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Irenaeus and Paul (Pauline and Patristic Scholars in Debate)
by Todd D. Still David E. WilhiteBuilding on the work of Tertullian and Paul and The Apostolic Fathers and Paul this volume continues a series of specially commissioned studies by leading voices in New Testament/early Christianity and patristics studies to consider how Paul was read, interpreted and received by the Church Fathers. In this volume the use of Paul's writings is examined within the writings of Irenaeus of Lyon. Issues of influence, reception, theology and history are examined to show how Paul's work influenced the developing theology of the early Church. The literary style of Paul's output is also examined. The contributors to the volume represent leading lights in the study of Irenaeus, as well as respected names from the field of New Testament studies.
Luke: Method And Message In Luke-acts (T&T Clark Social Identity Commentaries on the New Testament)
by Robert L. BrawleyIn this commentary, Robert L. Brawley provides comprehensive coverage of issues and concerns related to Luke from the perspective of social identity. He argues that the Gospel of Luke is strongly concerned with the formation of identity from the very start of the text, which aims at the creation of a socially responsible community in continuity with that community's collective past.Brawley establishes a theoretical framework that focuses his interpretation - ranging from the narrative world and sociological issues to postcolonialism and hierarchies of dominance - and uses these perspectives to provide a clear overview of historical and critical issues related to an understanding of Luke. He then provides a thorough outline of and commentary on the text of the Gospel. Brawley's engagement with the text serves as an invaluable resource for scholars, students, clergy, and others interested in their own discoveries of the resources of Luke.
Bonhoeffer as Biblical Interpreter: Reading Scripture in 1930s Germany (T&T Clark New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics)
by Jameson E. RossBy oscillating between Dietrich Bonhoeffer's explicit hermeneutical reflections and his actual practice of interpreting biblical texts, Jameson E. Ross shows that Bonhoeffer's interpretive acts consist of a theologically self-reflective hermeneutic in which Scripture is for interpretation, underscoring how essential the interpreter's Spirit-given freedom, actions, theology, context and needs are for reading Scripture. Offering a fresh vision for methodological discussions in theology, this book is a valuable resource for graduate and postgraduate students and researchers on modern theology, political theology and ethics, and biblical exegesis.
Bonhoeffer as Biblical Interpreter: Reading Scripture in 1930s Germany (T&T Clark New Studies in Bonhoeffer’s Theology and Ethics)
by Jameson E. RossBy oscillating between Dietrich Bonhoeffer's explicit hermeneutical reflections and his actual practice of interpreting biblical texts, Jameson E. Ross shows that Bonhoeffer's interpretive acts consist of a theologically self-reflective hermeneutic in which Scripture is for interpretation, underscoring how essential the interpreter's Spirit-given freedom, actions, theology, context and needs are for reading Scripture. Offering a fresh vision for methodological discussions in theology, this book is a valuable resource for graduate and postgraduate students and researchers on modern theology, political theology and ethics, and biblical exegesis.
Ethical God-Talk in the Book of Job: Speaking to the Almighty (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies #698)
by William C. IVWilliam C. Pohl IV investigates ethical God-talk in the Book of Job, by exploring the prominence of such theology, showing how each major section of the Book highlights the theme of proper speech, and demonstrating that Job's internal rhetoric is the foundation for the Book's external rhetoric. Pohl analyses each of Job's speeches for literary rhetorical situation, forms (i.e., genres), its rhetorical strategies; the rhetorical goals of each speech are identified in light of Job's exigency (or exigencies) and his use of strategies is explored in light of these goals. Pohl argues that Job faces two main exigencies: his suffering and the necessity of defending his protest prayer vis-à-vis his “friends.” Job seeks to alleviate his suffering with protest prayer, and to defend his prayers to the friends through argumentation. Following the internal rhetorical analysis, this study proceeds to examine the external rhetorical effect of the Elihu and Yahweh speeches vis-à-vis ethical God-talk. Pohl concludes that the book of Job shapes its readers to see protest prayer as an ethical, even encouraged, form of discourse in the midst of innocent suffering. Brief implications of this conclusion are outlined, identifying the book's rhetorical situation through the “entextualized” problem in the book. Pohl proposes a new exigency for the book of Job in which protest prayer was eschewed, and a tentative proposal for the book of Job's historical provenance is outlined.
Colossians: An Eco-Stoic Reading (Earth Bible Commentary)
by Victoria S. BalabanskiVictoria Balabanski analyses Colossians as a co-authored letter, writtenduring Paul's Roman imprisonment by Timothy with the input of Epaphras, and sent with Paul's introductory and concluding greetings. The Letter to the Colossians has the highest view of Christ of any of the New Testament writings, and this theology of divine permeation invites us to notice the ecological potential of this letter.Balabanksi explores how the cosmological background to this letter has remarkable resonances with Stoic thought, the most widely held philosophy in first century Asia Minor. Drawing upon how stoic thinkers sought to notice the way the divine Spirit permeated reality and to attune their lives to the Logos, divine reason, she argues that the Gospel of Christ was welcomed by small groups of people shaped by Stoic thought, and they experienced Christ as the visible expression of the One God who permeates reality.
Luke in His Own Words: A Study of the Language of Luke–Acts in Greek (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Jenny Read-HeimerdingerJenny Read-Heimerdinger examines the language of Luke-Acts, exploring aspects of Luke's use of Greek that traditional approaches have not generally accounted for previously. Drawing on contemporary developments in linguistics - broadly referred to as 'discourse analysis' - Read-Heimerdinger emphasises that paying close attention to the context of language is vital to understanding the reasons behind an author's choices.Read-Heimerdinger applies the tools of discourse analysis to several features of Luke's Greek - such as variation in word order, the use of the article and fine distinctions between synonyms - in order to demonstrate how principles that govern their use subsequently affect exegesis. In addition, she makes suggestions to account for manuscript variation, which in turn have an impact on the editorial choices of Nestle-Aland's Greek New Testament.
Luke in His Own Words: A Study of the Language of Luke–Acts in Greek (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Jenny Read-HeimerdingerJenny Read-Heimerdinger examines the language of Luke-Acts, exploring aspects of Luke's use of Greek that traditional approaches have not generally accounted for previously. Drawing on contemporary developments in linguistics - broadly referred to as 'discourse analysis' - Read-Heimerdinger emphasises that paying close attention to the context of language is vital to understanding the reasons behind an author's choices.Read-Heimerdinger applies the tools of discourse analysis to several features of Luke's Greek - such as variation in word order, the use of the article and fine distinctions between synonyms - in order to demonstrate how principles that govern their use subsequently affect exegesis. In addition, she makes suggestions to account for manuscript variation, which in turn have an impact on the editorial choices of Nestle-Aland's Greek New Testament.
A History of the Jews and Judaism in the Second Temple Period, Volume 3: The Maccabaean Revolt, Hasmonaean Rule, and Herod the Great (175-4 BCE) (The Library of Second Temple Studies #95)
by Lester L. GrabbeThis is the third volume of the projected four-volume history of the Second Temple period, collecting all that is known about the Jews from the period of the Maccabaean revolt to Hasmonean rule and Herod the Great. Based directly on primary sources, the study addresses aspects such as Jewish literary sources, economy, Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Diaspora, causes of the Maccabaen revolt, and the beginning and end of the Hasmonean kingdom and the reign of Herod the Great. Discussed in the context of the wider Hellenistic world and its history, and with an extensive up-to-date secondary bibliography, this volume is an invaluable addition to Lester Grabbe's in-depth study of the history of Judaism.
The Figure of Abraham in John 8: Text and Intertext (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Ruth SheridanIn the Gospel of John, the character of Jesus repeatedly comes into conflict with a group pejoratively designated as 'the Jews'. In chapter 8 of the Gospel this conflict could be said to reach a head, with Jesus labeling the Jews as children 'of the devil' (8:44) - a verse often cited as epitomizing early Christian anti-Judaism.Using methods derived from modern and post-modern literary criticism Ruth Sheridan examines textual allusions to the biblical figures of Cain and Abraham in John 8:1-59. She pays particular attention to how these allusions give shape to the Gospel's alleged and infamous anti-Judaism (exemplified in John 8:44). Moreover, the book uniquely studies the subsequent reception in the Patristic and Rabbinic literature, not only of John 8, but also of the figures of Cain and Abraham. It shows how these figures are linked in Christian and Jewish imagination in the formative centuries in which the two religions came into definition.
Jesus as Teacher in the Gospel of Mark: The Function of a Motif (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Evan HershmanEvan Hershman seeks to examine Mark's portrayal of Jesus as teacher in comparison with portrayals of teachers in contemporary Greco-Roman literature, and argues that the teaching motif in Mark is used in highly distinctive ways. He argues that careful study reveals Mark's use of the trope does not aim to expound a fully fleshed-out ethical agenda, but rather to emphasize Jesus's unique authority, incorporate conflicts with other claimants to authority into the Gospel narrative, and persuade the gospel audience to accept his Christological vision and its demands on their lives.Hershman develops these three related themes behind the motif of moral instruction, and offers suggestions for how this portrayal of Jesus fits with the historical and social context in which the Gospel was written. By analyzing not only teaching and authority throughout Mark, but also numerous Greek and Greco-Roman texts concerning teachers and learning, Hershman creates a new reading of significant Markan passages - such as the parables discourse and the temple incident - in light of a focus on the importance of Jesus's teachings to the plot of the Gospel.
Jesus as Teacher in the Gospel of Mark: The Function of a Motif (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Evan HershmanEvan Hershman seeks to examine Mark's portrayal of Jesus as teacher in comparison with portrayals of teachers in contemporary Greco-Roman literature, and argues that the teaching motif in Mark is used in highly distinctive ways. He argues that careful study reveals Mark's use of the trope does not aim to expound a fully fleshed-out ethical agenda, but rather to emphasize Jesus's unique authority, incorporate conflicts with other claimants to authority into the Gospel narrative, and persuade the gospel audience to accept his Christological vision and its demands on their lives.Hershman develops these three related themes behind the motif of moral instruction, and offers suggestions for how this portrayal of Jesus fits with the historical and social context in which the Gospel was written. By analyzing not only teaching and authority throughout Mark, but also numerous Greek and Greco-Roman texts concerning teachers and learning, Hershman creates a new reading of significant Markan passages - such as the parables discourse and the temple incident - in light of a focus on the importance of Jesus's teachings to the plot of the Gospel.
The Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel (The Library of New Testament Studies #616)
by Charles Nathan RidlehooverCharles Nathan Ridlehoover examines the Lord's Prayer in Matthew's gospel, focusing on the prayer's centrality and showing how this centrality affects our reading of the Sermon on the Mount and subsequently, the prayer itself. Ridlehoover argues that the Lord's Prayer is structurally, lexically, and thematically central to the Sermon on the Mount and the means through which disciples of Jesus are empowered to live out the kingdom righteousness it defines. In turn, the Sermon on the Mount clarifies what the answer to the petitions of the Lord's Prayer might look like in the life of the disciple of Jesus.Whilst the centrality of the Lord's Prayer has been noted by previous commentators this centrality and its intended purpose has not hitherto been defined or examined in great depth. Ridlehoover fills this gap with a closely argued and in-depth study.
The Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Charles Nathan RidlehooverCharles Nathan Ridlehoover examines the Lord's Prayer in Matthew's Gospel, focusing on the prayer's centrality and showing how this centrality affects our reading of the Sermon on the Mount and subsequently, the prayer itself. Ridlehoover argues that the Lord's Prayer is structurally, lexically, and thematically central to the Sermon on the Mount, and the means through which disciples of Jesus are empowered to live out the kingdom righteousness it defines. In turn, the Sermon on the Mount clarifies what the answer to the petitions of the Lord's Prayer might look like in the life of the disciple of Jesus.Whilst the centrality of the Lord's Prayer has been noted by previous commentators, this centrality and its intended purpose has not hitherto been defined or examined in great depth. Ridlehoover fills this gap with a closely argued and in-depth study, ranging from methodology and the structure of the prayer itself to examining the Father, will, forgiveness and evil petitions, and the relevance of word and deed for hearers and doers. Ridlehoover's examination of the relationship between the Sermon and Prayer advances studies in compositional criticism and intratextuality.
Water and Water-Related Phenomena in the Old Testament Wisdom Literature: An Eco-Theological Exploration (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies #685)
by Kivatsi Jonathan KavusaKivatsi Jonathan Kavusa addresses a gap in the field of ecological readings of the Old Testament, exploring the theme of water in the Wisdom books, including the often-ignored deuterocanonical works. Kavusa focuses on both the negative and positive potential of water, drawing in particular on four of the Earth Bible principles: intrinsic worth, interconnectedness, voice, and purpose. Kavusa begins with a summary of the extant studies and literature reviews on water and water-related motifs in the Old Testament. He then analyses the books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Deutero-canonical wisdom, examining the various references to water as life-giving or life-threatening entities, and expanding upon the themes of water management and sustainability, the intrinsic worth of nature and the unpredicatable, chaotic state of water. This volume concludes with several insights for ecological responsibility and valuable wisdom for an eco-theological perspective, both in Kavusa's African context and with a more universal application.
T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul (T&T Clark Handbooks)
by Ryan S. Schellenberg and Heidi WendtThe T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul gathers leading voices on various aspects of Paul's biography into a thorough reconsideration of him as a historical figure. The contributors show how recent trends in Pauline scholarship have invited new questions about a variety of topics, including his social location, his mode of subsistence, his cultural formation, his place within Judaism, his religious experience and practice, and his affinities with other religious actors of the Roman world. Through careful attention to biographical detail, social context, and historical method, it seeks to describe him as a contextually plausible social actor.The volume is structured in three parts. Part One introduces sources, methods, and historiographical approaches, surveying the foundational texts for Paul and the early Pauline tradition. Part Two examines key biographical questions pertaining to Paul's bodily comportment, the material aspects of his career, and his religious activities. Part Three reconstructs the biographical portraits of Paul that emerge from the letters associated with him, presenting a series of “micro-biographies” pieced together by leading Pauline scholars.
T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul (T&T Clark Handbooks)
The T&T Clark Handbook to the Historical Paul gathers leading voices on various aspects of Paul's biography into a thorough reconsideration of him as a historical figure. The contributors show how recent trends in Pauline scholarship have invited new questions about a variety of topics, including his social location, his mode of subsistence, his cultural formation, his place within Judaism, his religious experience and practice, and his affinities with other religious actors of the Roman world. Through careful attention to biographical detail, social context, and historical method, it seeks to describe him as a contextually plausible social actor.The volume is structured in three parts. Part One introduces sources, methods, and historiographical approaches, surveying the foundational texts for Paul and the early Pauline tradition. Part Two examines key biographical questions pertaining to Paul's bodily comportment, the material aspects of his career, and his religious activities. Part Three reconstructs the biographical portraits of Paul that emerge from the letters associated with him, presenting a series of “micro-biographies” pieced together by leading Pauline scholars.
John's Transformation of Mark
by Eve-Marie Becker, Helen K. Bond and Catrin H. WilliamsJohn's Transformation of Mark brings together a cast of internationally recognised biblical scholars to investigate the relationship between the gospels of Mark and John. In a significant break with the prevailing view that the two gospels represent independent traditions, the contributors all argue that John both knew and used the earlier gospel.Drawing on recent analytical categories such as social memory, 'secondary orality,' or 'relecture,' and ancient literary genres such as 'rewritten Bible' and bioi, the central questions that drive this volume focus on how John used Mark, whether we should speak of 'dependence,' 'familiarity with,' or 'reception,' and whether John intended his work to be a supplement or a replacement of Mark. Together these chapters mount a strong case for a reassessment of one of the key tenets of modern biblical criticism, and open up significant new avenues for further research.
John's Transformation of Mark
John's Transformation of Mark brings together a cast of internationally recognised biblical scholars to investigate the relationship between the gospels of Mark and John. In a significant break with the prevailing view that the two gospels represent independent traditions, the contributors all argue that John both knew and used the earlier gospel.Drawing on recent analytical categories such as social memory, 'secondary orality,' or 'relecture,' and ancient literary genres such as 'rewritten Bible' and bioi, the central questions that drive this volume focus on how John used Mark, whether we should speak of 'dependence,' 'familiarity with,' or 'reception,' and whether John intended his work to be a supplement or a replacement of Mark. Together these chapters mount a strong case for a reassessment of one of the key tenets of modern biblical criticism, and open up significant new avenues for further research.
The Politics of Purim: Law, Sovereignty and Hospitality in the Aesthetic Afterlives of Esther (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
by Jo CarruthersThis book approaches the holiday of Purim as profane, freed to human use and ends, in order to consider the political legacy of the biblical story of Esther in festival and art works. Jo Carruthers explores carnival and synagogue practices, the purimshpiln (Purim's own dramatic genre), illuminated Esther scrolls, as well as artworks by Botticelli, Millais and Jan Steen. The complex and astute interrogation of political life in such festival and artworks is analysed through theories of sovereignty, law, precarity and hospitality by key political thinkers such as Giorgio Agamben, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida, and Jacques Rancière. Carruthers considers different motifs of boundary conservation and dissolution, as a means of contemplating the political implications of Purim and the Esther story for diaspora politics. How is sovereignty aspired to and attained by marginalized and threatened communities? How can one respond to the ethical call of hospitality to relax sovereign boundaries whilst protecting and celebrating that which is exceptional? The practice of giving gifts, mishloach manos, offers a model of hospitality that together with Purim's profane impulse is epitomized in the final chapter's discussion of a 2018 Brooklyn purimshpil, that offers a riotous ridiculing of white supremacist rhetoric, norms of domination, capitalist inequalities, modern slavery and ablest identities and assumptions.
Paternity, Progeny, and Perpetuation: Creating Lives after Death in the Hebrew Bible (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies)
by Steffan MathiasThis book offers a fresh perspective on the importance of progeny and perpetuation of the family line in the Hebrew tradition. Steffan Matthias argues that the Hebrew bible depicts failing to protect the transmission of the family line as both a failure in the social order, a threat to the afterlife, and a failure in masculinity, leading to the eradication of the name and memory of the man and the destruction of the household. Using the work of Pierre Bourdieu, as well as anthropological and gender-critical insights, Matthias reassess pertinent texts which respond to the threat of men dying without children, such as levirate marriage (Deut 22:5-10) or the erection of monuments (Isa 56:5-8).Themes such as death, burial and memorial, identity, covenant, name, genealogy, property, seed and sexuality, rather than being treated as separate parts of social or family life, are critically assessed in light of each other. Matthias instead illustrates how they form part of the same discourse of social reproduction, in which the integrity of the family is protected and passed down from father to son in generations of descendants. Paternity, Progeny, and Perpetuation raises profound questions regarding the subtle ways texts that respond to this threat of social annihilation – the destruction of the father and his line - reinforce social boundaries and construct men as transmitters of identity and women as submissive counterparts.
Saint Thecla: Body Politics and Masculine Rhetoric (The Library of New Testament Studies #617)
by Rosie AndriousThis volume questions the prevailing 'female empowering' interpretation of Thecla in the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Rosie Andrious examines the way that Thecla is voyeuristically paraded and subjected to a kind of sado-erotic torture, and demonstrates how this perception clashes with any notion that she is presented as a positive role-model for a woman. Rather, Andrious sets this discourse about female 'self-control' and 'chastity' over against the wider narrative of Christian men struggling against the invasive violence of Rome and suggests that the victimized, voyeuristic female representation of Thecla has very little to do with women and is, rather, a complex literary text that represents a power struggle between men. The ideological function of Thecla is therefore, as a constructed body that transcends its 'natural' feminine weakness. Andrious thus provides an original interpretative framework for understanding Thelca's representation, and suggests a completely new way of seeing the saint.
Saint Thecla: Body Politics and Masculine Rhetoric (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by Rosie AndriousThis volume questions the prevailing 'female empowering' interpretation of Thecla in the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Rosie Andrious examines the way that Thecla is voyeuristically paraded and subjected to a kind of sado-erotic torture, and demonstrates how this perception clashes with any notion that she is presented as a positive role-model for a woman. Rather, Andrious sets this discourse about female 'self-control' and 'chastity' over against the wider narrative of Christian men struggling against the invasive violence of Rome and suggests that the victimized, voyeuristic female representation of Thecla has very little to do with women and is, rather, a complex literary text that represents a power struggle between men. The ideological function of Thecla is therefore, as a constructed body that transcends its 'natural' feminine weakness. Andrious thus provides an original interpretative framework for understanding Thelca's representation, and suggests a completely new way of seeing the saint.
Methodology in the Use of the Old Testament in the New: Context and Criteria (The Library of New Testament Studies)
by David Allen Steve SmithThis volume brings together scholars of both the Old and New Testaments, to discuss three areas of methodological interest in respect of the use of the Old Testament in the New (OT/NT). It begins with an interdisciplinary conversation into insights that OT/NT scholars might glean from other related disciplines and approaches. The subsequent essays consider the notion of an Old Testament text's 'context', and how contemporaneous authors such as Philo or the Qumran community conceived of, and attended to, the concept. The contributors then turn their focus to the criteria that can/should be used for determining Old Testament allusions or echoes, and the legitimacy for so doing, particularly responding to the work of Richard Hays. The volume closes with a fresh proposal for OT/NT methodology, along with a concluding reflection on the collected essays.
Jonah and the Human Condition: Life and Death in Yahweh’s World (The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies #688)
by Stuart LasineStuart Lasine examines all aspects of the human situation and condition in Yahweh's cosmos as depicted in the Hebrew Bible. As his starting point Lasine uses the phrase “the human condition”, which has been used to describe features of existence with which every person must cope, in ways which vary according to their culture, their situation within that culture, and their personality. In particular the most consistent factor that is basic to the human condition is mortality and, in the biblical context, the sometimes difficult relationship between the creator God and humankind. An examination of this forms the basis of Lasine's study, which draws analytical tools from several disciplines, including literary theory, psychology and philosophy. In the first part of the book Lasine examines a number of relevant biblical texts which display different aspects of the human condition. Part two engages in a detailed case study of one human life-situation, that of the prophet Jonah. Finally, Lasine draws together his conclusions about life and death in Yahweh's cosmos, both for characters within the world of the scriptural text and for present-day readers of the Hebrew Bible.