Doing Things with Words in the First Christian Century

Doing Things with Words in the First Christian Century
Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2000-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781841271514

Although its religious heritage was that of a variegated Judaism, the tiny early Christian movement was nevertheless much more complexly and richly linked with the Graeco-Roman world in which it came to birth than is usually allowed for. In particular, 'ordinary' people were capable of a sophisticated use of words that can be detected also in the New Testament writings. But the use of words in Graeco-Roman times was often very different from what we suppose, and this collection of studies attempts to identify some of the anachronisms that still pervade even the best of modern scholarship.

Doing Things with Words in the First Christian Century

Doing Things with Words in the First Christian Century
Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2000-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567349802

Although its religious heritage was that of a variegated Judaism, the tiny early Christian movement was nevertheless much more complexly and richly linked with the Graeco-Roman world in which it came to birth than is usually allowed for. In particular, 'ordinary' people were capable of a sophisticated use of words that can be detected also in the New Testament writings. But the use of words in Graeco-Roman times was often very different from what we suppose, and this collection of studies attempts to identify some of the anachronisms that still pervade even the best of modern scholarship.

God's Problem

God's Problem
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2009-10-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0061744409

One Bible, Many Answers In God's Problem, the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus challenges the contradictory biblical explanations for why an all-powerful God allows us to suffer.

Seculosity

Seculosity
Author: David Zahl
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2019-04-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1506449441

At the heart of our current moment lies a universal yearning, writes David Zahl, not to be happy or respected so much as enough--what religions call "righteous." To fill the void left by religion, we look to all sorts of everyday activities--from eating and parenting to dating and voting--for the identity, purpose, and meaning once provided on Sunday morning. In our striving, we are chasing a sense of enoughness. But it remains ever out of reach, and the effort and anxiety are burning us out. Seculosity takes a thoughtful yet entertaining tour of American "performancism" and its cousins, highlighting both their ingenuity and mercilessness, all while challenging the conventional narrative of religious decline. Zahl unmasks the competing pieties around which so much of our lives revolve, and he does so in a way that's at points playful, personal, and incisive. Ultimately he brings us to a fresh appreciation for the grace of God in all its countercultural wonder.

The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship

The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship
Author: George M. Marsden
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2024
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0197751105

First published in 1997, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship is a landmark work that offered a bold call to re-establish Christian perspectives in academia. For this second edition, George M. Marsden has added a new preface as well as an entirely new chapter reflecting on the changing landscape of academia in the quarter century since the book first appeared.

Order and (Dis)order in the First Christian Century

Order and (Dis)order in the First Christian Century
Author: F. Gerald Downing
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2013-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004255818

Articulate first century Mediterranean society, Jewish and Christian included, expressly favoured harmonious order in society, in individuals, in communication, and in thought. Its common basis was the patriarchal family, the rule of law, rational self-control, and rational thought. Yet there was also resistance to oppressive and unjust order in all spheres; and while law could be held educative, yet there were substantial first century critiques of law, not just Paul’s, and awareness that judicial procedures could be chaotic and biassed. Strands of such dissidence appear in Jesus and in Paul, with significant relevance for any understanding of the early Christian movement(s) and contemporary Judaism(s) in Graeco-Roman context, but also with important implications for any practical reflections and application.

Making Sense in (and Of) the First Christian Century

Making Sense in (and Of) the First Christian Century
Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2000-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1841271241

The first Christian century must be approached with careful attention to its cultural and linguistic heterogeneity. It should not simply be assumed that this past 'is a different place, they do things differently there'. Downing treats the ways in which early Christians tried to 'make things make sense' within their cultures, noting both the similarities and differences between their ways and contemporary ones and stressing the variety of contexts and influences on first-century communication. Downing brings his renowned expertise to bear in illuminating the cultural features of early Christian society with a range of fascinating and telling examples.

The Christian Century and the Rise of Mainline Protestantism

The Christian Century and the Rise of Mainline Protestantism
Author: Elesha J. Coffman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2013-05-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199938598

Since the 1972 publication of Dean M. Kelley's Why Conservative Churches Are Growing, discussion of the Protestant mainline has focused on the tradition's decline. Elesha J. Coffman's The Christian Century and the Rise of Mainline Protestantism tells a different story, using the lens of the influential periodical The Christian Century to examine the rise of the mainline to a position of cultural prominence in the first half of the twentieth century.

Being Christian in the Twenty-First Century

Being Christian in the Twenty-First Century
Author: Sam Gould
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 178
Release: 2017-07-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498246184

Being Christian in the Twenty-first Century was written to help struggling and doubting Christians develop an understanding of Christianity that avoids literalism, creeds, and doctrines--all factors which seem to be driving people away from the church. The book is well suited for individual or group study, complete with a study guide and sample lesson plans. It responds to the call for theological reform advocated by many contemporary clergy and religious leaders. Being Christian does not restate orthodox positions or drift into fundamentalism or sentimentalism. Instead it draws from a broad base of historical, theological, archaeological, and sociological scholarship to place Scripture within its original context, yet present it within a perspective suitable for the twenty-first-century mind. Being Christian is scholarly, yet readable, interesting, and often provocative. One reviewer put it this way, "the book reminds me of a baseball pitcher with a long wind up and a hard fastball getting better in every inning." By building upon progressive thought available today and throughout history, it offers an important resource for Christians and would-be Christians seeking a more fulfilling and thoughtful faith journey.

Making Sense in (and of) the First Christian Century

Making Sense in (and of) the First Christian Century
Author: Francis Gerald Downing
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 275
Release: 2000-08-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567376214

The first Christian century must be approached with careful attention to its cultural and linguistic heterogeneity. It should not simply be assumed that this past 'is a different place, they do things differently there'. Downing treats the ways in which early Christians tried to 'make things make sense' within their cultures, noting both the similarities and differences between their ways and contemporary ones and stressing the variety of contexts and influences on first-century communication. Downing brings his renowned expertise to bear in illuminating the cultural features of early Christian society with a range of fascinating and telling examples.