Klaus Baumann - Böcker

Kowalski addresses the Pauline understanding of S/spirit in Romans 8, as compared to the Stoic idea of pneuma. The author first analyzes the Stoic views on pneuma perceived in a variety of life-giving, cognitive-ethical, unifying, reproductive and inspiring functions. The aforementioned features are taken as a starting point for the comparison with Paul to which, however, the third element is added, the Jewish texts of the Second Temple period. These include the Old Testament but also The Book of Enoch, The Book of Jubilees, Qumran, The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, The Psalms of Solomon, Philo of Alexandria, Flavius Josephus, LAB, Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Book of Ezra and 2 Book of Baruch. Such a rich comparative material contributes to the novelty of the book and enables the reader to discover both the similarities and differences between Paul, Greco-Roman and Jewish authors. The study analyzes Romans 8 in its rhetorical context and brings to light the novelty of the Pauline view of the Spirit. The apostle portrays it in its primary cognitive-ethical and communitarian function of making the believers similar to Christ and inculcating in them the Lord’s mindset and attitudes. Paul presents the Spirit as dwelling within a person, similarly to God inhabiting the Jerusalem temple, and as the mediator of the resurrected life. In the original Pauline take the Spirit enables a close union between God and human beings in which the latter keep their freedom and distinctive personal traits.

Communion is a dynamic reality - love, unity of life, mutual penetration, the closest union. The Holy Spirit is the Communion within the Trinity and forms the communion between God, man and the world, between people, in the Church and within whole reality of this world.Showing pneumatology as a dimension of the entire dogmatic theology determines the originality of this monograph. Typically, theologians focused their works on pneumatology itself. Marek Jagodzinski's monograph is especially up to date since the pentecostal awakening in Christianity carries certain dangers. They take the forms of over-exposing the Holy Spirit at the expense of the Son of God, overly simplified ecumenism, emphasising charisms over the institution and putting personal experience over the community faith of the Church. The study is not only a presentation of ideas but brings new and inspiring elements to the scientific discussion. It is an original and creative contribution to the theoretical achievements of theology as a discipline of science. The dissertation brings a new name for the Third Divine Person - Communion in the Holy Trinity. Communion reflects the mission of the Holy Spirit which embraces the Church and the sacraments, voices a golden mean between forgetting about the Holy Spirit and the Joachimism of proclaiming the era of the Holy Spirit. The monograph justifies the simultaneous existence of Christology and pneumatology, brings a new perspective on Filioque and is of significance for ecumenism.

There is no doubt that Jerusalem in the Bible is a city of great historical and theological significance. However, many modern readers are unaware that authors writing in Greek used its two names, Ierousalem and Heriosolyma. Among the few who used both names simultaneously is Luke the Evangelist. Commentators of this onomastic phenomenon have tried to explain this fact in various ways, referring to Luke's literary and theological choices or denying its meaning altogether. Krzysztof Mielcarek's monograph proposes a new view and explanation of this phenomenon in a theological-historical key. In his opinion, Luke's choices may be underpinned by his deep immersion in the world and terminological richness of the Septuagint, as well as important historical events that influenced the perception of the Holy City by the Hellenistic Jewish community and later also by the early Christians.

King Manasseh of Judah is one of the most intriguing characters in the Bible. 2 Kings presents him as the wickedest of monarchs. In 2Kgs 24:3–4, he is accused of having provoked God to destroy Judah on account of the innocent blood he had shed in Jerusalem (cf. 2Kgs 21:16). In his study Krzysztof Kinowski investigates this accusation, viewing it against the biblical and ancient Near East backgrounds, and casts a new light upon Manasseh’s role in the fall of Jerusalem. The mention of bloodshed in this affair appears to be the outcome of a process of scapegoating of Manasseh, ongoing in 2 Kings and reflecting both the legal and the cultic paradigms governing the biblical historiography. The link between Manasseh’s bloodshed and the destruction of Judah on account of the cultic land’s blood-defilement points towards a group of priestly scribes involved in the production of the 2Kgs 21 and 24 narratives. This assumption lies behind the scholarly discussion about the Priestly-like strata and priestly touches in the Books of Kings.

There are five marked quotations from Psalms in the Gospel of Matthew. These are: (1) Ps 91:1–12 in Matt 4:6; (2) Ps 78:2 in Matt 13:35; (3) Ps 8:3 in Matt 21:16; (4) Ps 118:22–23 in Matt 21:42; and (5) Ps 110:1 in Matt 22:44. Piotr Herok argues that the investigated texts are related to each other not only by the presence of the introductory formulas, making clear that a given citation comes from Scripture, but also through mutual thematic convergence, concerning in various degrees king David, the temple, and the theme of Jesus’ identity. Thanks to the new literary context, in which the quotations are embedded, Matthew reinterprets them significantly while giving them a new dimension clearly distinguishing them from the rest of the psalm quotations found in his work. This aims at presenting Jesus as not only the Son of David, but first of all the Son of God.

In the light of the research undertaken in this book the author concludes that the so called "anti-Jewish" texts in Johannine Gospel are not directed against the Jews being an ethnic or religious community. The object of the polemic and attacks is not the entire Jewish nation across the span of all the ages but a group of the Jewish leaders or opponents to Jesus in the First Century AD. Looking through the prism of the aposynagogal polemics, one can notice that the state of tension between the Johannine community and the rabbinic Judaism is inter-Jewish, not anti-Jewish, in character. The source of the polemical language of the Fourth Gospel is the Christological discussion in the historical and sociological context (the Messianic confession, the excommunication from the Synagogue, the presence of Samaritans in the Johannine community, the struggle for the preservation of the identity).

God created the world out of love and for love. Creation – especially created man – is an image of the Holy Trinity. Trinitarian theology shows communal features of the process of evolution, of times, space, and freedom, the personal specificity of the creative action of the Persons of God, and an eschatological perspective of matter and history.The created human person integrates body and soul, sexual and social dimensions, and is open to God. Because of human sin, Christ redeemed humankind and called everyone to cooperate in the communion of the Church and to eschatological fulfillment in God. In the face of environmental crisis, eco-theology integrates theological anthropology and describes different models of the relationship between man and Creation: man as master of Creation, a servant of Creation, and a “priest of creation.” Characterizing this monograph perspective of communion helps develop environmental ethos and culture.

This work is a theological analysis and interpretation of the Great Canon of St Andrew of Crete. The hermeneutic method used in the monograph consists in a comprehensive examination of key Greek concepts and phrases occurring in the analysed hymn in various contexts in which they occur, and on this basis creating a theological-existential synthesis. This method is based on the search for the spiritual and existential meaning of the most important terms and thus refers to the essential assumptions of patristic allegorical exegesis. The hermeneutic analysis of the content of the Great Canon in conjunction with the contextual analysis of the vocabulary used in it was considered the most appropriate, since it is the work of St Andrew of Crete can be compared to a poetic carpet woven from phrases from the Old and New Testament, which are combined with existential confessions and spiritual indications, expressed in Eastern Orthodox hesychastic terms.

Since their first description in 1875, Merkel cells have remained an elusive cell type. Their origin as well as their classification as mechanoreceptors have been a matter of controversy and intense discussion. The peptidergic granules in these cells are suggestive of neuroendocrine functions, but their discovery has raised additional questions regarding Merkel cell function. Essential aspects of structure, development and function of normal Merkel cells and Merkel cell carcinoma are presented in short chapters, providing concise and up-to date information on this fascinating cell type.

Since their first description in 1875, Merkel cells have remained an elusive cell type. Their origin as well as their classification as mechanoreceptors have been a matter of controversy and intense discussion. The peptidergic granules in these cells are suggestive of neuroendocrine functions, but their discovery has raised additional questions regarding Merkel cell function. Essential aspects of structure, development and function of normal Merkel cells and Merkel cell carcinoma are presented in short chapters, providing concise and up-to date information on this fascinating cell type.