The Interpretation of the Old Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism

The Interpretation of the Old Testament in Greco-Roman Paganism
Author: John Granger Cook
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2004
Genre: Bible
ISBN: 9783161484742

According to the available evidence not many pagans knew the Greek Bible (Septuagint) before the advent of Christianity. Those pagans who later became aware of Christian texts were among the first, according to the surviving data, to seriously explore the Septuagint. They found the Bible to be difficult reading. The pagans who reacted to biblical texts include Celsus (II C.E.), Porphyry (III C.E.), and Julian the Apostate (IV C.E.). These authors thought that if they could refute one of the primary foundations of Christianity, namely its use or interpretation of the Septuagint, then the new religion would perhaps crumble. John Granger Cook analyzes these pagans' voice and elaborates on its importance, since it shows how Septuagint texts appeared in the eyes of Greco-Roman intellectuals. Theirs was not an abstract interest, however, because they knew that Christianity posed a grave danger to some of their dearest beliefs, self-understanding, and way of life.

Among the Gentiles

Among the Gentiles
Author: Luke Timothy Johnson
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2009-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0300156499

Presenting a fresh inquiry into early Christianity and Greco-Roman paganism, Luke Timothy Johnson begins with a broad definition of religion as a way of life organized around convictions and experiences concerning ultimate power.

Body of Proof

Body of Proof
Author: Jeremiah J. Johnston
Publisher: Baker Books
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2023-03-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1493440721

He is risen indeed! Here are the best reasons why it's true! Culture is doing its best to convince the world there is nothing special about Jesus. And many Christians never get beyond a Sunday school understanding of their own faith. As a result, Christianity's most important historical fact--the resurrection--is often the most misunderstood, relegated to Easter and funeral services, creating a powerless Christianity. In Body of Proof, acclaimed apologist and scholar Dr. Jeremiah Johnston sets out to show why Jesus' victory over death is central to a believer's faith. Straightforward, accessible, and practical, this book examines the latest archaeological and textual findings and presents seven tangible, fresh reasons to believe Jesus really rose from the dead--and why it matters today as the foundation of our hope in the face of suffering and grief. When you fully understand the implications of the resurrection, you will begin to understand the power of Christ in you. This changes everything. "A creative masterpiece of persuasive evidence for the pivotal event of human history."--LEE STROBEL, New York Times bestselling author and founding director of the Lee Strobel Center at Colorado Christian University "Body of Proof is a book every pastor should teach and every believer should read."--DR. JACK GRAHAM, senior pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church

I Judge No One

I Judge No One
Author: David Lloyd Dusenbury
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019769618X

Why was Jesus, who said "I judge no one," put to death for a political crime? Of course, this is a historical question--but it is not only historical. Jesus's life became a philosophical theme in the first centuries of our era, when "pagan" and Christian philosophers clashed over the meaning of his sayings and the significance of his death. Modern philosophers, too, such as Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche, have tried to retrace the arc of Jesus's life and death. I Judge No One is a philosophical reading of the four memoirs, or "gospels," that were fashioned by early Christ-believers and collected in the New Testament. It offers original ways of seeing a deeply enigmatic figure who calls himself the Son of Man. David Lloyd Dusenbury suggests that Jesus offered his contemporaries a scandalous double claim. First, that human judgements are pervasive and deceptive; and second, that even divine laws can only be fulfilled in the human experience of love. Though his life led inexorably to a grim political death, what Jesus's sayings revealed--and still reveal--is that our highest desires lie beyond the political.

Language for God in Patristic Tradition

Language for God in Patristic Tradition
Author: Mark Sheridan
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2014-12-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830897003

Mark Sheridan, an expert in early Christianity, explores how ancient Christian theologians interpreted Scripture in order to address the problem of attributing human characteristics and emotions to God.

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them

The Christians as the Romans Saw Them
Author: Robert Louis Wilken
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2003-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780300098396

This book offers an engrossing portrayal of the early years of the Christian movement from the perspective of the Romans.

The Catena in Marcum

The Catena in Marcum
Author: William Lamb
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2012-04-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004224319

Providing the first extended English translation of the earliest anthology of patristic commentary on Mark’s gospel, this book provides a careful analysis of the development of this text and assesses its significance for the history of the interpretation of Mark’s gospel.

Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets

Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets
Author: Gregory R. Lanier
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Total Pages: 726
Release: 2024-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1430097817

The first comprehensive analysis of non-canonical influences—Jewish, non-Jewish, and early Christian—on the formation of the New Testament writings. In Apocryphal Prophets and Athenian Poets: Noncanonical Influences on the New Testament, Gregory R. Lanier presents in one volume an overarching compendium and analysis of over five hundred relevant instances of non-Old-Testament influence on the New Testament across three categories—Jewish, non-Jewish (mostly Greco-Roman), and early Christian (pre-canonical). The abundance of non-canonical influences on the New Testament testifies to the breadth of apostolic cultural engagement and the scope and pace of information exchange in the early Christian circles. This comprehensive work will allow scholars and students to give closer attention to the sheer complexity of the crisscrossing lines of direct and indirect influences on the New Testament Scriptures.