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Since the advent of formal biblical criticism, many have come to see the crucifixion as merely one event in the process of religious development. Yet for the New Testament writers it was so much more, representing a radical break that forever affected their perception of God and the world. In this book Roy Harrisville examines the thought worlds of the New Testament writers, showing how the cross fractured their previously held ideas, causing a profound reorientation centered on the story of the cross. Focusing chronologically on Paul, the Synoptic writers, John, and the authors of Hebrews and 1 Peter, Harrisville demonstrates changes in the writers' understanding of sacrifice, law, Hellenism, apocalyptic, and other areas -- changes that created the new values of the radically different Christian community. An insightful work of careful critical scholarship, Harrisville's "Fracture" will appeal to anyone interested in reviewing the New Testament's witness to that which lies at the heart of earliest Christian confession and which has provoked such bitter conflict in history.
Foreword Abbreviations Introduction Outline Commentary Notes About the Author
For generations, scholars who study the letters of St. Paul have argued about “being-in-Christ” and “justification by faith” as though they were competing theologies. They have argued about faith as divine gift or human work, and more recently the faith of Jesus Christ has been called into question. Harrisville proposes a provocative and simple solution to these issues by examining scholarly assumptions and presenting the faith of St. Paul as a dynamic and life-changing power. Participation in Christ and righteousness by faith are actually complimentary expressions for the same concept. The apostle’s faith was not self-engendered but a gift that transformed him into a believer. Taking a more organic approach to understanding the faith of St. Paul, this book provides a path toward reconciling entrenched positions and providing a fresh perspective by presenting the apostle’s concept of faith as a transformative gift of divine power.
In this important study Hays argues against the mainstream that any attempt to account for the nature and method of Paul's theological language must first reckon with the centrality of narrative elements in his thought. Through an in-depth investigation of Galatians 3:1-4:11, Hays shows that the framework of Paul's thought is neither a system of doctrines nor his personal religious experience but the "sacred story" of Jesus Christ.
Two prominent biblical scholars place the traditional historical-critical method of biblical study in perspective by examining the work of its principal proponents and critics. They review the impact--often detrimental--that this approach has had on the spiritual life of the church and suggest ways to revise and supplement the method.
Ernst Kasemann famously claimed that apocalyptic is the mother of Christian theology. J. Louis Martyn's radical interpretation of the overarching significance of apocalyptic in Paul's theology has pushed Kasemann's claim further and deeper. Still, despite the recognition that apocalyptic is at the core of New Testament and Pauline theology, modern theology has often dismissed, domesticated, or demythologized early Christian apocalyptic. A renewed interest in taking apocalyptic seriously is one of the most exciting developments in recent theology. The essays in this volume, taking their point of departure from the work of Martyn (and Kasemann), wrestle critically with the promise (and possible peril) of the apocalyptic transformation of Christian theology. With original contributions from established scholars (including Beverly Gaventa, Stanley Hauerwas, Robert Jenson, Walter Lowe, Joseph Mangina, Christopher Morse, and Fleming Rutledge) as well as younger voices, this volume makes a substantial contribution to the discussion of apocalyptic and theology today. A unique feature of the book is a personal reflection on Ernst Kasemann by J. Louis Martyn himself.
Till now history has neglected the utterly radical nature of Luther's thought. In bringing together the political, theological, conceptual and cultural dimensions of Luther's work, Montover brings his readers to an awareness of their truly radical nature. Luther's understanding of the universal priesthood of believers was not simply another evangelical concept that dealt only with the office of ministry. In serving as a means for reordering the concepts of temporal authority and the temporal order it challenged the cosmological foundations of the political structure of his day. A compelling work that can only serve to revive the study of this monumental figure of theology.
The Christian faith stands or falls with the confession that Jesus Christ is risen. While that assertion itself is perhaps uncontroversial, precisely what this confession means has been a subject of profound significance and immense controversy for centuries. Central to this discussion is the role of myth and history in the biblical witness and in the church's theological engagement with the confession that Jesus Christ is risen. This book traces key trajectories of German Protestant discussions of myth, history, and the resurrection from its earliest critical analysis in the work of Hermann Samuel Reimarus and David Friedrich Strauss to contemporary appraisals by Eberhard Jungel and Ingolf ...
This book explores the Christian religious experience of the pneuma given in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. The experience Paul mentions in these texts, as well as the mention of "spirits" in three different places, suggest that Paul was actually writing about communicating with the spirit world.
This present study is the first in English of the theology of the German Lutheran theologian Georg Wobbermin (1869-1943), who has been called a "captain of the liberal rearguard." Widely read and discussed in his own lifetime, Wobbermin's theology fell into obscurity as dialectical theology rose to prominence in the years following the First World War. Faith at the Intersection of History and Experience presents the major themes of Wobbermin's theology, particularly his analysis of the relationship between faith and history and his development of a religio-psychological theological method that places faith at the intersection of history and experience. Wobbermin's critiques of recent and con...