scholarly journals The Evolution of the Pauline Canon

1997 ◽  
Vol 53 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Price
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters

The article aims at reviewing theories of how the Pauline Corpus first came to be. A taxonomy consisting of four families of theories is established: Paul himself collected his writings; after his death Paul lived forth in the form of a collection of his writings; an intercourse between one Pauline center and another gradually led to the exchange of copies of letters; the collection of Paul's letters gave him pothumously a centrality which he lacked in his own time until about 90 C E. The article concludes with the disputed question whether all of Paul's writings in the New Testament descend or diverge from a particular, definitive edition of the Pauline Corpus.

Jeremiah and His Prophecies in the New Testament

2021 ◽  
pp. 519-538
Author(s):  
Catrin H. Williams
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Gospel Of Matthew ◽  
Book Of Revelation ◽  
New Covenant ◽  
Epistle To The Hebrews ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters

This chapter examines the various modes of reference to Jeremiah in the writings of the New Testament. It begins with an investigation of the three explicit references to the prophet Jeremiah in the Gospel of Matthew before expanding the discussion to examine various allusions to the content of Jeremiah’s prophecies in the four canonical gospels. The study will then consider the contribution of Jeremiah to Paul’s understanding of his apostolic ministry and also focus on the influence of the Jeremianic concept of “new covenant” on the understanding of the salvific significance of Christ both in Paul’s letters and in the epistle to the Hebrews. It concludes with an exploration of the various ways in which Jeremiah’s prophecies are employed in the book of Revelation, including the oracles of judgment against Babylon.

Thessalonians

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Ascough
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sexual Morality ◽  
Problematic Behavior ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
The City ◽  
Community Relationships

The two letters written to the Christian group at the city of Thessalonica occupy the thirteenth and fourteenth places in the canon of the New Testament; they are eighth and ninth in the sequence of Paul’s letters. There is little doubt that Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians, and many scholars consider it to be one of his earliest letters. In contrast, the authenticity of 2 Thessalonians is much contested, with scholars split between ascribing it to Paul and ascribing it to a later writer using Paul’s name. On the other hand, the textual integrity of 2 Thessalonians is secure, while 1 Thessalonians is argued by some to be a combination of two or more letters, or at the very least, they suggest, it contains a nonauthentic interpolation at 2:13–16. The primary aim of 1 Thessalonians is to encourage Jesus’ believers to continue to progress in their faith, and Paul addresses some practical concerns to that effect: sexual morality, community relationships, and Jesus’ return. In 2 Thessalonians the emphasis lies on addressing fear and anxiety over the return of Jesus and some problematic behavior within the group.

Procreation, Children, and Family

2019 ◽  
pp. 538-556
Author(s):  
Robert H. von Thaden
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Pastoral Epistles ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters

This chapter situates the rhetoric surrounding procreation, children, and family within the New Testament in its ancient context. Eschewing claims of uniqueness, it describes recent research into ancient understandings of family and children centered in the oikos, or household. It examines this rhetoric found in the Synoptic Gospels, Paul’s letters, and the Pastoral Epistles and the different ways that the communities that produced these texts participate in and reconfigure norms and expectations from surrounding Hellenistic, Roman, and Jewish cultures. It notes the tension, also found in non-Christian ancient cultures, between positive portrayals of family and children (as in the Household Codes) and negative evaluations of the same (in texts expressing an apocalyptic eschatological hope). It concludes by noting that early Christ-believing communities did not radically alter the situation of children in antiquity, even as they did create theological rationales for avoiding practices such as exposure and infanticide.

In Quest of the Third Heaven: Paul & his Apocalyptic Imitators

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-55
Author(s):  
J.R. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Third ◽  
Authority Figure ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Social Agendas

AbstractIt is an irony of history that by late antiquity Paul had become the authority figure he never was during his lifetime. However, by the subapostolic and patristic periods Paul's apostolic authority was no longer considered quite so controversial. From 200 AD onwards Paul's letters were regularly cited alongside the Gospels and the Old Testament as 'Scripture'. It is therefore no surprise that the premier apocalyptic theologian of the New Testament would spawn several apocalyptic imitators. Two 'Apocalypses of Paul' have come down to us from antiquity, one gnostic, the other Christian. After discussing each work, the article asks to what extent the historical Paul would have agreed with these later works written in his name. The article will demonstrate how differing ecclesiastical traditions appropriated Paul for their own theological and social agendas instead of allowing the apostle to the Gentiles to speak to his first-century context

Semantic Voids, New Testament Translation, and Anachronism

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 315-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Eyl
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
New Testament ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Christian Churches ◽  
God's People ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Pauline Studies ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Consistent Problem

This essay addresses the problem of theologically-inflected English translation choices of the New Testament, and how those translations come to bear in theologically disinterested scholarship on Christian beginnings. As a case study I examine the ubiquitous rendering ofekklesiaas “church” in Paul’s letters. I argue that Paul was not referring to Christian churches, but to the “day of theekklesia” in the Septuagint, when God’s people gathered at Sinai/Horeb. Paul is not making Christians out of pagans; he is making quasi-Judeans out of gentiles. Renderingekklesiaas “church” inscribes Christian essentialism into Paul’s letters, and masks what Paul is actually doing with this word. The bridging of Greek-to-English semantic voids on the part of translators and New Testament scholars is a consistent problem that frustrates advancements in Pauline studies, and in studies of the religions of the Roman Empire more generally.

scholarly journals Jesus - Kind van God, Vaderloos in Galilea

2001 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.G. Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Biological Father ◽  
Gospel Of Thomas ◽  
The Public ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
John's Gospel ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Literary Model

This article consists of four sections. Firstly, it reflects on the public debate regarding Jesus' alleged illegitimacy. The article argues that illegitimacy here refers to fatherlessness. Secondly, Joseph is focused on. According to New Testament writings of the latter part of the first century, Joseph is either Jesus' biological father (John's gospel) or the person who adopted him as son (the gospels of Matthew and Luke). Thirdly, Joseph as a legendary literary model is discussed (in the Old Testament, intertestamentary literature, the New Testament, writings of the Church Fathers and the dogtrines of the Orthodox Church). Fourthly, the articles sketches a picture of a fatherless Jesus based on evidence from the earliest intracanonical writings (the Sayings Gospel Q, traditions in the Gospel of Thomas, Paul's letters and the Gospel of Mark). Joseph does not appear in these writings. The article concludes with a reflection on the relevance of fatherlessness for today.

The Construction of Gender in the New Testament

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Conway
Keyword(s):  
Queer Theory ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Gender Construction ◽  
Gender Theory ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Classical Studies ◽  
Analytical Work ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Primary Focus

This chapter begins with a brief overview of the theorists who have shaped gender analytical work on the New Testament, especially the application of gender theory in classical studies. It then concentrates on gender analyses on New Testament writings that demonstrate the differing approaches of masculinity studies, queer theory, and intersectional analysis. The primary focus is on gender construction in Paul’s letters and the canonical gospels, with additional discussion of symbolic and metaphorical uses of gender in other writings of the New Testament. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of future directions for gender criticism.

Atonement

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Finlan
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Lord's Supper ◽  
1 Corinthians ◽  
Apostle Paul ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
The Temple ◽  
First John

Theological usage of the term “atonement” refers to a cluster of ideas in the Old Testament that center on the cleansing of impurity (which needs to be done to prevent God from leaving the Temple), and to New Testament notions that “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3) and that “we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). In English translations of the Old Testament, “make atonement” usually translates kipper, the verb for the cultic removal of impurity from the Temple or sanctuary, accomplished through the dashing or sprinkling of the blood of the “purification offering” or “sin offering” on particular Temple furnishings. Kipper occurs most often, but not exclusively, in sacrificial texts. Kipper is also performed over the scapegoat in one passage (Leviticus 16:10). Thus, scholarly discussions of atonement in the Old Testament focus on the sacrificial and scapegoat rituals but also attend to the procedure for making a redemption payment, for which the word kopher (cognate with kipper) is used. The most important day in the ancient Jewish liturgical calendar was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, when the supreme sacrificial rituals of the year were performed, and the only day of the year on which the scapegoat rite was performed. Atonement in the New Testament is expressed through metaphors of sacrifice, scapegoat, and redemption to picture the meaning of the death of Christ. The Apostle Paul is the main fountainhead of these soteriological metaphors, but they occur in the other epistles and in Revelation. Atonement imagery is much less common in the Gospels, possibly appearing in the Lord’s Supper and the ransom saying (Mark 10:45). Most (but not all) scholars would agree that atonement in the Old Testament concerns cleansing the Temple (the Deity’s home), not soteriology. In the New Testament, however, atonement is central to the soteriological metaphors in Paul’s letters, the deutero-Pauline letters, Hebrews, First Peter, First John, and Revelation.

scholarly journals Towards constructing Paul’s economic vision on work

2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Punt
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
First Century ◽  
Initial Attempt ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters ◽  
Economic Perspectives ◽  
Considerable Concern

It is often assumed that Paul, even more than the rest of the New Testament, is concerned with ethereal matters and are therefore inconsequential in contributing to a proper awareness of an economy ethics and the moulding of a corresponding ethos. As much as the Pauline letters cannot be presented as a textbook for economic theory and practice, ancient or modern, it is nevertheless argued that Paul showed considerable concern for the socio-economical situation of the communities he addressed. In this article an initial attempt is made to reread Paul’s letters with a view towards identifying and formulating that which emerges as his “economic vision”. Taking the socio-historical context of the first century CE into consideration and setting it against the broader discussion on Pauline economic perspectives, the emphasis here is on some Pauline comments on work.

scholarly journals Nærmere Gud

2011 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Kasper Bro Larsen
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Structure ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Gospel Of John ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Paul's Letters

This article examines a basic spatial structure in the religion of the New Testament: Salvation is nearness to God. This theology of nearness breaks with the theology of distance that dominates the Hebrew Bible, and it lies behind the different temporal and eschatological ideas of salvation in the New Testament. Four bodies of texts are taken to demonstrate this: Paul’s letters in terms of spatial participatory language, Ephesians as regards its two-dimensional reconciliation theology, Hebrews with its priestly theology of access to the Holy of Holies, and the Gospel of John regarding its notion of Christ’s permanent indwelling in believers. In all four bodies of text, nearness to God is the main object to be obtained; eschatology, however, is about how and when to acquire it.

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