Introduction

Author(s):  
Eyal Regev

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the importance of the Temple for the early Christians and the diversity in the attitude toward the Temple found in the New Testament (NT). The Temple is the heart of ancient Judaism, in both an institutional and a symbolic sense. Meanwhile, early Christian discourse about the Temple engages with Judaism or with early Christianity's own Jewishness. This discourse is laden with deep religious sentiments, both positive and negative. Most NT texts allude to the Temple at a time when the physical structure is no longer in existence, and yet the Temple remains significant and even central to the authors of Luke, Hebrews, and Revelation. It is commonly argued that there are at least four ways in which the Temple is superseded in the NT texts: the church is the new Temple; the individual believer is the Temple; the Temple is in heaven; and the Temple is Jesus's body.

Author(s):  
Alison G. Salvesen

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Handbook and its consciously wide-ranging approach. Part I defines and explains the term Septuagint, and describes the development of the study of this significant corpus from the early modern period to the present day. Part II gives an overview of the socio-historical setting of the Septuagint, setting out prominent aspects of its nature as a translation including its incorporation of religious ideas and discussing the influence of the myth of Septuagint origins in the so-called Letter of Aristeas. It also surveys its early transmission in papyri, inscriptions, and manuscripts. Part III sets out in separate chapters the nature of the individual books of the Septuagint. Part IV looks at the Jewish reception and usage of the translated books, including revisions to the texts and the creation of alternative Greek versions. Part V turns to Christian use of the Septuagint, from the New Testament through to Greek and Latin writers. Part VI explains the significance of the ‘daughter’ versions rendered from Greek into a number of languages for the purposes of early Christian communities, and also some recent major scholarly translations of the Septuagint into modern European tongues. The last section, Part VII, provides some reflections on the significance of the Septuagint for biblical studies, especially textual criticism and New Testament, and for Christian theology. It finally looks at how illustrations in Septuagint manuscripts have interpreted the biblical text.


Vox Patrum ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 67-85
Author(s):  
Leszek Misiarczyk

The term „exorcism” comes from the Latin exorcismus and from the Greek term, which originally meant „an oath”, but later in a Christian environ­ment has assumed the meaning „to curse” or „to expel the demons/evil spirits”. The practice of exorcism in early Christianity has been influenced by Old Testa­ment, ancient Judaism and especially by the exorcisms done by Jesus Christ and described in the New Testament. In patristic texts of IInd and IIIrd century we find the following elements of an exorcism: prayer in the name of Jesus, recitation of some elements of early Christian Creed, reading of the Gospel and it was done as an order. An exorcism has been accompanied by the imposition of hands, fast and using of the holy cross. An exorcism has been usually performed publicly and was treated as evidence of the truth of the Christian faith. Until the IIIrd century there was no office of exorcist in the ancient Church and the ministry of it was not con­nected at all with the priesthood, but depended on the individual charisma received from God and was confirmed by the effectiveness to realase the possessed people.


2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Joel Marcus

Abstract The word כְּנַעֲנִי in Zech 14:21b (“there will no longer be a כְּנַעֲנִי in the house of the Lord of hosts”), has usually been interpreted either in an ethnic (“Canaanite”) or in a mercantile sense (“trader,” “merchant”), and it is possible that in its original context it was a double entendre. In later exegesis, the mercantile interpretation comes to predominate, but the ethnic sense is never completely eclipsed. The New Testament allusions to the Zecharian text reflect both interpretations. On the one hand, the Markan and Johannine Jesus utilizes the mercantile interpretation when he forbids the commerce in the Temple to continue (Mark 11:15-17; John 2:14-17). On the other hand, Mark also seems to reflect the ethnic interpretation, at least indirectly, since he seems to be responding to revolutionaries who used it to justify their ethnic cleansing and military occupation of the Temple. But Mark, for his own part, may have employed the sort of punning exegesis common in ancient Judaism to interpret Zech 14:21b as a prophecy of the eschatological expulsion of these revolutionaries from their Temple headquarters: on that day, there will no longer be קַנְאָנִין (“Zealots”) in the house of the Lord of Hosts.


1894 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 171-192
Author(s):  
Henry C. Vedder

A definition of terms is essential at the outset of this investigation, but I am not aware of a definition of Apostolic Succession that would be accepted as authoritative by those who profess the doctrine, In this paper the term will be held to mean the doctrine that the order of bishops exists in the Church jure divino; that the first bishops were ordained by the Apostles as their successors, and that these orders have been transmitted by an unbroken succession to the present time; and furthermore, that without bishops there can be no valid orders, no valid sacraments, in short, no Church. It is not proposed in this paper to question the truth of this theory—to inquire whether there is adequate evidence in its favor either in the Scriptures of the New Testament, in the early Christian literature, or in the institutions of the Church of the first two centuries. Assuming that the doctrine rests on the sure foundations of Scripture teaching and institutional Christianity—or, at least, allowing that this may be the case—our task is to trace the effects of this doctrine upon the external history and internal life of the Church of England.


1970 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 283-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Steen

The sarcophagus in the church of S. Ambrogio in Milan is dated to about 390. The lid of the sarcophagus shows scenes and symbols connected to the New Testament. On the front and rear sides, we find Christ represented among the Apostles. Figures from the Old Testament are shown on the two short sides. In this way, the narrative scenes are well arranged, and the arrangement differs from other early Christian sarcophagi in which scenes from the Old and New Testament are places together without any apparent connection between the scenes. Rows of city-gates run around all four sides, forming the background for the reliefs. The city-gates invite the beholder to read the images not as isolated scenes, but as parts of a connected whole. In this paper, I will argue that the iconography of the sarcophagus can be interpreted as a complete programme. The programme emphasizes the teaching of Christ and the Apostles’ teaching-mission given by Christ. Taking into consideration the monument’s funerary context, the programme of the sarcophagus focuses on the Word or the teaching of Christ as the way to salvation.


Vox Patrum ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Bogdan Czyżewski

In the times of the Church Fathers the notion of heresy was related to the false doctrine what became the cause of derogations from the unity of the Church. It was a false tenet about God, hence the Fathers of the Church tried to define not only mistakes created within the Church, but also to develop orthodox doctrine. Due to the vastness of the this subject authors and texts defining heresies were se­lected. Firstly, attention was drawn on the Greek term a†resij contained in pagan literature and the writings of the New Testament, which allowed to see what was the impact, especially the biblical definition of heresy, on the understanding of the early Christian writers, especially before the first Council of Nice in 325. It was also necessary to ask about the origin of heresy and its characteristics. Fathers af­firmed unequivocally that their creation were associated mainly with making the wrong choices. The result of this were incorrect relations of heretics to the truth and to the Church, wrong image of God and abiding in stubbornness. Fathers also attempted to define more precisely the scope of meaning of schism and heresy, which are concepts often used as synonyms.


Author(s):  
Његош Стикић

The intention of the author is to provide a more systematic, not exhaustive, insight into the mystical meaning, place, and role of virtue in the economy of salvation, based on the revelation recorded in the early Christian writing of the New Testament prophet and apostle Hermas – The Shepherd. The author locates the place of virtue in the realism of simultaneous and interdependent building of salvation (of man) and building of the Church as a unique (multidimensional) process. Like very few paternal writings, the Shepherd gives us an explicit conclusion that the virtues are the ones that “hold” and build the Church, “dressing” the faithful in the “clothes,” “powers” and Name of the Son of God. By “dressing” in virtues, Christians achieve that “in the likeness,” they are likened to Christ, thus becoming similar and compatible to each other, thus gaining, as a new genus, a one unique identity. That is why the Church, which is being built as the Tower of Salvation, is composed of a multitude, by repentance and virtue shaped and ennobled elects (stones), manifesting itself, thus, in a „monolithic“ building, monochromatic white, as from one carved stone. For this reason, the paper aims to re– evaluate the ontological connection of virtue with the Church (ecclesiology).


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-121
Author(s):  
Stefan Klöckner

Gregorian chants are mostly based on Old Testament texts, predominantly from the Psalms. Decisive for their interpretation in the light of the New Testament are texts of the Church Fathers (Augustine, Gregory the Great, etc.). The texts often do not follow their canonical order in the Bible, but were primarily compiled on the basis of broader associations. Hence, it is not uncommon for new content references to emerge that are committed to a Christian perspective, emotionally and theologically very bold. This article describes an imaginary ‘Gregorian Composition Workshop’: the individual ‘chambers’ include compiling texts, the choice of a suitable mode and melody, as well as the most refined rhythmic differentiations. The final piece, through its unique quality as the ‘sounding word of Holy Scripture’ permits an intensive view of the spirituality of the ninth and tenth centuries, and a realistic understanding of the Psalms as the basis of Christian existence.


Author(s):  
Eyal Regev

This chapter examines how early Christian attitude toward the Temple changed and why. First-century early Christianity was a religious and social movement at the beginning of the process of identity formation. Its members had yet to determine who they were: what part of their identity was contiguous with Judaism and what part comprised all-new elements. During this process they undoubtedly looked to other non-Christian Jews as a point of reference. Literary engagement with the Temple granted the New Testament writers and their contemporary readers the opportunity to express their debt to Jewish tradition, while at the same time their distinctiveness from it. Moreover, this engagement enhanced their sense of being powerful, genuine, and sacred—that is, close to God. For them, the Temple is a means of experiencing the sacred in both old and new fashion, somewhere on the spectrum between what would later be termed “Judaism” and “Christianity.”


Theology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 424-431
Author(s):  
Benjamin Sargent

Distanciation is arguably the most important hermeneutical issue concerning the interpretation of the Bible in the Church today. After describing some recent contributions to the problem of distanciation, this article seeks to explore distanciation theologically with the help of hermeneutical insights from research into the earliest Christian interpretation of the Bible: the use of Scripture in the New Testament.


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