John A. T. Robinson - Böcker

In this controversial study, first published in l957. Dr Robinson looked for the origins of the doctrine of the Second Coming in the belief of the early church. His conclusion, that the early church may well have misinterpreted the original teaching of Jesus on the issue, was based on a careful and thorough examination of the New Testament material. In his preface to this reissue, he writes: In the quarter of a century since I worked on the material I am not persuaded that the thesis of the hook has lost its importance or its credibility. How and why the doctrine of the Parousia or Second Coming of Christ emerged in the thinking of the earliest Christian Communities remains of vital significance as we continue to wrestle today with how we can re-express it theologically, apply it politically, communicate it pastorally or incorporate it liturgically. that part of Christian teaching which asserts that Christ has to come into everything would seem on the it face of it to he the easiest to make relevant. Yet how much of its traditional formulation rests on a mistake, or represents a myth we can scarcely make our own? Until we understand what in that primordial explosion of truth which marked the first decades of the Christian movement caused it to he thrown up. what positive insights it embodied - and. I would say, distorted - we shall not be free to proclaim it with conviction or to apply it with discernment.'

A collection of essays and sermons from the author of the twentieth-century theological classic Honest to God.

This completely new collection of papers. most of which are either unpublished or have hitherto been almost inaccessible in specialist volumes, sheds light on one of the most original — and controversial — minds in New Testament scholarship. Titles include Did Jesus have a Distinctive Use of Scripture', 'The Shroud and the New Testament', 'Flow Small was the Seed of the Church', The Last Tabu?•The Self-consciousness of Jesus', and 'The Fourth Gospel and the Church's Doctrine of the Trinity'. John Robinson, who died in December 1983, was Dean of Trinity College, Cambridge.

`I have vowed,' Dr Robinson says, 'never to write a biblical commentary. For in a commentary you have to say something on everything, whether you have anything to say or not. This is why most commentaries, in my experience, are duller than other books written by the same persons, even on the same subject. But they are indispensable quarries.' Sensing the lack of something between them and books designed for daily or group Bible study, he has provided a guide to the Epistle to the Romans which will set the historical context, draw attention to the points of interest and importance, and help the would-be reader to wrestle with its often difficult message. `I do not promise only blood, sweat and tears. On the contrary, the Epistle to the Romans offers what Winston Churchill also called the sunlit uplands, indeed the very heights of Christian experience and theology. But to appreciate them one must be prepared to work at it. A church where this wrestling is not being seriously attempted, especially in the most educated generation of its history to date, will be impoverished in its capacity to transform the world rather than be conformed to it.'

One of the classic works of Johannine scholarship.

'If you want to find out how Robinson manages to date the whole of the NT before AD 70, you will have to follow him in this long and painstaking detective work. And the trail is indeed long, but by no means laborious, for Dr Robinson's style is easy, even conversational. A book as much for the beginner as for the academic NT scholar' (CEM Review), 'The greatest pleasure Dr Robinson gives is purely intellectual. His book is a prodigious virtuoso exercise in inductive reasoning, and an object-lesson in the nature of historical argument and historical knowledge. It is, I think, the finest of all his writings, and its energy is marvellous' (The Listener). 'in fewer than 400 pages, Bishop Robinson challenges almost all the judgments which teachers of the New Testament throughout the world commend to their pupils on the dating of the NT books : his reassessment has the simple effect of having them all completed before AD 70. The rumour of this revolutionary conclusion has already given the book notoriety and led some either to dismiss it out of hand or to lose patience with what is taken to be frivolous donnish antics. It would be a great pity if this were to become its dominant reputation, for it is, as we should expect, a work of extensive and careful scholarship, raising serious if unfashionable questions ... I am grateful to Bishop Robinson for compelling me to reopen my mind on any problems in the NT and happy to acknowledge with him that 'all the statements' which he puts forward 'should be taken as questions.' Many will profit from having to think afresh and to realize how little we truly know about the origin of those brief but powerful old books' (J. L. Houlden in New Fire).

On its original publication, this work instigated a pasionate debate about the nature of Christian belief and doctrine in the white heat of a secular revolution. It also epitomized the revolutionary spirit of a fresh and challenging way of looking at the world, which, throughout the 1960s, was to bring about the disintegration of established orthodoxies and social, political and theological norms. It articulated the anxieties of a generation who saw these traditional givens as no longer acceptable or necessarily credible. It is an suitable work for students of theology, and for anyone who is interested in a document which encapsulates the spiritual preoccupations of an entire age: the age of Profumo, the Beatles, the "Lady Chatterley's Lover" trial, women's lib and abortion rights.

A classic work of Pauline theology.

Studies in Biblical Theology 14

Honest to God, originally published in 1963, has been described as the most talked-about theological work of the twentieth century. Its publication work instigated a passionate debate about the nature of Christian belief and doctrine in the white heat of a secular revolution. It also epitomized the revolutionary spirit of a fresh and challenging way of looking at the world, which, throughout the 1960s, was to bring about the disintegration of established orthodoxies and social, political and theological norms. It articulated the anxieties of a generation who saw these traditional givens as no longer acceptable or necessarily credible. Reissued on the 50th anniversary of the original publication, Honest to God is not only a book that generated controversy and debate in its own time, but a piece of honest theology which continues to inspire many in teir search for credible Christianity in today's world.

THE 1963 paperback Honest to God by Dr John Robinson, Bishop of Woolwich, has caused an immense discussion by its call for a revolution in Christianity. It has sold more quickly than any other new book of serious theology ever published. In this book David Edwards, the Editor of the Student Christian Movement Press, writes about the debate and its background. Fenton Morley gives his view of reactions to the book in the Church of England. A most unusual chapter consists of fifty letters which readers wrote to the Bishop, rebuking him, saying why they supported him, or telling him about their experiences. The 23 most significant reviews follow —gathered from a great newspaper or a Roman Catholic theological journal, from an agnostic or a famous religious thinker, from Britain, Germany, Australia and America. Three fresh chapters are contributed by John Macquarrie of New York, David Jenkins of Oxford and Daniel Jenkins of the University of Sussex, and Alasdair MacIntyre's article assessing contemporary theologians as fundamentally atheists is reprinted. Finally the Bishop clarifies his position in the light of this free and frank discussion. Here is a passionate debate, concerned with the deepest subjects which can challenge the human mind. The reader is left to judge where the truth for him lies.

A Stanford University Press classic.