Anne Moore – författare

For hundreds of years, scholars have debated the meaning of Jesus’ central theological term, the ‘kingdom of God’. Most of the argument has focused on its assumed eschatological connotations and Jesus’ adherence or deviation from these ideas. Within the North American context, the debate is dominated by the work of Norman Perrin, whose classification of the kingdom of God as a myth-evoking symbol remains one of the fundamental assumptions of scholarship. According to Perrin, Jesus’ understanding of the kingdom of God is founded upon the myth of God acting as king on behalf of Israel as described in the Hebrew Bible. Moving Beyond Symbol and Myth challenges Perrin’s classification, and advocates the reclassification of the kingdom of God as metaphor. Drawing upon insights from the cognitive theory of metaphor, this study examines all the occurrences of the ‘God is king’ metaphor within the literary context of the Hebrew Bible. Based on this review, it is proposed that the ‘God is king’ metaphor functions as a true metaphor with a range of expressions and meanings. It is employed within a variety of texts and conveys images of God as the covenantal sovereign of Israel; God as the eternal suzerain of the world, and God as the king of the disadvantaged. The interaction of the semantic fields of divinity and human kingship evoke a range of metaphoric expressions that are utilized throughout the history of the Hebrew Bible in response to differing socio-historical contexts and within a range of rhetorical strategies. It is this diversity inherent in the ‘God is king’ metaphor that is the foundation for the diversified expressions of the kingdom of God associated with the historical Jesus and early Christianity.

This edited collection considers the concept of power in the New Testament and early Christian writings.Ron Clark, Stanley N. Helton, Anne Moore, and their contributors contend that power in ancient Southwest Asia and North Africa was not only a desired commodity, but an important tool to navigate the historical honor/shame culture. The essays herein explore the positive uses of power to foster peace and shalom in Early Christian communities. Drawing from sociological, feminist, and postcolonial methodologies, the contributors examine how authority is constructed, displaced, and reimagined through figures such as Jesus and Paul in the Roman Empire. Grounding their discussions within theoretical frameworks of power formulated by Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault, and Steven Lukes, the essays herein reflect on the socio-political context of Roman imperialism. Their discussion of biblical texts across the Gospels, Romans, and 1 Corinthians fill a gap within biblical scholarship, illuminating the diverse meanings, functions, and motifs of authority and power within early Christian writings. In doing so, Clark, Helton, Moore, and their contributors challenge traditional interpretations and offers fresh insights into leadership, identity, and theological ethics in early Christianity.