from William Wrede through E.P. Sanders. In an attempt to overcome the deficiencies of earlier proposals, the work then explores the soteriology of two early Jewish writings proximate to Paul, 1QS and Pss. Sol. Paul's references to his preconversion life reveal a connection between these forms of Judaism and that which Paul knew, making it likely that within a short time after his conversion Paul's soteriology underwent a radical change involving his adoption of ideas inherent to his later arguments on "justification by faith". Paul's aim in writing to Rome discloses that he came to regard "justification" as indispensable to his Gospel and relevant to issues beyond Jew-Gentile relations. This research challenges the "new perspective on Paul" (Dunn) while providing a historical and theological description of Paul's understanding of "justification by faith."
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1 online resource (xiv, 310 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 271-286) and indexes. :
9789004267015 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Christ and the future in New Testament history /
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Christology and eschatology form a double-core conception in the New Testament that enables one to understand other themes radiating out from it. The present volume addresses fifteen topics within this central core, seven on 'the person of Jesus', and eight on 'this age and the age to come'. The essays interact with and further discussion on disputed topics in contemporary New Testament Studies, including the historical Jesus and the Gospels; deity christology in the Synoptics and in the Pauline writings; the meaning of resurrection in the teaching of Jesus, the Sadducees and Qumran; eschatology in Luke's writings and the structure of Pauline eschatology; New Testament teaching on hell; and other christological and eschatological motifs. Three concluding pieces provide the historical and hermeneutical framework from which the theological studies proceed. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.
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1 online resource (xvii, 323 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004267473 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The mission of the church in Paul's letter to the Philippians in the context of ancient Judaism /
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Paul seemingly nowhere in his letters commands his congregations to preach the gospel. Therefore many scholars have concluded that Paul's thinking had little or no place for a mission of the church. This study undertakes a fresh investigation of the question by devoting close attention to a text hitherto overlooked in discussion of early Christian mission, Paul's letter to the Philippians. The Jewish context of Paul's thought in Philippians is the key to unlocking his understanding of church and mission in the letter. The study accordingly begins in Part One with an investigation of conversion of gentiles in ancient Judaism. Part Two, drawing upon this Jewish context, focuses on close exegesis of Philippians, revealing the crucial place of the mission of the church in Paul's thought. The questions addressed by this study go to the heart of our understanding of Paul and of mission in earliest Christianity.
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1 online resource (xv, 380 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047415831 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The death of Jacob : narrative conventions in Genesis 47.28-50.26 /
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In The Death of Jacob: Narrative Conventions in Genesis 47.28-50.26 Kerry Lee investigates the deathbed story of the patriarch Jacob and uncovers the presence of a variety of conventional structures underlying its composition, especially a conventional deathbed story or type scene also found in numerous other texts in the Hebrew Bible and non-canonical Jewish literature. Finding fault both with traditional diachronic approaches as well as more recent synchronic studies, Lee uses an eclectic but coherent blend of contemporary methods (drawn from narratology, linguistics, ritual theory, legal theory, assyriology, and other disciplines) to show that despite its probably composite pre-history the last three chapters of Genesis have been intentionally and artfully structured by the hand predominately responsible for their final form.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004303034 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Reading the Bible across contexts : Luke's gospel, socio-economic marginality, and Latin American biblical hermeneutics /
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In Reading the Bible Across Contexts Esa Autero offers a fresh perspective on Luke's poverty texts. In addition to an historical reading, he conducted an empirical investigation of two Latin American Bible reading groups - one poor and the other affluent - to shed light on Luke's poverty texts. The interaction between historical reading and present-day readings demonstrates the impact of socio-economic status on biblical hermeneutics and sheds new light on Luke's views on wealth and poverty. At the same time Esa Autero critically examines liberation theologian's claim that poor are privileged biblical interpreters.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004323209 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Marriage as a covenant : a study of biblical law and ethics governing marriage, developed from the perspective of Malachi /
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This book focuses on the interpretation of Malachi 2:10-16, which censures the lax marital practice of its contemporaries. In particular, Hugenberger investigates Malachi's identification of marriage as a \'covenant\' in response to recent scholarly challenges to this identification. Taking the issues raised by Malachi as his point of departure, Hugenberger examines the nature of covenant and oath (including verba solemnia and oath-signs), and, in light of these findings, explores the theory of marriage implied elsewhere in the Old Testament. Included in this investigation are an analysis of the concentric literary structure of Malachi and a study of the Old Testament's ethical perspectives on divorce, polygamy, and sexual fidelity. An extensive bibliography and indices complete the book.
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1 online resource (xix, 414 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 344-380) and indexes. :
9789004275768 :
0083-5889 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Question of God's Perfection : Jewish and Christian Essays on the God of the Bible and Talmud /
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Philosophers have often described theism as the belief in the existence of a "perfect being"-a being that is said to possess all possible perfections, so that it is all-powerful, all-knowing, immutable, perfectly good, perfectly simple, and necessarily existent, among other qualities. But such a theology is difficult to reconcile with the God we find in the Bible and Talmud. The Question of God's Perfection brings together leading scholars from the Jewish and Christian traditions to critically examine the theology of perfect being in light of the Hebrew Bible and classical rabbinic sources. Contributors are James A. Diamond, Lenn E. Goodman, Edward C. Halper, Yoram Hazony, Dru Johnson, Brian Leftow, Berel Dov Lerner, Alan L. Mittleman, Heather C. Ohaneson, Randy Ramal, Eleonore Stump, Alex Sztuden, and Joshua I. Weinstein.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004387980 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Paul's Declaration of Freedom from a Freed Slave's Perspective /
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This project attempts to listen to voices that have seldom been heard. While others have explored Paul's theology of Christian freedom, they have not considered how Paul's declaration of freedom would have been received by those who most desired and valued freedom: the slaves and freedpersons in the Galatian churches. In this study, Robin Thompson explores both Greek and Roman manumission, considers how the ancient Mediterranean world conceived of freedom, and then examines the freedom declared in Galatians from a freed slaves's perspective. She proposes that these freedpersons would likely have perceived this freedom to be not only spiritual freedom, but - at least in the Christian communities - individual freedom as well.
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1 online resource (246 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004532601
9789004532618