Paul's 'Works of the Law' in the Perspective of Second Century Reception

Paul's 'Works of the Law' in the Perspective of Second Century Reception
Author: Matthew J. Thomas
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2018-07-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3161562755

Paul writes that we are justified by faith apart from 'works of the law', a disputed term that represents a fault line between 'old' and 'new' perspectives on Paul. Was the Apostle reacting against the Jews' good works done to earn salvation, or the Mosaic Law's practices that identified the Jewish people? Matthew J. Thomas examines how Paul's second century readers understood these points in conflict, how they relate to 'old' and 'new' perspectives, and what their collective witness suggests about the Apostle's own meaning. Surprisingly, these early witnesses align closely with the 'new' perspective, though their reasoning often differs from both viewpoints. They suggest that Paul opposes these works neither due to moralism, nor primarily for experiential or social reasons, but because the promised new law and covenant, which are transformative and universal in scope, have come in Christ.

Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second-Century Reception

Paul's
Author: Matthew J. Thomas
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-10-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830855262

When Paul wrote that we are justified by faith apart from "works of the law" what did he mean? Matthew J. Thomas examines how Paul's second-century readers understood the conflicting interpretations, how their readings relate to "old" and "new" perspectives, and what their collective witness suggests about the apostle's own meaning.

Christianity in the Second Century

Christianity in the Second Century
Author: James Carleton Paget
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 367
Release: 2017-05-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107165229

Christianity in the Second Century seeks to show how academic study on this critical period of Christian development has undergone change over the last thirty years. It focuses on contributions from early Christian and ancient Jewish studies, and ancient history, all of which have contributed to a changing scholarly landscape.

The Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles
Author: P.D. James
Publisher: Canongate Books
Total Pages: 93
Release: 1999-01-01
Genre: Bibles
ISBN: 0857861077

Acts is the sequel to Luke's gospel and tells the story of Jesus's followers during the 30 years after his death. It describes how the 12 apostles, formerly Jesus's disciples, spread the message of Christianity throughout the Mediterranean against a background of persecution. With an introduction by P.D. James

Josephus, Paul, and the Fate of Early Christianity

Josephus, Paul, and the Fate of Early Christianity
Author: F. B. A. Asiedu
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2019-03-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1978701330

Flavius Josephus, the priest from Jerusalem who was affiliated with the Pharisees, is our most important source for Jewish life in the first century. His notice about the death of James the brother of Jesus suggests that Josephus knew about the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem and in Judaea. In Rome, where he lived for the remainder of his life after the Jewish War, a group of Christians appear to have flourished, if 1 Clement is any indication. Josephus, however, says extremely little about the Christians in Judaea and nothing about those in Rome. He also does not reference Paul the apostle, a former Pharisee, who was a contemporary of Josephus’s father in Jerusalem, even though, according to Acts, Paul and his activities were known to two successive Roman governors (procurators) of Judaea, Marcus Antonius Felix and Porcius Festus, and to King Herod Agrippa II and his sisters Berenice and Drusilla. The knowledge of the Herodians, in particular, puts Josephus’s silence about Paul in an interesting light, suggesting that it may have been deliberate. In addition, Josephus’s writings bear very little witness to other contemporaries in Rome, so much so that if we were dependent on Josephus alone we might conclude that many of those historical characters either did not exist or had little or no impact in the first century. Asiedu comments on the state of life in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Domitian and how both Josephus and the Christians who produced 1 Clement coped with the regime as other contemporaries, among whom he considers Martial, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and others, did. He argues that most of Josephus’s contemporaries practiced different kinds of silences in bearing witness to the world around them. Consequently, the absence of references to Jews or Christians in Roman writers of the last three decades of the first century, including Josephus, should not be taken as proof of their non-existence in Flavian Rome.

Theatrical Theology

Theatrical Theology
Author: Wesley Vander Lugt
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2014-07-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1630873985

Theology is inherently theatrical, rooted in God's performance on the world stage and oriented toward faith seeking performative understanding in the theatre of everyday life. Following Hans Urs von Balthasar's magisterial, five-volume Theo-Drama, a growing number of theologians and pastors have been engaging more widely with theatre and drama, producing what has been recognized as a "theatrical turn" in theology. This volume includes thirteen essays from theologians and pastors who have contributed in distinct ways to this theatrical turn and who desire to deepen interdisciplinary dialogue between theology and theatre. The result is an unprecedented collection of essays that embodies and advances theatrical theology for the purpose of enriching theological reflection and edifying the church.

Paul

Paul
Author:
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Total Pages: 292
Release:
Genre:
ISBN: 1615923675

Christianity at the Crossroads

Christianity at the Crossroads
Author: Michael J. Kruger
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2018-03-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830887512

Christianity in the twenty-first century is a global phenomenon. But in the second century, its future was not at all certain. Michael Kruger's introductory survey examines how Christianity took root in the second century, how it battled to stay true to the vision of the apostles, and how it developed in ways that would shape both the church and Western culture over the next two thousand years.

After the Apostles

After the Apostles
Author: Walter H. Wagner
Publisher: Fortress Press
Total Pages: 312
Release:
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781451419863

Through deft use of available data and texts, Wagner brings the enigmatic second century to life. Selecting five fateful challenges--issues of Creation, human nature, Jesus' identities, roles of the church, and Christians in society--he shows what was at stake for emerging Christianity and how its five key players responded. Map; glossary; bibliography.