Download or read book Reconsidering Johannine Christianity written by Raimo Hakola and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconsidering Johannine Christianity presents a full-scale application of social identity approach to the Johannine writings. This book reconsiders a widely held scholarly assumption that the writings commonly taken to represent Johannine Christianity – the Gospel of John and the First, Second and Third Epistles of John – reflect the situation of an introverted early Christian group. It claims that dualistic polarities appearing in these texts should be taken as attempts to construct a secure social identity, not as evidence of social isolation. While some scholars (most notably, Richard Bauckham) have argued that the New Testament gospels were not addressed to specific early Christian communities but to all Christians, this book proposes that we should take different branches of early Christianity, not as localized and closed groups, but as imagined communities that envision distinct early Christian identities. It also reassesses the scholarly consensus according to which the Johannine Epistles presuppose and build upon the finished version of the Fourth Gospel and argues that the Johannine tradition, already in its initial stages, was diverse.

Download or read book Reconsidering Johannine Christianity written by Raimo Hakola and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-04-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconsidering Johannine Christianity presents a full-scale application of social identity approach to the Johannine writings. This book reconsiders a widely held scholarly assumption that the writings commonly taken to represent Johannine Christianity – the Gospel of John and the First, Second and Third Epistles of John – reflect the situation of an introverted early Christian group. It claims that dualistic polarities appearing in these texts should be taken as attempts to construct a secure social identity, not as evidence of social isolation. While some scholars (most notably, Richard Bauckham) have argued that the New Testament gospels were not addressed to specific early Christian communities but to all Christians, this book proposes that we should take different branches of early Christianity, not as localized and closed groups, but as imagined communities that envision distinct early Christian identities. It also reassesses the scholarly consensus according to which the Johannine Epistles presuppose and build upon the finished version of the Fourth Gospel and argues that the Johannine tradition, already in its initial stages, was diverse.

Download or read book Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament written by Jonathan Bernier and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paradigm-shifting study is the first book-length investigation into the compositional dates of the New Testament to be published in over forty years. It argues that, with the notable exception of the undisputed Pauline Epistles, most New Testament texts were composed twenty to thirty years earlier than is typically supposed by contemporary biblical scholars. What emerges is a revised view of how quickly early Christians produced what became the seminal texts for their new movement.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies written by Judith M. Lieu and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-07-19 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The contribution of the Johannine literature to the development of Christian theology, and particularly to Christology, is uncontested, although careful distinction between the implications of its language, especially that of sonship, in a first century 'Jewish' context and in the subsequent theological controversies of the early Church has been particularly important if not always easily sustained. Recent study has shaken off the weight of subsequent Christian appropriation of Johannine language which has sometimes made readers immune to the ambiguities and challenging tensions in its thought. The Oxford Handbook of Johannine Studies begins with chapters concentrating on discussions of the background and context of the Johannine literature, leading to the different ways of reading the text, and thence to the primary theological themes within them, before concluding with some discussion of the reception of the Johannine literature in the early church. Inevitably, given their different genres and levels of complexity, some chapters pay most if not all attention to the Gospel, whereas others are more able to give a more substantial place to the letters. All the contributors have themselves made significant contributions to their topic. They have sought to give a balanced introduction to the relevant scholarship and debate, but they have also been able to present the issues from their own perspective. The Handbook will help those less familiar with the Johannine literature to get a sense of the major areas of debate and why the field continues to be one of vibrant and exciting study, and that those who are already part of the conversation will find new insights to enliven their own on-going engagement with these writings.

Download or read book John and Anti Judaism written by Jonathan Numada and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2021-06-17 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study argues that the Gospel of John’s anti-Judaism can be well understood from the perspective of trends apparent within the context of broader Greco-Roman culture. It uses the paradigm of collective memory and aspects of social identity theory and self-categorization theory to explore the theological and narrative functions of the Johannine Jews. Relying upon a diverse range of historical testimony drawn from Greco-Roman literature, inscriptions, and papyri, this work attempts to understand the social identities and social locations of Diaspora Jews as a first step in reading John’s Gospel in the context of the political and social instability of the first century CE. It then attempts to understand John’s theology, its portrayal of Jewish social identity, and the narrative and theological functions of “the Jews” as a group character in light of this historical context. This work attempts to demonstrate that while John’s treatment of Jews and Judaism is multivalent at both social and theological levels, it is primarily focused upon strengthening a Christologically centered Christian identity while attempting to mitigate the attractiveness of Judaism as a religious competitor.

Download or read book Johannine Ethics written by Christopher W. Skinner and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gospel and epistles of John are commonly overlooked in discussions of New Testament ethics, often seen as of only limited value. Here, prominent scholars present varying perspectives on the surprising relevance and importance of the explicit imperatives and implicit moral perspective of the Johannine literature. The introduction sets out four major approaches to Johannine ethics today; a concluding essay takes stock of the wide-ranging discussion and suggest prospects for future study.

Download or read book John within Judaism written by Wally V. Cirafesi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-10-11 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In John within Judaism Wally V. Cirafesi offers a reading of the Gospel of John as an expression of the fluid and flexible nature of Jewish ethnic identity in Greco-Roman antiquity.

Download or read book Creation Matter and the Image of God written by Dorothy A. Lee and published by ATF Press. This book was released on 2020-04-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gathers together a selection of essays and articles by the author that have as their main focus the Gospel of John. They explore the symbolism of the text and the way it communicates key Johannine themes, using a narrative critical approach, with attention to the theology emerging from the literary structures. The contents employ but also seek to move beyond critical methodology to a perspective that takes seriously feminist studies, as well as Eastern Orthodox theological emphasis on the integrity of creation.

Download or read book Cast Out of the Covenant written by Adele Reinhartz and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Gospel of John presents its readers, listeners, and interpreters with a serious problem: how can we reconcile the Gospel’s exalted spirituality and deep knowledge of Judaism with its portrayal of the Jews as the children of the devil (John 8:44) who persecuted Christ and his followers? One widespread solution to this problem is the so-called “expulsion hypothesis.” According to this view, the Fourth Gospel was addressed to a Jewish group of believers in Christ that had been expelled from the synagogue due to their faith. The anti-Jewish elements express their natural resentment of how they had been treated; the Jewish elements of the Gospel, on the other hand, reflect the Jewishness of this group and also soften the force of the Gospel’s anti-Jewish comments. In Cast out of the Covenant, this book, Adele Reinhartz presents a detailed critique of the expulsion hypothesis on literary and historical grounds. She argues that, far from softening the Gospel’s anti-Jewishness, the Gospel’s Jewish elements in fact contribute to it. Focusing on the Gospel’s persuasive language and intentions, Reinhartz shows that the Gospel’s anti-Jewishness is evident not only in the Gospel’s hostile comments about the Jews but also in its appropriation of Torah, Temple, and Covenant that were so central to first-century Jewish identity. Through its skillful use of rhetoric, the Gospel attempts to convince its audience that God’s favor had turned away from the Jews to the Gentiles; that there is a deep rift between the synagogue and those who confess Christ as Messiah; and that, in the Gospel’s view, this rift was initiated in Jesus’ own lifetime. The Fourth Gospel, Reinhartz argues, appropriates Jewishness at the same time as it repudiates Jews. In doing so, it also promotes a “parting of the ways” between those who believe that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God, and those who do not, that is, the Jews. This rhetorical program, she suggests, may have been used to promote outreach or even an organized mission to the Gentiles, following in the footsteps of Paul and his mid-first-century contemporaries.

Download or read book John and the Johannine Letters written by Prof. Colleen M. Conway and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the book necessarily includes discussion of key concepts in Johannine scholarship (e.g., the existence or not of a distinctive Johannine community, questions regarding the gospel's sources and redactional layers), it also takes into account more recent developments in New Testament studies. It includes gender related issues with influence by postcolonial approaches as well as the influence of the Gospel's socio-political context in shaping its Christology and theology. Chapters focus on the different approaches to the Johannine texts and view the Gospel and letters through the lens of each respective approach. Chapters also encourage observation and open with a brief scripture reading assignment, followed by guiding questions to help students understand the key questions and themes for each approach.

Download or read book Aposynag gos and the Historical Jesus in John written by Jonathan Bernier and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Aposynagōgos and the Historical Jesus in John, Jonathan Bernier utilizes the critical-realist hermeneutics developed by Bernard Lonergan and Ben F. Meyer to survey historical data relevant to the Johannine expulsion passages (John 9:22, 12:42, 16:2). He evaluates the major two contemporary interpretative traditions regarding these passages, namely that they describe not events of Jesus’ lifetime but rather the implementation of the Birkat ha-Minim in the first first-century, or that they describe not historical events at all but serve only to construct Johannine identity. Against both traditions Bernier argues that these passages plausibly describe events that could have happened during Jesus’ lifetime.

Download or read book The Salvation of Israel written by Jeremy Cohen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2022-08-15 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Salvation of Israel investigates Christianity's eschatological Jew: the role and characteristics of the Jews at the end of days in the Christian imagination. It explores the depth of Christian ambivalence regarding these Jews, from Paul's Epistle to the Romans, through late antiquity and the Middle Ages, to the Puritans of the seventeenth century. Jeremy Cohen contends that few aspects of a religion shed as much light on the character and the self-understanding of its adherents as its expectations for the end of time. Moreover, eschatological beliefs express and mold an outlook toward nonbelievers, situating them in an overall scheme of human history and conditioning interaction with them as that history unfolds. Cohen's close readings of biblical commentary, theological texts, and Christian iconography reveal the dual role of the Jews of the last days. For rejecting belief and salvation in Jesus Christ, they have been linked to the false messiah—the Antichrist, the agent of Satan and the exemplary embodiment of evil. Yet from its inception, Christianity has also hinged its hopes for the second coming on the enlightenment and repentance of the Jews; for then, as Paul prophesized, "all Israel will be saved." In its vast historical scope, from the ancient Mediterranean world of early Christianity to seventeenth-century England and New England, The Salvation of Israel offers a nuanced and insightful assessment of Christian attitudes toward Jews, rife with inconsistency and complexity, thus contributing significantly to our understanding of Jewish-Christian relations.

Download or read book Reconsidering the Rhetoric of Temporality in Johannine Literature written by Chang Seong An and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2023-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume, Chang Seon An argues that the writer(s) of the Gospel of John used Greek, Roman, and Jewish temporality to align the story of Jesus's death and resurrection within existing temporal frameworks. The Johannine Epistles built on this rhetoric, linking the imagined audience with the time of Christ genealogically and temporally, distancing them from a targeted "anti-Christ." This "shared sense of time" informed the literatures and practices of a group of Johannine Christians known as the "Quartodecimans." Temporality calculations were central for Christian self-definition: time was a way of elaborating forms of sameness and difference, and claiming an elevated role for Christ. Christ-followers debated what time can mean. If the imagined audiences of Christian, Jewish, Greek, and Roman works adopted the temporal schemes they defended, differences among and between groups would become obvious.

Download or read book The Fourth Gospel and the Quest for Jesus written by Paul N. Anderson and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book challenges the modernistic view that because John is theological and different from the Synoptics it cannot be historical.

Download or read book Social Memory and Social Identity in the Study of Early Judaism and Early Christianity written by Samuel Byrskog and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2016-09-12 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concepts of social memory and social identity have been increasingly used in the study of ancient Jewish and Christian sources. In this collection of articles, international specialists apply interdisciplinary methodology related to these concepts to early Jewish and Christian sources. The volume offers an up-to-date presentation of how social memory studies and socio-psychological identity approach have been used in the study of Biblical and related literature. The articles examine how Jewish and Christian sources participate in the processes of collective recollection and in this way contribute to the construction of distinctive social identities. The writers demonstrate the benefits of the use of interdisciplinary methodologies in the study of early Judaism and Christianity but also discuss potential problems that have emerged when modern theories have been applied to ancient material.In the first part of the book, scholars apply social, collective and cultural memory approaches to early Christian sources. The articles discuss philosophical aspects of memory, the formation of gospel traditions in the light of memory studies, the role of eyewitness testimony in canonical and non-canonical Christian sources and the oral delivery of New Testament writings in relation to ancient delivery practices. Part two applies the social identity approach to various Dead Sea Scrolls and New Testament writings. The writers analyse the role marriage, deviant behaviour, and wisdom traditions in the construction of identity in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Other topics include forgiveness in the Gospel of Matthew, the imagined community in the Gospel John, the use of the past in Paul's Epistles and the relationship between the covenant and collective identity in the Epistle to the Hebrews and the First Epistle of Clement.

Download or read book Drawing and Transcending Boundaries in the New Testament and Early Christianity written by Jacobus Kok and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The construction of early Christian identity was a dynamic process in which social boundaries were drawn but also transcended. The source documents of Christianity bear witness to the process and dynamics involved in the construction of insiders and outsiders - determining who is to be included and who excluded. In the super-diverse and super-mobile time in which we live, identity boundaries are often drawn. This volume explores not only New Testament and Early Christian texts to investigate these dynamics, but also how contemporary ideology can shape the reading of scripture to exclude or include others.

Download or read book Mu ammad and His Followers in Context written by Ilkka Lindstedt and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-10-30 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book surveys and analyzes changes in religious groups and identities in late antique Arabia, ca. 300-700 CE. It engages with contemporary and material evidence: for example, inscriptions, archaeological remains, Arabic poetry, the Qurʾān, and the so-called Constitution of Medina. Also, it suggests ways to deal with the later Arabic historiographical and other literary texts. The issue of social identities and their processes are central to the study. For instance, how did Arabian ethnic and religious identities intersect on the eve of Islam? The book suggests that the changes in social groups were more piecemeal than previously thought.