The Proclamation of Jesus seeks to place Jesus in the context of first-century Palestinian Judaism. The authors hope to discern the essence of his preaching, his concept of the kingdom of God, and the place of purity in his teaching and activities. Better methods for assessing not simply the authenticity of reported sayings and deeds, but for tracing the development of tradition are considered. The authors are convinced that most of the Synoptic tradition is authentic, but that much of it has been reinterpreted and recontextualized. Herein lies the real challenge for those investigating the historical Jesus. The Proclamation of Jesus opens up new avenues of study and makes new proposals for understanding Jesus in the context of his place and time.
More than ever, Walter Wink believes, the Christian tradition of nonviolence is needed as an alternative to the dominant and death-dealing "powers" of our consumerist culture and fractured world. In this small book Wink offers a precis of his whole thinking about this issue, including the relation of Jesus and his message to politics and nonviolence, the history of nonviolent efforts, and how nonviolence can win the day when others don't hesitate to resort to violence or terror to achieve their aims.
Christian nonviolence is not a settled position but a vibrant and living tradition. This book offers a concise introduction to diverse approaches to, proponents of, and resources for this tradition. It explores the myriad biblical, theological, and practical dimensions of Christian nonviolence as represented by a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first-century thinkers and movements, including previously underrepresented voices. The authors invite readers to explore this tradition and discover how they might live out the gospel in our modern world.
The acclaimed Bible scholar and author of The Historical Jesus and God & Empire—“the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation” (John Shelby Spong) —grapples with Scripture’s two conflicting visions of Jesus and God, one of a loving God, and one of a vengeful God, and explains how Christians can better understand these passages in a way that enriches their faith. Many portions of the New Testament, introduce a compassionate Jesus who turns the other cheek, loves his enemies, and shows grace to all. But the Jesus we find in Revelation and some portions of the Gospels leads an army of angels bent on earthly destruction. Which is the true revelation of the Messiah—and how can both be in the same Bible? How to Read the Bible and Still be a Christian explores this question and offers guidance for the faithful conflicted over which version of the Lord to worship. John Dominic Crossan reconciles these contrasting views, revealing how different writers of the books of the Bible not only possessed different visions of God but also different purposes for writing. Often these books are explicitly competing against another, opposing vision of God from the Bible itself. Crossan explains how to navigate this debate and offers what he believes is the best central thread to what the Bible is all about. He challenges Christians to fully participate in this dialogue, thereby shaping their faith by reading deeply, reflectively, and in community with others who share their uncertainty. Only then, he advises, will Christians be able to read and understand the Bible without losing their faith.
The figure of Jesus has fascinated Western civilization for centuries. As the year 2000 approaches, eliciting connections with Jesus’ birth and return, excitement grows — as does the number of studies about Jesus. Cutting through this mass of material, Whose Historical Jesus? provides a collection of penetrating, jargon-free, intelligently organized essays that convey well both the centrality and the complexity of deciphering the historical Jesus. Contributors include such eminent scholars as John Dominic Crossan, Burton L. Mack, Seán Freyne and Peter Richardson. Essays range from traditional to modern and postmodern and address both recent and enduring concerns. Introductions and reflections augment these lucid essays, provide context and help the reader focus on the issues at stake. Whose Historical Jesus? will be of interest to all who wish to understand the current controversies and historical debates, who want insightful critiques of those views or who would like guidance on the direction of future studies.
How can Jesus said to be "missing"? References to Jesus are not missing, but rather a dimension of his identity. This text demonstrates that in order for us to understand Jesus and his influence, we need to see him within the context of the Judaism that was his own natural environment.
Which milieu did the earliest rural Jesus movement emerge from? Sarah E. Rollens provides a sociological study of the earliest Christians in rural Palestine based on evidence in the Sayings Gospels Q. She compares this Jesus movement to other movements of social reform in similar socio-cultural contexts.
First Published in 2015. Daily newspaper headlines, talk radio and cable television broadcasts, and Internet news web sites continuously highlight the relationship between religion and violence. These media contain stories about such diverse incidents as suicide attacks by Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, and elsewhere, and assassinations of doctors who perform abortions by white American Christian true believers in the United States. How does one make sense of the role of religion in violence, and of perpetrators of violence who cite religion as a motivation? This encyclopedia includes a wide range of entries: biographies of key figures, historical events, religious groups, countries and regions where religion and violence have intersected, and practices, rituals, and processes of religious violence.
