Philo of Alexandria fuses biblical interpretation and Greco-Roman cosmology in seemingly contradictory fashion: the physical world is sometimes God's enemy, but elsewhere his son and greatest work. Charles A. Anderson examines six key cosmological terms for Philo, including kosmos, physis (and natural law), and argues that his ambivalence is best understood perspectivally. The 'lower' perspective views the world positively, as a means of knowing and becoming like God, while the 'higher' perspective sees it negatively, as an obstacle to true communion with God. Philo is ultimately a cosmological pessimist and thus diverges surprisingly from the main lines of both Scripture and Platonism. This book will be of interest to students of ancient Judaism, ancient philosophy, biblical cosmology, and all who reflect on how Jewish-Christian sacred texts can influence contemporary environmental discourse.
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There is unanimity among Johannine scholars that one distinctive characteristic of the Fourth Gospel is the fact that the evangelist presents Jesus as caught in long-drawn out juridical confrontations between himself and 'the Jews'.Martin Asiedu-Peprah examines the two Sabbath conflict narratives in the Fourth Gospel from a narrative-critical perspective and thus takes a fresh look at the Johannine juridical metaphor. In doing so, he attempts to pursue a three-fold objective. First, he determines the precise nature of the juridical metaphor used in the two narratives and on the strength of it, he undertakes a critical reading of the texts under study with the view to shedding new light on their meaning. Then he examines the role of this specific juridical metaphor in the two narratives. The question here is: for what purpose and how is this specific juridical metaphor used within the narrative framework of the two narratives? Finally, he explores the historical setting of the two narratives and infers from it the social function the juridical metaphor would have played within the Johannine Sitz im Leben. In the light of his results, Martin Asiedu-Peprah makes an attempt to examine very briefly the entire section of John 5:1-10:42 to see if the presence of the juridical controversy pattern in this section can throw light on one crucial issue in Johannine research, namely, the purpose of the Gospel in its present form.
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Willis Salier investigates the use of the term semeia and the narratives this term refers to in the rhetorical strategy of John's Gospel. The three poles of author, text and reader are considered. The study is more literary and socio-historical in flavour and bypasses previous discussions regarding sources, which have tended to dominate research on the semeia in the Fourth Gospel.First, he investigates the resonances that the term might have with an audience in the late first century. This part of the investigation concludes that the term helps to build a bridge between the conceptual background of the Gospel and the broader cultural foreground of its audience. It is also suggested that the term both draws on, and contributes to the prominent trial motif in the Gospel itself.Second, the semeia narratives are investigated for their place in the rhetorical strategy of the Gospel. It is concluded that they point to the identity of Jesus as the divine Messiah of God, illustrate the life that his ministry brings, and provide a subtle critique of other 'would be' lifegivers in the surrounding cultural milieu.
The ransom logion, as presented in Mark 10:45/Matthew 20:28, is the only place in the synoptic gospels outside the Last Supper where Jesus gives a beneficial interpretation of his upcoming death. This fact has generated much discussion about the authenticity and scriptural background of the ransom logion in Mark and Matthew. However, no one has examined the early reception of the ransom logion, nor has anyone explored the significance of that reception for the critical study of Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28. In this study J. Christopher Edwards fills these lacunae by examining the reception of the ransom logion from the New Testament through the third century and by exploring the potential significance of that reception for the critical study of Mark and Matthew. The rationale for this exploration relies on the fact that there are observable patterns displayed in the reception of the ransom logion, which may reflect how it functions in Mark 10:45 and Matthew 20:28.
Using some of the works of Michel Foucault (1926-1984) as a conversation partner, Valérie Nicolet-Anderson focuses on the manner in which Paul constructs the identity of his audience in his letter to the Romans. In particular, she analyzes how the notions of autonomy and self-agency function for both authors. In this dialogue, Valérie Nicolet-Anderson examines whether Paul can still play a relevant part in contemporary discussions around the notion of identity. The approach to Paul presents a narrative reading of Romans and displays an interdisciplinary hermeneutics which brings together New Testament exegesis and post-modern philosophy. The author constructs a dynamic picture of Paul as engaged in the shaping of the ethos of his communities through various strategies. She highlights Paul's actuality, reflecting the current use of Paul by continental philosophers and invites more interdisciplinary reflection between exegesis and philosophy.
The essays in this volume engage specific New Testament texts and theological doctrines through the lens of one or more of the following questions: Should systematic theology dominate biblical theology or the reverse? Should they form a partnership of equals? How would such a partnership function? Is theology necessary or harmful for exegesis? Should theological peculiarities in the New Testament be considered in exegetical study? The contributors include both systematic theologians and New Testament scholars, and each explores their respective topics with a concern for reconsidering the relationship between biblical and systematic theology. These essays offer diverse ways of reevaluating how biblical theology and systematic theology function together as pillars, partners, or partisans. This volume contains a foreword by Tremper Longman, III, and postscript by Stan D. Gaede. Contributors:Gary Deddo, Stan D. Gaede, Judith Gundry, Roy Kotansky, Tremper Longman, III, Brian Lugioyo, Jennifer Powell McNutt, J. Webb Mealy, Roger Newell, Benjamin E. Reynolds, Mark Strauss, Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Bradley Arnold examines the argumentative logic and central aim in Paul's letter to the Philippians. A historical context is mapped out that is useful for these purposes, examining the broad structure of thought in ancient moral philosophy (namely, Aristotle, Epicureanism, and Stoicism), ancient athletics, and vivid description. The author then uses these areas to elucidate the nature of Paul's argument in Philippians. In an exegetical analysis of the entire letter he demonstrates that Paul's argument is structured similarly to the pattern of thinking in ancient moral philosophy and that within this framework Paul utilizes athletics at key places to conceptualize the nature of Christian existence. He argues that Paul sums up his perspective on life with the image of the runner in Phil 3:13-14, which functions as a vivid description. This imagery plays a central role in Paul's rhetorical aim in this letter, presenting in nuce his persuasive appeal for the Philippians to pursue Christ as the t¿¿¿¿ of life.
From the inception of critical Jesus research, the questions of Jesus' understanding of his authority and his aims have been central to this field of inquiry. Up to this day, scholars are making efforts toward resolving those questions. This volume is a collection of contributions that were originally presented at the second Nordic Symposium on the Historical Jesus in Lund 2012. Researchers from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden continue and broaden a conversation that was initiated in Turku 2010. The topics of Jesus' identity and aims are coupled under the concept of "mission," which includes his notion of being sent, the purposes that he aimed to fulfill, and the means of carrying out these purposes. Contributions to the volume discuss methodological problems, analyze proposals made in previous research, and suggest new understandings of various aspects of the mission of Jesus. Contributors: Jostein Ådna, Ville Auvinen, Renate Banschbach Eggen, Eve-Marie Becker, Per Bilde, Samuel Byrskog, Tobias Hägerland, Matti Kankaanniemi, Halvor Moxnes, Mogens Müller, Kari Syreeni
What is the relationship between the preeminent, cosmos-reconciling 'Christ' of Col 1:15-20 and the imprisoned 'Paul' of 1:24-29, who enigmatically 'completes' the former's afflictions as he declares to 'every person' the mystery, long concealed but only now revealed by Israel's God to his holy ones? After finding solid exegetical ground through an unprecedented and exhaustive study of the rare verb antanapleroo (in 1.24), Bruce Clark tackles this most intriguing, if challenging question. He argues that Col 1, in accord with 2 Cor 5:18-6:4, presents Paul as the utterly unique diakonos ('minister') of the universal ekklesia and, therefore, as one whose afflictions uniquely complete Christ's own, so that together, revealing the righteousness of God, they initiate the divine reconciliation of 'all things.'
Julien M. Ogereau explores the socio-economic dimension of Paul's koinonia with the Philippians from a Graeco-Roman perspective. After conducting a rigorous philological study of the business terminology Paul employs in Philippians in the light of documentary sources (papyri and inscriptions), he offers a thorough socio-economic reading of the letter that is informed by ancient cultural conventions. Challenging recent scholarship, Ogereau concludes that Paul's relationship with the Philippians followed the well-established pattern of economic partnerships ( koinonia/societas), whereby Paul supplied the ars and opera (skill and labour), while the Philippians contributed the pecunia (funds).
In this close reading of Second Corinthians and examination of prevailing attitudes toward death in Greco-Roman Corinth, Richard I. Deibert proposes Paul's physical mortality as the window through which to understand both the mystery of his collapsing authority in Corinth and the heart of his gospel. In his own experience of physical dying, Paul experiences the "deadness" of the resurrected Jesus, which paradoxically communicates life to him and through him to his congregations. Paul discovers that death has been transfigured into a source of life and, consequently, that human mortality has been infused with saving power. This study of human mortality clarifies, both for Paul's day and for our own, how crucial it is to guard the human person as an inseparable unity of body and soul, and to keep theology grounded in experience. Richard I. Deibert's work is of vital interest not only to students of early Christian and New Testament history, but also to students of anthropology, philosophy, and theology.
Akiva Cohen investigates the general research question: how do the authors of religious texts reconstruct their community identity and ethos in the absence of their central cult? His particular socio-historical focus of this more general question is: how do the respective authors of the Gospel according to Matthew, and the editor(s) of the Mishnah redefine their group identities following the destruction of the Second Temple? Cohen further examines how, after the Destruction, both the Matthean and the Mishnaic communities found and articulated their renewed community bearings and a new sense of vision through each of their respective author/redactor's foundational texts. The context of this study is thus that of an inner-Jewish phenomenon; two Jewish groups seeking to (re-)establish their community identity and ethos without the physical temple that had been the cultic center of their cosmos.
The interpretation of 1 Cor 8-10 as a coherent argument is complicated by several factors, most significantly the apparent contradictions in the text (primarily an issue within chapter 8) and the remarkable changes in Paul's tone (primarily an issue with how 10:1-22 relates to 8:1-13 and 10:23-11:1). Trent A. Rogers argues that Paul consistently prohibits believers from eating y appealing first to their obligation to love other believers and then to their obligation of exclusive faithfulness to Christ. The approach of his analysis is to examine how the representation of God functions in Paul's argument, especially in comparison to other Hellenistic Jewish polemics against idolatry. While this is an argument made about particular practices, it is an argument made on theological grounds, and these theological underpinnings have been largely unexplored until now.
A scholarly consensus holds that Luke is ambivalent toward the Pharisees, or at least that he has left readers with an ambiguous depiction of them. What previous evaluations of the Lukan Pharisees have left unanswered, however, is why Luke would give such an impression of these characters and then what might lie behind the rhetorical effects of ambiguity. Justin R. Howell reevaluates the long-standing debate about the Pharisees in Luke-Acts, arguing the thesis that there is ambiguity in the Lukan Pharisees because, in his portrayals of them, the author has applied what ancient Greco-Roman rhetoricians call "figured speech." The fact that the Lukan Pharisees appear ambiguous to some readers does not necessarily mean that Luke was also undecided about or ambivalent toward them, for the use of figured speech can presuppose a firm and critical stance on the characters in view.
In this book, Sunny Kuan-Hui Wang explores the relationship between sense perception and testimony in the Gospel of John. While Johannine scholars tend to focus on one or the other, she shows that sense perception and testimony are both significant and are used together with the intention of drawing readers into the narrative so that they become witnesses in an emotionally engaged way. It is argued that John's use of sense perception together with testimony is rooted in Jewish literature. Yet John also employs a Graeco-Roman rhetorical technique, enargeia , which appeals to the persuasive power of sense perception to make his narrative vivid. John does not downplay sense perception. Rather, he uses it in the context of testimony as a means of persuasion to draw the readers, in their imagination, into the experience of the first disciples and thus deeper into faith and witness.
Peter and Paul have fascinated Christians since the first century. Though often pitted against one another in scholarship and popular imagination, they respected one another. In seventeen essays the contributors probe enduring issues in ways that provide fresh insights. They strive to advance New Testament scholarship by addressing Peter and Paul's historical interaction, their intertextual exegesis, and Paul's view of Pastoral Theology. Their focus on intertextuality reflects Peter's and Paul's saturation in scripture and their focus on Jewish and Gentile relationships seeks to foster unity in church and culture. Contributors:Michael Allen, Christopher A. Beetham, John Dennis, Wesley Hill, Paul R. House, Panagiotis Kantartzis, Alexander N. Kirk, Sean McDonough, Douglas C. Mohrmann, Elizabeth E. Shively, Peter Stuhlmacher, Joel White, William N. Wilder, H. H. Drake Williams III, Joel Willitts, Todd A. Wilson, Jeff Wisdom
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