Download or read book Scriptural Interpretation and Community Self Definition in Luke Acts and the Writings of Justin Martyr written by Susan Wendel and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although scholars often assume that Luke and Justin similarly claim the sacred texts of Jews for the non-Jewish church, this book offers a fresh analysis that uncovers significant differences between their respective depictions of the relationship between Christ-believers and the Jewish scriptures.

Download or read book Luke s Literary Creativity written by Mogens Müller and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-11 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A combination of two classic discussions in New Testament scholarship, the contributions in this volume shed light on the still unsolved synoptic problem by using the well-coined concept of rewriting to describe the relationship between the synoptic gospels. The contributions work with the hypothesis that the synoptic tradition can be conceived of as a process of rewriting: Matthew rewrote Mark and Luke rewrote Mark and Matthew. This approach to the synoptic problem dismantles the grounds for the otherwise widely accepted two-source theory. If it can be shown that Luke knew Matthew's Gospel the Q-hypothesis is superfluous. One group of articles focuses on the general question of Luke's literary relation to the other gospels. In these essays, the concept of rewriting describes Luke's use of his sources. The second part of the collection examines a number of texts in order to shown how Luke rewrites specific passages. In the final section the contributions concern Luke's relation to Roman authorities. It is shown that Luke's literary creativity is not limited to his predecessors in the gospel tradition. Rewriting is his literary strategy.

Download or read book The Apologists and Paul written by Todd D. Still and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-06-13 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the use of Paul's writing within the work of ante-Nicene apologetic writers. It takes apologetics as a broad genre in which many early Christian writers participated, offering rhetorical defenses for emerging aspects of doctrine, rooted in understanding of the scriptures, and often specifically the writings of Paul. The volume interacts with the writings of many significant 'apologetic' writers, including: Melito of Sardis, Clement of Alexandria, Tatian, Tertullian, Hippolytus and Cyprian. The chapters examine how these early Christian writers used the letters of Paul to develop their own philosophical ideas and defenses of aspects of the emerging Christian faith. The internationally renowned contributors have all been specially commissioned for this volume, and an afterword by Todd D. Still considers the question of whether or not Paul was an 'apologist' himself.

Download or read book Reading the Way Paul and The Jews in Acts within Judaism written by Jason F. Moraff and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2024-01-25 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jason F. Moraff challenges the contention that Acts' sharp rhetoric and portrayal of “the Jews” reflects anti-Judaism and supersessionism. He argues that, rather than constructing Christian identity in contrast to Judaism, Acts binds the Way, Paul, and “the Jews” together into a shared identity as Israel, and that together they embark on a journey of repentance with common Jewishness providing the foundation. Acts leverages Jewish kinship, language, cult, and custom to portray the Way, Paul, and “the Jews” as one family debating the direction of their ancestral tradition. Using a historically situated narrative approach, Moraff frames Acts' portrayal of the Way and Paul in relation to the Jewish people as participating in internecine conflict regarding the Jewish tradition-in-crisis, after the destruction of the temple. By exploring ancient ethnicity, Jewish identity and Lukan characterization, images of the Jews, the Way, and Paul, violence in Acts and the theme of blindness in Luke's gospel, the Pauline writings and Acts, Moraff stresses that Acts speaks from “among my own nation,” meaning “the Jews”, and makes it possible to understand Acts' critical characterization of “the Jews” within Second Temple Judaism.

Download or read book History Biography and the Genre of Luke Acts written by Andrew W. Pitts and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-07-15 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most studies of the genre of Luke-Acts underestimate the role of literary divergence in genre analysis. This monograph will show how attention to literary divergence may bring resolution to the increasingly complex discussions of the genre(s) of Luke-Acts.

Download or read book Divine Visitations and Hospitality to Strangers in Luke Acts written by Joshua W. Jipp and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2013-09-12 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study presents a coherent interpretation of the Malta episode by arguing that Acts 28:1-10 narrates a theoxeny, that is, an account of unknowing hospitality to a god which results in the establishment of a fictive kinship relationship between the Maltese barbarians and Paul and his God. In light of the connection between hospitality and piety to the gods in the ancient Mediterranean, Luke ends his second volume in this manner to portray Gentile hospitality as the appropriate response to Paul’s message of God’s salvation -- a response that portrays them as hospitable exemplars within the Lukan narrative and contrasts them with the Roman Jews who reject Paul and his message.

Download or read book Mystery and the Making of a Christian Historical Consciousness written by T. J. Lang and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In general, theological terms this study examines the interplay of early Christian understandings of history, revelation, and identity. The book explores this interaction through detailed analysis of appeals to "mystery" in the Pauline letter collection and then the discourse of previously hidden but newly revealed mysteries in various second-century thinkers. T.J. Lang argues that the historical coordination of the concealed/revealed binary ("the mystery previously hidden but presently revealed") enabled these early Christian authors to ground Christian claims - particularly key ecclesial, hermeneutical, and christological claims - in Israel's history and in the eternal design of God while at the same time accounting for their revelatory newness. This particular Christian conception of time gives birth to a new and totalizing historical consciousness, and one that has significant implications for the construction of Christian identity, particularly vis-à-vis Judaism.

Download or read book The Writings of Luke and the Jewish Roots of the Christian Way written by J. Andrew Cowan and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-02-21 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: J. Andrew Cowan challenges the popular theory that Luke sought to boost the cultural status of the early Christian movement by emphasising its Jewish roots – associating the new church with an ancient and therefore respected heritage. Cowan instead argues that Luke draws upon the traditions of the Old Testament and its supporting texts as a reassurance to Christians, promising that Jesus' life, his works and the church that follow legitimately provide fulfilment of God's salvific plan. Cowan's argument compares Luke's writings to two near-contemporaries, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and T. Flavius Josephus, both of whom emphasized the ancient heritage of a people with cultural or political aims in view, exploring how the writings of Luke do not reflect the same cultural values or pursue the same ends. Challenging assumptions on Luke's supposed attempts to assuage political concerns, capitalize on antiquity, and present Christianity as an inner-Jewish sect, Cowan counters with arguments for Luke being critical of over-valuing tradition and defining the Jewish people as resistant to God and His messages. Cowan concludes with the argument that the apostle does not strive for legitimisation of the new church by previous cultural standards, but instead provides theological reassurance to Christians that God's plan has been fulfilled, with implications for broader debate.

Download or read book Engaging Early Christian History written by Ruben R. Dupertuis and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-03 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book extends scholarly debate beyond the analysis of pure historical debates and concerns to focus on the associations between Acts and the diverse contemporaneous texts, writers, and broader cultural phenomena in the second-century world of Christians, Romans, Greeks, and Jews.

Download or read book Goy written by Adi Ophir and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-14 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Goy: Israel's Others and the Birth of the Gentile traces the development of the term and category of the goy from the Bible to rabbinic literature. Adi Ophir and Ishay Rosen-Zvi show that the category of the goy was born much later than scholars assume; in fact not before the first century CE. They explain that the abstract concept of the gentile first appeared in Paul's Letters. However, it was only in rabbinic literature that this category became the center of a stable and long standing structure that involved God, the Halakha, history, and salvation. The authors narrate this development through chronological analyses of the various biblical and post biblical texts (including the Dead Sea scrolls, the New Testament and early patristics, the Mishnah, and rabbinic Midrash) and synchronic analyses of several discursive structures. Looking at some of the goy's instantiations in contemporary Jewish culture in Israel and the United States, the study concludes with an examination of the extraordinary resilience of the Jew/goy division and asks how would Judaism look like without the gentile as its binary contrast.

Download or read book The People the Land and the Future of Israel written by Bock, Darrell L. and published by Kregel Publications. This book was released on 2014-08-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does the Bible teach about the role of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel today? What is God's plan for the future of Israel and the neighboring countries? How can believers in Jesus be part of God's peace process in the Middle East? The People, the Land, and the Future of Israel walks through the Bible's account of the role of Israel and the Jewish people—both now and in the future. Each contributor offers a profound insight into God’s unfolding plan and purpose for the nation of Israel as the Scripture depicts them. Readers will gain a deeper understanding of both current and future events in the Middle East as described in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Features an extensive foreword by best-selling author Joel Rosenberg who addresses the question, Will there ever be peace for Israel and her neighbors? Each chapter includes a scannable QR code that links to a short video introduction by the author of that chapter, introducing its topic. Discussion questions in each chapter aid book group and classroom discussion.

Download or read book Religious Polemics and Encounters in Late Antiquity written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-10-18 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious Polemics and Encounters in Late Antiquity: Boundaries, Conversions, and Persuasion explores the intricate identity formation and negotiations of early encounters of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). It explores the ever-pressing challenges arising from polemical inter-religious encounters by analyzing the dynamics of apologetic debate, the negotiation and formation of boundaries of belonging, and the argumentative thrust for persuasion and conversion, as well as the outcomes of these various encounters, including the articulation of novel ideas. The Late Antique authors studied in the present volume represent a variety of voices from North Africa, passing through Rome, to Palestine. Together, these voices of the past offer invaluable insight to shape the present times, in hope for a better future.

Download or read book Luke and the Jewish Other written by David Andrew Smith and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-09-29 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Luke and the Jewish Other takes up the debated question of the orientation of Luke towards the Jewish people. Building on recent studies in the social history of early Jewish-Christian relations, it offers an analysis of Luke’s portrayal of Jewish and Christian identities that challenges the common assumption that the construction of religious identity in antiquity necessarily depended upon antagonistic relations with others. Taking account of the deep and often divisive difference that belief in Jesus made in Luke’s community, the author argues that Luke hoped to bring about both a rapprochement with and the conversion of contemporary Jews. Through this account of identity and alterity in the Gospel of Luke, the book cuts across boundaries of biblical studies, history, theology, and social theory, proposing a way forward for the study of Luke’s relation to Judaism and of the "parting of the ways" between Jews and Christians in the early Common Era.

Download or read book Hell Hath No Fury written by Meghan R. Henning and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first major book to examine ancient Christian literature on hell through the lenses of gender and disability studies Throughout the Christian tradition, descriptions of hell’s fiery torments have shaped contemporary notions of the afterlife, divine justice, and physical suffering. But rarely do we consider the roots of such conceptions, which originate in a group of understudied ancient texts: the early Christian apocalypses. In this pioneering study, Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature—largely those of women, enslaved persons, and individuals with disabilities—are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity.

Download or read book Paul Against the Idols written by Flavien Pardigon and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2019-02-01 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Paul’s visit to the city of Athens with its speech delivered before the Areopagus council is one of the best-known and most-celebrated passages of the Acts of the Apostles. Being the only complete example of an apostolic address to “pure pagans” recorded, it has consistently attracted the attention of historians, biblical scholars, theologians, missionaries, apologists, artists, and believers over the centuries. Interpretations of the pericope are many and variegated, with opinions ranging from deeming the speech to be a foreign body in the New Testament to acclaiming it as the ideal model of translation of the Christian kerygma into a foreign idiom. At the heart of the debate is whether the various parts of the speech must be understood as Hellenistic or biblical in nature—or both. Paul Against the Idols defends and develops an integrated contextual study of the episode. Reading the story in its Lukan theological, intertextual, narrative, linguistic, and historical context enables an interpretation that accounts for its apparent ambivalence. This book thus contributes to the ongoing hermeneutical and exegetical scholarly discussions surrounding this locus classicus and suggests ways in which it can contribute to a Christian theology of religions and missiology.

Download or read book Biblical Women in Patristic Reception Biblische Frauen in patristischer Rezeption written by Agnethe Siquans and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2017-09-11 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biblische Frauen spielen eine bedeutende Rolle in verschiedenen Genres patristischen Schrifttums und in rabbinischen Texten: Etwa als Vorbilder für Frauen, manchmal auch für Männer, als Repräsentantinnen bestimmter Tugenden oder Laster, als Autoritäten in Streitfragen, als Ausgangspunkt für bestimmte Praktiken. Die Bilder, die die (fast immer männlichen) Autoren von den biblischen Frauen zeichnen, spiegeln stets den zeitgenössischen sozialen, kulturellen und religiösen Kontext wider, besonders im Hinblick auf weit verbreitete antike Vorstellungen über Frauen und über das Verhältnis der Geschlechter zueinander. Der Sammelband fragt nach der Präsenz und Sichtbarkeit bzw. Hörbarkeit und nach dem Bild biblischer Frauen in den spätantiken Texten. Er enthält Beiträge zu Rahab, zur ägyptischen Frau des Salomo, zur Geliebten des Hoheliedes, zu Judit, den vier Töchtern des Philippus und den Myrophoren der Evangelien, die Salben zu Jesu Grab bringen, und untersucht die Rezeption dieser biblischen Frauen in verschiedenen patristischen und rabbinischen Texten.

Download or read book Defending and Defining the Faith written by D.H. Williams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-07 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Early Christian Apologetics, D.H. Williams offers a comprehensive presentation of Christian apologetic literature from the second to the fifth century, considering each writer within the intellectual context of the day. Williams argues that most apologies were not directed at a pagan readership. In most cases, he says, ancient apologetics had a double object: to instruct the Christian and to persuade weak Christians or non-Christians who were sympathetic to Christian claims. Traditionally, scholars of apologetics have focused on the context of persecution in the pre-Constantinian period. By following the links in the intellectual trajectory up though the early fifth century, Williams prompts deeper reflection on the process of Christian self-definition in late antiquity. Taken cumulatively, he finds, apologetic literature was in fact integral to the formation of the Christian identity in the Roman world.