Cosmology and New Testament Theology

Cosmology and New Testament Theology
Author: Jonathan T. Pennington
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2008-05-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567357619

For first-century people, cosmology was a fundamental part of their worldview. Whether it was the philosopher contemplating the perfection of the heavenly orbits, the farmer searching the sky for signs of when to plant his crops, or the desert-dwelling sectarian looking for the end of the world, the cosmos held an endless fascination and occupied a prominent place in their understanding of life. For most ancient peoples, cosmology and theology were inseparable. Thus, when the Jewish and Christian Scriptural traditions begin with the bold claim, "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth," these words make statements which are at once cosmogonic, cosmological, and theological. Scholarship has begun only recently to investigate more fully the various cosmological and cosmogonic traditions that were current in the time of the Old and New Testaments. Much of this work, however, has focused on how OT conceptions of the world compared to other Ancient Near Eastern traditions. Much less has been done on the cosmological traditions which stand behind the views of the NT writers. Even fewer works have sought to connect cosmological views with NT theology. In light of the great importance that cosmology had in ancient peoples' worldviews and theological understanding, a thorough investigation of this neglected topic is in order. Cosmology and New Testament Theology systematically examines the NT documents to show how cosmological language and concepts inform, interact with, and contribute to the specific theological emphases of the various NT books. In some NT books, the importance of cosmology can be easily discerned, while in others what is required is a new and close examination of key cosmological terms (e.g., heaven, earth, world, creation) with an eye to the themes and theology of the book.

Cosmology and New Testament Theology

Cosmology and New Testament Theology
Author: Jonathan T. Pennington
Publisher: T&T Clark
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2008-07-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

A study of how cosmological language and concepts interact with the New Testament.

The New Testament and the Future of the Cosmos

The New Testament and the Future of the Cosmos
Author: Ryan P. Juza
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2020-11-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725271494

The New Testament and the Future of the Cosmos is an exploration into the cosmic eschatology of the New Testament. It invites the reader to grapple with two interrelated questions along with the author: (1) What did the writers of the New Testament teach about the fate of the cosmos, and (2) can we synthesize their teachings into a coherent New Testament theology? By offering a close reading of key texts that inform the topic (most notably Matt 24:29–31; Mark 13:24–27; Luke 21:25–28; Rom 8:19–22; Heb 12:25–29; 2 Pet 3:4–13; and Rev 21:1–5), it is argued that one can, with certain qualifications, ascertain a clear and coherent New Testament message pertaining to the future of the cosmos. Along the way, new exegetical ground is broken in several passages by identifying a previously unnoticed theme that runs throughout the New Testament concerning the future of the cosmos: God’s judgment of the heavenly powers of evil as a key component to the cosmic transition. At present, these hostile powers hold the cosmos captive to death, but on the Day of the Lord they will be overthrown, setting the stage for a materially transformed world to emerge from the hand of God.

The Biblical Cosmos

The Biblical Cosmos
Author: Robin A. Parry
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2014-10-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630876224

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the Bible. When we read Scripture we often imagine that the world inhabited by the Bible's characters was much the same as our own. We would be wrong. The biblical world is an ancient world with a flat earth that stands at the center of the cosmos, and with a vast ocean in the sky, chaos dragons, mystical mountains, demonic deserts, an underground zone for the dead, stars that are sentient beings, and, if you travel upwards and through the doors in the solid dome of the sky, God's heaven--the heart of the universe. This book takes readers on a guided tour of the biblical cosmos with the goal of opening up the Bible in its ancient world. It then goes further and seeks to show how this very ancient biblical way of seeing the world is still revelatory and can speak God's word afresh into our own modern worlds.

Scripture and Cosmology

Scripture and Cosmology
Author: Kyle Greenwood
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2015-09-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830898700

Kyle Greenwood introduces readers to ancient Near Eastern cosmology and the ways in which the Bible speaks within that context. He then traces the way the Bible was read through Aristotelian and Copernican cosmologies and discusses how its ancient conceptions should be understood in light of Scripture?s authority and contemporary science.

Worship and the New Cosmology

Worship and the New Cosmology
Author: Catherine Vincie
Publisher: Liturgical Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2014-08-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0814682979

What is the Christian response to developments in the hard sciences? What do discoveries at the macro and micro levels have to say about Christian theology, about a theology of God, Christology, pneumatology, and creation? How do the developments in systematic theology that do take the advances in cosmology and the New Sciences seriously come to bear on our worship life?These are the questions that are addressed in this text. It is an initial effort to bring cosmology and the New Sciences into dialogue with developments in systematic and sacramental theology. This book also suggests some ways in which these developments might appear in our worship. Overall, the author is concerned to reduce the cognitive dissonance between our scientifically informed everyday lives and our life of faith.

God's Two Books

God's Two Books
Author: Kenneth James Howell
Publisher:
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN:

This is an analysis of how 16th- and 17th-century astronomers and theologians in Northern Protestant Europe used science and religion to challenge and support one another. It argues that these schemes can solve the enduring problem of how theological interpretation and investigation interact.

Cosmology and Eschatology in Hebrews

Cosmology and Eschatology in Hebrews
Author: Kenneth L. Schenck
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2007-12-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1139469010

Scholars argue over where Hebrews fit in the first century world. Kenneth L. Schenck works towards resolving this question by approaching Hebrews' cosmology and eschatology from a text-orientated perspective. After observing that the key passages in the background debate mostly relate to the 'settings' of the story of salvation history evoked by Hebrews, Schenck attempts to delineate those settings by asking how the 'rhetorical world' of Hebrews engages that underlying narrative. Hebrews largely argue from an eschatology of two ages, which correspond to two covenants. The fresh age has come despite the continuance of some old age elements. The most characteristic elements of Hebrews' settings, however, are its spatial settings, where we find an underlying metaphysical dualism between the highest heaven, which is the domain of spirit, and the created realm, including the created heavens. This creation will be removed at the eschaton, leaving only the unshakeable heaven.

Silence and Praise

Silence and Praise
Author: Ryan Leif Hansen
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2014
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 1451470118

Argues that cosmology is a central focus in John's Apocalypse, but not in the sense that John envisions a stable cosmos. Rather, John employs cosmological themes for persuasive purposes that include a critique of Roman imperial cultic discourse.

Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation

Old Testament Cosmology and Divine Accommodation
Author: John W. Hilber
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2020-04-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532676212

In order to reconcile the discrepancies between ancient and modern cosmology, confessional scholars from every viewpoint on the interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis agree that God accommodated language to finite human understanding. But in the history of interpretation, no consensus has emerged regarding what accommodation entails at the linguistic level. More precise consideration of how the ancient cognitive environment functions in the informative intention of the divine and human authors is necessary. Not only does relevance theory validate interpretative options that are inherently most probable within the primary communication situation, but the application of relevance theory can also help disentangle the complexities of dual authorship inherent in any model of accommodation. The results also make a salutary contribution to the theological reading of Scripture.