Anthropology In The New Testament And Its Ancient Context

Most of the articles were presented and discussed at the seminar Early Christianity between Judaism and Hellenism at the Annual Meeting of the European Association of Biblical Studies in Piliscsaba and Budapest, Hungary, in August 2006. The anthropological quest is still one of the classical approaches in historical-critical as well as in other methodological approaches to the New Testament. The complexity of anthropological ideas in the New Testament is seldom presented neither explicitly nor in clearly defined terms, but rather in stories about human beings or their (inter-)actions and/or parenetic teaching that is based on some, often unstated, presuppositions of what humans are like. The different essays in Anthropology in the New Testament and its Ancient Context are taking care of this complex situation and address a selection of important problems from the variety of ideas on anthropology in Early Christianity as well as in its Jewish and its Hellenistic context. The book does not aim to show a coherent New Testament anthropology as it is to write a coherent New Testament theology, but rather tries to present new insights into the complexity of ancient anthropological discourses. With that aim the collection includes presentations on the human body and its purity a key feature in many ancient cultures and their anthropological systems, questions of purity and impurity, on the key anthropological terms sarks and soma in Paul, how a Greco-Roman reader would understand Paul's anthropological reasoning. Paul's anthropology is also set in relation to Philo's view of humanity. Platonic, tripartite anthropology is also part of an article analyzing the common elements in the teaching concerning the human soul among Sethian, Valentinian and Platonic writers. Conversion, another kind of adaptation of a Hellenistic philosophical concept to early Christianity, different early Christian ideas of the resurrected body, and so-called sepulchral anthropology are further subjects addressed in the book which finally deals with selected anthropological imagery in the Gospel of John and with anthropological perspectives in Hebrews. The book contains contributions by Ida Froehlich, Tom Holmen, Lorenzo Scornaienchi, Martin Meiser, George van Kooten, Paivi Vahakangas, Miguel Herrero de Jauregui, Outi Lehtipuu, Imre Peres, Margareta Gruber and Walter Ubelacker. The essays offer some new angles, new methodological approaches and important insights relevant to anthropological views in the New Testament.

Expanded version of a collection of essays published elsewhere previously between 2005 and 2008, plus one new essay published here for the first time.

This volume considers the New Testament in the light of anthropological study, in particular the current trend towards theological anthropology. The book begins with three essays that survey the context in which the New Testament was written, covering the Old Testament, early Jewish writings and the literature of the Greco –Roman world. Chapters then explore the anthropological ideas found in the texts of the New Testament and in the thought of it writers, notably that of Paul. The volume concludes with pieces from Brian S. Roser and Ephraim Radner who bring the whole exploration together by reflecting on the theological implications of the New Testament's anthropological ideas. Taken together, the chapters in this volume address the question that humans have been asking since at least the earliest days of recorded history: what does it mean to be human? The presence of this question in modern theology, and its current prevalence in popular culture, makes this volume both a timely and relevant interdisciplinary addition to the scholarly conversation around the New Testament.

This volume brings together essays by an international group of biblical scholars on Old Testament topics, employing social-scientific methods: anthropology, macro-sociology, social psychology, and so forth.

Rev. translation of Anthropologie des Alten Testaments. Bibliography: p. [256]-270. Includes indexes.

Presents the findings of an international research symposium, held at St Andrews University, Scotland, in July 2003. Contributors include both biblical scholars and anthropologists. The essays presented variously explore and review interdisciplinary links, innovations and developments between anthropology and biblical studies in reference to interpretation of both the OT and NT and pseudepigraphal works. Explored are methodological issues, the use of anthropological concepts in biblical studies (identity; purity boundaries; virtuoso religion; spiritual experience; sacred space) and more 'field orientated' work of bible translators in different cultures.

A masterful collection of essays in New Testament studies connecting Scripture, theology, and human life What is the purpose of studying the New Testament, and how is it best approached? Esteemed professor C. Kavin Rowe explores these questions in sixteen incisive essays covering a range of topics, including: • the state of New Testament studies as a field • the relationship between historical criticism and theological reading • interdisciplinary methodology • comparative religion and New Testament Christianity • truth claims of the New Testament What unites these diverse chapters is a holistic approach to the New Testament. Against the modern tendency to separate disciplines, Rowe unites philosophy, theology, history, and biblical studies in fruitful conversation. Most crucially, he emphasizes the essential purpose of this academic work: its implications for human flourishing. With an insightful and bold approach, Rowe’s essays should be read by anyone interested in New Testament studies. Scholars and students will find the essays in this critical volume challenging and rewarding.

La 4e de couverture indique : "For the Apostle Paul, humans do not identify and act on their own but are constituted, in part, by relationships. Samuel D. Ferguson shows that, according to Paul, the work of the Holy Spirit further attests to this, as Christians realize their new life through Spirit-created relationships of sonship and communal interdependence"