Early Buddhist Use of Two Western Themes

2002 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Duncan M. Derrett

AbstractFor about 150 years scholars of unusual temerity have asserted that themes found in Buddhist texts, many of them celebrated in surviving Buddhist sculpture, can be found in the New Testament in more or less recognizable forms. If this were true, as in the case of Japanese philosophy showing through the work of M. Heidegger, students of the New Testament, already overburdened with conspissated conjectures, would be obliged to enter into a field which is not only unfamiliar to them, but, as a rival, unsympathetic. Few would take on such an adventure gratis. It has been shown elsewhere that parallels can be sorted into those which could have arisen anywhere, being invented many times over (such as the Golden Rule); those which are unlikely to have been invented more than once, but which can be attributed to one culture or the other, without hope of our deciding which is earlier; and finally those which are completely at home in one culture (say the Jewish) and exotic in the other (say the Buddhist), so that the conjecture that the latter “borrowed” from the former is attractive.

Author(s):  
Yii-Jan Lin

This chapter contends that the study of gender, sexuality, and the New Testament is not limited to the content of texts or their historical contexts. On the contrary, how we formulate a textual entity and how we approach that entity contribute to the dynamics that constitute identity, and are thus important to the discussion. In the case of the New Testament, Western Christianity has understood the active Word, or Logos, of God as “masculine” in its creative power. The text of the New Testament, on the other hand, requires historical and philological study, and is decidedly “feminine” in its vulnerability to disease and adulteration, especially in the field of textual criticism. Disrupting metaphors and conceptions of text and speech, masculine and feminine, can be found in ancient Judaism’s formulation of the Written and Oral Torah, as well as in Clement of Alexandria, the Odes of Solomon, and in Plato.


Author(s):  
Ann Graham Brock

The New Testament gospels and numerous extracanonical texts portray Mary Magdalene as one of the most significant of Jesus’s disciples, present at Jesus’s crucifixion and primary among the resurrection witnesses. Moreover, many of these ancient sources portray Jesus or heavenly messengers or both commissioning her to tell the other disciples the good news. As a result, many claim apostolic authority for her, and some even call her “apostle of the apostles.” Among key texts that feature her are the Gospel of Philip, Pistis Sophia, and the Manichaean Psalms. She may also be the protagonist in the Gospel of Mary, although a few suppose her to be Mary the Mother or Mary of Bethany. The portrayals of Mary Magdalene often feature her as an especially prominent, outspoken, visionary leader, who, in postresurrection dialogues with Jesus, frequently demonstrates insights beyond other disciples, including Peter, who often challenges her.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-86
Author(s):  
Jens Dörpinghaus

Zusammenfassung Markus 14,27-28; 16,7 und Lukas 24,49 bzw. Apostelgeschichte 1,4 sprechen jeweils unterschiedliche Erwartungen für die Erscheinungsorte des Auferstandenen aus und insbesondere für das Verbleiben der Jünger. Markus spricht von Galiläa als Erscheinungsort, nach Lukas 24,49 sollen die Jünger jedoch in Jerusalem bleiben. Dieses Spannungsfeld wird häufig durch Methoden der Form- und Traditionskritik untersucht. Hier soll dieser Ansatz nicht nur diskutiert, sondern es sollen auch die theologischen Implikationen untersucht werden. Anhand eines neuen literarisch-chronologischen Ordnungsversuchs in den Evangelien kann herausgearbeitet werden, dass sich beide Aussagen auf die Nachfolge der Jünger Jesu in bestimmten Abschnitten der Zeit vor und nach der Auferstehung Jesu und seiner Himmelfahrt beziehen. Damit findet sich eine neue Perspektive auf die nachösterliche Nachfolge im Neuen Testament.SummaryMark 14:27-28 and 16:7 on the one hand and Luke 24:49 with Acts 1:4 on the other hand mention different locations where the disciples will meet Jesus after the resurrection or where they should stay. Mark mentions Galilee, Luke Jerusalem. Most scholars try to solve this conflict with the methods of form criticism or tradition criticism. This article discusses the shortcomings of this approach and discusses the resulting theological implications for both Jerusalem and Galilee. It introduces a new literary approach for ordering the post-resurrection appearances in the Gospels and Acts. The results provide new perspectives on discipleship in the period after Easter in the New Testament.RésuméMarc 14:27-28 et 16:7 d’un côté et Luc 24:49 avec Actes 1:4 de l’autre mentionnent différents lieux où les disciples rencontreront Jésus après la résurrection ou devront attendre. Marc cite la Galilée, Luc Jérusalem. La plupart des exégètes s’efforcent de résoudre ce conflit en recourant aux méthodes de la critique des formes ou de la tradition. Cet article traite des faiblesses de cette approche et aborde les implications théologiques qui en résultent pour à la fois Jérusalem et la Galilée. Il introduit une nouvelle approche littéraire pour ordonner les apparitions post-résurrection dans l’Évangile et les Actes. Les résultats ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives sur le discipulat en cette période importante du Nouveau Testament.


2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Willitts

This article defines, explains and argues for the necessity of a post-supersessionistic hermeneutical posture towards the New Testament. The post-supersessionistic reading of the New Testament takes the Jewish nature of the apostolic documents seriously, and has as its goal the correction of the sin of supersessionism. While supersessionism theologically is repudiated in most corners of the contemporary church through official church documents, the practise of reading the New Testament continues to exhibit supersessionistic tendencies and outcomes. The consequence of this predominant reading of the New Testament is the continued exclusion of Jewish ethnic identity in the church. In light of the growing recognition of multiculturalism and contextualisation on the one hand, and the recent presence of a movement within the body of Messiah of Jewish believers in Jesus on the other, the church’s established approach to reading Scripture that leads to the elimination of ethnic identity must be repudiated alongside its post-supersessionist doctrinal statements. This article defines terms, explains consequences and argues for a renewed perspective on the New Testament as an ethnic document; such a perspective will promote the church’s cultivation of real embodied ethnic particularity rather than either a pseudo-interculturalism or the eraser full ethnicity.


Author(s):  
David Wheeler-Reed

This chapter maintains that two ideologies concerning marriage and sex pervade the New Testament writings. One ideology codifies a narrative that argues against marriage, and perhaps, sexual intercourse, and the other retains the basic cultural values of the upper classes of the Greco-Roman world. These two ideologies are termed “profamily” and “antifamily.” The chapter proceeds in a chronological fashion starting with 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, and Mark. It concludes by examining Matthew, Luke, the Pastoral Epistles, and the Acts of Paul and Thecla.


MELINTAS ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-39
Author(s):  
Staniselaus Eko Riyadi

Violence is a crime condemned by religions, but religions in the world are apparently involved in some kind of violence. It has been considered problematic that some scriptural texts are showing violent acts that seem to be ‘authorised’ by God, even ‘allowed’ by God, or celebrated by the people. How should we understand such problematic texts? Is there any violence authorised by God? Christianity has been dealing with the interpretation of violent acts in biblical texts from the Old Testament as well as from the New Testament. This article suggests that violence in the biblical texts must be understood within the context of defining religious identity of Israel among the other nations that have their own gods. Scriptures do not promote violence, but has recorded the historical experiences of Israel in their confrontation with other nations. Therefore, violence in the biblical texts cannot be referred to as a sort of justification for any violent acts by religions in our multireligious and multiethnic society.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Sayangi Laia ◽  
Harman Ziduhu Laia ◽  
Daniel Ari Wibowo

The practice of anointing with oil has been done in the church since the first century to the present. On the other hand, there are also churches which have refused to do this. The practice of anointing with oil has essentially lifted from James 5:14. This text has become one of one text in the New Testament which is quite difficult to understand and bring a variety of views. Not a few denominations of the church understand James 5:14 is wrong, even the Catholic church including in it. The increasingly incorrect practice of anointing in the church today, that can be believed can heal disease physically and a variety of other functions push back the author to check the text of James 5:14 in the exegesis. Studies the exegesis of the deep, which focuses on the contextual, grammatical-structural,


2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-160
Author(s):  
Dean Simpson

This article is a word study that analyses and interprets how Erasmus uses the adjective evangelicus, -a, -um in his New Testament Paraphrases. The development of the idiom ‘gospel-blank’ (evangelicus + noun) is analyzed diachronically; the phrases denoting gospel things are divided into six semantic categories. The study shows, on the one hand, that there is a general consistency in how evangelicus is used, the most common pairings predominating in most Paraphrases on the Epistles and Gospels, while, on the other, there is some broadening and lowering of the nouns with which evangelicus is joined, moving from the Paraphrases on the Epistles to the Gospel Paraphrases. Erasmus’ changing attitude to the project of paraphrasing the New Testament provides biographical and historical context in which to place the study’s findings. The study concludes by highlighting the New Testament Paraphrases as Erasmus’ humanistic response to worsening divisions in the early 1520s.


2021 ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Gilles Dorival

On the one hand, all of the deuterocanonical books and all of the supplements to Daniel, Esther, Jeremiah have Jewish origin. In fact, there are only five Christian texts within the Septuagint, perhaps six, if Job 42:17a originated from a Christian circle (which is less likely than from a Jewish milieu). The five texts are found in the Psalter. After Psa 13:3ab, Psa 13:3c–j gives a lengthy quotation of Paul’s Rom 3:12–18. In the Odes, there are four Christian texts: three passages of Luke and one ecclesiastical composition. On the other hand, New Testament verses are introduced into the Septuagint. There are, at most, 159 possible Christianized verses listed for the whole of the Septuagint of which twenty-five occur in Psalms. Of these twenty-five, nine have very limited Christianization: the verses that align with the New Testament text occur only in one, two, or three manuscripts. There are twelve cases of partial Christianization attested in more than three manuscripts and there is only one example of a complete Christianization: Psa 39:7b (40:7b MT), but even this is debated among scholars. Finally, it happens that a few words (less than half a verse) are added into the verses of the Septuagint. There are just six potential Christian additions of this kind. Of these, Psa 65:1a has to be removed. Five cases remain: Psa 37:14a; 37:21c; 49:6a; 50:9a, and 95:10a. The latter is the most famous example: instead of ‘say among the nations: “the Lord became king”’, the Coptic versions, some manuscripts and some Fathers offer ‘say among the nations: “the Lord became king from (the) wood”’. So, a connection is established between the Lord of the Psalm and the wood of Jesus’ cross. In sum, the Septuagint text is very little Christianized: the translation remains remarkably close to its Jewish origin.


2019 ◽  
pp. 292-318
Author(s):  
Robert C. Roberts

That a virtue should be called magnanimity suggests that souls come in sizes. But what makes for this sizing? This chapter is framed between the Homeric heroic ideal embodied in the megalêtôr and the gentle but resolute American hero, the magnanimous Abraham Lincoln, interacting along the way with the other chapters in the volume. This chapter compares conceptions of greatness of soul (heart, spirit, mind), touching on Socrates, Aristotle, the New Testament, Stoicism, Yaḥyā ibn ‘Adī and al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, the Scottish Enlightenment, Kant, and Nietzsche. The story is one of diversity, indeed in some cases mutual exclusion, with overlap and continuities. But in the end the chapter suggests a certain evolution of our conception of human greatness in which the virtues of strength and toughness are integrated with those of generosity and compassion.


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