The Orion Center bibliography of the Dead Sea scrolls and associated literature

Ruth Clements, Nadav Sharon

BRILL, 2007 - 328 pages

The Orion Center Bibliography of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature (2000-2006) is the fifth official Scrolls bibliography, following volumes covering the periods 1948-1957 (W. S. LaSor), 1958-1969 (B. Jongeling), 1970-1995 (F. Garcia Martinez and D. W. Parry), and 1995-2000 (A. Pinnick). The interdisciplinary cast of the Bibliography reflects the current emphasis in Scrolls scholarship on integrating the knowledge gained from the Qumran corpus into the larger picture of Second Temple Judaism. The volume contains over 4100 entries, including approximately 850 reviews; source, subject, and language indices facilitate its use by scholars and students within and outside the field. This work is based on the On-Line Bibliography maintained by the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Jerusalem.

 

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The Pesher Nahum Scroll from Qumran: An Exegetical Study of 4Q169

Shani L. Berrin

BRILL, 2004 - 351 pages

The underlying premise of this study is the close relationship between Pesher Nahum (4Q169) and its biblical base-text. Historical and literary considerations, as well as theological, sociological, halakhic, textual, and linguistic data, are examined in terms of their exegetical functions.This edition includes a transcription and translation of 4QpNah, with textual notes. The treatment of 4QpNah follows the natural division of the extant text into five thematic literary sections, or "pericopes," each consisting of a series of "lemma/pesher units." For each pericope, proposed historical contextualizations are evaluated on the basis of exegetical criteria. "Equivalents" are "mapped" for each unit, such that individual elements of each lemma are aligned with corresponding elements from the biblical base-text. A focus upon "lemma/pesher correspondence" provides the framework for systematic exegetical analysis of 4QpNah.

 

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The Psalms in the New Testament

Steve Moyise, M. J. J. Menken

Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004 - 254 pages

 

The Psalms in the New Testament offers, for the first time, a set of studies that give an overview of the role and function of the Psalms in the first century, both at Qumran and in the New Testament. This ground-breaking collection forms an important research tool for Septuagintal and manuscript studies, first-century hermeneutics and the development of Christian apologetics and theology. Each chapter focuses on a particular biblical book and considers matters of textual form, points of particular interest and hermeneutics. The book is introduced and edited by Steve Moyise and Maarten J. J. Menken and includes contributions from George J. Brooke, Rikk Watts, Michael Labahn, Peter Doble, Margaret Daly-Denton, Sylvia C. Keesmaat, H.H. Drake Williams III, Thorsten Moritz, Harold W. Attridge and Sue Woan

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The Relationship Between Roman and Local Law in the Babatha and Salome Komaise Archives: General Analysis and Three Case Studies on Law of Succession, Guardianship and Marriage

Jacobine G. Oudshoorn

BRILL, 2007 - 456 pages

The discovery of the Babatha archive provided scholars with unique opportunities for reconstructing the life of Jews in second-century Arabia. Although legal issues and especially the question of the relationship between Roman and local law have received attention in a number of publications, this study presents the first complete overview of the legal situation as presented in the Babatha as well as the Salome Komaise archive, using references to law in the documents' texts as the key element for understanding what law is applicable to these documents. By distinguishing between two levels in the papyri, of substantive and of formal law, a new understanding is reached of the part both Roman and local law played in legal reality.

 

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The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East

 

John G. Gammie, Leo G. Perdue

Eisenbrauns, 1990 - 545 pages

The Temple Scroll: An Introduction, Translation & Commentary

Johann Maier

Continuum International Publishing Group, 1985 - 143 pages

The introduction, translation and commentary on the Temple Scroll by Johann Maier has been thoroughly revised and updated by the author for its English edition, taking account of improvements in readings, and, among other recent secondary literature, the English translation of Yadin's edition, to which cross-references are given. Students of Second Temple Judaism, and the Dead Sea Scrolls in particular, will at last have a convenient English edition of this most important document from Qumran.

 

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1-2 Corinthians 

Craig S. Keener

Cambridge University Press, 2005-06-13 - Religion - 299 pages

This commentary explains 1 and 2 Corinthians passage by passage, following Paul's argument. It uses a variety of ancient sources to show how Paul's argument would have made sense to first-century readers, drawing from ancient letter-writing, speaking, and social conventions. The commentary will be of interest to pastors, teachers, and others who read Paul's letters because of its readability, firm grasp of the background and scholarship on the Corinthian correspondence, and its sensitivity to the sorts of questions asked by those wishing to apply Paul's letters today. It will also be of interest to scholars because of its exploration of ancient sources, often providing sources not previously cited in commentaries.

 

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Alcohol, Addiction And Christian Ethics 

Christopher C. Cook (M.D.)

Cambridge University Press, 2006-05-04 - 221 pages

Addictive disorders are characterised by a division of the will, in which the addict is attracted both by a desire to continue the addictive behaviour and also by a desire to stop it. Academic perspectives on this predicament usually come from clinical and scientific standpoints, with the 'moral model' rejected as outmoded. But Christian theology has a long history of thinking and writing on such problems and offers insights which are helpful to scientific and ethical reflection upon the nature of addiction. Chris Cook reviews Christian theological and ethical reflection upon the problems of alcohol use and misuse, from biblical times until the present day. Drawing particularly upon the writings of St Paul the Apostle and Augustine of Hippo, a critical theological model of addiction is developed. Alcohol dependence is also viewed in the broader ethical perspective of the use and misuse of alcohol within communities.

 

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Altruism and Christian Ethics 

 

Colin Grant

Cambridge University Press, 2001 - 266 pages

 

Separated from its anchorage in religion, ethics has followed the social sciences in seeing human beings as fundamentally characterised by self-interest, so that altruism is either naively idealistic or arrogantly self-sufficient. Colin Grant contends that, as a modern secular concept, altruism is a parody on the self-giving love of Christianity, so that its dismissal represents a social levelling that loses the depths that theology makes intelligible and religion makes possible. The Christian affirmation is that God is characterised by self-giving love (agape), then expected of Christians. Lacking this theological background, the focus on self-interest in sociobiology and economics, and on human realism in the political focus of John Rawls or the feminist sociability of Carol Gilligan, finds altruism naive or a dangerous distraction from real possibilities of mutual support. This book argues that to dispense with altruism is to dispense with God and with the divine transformation of human possibilities.

 

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Churchgoing and Christian Ethics

 

Robin Gill

Cambridge University Press, 1999-08-19 - 277 pages

 

Robin Gill argues that once moral communities (such as churchgoers) take centre stage in ethics - as they do in virtue ethics - then there should be a greater interest in sociological evidence about these communities. This book examines recent evidence, gathered from social attitude surveys, about church communities, in particular their views on faith, moral order and love. It shows that churchgoers are distinctive in their attitudes and behaviour. Some of their attitudes change over time, and there are a number of obvious moral disagreements between different groups of churchgoers. Nonetheless, there are broad patterns of Christian beliefs, teleology and altruism which distinguish churchgoers as a whole from non-churchgoers. However, the values, virtues, moral attitudes and behaviour of churchgoers are shared by many other people as well. The distinctiveness of church communities in the modern world is thus real but relative, and is crucial for the task of Christian ethics.

 

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Genesis 12-50

 

R. W. L. Moberly

Continuum International Publishing Group, 1992 - 111 pages

 

What every student of the Old Testament needs is a short volume, concise and comprehensive, manageable and affordable, on the biblical book he or she is studying. OLD TESTAMENT GUIDES have been designed with the student's needs in mind: -introduction to the contents of the biblical book -balanced survey of the important critical issues -concentration on theological perspectives -assesment of the most recent scholarship -cross-references to standard works on Old Testament history and theology -annotated bibliographies OLD TESTAMENT GUIDES are published by the Sheffield Academic Press for the (British) Society for Old Testament Study. The authors are all members of the Society, and the series editor, R.N. Whybray, is a past president. Known internationally for their scholarly writings, they have for this series also drawn upon their experience as teachers of university and college students.

 

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How Things Are in the World: Metaphysics and Theology in Wittgenstein and Rahner

 

Terrance W. Klein

Marquette University Press, 2003 - 271 pages

 

"The Word was made flesh" is the foundational Christian assertion. Some two thousand years later, Christians are still reflecting upon its meaning. What is the relationship of words, or language, to our experience of God? Is God beyond words? Christianity has, in one venue or another, asserted just that, all the while maintaining the necessity of an explicitly religious life, one formed and focused upon words and that which might be called the "language of ritual." The very word "revelation" seems to evoke the question of language: words, concepts, assertions, judgements, etc. It's true that Christianity asserts that what God ultimately reveals in Jesus Christ is a person, not a message, or rather, that the person is the message, but words like "message," "communication," and even "communion" raise the question of language. If, on the one hand, God lies beyond all telling, and if, on the other, human life in the age of communication seems to be nothing more than a telling, a spinning, and the creation of realities formed by language, where do God and humanity meet? What does it mean to assert that the Word became flesh? The first half of this book is a theological examination of the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein who, with a small brace of others, stands as a progenitor of twentieth century thought. The work of Karl Rahner clearly stands as the center of postconciliar Roman Catholic theology, and of contemporary Christian theology in general. Rahner wrote voluminously and well. Although his own style of writing is dense and heavily weighted with continental philosophy, his treatments of so many basic theological questions have been popularized by innumerable secondary authors. It would beno exaggeration to say that Rahner's work has been a theological pivot for the second half of the 20th century. The time seems right, then, to take another look at Rahner and his Wittgensteinian critics

 

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Jesus Christ and the Religions: An Essay in Theology of Religions

Hans Waldenfels

Marquette University Press, 2009-02-28 - 145 pages

It is no longer controversial to grant that other religions have the same potential for salvation as our own. In this climate of plurality we are increasingly called upon to respond to the claims made by other religions on this issue. In this regard, Christians should know about their own Christian position and need to enter into a dialogue within their own church before they can engage fruitfully with other religions, other churches and communities. This book gives stimulus to an active dialogue between religions by arguing that interfaith dialogue in its depth entails an all comprising sharing, mutual openness and the proclamation of active faith in words and deeds.

 

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Martin Luther, Roman Catholic Prophet

 

Gregory Sobolewski

Marquette University Press, 2001 - 187 pages

 

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Paul and his Theology

 

Stanley E. Porter

Brill, 2006 - 454 pages

This volume consists of fifteen essays by an international group of scholars on a variety of topics in Pauline theology. These include his gentile mission, the concepts of faith, grace, and the law, reconciliation, the temple, eschatology, miracles, gender, and Paul's trinitarian tendencies.

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Self, Culture, and Others in Womanist Practical Theology 

 

 

Phillis Isabella Sheppard

 

Palgrave Macmillan

2011, 240 pages

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Septuagintal Midrash in the Speeches of Acts

 

Luke Timothy Johnson

Marquette University Press, 2002 - 76 pages

 

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Shame: Theory, Therapy, Theology

Stephen Pattison

Cambridge University Press, 2000-10-05 - Psychology - 343 pages

Stephen Pattison considers the nature of shame as it is discussed in the diverse discourses of literature, psychology, psychoanalysis, philosophy, history and sociology and concludes that ëshameí is not a single unitary phenomenon, but rather a set of separable but related understandings in different discourses. Situating chronic shame primarily within the metaphorical ecology of defilement, pollution and toxic unwantedness, Pattison goes on to examine the causes and effects of shame. He then considers the way in which Christianity has responded to and used shame. Psychologists, philosophers, theologians and therapists will find this a fascinating source of insight, and it will be of particular use to pastoral workers and those concerned with religion and mental health.

 

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Silence, Love, and Death: Saying Yes to God in the Theology of Karl Rahner

Shannon Nichole Craigo-Snell

Marquette University Press, 2008-06-30 - 253 pages

 

One of the central elements of Karl Rahner's theology is the affirmation that God offers salvation to every human being and, in so doing, empowers each of us to say "yes" to this holy vocation. This divine-human dialogue of offer and response is the heart of Rahner's understanding of Christian faith. In this book, Shannon Craigo-Snell explores what it means to say "yes" to God in Rahner's theology. Drawing on a variety of his writings, Craigo-Snell focuses on three moments in human freedom that Rahner repeatedly points to in describing how we say "yes" to God: silence, love, and death. In Rahner's theology, the theme of silence is often used to mark a posture of openness to the mysterious other, both human and divine, which is a primary characteristic of what it is to be human. This openness to the other is concretely realized in love, such that human identity is both gift received and task accomplished. Further, this self-possessing openness to the other is fully actualized in an eternal inter-communion. Rahner's discussions of eschatology do not center on an affirmation of the immortality of the individual soul, but rather paint a portrait of communally sanctified humanity that draws us forward into ourselves, our community, and God. Attending to these three ways of saying "yes" to God generates an understanding of Rahner's theology as neither modern nor postmodern, but rather a challenging alternative vision that can be a vital resource for contemporary feminist theologies.

 

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Soma in Biblical Theology: With Emphasis on Pauline Anthropology

Robert H. Gundry

Cambridge University Press, 2005-08-22 - 280 pages

This addition to the well-known series of theological monographs deals with the use of the Greek work traditionally translated 'body' but recently as 'person', especially in certain parts of the writings of Paul. Theologians have argued that the translation as 'person' defines man as an indivisible whole and as a complex of relationships rather than an organization of substances. Against the trends of modern biblical theology, Dr Gundry seeks to show that soma always refers to the individual physical body and that it should be defined in substantive categories. Consequently, the theological importance of the body as individual physical substance is insured for life in this world and in the next. Neither antagonism between body and spirit nor the possible independence of full personhood from physical existence characterizes biblical anthropology.

 

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Studies in Josephus and the Varieties of Ancient Judaism: Louis H. Feldman Jubilee Volume

Shaye J. D. Cohen, Joshua Schwartz

BRILL, 2007 - 312 pages

Former students, colleagues and friends of the eminent classicist and historian Prof. Louis H. Feldman are pleased to honor him with a Jubilee volume. While Prof. Feldman has long been considered an outstanding scholar of Josephus, his scholarly interests and research interests pertain to almost all aspects of the ancient world and Jews. The articles in Judaism in the Ancient World: Louis H. Feldman Jubilee Volume relate to the fields studies by Prof. Feldman such as biblical interpretation, Judaism and Hellenism, Jews and Gentiles, Josephus, Jewish Literatures of the Second Temple, History of the Mishnah and Talmud periods, Jerusalem and much more. The contributors to this volume are among the most prominent in their fields and hail from the international scholarly community.

 

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A Targumic Aramaic Reader: Texts from Onkelos and Jonathan

 

Ebbe Egede Knudsen

Brill, 1981 - 123 pages

 

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The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Commentary

 

Harm W. Hollander, Marinus de Jonge

BRILL, 1985 - 469 pages

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The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation

James Keith Elliott

Oxford University Press, 2005-12-22 - 747 pages

This collection of apocryphal texts supersedes the best-selling edition by M.R. James, which was originally published in 1924. Several new texts have come to light since 1924 and the textual base for some of the apocrypha previously translated by James is now more secure, as in several cases there are now recently published critical editions available. Although a modest addition to James's edition was made in 1953, no thorough revision has previously been undertaken. In this volume, J.K. Elliott presents new translations of the texts and has provided each of them with a short introduction and bibliography for readers who wish to pursue further the issues raised in the texts or to consult the critical editions, other translations, or general studies. The translations are in modern English, in contrast to James's deliberate imitation of the language of the Authorized Version. The collection is designed to give readers the most important or famous of the Christian apocrypha and a small sample of gnostic texts. Full translations of the earliest texts are printed, as well as some derivative apocrypha.

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The "Astronomical" Chapters of the Ethiopic book of Enoch (72 to 82)

Matthew Black

Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, 1981 - 42 pages

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The Bible in Arab Christianity

David Richard Thomas

BRILL, 2007 - 421 pages

The contributions to this volume, which come from the Fifth Mingana Symposium, survey the use of the Bible and attitudes towards it in the early and classical Islamic periods. The authors explore such themes as early Christian translations of the Bible into Arabic, the use of verses from it to defend the truth of Christianity, to interpret the significance of Islam and to prove its error, Muslim accusations of corruption of the Bible, and the influences that affected production of Bibles in Muslims lands. The volume illustrates the centrality of the Bible to Arab Christians as a source of authority and information about their experiences under Islam, and the importance of upholding its authenticity in the face of Muslim criticisms.

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The Book of Enoch, or, I Enoch: A New English Edition : With Commentary and Textual Notes

 

Matthew Black, Otto Neugebauer

BRILL, 1985 - 467 pages

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The Book of Jubilees

 

James C. VanderKam

E. Peeters, 1989 - 668 pages

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The Books of Elijah, Parts 1-2

 

Michael E. Stone, John Strugnell

Scholars Press, 1979 - 110 pages

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The Books of Enoch: Aramaic fragments of Qumran Cave 4

Matthew Black

Clarendon Press, 1976 - 439 pages

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The Concept of Time in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls

Gershon Brin

BRILL, 2001 - 389 pages

The book is concerned with the concept of time in the Bible and in later literature, primarily that of the Judaean Desert sect. By the term "concept of time" the author refers to the entire complex of issues relating to time, as follows from our involvement in the writings of the corpus. The work discusses issues of terminology, substance and ideology that arise from the totality of texts dealing with the subject of time.
The conjoining of the eight groups of chapters of the book provides a comprehensive picture of the approach to time in ancient Hebrew literature, beginning with the Bible and concluding with the first century CE, the latest possible time frame for the Scrolls.

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The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Idea of Redemption in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

Rivḳa Nir

Society of Biblical Literature, 2003 - 318 pages

The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch is a pseudepigraphic apocalyptic work ascribed to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe of Jeremiah. Its overt content concerning the last days of the First Temple period disguises a description of the fall of the Second Temple in 70 C.E. Contrary to the general scholarly view, this book attempts to show that the internal structure and central ideas of II Baruch must be understood in a Christian context. This theological identity is reflected mainly in traditions which describe the destruction of Jerusalem and the three apocalyptic visions which depict the coming of the Messiah and the eschatological redemption. The author's conclusion may shed light on the Christian character of other Pseudepigraphic and apocalyptic books.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction

Timothy H. Lim

Oxford University Press, 2005 - 138 pages

Everyone has heard of of the Dead Sea Scrolls, but amidst the conspiracies, the politics, and the sensational claims, it can be difficult to separate myth from reality. Here, Timothy Lim explores the cultural and historical background of the scrolls, and examines their significance for our understanding of the Old Testament and the origins of Christianity and Judaism. Lim tells the fascinating story of the scrolls since their discouvery; their cultural context through the archaeology and history of the Dead Sea region. He explains the science behind their deciphering and dating, and does not omit the cast of characters, scandals, and controversies that have hastened the scrolls' rise to the status of cultrual icon.
Beginning with their discovery in the 1940s, through the political, legal, and scholary controversies that still persist today, public interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls has remained exceptionally high. This is an accessible and well-written mini-history that will appeal to anyone interested in the true history of these fascinating documents.

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The Dead Sea Scrolls After Fifty Years 

 

Peter W. Flint, James C. VanderKam

Brill, 1999 - 350 pages

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The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition in the Light of Aramaic Dead Sea Fragments

Michael Anthony Knibb

Clarendon Press, 1978

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The Genius of Paul: A Study in History

Samuel Sandmel

Fortress Press, 1979-09-01 - 236 pages

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1 Enoch 91-108

Loren T. Stückenbruck

Walter de Gruyter, 2007 - 855 pages

The volume is a commentary on 1 Enoch chapters 91-108 that begins with the Ethiopic text tradition but also takes the Greek and Aramaic (Dead Sea Scrolls) evidence into account. This section of 1 Enoch, which contains material from at least five different documents composed some time during the 2nd century BCE, provides a window into the early stages of the reception of the earliest Enoch tradition, as it was being negotiated in relation to elitist religious opponents, on the one hand, and in relation to other Jewish traditions that were flourishing at the time. The commentary, at the beginning of which there is an extensive introduction, is structured in the following way: there is a translation for each unit of text (including the Greek and Aramaic where it exists, with the Greek and Ethiopic translations presented synoptically), followed by detailed textual notes that justify the translation and provide information on a full range of variations among the manuscripts. This, in turn, is followed by a General Comment on the unit of text; after this there are detailed notes on each subdivision of the text which attempt to situate the content within the stream of biblical interpretation and developing Jewish traditions of the Second Temple period. The five documents in 1 Enoch 91-108 are dealt with in the following order: (1) Apocalypse of Weeks (93:1-10; 91:11-17); (2) Admonition (91:1-10, 18-19); (3) Epistle of Enoch (92:1-5; 93:11-105:2; (4) Birth of Noah (106-107); and (5) the Eschatological Appendix (108).

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2 Maccabees

Daniel R. Schwartz

Walter de Gruyter, 2008 - 617 pages

2 Maccabees is a Jewish work composed during the 2nd century BCE and preserved by the Church. Written in Hellenistic Greek and told from a Jewish-Hellenistic perspective, 2 Maccabees narrates and interprets the ups and downs of events that took place in Jerusalem prior to and during the Maccabean revolt: institutionalized Hellenization and the foundation of Jerusalem as a polis; the persecution of Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, accompanied by famous martyrdoms; and the rebellion against Seleucid rule by Judas Maccabaeus. 2 Maccabees is an important source both for the events it describes and for the values and interests of the Judaism of the Hellenistic diaspora that it reflects - which are often quite different from those represented by its competitor, 1 Maccabees.

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A Structural Analysis of the Sermon on the Mount

 

Andrej Kodjak

Mouton de Gruyter, 1986 - 234 pages

 

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An End to Enmity: Paul and the "Wrongdoer" of Second Corinthians

L. L. Welborn

De Gruyter, 2011-10-15 - 570 pages

This book casts light upon the shadowy figure of the wrongdoer in Second Corinthians, disclosing the type of offence that was committed and the relationship of the wrongdoer to Paul and to the Corinthians. Drawing upon the social and rhetorical conventions that governed friendship, enmity and reconciliation in the Greco-Roman world, the book offers an hypothesis regarding the identity of the wrongdoer and reconstructs the history of Paul's relationship with an influential convert to Christianity at Corinth.

 

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At the Mountain of God: Story and Theology in Exodus 32-34

R. W. L. Moberly

JSOT Press, 1983 - 258 pages

An introduction on appropriate methods of handling a narrative text leads into an exegesis of Exodus 32-34 in which it is argued that there is a deeper literary and theological coherence in these chapters than has been generally appreciated. There appears a striking account of Israel's relationship with God and the role of Moses within this. The exegesis promotes a discussion of the genre and purpose of Exodus 32-34 and also a preliminary reassessment of the possible growth and development of the material. As a result of the study both the distinctiveness and also the theological importance of Exodus 32-34 within the Moses tradition are set in a new light.

 

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Changes in Scripture: Rewriting and Interpreting Authoritative Traditions in the Second Temple Period

 

Hanne Von Weissenberg, Juha Pakkala, Marko Marttila

 

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Christian Political Ethics

John Aloysius Coleman

Princeton University Press, 2008 - 289 pages

Christian Political Ethics brings together leading Christian scholars of diverse theological and ethical perspectives--Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anabaptist--to address fundamental questions of state and civil society, international law and relations, the role of the nation, and issues of violence and its containment. Representing a unique fusion of faith-centered ethics and social science, the contributors bring into dialogue their own varying Christian understandings with a range of both secular ethical thought and other religious viewpoints from Judaism, Islam, and Confucianism. They explore divergent Christian views of state and society--and the limits of each. They grapple with the tensions that can arise within Christianity over questions of patriotism, civic duty, and loyalty to one's nation, and they examine Christian responses to pluralism and relativism, globalization, and war and peace. Revealing the striking pluralism inherent to Christianity itself, this pioneering volume recasts the meanings of Christian citizenship and civic responsibility, and raises compelling new questions about civil disobedience, global justice, and Christian justifications for waging war as well as spreading world peace. It brings Christian political ethics out of the churches and seminaries to engage with today's most vexing and complex social issues. The contributors are Michael Banner, Nigel Biggar, Joseph Boyle, Michael G. Cartwright, John A. Coleman, S.J., John Finnis, Theodore J. Koontz, David Little, Richard B. Miller, James W. Skillen, and Max L. Stackhouse.

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Contested Christianity: The Political and Social Contexts of Victorian Theology

Timothy Larsen

Baylor University Press, 2004-03-01 - 234 pages

This volume explores the cultural, political, and intellectual forces that helped define nineteenth-century British Christianity. Larsen challenges many of the standard assumptions about Victorian-era Christians in their attempts to embody and their theological commitments. He highlights the way in which Dissenters and other free church Evangelicals employed the full range of theological resources available to them to take stands that the wider culture was still resisting--e.g., evangelical nonconformists enfranchising women, siding with the black population of Jamaica in opposition to their own colonial governor, championing the rights of Jews, Roman Catholics, and atheists. These stances belie the stereotypes of Victorian Evangelicals currently in existence and properly shift the focus to Dissent, to plebeian culture, to social contexts, and to the cultural and political consequences of theological commitments. This study brings freshness and verve to the study of religion and the Victorians, bearing fruit in a range of significant findings and connections.

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Dante's Commedia: Theology as Poetry

 

Vittorio Montemaggi, Matthew Treherne

University of Notre Dame Press, 2010-03-15 - 388 pages

 

In Dante's Commedia: Theology as Poetry,an international group of theologians and Dante scholars provide a uniquely rich set of perspectives focused on the relationship between theology and poetry in the Commedia. Examining Dante's treatment of questions of language, personhood, and the body; his engagement with the theological tradition he inherited; and the implications of his work for contemporary theology, the contributors argue for the close intersection of theology and poetry in the text as well as the importance of theology for Dante studies. Through discussion of issues ranging from Dante's use of imagery of the Church to the significance of the smile for his poetic project, the essayists offer convincing evidence that his theology is not what underlies his narrative poem, nor what is contained within it: it is instead fully integrated with its poetic and narrative texture. As the essays demonstrate, the Commediais firmly rooted in the medieval tradition of reflection on the nature of theological language, while simultaneously presenting its readers with unprecedented, sustained poetic experimentation. Understood in this way, Dante emerges as one of the most original theological voices of the Middle Ages. "Long taken for granted in Dante studies, the nexus between theology and poetry in Dante's work, especially in the Commedia, has only really been subjected to searching critical analysis in the last few decades. The scholars represented in this interdisciplinary collection explore the poem's claims to function as a text embodying theological truth and, more particularly, as a poetic representation of the experience of the mystical. Their efforts comprise a landmark in modern Dante studies." -- Steven Botterill, University of California, Berkeley "Moved by both intellectual curiosity and a palpable love of their subject, a group of both young and established scholars, both theologians and Dante specialists, from both sides of the Atlantic, collaborate in this book to search through the poet's volume and pose fresh questions about the relation of poetry and theology in Dante's work." -- Ronald L. Martinez, Brown University

 

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Entering the New Theological Space: Blurred Encounters of Faith, Politics and Community

John Reader, CHRIS BAKER

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009-05-07 -  241 pages

 

This book presents theological reflections on the changing nature of church mission and Christian identity within a theology of 'Blurred Encounter' - a physical, social, political and spiritual space where once solid hierarchies and patterns are giving way to more fluid and in many ways unsettling exchanges. The issues raised and dynamics explored apply to all socially-produced space, thus tending to 'blur' that most fundamental of theological categories - namely urban vs. rural theology. Engaging in a sharper way with some of the helpful but inevitably broad-brush conclusions raised by recent church-based reports (Mission-shaped Church, Faithful Cities), the authors examine some of the practical and theological implications of this research for the issue of effective management and therefore church leadership generally. Speaking to practitioners in the field of Practical Theology as well as those engaged in theological and ministerial training, key voices encompass dimensions of power and conflict, and identify some of the present and future opportunities and challenges to church/faith-based engagement and leadership arising from blurred encounters.Contributors - practitioners and theorists - cover a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary professional contexts and academic/denominational interests. Contributors include: John Atherton. John Reader, Helen Cameron, Martyn Percy, Malcolm Brown, Karen Lord, Clare MacBeath and Margaret Goodall

 

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Exodus Church and Civil Society: Public Theology and Social Theory in the Work of Jürgen Moltmann

 

Scott Paeth

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2008 - 223 pages

This book investigates the intersection of theology and social theory in the work of Jürgen Moltmann. In particular, it examines the way in which his concept of the Exodus Church can illuminate the importance of the idea of civil society for a Christian public theology. The concept of civil society can aid in moving from the narrower category of political theology, a term used frequently by Moltmann to emphasize the church's public commitment, to a broader understanding of theology's public task, which takes into account the plurality of ends and institutions within society. The idea of the Exodus Church enables deeper understanding of Christian ethical participation within a complex modern society.

 

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Explorations in Christian Theology and Ethics: Essays in Conversation with Paul L. Lehmann

 

Philip Gordon Ziegler, Michelle J. Bartel

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009-07-20 - 194 pages

 

Engaging variously with the legacy of Paul L. Lehmann, these essays argue for a reorientation in Christian theology that better honours the formative power of the gospel to animate and shape doctrine and witness, as well as ethical and political life.The authors explore key themes in Christian theology and ethics - forgiveness, discernment, responsibility, spirituality, the present day tasks of theology and the role of faith in public life - making plain the unabated importance of Lehmann's work at this juncture in contemporary theology. The internationally recognized contributors draw crucial connections between the gospel of reconciliation, the form of Christian theology and witness, and the challenges of contemporary ethical and political reflection. This book demonstrates why this close friend of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and author of Ethics in a Christian Context and The Transfiguration of Politics continues to influence generations of theologians in both the English speaking world and beyond.

 

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The Fate of Justice and Righteousness During David's Reign: Rereading the Court History and its Ethics According to 2 Samuel 8:15b-20:26

 

Richard G. Smith

Continuum International Publishing Group, 2009 - 274 pages

 

This work argues that 2 Sam 8:15--20:26 is a literary unit designed to show how David and his house failed to establish "justice and righteousness" during David's reign over all Israel. After an introductory chapter and a chapter on critical methodology the rest of the work is a close reading of 2 Sam 8:15--20:26 that pays special attention to narrative ethics. Chapter 3 makes a case for reading 2 Sam 8:15--20:26 as a coherent literary unit reflecting an ethical world-view grounded in kindness and having as its main theme "the failure of justice and righteousness to be established during David's reign." Chapter 4 presents a case for reading 2 Sam 8:15--10:19 as an account of the beginnings of justice and righteousness during David's reign in which David's kindness towards Mephibosheth is presented as analogous to a Mesopotamian royal declaration and was performed as an inaugural act of charity upon David's ascent to the throne.

 

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Genesis as Dialogue: A Literary, Historical, & Theological Commentary

Thomas L. Brodie

Oxford University Press, 2001-08-16 - 579 pages

Recent years have seen a remarkable surge in interest in the book of Genesis - the first book of the Hebrew Bible, and a foundational text of Western culture. In this new commentary, Thomas Brodie offers a complete and accessible overview of Genesis from literary, theological, and historical standpoints. Brodie's work is organized around three main ideas. The first is that the primary subject of Genesis is human existence; the second is that Genesis' basic organizational unity is binary, or diptych. Brodie argues that the entire book is composed of diptychs - accounts which, like some paintings, consist of two parts or panels. Finally, Brodie contends that many of Genesis' sources still exist, and can be identified and verified.

 

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God in Postliberal Perspective: Between Realism and Non-Realism

 

Robert Andrew Cathey

Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2009-03-16 - 233 pages

God in Postliberal Perspective presents an introduction to the doctrine and concept of God in contemporary philosophy and theology, exploring how some theologians and philosophers dare to speak of God as 'real' in our sceptical, pluralistic, and interfaith age.

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Hebrews

 

Ray C. Stedman

InterVarsity Press, 1992 - 168 pages

 

For people beginning to doubt the uniqueness and supremacy of Christ, the author of the book of Hebrews provided one of the longest, most profound arguments in the New Testament. Christians today will find their understanding stretched and their loyalty confirmed by this rich presentation of our great High Priest, the Son of God, whose sacrifice of himself took away our sins and gave us continual access to God.Written in a fresh, succinct style, this commentary from a leading evangelical pastor supplies helpful background information that paves the way for our seeing what the text means for us today as well as what it meant for its original hearers.Students, pastors, Bible teachers and everyone who wants to understand the message of Hebrews for the church will benefit from this excellent resource.

 

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Holiness and Ministry: A Biblical Theology of Ordination

 

Thomas B. Dozeman

Oxford University Press, 2008-07-10 - 158 pages

 

The World Council of Churches has called for renewed theological reflection on the biblical roots of ordination to strengthen the vocational identity of the ordained and to provide a framework for ecumenical dialogue. This book is a response to that call. It is grounded in the assumption that the vocation of ordination requires an understanding of holiness and how it functions in human religious experience. The goal is to construct a biblical theology of ordination that is embedded in broad reflection on the nature of holiness. Dozeman's study of holiness and ministry interweaves three methodologies. The first, from the History of Religions, describes two theories of holiness in the study of religion, as a dynamic force and as a ritual resource. Both play a central role in biblical literature and establish the paradigm of ordination to Word and Sacrament in Christian tradition. Second, the study of the formation of the Mosaic Office illustrates how the two views of holiness model ordination to the prophetic word and to the priestly ritual. Third, Canonical Criticism provides the lens to explore the ongoing influence of the Mosaic Office in the New Testament literature.

Holiness and Ministry will assist candidates for ordination to discern their call experience and establish professional identity within individual traditions of Christianity, while also providing a resource for ecumenical dialogue on the nature and purpose of Christian ordination.

 

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The Ideology of Ritual: Space, Time and Status in the Priestly Theology

 

Frank H. Gorman

Continuum International Publishing Group, 1990 - 259 pages

For the Priestly writers, ritual was a fundamental form of theological reflection. This study analyses the conceptual categories of space, time and status in an effort to clarify the larger cultural and conceptual categories operative in the Priestly ritual system. Drawing on interpretative models derived from cultural anthropology, the author argues that Priestly creation theology forms a necessary context for understanding the Priestly rituals.

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Liturgical Eorks

 

James R. Davila

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2000 - 338 pages

 

Among the manuscripts of the Dead Sea Scrolls are numerous fragments of liturgical texts that shed light on the ritual life of Jews at the turn of the common era. This inaugural volume in the landmark Eerdmans Commentaries on the Dead Sea Scrolls series explores these important liturgical documents in depth.Beginning with a general introduction to the Qumran library and Jewish liturgical traditions, James Davila situates the liturgical texts found at Qumran in their historical context in Second Temple Judaism. He then offers a reliable translation of these texts, including notes on the original Hebrew, and provides detailed line-by-line exegesis of each document. Throughout his commentary Davila shows how the Qumran liturgical texts draw on and develop traditions from the Hebrew Bible, and he explores their significance as background to the Jewish liturgy, Jewish mysticism, and Christian origins.

 

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