scholarly journals Emerging Christianity: what do we know and how?

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1301-1321
Author(s):  
Andrey S. Desnitsky
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Practical Method ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
German Scholar

This article, the second in a series, briefly describes the main problems connected with the reconstruction of emerging Christianity. First of all, it is the scarcity of historical sources. They speak almost exclusively about religious beliefs and leave aside all other aspects of life. Then, it is the clearly expressed interest of both ancient authors and modern researchers to present a “rightful” and ideal picture. As a result, emerges an idealized image of such a Christian community that a modern scholar would like to belong to. A possible methodological solution to this problem can be found in the model of religious studies suggested by the modern German scholar Gerd Theissen. Concerning the practical method, one can suggest an analysis of the polemics as reflected in the early Christian texts, mainly epistles.

Psychology of Religion

1997 ◽  
pp. 51-58
Author(s):  
O. Karagodina
Keyword(s):  
Religious Experience ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Psychology Of Religion ◽  
Sociology Of Religion ◽  
Religious Studies

Psychology of religion as a branch of religious studies, in contrast to the philosophy and sociology of religion, focuses attention mainly on the problems of individual religiosity - the phenomena of religious experience, religious beliefs, mechanisms of the emergence and development of religious experience. The psychology of religion studies the experience of the supernatural person, the psychological roots of this experience and its significance for the subjective. Since a person is formed and operates in a society, the study of religious experience must include its social sources.

Sexual Defilement in Early Christian Texts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moshe Blidstein
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Sexual Ethics ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
The Family ◽  
Main Target ◽  
Christian Society

Chapter 7 demonstrates that sexual sin became the main target for purity discourse in early Christian texts, and attempts to explain why. Christian imagery of sexual defilement drew from a number of traditions—Greco-Roman sexual ethics, imagery of sexual sin from the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple texts, and both Jewish and pagan purity laws, all seen through the lens of Paul’s imagery of sexuality and sexual sin. Two broad currents characterized Christian sexual ethics in the second century: one upheld marriage and the family as the basis for a holy Christian society and church, while the second rejected all sexuality, including in marriage. Writers of both currents made heavy use of defilement imagery. For the first, sexual sin was a dangerous defilement, contaminating the Christian community and severing it from God. For the second, more radical current, sexuality itself was the defilement; virginity or continence alone were pure.

scholarly journals Prolegomena to the Problem of Determination and Classification of Original Religious Beliefs

2007 ◽  
pp. 18-26
Author(s):  
Dmytro V. Bazyk
Keyword(s):  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Present Stage ◽  
History Of ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Theoretical Developments

At the present stage of scientific research, one of the undefined problems in religious studies is, first of all, the problem of the expediency and relevance of the use of the term "primitive religions" or "primitive religious beliefs" in relation to both representatives of Aboriginal peoples of the present and the analysis of the development of religions in the history of forms of religion. discovered in general. The problem of determining the original religion and its forms of expression is somewhat compounded by the fact that the use of special terminology in theoretical developments depends not only on the various features of research methodological approaches, but also on the language in which studies are commonly published. Therefore, the use of one or the other terminology requires the isolation of a possible synonym for relatively adequate nomination (naming) of these religious manifestations.

Jesus and Paul

2021 ◽  
pp. 139-170
Author(s):  
Donald Senior
Keyword(s):  
Literary Form ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Greco Roman ◽  
Pastoral Letters ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters

The writings of Paul form a major part of the New Testament. This includes not only the so-called undisputed letters of Paul but also other letters attributed to him in antiquity that might have been written by later disciples of Paul citing him as author to evoke his apostolic authority. This chapter describes what we know of Paul’s life, beginning with his strong Jewish identity as well as his roots in the Greco-Roman world. Paul himself cites his inaugural visionary experience of the Risen Jesus as a decisive turning point in his life, leading him ultimately to be an ardent proclaimer of the gospel to the Gentile world. Paul’s letters to various early Christian communities in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean world served as extensions of his missionary efforts. Although fashioned in a different literary form than the gospel narratives, Paul’s letters also portray Jesus’s identity as both rooted in Judaism and exhibiting a unique transcendent character and purpose. Paul’s Christology focuses intensely on the significance of Jesus’s death and resurrection. The so-called deutero-Pauline Letters extend Paul’s theological vision; in the case of Colossians and Ephesians, situating the redemptive and reconciling role of Christ within the cosmos, and, in the case of the Pastoral Letters, bringing Paul’s exhortations about the life of the Christian community to some of the developing challenges of the late first-century church.

scholarly journals The origin, function and disappearance of the “Twelve”: Continuity from Jesus to the post-Easter community?

2005 ◽  
Vol 61 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietrich-Alex Koch
Keyword(s):  
First Century ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
People Of God ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Historical Role ◽  
Origin Function ◽  
Short Time

The group of the Twelve is mentioned 28 times in the Synoptic Gospels. However, the Evangelists were not familiar with the historical role of the Twelve. Even the pre-Easter origin of Matthew 19:28/Luke 22:30 is debatable. On the other hand 1 Corinth 15:3b-5 provides a solid basis for the assumption of a pre-Easter origin of the Twelve. They functioned as a group representing the twelve tribes of Israel as the eschatological people of God. Reaffirmed in this role by the risen Lord they had for a short time a leading role in the early Christian community in Jerusalem. But their importance soon declined because after a short time the twelve former disciples from Galilee could no longer be representative of a rapidly expanding community. In the last decades of the first century the Twelve got a new importance on the literary level of the Gospels.

The Development of Thanatology in Japan and its Position in East Asia, with a Focus on Thanatology’s Relationship to Religion

Numen ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 114-138
Author(s):  
Masaru Ikezawa
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
Religious Orientation ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Japanese Case ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Private Beliefs

AbstractThis article deals with the religiosity of thanatology in Japan, which was introduced under the name shiseigaku (death and life studies) in the 1980s. Although many religious believers and scholars of religious studies have been connected with this field in Japan, religions are not necessarily highlighted by studies of Japanese thanatology. The Japanese pioneers of thanatology did not have clear ideas on the positioning of religion in this field, but they unconsciously merged their own faith into their discipline. Later, other scholars tried to re-construct this field by weakening its religious orientation. The Japanese case is in contrast to Taiwanese thanatology, in which the pioneers tried to position religious beliefs as the essential element of the field. Indeed, this difference was partially influenced by the religious traditions of both societies, but other factors such as the historical processes of this academic field and the private beliefs of researchers were important causes of that difference.

Respect for Context in Quotations from The Old Testament

1962 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Edgar
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Christian Community ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The New Testament

The attempt to get behind the gospel record back to the authentic words and acts of Jesus has occupied many scholars of this generation. This has come about because of a scepticism regarding the historical value of the sayings as recorded, and has often concluded by assuming that the New Testament throws light only on what the early Christian community believed Jesus said rather than on what he did say. It is not the writer's intention to belittle the problem, but to suggest it may be approached from a fresh angle. This article seeks to show that in one respect at least the words of Jesus, as recorded in the gospels, are of a distinctive character, especially when compared with the editorial comments of the evangelists, and hence the form of the first may not be as dependent on the evangelists and the early church as sometimes claimed.

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