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The third quest for the historical Jesus has reached an impasse. But a fourth quest is underway--one that draws from a heretofore largely neglected source: John's Gospel. In this book, renowned New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg advances the idea that John is a viable and valuable source for studying the historical Jesus. The data from John should be integrated with that of the Synoptics, which will yield additional insights into Jesus's emphases and ministry. Blomberg begins by reviewing the first three quests, reassessing both their contributions and their shortcomings. He then discusses the emerging consensus regarding demonstrably historical portions of John, which are more numerous than usually assumed. Peeling back the layers, we discover in Jesus's ministry an emphasis on purity and purification. The Synoptics corroborate this discovery, specifically in Jesus's meals with sinners. Blomberg then explores the practical and contemporary applications of Jesus the purifier, including the "contagious holiness" that Jesus's followers can spread to others.
Alexandra Robinson examines the letter of Jude in the light of repeated scholarly references to this source as an invective, a polemic, and an attack speech, with a dependence on both Jewish and Greco-Roman sources. Moving beyond the 'Hellenism/Judaism divide', Robinson specifies what these elements are, and how they relate to the harsh nature of the discourse. This study shows how, where, and why Jude borrows from these contemporary genres, with a detailed survey of Greco-Roman invectives and Jewish judgement oracles; comparing and contrasting them to the epistle of Jude with consideration of structure, aims, themes, and style. Robinson argues that Jude has constructed a 'Jewish invective,' and that his epistle is a polemical text which takes the form (structure, aims, and style) of a typical Greco-Roman invective but is filled with Jewish content (themes and allusions), drawing on Israel's heritage for the benefit of his primarily Jewish– Christian audience.
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.
»Mission in crisis« – this diagnosis makes immediate sense in view of the rapid decline of European Christian churches. However, there is a great deal of controversy as to what exactly this crisis consists of, what its actual causes are and what dynamics the crisis discourse itself exhibits. The contributions in this volume were held on an international conference that took place from November 25–27, 2022 at the University of Zurich. They pursue these questions from a mission-theological perspective and seek to open up new perspectives for the future of the church in both secular and plural societies. With contributions from: Heike Breitenstein, John G. Flett, Ralph Kunz, Sabrina Müll...
Most commentators view the Epistle of Jude as a parenetic text. The commentary "Expecting for the Mercy" highlights its soteriological and Christological contents. This has been possible by taking a structural approach to the text and showing that its structure is chiastic, with Jude 14–15 at its centre – a description of the eschatological judgment foretold from the beginning of the world. The judgment is seen primarily as a time to show mercy to the faithful. Knowing this, the believers should also show mercy to the straying. Placing Jude 14–15 at the centre of the theological reflection has allowed us to reveal the hermeneutic perspective applied to interpret apocalyptic texts. The narrator interprets this kind of texts from the Christocentric angle, just like all other writings belonging to the Jewish tradition. In addition, he uses typology and the pesher method. The commentary is ecumenical, taking into account both Catholic and Lutheran perspectives.
In the beginnings of Early Christianity we know of only two collections of Christian texts to which the title "New Testament" was given - one from around the middle of the second century, credited to Marcion of Sinope, and the other well known created from around the time of Irenaeus of Lyon towards the end of the same century. For the first time, the new Concordance provides the full Greek list of over 5.500 words and their individual appearances in both these collections in a comparative way. This allows for the discovery of parallels and differences between the collections and their relation. In addition questions of priority, historical, social and theological can be answered, based on their lexicography.