Jesus And The Missional Movement In Galilee

In New Testament scholarship, the study of space has been underrepresented in comparison with the study of time. While Jesus’ life and ministry have been intensively explored in terms of eschatology—i.e., with time significance—space has tended to be treated as simply a given room or inactive backdrop where events took place. Interest in the space where Jesus ministered has, however, gradually increased, and space has received greater attention from sociological and literary perspectives. In particular, spatial investigations into the social circumstances of Galilee, the place of origin of Jesus’ missional movement, have begun to attract serious scholarly attention. The important functions of space in literature are also becoming better recognized: spatial settings serve not only to generate atmosphere but also to disclose the purposes and themes of narratives. This book explores Jesus’ Galilean ministry in Mark 4:35—8:21 through the use of spatial analysis, dividing space into three categories: social, geographical, and allusive. The study of each space discovers social, literary, and theological implications of Jesus’ missional movement in Galilee.

Beginning as a marginal group in Galilee, the movement initiated by Jesus of Nazareth became a world religion within 100 years. Why, among various religious movements, did Christianity succeed? This major work by internationally renowned scholar Udo Schnelle traces the historical, cultural, and theological influences and developments of the early years of the Christian movement. It shows how Christianity provided an intellectual framework, a literature, and socialization among converts that led to its enduring influence. Senior New Testament scholar James Thompson offers a clear, fluent English translation of the successful German edition.

Provides a detailed picture of Galilean life in the period prior to and spanning the genesis of Christianity. Freyne offers a comprehensive treatment of geographical and historical, social and cultural, and religious aspects of Galilean life.

In this book Sen Freyne explores the rise and expansion of early Christianity within the context of the Greco-Roman world -- the living, dynamic matrix of Jesus and his followers. In addition to offering fresh insights into Jesus' Jewish upbringing and the possible impact of Greco-Roman lifestyles on him and his followers, Freyne delves into the mission and expansion of the Jesus movement in Palestine and beyond during the first hundred years of its development. To give readers a full picture of the context in which the Jesus movement developed, Freyne includes pictures, maps, and timelines throughout the book. Freyne's interdisciplinary approach, combining historical, archaeological, and literary methods, makes The Jesus Movement and Its Expansion both comprehensive and accessible.

Rather than looking at Jesus -- the popular conception of the "historical Jesus" -- John Baggett contends that we should instead look with Jesus at the realities of God and neighbor as he perceived them. Baggett incorporates the witness of the key human relationships of Jesus, looking at why those earliest believers and friends considered him divine. Baggett then asks how Christ's transcendence can ultimately translate to significance for life and faith in today's story.

"This original work of scholarship clarifies how, in light of Matthew's Gospel, the first Christians understood and claimed Israel's messianic mission to people of every ethnic group immediately after Jesus' death and resurrection."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Recognized as a masterly commentary when it first appeared, Frederick Dale Bruner's study of Matthew is now available as a greatly revised and expanded two-volume work -- the result of seven years of careful refinement, enrichment, and updating. Through this commentary, crafted especially for teachers, pastors, and Bible students, Bruner aims "to help God's people love what Matthew's Gospel says." Bruner's work is at once broadly historical and deeply theological. It is historical in drawing extensively on great church teachers through the centuries and on the classical Christian creeds and confessions. It is theological in that it unpacks the doctrines in each passage, chapter, and section of the Gospel. Consciously attempting to bridge past and present, Bruner asks both what Matthew's Gospel said to its first hearers and what it says to readers today. As a result, his commentary is profoundly relevant to contemporary congregations and to those who guide them. Bruner's commentary is replete with lively, verse-by-verse discussion of Matthew's text. While each chapter expounds a specific topic or doctrine, the book's format consists of a vivid, original translation of the text followed by faithful exegesis and critical analysis, a survey of historical commentary on the text, and current applications of the text or theme under study. In this revision Bruner continues to draw on the best in modern scholarship -- including recent work by W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., by Ulrich Luz, and by many others -- adding new voices to the reading of Matthew. At the same time he cites the classic commentaries of Chrysostom, Jerome, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Bengel, and the rest, who, like Bruner himself, were not simply doctrinal teachers but also careful exegetes of Scripture. Such breadth and depth of learning assure that Bruner's Matthew will remain, as a reviewer for Interpretation wrote, "the most dog-eared commentary on the shelf." Volume 1 of Bruner's commentary is called The Christbook because the first twelve chapters of Matthew are focused on the nature and work of Christ. As Bruner proceeds through these chapters, he shows how Matthew presents, step by step, central themes of Christology: Jesus' coming (chapters 1 4), his teaching (5 7), his miracles (8 9), his sermon on mission (10), and his person (11 12). Throughout the book there are also thoughtful discussions of significant topics such as baptism, marriage, Jewish-Christian relations, and heaven and hell. Eminently readable, rich in biblical insight, and ecumenical in tone, Bruner's two-volume commentary on Matthew now stands among the best in the field.