The Myth of Rebellious Angels: Studies in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament Texts by Loren T. Stuckenbruck

2019 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-84
Author(s):  
Benjamin Wold

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Y. Phillips ◽  
Fika Janse van Rensburg ◽  
Herrie F. Van Rooy

The aim of this article is to develop a specific approach to interpreting New Testament use of the Old Testament. The approach has integrated the most useful insights of studies in both Second Temple Judaism and present day literary theory in order to reach most consistently and effectively a valid explanation of the biblical data. In the process, severalimportant hermeneutical issues have been addressed. The focus of New Testament use of the Old Testament in the person and redemptive work of Jesus should always be the goal of Christian interpretation. Whilst old and new texts mutually interpret one another, it has been argued that there has been no ultimate ambiguity about the author’s intended, singular meaning or distortion of the original meaning of the old text. It is important to be aware that all readers come to a text with preconceived worldviews that are inevitably a mixture of biblical and unbiblical perspectives. However, this does not prevent a reader from attaining a valid understanding that adequately overlaps with the most probable meaning of the text as intended by the author. This most probable meaning is determined by the explanation that logically makes the most coherent and natural sense of most biblical data. The methodological procedure proposed has taken thegrammatical-historical method as the normative starting point of exegesis. It has then proceeded to imitate the New Testament in consideration of the broader canonical context, before considering explanations derived from the Second Temple literature or present day literary theory.Die ontwerp van ‘n geïntegreerde benadering om Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament te verstaan. Die bedoeling met hierdie artikel is om ’n benadering te ontwerp om die Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament te verstaan. Dié benadering moet die mees bruikbare insigte van die navorsing oor die Tweede Tempelperiode en die hedendaagse literêre teorie integreer, met die oog daarop om op die mees konstante en effektiewe wyse ’n geldige verklaring van die Bybelse data te gee. In hierdie proses word etlike hermeneutiese vraagstukke onder die loep geneem. Aangesien die fokus van die Nuwe-Testamentiese gebruik van die Ou Testament die persoon en verlossingswerk van Jesus is, is dit nodig dat hierdie fokus by die Christen se verstaan ook teenwoordig is. Dit is so dat ouer en nuwer tekste mekaar interpreteer; dit hou egter nie in dat daar dubbelsinnigheid is oor die outeur se bedoelde enkele betekenis, of ’n skeeftrekking van die oorspronklike betekenis van die ouer teks nie. ’n Leser kom noodwendig na die teks met ’n spesifieke wêreldbeskouing, wat ’n mengsel is van Bybelse en onbybelse perspektiewe. Dit verhoed die leser egter nie om by ’n geldige verstaan van die teks uit te kom wat voldoende oorvleuel met die mees waarskynlike betekenis van die teks soos wat die outeur dit bedoel het en wat logieserwys die meeste van die bybelse data goed en organies verreken nie. Die voorgestelde benadering neem die grammaties-historiese metode as die normatiewe beginpunt vir eksegese, en volg dan die Nuwe Testament self na deur die breër kanoniese konteks te verreken. Eers dan word die literatuur van die Tweede Tempelperiode asook die literêre teorie van die huidige tyd verreken.



Author(s):  
John Granger Cook ◽  
David W. Chapman

Crucifixion and related bodily suspension penalties were widely employed in Antiquity for the punishment of criminals and in times of war. Jesus of Nazareth is the most famous victim of the cross, and many scholars of crucifixion approach the topic with interest in Jesus’ death; however, scholarship on crucifixion also provides insights into (among other fields) ancient warfare, criminal law, political history, and cultural imagery. Invariably, such a subject requires multidisciplinary study. Current areas of discussion include the definition of crucifixion itself, especially in light of the range of use of ancient terminology. Further debates concern the origins of the punishment, the cessation of its practice (at least in the West), the precise means of death, and whether certain cultures (e.g., Second Temple Judaism) endorsed the penalty. A large portion of this article examines the many issues related to crucifixion as a form of execution in Antiquity. The topic of crucifixion in the ancient world includes a variety of issues: Near Eastern suspensions, Greek and Roman extreme penalties and crucifixion, the practice of penal suspension and crucifixion in Second Temple Judaism, the terminology for crucifixion and suspension, crucifixion in the New Testament, the practice of crucifixion in Late Antiquity, crucifixion and law in the ancient world, the question of crucifixion and martyrdom, Greco-Roman imagery of crucifixion and related punishments, Christian iconography of the crucifixion of Jesus, and the later history of the punishment. The last sections of this article then turn to understandings of Jesus’ crucifixion in the New Testament and other early Christian literature.



2020 ◽  
pp. 35-70
Author(s):  
Chris Keith

Chapter 2 situates the methodological approach of the study within three trends in the study of the ancient book cultures of Second Temple Judaism and early Christianity: the material turn in New Testament textual criticism, approaches to Jewish and Christian literature as open textual processes, and the formation of the New Testament canon. As with other studies in the material turn of New Testament textual ncriticism, this study foregrounds the manuscript as a material object and moves toward its reception history instead of focusing upon a putative “original” text. This chapter also engages the work of Eva Mroczek, David Larsen, and others, agreeing with their emphasis upon texts as open tradition but arguing for a greater role for the text as artifact. Finally, this chapter articulates how the book as a whole will contribute to the discourse on the New Testament canon by showing how construction of authority intertwined with the usage of physical manuscripts of the Gospels.



2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 396-407
Author(s):  
David A. deSilva

Studying the Apocrypha can help Christians understand writings that were available to Jesus and his earliest generations of followers, including those followers who wrote the texts that constitute the New Testament. Jesus, Paul, James, and other New Testament voices exhibit rich rootedness in their contemporary Jewish ethical and theological discourse. Reading these ancient texts can help interpreters today understand Jesus and his early followers within the context of the Second-Temple Judaism of their time, as these texts significantly had an impact on the emerging theology, ethos, and practice of the Christian church in its most formative centuries. The value of these texts has been affirmed by the majority of the world’s Christians across centuries, not only for their historical value but also as devotional literature. These reasons confirm the Reformers’ own opinion that the Apocrypha “are good and useful to read.”



Author(s):  
Charles L. Cohen

“Jews, Gentiles, and Christians (200 BCE–200 CE)” describes the period from 200 bce to 200 ce, when Christianity arose within the context of Second Temple Judaism. Jesus of Nazareth may be best understood as an itinerant preacher within Jewish apocalyptic tradition, and Christianity as initially a Jewish sect. But it soon became something else, attracting Gentiles while absorbing influences from the peoples it encountered. This intercultural dynamic is revealed in the writings that became Christians’ holy texts—the New Testament—and in their efforts to simultaneously recruit and differentiate themselves from Jews, who “desire signs,” and “Greeks,” who “desire wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:22).



Verbum Vitae ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Szymik

In the article, the author discusses Jesus’ intitulation of God as Abba and its impact on the idea of God’s fatherhood in the New Testament writings. Responding to the recent criticism of J. Jeremias’s theses (cf. B. Chilton, M.R. D’Angelo), he tries to show that without the initial source, which was Jesus of Nazareth and his public teaching, the dynamic expansion of the idea of ​​God’s fatherhood in the New Testament would not be possible. After a brief presentation of J. Jeremias’s ground-breaking opinion on Jesus’ filial relation to God as Father, encapsulated in the “Abba, Father” cry (Mk 14:36), a second section analyses the texts of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Judaism that explore the theological idea of​ God as Father. The third part focuses on the NT witnesses to God’s fatherhood, i.e. God both as the Father of Jesus Christ and the Father of all believers (υἱοθεσία). In conclusion, the literary evidence preserved in the NT writings and rational arguments point to Jesus of Nazareth as the source and starting point of the NT idea of God’s fatherhood. Jeremias’s study is still valid, and the address “Abba-Father” uttered by the historical Jesus remains the most concise and fullest expression of his filial relation to God.



2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-103
Author(s):  
Richard Coggins

Much recent study of Joel has been concerned with its setting within the 'Book of the Twelve' Minor Prophets. This article assesses this develop ment, noting especially the relevance of studies of inner-biblical exegesis and intertextuality. New questions relating to the unity of the book are con sidered. The distinctive literary features of Joel are assessed, with particular reference to its place in the development of Second Temple Judaism. Vari ous understandings of the locusts are noted, plus the importance of 'the day of the Lord'. Finally, brief attention is given to the history of interpretation of Joel, especially in the New Testament.



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