Christian Origins And The New Testament In The Greco Roman Context

In "Christian Origins and Greco-Roman Culture," Stanley Porter and Andrew Pitts assemble an international team of scholars whose work has focused on reconstructing the social matrix for earliest Christianity through the use of Greco-Roman materials and literary forms. Each essay moves forward the current understanding of how primitive Christianity situated itself in relation to evolving Hellenistic culture. Some essays focus on configuring the social context for the origins of the Jesus movement and beyond, while others assess the literary relation between early Christian and Greco-Roman texts.

This volume is a collection of newly published scholarly studies honoring Prof.Dr. David. E. Aune on his 65th birthday. These groundbreaking studies written by prominent international scholars investigate a range of topics in the New Testament and early Christian literature with insights drawn from Greco-Roman culture and Hellenistic Judaism.

This volume, the inaugural volume in Claremont's series on the New Testament and Christian Origins, celebrates the distinguished career of Dr. Dennis R. MacDonald. As students and scholars of the New Testament will know, MacDonald almost single- handedly established the discipline of Mimesis Criticism. However, MacDonald's scholarly achievements far exceed his role in establishing that emerging discipline within New Testament studies. MacDonald's scholarship and interests range widely over the entire discipline of Christian origins. His work has striven above all to situate the New Testament within the historical, social and literary contexts of the Greco-Roman world.The scholars -both junior and senior-in this volume participate in MacDonald's quest to locate the New Testament texts within their proper historical framework. The essays in this volume range from the Hebrew origins of the New Testament to Platonic influence on the New Testament, from Homeric imitation to the semantic domain of James, and from fresh readings of Mark to revisionist histories of Paul. There is something here for everyone. The essays are original, the arguments fresh and the language crisp. Every student of the New Testament will want to spend time with this wide-ranging celebration of MacDonald's intellectual prowess and academic career.

In Christian Origins and Hellenistic Judaism, Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts assemble an international team of scholars whose work has focused on reconstructing the social matrix for earliest Christianity through reference to Hellenistic Judaism and its literary forms.

In Contested Issues in Christian Origins and the New Testament, Luke Timothy Johnson offers a series of independent studies on a range of critical questions from the historical Jesus to sexuality and law.

What was life like for first-century Christians? Imagine a modest-sized Roman home of a well-to-do Christian household wedged into a thickly settled quarter of Corinth. In the lingering light of a summer evening, men, women and children, merchants, working poor and slaves, a mix of races and backgrounds have assembled in the dimly lit main room are are spilling into the central courtyard. This odd assortment of gathered believers—some thirty in number—are attentive as the newly arrived and travel-weary emissary from Paul reads from the papyrus scroll he has brought from their apostolic mentor. But if you were to be transported to this scene you would perhaps be overwhelmed by a flood of unexpected difference. The voice of the reader recedes as through open windows the din and clamor of the city assault your ears. Hooves clunk and cart wheels grind and echo from the street while drivers shout, vendors call and neighbors gather and converse. And later, as you accompany a family through darkened and dangerous streets to their third-story tenement apartment, you might try to mask your shock at the cramped and unsafe conditions. In The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era James Jeffers provides an informative and scenic tour of daily life during the time of Jesus and the apostles. He affords "you-are-there" glimpses of everything from legal codes to dinner foods, from social hierarchy to apartment living, from education to family dynamics. His eye-opening book will advance your understanding of the New Testament and early Christianity and enrich your reading and application of the Bible.

An introduction to the New Testament in its historical context, with an overview of interpretative approaches and exegetical exercises In this up-to-date introduction to the New Testament, twenty-two leading biblical scholars guide the reader through the New Testament’s historical background, key ideas, and textual content. Seminarians and anyone else interested in a deep understanding of Christian Scripture will do well to begin with this thorough volume that covers everything from the historical Jesus to the emergence of early Christianity. The contributors stress the importance of Christianity’s emergence within and from Second Temple Judaism. Unique to this book is a special focus on interpretative methods, with several illustrative examples included in the final chapter of various types of scriptural exegesis on select New Testament passages. Readers are guided through the hermeneutical considerations of a historical text-oriented reading, a historical-analogical reading, a rhetorical-epistolary reading, argumentation analysis, feminist analysis, postcolonial analysis, and narrative criticism, among others. These practical, hands-on applications enable students to move from an abstract understanding of the New Testament to a ready ability to make meaning from Scripture.

In Christian Origins and Hellenistic Judaism, Stanley E. Porter and Andrew W. Pitts assemble an international team of scholars whose work has focused on reconstructing the social matrix for earliest Christianity through reference to Hellenistic Judaism and its literary forms.