Banished Messiah
Banished Messiah

Author: Robert R. Beck

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1606085565

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By arguing that Matthew's Gospel can be read as a "homecoming story" according to the ancient formula of the "Banished and Returning Prince," Robert Beck offers a fresh and provocative reinterpretation of the Gospel. He exploits this understanding of the narrative to disclose new elements within the plot, to identify a fresh resolution to conflict development within the tale, and to arrive at an unprecedented explanation of the place of violence and nonviolence within Matthew's text. The traditional roles of Usurper, Impostor, and Mentor are examined for insight into what Matthew's narrative achieves as well as, perhaps more importantly, what it excludes in the way of cultural expectations of violent reprisal.

The Nonviolent Messiah
The Nonviolent Messiah

Author: Simon J. Joseph

Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 1451472196

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When scholars have set Jesus against various conceptions of the "messiah" and other reemptive figures in early Jewish expectation, those questions have been bound up with the problem of violence, whether the political violence of a militant messiah or the divine violence carried out by a heavenly or angelic figure. Simon J. Joseph enters the wide-ranging discussion of violence in the Bible, taking up questions of Jesus of Nazareth's relationship to the violence of revolutionary militancy and apocalyptic fantasy alike, and proposes an innovative new approach. Missing from past discussions, Joseph contends, is the unique conception of an Adamic redeemer figure in the Enochic material--a conception that informed the Q tradition and, he argues, Jesus' own self-understanding.

Jesus and His Enemies
Jesus and His Enemies

Author: Beck, Robert R.

Publisher: Orbis Books

Published: 2017-12-14

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 1608337081

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In this distinctive approach to the Gospels, Robert Beck shows how each of the individual evangelists communicates his message about Jesus through the narrative structure of each gospel, specifically, how each gospel deals with conflict between Jesus and his enemies and how this conflict is resolved. He offers an important way to discover how the Bible, and the gospels in particular, treat issues of violence, force, and coercion.

Jesus the Messiah
Jesus the Messiah

Author: Donald Guthrie

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 1982-01-19

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780310254317

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"Jesus the Messiah" is a basic, non-technical introduction to the life of Christ, carefully tracing His life and works as evidence of the truth of His claims and of the firm convictions of the early Christians--an inspirational study of Christ's life. The author prefaces his work by admitting that "Many deny the possibility of writing a life of Jesus, and it must be conceded that no 'life' in the biographical sense can be written. It is impossible to produce a psychological study of Jesus. His developing awareness of messianic mission cannot be traced. This book presents an account of Jesus from the perspective of faith. It sees in His deeds and words evidence of the truth of His claims and of the firm convictions of the early Christians. . . . No one who reflects on His life and mission can fail to be affected by it, and in this sense the present study is in the nature of a personal testimony."

The Things that Make for Peace
The Things that Make for Peace

Author: Jesse P. Nickel

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2021-02-08

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 3110703777

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This study offers fresh insight into the place of (non)violence within Jesus' ministry, by examining it in the context of the eschatologically-motivated revolutionary violence of Second Temple Judaism. The book first explores the connection between violence and eschatology in key literary and historical sources from Second Temple Judaism. The heart of the study then focuses on demonstrating the thematic centrality of Jesus’ opposition to such “eschatological violence” within the Synoptic presentations of his ministry, arguing that a proper understanding of eschatology and violence together enables appreciation of the full significance of Jesus’ consistent disassociation of revolutionary violence from his words and deeds. The book thus articulates an understanding of Jesus’ nonviolence that is firmly rooted in the historical context of Second Temple Judaism, presenting a challenge to the "seditious Jesus hypothesis"—the claim that the historical Jesus was sympathetic to revolutionary ideals. Jesus’ rejection of violence ought to be understood as an integral component of his eschatological vision, embodying and enacting his understanding of (i) how God’s kingdom would come, and (ii) what would identify those who belonged to it.

The Irony of Power
The Irony of Power

Author: Dorothy Jean Weaver

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2017-06-21

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1625648863

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This volume engages the Gospel of Matthew in full awareness of its inherently political character. Weaver situates Matthew's version of the "good news of the kingdom" squarely within the "real world" of first-century Palestine and its occupying power, the Roman Empire. The essays here focus prominently and collectively on the issues of power and violence that not only pervade the historically occupied Jewish community of first-century Palestine, but also are clearly visible throughout Matthew's narrative account. A "lower-level" reading of the Matthean text offers a bleak portrait of the overwhelming power and violence exerted by the Roman occupying authorities and their upper-echelon Jewish collaborators against the wider Jewish community of first-century Palestine. But an "upper-level"/"God's-eye" reading of Matthew's narrative consistently reveals the fundamental irony at the heart of the New Testament as a whole, of the Jesus story broadly conceived, and of Matthew's narrative account in specific. This irony overturns all humanly recognized definitions of "power" and demonstrates the astonishing "politics of God," which defeats evident power through apparent powerlessness and overcomes violence through nonviolent initiatives.

Butterfly
Butterfly

Author: Ashley Antoinette

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Published: 2020-01-07

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1250136377

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Butterfly is the first novel in an all new series by New York Times bestselling author Ashley Antoinette and an instant USA Today bestseller! “Run away from the boy that gives you butterflies, he's going to break your heart.” Morgan Atkins had been told that phrase ever since she was a little girl and still she allowed herself to fall for the boy that made her heart flutter. After losing her first love, Morgan is terrified to love again. She's settled for a comfortable life with a respectable man. She has everything. She's living in the lap of luxury and although she's comfortable, she's bored out of her mind. When a ghost from her past blows into town, she finds herself entangled in an illicit affair. It's wrong, but she can't fight the butterflies he gives her and honestly, she doesn't want to. She can't hide the natural attraction she feels and soon, she's so deep involved that she can no longer tell where the boundary between right and wrong lies. Her heart is telling her one thing, but her head is saying another. Morgan Atkins has always been a spoiled girl and she tries to have it all, but when she's forced to choose between a good man and a bad boy, someone will end up hurt. Someone just may end up dead. Morgan Atkins has been through more tragedy than one girl can bear. Will she weather this storm? Or will the ultimate heartbreak ruin her for good?