The Fall of the Angels /
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The fall of the angels is one of the biblical narratives which, above all in the history of the bible's reception, have developed an extraordinary effect: In the biblical canon they appear just as hints (Gen. 6; Isaiah 14; Apocalypse 12). Little concern for the text as well as a tradition and reception not covered by the canon makes the narrative grow and change considerably, as well as freely negotiate in the popular media of iconography, liturgy and theatre. As a completed narrative the fall of the angels appears only in the literature of the apocalyptic movement. The so-called Henoch tradition provides revelations about the cosmos and the secrets of Heaven and Earth. Through this mystery our present world is coded as a battle between good and evil.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047404330
9789004126688
The doctrine of God in reformed Orthodoxy, Karl Barth, and the Utrecht School : a study in method and content.
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In The Doctrine of God Dolf te Velde examines the interaction of method and content in three historically important accounts of the doctrine of God. Does the method of a systematic theology affect the belief content expressed by it? Can substantial insights be detected that have a regulative function for the method of a doctrine of God? This two-way connection of method and content is investigated in three phases of Reformed theology. The first seeks to discover inner dynamics of Reformed scholastic theology. The second part treats Karl Barth's doctrine of God as a contrast model for scholasticism, understood in the framework of Barth's theological method. The third part offers a first published comprehensive description and analysis of the so-called Utrecht School. The closing chapter draws some lines for developing a Reformed doctrine of God in the 21st century.
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Description based upon print version of record. :
1 online resource (834 pages) :
9789004252462 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Calvin's salvation in writing : a confessional academic theology /
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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.
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1 online resource (xiv, 332 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 319-329) and index. :
9789004292321 :
1571-4799 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Talking about God and Talking about Creation : Avicenna's and Thomas Aquinas' positions /
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Comparing Avicenna's and Thomas Aquinas' positions regarding human knowledge, this volumes talks about God and the nature of the creative action and the beginning of the universe. The overall argument of the book is that their conception of theological language plays an important role in shaping their positions concerning the creation of the universe. In the first part, their conception of the theological language and divine formal features are explored and how their positions regarding theological language differ from each other is discussed. The second part includes a comparison of their conceptions of the nature of the divine creative action-which provides a good example showing how their conceptions of theological language affect the way they talk about creation-and their arguments concerning the beginning of the universe.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047415923
9789004144774
Ontological aspects of early Jewish anthropology : the malleable self and the presence of God /
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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.
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"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.
La perte de l'Esprit Saint et son recouvrement dans l'Église ancienne : la réconciliation des hérétiques et des pénitents en occident du IIIe siècle jusqu'à Grégoire le Grand /...
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Quand Dieu fait don de l'Esprit aux croyants, comment l'Esprit est-il conféré ? L'Esprit peut-il être perdu ? Laurence Decousu s'attache à répondre à ces questions en étudiant comment l'Église ancienne réconciliait les pénitents et ceux qui s'étaient séparés d'elle. Depuis le Moyen-Âge, la théologie catholique pense que l'Esprit est donné à travers des rites célébrés une fois pour toutes : baptême, confirmation, ordre. Or l'Église des Pères n'a pas vu ces rites comme transmettant l'Esprit et ses effets. Pour eux, recevoir l'Esprit dépendait d'une initiative divine, à la fois directe, libre et souveraine. Cette étude représente une contribution importante pour renouveler la pneumatologie, la pastorale, et les relations œcuméniques. When God gives the Spirit to believers, how is the Spirit conferred ? Can the Spirit be lost ? Laurence Decousu answers these questions by studying the reconciliation of penitents and those who have separated themselves from the Church. Ever since the Middle Ages, theology has held that the Spirit is given through rites celebrated once for all : Baptism, Confirmation, Order. The Church Fathers did not see these rites as transmitting the Spirit and the effects of the Spirit. For them, reception of the Spirit depended on a divine initiative that was direct, free and sovereign. This study is an important contribution to the renewal of pneumatology, pastoral practice and ecumenical relations.
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1 online resource (xiii, 545 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004291683 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Go-Between: Augustine on Deacons
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In recent and contemporary scholarship, the deacon as a leader in the Early Church is an often-neglected subject. This book focuses on the roles and functions of the deacon in Augustine's literary output. The author's approach is detailed and appropriately cautious and is always attentive to the text. He analyses Augustine's way of commenting on deacons and how the bishop of Hippo wrote about them, as well as his manner of preaching on saints and martyrs who were deacons. The book thus provides a new perspective on the early deacons who were not social workers, but go-betweens or intermediaries between the bishop and his flock, between the Scriptures and daily life, and between Church and society. He emphasises in particular how deacons were epistle bearers responsible for the world wide web of Early Christianity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004391369 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Carlo Passaglia on Church and Virgin : New Perspectives in Systematic Theology in Light of Nineteenth Century Catholic Renewal /
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In Carlo Passaglia on Church and Virgin, Valfredo Maria Rossi traces the significant contribution that Carlo Passaglia (1812-1887) has made to Catholic theology, paying particular attention to his Trinitarian ecclesiology and Mariology. Though highly neglected due to his troubled life, Passaglia is one of the most brilliant theologians of the nineteenth century. Commonly - and yet erroneously - ascribed to the Neo-Scholastic movement, he anticipates and so emerges as a forerunner of several themes which will be developed during the Second Vatican Council. In light of Passaglia's two most relevant theological works ( De Ecclesia Christi and De Immaculato Deiparae semper Virginis Conceptu ), Rossi convincingly shows the originality of Passaglia's theology, based on a patristic ressourcement highlighting its historical salvific and sacramental dimension.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004432512
9789004426849
Violence, scripture, and textual practice in early Judaism and Christianity /
: Proceedings of a conference held Oct. 6-8, 2007 at the University of Minnesota. : 1 online resource. : Includes bibliographical references and indexes. : 9789047444787 : Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Scriptural interpretation and community self-definition in Luke-Acts and the writings of Justin Marty r
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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.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [283]-310) and index. :
9789004201590 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Jewish identity in the Greco-Roman world =Jüdische identität in der griechisch-römischen welt /
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The articles discuss various aspects of Jewish identity in the Greco-Roman period. Was there a common 'Jewish' identity, and how could it be defined? How could different groups develop and maintain their identity within the challenge of Hellenistic and early Roman culture? What about the images of 'others'? How could some of those 'others' adopt a Jewish lifestyle or identity, whereas others, abandoned their inherited identity? Among the questions discussed are the translation of Ioudaios, Jewish and universal identity in Philo, the status of women and their conversion to Judaism, the participation of non-Jews in the temple cult, the practice of Emperor worship in Judaea, and the image of Egypt and the Nile as 'others' in Philo. Two articles enter the debate whether Jewish identity had an ongoing influence within early Christianity, in Paul and in the rules known as the Apostolic Decree.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047421559 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The quest for a common humanity human dignity and otherness in the religious traditions of the Mediterranean /
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The worldview that all human beings belong to one big family has, in the history of religions, never been taken for granted. Moreover, human rights are a modern notion that should not be projected back onto the sacred texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, from the Hellenistic period onwards one encounters the idea of human duties towards not only parents, neighbours and fellow citizens but to all human beings. This volume explores the development of this idea from Antiquity to the present time focussing on the \'other\' as \'neighbour, enemy, and infidel\', on the interpretation of the Biblical story of Abraham´s sacrifice and on ancient and modern ethical and legal implications of the concept of human dignity.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004211124
Images of rebirt h cognitive poetics and transformational soteriology in the Gospel of Philip and the Exegesis on the Soul /
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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.
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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.
Spiritual mapping in the United States and Argentina, 1989-2005 : a geography of fear /
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Spiritual Mapping is a U.S. Evangelical and Neo-Pentecostal movement (1989-2005), which developed its own religious technique to wage a 'spiritual' war against unseen non-human beings. These 'spirits' were identified along the lines of geographical territories and put on a map, whence 'Spiritual Mapping' . Its intended function was to boost the numerical growth of Christianity. This book offers a comprehensive historical-descriptive approach of both the movement and the concept, with special attention for theological and anthropological concepts. Its historical roots, relation with Argentina, self-understanding and critics are being described. The reader is presented with a unique insight into Spiritual Mapping as an expression of Americanism, as well as the socio-political concept of Manifest Destiny and U.S. religious marketing.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 337- 361) and index. :
9789047443551 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The development of Christology during the first hundred years, and other essays on early Christian Christolog y
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Entering the debate about the development of Christology among Jesus' earliest followers, this volume critiques both the traditional evolutionary view that posited an elementary early Jewish Christology that developed in complexity as it was increasingly Hellenized and the more recent attempt to see a full-orbed Christology both as early and as Jewish, not Hellenistic, in its categories. It contends that during the first 100 years Jesus' followers employed four models from their milieu, Jewish and Greco-Roman, both to understand and to communicate their Christologies. These models were appropriated because they were appropriate vehicles for expressing the impact of Jesus on them, past, present, and future.
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Part One comprises previously unpublished material; Part Two is a collection of previously published essays. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004203501 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The doctrine of God in African Christian thought : the Holy Trinity, theological hermeneutics, and the African intellectual culture /
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The Christian faith knows and worships one God, who is revealed in the Son and in the Holy Spirit. This is the meaning of the doctrine of the Trinity in Christian thought. Although Christian orthodoxy defines the doctrine of the Trinity, the intellectual tools used to capture it significantly vary. At different times and in different places, Western Christianity has, for instance, used neo-Platonism, German Idealism, and the conceptual tools of the second-century Greeks. Taking elements from the known African intellectual framework, this book argues that for African Christians, the respective pre-Christian African understanding of God and the Ntu -metaphysics, in particular, function as conceptual gates for an attempt towards articulating the Trinity for African Christian audiences.
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Originally presented as the author's thesis (D. Th.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-292) and indexes. :
9789047420224 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
'You are a priest forever' : Second Temple Jewish messianism and the priestly christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews /
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Scholars have long questioned the conceptual background for the priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews, with suggestions including Gnosticism, the thought of Philo of Alexandria, common themes in early Christian theology and exegesis, and the creativity of the author of Hebrews himself. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls prompted waves of enthusiasm for understanding Hebrews in that context, both in terms of the Qumran sect's priestly messianism and understanding of Melchizedek, but claims often were excessive and the approach was discredited. The present study reevaluates the priestly Christology of Hebrews and the presentations of the messianic priest and Melchizedek in the Qumran texts, arguing that the latter do indeed provide the closest parallels to Hebrews' thought.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [205]-224) and index. :
9789047427636 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sight and blindness in Luke-Acts : the use of physical features in characterization /
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The ancient world often thought in terms of physiognomics-the idea that character can be discerned by studying outward, physical features. That physical descriptions carry moral freight in characterization has been largely missed in modern biblical scholarship, and this study brings that to the forefront. Specifically, this is a study of one particular physical marker-blindness. When we look at Greco-Roman literature, a kind of literary topos begins to emerge, a set of assumptions that ancient audiences would typically make when encountering blind characters. Luke-Acts makes use of such a topos in a way that becomes programmatic, serving as a kind of interpretive key to Luke-Acts that is generally unnoticed in modern scholarship.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047432968 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Namen des Vaters : Studien zu ausgewählten neutestamentlichen Gottesbezeichnungen vor ihrem frühjüdischen und paganen Sprachhorizont /
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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.
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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.
Die Darstellung "der zwölfjährige Jesus unter den Schriftgelehrten" im Wandel der Zeiten /
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Es wurde nachgewiesen, das theologische Schriften, die in der Zeit der Entstehung der besprochenen Werke entstanden sind, die Ikonographie beeinflusst haben. Ein ähnlicher Einfluss hat auch in den historischen Geschehnissen der entsprechenden Zeit Spuren hinterlassen. Die christlich-jüdische Disputation, die Verfolgung des Talmuds, der Puritanismus, das Tridentinum, die Überlegungen über das Verhältnis zwischen Jesus und seiner Kirche, die wachsende Bedeutung der Teilnahme an der Sonntagsmesse und andere historische und geistesgeschichtliche Phänomene wurden aufgezeigt, die für die Darstellung von Bedeutung sind. Sogar für kleine Details, wie z.B. das Anlehnen von Jesus an einer Säule, wurden für diese Art der Darstellung Beweise gefunden. It has been proved that theological essays written in the time of the creation of those images influenced the iconography. The same influence has been traced in historic events of the relevant time. The Christian/Jewish disputations, the persecution of the Talmud, the Puritanism, the Tridentinum, the reflection on the relationship between Jesus and his church, the increasing importance of the attendance of the Sunday mass and many other historical and spiritual sources have been shown as relevant for the concepts of these works of art. Even for small details, as for instance the leaning Jesus at a column, a historic-theological source could be detected.
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Based on the author's thesis--Universität Wien, 2007, presented under the title: Der zwölfjährige Jesus unter den Schriftgelehrten. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [156]-163) and index. :
9789004188464 :
0928-0731 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.