From the late first century to the end of late antiquity, three rival traditions-pagan, Jewish, and Christian-found themselves at odds over one issue in particular: the nature of the relationship between divine reality and the material world. In this context, the Evangelist John constructed his bios of Jesus as a narrative apologia addressed ......
In Jesus among the gods, Michael Bird gives renewed attention to divine ontology--what a god is--in relation to literary representations of Jesus. Most studies of the origins of early Christology focus on christological titles, various functions, divine identity, and types of worship.
Life is to be lived rather than consumed. In a digital environment and market society where everything is for sale, the human face is one more object to exchange. Devices often hold our attention captive to advertisers, brand the face as a product through social media, and alter the conditions for human relationships apart from vulnerability and ......
Scholars today tend to view the birth narratives of Jesus as substantially less reliable than the rest of the canonical Gospel accounts. Indeed, many recent studies of the historical Jesus pass over his birth altogether or provide only scant commentary. A primary reason for this skepticism is intent oriented: ancient birth narratives (so the ......
The devil-styled by Calvin as "God's adversary and ours"-is ubiquitous in the witness of the New Testament. Yet contemporary Christian doctrine generally remains dumbfounded about what to do with him. At the same time, our present is marked by a resurgence in the language of the "demonic"-that is, invocation of pervasive, radical, and perhaps ......
Scholars today tend to view the birth narratives of Jesus as substantially less reliable than the rest of the canonical Gospel accounts. Indeed, many recent studies of the historical Jesus pass over his birth altogether or provide only scant commentary. A primary reason for this skepticism is intent oriented: ancient birth narratives (so the ......
Apocalyptic Pastoral Theology in Paul's Thessalonian Letters
Writing a study in apocalyptic pastoral theology may sound like an exercise in "performative self-contradiction." But such an endeavor reminds us that the imminent expectation of the Lord's return, a pervasive hope in the first generation of the Jesus movement, is not an embarrassing, superfluous doctrine of little value to ordinary Christian ......
Tradition, Identity, and Christianity's Mother Tongue
Aramaic, one of the great international languages of antiquity, left an indelible mark on the New Testament. Jesus and his first followers knew it because for centuries Aramaic had been a primary means of communication in the Middle East, and it remained current long after their time. Usage of Aramaic within Jesus' movement, initially with or ......
