Michael Prior, The Bible and Anti-Semitism

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Macpherson
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
The Core ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Colonial Oppression ◽  
Gospel Message

Michael Prior raised the issue of Bible texts apparently morally unacceptable and at odds with the “core Gospel message” of the liberating love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. He pointed to Old Testament texts invoked to justify colonialism and, in particular, the colonial oppression of the Palestinians. Others have underlined texts in the New Testament used to justify anti-Semitism. Opinion divides between blaming the interpreters and blaming the texts themselves, usually by questioning their historicity. Both issues impact upon the Israeli-Palestinian confl ict and raise mirror-image questions concerning biblical inspiration demanding the liberationist hermeneutic implicit in Prior's work.

scholarly journals O pragnieniu Prawdy. Propozycja Platona a kontekst przekazu biblijnego w świetle teorii mimetyczno-ofiarniczej René Girarda

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 105-121
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Gotchold
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Mimetic Desire ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Scapegoat Mechanism

The paper discusses the issue of the desire for truth in Plato’s Republic, Book VII, and the Old and New Testaments with regard to Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, the scapegoat mechanism and the founding murder. Both Plato and the Bible describe outstanding individuals – Anax, Moses and Jesus – who attain truth. This causes communal envy, leading to the outbreaks of mimetic violence. However, neither Plato nor the Old Testament allow the founding murder to happen. Consequently, they depict communities which deal with strict laws and suppressed violence. It is only in the New Testament that mimetic violence fi nds its outlet in the sacrifi cial killing of Jesus Christ.

The Temple

1950 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-287
Author(s):  
Thomas Hannay
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Main Structure ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Temple

For some time past there has been a great need that theology should become more biblical, and that biblical studies should become more theological. To-day there are welcome signs that this is coming about, which is in effect a reviving sense of the authority of the Bible. There is a feeling that if criticism has not finished its task—which can hardly be the case—it is time that it was supplemented by something else; that it has too long dominated biblical studies as though it were the very building, whereas it is in fact a means of securing the foundations on which the main structure can be raised; that its necessary method of analysis, increasingly elaborated, has tended to destroy the recognition of the majestic structure of the biblical revelation and its unity. Thus Dr Vincent Taylor in the introduction to his Jesus and His Sacrifice confessed that after twenty-five years devoted to the minutiae of synoptic criticism, he had a great desire to consider what the Gospels really have to say for themselves. In the realm of Old Testament studies there has emerged a sense that, Israel's history being so remarkable, it is useless to brush aside all the later developments of, let us say, the Priestly Code as regrettable and retrograde; it is wiser and more helpful to ask what their significance really is, and whether they do not rather witness to the rich fulness of religion under the old covenant. The point to be driven home is just this: when the sources have been analysed and dated as far as may be, then begins the real task of considering what is the significance of the contents. That can and will only be found in our Lord Jesus Christ. But that in effect means allowing the Bible to be its own interpreter, explaining one part by another. Especially when seeking for the significance of the Old Testament must the search be carried over into the New Testament. It seems worth while to try and work this method out on the theme of the temple.

Soteria

1953 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-416
Author(s):  
R. McL. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Good News ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
In Christ ◽  
Love Of God ◽  
Wrath Of God

In the Gospel according to St. John it is written that ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever-lasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.’ In these familiar words is summed up the message of the Bible as a whole, and of the New Testament in particular. In spite of all that may be said of sin and depravity, of judgment and the wrath of God, the last word is one not of doom but of salvation. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a Gospel of salvation, of deliverance and redemption. The news that was carried into all the world by the early Church was the Good News of the grace and love of God, revealed and made known in Jesus Christ His Son. In the words of Paul, it is that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself’.

scholarly journals Teologia kapłaństwa i urzędu kapłańskiego w I wieku chrześcijaństwa

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Dariusz Kasprzak
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Good News ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Church

Neither the Apostles nor any Christian minister is admitted to use the priest’s title in the text of the New Testament. Nevertheless, in the New Testament we can perceive the development of the doctrine of the priest ministry in the early Church. Albert Vanhoye maintains that the lack of the term “priest” in the New Testament suggests the way of understanding of the Christian ministry, different from this in the Old Testament. It can’t be considered as a continuation of Jewish priesthood, which was concentrated mainly on ritual action and ceremonies. In the first century the Church developed the Christology of priesthood (Hbr) and ecclesiology of priesthood (1 P). Early Christians focused first on the redemptive event of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice and Jesus as the mediator of a new covenant. Only then the religious communities adopted the priest’s title for their ministry.In the early years of the Church, all the ministries were regarded as a charismatic service among the Christian communities. In their services the early Christians followed Jesus Christ sent by God to serve. The Holy Spirit sent by God in the name of Jesus bestowed the spiritual gifts upon the Church (1 Kor 12–13). Consequently the disciples of Jesus and their successors could continue his mission. The Twelve Apostles’ ministry was the very first and most important Christian ministry. It was closely connected to the service of Jesus Christ himself. The Apostles were sent by the authority of Jesus Christ to continue his mission upon earth and they preached the Good News of the risen Christ. The Apostolicity was the fundamental base for every Church ministry established in different Christian communities. Successive ministries were established in order to transmit the teaching of Jesus Christ and to lead the community. For the early Christians the priesthood was not an individual privilege. It had rather the community character.

The Church of the Reigning Lord

1948 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-73
Author(s):  
R. Stuart Louden
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Pauline Epistles ◽  
History Of ◽  
Four Square ◽  
The Church

We can trace a revival of theology in the Reformed Churches in the last quarter of a century. The new theological interest merits being called a revival of theology, for there has been a fresh and more thorough attention given to certain realities, either ignored or treated with scant notice for a considerable time previously.First among such realities now receiving more of the attention which their relevance and authority deserve, is the Bible, the record of the Word of God. There is an invigorating and convincing quality about theology which is Biblical throughout, being based on the witness of the Scriptures as a whole. The valuable results of careful Biblical scholarship had had an adverse effect on theology in so far as theologians had completely separated the Old Testament from the New in their treatment of Biblical doctrine, or in expanding Christian doctrine, had spoken of the theological teaching of the Synoptic Gospels, the Pauline Epistles, the Johannine writings, and so on, as if there were no such thing as one common New Testament witness. It is being seen anew that the Holy Scriptures contain a complete history of God's saving action. The presence of the complete Bible open at the heart of the Church, recalls each succeeding Christian generation to that one history of God's saving action, to which the Church is the living witness. The New Testament is one, for its Lord is one, and Christian theology must stand four-square on the foundation of its whole teaching.

The Child Who Does Not Know How to Ask

We Walk ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 115-138
Author(s):  
Amy S. F. Lutz
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Disabilities ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Disabled People ◽  
Learning Differences ◽  
Know How ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament

This chapter discusses the parable of the four sons, in which the author relates via the character of the wise son known as the “the child who does not know how to ask.” It talks about the representation of the “simple” child that already represents those with learning differences or intellectual disabilities. It also mentions how disability is seldom addressed in the Old Testament, noting that Moses allegedly suffered from a speech impediment. The chapter describes a token directive not to insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind but is belied by the treatment of the few disabled people mentioned in the Bible. It elaborates how the New Testament, by contrast to the Old Testament, is full of disabled people.

scholarly journals Strack-Billerbeck, Orthodoxy and a Jewish New Testament

1999 ◽  
Vol 55 (2/3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Loader
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament

On the basis of the evidence of publications daing from the eighteenth century, this paper argues that the orthodox doctrine of the verbal inspiration the Bible caused extreme views on the language of the Old Testament which could maybe transferred to the "heathen" language of the New Testament. The resulting void was filled by focussing on the Jewish (read "Hebrew", thought of the New Testament. The work of Chistian Schoettgen, available the author in Vienna, is used in conjunction with the Critica sacra by Johan Gottlob Carpzov to develop the argument for the thesis. Some conclusions ardrawn.

scholarly journals Image (of God) as ethical injunction: A social-scientific perspective

1995 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Van Staden
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
Religious Symbol ◽  
Metaphorical Language ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
The Image Of God

Taking cognizance of the fact that language - especially metaphorical language - can be expressive of deeplying cultural or religious symbol sets in man, the study explores the  possible original content of the syntagma εἰΚὼν ΤΟῦ θεΟῦ in both the Old and the New Testament. It is argued that there is a definite shift in the symbol set of which the concept (metaphor) 'image of God' is expressive. Whilst the Old Testament usage of the term probably attests to the conviction that humankind is part of the genus God and may even resemble him physically, the New Testament substitutes Jesus Christ for man as the primary carrier of the 'image of God'. Humankind in general does not reflect that image any more. It is only to be found in those who through faith in Jesus Christ regain the image of God. Our thesis is that the concept of 'image' is to be regarded as much an ethical injunction as it is an ontological state-ment. The faith of adherents to the community of believers finds expres-sion in distinctive behavior - that is, in conduct that clearly identifies them as reflecting the image of God.

scholarly journals Playing God or Participating in God? What Considerations Might the New Testament Bring to the Ethics of the Biotechnological Future?

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-164
Author(s):  
Grant Macaskill
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Playing God ◽  
The New Testament

The Bible is normative for all Christian theology and ethics, including responsible theological reflection on the biotechnological future. This article considers the representation of creaturehood and what might be labelled ‘deification’ within the biblical material, framing these concepts in terms of participation in providence and redemption. This participatory emphasis allows us to move past the simplistic dismissal of biotechnological progress as ‘playing God’, by highlighting ways in which the development of technology and caregiving are proper creaturely activities, but ones that must be morally aligned to the goodness of God. Framing our approximation of divine character in terms of ‘deification’ highlights its relational and soteriologically defined shape, preventing us from conceiving its attainment in any way that is loosed from the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The discussion allows us to affirm the pursuit of biotechnological research, but to recognize that it is unable by itself to accomplish certain ends, and that it must be pursued in alignment with the standards of goodness by which God loves his world.

The biblical roots of English ‘love’

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-254
Author(s):  
Anna Wierzbicka
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
General Interest ◽  
The Bible ◽  
European Languages ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Rigorous Framework ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Broad Meaning ◽  
English Verb

Abstract Seen from a broad cross-linguistic perspective, the English verb (to) love is quite unusual because it has very broad scope: it can apply to a mother’s love, a husband’s love, a sister’s love, etc. without any restrictions whatsoever; and the same applies to its counterparts in many other European languages. Trying to locate the origins of this phenomenon, I have looked to the Bible. Within the Bible, I have found both continuity and innovation. In the Hebrew Bible, the verb ’āhēb, rendered in the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint with the verb agapao, implies a “preferential love”, e.g. it is used for a favourite wife of a favourite son. In the New Testament, the concept of ‘love’ loses the “preferential” components and thus becomes applicable across the board: between anybody and anybody else. The paper argues that the very broad meaning of verbs like love in English, aimer in French, lieben in German, etc. reflects a shared conceptual heritage of many European languages, with its roots in the New Testament; and it shows that by taking a semantic perspective on these historical developments, and exploring them through the rigorous framework of NSM and Minimal English, we can arrive at clear and verifiable hypotheses about a theme which is of great general interest, regardless of one’s own religious and philosophical views and commitments.

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