Trevor J. Burke – författare

A comprehensive account of the role and work of the Spirit, covering the entire Bible. Written by a team of leading evangelical scholars, including world authorities such as Craig Bartholomew, David deSilva, James D. G. Dunn, Walter Kaiser and Max Turner.

Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology and Practice takes the view that before anything else Paul must first and foremost be identified as a missionary. Using the entire Pauline corpus the contributors to this volume assess what Paul's correspondence can tell us about how he perceived his role and identity. The work comprises four parts: in section one, Paul's identity as priest, eschatological herald, and missionary-pastor are explored while in part two topics such as the apostle's activity among pagans, his suffering, and Paul's missionary message; to the church at Rome are considered. Section three comprises essays on the Spirit as the governing dynamic, the glory of God as the apostles missionary goal, and the importance of Paul's Christology in shaping his mission to the Gentiles. Finally, part four addresses Paul's missionary praxis, including his support of his missionary enterprise.

Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology and Practice takes the view that before anything else Paul must first and foremost be identified as a missionary. Using the entire Pauline corpus the contributors to this volume assess what Paul's correspondence can tell us about how he perceived his role and identity. The work comprises four parts: in section one, Pauls identity as priest, eschatological herald, and missionary-pastor are explored while in part two topics such as the apostle's activity among pagans, his suffering, and Pauls missionary message; to the church at Rome are considered. Section three comprises essays on the Spirit as the governing dynamic, the glory of God as the apostles missionary goal, and the importance of Pauls Christology in shaping his mission to the Gentiles. Finally, part four addresses Pauls missionary praxis, including his support of his missionary enterprise.

Paul as Pastor demonstrates the critical nature of Paul’s pastoral care to his identity and activities. Despite the fact that Paul never identifies himself as a pastor, there is much within the Pauline letters that alludes to this as a possible aspect of Paul’s vocation and commitments, and this has been a topic of relative scholarly neglect. The contributors to this volume consider the household setting of Paul’s pastoral practice, the evidence of Acts and a survey of themes in each of the letters in the traditional Pauline corpus. Additionally, three chapters supply case studies of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Paul’s pastoral practice in the pastoral offices of the Anglican Communion in the denomination’s Ordinal, and in the lives and thought of Augustine of Hippo and George Whitfield. As such Paul as Pastor provides a stimulating resource on a neglected and critical dimension of Paul and his letters and an invaluable tool for those in pastoral ministry and those responsible for their training.

Trevor Burke considers Paul’s colleagues and their different relationships with Paul, whether as equals, subordinates, and whether well-known or obscure, tracing how Paul refers to those with whom he associated in his letters. Burke examines these different figures in Paul’s life in depth, including the remarkably large number of women mentioned, and shows how they played key roles through a range of activities in helping establish and maintain Paul’s communities, including, preaching, teaching, visiting, baptizing, and the co-authoring of his letters. Burke employs a sociolinguistic approach to understand Paul’s social relations, arguing that the language Paul uses in his letters is the means whereby he constructs his social network. That is, Paul does not need to use a title (e.g., ‘apostle’) to indicate his role and function or that of his colleagues; rather, he ‘grammaticalizes’ social relations in his letters through his deliberate choice of lexeme (e.g., proper noun) and syntax (e.g., secondary clause) which signifies the value and contribution—and at times disapproval—of those with whom he joined forces.

Paul as Pastor demonstrates the critical nature of Paul’s pastoral care to his identity and activities. Despite the fact that Paul never identifies himself as a pastor, there is much within the Pauline letters that alludes to this as a possible aspect of Paul’s vocation and commitments, and this has been a topic of relative scholarly neglect. The contributors to this volume consider the household setting of Paul’s pastoral practice, the evidence of Acts and a survey of themes in each of the letters in the traditional Pauline corpus. Additionally, three chapters supply case studies of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Paul’s pastoral practice in the pastoral offices of the Anglican Communion in the denomination’s Ordinal, and in the lives and thought of Augustine of Hippo and George Whitfield. As such Paul as Pastor provides a stimulating resource on a neglected and critical dimension of Paul and his letters and an invaluable tool for those in pastoral ministry and those responsible for their training.

'... you received the Spirit of adoption' (Romans 8:15)The relationship between God and his people is understood in various ways by the biblical writers, and it is arguably the apostle Paul who uses the richest vocabulary.Unique to Paul's writings is the term huiothesia, the process or act of being 'adopted as son(s)'. It occurs five times in three of his letters, where it functions as a key theological metaphor.Trevor Burke argues that huiothesia has been misunderstood, misrepresented, or neglected through scholarly preoccupation with its cultural background. He redresses the balance in this comprehensive study, which discusses metaphor theory; explores the background to huiothesia; considers the roles of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; examines the moral implications of adoption, and its relationship with honour; and concludes with the consequences for Christian believers as they live in the tension between the 'now' and the 'not yet' of their adoption into God's new family.

'Sonship' is an important, yet often overlooked, theme throughout the Bible. Adam, the first human being, is identified as a 'son of God'; Israel is God's 'first-born son'; the covenant with king David is cast in father-son terms; Christians are children of God, 'adopted as sons'; and the same designation brings Scripture to a triumphant conclusion: 'He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son' (Revelation 21:7).The storyline of the Bible is clear, that God is making for himself a family of sons and daughters who will serve him and reign with him in his kingdom for ever - and this purpose is achieved through Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.In his warm-hearted, edifying exposition of this theme, Trevor Burke shows how 'sonship' is the focus of creation, is a metaphor for salvation, carries moral obligation, and is the goal of restoration of broken, suffering humanity. For those whom God the Father adopts into his household as sons and daughters, the family bonds that begin in this life will last for all eternity.