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What terms would early Christians have used to address one another? In the first book-length study on this topic, Paul Trebilco investigates the origin, use and function of seven key self-designations: 'brothers and sisters', 'believers', 'saints', 'the assembly', 'disciples', 'the Way', and 'Christian'. In doing so, he discovers what they reveal about the identity, self-understanding and character of the early Christian movement. This study sheds light on the theology of particular New Testament authors and on the relationship of early Christian authors and communities to the Old Testament and to the wider context of the Greco-Roman world. Trebilco's writing is informed by other work in the area of sociolinguistics on the development of self-designations and labels and provides a fascinating insight into this often neglected topic.
The capital city of the province of Asia in the first century CE, Ephesus played a key role in the development of early Christianity. In this book Paul Trebilco examines the early Christians from Paul to Ignatius, seen in the context of our knowledge of the city as a whole. Drawing on Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles, Trebilco looks at the foundations of the church, both before and during the Pauline mission. He shows that in the period from around 80 to 100 CE there were a number of different communities in Ephesus that regarded themselves as Christians -- the Pauline and Johannine groups, Nicolaitans, and others -- testifying to the diversity of that time and place. Including further discussions on the Ephesus addresses of the apostle John and Ignatius, this scholarly study of the early Ephesian Christians and their community is without peer.
This commentary provides an exposition of 1 Timothy's message, which is relevant to many theological and pastoral situations faced by Asian church communities today.
In the tradition of The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks, this book explores the relationship between the earliest Christians and the city environment. Experts in classics, early Christianity, and human geography analyze the growth, development, and self-understanding of the early Christian movement in urban settings. The book's contributors first look at how the urban physical, cultural, and social environments of the ancient Mediterranean basin affected the ways in which early Christianity progressed. They then turn to how the earliest Christians thought and theologized in their engagement with cities. With a rich variety of expertise and scholarship, The Urban World and the First Christians is an important contribution to the understanding of early Christianity.
Discovering the New Testament is a new and comprehensive introduction to the New Testament in three volumes, reflecting current research and scholarship in New Testament studies. Each volume provides a thorough discussion of background issues as well as treating theological themes and practical application. In this third volume, Mark J. Keown surveys Hebrews, the General Epistles, and Revelation. In addition to covering introductory matters, Keown addresses key concerns for each book, such as the use of the Old Testament in Hebrews, James's view of justification, the relationship of 2 Peter and Jude, and Revelation's various interpretative approaches. Ideal for college or seminary students, Discovering the New Testament provides numerous maps and charts as well as discussion questions for each chapter and a focus on real--life relevance and application.
Taking 2 Cor 3:6 as its starting point, the new and updated essays here assembled investigate the key passages in Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians in which the covenant content and eschatological context of Paul's theology interpret one another. Developed over thirty years, Scott Hafemann's close reading of Paul's arguments, with an eye toward their OT/Jewish milieu, also advances the larger thesis that the various Israel/church, works/faith, and justification/judgment polarities in Paul's thinking do not represent a material contrast between a "law-way" and a "gospel-way" of relating to God. Rather, they epitomize an eschatological contrast between the character of God's people within the two eras of salvation history in which, by virtue of the Messiah and the Spirit, the Torah of the "old covenant" is now being kept in the "new."
In this book, Paul Trebilco seeks to discuss all the evidence for the life of the early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius, seen in the context of our knowledge of the city as a whole. Drawing on Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles, the author discusses the beginnings of the life of the early Christians in Ephesus, both before the Pauline mission and during that mission. He then shows that in the period from around 80-100 CE there were a number of different groups in Ephesus who regarded themselves as Christians - the Pauline group addressed by the Pastorals, the Johannine group spoken of in 1-3 John, the opponents of the Pastor, the Johannine secessionists, and the Nicolait...
The first book-length study of the outsider designations that early Christians used and what they reveal about the movement's identity, self-understanding and character.
In Paul’s New Creation: Vision for a New World and Community, Sejong Chun presents inter(con)textual readings of Paul’s new creation passages from the perspective of the Korean immigrant church in America. Chun focuses on Paul’s new creation’s cosmic dimension and ecclesiastical character and proposes the ekklēsia as a tangible embodiment. The author suggests that Paul, as a middleman, accomplishes the collective project of the Jerusalem collection with his Gentile churches to declare independence from the Jerusalem church authority and to demonstrate God’s alternative economy against the exploitative system of the Roman Empire.
In the tradition of The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks, this book explores the relationship between the earliest Christians and the city environment. Experts in classics, early Christianity, and human geography analyze the growth, development, and self-understanding of the early Christian movement in urban settings. The book's contributors first look at how the urban physical, cultural, and social environments of the ancient Mediterranean basin affected the ways in which early Christianity progressed. They then turn to how the earliest Christians thought and theologized in their engagement with cities. With a rich variety of expertise and scholarship, The Urban World and the First Christians is an important contribution to the understanding of early Christianity.