The Historical Jesus and the Literary Imagination, 1860-1920

The Historical Jesus and the Literary Imagination, 1860-1920

Author: Jennifer Stevens

Publisher: Liverpool University Press

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1846314704

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A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via the OAPEN Library platform (www. oapen. org). Fictional reconstructions of the Gospels continue to find a place in contemporary literature and in the popular imagination. Present day writers of New Testament fiction and drama are usually considered as part of a tradition formed by mid-to-late-twentieth-century authors such as Robert Graves, Nikos Kazantzakis and Anthony Burgess. This book looks back further to the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, when the templates of the majority of today's Gospel fictions and dramas were set down. In doing so, it examines the extent to which significant works of biblical scholarship both influenced and inspired literary works. Focusing on writers such as Oscar Wilde, George Moore and Marie Corelli, this timely new addition to the English Association Monographs series will be essential reading for scholars working at the intersection of literature and theology.


Jesus and the Rise of Nationalism

Jesus and the Rise of Nationalism

Author: Halvor Moxnes

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2011-10-30

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 0857720821

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The great German theologian Albert Schweitzer famously drew a line under nineteenth-century historical Jesus research by showing that at the bottom of the well lay not the face of Joseph's son, but rather the features of all the New Testament scholars who had tried to reveal his elusive essence. In his thoughtful and provocative new book, Halvor Moxnes takes Schweitzer's observation much further: the doomed 'quest for the historical Jesus' was determined not only by the different personalities of the seekers who undertook it, but also by the social, cultural and political agendas of the countries from which their presentations emerged. Thus, Friedrich Schleiermacher's Jesus was a teacher, corresponding with the role German teachers played in Germany's movement for democratic socialism. Ernst Renan's Jesus was by contrast an attempt to represent the 'positive Orient' as a precursor to the civilized self of his own French society. Scottish theologian G A Smith demonstrated in his manly portrayal of Jesus a distinctively British liberalism and Victorian moralism. Moxnes argues that one cannot understand any 'life of Jesus' apart from nationalism and national identity: and that what is needed in modern biblical studies is an awareness of all the presuppositions that underlie presentations of Jesus, whether in terms of power, gender, sex and class. Only then, he says, can we start to look at Jesus in a way that does him justice.


Oxford History of Modern German Theology

Oxford History of Modern German Theology

Author: Barrett

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-05-06

Total Pages: 830

ISBN-13: 0198845766

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From the closing decades of the eighteenth century, German theology has been a major intellectual force within modern western thought, closely connected to important developments in idealism, romanticism, historicism, phenomenology, and hermeneutics. Despite its influential legacy, however, no recent attempts have sought to offer an overview of its history and development. Oxford History of Modern German Theology, Vol. I: 1781-1848, the first of a three-volume series, provides the most comprehensive multi-authored overview of German theology from the period from 1781-1848. Kaplan and Vander Schel cover categories frequently omitted from earlier overviews of the time period, such as the place of Judaism in modern German society, race and religion, and the impact of social history in shaping theological debate. Rather than focusing on individual figures alone, Oxford History of Modern German Theology, Vol. I: 1781-1848 describes the narrative arc of the period by focusing on broader intellectual and cultural movements, ongoing debates, and significant events. It furthermore provides a historical introduction to each of the chronological subsections that divides the book. Moreover, unlike previous efforts to introduce this time period and geographical region, the volume offers chapters covering such previously neglected topics as religious orders, the influence of Romantic art, secularism, religious freedom, and important but overlooked scholarly initiatives such as the Corpus Reformatorum. Attention to such matters will make this volume an invaluable repository of scholarship and knowledge and an indispensable reference resource for decades to come.


BASICS OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM

BASICS OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM

Author: F. David Farnell

Publisher: Christian Publishing House

Published: 2016-05-07

Total Pages: 526

ISBN-13: 0692319859

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Biblical criticism is an umbrella term covering various techniques for applying literary historical-critical methods in analyzing and studying the Bible and its textual content. Biblical criticism is also known as higher criticism, literary criticism, and historical criticism. Biblical criticism has done nothing more than weaken and demoralize people's assurance in the Bible as being the inspired and fully inerrant Word of God and is destructive in its very nature. Historical criticism is made up of many forms of biblical criticism that are harmful to the authoritative Word of God: historical criticism, source criticism, form criticism, redaction criticism, social-science criticism, canonical criticism, rhetorical criticism, structural criticism, narrative criticism, reader-response criticism, feminist criticism, and socioeconomic criticism. Not just liberal scholarship, but many moderate, even some "conservative" scholars have adopted historical criticism at some level. The authors herein show how adopting any level of biblical criticism by pastors, biblical teachers, students and scholars, will only diminish the trustworthiness of God's Word, e.g., inerrancy. Biblical criticism is extremely flawed, and its attack on the Bible has failed to demonstrate that the Bible is not the Word of God. On this Dr. Robert L. Thomas writes, Someone needs to sound the alarm when evangelical leaders mislead the body of Christ. A mass evangelical exodus from this time-honored principle of interpreting Scripture is jeopardizing the church's access to the truths taught therein. Whether interpreters have forsaken the principle intentionally or have subconsciously ignored it, the damage is the same.—Robert L. Thomas. Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old (p. 160).