A STONE AND THE STUMBLING - II. The house, the temple, the curtain, the flesh - metaphors of exegetic constructivism

2020 ◽  
pp. 74-100
Author(s):  
Степан Сергеевич Ванеян
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Spatial Relations ◽  
The Body ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Rhetorical Construction ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Temple ◽  
Metaphorical Structures

После того как был прослежен опыт строительства, созидания и разрушения в Первом Завете, стало возможно обратиться уже к Новому Завету, построенному как текстуальный канон вокруг единого христологического центра - исповедания Иисуса как Мессии и более того - как воплощенного Божественного Слова. Так как имеются в виду реалии текстуального свойства, то важно себе представлять все эпистемологические особенности рецепции некоторых семантических пространств-топосов, задаваемых в первую очередь керигмой, т. е. личным возвещением опыта встречи с Иисусом, принимаемым Христом - пасхально и евхаристически. Эти новые отношения с Богом, отличные от опыта Первого Завета, оформляются в качестве некоторых метафорических конструкций, которые выглядят как те или иные текстуально-символические действия, обращенные на конкретные пространственные отношения - в виде домов, синагог и, главное, Храма. Судьба Храма в Новом Завете - трагическая: он подвергается уже на уровне текста разрушению и упразднению. Но за этим - опыт телесности: она и замещающая реальность (плоть заменяет тело здания как скиния Небесная - земную), и реальность трансформируемая (тело, завеса, плоть, пелена, община как слагаемые камни Царства). В результате же - опыт метафорической и риторической конструкции Откровения Иоанна, о котором наша следующая попытка «архитектонической экзегезы», призванная финализировать опыт разрушения и созидания, ложного и подлинного, оскверненного и очищенного, проклятого и оправданного - спасенного. Having examined the experience of building and destruction in the First Testament, it is possible to focus on the New Testament, built as a textual canon around the one christological center - professing Christ as the Messiah and the embodied Word of God. As we focus on textual properties, it is essential to understand the epistemological element of the perception of certain semantic spaces/topoi, based, first and foremost, on kerigma - personal proclamation of meeting Jesus, who is recognized as the Christ of Easter and the Eucharist. These new relationships with God, different from those of the First Testament, are built as metaphorical structures that look like certain textual-symbolic actions referring to specific spatial relations shaped as houses, synagogues and the Temple. The fate of the Temple in the New Testament is tragic: it is destroyed and abolished even at the textual level. Behind it is the experience of corporeality as a replacement reality: flesh replaces the body of the building, and similarly, the Heavenly tabernacle replaces the earthly one. This reality is being transformed: the body, the flesh, the community - altogether become stones of the Kingdom. And as a result - St. John's Revelation, his metaphorical and rhetorical construction, which is the subject of our following attempt at 'architectonic exegesis', invoked to finalize the experience of the destruction and structuring, of the false and true, of the desecrated and cleansed, of the condemned and saved.

scholarly journals Jewish fish (ΙΧΘΥΣ) in post-supersessionist water: Messianic Judaism within a post-supersessionistic paradigm

2016 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Willitts
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Identity ◽  
New Testament ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Messianic Judaism ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

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.

No More Zealots in the House of the Lord

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Joel Marcus
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The Other ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Ethnic Cleansing ◽  
Ancient Judaism ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The One ◽  
The Temple

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.

The Vine and the Elm Tree: the Patristic Interpretation of Jesus’ Teachings on Wealth

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. McGuckin
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Biblical Criticism ◽  
Property Owner ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Original Message ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The One

If patristic tradition on the subject of wealth and possessions often appears ambivalent in its attitudes, then perhaps one of the reasons for this is that this tradition grows from an exegesis of Gospel teachings on the subject that themselves are far from being straightforward, even though they are immensely forthright. Clement of Alexandria, for example, has frequently been accused of twisting the simple and immediately obvious demand of Jesus: ‘Sell all you have and give to the poor’ (Mark 10.21) and subverting a radical vision of Jesus into a comfortable exhortation that any pious property-owner, bourgeois or aristocratic, could be happy to live with. If the rich young man had understood Christ’s real message, as Clement would have it (not so much to renounce his ownership of goods as to free his heart from attachment to them), then he might not have had such a crisis about following Jesus. Whether or not Clement’s case is, in the end, convincing as an exegesis, it none the less successfully raises all the implicit problems of interpreting the New Testament teachings on wealth in any kind of universalist sense—as teachings that are meant to apply to all, and for all time. And there are, consequently, many dangers in being too ready to dismiss Clement’s allegorism as an anachronistic exegesis, not least the danger of reverting to a different kind of biblical fundamentalism than the one Clement thought he was attacking; for contemporary biblical criticism, as it attempts to separate out the original message of Jesus and the insights of his later disciples, and to locate the original words in their correct historical and sociological milieu, has rightly warned us against over-confidence in our historical interpretations of Gospel material.

scholarly journals Die vorming van ‘n eietydse ampsbegrip: Jesus se oproep tot dissipelskap

2010 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jones ◽  
Ernest Van Eck
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Historical Jesus ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Church Office ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The forming of a contemporary understanding of church office: Jesus’ calling to discipleship This article aimed to examine the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika’s (NHKA) understanding of church office, and measure it against ‘office’ or ministries in the New Testament, and more specifically against Jesus’ calling to discipleship in Mark 8:34. The relevance of the historical Jesus for contemporary church theology is indicated by the ‘essential’ (Sache) continuity that exists between the historical Jesus and the church today. The article concludes that Jesus’ calling to discipleship in Mark 8:34 implies a certain understanding of office. The essence of this calling is servitude based on self-denial, the taking up of one’s cross, and the following of Jesus.Subsequently, a few remarks are made on the NHKA’s understanding of church office, as described in the NHKA church ordinance. The aim is for these remarks to serve as a guideline for the NHKA to form a contemporary understanding of church office. The concluding remarks have been derived from the results of the study on Jesus’ calling to discipleship, with the aim of ensuring that the NHKA serves and works in correspondence with the Word of God. This service occurs in a world very different from the one in which Jesus lived and served.

The Book of Revelation: The Alternative Temple

2019 ◽  
pp. 222-251
Author(s):  
Eyal Regev
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The Other ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
New Jerusalem ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Unique Approach ◽  
The One ◽  
The Temple

This chapter explores the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation to John is exceptional within the New Testament not only because of its genre and rich imagery, but also because it introduces a unique approach to the Temple. On the one hand, it portrays an alternative heavenly Temple, while on the other it argues that in the eschatological age, the New Jerusalem will lack a Temple altogether. The author's use of the genre of an apocalypse, not a gospel or letter, provides him with the opportunity to introduce radical approaches to the Temple. In the Book of Revelation, the secrets of the heavenly Temple and its impact on the earthly world are revealed, thus reflecting the author's conventions about the meaning of the Temple cult.

Emotions and Literary Genres in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs and the New Testament

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 514-535
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Narrative Texts ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The One ◽  
And Coping

This essay argues that there is a relationship between the presentation and evaluation of emotions, on the one hand, and the genre(s) in which these are present, on the other hand. A significant difference can be observed between narrative and paraenetic texts. In narrative texts, we find a plurality of emotions that are evaluated in a differentiated manner, accepted as reality, and linked to the body. In paraenetic texts, emotions are often reduced to a single alternative. Great authorities urge one to avoid these emotions in future, whereas narratives tend to give the reader the opportunity to take one’s distance from them. Different anthropological possibilities of perceiving and coping with reality correspond to the different genres.


Ordo

1956 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-174
Author(s):  
Canon S. L. Greenslade
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church ◽  
Apostolic Church

The Church Militant, living and working in history as an organic and visible society, must have a structure and organs which express its nature and enable it to be what it is and to fulfil its function or mission. Whatever might be argued a priori about this structure and these organs, and whatever might be learned from the experiences of history through the centuries, it is plain from the New Testament that the apostolic church possessed institutions which were part of its structure and which existed in order to further its mission. Among these was a ministry of men distinguishable qua ministers from the other members of the body, a special organ of, and therefore within, the one body.

The New Testament and Intellectual Humility

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Intellectual Humility ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Sacrificial Love ◽  
The One ◽  
The Mind

This book examines how the New Testament scriptures might form and foster intellectual humility within Christian communities. It is informed by recent interdisciplinary interest in intellectual humility, and concerned to appreciate the distinctive representations of the virtue offered by the New Testament writers on their own terms. It argues that the intellectual virtue is cast as a particular expression of the broader Christian virtue of humility, which proceeds from the believer’s union with Christ, through which personal identity is reconstituted by the operation of the Holy Spirit. Hence, we speak of ‘virtue’ in ways determined by the acting presence of Jesus Christ, overcoming sin and evil in human lives and in the world. The Christian account of the virtue is framed by this conflict, as believers within the Christian community struggle with natural arrogance and selfishness, and come to share in the mind of Christ. The new identity that emerges creates a fresh openness to truth, as the capacity of the sinful mind to distort truth is exposed and challenged. This affects knowledge and perception, but also volition: for these ancient writers, a humble mind makes good decisions that reflect judgments decisively shaped by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. By presenting ‘humility of mind’ as a characteristic of the One who is worshipped—Jesus Christ—the New Testament writers insist that we acknowledge the virtue not just as an admission of human deficiency or limitation, but as a positive affirmation of our rightful place within the divine economy.

Charismata: Gifts, Enablements, or Ministries?

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69
Author(s):  
Benny Aker
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Spiritual Gifts ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Church Culture ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

AbstractIn the midst of a growing awareness of spiritual gifts in contemporary church culture and in the academy, much confusion exists. The use of the term 'charismata' promotes this confusion and is not an appropriate label for the biblical evidence of such activity. The problem lies in a deficient linguistic and exegetical handling of this term—a problem identified by James Barr long ago and brought to the fore by Kenneth Berding. Proper exegesis overcomes this prevalent exegetical and linguistic fallacy and suggests another term, diakonia. However, a more foundational conception of both the church and ministry is lacking. By analyzing Pauline anthropol ogy in Romans, an enduring and foundational model for gifts and ministries emerges. This model is the Pauline conception of the church as God's tem ple. People who are delivered from sin's power through identifying with Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection and who have the Spirit are free to give themselves both as sacrifice and temple servants in spiritual ministries. One other caution is raised and discussed. One must avoid the charge in practice and theology of Spirit-monism. Basic structures of the New Testament always place Jesus as the One through whom the Spirit comes. Conse quently, all Spirit activity must in some way be christological and sote riological in nature. Some contemporary applications are derived from this biblical theology of Church and ministry.

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