Reading Ephesians and Colossians after Supersessionism

Reading Ephesians and Colossians after Supersessionism
Author: Lionel J. Windsor
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2017-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498219063

The apostolic mission from Israel to “the nations” forms the explicit framework for Ephesians and Colossians. Yet the concrete dynamics of this mission seldom play any significant role in modern interpretation. Scholars frequently approach these letters as if the Jew-gentile dynamics inherent in the early Christ-preaching mission are either irrelevant, or are negated by the letters themselves. This book seeks to redress this deficiency. Windsor approaches Ephesians and Colossians with an evangelical post-supersessionist perspective. By highlighting, rather than downplaying, Israel’s special place in salvation history, Windsor demonstrates that Jew-gentile dynamics and missionary concerns are highly significant for understanding the overall argument of these two letters. The resulting readings offer a deeper appreciation of the biblical, Israel-centered contours in which the theological and ethical concerns of the letters are expressed. Along the way, Windsor demonstrates how certain texts in Ephesians and Colossians, which are often read as evidence of a supersessionist perspective, are capable of more fruitful and satisfactory post-supersessionist interpretations. He demonstrates that in these letters, Christ does not negate Jewish distinctiveness. Rather, Christ’s mission proceeds through Israel to the nations, creating mutual blessing in the Messiah.

Reading Revelation After Supersessionism

Reading Revelation After Supersessionism
Author: Ralph J. Korner
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2020-11-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725274671

In this volume, Ralph Korner argues that John's extensive social identification with Judaism(s), Jewishness, and Jewish institutions does not reflect a literary program of replacing Israel with the ekklēsiai ("churches"/"assemblies"), that is the Jewish and non-Jewish followers of Jesus as Israel's Messiah. Rather, John is emplacing his Christ-followers further within Israel, without thereby superseding Israel as a national identity for ethnic Jews who do not follow Jesus as the Christos. There are three primary roads travelled in this investigative journey. First, Korner explores ways in which a Jewish heritage is intrinsic to the literary structure, genre, eschatology, symbolism, and theological motifs of the Apocalypse. Second, he challenges the linear chronology of (generally) supersessionist dispensational readings of Revelation's visionary content by arguing for a reiterative/repetitive structure based on certain literary devices that also provide structure for visions within Jewish apocalypses and Hebrew prophecies. Third, he incorporates the most recent research on ekklēsia usage, especially in Asia Minor, to assess how John's ekklēsia associations might have been (non-supersessionally) perceived, especially by Jews in Roman Asia.

Reading Romans after Supersessionism

Reading Romans after Supersessionism
Author: J. Brian Tucker
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2018-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498217524

The Letter to the Romans explains the way Paul thought Jewish covenantal identity continued now that the messianic era had begun. More particularly, Paul addresses the relevance of Abraham for Jews and gentiles, the role of Torah, and the way it is contextualized in Christ. All too often, however, these topics are read in supersessionist ways. This book argues that such readings are unpersuasive. It offers instead a post-supersessionist perspective in which Jewish covenantal identity continues in Paul's gospel. Paul is no destroyer of worlds. The aim of this book is to offer a different view of the key interpretive points that lead to supersessionist understandings of Paul's most important letter. It draws on the findings of those aligned with the Paul within Judaism paradigm and accents those findings with a light touch from social identity theory. When combined, these resources help the reader to hear Romans afresh, in a way that allows both Jewish and non-Jewish existing identities continued relevance.

Paul and the Vocation of Israel

Paul and the Vocation of Israel
Author: Lionel J. Windsor
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 318
Release: 2014-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110369834

The Apostle Paul was the greatest early missionary of the Christian gospel. He was also, by his own admission, an Israelite. How can both these realities coexist in one individual? This book argues that Paul viewed his mission to the Gentiles, in and of itself, as the primary expression of his Jewish identity. The concept of Israel’s divine vocation is used to shed fresh light on a number of much-debated passages in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Reading Ephesians and Colossians after Supersessionism

Reading Ephesians and Colossians after Supersessionism
Author: Lionel J. Windsor
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 286
Release: 2017-10-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498219071

The apostolic mission from Israel to "the nations" forms the explicit framework for Ephesians and Colossians. Yet the concrete dynamics of this mission seldom play any significant role in modern interpretation. Scholars frequently approach these letters as if the Jew-gentile dynamics inherent in the early Christ-preaching mission are either irrelevant, or are negated by the letters themselves. This book seeks to redress this deficiency. Windsor approaches Ephesians and Colossians with an evangelical post-supersessionist perspective. By highlighting, rather than downplaying, Israel's special place in salvation history, Windsor demonstrates that Jew-gentile dynamics and missionary concerns are highly significant for understanding the overall argument of these two letters. The resulting readings offer a deeper appreciation of the biblical, Israel-centered contours in which the theological and ethical concerns of the letters are expressed. Along the way, Windsor demonstrates how certain texts in Ephesians and Colossians, which are often read as evidence of a supersessionist perspective, are capable of more fruitful and satisfactory post-supersessionist interpretations. He demonstrates that in these letters, Christ does not negate Jewish distinctiveness. Rather, Christ's mission proceeds through Israel to the nations, creating mutual blessing in the Messiah.

Reading Philippians after Supersessionism

Reading Philippians after Supersessionism
Author: Christopher Zoccali
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2017-10-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1620329581

Paul’s letter to the Philippians has often been read as one of the apostle’s clearest denials of his (previous) Jewish identity in order to preempt the “Judaizing” tactics of false teachers who might infiltrate the congregation. But is this really the problem that Paul is confronting? And did Paul really abandon his identity as a Jew in order to “know Christ”? Furthermore, what should Paul’s gospel converts understand about their own identity "in Christ"? Zoccali provides fresh answers to these questions, offering a more probable alternative to the traditional view that Christianity has replaced Judaism (supersessionism). Tracing Paul’s theology in the light of social theory, Zoccali demonstrates that, for Paul, the ethnic distinction between Jew and gentile necessarily remains unabated, and the Torah continues to have a crucial role within the Christ-community as a whole. Rather than rejecting all things Jewish (or gentile), Paul seeks in this letter to more firmly establish the congregation's identity as members of God’s holy, multiethnic people.

Reading Romans after Supersessionism

Reading Romans after Supersessionism
Author: J. Brian Tucker
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2018-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1498217516

The Letter to the Romans explains the way Paul thought Jewish covenantal identity continued now that the messianic era had begun. More particularly, Paul addresses the relevance of Abraham for Jews and gentiles, the role of Torah, and the way it is contextualized in Christ. All too often, however, these topics are read in supersessionist ways. This book argues that such readings are unpersuasive. It offers instead a post-supersessionist perspective in which Jewish covenantal identity continues in Paul’s gospel. Paul is no destroyer of worlds. The aim of this book is to offer a different view of the key interpretive points that lead to supersessionist understandings of Paul’s most important letter. It draws on the findings of those aligned with the Paul within Judaism paradigm and accents those findings with a light touch from social identity theory. When combined, these resources help the reader to hear Romans afresh, in a way that allows both Jewish and non-Jewish existing identities continued relevance.

According to Plan

According to Plan
Author: Graeme Goldsworthy
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2002-10-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830826963

Concise, pithy chapters with dozens of charts, highlighted summaries and study questions make Graeme Goldsworthy's introductory text enormously useful for understanding how the Bible fits together as the unfolding story of God's plan for salvation.

Christ-Centered Biblical Theology

Christ-Centered Biblical Theology
Author: Graeme Goldsworthy
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2013-02-28
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830864938

2012 Preaching Survey of the Year's Best Books for Preachers The appeal of biblical theology is that it provides a "big picture" that makes sense of the diversity of biblical literature. Through the lens of biblical theology the Bible ceases to be a mass of unconnected texts, but takes shape as a unified metanarrative connecting the story of Israel with that of Jesus. It presents the whole scene of God's revelation as one mighty plan of salvation. For fifty years Graeme Goldsworthy has been refining his understanding of biblical theology through his experiences as a student, pastor and teacher. In this valuable complement to his Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics, Goldsworthy defends and refines the rationale for his approach, drawing especially on the work of Australian biblical scholar Donald Robinson.

Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics

Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics
Author: Graeme Goldsworthy
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 342
Release: 2014-06-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830898360

In this new paperback version, Graeme Goldsworthy examines the foundations and presuppositions of evangelical belief as it applies to the interpretation of the Bible. He then proposes an evangelical hermeneutic rightly centered in the gospel.