Problem and promise in Colin E. Gunton's doctrine of creation /
:
While much dialogue has focused on aspects of Colin Gunton's Trinitarian theology, there has been a need for a full-scale study of Gunton's doctrine of creation that locates the significance of his understanding of creation within the wider spectrum of his theology. Problem and Promise demonstrates how Gunton's doctrine of creation cannot be read in abstraction from his Trinitarian theology and argues that creation remains a central feature in Gunton's writing that holds lasting importance for understanding ethical and moral aspects of Gunton's theology. William B. Whitney establishes how this Trinitarian account of creation goes beyond offering a theological description of the created realm and also provides the basis for understanding human involvement in creation through the enterprises of culture.
:
1 online resource (viii, 213 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004254626 :
1571-4799 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Imagining the Death of Jesus in Fourth Century Mesopotamia : A Study of Ephrem of Nisibis /
:
In this volume Blake Hartung explores the place of the passion and death of Jesus in the writings of Ephrem of Nisibis (ca. 307-373). The book argues that the genre of Ephrem's works (usually short poems for public performance), is key to understanding his unsystematic approach. Ephrem drew widely upon the Passion narratives and traditional motifs related to Christ's death and deployed them differently in distinct settings. Each chapter explores a key theme in Ephrem's discourse about the death of Christ in context (including anti-Judaism, the defeat of death, and economic imagery). Ultimately, Hartung urges further consideration of the role of Christ's death in early Christian thought and practice beyond the traditional confines of atonement theology.
:
1 online resource (270 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004680241
Divine Simplicity in the Theology of Irenaeus /
:
This book focuses on Irenaeus as key to the early Christian appropriation of divine simplicity as a philosophical principle, since he is the first Christian source to explain his usage in relation to God. Beyond providing limits for what a simple God can and cannot mean, he also applies this principle to God's activity (i.e. creating), and to God's names and powers. There is a growing interest in the early Christian appropriation of divine simplicity: Simons' study is timely as the first book to focus exclusively on the earliest explanation and application.
:
1 online resource (230 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004677630
The apostolic age in patristic thought /
:
This volume deals with how Christians of the first centuries looked back on the period of the nascent Church. Thanks to the incomparable stature of its founder, Jesus Christ, who had descended from heaven and commissioned his Apostles, this period was authorative for all Christians in matters of doctrine, institutions, rites and morality, a new phenomenon in the Graeco-Roman world. Its implications are explored in sixteen essays dealing with various subjects such as liturgy, the canon of Scriptures, the role of miracles, art, monasticism, and ministry. All contributions, taking into account both the views of individual Church fathers and Gnostic and Manichaean texts, make a large amount of primary material available.
:
1 online resource (xi, 257 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047404293 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
A new apophaticism : Augustine and the redemption of signs /
:
In A New Apophaticism Susannah Ticciati draws on Augustine to develop an apophatic theology for the twenty-first century. Shifting the focus away from the potential and failure of words to say something about God, the book suggests that the purpose of God-language is to transform human beings in their relationship with God. Augustine's doctrine of predestination is read, with the help of speech-act theory and the study of indexicals, for its power to effect redemptive change; and his De doctrina christiana is drawn upon for its semiotics. Together they make way for the hypothesis that God-language transforms human beings into better signs of God.
:
1 online resource (xv, 259 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-252) and index. :
9789004258143 :
1876-1518 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Studies in Early Greek Philosophy, A Collection of Papers and One Review.
:
The collection of nineteen articles in Jaap Mansfeld's Studies in Early Greek Philosophy span the period from Anaximander to Socrates. Solutions to problems of interpretation are offered through a scrutiny of the sources, and also of the traditions of presentation and reception found in antiquity. Excursions in the history of scholarship help to diagnose discussions of which the primum movens may have been forgotten. General questions are treated, for instance the phenomenon of detheologization in doxographical texts, while problems relating to individual philosophers are also discussed. For example, the history of Anaximander's cosmos, the status of Parmenides' human world, and the reliability of what we know about the soul of Anaximenes, and of what Philoponus tells us about the behaviour of Democritus' atoms.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004382060
God and grace in Philo and Paul /
:
In God and Grace in Philo and Paul , Orrey McFarland examines how Philo of Alexandria and the Apostle Paul understood divine grace. While scholars have occasionally observed that Philo and Paul both speak about God's generosity, such work has often placed the two theologians in either strong continuity or stark discontinuity without probing into the theological logic that animates the particularities of their thought. By contrast, McFarland sets Philo and Paul in conversation and argues that both could speak of divine gifts emphatically and in formally similar ways while making materially different theological judgments in the context of their concrete historical settings and larger theological frameworks. That is, McFarland demonstrates how their theologies of grace are neither identical nor antithetical.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004308589 :
0167-9732 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Scriptural interpretation and community self-definition in Luke-Acts and the writings of Justin Marty r
:
Scholars of Christian origins often regard Luke-Acts and the writings of Justin Martyr as similar accounts of the replacement of Israel by the non-Jewish church. According to this view, both authors commandeer the Jewish scriptures as the sole possession of non-Jewish Christ-believers, rather than of Jews. Offering a fresh analysis of the exegesis of Luke and Justin, this book uncovers significant differences between their respective depictions of the privileged status that Christ-believers hold in relation to the Jewish scriptures. Although both authors argue that Christ-believers alone possess an inspired capacity to interpret the Jewish scriptures, unlike Justin, Luke envisages an ongoing role for the Jewish people as recipients of the promises that God pledged to Israel.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-310) and index. :
9789004201590 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The constancy and development in the Christology of Theodoret of Cyrrhus /
:
In The Constancy and Development of the Christology of Theodoret of Cyrrhus Vasilije Vranic offers an assessment of the involvement of Theodoret of Cyrrhus in the Nestorian and Miaphysite controversies of the fifth century. Theodoret's Christological language and concepts are examined in their historical contexts. The study is based on the comparison between the early period of Theodoret's Christological output ( Expositio rectae fidei and Refutation of the Twelve Anathemas ) and his mature period ( Eranistes ). Theodoret's Christology is ultimately vindicated and his position as a credible theologian who anticipated the definition of the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) is assured, while proposing that challenges to the consistency of his Christology ought to be reconsidered.
:
1 online resource (xiii, 245 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-239) and index. :
9789004290808 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Images of rebirt h cognitive poetics and transformational soteriology in the Gospel of Philip and the Exegesis on the Soul /
:
This book offers fresh readings of the Gospel of Philip (NHC II.3) and the Exegesis on the Soul (NHC II.6) from new theoretical and historical perspectives. Eschewing the category of "Gnosticism" and challenging common categorisations, the book analyses the preserved Coptic texts as coherent Christian compositions contemporary with the production and use of the Nag Hammadi Codices. A methodological framework based on Cognitive Poetics is outlined and applied to illuminate how the texts present a soteriology of transformation through religious rituals and practices using complex conceptual and intertextual blends with important polemical and paraenetic functions. The analysis highlights the use of metaphors and allusions in (re-)interpretations of authoritative Scripture, ritual and dogma. Complete Coptic texts and translations are included.
:
Appendix contains the texts of the Exegesis on the Soul and the Gospel of Philip in Coptic, with English translations on facing pages.
Revised version of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Bergen, 2007. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (pages 541-576) and index. :
9789004216501 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Eucharistie ist Jesus : Anfänge einer Theorie des Sakraments im koptischen Philippusevangelium (NHC II 3) /
:
Given the concept of salvation through knowledge in Valentinian Gnosis, which is basically anti-materialist, one would not expect concrete physical rituals to play a large role in its practice. The Nag Hammadi Gospel of Philip is widely recognized as a Valentinian text, yet it contains portions of a treatise on the value of baptism, anointing, and the eucharist. The text, which arguably comes from the end of the second century, presents the first developed theory and justification of these sacraments in Early Christianity. The present study reconstructs this theory from the fragmentary text and considers its consequences for the organization of the community. Thus, the book is also an attempt to address the problem of institutionalization in early Christian communities.
:
Slightly Revision of the author's thesis--Universität München, 2005. :
1 online resource (xii, 550 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 505-531) and indexes. :
9789047421634 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Chinese Christology of T.C. Chao /
:
This volume offers a careful analysis of the contextual Christology of T. C. Chao, one of the most important Chinese theologians and Chinese church leaders in the first half of twentieth century. At the core of Chao's Christology is the encounter between Christianity and the Chinese people, in particular the Chinese Christians. In response to the rapid social changes in China between 1910-1950, he attempted to develop a relevant theology by focusing on the characteristics of Christianity and, at the same time, aiming to understand Christianity within its Chinese context.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004322417 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sainthood and authority in early Islam : how the awliyāʼ of God inherited the Sunnī caliphate /
:
In Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam Aiyub Palmer recasts wilāya in terms of Islamic authority and traces its development in both political and religious spheres up through the 3rd and 4th Islamic centuries. This book pivots around the ideas of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, the first Muslim theologian and mystic to write on the topic of wilāya . By looking at its structural roots in Arab and Islamic social organization, Aiyub Palmer has reframed the discussion about sainthood in early Islam to show how it relates more broadly to other forms of authority in Islam. This book not only looks anew at the influential ideas of al-Tirmidhī but also challenges current modes of thought around the nature of authority in Islamicate societies.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004416550
Isaak von Ninive und seine Kephalaia Gnostika : die Pneumatologie und ihr Kontext /
:
Isaac of Nineveh (7th century AD), or Isaac the Syrian, was, among all the Syriac writers, the one to exert the greatest influence outside the Syriac-speaking world, becoming a highly venerated Father of Byzantine Orthodox spirituality and theology. In Isaak von Nineve und seine Kephalaia Gnostika , Nestor Kavvadas first draws out the frictions between East Syrian episcopacy and the anchorite mystical movement as represented by Isaac, in search of the historical context of Isaac's teaching on the working of the Holy Spirit on the monk. Then, he draws out of Isaac's writings, and especially the Kephalaia Gnostika , the underlying structure of Isaac's thought on the working of the Holy Spirit, with the tension here between the here and now and the 'New World' that can be momentarily anticipated in the present world. Isaak von Ninive (7. Jh. n.Chr.), oder Isaak der Syrer, war unter allen Syrischen Autoren derjenige, der den größten Einfluss außerhalb der syrischsprachigen Welt ausübte, indem er ein besonders verehrter Vater der byzantinischen orthodoxen Spiritualität und Theologie wurde. In Isaak von Ninive und seine Kephalaia Gnostika zeichnet Nestor Kavvadas zuerst die Reibungen zwischen dem ostsyrischen Episkopat und der volumea. durch Isaak vertretenen, anachoretischen mystischen Strömung nach, auf der Suche nach dem historischen Kontext der Lehre Isaaks vom Wirken des Heiligen Geistes auf den Mönch. Dann rekonstruiert er aus den Schriften Isaaks, insbesondere aus den Kephalaia Gnostika , die Isaaks Denken vom Wirken des Heiligen Geistes zugrundeliegende Struktur; leitend ist hier die Spannung zwischen dem "hier und jetzt" und der "Neuen Welt", die in dieser Welt augenblicklich antizipiert werden kann.
:
1 online resource (xvi, 189 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004284838 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Calvin's salvation in writing : a confessional academic theology /
:
Academic writing is not a neutral medium for conveying truth; its powers and faults must be exposed before theology entrusts its mysteries to the academic text. To that end, William Wright, en route to putting Calvin's Salvation in Writing, institutes a new theological genre, "theography": theology that "confesses" its academic parameters--with both gratitude and repentance. He delineates those parameters by contrasting the philosophical rationales for writing found in Hegel and Derrida. Drawing on their insights into dialectic and difference, Wright sets out Calvin's doctrine of justification and sanctification across a shifting written terrain. Observing Calvin's doctrinal structure thus becomes a path to save academic writing from claiming for itself either too much or too little. Calvin's Salvation in Writing: A Confessional Academic Theology is the philosophically boldest employment of Calvin to date. Through innovatively mining Calvin's theology, William Wright designs a new method of theology that will enliven the field.
:
1 online resource (xiv, 332 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-329) and index. :
9789004292321 :
1571-4799 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Namen des Vaters : Studien zu ausgewählten neutestamentlichen Gottesbezeichnungen vor ihrem frühjüdischen und paganen Sprachhorizont /
:
This book brings together studies on the most common designations for God in the New Testament, considering their use in ancient Jewish tradition as well as in Greek religion and Roman imperial cult. The introducing chapter on "the Father" is followed by studies on "the Lord" and different designations expressing sovereignty (pantokrator, basileus, despotes, dynastes et cetera), on "the Creator", "the living God" and "the life giving God" as well as on the genuine Christian designation "God, who has risen Jesus from the dead". The two final chapters are on "the one and only God" and on "the highest God". This compendium is not only a reference work full of interesting philological and religio-historical material, but also lays the foundation for future studies on the way in which the different New Testament- and other early Christian texts express their views on God. Conclusions at the end of each chapter facilitate the reading of the book, which aims to sharpen the view on the long neglected importance of God in the scriptures of the New Testament. *** "Die Namen des Vaters" geben einen Überblick über die häufigsten neutestamentlichen Gottesbezeichnungen unter Berücksichtigung ihrer frühjüdischen Tradition, aber auch der zeitgenössischen paganen Sprachkonvention in der griechischen Religion und im römischen Herrscherkult. Nach der Behandlung der "Vater"-Bezeichnung folgen die Analyse der Bezeichnungen Gottes als "Herr" und "Herrscher" (Allherrscher, König, Despotes, Dynastes et cetera), als "Schöpfer", als "lebendiger" und "lebendigmachender" sowie Gott als dem, "der Jesus von den Toten auferweckt hat" als genuin christlicher Redeweise. Den Abschluss bilden Studien zu "Der einzige Gott" und "Der höchste Gott". Dieser grundlegende Überblick eignet sich nicht nur als materialreiches Nachschlagewerk, sondern bildet zugleich einen hilfreichen Ausgangspunkt für alle weiteren Untersuchungen zu den Gottes-Vorstellungen einzelner Autoren der neutestamentlichen und weiterer frühchristlicher Schriften. Zahlreiche Zusammenfassungen erleichtern die Lektüre dieses Werks, das den Blick für die - lange vernachlässigte - Bedeutung Gottes in den neutestamentlichen Texten schärfen möchte.
:
Revision of the author's Habilitationsschrift--Humboldt-Universität Berlin, 2005. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [617]-674) and index. :
9789047420026 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Adventus Domini : eschatological thought in 4th-century apses and catecheses /
:
Translation of: Kristus på keisertronen.
Translated from the Norwegian. :
1 online resource (xxiv, 309 pages, [37] pages of plates) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-304) and index. :
9789004304208 :
0920-623X ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Grace and the Will According to Augustine.
:
The doctrine on grace, one of the most discussed themes in his later years, was regarded by Augustine as the very core of Christianity. This book traces the gradual crystallisation of this teaching, including its unacceptable consequences (such as double predestination, inherited guilt which deserves eternal punishment, and its transmission through libidinous procreation). How did the reader of Cicero and "the books of the Platonists" reach the ideas that appear in his polemic against Julian (and which remind one of Freud rather than the Stoics or Plotinus)? That is the point of departure of this book. It surely cannot be expected that there is a definite answer to the question; rather, the aim is to follow and understand the development.
:
Part Three: Introduction. :
1 online resource (442 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-378) and indexes. :
9789004229211 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ontological aspects of early Jewish anthropology : the malleable self and the presence of God /
:
In Ontological Aspects of Early Jewish Anthropology , Tyson L. Putthoff explores early Jewish beliefs about how the human self reacts ontologically in God's presence. Combining contemporary theory with sound exegesis, Putthoff demonstrates that early Jews widely considered the self to be intrinsically malleable, such that it mimics the ontological state of the space it inhabits. In divine space, they believed, the self therefore shares in the ontological state of God himself. The book is critical for students and scholars alike. In putting forth a new framework for conceptualising early Jewish anthropology, it challenges scholars to rethink not only what early Jews believed about the self but how we approach the subject in the first place.
:
"This book is a revision of my doctoral thesis, completed at Durham University"--Acknowledgements. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004336414 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Exegeting the Jews : the early reception of the Johannine Jews /
:
In Exegeting the Jews: The Early Reception of the Johannine \'Jews\' , Michael G. Azar analyzes the rhetorical function of the Gospel of John's \'Jews\' in the earliest surviving full-length expositions of John in Greek: Origen's Commentary on John (3rd century), John Chrysostom's Homilies on John (4th century), and Cyril of Alexandria's Commentary on John (5th century). While scholarship often has portrayed the reception history ( Wirkungsgeschichte ) of the Gospel's "Jews" as simply and uniformly anti-Jewish or antisemitic, Azar demonstrates that these three writers primarily read John's narrative typologically, employing the situation and characters in the Gospel not against contemporary Jews with whom they regularly interacted, but as types of each patristic writer's own intra-Christian struggle and opponents.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004316164 :
1542-1295 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.