The Letters Of Paul As Rituals Of Worship

In this interpretation of the corpus of the thirteen New Testament letters attributed to Paul, Heil establishes a connection between communal worship and the New Testament. The author focuses on the key theme of 'worship', understanding it in its most comprehensive sense in the biblical tradition, with the liturgical and the ethical facets of worship held in dynamic interrelationship. The reader is offered a fresh way of reading and listening to the letters of Paul for a deeper understanding of their original purpose and message.

Michael Lakey explores the theological significance of the rituals of Baptism and the Lord's Supper in Pauline theology, with the argument culminating in an analysis of the significance of ritual dining in 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 and the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. By contrast with 'social world' forms of comparison between rituals in the Pauline communities and other communities in antiquity, this study focuses primarily upon the theologically integrating function these rituals perform in relation to Paul's theology and ethics. Lakey builds upon Clifford Geertz's systemic understanding of religion by showing how, for Paul, Baptism and the Lord's Supper facilitate specific connections between his metaphysics on the one hand, and the form or pattern of life he enjoins upon his churches on the other. This volume considers precisely what - given his theological and ethical premises - Paul's underlying beliefs regarding these ritual events may have been, allowing for a preliminary discussion of specific lines of post-interpretation in the early patristic period.

This book proposes a new and comprehensive chiastic structure as well as a new unifying theme for the Letter of James. In accord with this structure that organizes its oral performance, the words ""worship to live by"" express what the letter as a whole is exhorting its audience to adopt. ""Worship"" includes not only liturgical worship but also the ethical behavior that complements it, so that the result is a holistic way of worshiping God. And the words ""to live by"" embrace the worshipful conduct by which to live out presently one's birth to a new life as a believer before the final coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with a view to the future eternal life to be granted at the last judgment as the outcome of such worship. In short, the Letter of James urges its audience to practice the worship to live by now in order to live eternally. ""Although others have observed chiastic patterns in the Letter of James, John Paul Heil focuses upon macro- and microchiastic units determined primarily by linguistic parallels rather than thematic ones. At the heart of James, as revealed by its structure, Heil proposes a new unifying theme; that of 'worship to live by.' Provocative and clearly written, this book deserves consideration by all those interested in contemporary analyses of the 'right strawy epistle.'"" --Alicia J. Batten, PhD Professor, Religious Studies Department, University of Sudbury Author, What Are They Saying about the Letter of James? (2009) ""In his latest monograph, John P. Heil takes the reader on an innovative journey through the text. Positing the letter to be composed of a series of microchiasms . . . within an overall macrochiastic arrangement of its content, Heil brilliantly makes the case that James has written an epistolary homily . . . designed for oral performance with the goal of persuading the audience to adopt 'worship to live by.' This book is a treasure trove of insight that will leave the reader surprised how easy it is to follow and accept Heil's conclusions."" --Peter Spitaler, ThD Associate Professor, New Testament Interim Chair and Director, Graduate Program, Villanova University Author, Universale Sunde von Juden und Heiden? (2006) ""In his most recent work, John P. Heil offers a decided contribution to studies on the Letter of James. Based on previous research into chiastic structures within a number of New Testament letters . . . Heil demonstrates similar chiastic structures within the Letter of James. Heil takes seriously James's oral performance as a sermon delivered within the context of a worshipping community. This study offers unique insight into the Letter of James through its call to practice a holistic way of worship."" --Fr. Patrick J. Hartin, PhD Professor of Religious Studies, Gonzaga University Author, James (2003) John Paul Heil is Professor of New Testament at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He is the author of The Letters of Paul as Rituals of Worship (Cascade, 2011).

Virtual Communion: Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Sacramental Imagination provides a theological account of the internet from a Catholic perspective. It engages digital culture by providing a context for media and mediation within the Catholic tradition, specifically focusing on the ecclesiology and sacramentality of the church. Katherine G. Schmidt argues that the Catholic imagination is inherently consonant with the idea of the “virtual,” understood as the creative space between presence and absence, bringing the fields of media studies, internet studies, sociology, history, and theology together in order to give a theological account of the social realities of American Catholicism in light of digital culture. Overall, Schmidt argues that the social possibilities of the internet afford the church great opportunity for building a social context that allows the living out of Eucharistic logic learned in properly liturgical moments.

Explores examples from several letters of Paul’s practice of quoting/using Scripture. Some of the topics explored are the question of written or oral sources; memorization; allusions vs. quotations; Paul’s understanding of “scripture”; his use of scripture in rhetorical argumentation (Jewish/Greco-Roman); eisegesis vs. exegesis; and what Paul’s use of Scripture might say to us today.

The Epistles, for all their disarming simplicity do not make easy reading; even in crisp, modern translations they pose a problem for the ordinary reader, no matter how interested and concerned. The exciting findings of modern biblical research compound the problem. Scholars know more with each passing year and the knowledge gap grows wider. This unique reader's guide is ideally suited to close that gap between the contemporary Christian and the Epistles. Written by the most distinguished Catholic scripture scholar of his day and designed to be read in conjunction with the New Testament it provides lucid and expert commentary and explanation. With a guide like John L. McKenzie and the option of setting your own pace -- the difficult suddenly becomes not only possible, but pleasurable.

The cognitive science of religion that has emerged over the last twenty years is a multidisciplinary field that often challenges established theories in anthropology and comparative religion. This new approach raises many questions for biblical studies as well. What are the cross-cultural cognitive mechanisms which explain the transmission of biblical texts? How did the local and particular cultural traditions of ancient Israel and early Christianity develop? What does the embodied and socially embedded nature of the human mind imply for the exegesis of biblical texts? "Mind, Morality and Magic" draws on a range of approaches to the study of the human mind - including memory studies, computer modeling, cognitive theories of ritual, social cognition, evolutionary psychology, biology of emotions, and research on religious experience. The volume explores how cognitive approaches to religion can shed light on classical concerns in biblical scholarship - such as the transmission of traditions, ritual and magic, and ethics - as well as uncover new questions and offer new methodologies.