T&T Clark – serie

Oakes and Boakye rethink Galatians by examining the text as a vision for the lives of its hearers. They show how, in tackling the difficulties that he faces in Galatia, Paul offers a vision of what the Galatians are in their relationship with the living Christ. This offers a new understanding of the concept of unity in diversity expressed in Gal 3:28.The authors develop their views over six chapters. First, Oakes maps a route from the letter to a focus on its Galatian hearers and on Paul’s vision for their identity and existence. In the next chapter, Oakes uses the Christology of Galatians as a way to support the idea of pistis as current relationship with the living Christ. Boakye then offers three chapters analysing the letter’s scriptural quotations and ideas about salvation and law. Boakye sees a key dynamic at work in Galatians as being a movement from death to life, as prophesied metaphorically by Ezekiel and as made literal for Paul in his encounter with the resurrected Christ, trust in whom becomes the route to life. Life becomes a key category for evaluating law. Boakye also draws Galatians close to Romans 4 in seeing in both texts the promise of the birth of Isaac, with Paul closely tying that to the resurrection of Jesus. Oakes then argues that the letter has a thematic concern for unity in diversity. In the first instance this is between Jews and gentiles but, in principle, it is between any other socially significant pair of groups.

Emil Schürer's Geschichte des judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, originally published in German between 1874 and 1909 and in English between 1885 and 1891, is a critical presentation of Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 B.C. to A.D. 135. It has rendered invaluable services to scholars for nearly a century.The present work offers a fresh translation and a revision of the entire subject-matter. The bibliographies have been rejuvenated and supplemented; the sources are presented according to the latest scholarly editions; and all the new archaeological, epigraphical, numismatic and literary evidence, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bar Kokhba documents, has been introduced into the survey. Account has also been taken of the progress in historical research, both in the classical and Jewish fields. This work reminds students of the profound debt owed to nineteenth-century learning, setting it within a wider framework of contemporary knowledge, and provides a foundation on which future historians of Judaism in the age of Jesus may build.

From the mid to the late 20th century various French thinkers have at times toyed wth the label of ‘the saint', applying it to friends, colleagues, the revered nd even the worshipped such as Genet, Sartre, Camus or Foucault. Despite this profaning of the term, however, here are many subtle truths which emerge from its usage among such writers. This volume is devoted to exploring certain varied notions of ‘the saint' in recent French philosophical and literary thought from within a theological context, offering insights and valuable contributions toward how we understand sainthood in cultural, philosophical and religious terms. Each essay focuses on the convergence of a particular author's work and their various (re)formulations of ‘saintliness' in their writings, whether this concept is directly expressed in their writings or not. In general, the aim of the volume is to develop a critical engagement between each authors' philosophical worldview and historical notions of sainthood, such that we are capable of providing new understandings of what a ‘saint' could be said to be in our world today.

The only large-scale critical introduction to Western Marxism for biblical criticism. Roland Boer introduces the core concepts of major figures in the tradition, specifically Althusser, Gramsci, Deleuze and Guattari, Eagleton, Lefebvre, Lukács, Adorno, Bloch, Negri, Jameson, and Jameson. Throughout, Boer shows how Marxist criticism is relevant to biblical criticism, in terms of approaches to the Bible and in the use of those approaches in the interpretation of specific texts. In this second edition, Boer has added chapters on Deleuze and Guattari, and Negri. Each chapter has been carefully revised to make the book more useful on courses, while maintaining challenges and insights for postgraduate students and scholars. Theoretical material has been updated and sharpened in light of subsequent research and a revised conclusion considers the economies of the ancient world in relation to biblical societies.

Whilst Christian theology is familiar with questions about the relation of church and state, divine and human law, little attention has been devoted to questions of international law. Esther D. Reed offers a systematic engagement with contemporary issues of international law and its relevance for modern theology. Reed discusses numerous issue driven topics, including: challenges to classic just-war thinking from so-called fourth generation warfare, peoples and nationhood within divine providence, the ethics of territorial borders and the militarization of human intervention. By discussing selected biblical texts Reed helps to move the issues of international law higher up the agenda of Christian theology, ethics and moral reasoning.

Emil Schürer's Geschichte des judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi, originally published in German between 1874 and 1909 and in English between 1885 and 1891, is a critical presentation of Jewish history, institutions, and literature from 175 B.C. to A.D. 135. It has rendered invaluable services to scholars for nearly a century. The present work offers a fresh translation and a revision of the entire subject-matter. The bibliographies have been rejuvenated and supplemented; the sources are presented according to the latest scholarly editions; and all the new archaeological, epigraphical, numismatic and literary evidence, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bar Kokhba documents, has been introduced into the survey. Account has also been taken of the progress in historical research, both in the classical and Jewish fields. This work reminds students of the profound debt owed to nineteenth-century learning, setting it within a wider framework of contemporary knowledge, and provides a foundation on which future historians of Judaism in the age of Jesus may build.

The Christian Bible serves as the sacred scripture of the Christian community. It is read regularly by many people around the world today, as it has been for centuries. But how should one interpret this text? This reader presents a variety of perspective on how to relate historical and theological considerations when approaching the Bible. It encourages students and scholars to ponder how historical and theological categories shape one’s view of three crucial realities: the text of the Bible, the human subject who reads the text, and the nature of the exchange between the two in the practice of reading. As historical and theological categories are applied to these realities, are they mutually exclusive, or can they be combined in some way? This reader encourages students and scholars to explore these important questions by bringing together a selection of some of modernity’s most influential discussions of the issues as well as some of the present day’s most distinguished attempts to weigh in on the debate.

How should we understand the God of the Bible? How do we make sense of God's apparently changing character in the Bible theologically? God is not obvious - unlike all the animate and inanimate objects which we can see around us. God does not appear to fulfill any useful purpose; what is God for or about? Is God just a mystery? Or a problem? Or both? In Who On Earth is God?: Making Sense of God in the Bible Neil Richardson provides the answers to these fascinating questions. Richardson tackles the hard issues surrounding some of the more problematic passages head on, looking at divine anger, violence and jealousy, and suggesting how these can be interpreted. The book engages with the difficult questions posed by contemporary issues, and the 'new atheism' pioneered by popular writers such as Richard Dawkins. This takes discussion 'beyond the bible' into later developments in thought, and notions of God in a post-modern context. This is an indispensable guide for people with or without faith, wrestling with these difficult, and eternal, questions and themes.

This is an account of how the revealed truth, love, and power of God revealed in Jesus Christ are contemporary and transformative to human life. Christian ethics is a matter of grace, present to us in Jesus Christ. But so often Jesus is reduced to a kind of role model. He represents a way of being from the past that should be emulated and made relevant for today. What such an approach lacks, however, is consideration of Jesus as One who is savingly present and active today. Indeed, what if Jesus were not inert. What if his presence is constitutive of reality? Our task is to become participant in his work of making all things new. For by joining what he is doing, ethics fulfills its task, which it to become human. The purpose of this book is to account for the ways in which the revealed truth, love, and power of God revealed in Jesus Christ are contemporary to human life and transformative of human life. By learning to hear, obey, and serve, men and women become aligned to the ongoing and life-giving presence of the truth, love, and power of Jesus Christ.

Given the extraordinary richness and range of contemporary theology, questions about the authority and inspiration of the Bible tend to garner ever increasing variety, complexity and controversy. Among those challenges include the questions posed by biblical criticism to the enterprise of Christian theology, and the place of scripture in the life of the contemporary church. Employing a range of conversation partners, this book will provide an up-to-date survey of the diverse ways in which contemporary theologians use the Bible 'to think with'. The volume enables students to compare different approaches to the reading of scripture. It also explores the ways in which the theological interpretation of scripture can be both a critical and a spiritual exercise.

This title is a unique collection of essays surrounding modern hermeneutic approaches to early Christian theological texts. Reading the corpus of texts written by the Fathers of the Church has always been a core area in Christian theology. However, scholars and academics are by no means united in the question how these important but difficult authors should be read and interpreted. Many of them are divided by implicit (but often unquestioned) assumptions about the best way to approach the texts or by underlying hermeneutical questions about the norms, limits and opportunities of reading Ancient Christian writers. This book will raise profound hermeneutical questions surrounding the reading of the Fathers with greater clarity than it has been done before. The contributors to this volume are theologians and historians who have used contemporary post-modern approaches to illuminate the Ancien corpus of texts. The chapters discuss issues such as: What makes a 'good' reading of a church Father?; What constitutes a 'responsible' reading?; Is the reading of the Fathers limited to a specialist audience?; and, What can modern thinkers contribute to our reading of the Fathers?

A new edition of Gregory Dix's masterpiece, still essential reading for students and scholars and in print constantly for fifty years.Dom Gregory Dix's classic account of the development of the Eucharist rite continues to be the definitive and authoritative work on the subject. He presents his massive scholarship in lively and non technical language for all who wish to understand their worship in terms of the framework from which it has evolved. He demonstrates the creative force of Christianity over the centuries through liturgy and the societies it has moulded. His great work has for nearly fifty years regularly been quoted for its devotional as well as its historical value, and has regularly attracted new readers.In this book for the first time, critical studies in the learned periodicals of many countries have been carefully sifted and the results arranged to give a clear picture of the development of the Eucharistic rite.

Now fully revised and updated The Book of Saints is a comprehensive biographical dictionary of saints canonised by the Roman Catholic Church. It contains the names of over 10,000 saints, including all modern ones, with significant information about their lives and achievements. Each section begins with an illustration of a particular saint, and the volume includes a list of national martyrs, a bibliography, and a helpful glossary.Produced by the Benedictine monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth (formerly Ramsgate) this classic resource is now in its 8th edition, and is fully revised to include all the saints canonised in the last ten years, including Pope St John Paul II and Blessed Paul VI.

The Bible and the Qur’an provides an overview of all the figures and groups who are mentioned in both the Bible and the Qur’an. Principal focus centres on the similarities and differences between the presentations of these characters in the two texts, with special emphasis placed on how they appear in the Islamic text. References are also included to how many of the individuals/groups discussed are treated in other Islamic sources.Each figure or group includes: (1) a list of relevant Qur’an passages; (2) a description of how the individual/group is presented in the Islamic Texts; (3) questions and issues to consider; (4) suggestions for further readings. An introductory section provides a basic orientation to the Qur’an and other Islamic sources.

The T & T Clark Social Identity Commentary on the New Testament is a one-of-a-kind comprehensive Bible resource that highlights the way the NT seeks to form the social identity of the members of the earliest Christ-movement. By drawing on the interpretive resources of social-scientific theories—especially those related to the formation of identity—interpreters generate new questions that open fruitful identity-related avenues into the text. It provides helpful introductions to each NT book that focus on various social dimensions of the text as well as a commentary structure that illuminates the text as a work of social influence. The commentary offers methodologically informed discussions of difficult and disputed passages and highlights cultural contexts in theoretically informed ways—drawing on resources from social anthropology, historical sociology, or social identity theory. The innovative but careful scholarship of these writers, most of whom have published monographs on some aspect of social identity within the New Testament, brings to the fore often overlooked social and communal aspects inherent in the NT discourse. The net result is a more concrete articulation of some of the every-day lived experiences of members of the Christ-movement within the Roman Empire, while also offering further insight into the relationship between existing and new identities that produced diverse expressions of the Christ-movement during the first century. The SICNT shows that identity-formation is at the heart of the NT and it offers insights for leaders of faith communities addressing these issues in contemporary contexts.

This textbook provides complete and comprehensive coverage of the theological tradition of Aquinas, Maximus, Luther, Irenaeus, Lonergan, von Balthasar, Schmemann, Meyendorf and Barth. Each section of this textbook explores a wide variety of questions – who are we? Is there a God, and if so, what is his nature? Who is Jesus? What does it mean that we live both in sin and righteousness? It consists of 15 modules that are comprised of 46 chapters. Each module has two parts: there are systematic chapters that discuss and explain each module’s topic; and the final chapter of each module examines 4 to 6 primary sources that are important for each topic.This textbook includes an extensive range of pedagogical features:- Sample tests in which each objective question has been quality tested by classroom use (with a discrimination index)- A discussion guide for each chapter- Learning objectives linked to each chapter- The text includes bold-faced terms, boxed text sections that identify central figures and points of debate, study question, chapter summaries, glossary

How did the Christian Church originate, what journeys has it taken over two millennia, and how did it come to exist in its present, myriad forms? The answers to these questions form a tapestry of history that reaches from first century Palestine to the ends of the earth. This volume tells this rich story from an ecumenical perspective, drawing on both Eastern and Western historic sources in exploring the rise of Eastern Orthodoxy; the church across Asia, Africa, and the Americas; and the reformations of the Western Church; including the diversity of contemporary voices.The work benefits from many pedagogical features:- boxed text sections identifying central figures and points of debate- study questions for each chapter- chapter summaries- maps--charts--indexSupplemented by over 400 illustrations, this book embraces the universality of historic and current Christianity, creating a single and comprehensive volume for students of Church history and systematic theology.

There has long been a need for a comprehensive but truly introductory single-authored textbook in theology. By introducing the reader to the biblical, doctrinal and contemporary dimensions of Christianity with the help of illustrated examples from selected primary texts, the book provides an excellent grounding in theology for both students of the discipline and the general reader. The work explores key 'tools' for the scientific study of theology, endeavoring both to affirm the rationale behind Christian thinking, and also to familiarize the reader with significant contrary positions. The solid foundations in biblical theology and hermeneutics given in the book will enable students to read Judeo-Christian scripture intelligently. Key testimonies regarding Jesus Christ are scrutinized and the nature of the New Testament discussed. As well as the emergence of doctrinal orthodoxy and the later disagreements which have shaped contemporary Christianity, the reader will become familiar with the dimensions of current Christian thinking in its dialogue with post-modernity.This new edition includes an additional chapter examining Spirituality, and a series of companion videos for each chapter.

The volume discusses nudity and clothing in the Hebrew Bible, covering anthropological, theological, archaeology and religious-historical aspects. These aspects are addressed in three separate sections, enhanced by over a hundred pictures and illustrations. Part I places nudity and clothing in its ancient Israelite context, with discussions of methodology, the ancient Near Eastern evidence (including material culture and iconography), and an assessment of central aspects of the biblical material such as fabrication and uses of textiles, lexicography, theological and anthropological implications. Part II looks at key themes such as mourning, death, encounters with the divine and issues of power and status. Finally, Part III presents several close studies of key passages from narrative, prophetic and wisdom texts where clothing and nudity play an important role.

Joseph Blenkinsopp presents an intertextual reading of Isaiah and the Psalms furthering his previous well-known work on the text of Isaiah. Blenkinsopp argues that, read together, these two biblical books can be shown to form a single religious vision, a way of experiencing and articulating a commitment to the fundamentals of the faith of Israel, with its own distinctive character. Blenkinsopp shows how the emphasis in Isaiah and the Psalms is on affect and emotion, the expression of joy and sorrow articulated in music, singing, and dancing; in praise, thanksgiving and lament. This represents a key difference from other parts of the Hebrew Bible where the focus is more on the Law and on the covenant at Sinai – in Isaiah and the Psalms these terms rarely occur, the focus is instead on Zion and on the Temple. Blenkinsopp shows how the temple singers, with their close connections with the circles which transmitted and eventually committed to writing the Book of Isaiah, demonstrate that the divine word is not incompatible with other forms of religious experience and expression, affective and even mystical, articulated and embodied in the performance of music, song, ritual prayer, and dance. The beauty of the Psalms is echoed strongly in Isaiah, and the Isaian vision of a Creator God, Lord of nature and history beyond the bounds of Israel, is joyfully proclaimed by the psalmists.

If we wish to understand ourselves and the world in relation to God, what contribution to our understanding should we expect from a Christian tradition with its roots in the Bible, and what should we expect from the natural sciences?Neil Messer sets out five types of answer to that question. The responses range from the view that the Christian tradition has nothing to contribute, through various forms of dialogue, to the claim that science is irrelevant to theological understanding. This classification scheme is illustrated and tested by extended explorations of three topics in the science and theology field: how to think about God’s action in the world, how to make theological sense of the suffering and destruction involved in the evolution of life, and how theology should respond to the scientific study of religion. The classification offers a way to understand and evaluate these debates, and the discussion of specific examples demonstrates the strengths and weaknesses of each type of approach.The book concludes with suggestions for how readers might use this scheme to guide their own work on science and theology. For students and researchers in science and theology, this book offers three things: a tool for understanding specific debates in science and theology, critical surveys of some of the most important debates in the field, and a concise guide to ways of setting up encounters of theology with science.

Oliver D. Crisp studies the topics of human freedom, redemption and communion with one another and God, which are central themes in Christian theology.The chapters of this volume are arranged according to how they would appear in a traditional dogmatics: dealing with issues concerning human free will and sin, studies on the person of Christ in recent theology, and human redemption. The book ends with pieces examining two important issues in Christian practice, namely, the Eucharist and prayer. Deeply engaged with the Christian tradition, and exemplifying a generous orthodoxy, this work makes a constructive theological case for the vitality and importance of Reformed theology today.

The period 1928-1942 saw some of the greatest political and social upheavals in modern British history. Lang, as Archbishop of Canterbury, led the Church of England through this tumultuous period and was a pivotal influence in political and religious decision-making. In this book, Robert Beaken provides a new perspective on Lang, including his considerable relationship with the royal family. Beaken also shows how Lang proved to be a sensitive leader during wartime, opposing any demonisation of the enemy and showing compassion to conscientious objectors. Despite his central role at a time of flux, there has been little written on Lang since the original biography published in 1949, and history has not been kind to this intellectually gifted but emotionally complex man. Although Lang has often been seen as a fairly unsuccessful archbishop who was resistant to change, Beaken shows that he was, in fact, an effective leader of the Anglican community at a time when the Church of England was internally divided over issues surrounding the Revised Prayer Book and its position in an ever-changing world. Lang's reputation is therefore ripe for reassessment.Drawing on previously unseen material and first-hand interviews, Beaken tells the story of a fascinating and complex man, who was, he argues, Britain's first 'modern' Archbishop of Canterbury.

From faithful apostle and seductress to feminist icon, Mary Magdalene’s many complex roles in Christian history have fascinated us for 2000 years. Illustrated in full colour, this visual history reveals how images and presentations have created a Mary who is often far different from the real woman, the first witness of the Resurrection in the gospels, or even from her appearances in the works of the Church Fathers.Beginning with the earliest sources, uncover who the real Mary was, and what she meant in her own time, before embarking on a fast-paced tour of Magdalene’s depictions in great works of art, forgotten masterpieces and contemporary visual culture. Considering relics, statuary, paintings, sculpture and recent works for stage and screen, discover how Mary Magdalene has been seen across time as a witness, a sinner, a penitent, a contemplative, a preacher and a patroness.Above all her complex roles, Mary has emerged as a powerful feminist icon, the closest person to Jesus himself, with a visual history as rich and varied as the roles she has fulfilled in numerous contexts of faith and worship for two millennia.

This volume demonstrates Hans W. Frei’s unique contribution to theology and biblical hermeneutics. Divided into five parts, the volume first outlines key biographical details, including a little­known interview from 1980 (excerpted), and Frei’s Jewish background while growing up in Nazi Germany. The subsequent four parts offer insights into both the centrality of biblical narrative and its fateful eclipse by modernity, as well as Frei’s usage of Anselm and Barth. The scholars who contribute to this volume examine Frei’s analytical rigor, his plea for a “high Christology” in the service of the church; and his shifting interpretations over the years regarding scripture’s “literal sense”. They examine Frei’s relationship to other contemporary notables such as Paul Ricoeur, Eberhard Jüngel, George A. Lindbeck and Carl F. H. Henry, along with an alternative Roman Catholic reading of the history of biblical hermeneutics over against the one he advocates.

While transgender and non-binary identities are increasingly visible, too many Christians have either maintained a fearful silence, or have attacked ‘transgenderism’ as a threat to Christian faith and practice. More serious theological reflection is needed, not least of all in the Roman Catholic tradition. Moreover, the Catholic context presents particular challenges that are relevant beyond the Catholic world, due to the Church’s widespread involvement in healthcare provision and education, and its traditions of thought around these activities.This volume considers the various questions to do with trans people in the life of the Church from an interdisciplinary, Catholic, ecumenical perspective, reaching out to academics, clergy and educated lay readers. It brings together perspectives from a variety of disciplines to provide a rigorous, wide-ranging engagement with these pressing issues; and includes a number of trans contributors, making their voices present in these discussions, which are about them, but from which they are often excluded.The first three chapters illustrate the development of Catholic thinking on transgender issues in recent decades. The second section of the book considers transgender identity from multiple perspectives: canon legal; legal; sociological, clinical; bioethical; and educational. The last two chapters of the second section shift the focus in the direction of theology and pastoral practice, themes that are explored by emerging theological scholars in the third section of the book.

R.S. Sugirtharajah shows how at the height of European colonialism whilst the colonizers were studying the sacred texts of Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs and Zoroastrians, the Hindus were themselves scrutinizing the invader’s book – the Christian Bible. Sugirtharajah examines how these Hindus transformed the Bible into what they deemed fit for and suited to their contexts. The result was that the Bible acquired a totally different form and lost its authority as the Book of the Empire. Sugirtharajah shows how the resistant, subversive and at times antagonistic readings of the Hindus went beyond what the colonizer had intended. Sadly what these Hindus made of the Bible went largely unnoticed and was ignored by Western scholarship.This volume seeks to rectify this regrettable omission and to place both the Hindu reformers and nationalists attitude to the Bible in their own specific context and to allow them to speak on their own terms rather than reading them with Christian preconception. The Hindu reformers covered include figures such as Raja Rammohun Roy, Arumuga Navalar, Keshub Chunder Sen, Swami Vivekananda, Ponnambalam Ramanathan, M. K. Gandhi and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and nationalists such as Dhirendranath Chowdhary, Sita Ram Goel and Ram Swarup. The book contains the interpretative context; the textual negotiation that went on between these Hindus and the missionaries and orientalists; examples of their Hinduization of the Bible; and the hermeneutical impact on mainstream biblical interpretation.

The volume comprises a collection of essays ordered in three parts, each of which describes broadly the sub-fields of theology to which these belong. The essays tackle core themes in Christian doctrine, the longstanding relationship of theology to philosophy, and a series of challenges facing churches today. While the volume represents a Reformed theological approach often with a historical focus, it self-consciously reflects an ecumenical and critical perspective. The term ‘humanism’ reflects an openness to insight, understanding and correction from different fields of knowledge, while its ‘Reformed’ designation positions the work within a recognized theological tradition though seeking to avoid imprisonment by it. A further feature of the collection is its attempt to overcome the curricular divisions between systematic theology, Christian ethics, and practical theology. The third section in particular deal with issues in social ethics, theological aesthetics, the place of the church in a secular culture, and the role of theology in the university.

Who were the Simonians? Beginning in the mid-second century CE, heresiologists depicted them as licentious followers of the first “gnostic,” a supposedly Samarian self-deifier called Simon, who was thought to practice “magic” and became known as the father of all heresies.Litwa examines the Simonians in their own literature and in the literature used to refute and describe them. He begins with Simonian primary sources, namely The Declaration of Great Power (embedded in the anonymous Refutation of All Heresies) and The Concept of Our Great Power (Nag Hammadi codex VI,4). Litwa argues that both are early second-century products of Simonian authors writing in Alexandria or Egypt. Litwa then moves on to examine the heresiological sources related to the Simonians (Justin, the book of Acts, Irenaeus, the author of the Refutation of All Heresies, Pseudo-Tertullian, Epiphanius, and Filaster). He shows how closely connected Justin’s report is to the portrait of Simon in Acts, and offers an extensive exegesis and analysis of Simonian theology and practice based on the reports of Irenaeus and the Refutator. Finally, Litwa examines Simonianism in novelistic sources, namely the Acts of Peter and the Pseudo-Clementines. By the time these sources were written, Simon had become the father of all heresies. Accordingly, virtually any heresy could be attributed to Simon. As a result—despite their alluring portraits of Simon—these sources are mostly unusable for the historical study of the Simonian Christian movement. Litwa concludes with a historical profile of the Simonian movement in the second and third centuries.The book features appendices which contain Litwa’s own translations of primary Simonian texts.