Sirach

2021 ◽  
pp. 283-305
Author(s):  
Jeremy Corley
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Faith Communities ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
Survey Article ◽  
Biblical History ◽  
The New Testament

This survey article on the Book of Sirach (Latin: Ecclesiasticus) first considers its composition by a Jerusalem scribe named Ben Sira, who lived in the early second century bce. The article then examines major themes in the book’s theology (wisdom, creation, theodicy, and death), as well as its much-criticized portrayal of women. The chapter also explores its ethics of honor, generosity, and friendship, as well as the review of biblical history in the Praise of the Ancestors (Sirach 44–50). Thereafter, the chapter notes the book’s parallels to the New Testament, as well as its mixed reception history within Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant faith communities. Finally, to illustrate aspects of the reception history, the article offers four case studies showing how various later interpreters have used the sage’s teaching on testing (2:1–18), friendship (6:5–17), social justice (34:21–31), and remembering godly ancestors (44:1–15).

The Parousia of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels

1959 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. P. Owen
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
2 Peter ◽  
Apostolic Church ◽  
Second Coming

The Second Coming (otherwise called the Parousia)1 of Christ constituted a serious problem for the apostolic Church. One of the earliest of Paul's Epistles (1 Thessalonians) shows how quickly his converts became discouraged when some of their number died before the Lord's appearing. In reply Paul repeats his promise that the Lord will soon return, although in his second epistle he has to give a reminder that Antichrist must first make a final bid for power (1 Thess. 4.15–18, 2 Thess. 2). Similarly the author of Hebrews, writing to a disillusioned and apathetic group of Christians some decades later in the first century, recalls the words of Habakkuk that ‘the Lord will come and not be slow’ (10.37). Finally 2 Peter, the latest book of the New Testament (written, perhaps, as late as the middle of the second century), continues to offer the hope of an imminent Parousia to be accompanied by the world's destruction and renewal (ch. 3). If Christians are tempted to despair they must remember that the word of prophets and Apostles is sure (v. 2) and that with God ‘a thousand years are as one day’ (v. 8).

scholarly journals Von Harnack, Marcion en die Ou Testament

2003 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
J H Le Roux
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The New Testament

This article focusses on Adolf Von Harnack’s profound study of Marcion, a theologian of the second century. He was amongst other things fascinated by Marcion’s view of the Old Testament.  Marcion rejected  the  Old Testament because it depicted the creator-god as a mean figure who humiliated human beings. Jesus was in no way related to  this  god. He  came from the good God who is described in the New Testament. Marcion compiled his own Bible which had no Old Testa-ment and only a few books from the New Testament which he  purged from all Jewish or Old Testament influence. According to Marcion the newness of the Christ event made the Old Testament superflous. 

A Taxonomy of Sin in the New Testament Worlds

2020 ◽  
pp. 17-36
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Siker
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Apostle Paul ◽  
Jerusalem Temple ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Moral Failure ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Jewish Scriptures

Understanding the contextual worlds within which the New Testament perceptions of sin arose is crucial. The immediate context for early Christianity was the Jewish world out of which Jesus also operated, which included Jewish understandings of sin especially as delineated in the Jewish Scriptures and as addressed within the sacrificial cult of the Jerusalem Temple. But in turning to the Apostle Paul and other later New Testament writers, it is equally important to understand the moral worlds envisioned in Greco-Roman religiosity and philosophy. In this realm, sin as moral failure was much less prominent than sin as ignorance or error in judgment. As Christianity moved into the second century and beyond we find understandings of sin that retain both Jewish and Greco-Roman sensibilities regarding human sin.

New Testament Archaeology Beyond the Gospels

2019 ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
New Methodologies

New Testament archaeology outside of the gospels traditionally focused on the eastern Mediterranean world and was directed to recovering inscriptional material, identifying sites, and documenting individuals mentioned in the New Testament. In the course of the twentieth century, archaeologists of the New Testament used archaeology to establish the backdrop to the New Testament (which frequently meant the urban worlds of Paul and the first Christians), and to reconstruct social and cultural contexts in the Pauline world. This chapter surveys these different approaches and considers how new methodologies and ways of thinking have provided a wealth of data beyond the physical space of the urban world. The chapter considers case studies from Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece and Macedonia, and Crete.

The New Testament Gospels and the Gospel of Thomas: A New Direction

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 579-595 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN HALSEY WOOD
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Gospel Of Thomas ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Christian Literature

After surveying the debate over the relation of the Gospel of Thomas to the NT gospels, this essay argues that Gos. Thom. merits comparison with second-century Christian literature, in order to discern the similarity or dissimilarity with regard to the use of NT material. The second-century sources considered are found to manifest various types of literary dependence on the canonical gospels. A comparison suggests that Gos. Thom. does show many of the characteristics of this Christian literature known to depend on NT material, and, moreover, that Gos. Thom. appears to draw from all four of the canonical gospels. In fact, the significance of Gos. Thom. may not be as a witness to the historical Jesus, as some have hoped, but as one of the earliest witnesses to a four-gospel collection.

scholarly journals The pendulum is never static: Jesus Sira to Jesus Christ on women in the light of Judith, Susanna and LXX Esther

2009 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Jordaan
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Apostle Paul ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Ben Sira ◽  
Negative View ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Status Of Women

When the New Testament is interpreted, directly preceding literature is largely neglected. The dialectical terms, discourse and contra-discourse do not often surface in research on this period. This is especially the case with reference to women. Jesus Ben Sira (ca. 196 BCE) as well as other wisdom writers had quite a negative view of women. Although it has previously been argued that this negative discourse on women was challenged by Judith, this article goes further: the Additions to Esther and Susanna are added as possible challenging discourses. It is argued that these texts convincingly confront Ben Sira’s negative views and add substantial value to the worth and status of women. During the CE, both Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul had a mainly positive view of women. Positive ideas and allusions from texts are pointed out that might have their roots in the Apocrypha. Lastly, this article argues that the disputed Pauline letters contain a swing back towards Jesus Ben Sira’s negative view of women.

Sophia

2019 ◽  
pp. 468-484
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cahana-Blum
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Gender And Sexuality ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Feminist Critique ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Level

This chapter discusses how convictions about gender and sexuality (both at the divine and at the social level) have been instrumental to the ways early Christians addressed the divine Sophia myth. Strongly gendered and idealized already in the Hebrew Bible, the personified feminine Sophia undergoes a process of masculinization and further idealization in Jewish writings of the Second Temple Period. Somewhat paradoxically, this appears to culminate in her (almost) complete effacement from the New Testament or her replacement with the masculine Logos. Yet in Christian gnostic writings of the second century, Sophia returns with a vengeance: more feminine than ever, by now she is both more powerful than the God of the Hebrew Bible and no longer idealized as an unequivocally positive figure. It is argued that with a careful application of feminist critique, a more thorough understanding of the Sophia myth and its possible theological implications can be reached.

Clement of Rome and Moralism

1962 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Merritt Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Apostolic Fathers ◽  
Do So

Clement of Rome has often been judged and found wanting by his Protestant interpreters. His letter is frequently presented as “a good illustration of the break between the New Testament faith and the Apostolic Fathers' lapse into moralism.” (And “moralism,” to put it mildly, is not always a pleasant word in Protestant theological circles.) Rudolf Knopf calls attention to the “rationalen Moralismus des Schreibens.” And Johannes Weiss says that “a strong moralism runs through all its expressions from the first page to the last.” When James Mackinnon gives us examples of Christian moralism in the sub-apostolic period, Clement is of course present in a prominent way, as indeed he is also significantly present when H. E. W. Turner mentions the “tradition of ‘sober moralism’ which was so notable a feature of late first-century and early second-century Christianity.” Moreover, A. C. McGiffert stands in the same tradition of interpretation when he says that for Clement “salvation is to be had only by obeying God and doing his will.” One could of course go on and on citing examples of this kind, but it seems unnecessary to do so, especially in view of the fact that a great many more illustrations are readily available in Thomas F. Torrance's The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers. Not only does Professor Torrance mention numerous scholars who stress the moralism of Clement, but also he himself comes to the conclusion that grace in I Clement appears to be an “enabling power granted to those who are worthy.” Clement “may use the language of election and justification, but the essentially Greek idea of the unqualified freedom of choice is a natural axiom in his thought, and entails a doctrine of ‘works,’ as Paul would have said.”

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