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This book is about the "beginnings" or prologues to the four canonical Gospels, which refer to topics to be dealt with in what follows and offer guidance as to the particular way in which the author feels the rest of the book should be read. The beginnings also contain significant hints as to what the end of the story will be. Beginnings qualifies as a basic introduction to the contents of the Gospels and a helpful starting point for reading this literature. Using the metaphor a key that opens the door, Morna Hooker moves sequentially through Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John as, respectively, a "dramatic key," a "prophetic key," a "spiritual key," and a "glorious key."
This thoughtful introduction examines the Apostle Paul, the most influential teacher in the Christian tradition, whose conversion on the road to Damascus shaped the course of Christianity.
St Mark's Gospel is among the earliest records about Jesus of Nazareth. This commentary focuses primarily on the problem of understanding what Mark himself intended to convey to his readers when he set out to write 'the good news of Jesus Christ'. There is an examination of information in the gospel about the historical Jesus, about the early Christian community and about Mark's theological concerns. There is, also, consideration of the sources for the Gospel, of the tradition behind it and of interventions by editors. Professor Hooker's new commentary takes account of the many lasted twentieth-century Markan studies and comes with her own translation of the Gospel. References to Greek sources are included but do not require a knowledge of Greek.
The publication of these essays in one volume--essays published separately and in diverse contexts over a period of thirty years--is something of an event. Professor Hooker is one the foremost New Testament scholars currently writing, and Paul is one of her major interests. This collection includes some of her best writing on Pauline ideas and their contemporary significance. The essays focus in particular on Paul's understanding of human redemption. The author shows that in contrast to Adam, who was created in the image of God, but who lost God's glory, Christ is the true image of God and the embodiment of his glory. Christ has achieved what the Law could not do (Rom 8:3), and though the Law expressed the purpose of God and reflected his glory, its power was incomplete. Several essays, in exploring this relationship between old and new, center on the significance for Pauline theology of the notion of interchange in Christ, and Professor Hooker puts forward the view that Paul's idea of participation in Christ (conveyed in such phrases as in Christ and with Christ) is the key to understanding his Christology.
St Mark's Gospel is among the earliest records about Jesus of Nazareth. This commentary focuses primarily on the problem of understanding what Mark himself intended to convey to his readers when he set out to write the good news of Jesus Christ'. There is an examination of information in the gospel about the historical Jesus, about the early Christian community and about Mark's theological concerns. There is, also, consideration of the sources for the Gospel, of the tradition behind it and of interventions by editors. Professor Hooker's new commentary takes account of the many lasted twentieth-century Markan studies and comes with her own translation of the Gospel. References to Greek sources are included but do not require a knowledge of Greek.
Invaluable for anyone seeking a deeper insight into Christianity and its most controversial figure. The Apostle Paul has shaped the course of Christian ethics for centuries and is widely regarded as the most influential theologian in the Christian tradition. In this authoritative introduction, Morna D. Hooker offers a female perspective on a figure usually portrayed as a conservative misogynist. Looking behind the epistles to reconstruct the real man and his beliefs, she places the scriptures in their original context and suggests a consistent and coherent Pauline theology. Original and thought-provoking, this concise study is essential reading for all who seek to learn more about the most controversial figure in Christianity.
This book comprehensively surveys the origin, production and reception of the canonical gospels in the early church. The discussion unfolds in three steps. Part One traces the origin of the 'gospel' of Jesus, its significance in Jewish and Hellenistic contexts of the first century, and its development from eyewitness memory to oral tradition and written text. Part Two then more specifically examines the composition, design and intentions of each of the four canonical gospels. Widening the focus, Part Three first asks about gospel-writing as viewed from the perspective of ancient Jews and pagans before turning to the question of reception history in the proliferation of 'apocryphal' gospels, in the formation of the canon, and in the beginnings of a gospel commentary tradition.
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Endings in literary works are critical, an author's conclusion -- to a story or an argument -- is intended to shape our understanding of the whole in one particular way or another. In this engaging and deceptively simple study, Morna D. Hooker explores the final pages of each of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts, and attempts to uncover the specific messages that the Evangelists hoped to convey to their readers. Almost all of the Old Testament books have conclusions that look forward to what is going to happen next -- what, then, is the significance of the way in which these New Testament documents end? A companion volume to her much-praised Beginnings, this new study began as a valedictory lecture given in the University of Cambridge to mark her retirement as Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, and was expanded to form the Chuen King Lectures given in the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2001. Book jacket.
Morna D. Hooker is Professor Emerita of Divinity at Robinson College, University of Cambridge, England. She is coeditor of the Journal of Theological Studies and the author of nine books, including Pauline Pieces and From Adam to Christ.