The author discusses Paul's reading of his scriptures by exploring his intertextual echoes and allusions to exodus themes and motifs in Israel's scriptures and the literature of Second-Temple Judaism. This exploration reveals that Paul evoked the exodus narrative in a way that is both faithful to the tradition and innovative for his new situation in Christ. Paul affirms and transforms the tradition in ways that speak to the tensions present in both Galatians and Romans.
It is commonplace that postmodern thought has problematized the concept of the self. This poses a particularly sharp problem for Christian theologians, for whom the idea of the person as a Christian self must be central. In this book John Meech addresses this problem by means of a theological hermeneutics that brings together cutting edge scholarship in biblical interpretation and constructive theology. The book comprises three major parts. In the first, Meech reflects on St. Paul's construal of Christian identity in light of what has become known as the "new paradigm" in Pauline studies. This movement, identified with N.T. Wright, James Dunn, and Terence Donaldson, stresses the communal aspects of Paul's thought and his narrative understanding of the self. In the second part, Meech offers a pivotal analysis of Rudolf Bultmann's phenomenology of the self and its impact on his demythologizing interpretation of Paul's writings. In the third part, Meech engages Paul Ricoeur's late work, Oneself as Another, as a guide to the postmodern problem of selfhood and as a heuristic resource for interpreting Paul's writings. He does not restrict himself to a textual treatment of Ricoeur's work on selfhood and narrative, nor does he stop at an abstract reflection on its significance for theology. Instead he explores in considerable detail the contributions and implications of Ricoeur's later writings for biblical hermeneutics and theology. Investigating the unthematized hints about community presupposed in Ricoeur's work, Meech reconfigures his ontology of the self as an ontology of the self in community. Finally, he correlates Paul's communal understanding of the "I" with this ontology, articulating a self that is constituted in community but not reduced to a mere locus of community. He argues that the community posited in his study can be understood as the community of the living and dead in Christ.
The Apostle Paul was the greatest early missionary of the Christian gospel. He was also, by his own admission, an Israelite. How can both these realities coexist in one individual? This book argues that Paul viewed his mission to the Gentiles, in and of itself, as the primary expression of his Jewish identity. The concept of Israel’s divine vocation is used to shed fresh light on a number of much-debated passages in Paul’s letter to the Romans.
What is an 'echo' of Scripture? How can we detect echoes of the Old Testament in Paul, and how does their detection facilitate interpretation of the Pauline text? These are questions addressed by this collection of essays from the SBL programme unit Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity. The first part of the book reports its vigorous 1990 discussion of Richard Hays's 'Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul', including contributions by Craig Evans, James Sanders, William Scott Green and Christiaan Beker, as well as a response by R.B. Hays. The second part of the book studies specific passages where reference is made to the Old Testament explicitly or allusively. The contributors here are James Sanders, Linda Belleville, Carol Stockhausen, James Scott, Nancy Calvert and Stephen Brown.
An exegetical study of the call of Moses, the second giving of the Law, the new covenant, Paul's self-understanding as an apostle, and the prophetic understanding of the history of Israel. Hafemann's work demonstrates Paul's contextual use of the Old Testament and the essential unity of the old and new covenants in view of the distinctive ministries of Moses and Paul.
It is commonplace that postmodern thought has problematized the concept of the self. This poses a particularly sharp problem for Christian theologians, for whom the idea of the person as a Christian self must be central. In this book John Meech addresses this problem by means of a theological hermeneutics that brings together cutting edge scholarship in biblical interpretation and constructive theology. The book comprises three major parts. In the first, Meech reflects on St. Paul's construal of Christian identity in light of what has become known as the "new paradigm" in Pauline studies. This movement, identified with N.T. Wright, James Dunn, and Terence Donaldson, stresses the communal aspects of Paul's thought and his narrative understanding of the self. In the second part, Meech offers a pivotal analysis of Rudolf Bultmann's phenomenology of the self and its impact on his demythologizing interpretation of Paul's writings. In the third part, Meech engages Paul Ricoeur's late work, Oneself as Another, as a guide to the postmodern problem of selfhood and as a heuristic resource for interpreting Paul's writings. He does not restrict himself to a textual treatment of Ricoeur's work on selfhood and narrative, nor does he stop at an abstract reflection on its significance for theology. Instead he explores in considerable detail the contributions and implications of Ricoeur's later writings for biblical hermeneutics and theology. Investigating the unthematized hints about community presupposed in Ricoeur's work, Meech reconfigures his ontology of the self as an ontology of the self in community. Finally, he correlates Paul's communal understanding of the "I" with this ontology, articulating a self that is constituted in community but not reduced to a mere locus of community. He argues that the community posited in his study can be understood as the community of the living and dead in Christ.
Much recent scholarship on Paul has searched for implicit narratives behind Paul’s scriptural allusions, especially in the wake of Richard B. Hays’s groundbreaking work on the apostle’s appropriation of Scripture. A. Andrew Das reviews six proposals for “grand thematic narratives” behind the logic of Galatians—potentially, six explanations for the fabric of Paul’s theology: the covenant (N. T. Wright); the influx of nations to Zion (Terence Donaldson); Isaac’s near sacrifice (Scott Hahn, Alan Segal); the Spirit as cloud in the wilderness (William Wilder); the Exodus (James Scott, Sylvia Keesmaat); and the imperial cult (Bruce Winter et al.). Das weighs each of these proposals exegetically and finds them wanting—more examples of what Samuel Sandmel famously labeled “parallelomania” than of sound exegetical method. He turns at last to reflect on the risks of (admittedly alluring) totalizing methods and lifts up a seventh proposal with greater claim to evidence in the text of Galatians: Paul’s allusions to Isaiah’s servant passages.
How can we make sense of violence in the Bible? Joshua commands the people of Israel to wipe out everyone in the promised land of Canaan, while Jesus commands God’s people to love their enemies. How are we to interpret biblical passages on violence when it is sanctioned at one point and condemned at another? The Violence of the Biblical God by L. Daniel Hawk presents a new framework, solidly rooted in the authority of Scripture, for understanding the paradox of God’s participation in violence. Hawk shows how the historical narrative of the Bible offers multiple canonical pictures for faithful Christian engagement with the violent systems of the world.
A 'big' book with a bold new idea: Paul's gospel with its inclusion of the Gentiles directly relates to the salvation of Israel promised in the Hebrew Bible. Providing a better understanding of the 'parting of the ways' between Christianity and Judaism, the book boldly transforms understandings of Christian origins.
Ein Bestseller jetzt neu als Broschurausgabe! Die gebundene Ausgabe erzielte hervorragende Kritiken im Daily Telegraph, New Scientist, The Independent und in der Sunday Times - um nur einige zu nennen. Israel hatte erstmals Zugang zu Werkstatt-Tagebüchern, Briefen und mehr als fünf Millionen Seiten Archivmaterial. Auf der Basis dieser Informationen hat er die erste maßgebende Biographie von Edison verfaßt. Zum ersten Mal wird Edisons Karriere als Erfinder systematisch untersucht und bewertet. Im Detail wird erforscht, wie er u.a. mit der Erfindung des elektrischen Lichts, der Photographie und mehr als tausend anderen Dingen das 20. Jahrhundert prägte. Dies ist auch die erste Biographie, die Edison im Zusammenhang mit dem rapiden industriellen Wandel betrachtet, indem die Auswirkungen dieses Wandels auf seine Erfindungen beschrieben werden. Dieses Buch liefert eine Fülle neuer Informationen über Edison und seine Erfindungen. Eine interessante und spannende Lektüre. (y03/00)
