The People of God in the Book of Revelation

2020 ◽  
pp. 324-340
Author(s):  
Peter S. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
The One

This chapter analyzes how John describes and transforms the people of God as audiences, assemblies, slaves of God, saints, those who are clothed in white, and witnesses. John moves them from being audiences of a reader to audiences in the divine court, where they are transformed from ignorance to knowledge of Rome’s violence and idolatrous economy. As assemblies, they receive messages from their true ruler asking them to deliberate on disengaging from the imperial economy and becoming an alternate society. As slaves of God, they are freed to publicly identify as God’s people, protected for service, and separate from those who serve the empire. As saints, God gives new status to the people of God and they move from passivity to activity on behalf of others who suffer at the hands of imperial consumption. As those who are metaphorically clothed in white, they exchange literal luxury for status in God’s court. As witnesses, they are moved to speak the truth about the One-Who-Sits-on-the-Throne and expose the lies that deceive people to participate in the imperial economy.

scholarly journals Christians and Jews: historical and theological perspectives of their relationship

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 329-348
Author(s):  
Andrzej Piotr Perzyński
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Common ◽  
The One

The article analyses the subject of Christian-Jewish relations in historical and theological terms. In the historical part the following periods are briefly discussed: New Testament, patristic, medieval, modern and contemporary. In the theological part, the common elements of Judaism and Christianity were first presented: - Jews and Christians identify their faith and action through the interrelations between justice and love; they base their beliefs on the common “scripture” (the “Old Testament”); they understand each other as the people of God; they profess the one God, the Creator and the Redeemer; they express their faith in worship, in which there are many similarities; Jews and Christians also live in the expectation for the common history of God with his people, whose fulfillment they expect. Distinctive elements (The divergence of the ways) are: the belief in Jesus, the Christ; the interpretation of the Scriptures; a different understanding of what God’s people are; different developed piety. In conclusion, it was said that the rediscovery of a positive relationship with Judaism facilitates a positive formation of Christian identity and memory.

scholarly journals Teologi, Studi Biblika, dan Misi

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-131
Author(s):  
Ailsa Barker
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Missio Dei ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Biblical Story ◽  
Ministerial Training ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
Missional Engagement ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Church

Missional hermeneutics is the interpretation of Scripture as it relates to the missionary task of the church. Four elements comprise a missional hermeneutics: 1) the missional trajectory of the biblical story being the foremost element, which also underlies the other three, 2) a narrative throughout Scripture centered on Christ and intended to equip the people of God for their missional task, 3) the missional context of the reader, in which attention moves from the task of equipping to the community being equipped, a community that is active, and 4) a missional engagement with culture and the implications thereof. Through the life of God’s people an alternative is offered, together with an invitation to come and join. Because the separation of theology from the mission of the church has distorted theology, all theology needs to be reformulated from the perspective of missio Dei and from the realization that the church is a sent community, missional in its very being. A missional hermeneutics bears implications upon the congregation, worship, preaching, discipleship, education, ministerial training, and the missionary task in multicultural contexts.

Karl Barth's Doctrine of the Sabbath

1966 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-425
Author(s):  
James Brown
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Theological Ethics ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Church Dogmatics ◽  
The People ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
History Of ◽  
Summary Statement ◽  
The One

‘In general, theological ethics has handled this command of God [the fourth Mosaic commandment] … with a casualness and feebleness which certainly do not match its importance in Holy Scripture or its decisive material significance’ (Church Dogmatics, 111.4, P. 50). Thus Karl Barth in the English translation of his Kirchliche Dogmatik (hereafter referred to as CD.). His own treatment is neither fragmentary nor perfunctory. There are references to ‘Sabbath’ in the indexes of six of twelve volumes of the Dogmatics so far published. The particular discussion of the Fourth Commandment occurs in his treatment of Special Ethics in CD. 111.4, where ‘the one command of God’ the Creator is set forth ‘in this particular application’ of ‘The Holy Day’ (p. 50). But for Barth the scriptural references to Sabbath rest have relevance to the doctrines of God, and Revelation; to the relation of God's Eternity to man's temporal being; to the biblical conception of Creation as the setting for the Covenant history of the Old Testament and the New Testament fulfilment of the divine purpose in redemption in Christ, to be completed and perfected in the ‘rest that remaineth to the people of God’ (Heb. 4.9). The treatment of the topic throughout the Dogmatics constitutes a corpus of exegesis and doctrine of which even a summary statement such as is here attempted might well be a useful contribution towards modern efforts at rethinking the Christian use of the Lord's Day.

scholarly journals Jean-Marc Éla’s Hut and Empty Granary: Rethinking the Social Significance of Theology in Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentine Ugochukwu Iheanacho
Keyword(s):  
Social Context ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Pope Francis ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
God's People ◽  
Village Life ◽  
The Church

Jean-Marc Éla, in his book My Faith as an African (1988), articulates a pastoral vision for the church in Africa. According to Éla, the “friends of the gospel” must be conscious of God’s presence “in the hut of a mother whose granary is empty.” This awakening arises from the capacity of theologians “to catch the faintest murmurs of the Spirit,” and to stay within earshot of what is happening in the ecclesial community. The vocation of an African theologian, as a witness of the faith and a travelling companion of God’s people, obliges him/her “to get dirty in the precarious conditions of village life.” Decades later, this thought of Éla echoes in Pope Francis’ pastoral vision: “I would prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its security” (Evangelii Gaudium, 49). The purpose of this article is to espouse the pastoral vision of Éla in light of the liberating mission of African theologians. This mission goes beyond armchair theologising toward engaging the people of God “under the tree.” With the granary understood as a metaphor for famine—and famine itself being the messenger of death—the article will also argue that the “friends of the gospel” are not at liberty to shut their eyes and drift off to sleep with a clear conscience, amidst a declining African social context.

scholarly journals Synodality — Participation — Co-Responsibility. Remarks on the Determinants of the Aggiornamento of the Church Law

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Andrzej Pastwa
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Community Of Faith ◽  
The People ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Scientific Reflection ◽  
Church Law ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

In the communio Ecclesiae reality, of a unitarian, charismatic, and institutiona structure, the crucial concepts of participation and co-responsibility are firmly anchored in the juridical and canonical discourse. This is the way in which the horizon of the subject matter reveals itself, the study of which — from the point of view of the title triad: synodality — participation — co-responsibility — will never lose its relevance. What is, at the same time, important is the idea of “synodality,” which is adequately recognized as the sacra potestas of a sacramental origin (ontological aspect), which gains the dynamism of libertas sacra (existential and dynamic aspect) through the charisms of the Holy Spirit, thus leading to the inseparability of its personal and synodal aspects. Therefore, in the attempt to illuminate the determinant of the aggiornamento of the Church law in this study, it was appropriate, on the one hand, to consistently refer to the essence of the idea of the communio hierarchica, according to which Christ makes selected servants participate in his authority by means of an office, the exercise of which always remains a diaconia in the community of faith. On the other hand, in reference to the contemporary understanding of communio fidelium, the axis of scientific reflection was to be the communion-creative phenomenon of charisms — gifts of the Holy Spirit that awaken in the People of God synodal co-responsibility for the good of the entire Church community. In both cases — without losing sight of the obvious truth that, in the sacramental structure of the Church (communio), both hierarchical and charismatic gifts converge in the service of the bishop, who updates — according to the logic of the Vaticanum II aggiormamento and the ecclesiological principles of the Council: collegiality, the title synodality and subsidiarity — the fullness of Christ’s service: as Prophet, Priest, and King.

scholarly journals The deaf cannot see: An accumulation of blindness and deafness as combined theme in Isaiah 42 and 43

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Van der Walt
Keyword(s):  
People Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People

In the Bible the words blind and deaf occur nine times in the same sentence. An accumulation of such sentences is found in Isaiah 42 and 43, where it occurs three times (Is 42:18, 19; 43:8). Blindness is also mentioned in two further sentences in these chapters. Not only is it stated that the people of God is blind, but Israel also accuses Yahweh that their way is hidden from him (Is 40:27). It is because of this accusation, pertaining to an alleged blindness on Yahweh’s side, that the question of hearing is raised. He answers to this accusation in the heavenly court with the questions ‘Do you not know? Have you not heard?’ From there on God makes it clear that seeing is dependent on hearing. In a heavenly court of law, the wrong perception that God’s people had about the exile was put straight and a new beginning for the exiles was subsequently made. The theme of blind- and deafness is thereby continued from Isaiah 1 and 6 in the verdict in the heavenly court in Isaiah 43, where it became clear that the cure for the spiritual blindness of God’s people is not related to their eyes, but to their ears.In die Bybel kom die woorde blind en doof nege keer saam in dieselfde sin voor. ’n Opeenhoping van hierdie sinne word in Jesaja 42 en 43 aangetref waar dit drie maal voorkom (Jes 42:18, 19; 43:8). Blindheid word ook in twee verdere sinne in hierdie hoofstukke genoem. Nie alleen word dit gestel dat die volk van God blind is nie, maar die volk beskuldig God dat Hy nie raaksien wat van hulle word nie (Jes 40:27). In die hemelse hof antwoord God op hierdie beskuldiging met die vrae ‘Weet julle nie? Het julle nie gehoor nie?’ Van daardie punt af maak God dit duidelik dat sien van hoor afhanklik is. Hierdie verkeerde persepsie van die volk oor God se sogenaamde blindheid vir hulle welstand tydens die ballingskap, word reggestel en ’n nuwe begin word gemaak. Die tema van blind- en doofheid word sodoende uit Jesaja 1 en 6 voortgesit in die uitspraak wat in die hemelse hof gemaak word (Jes 43). Daar word dit duidelik dat die oplossing vir die geestelike blindheid van die volk nie verband hou met hulle sig nie, maar met hulle gehoor.

Old Testament and Nationalism: Hebrew Bible, Jewish People, English Nation

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liah Greenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Jewish People ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The One ◽  
King James Version

Abstract This article discusses the co-evolution of nationalism and Protestantism in the course of the sixteenth century in England; the influence of the Hebrew Bible’s concept of “the people of Israel” as a community of fundamentally equal members on the emerging English national consciousness (the first national consciousness to develop, in turn influencing all subsequent nationalisms); and the reinterpretation of the core passages of the Hebrew Bible, in English translations up to the King James version, in terms of the emerging national consciousness. Completely independent at their historical sources, nationalism and Protestantism reinforced each other in the crucial English case through the translation of the Hebrew Bible. This, on the one hand, nationalized Protestantism in England and, on the other, led to the incorporation of the biblical concept of the people of God in the new, secular concept of nation.

The First Vatican Council

1971 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 329-344
Author(s):  
E. E. Y. Hales
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Vatican I ◽  
The People ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

Centenaries are supposed to be occasions when we take stock of the event we are commemorating. In the light of developments in the last hundred years how does the work of the First Vatican Council look today? And since it so happens that the hundred years in question includes the Second Vatican Council, recently concluded, it is natural to put the question in this form: how does the work of Vatican I look today, in the light of Vatican II?I think it would be fair to say that it is widely considered that the work of Vatican I was a little unfortunate, and has since proved embarrassing, because its definitions enhanced the authority of the papacy. Vatican II is supposed to have helped to redress that balance by disclosing the nature of the Church as a whole, from the bishops down to the People of God, or perhaps I should say from the bishops up to the People of God, in view of our preference nowadays for turning everything upside down. Such critics of Vatican I are not, of course, denying either the dogmatic infallibility or the juridical primacy of the Pope, which were defined at that Council; but they are saying that it is a distortion to stress the powers of the papacy and to neglect the powers of the college of bishops or the rights of the rest of the Church, and they are saying that the one-sided definitions of Vatican I tended to create such distortion in men’s minds until they were balanced by the pronouncements of Vatican II.

Creation, Sin and Its Curse, and the People of God: an Intertextual Reading of Genesis 1-12 and Acts 1-7

2003 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-160
Author(s):  
Thomas E. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
People Of God ◽  
The People ◽  
God's People ◽  
Genesis 1

AbstractThis essay offers an intertextual reading of Gen 1-12 and Acts 1-7. Specifically, it considers how three soteriological themes (i.e., creation, sin and its curse, and creation of God's people) play a central role in the narratives of Gen 1-12 and Acts 1-7 and how reading these narratives intertextually can enhance one's appreciation for the evocative power of these themes in Genesis and for their distant echoes in Acts.

Reading the Book of Revelation in the Twentieth Century

1986 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adela Yarbro Collins
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
People Of God ◽  
The People

On the deepest level, the Book of Revelation provides a story in and through which the people of God discover who they are and what they are to do.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document