The Priority Of John

It has been the fate of many books on John to be left unfinished, for its interpretation naturally forms the crowning of a lifetime. I have myself been intending to write a book on the Fourth Gospel since the 'fifties, before I broke off (reluctantly) to be Bishop of Woolwich, though I am grateful now that I did not produce it prematurely at that time. It means however that I shall be compelled to refer to and often recapitulate material directly or indirectly related to the Johannine literature, which I have written over the years (some of it indeed while I was bishop). Many scholars in fact, if not most now, think that the author of the Gospel himself never lived to finish it and have seen the work as the product of numerous hands and redactors. As will become clear, I prefer to believe that the ancient testimony of the church is correct that John wrote it 'while still in the body' and that its roughnesses, self-corrections and failures of connection, real or imagined, are the result of its not having been smoothly or finally edited. If so I am in good company. At any rate who could wish for a better last testimony from his friends than that 'his witness is true' (John 21.24)? In other words, he got it right--historically and theologically. --from the Introduction At the time of his death in December 1983, John Robinson had completed the text of the book on which his 1984 Bampton lectures were to be based, so that it is possible to see the full details of his extremely controversial argument that the Gospel of John was the first Gospel to be written. Dr. Robinson himself once described the dawning of his conviction that this was the case as a 'Damascus Road experience', and his presentation of the evidence is made with all the customary vigor with which he would argue for something in which he deeply believed. The objections which need to be overcome to stand on its head what has long been one of the fundamental assumptions of New Testament scholarship are substantial, but here once again Dr. Robinson shows that so much of what is taken as established fact in that area is no more than preference and presumption. Certainly he will provoke rethinking on a whole series of topics, from the chronology of Jesus' ministry to the nature of his teaching. As The Listener said of the equally controversial Redating the New Testament: The greatest pleasure Dr. Robinson gives is purely intellectual. His book is a prodigious virtuoso exercise in inductive reasoning and an object lesson in the nature of historical argument and historical knowledge. This sequel equals, if not excels, its predecessor in those respects and is a fitting tribute to a brilliant New Testament scholar. The manuscript was prepared for publication by Dr. Chip Coakley, Dr Robinson's pupil, now Lecturer in Religious Studies in the University of Lancaster.

Nothing is more important than worship. It is the theme of Scripture, the theme of eternity, and the theme of redemptive history— to worship the true and living and glorious God is the purpose of all creation. So why do we treat it as only what is sung or played in church on Sunday morning? Pastor John MacArthur leads you through Scripture texts about true worship. You will learn that worship is any essential expression of service rendered unto God by a soul that loves and extols Him for who He is. Worship is the nonstop role of believers, not merely part of a church service. So get ready to alter your priorities, aiming higher than entertaining worshipers on Sunday mornings. Worship shows that your ultimate priority must always be to worship the true and living God, with a radically different type of living.

This book provides a thrilling history of the famous priority dispute between Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Isaac Newton, presenting the episode for the first time in the context of cultural history. It introduces readers to the background of the dispute, details its escalation, and discusses the aftermath of the big divide, which extended well into rThe Early Challengesnd the story is very intelligibly explained – an approach that offers general readers interested in the history of sciences and mathematics a window into the world of these two giants in their field. From the epilogue to the German edition by Eberhard Knobloch:Thomas Sonar has traced the emergence and the escalation of this conflict, which was heightened by Leibniz’s rejection of Newton’s gravitation theory, in a grandiose, excitingly written monograph. With absolute competence, he also explains the mathematical context so that non-mathematicians will also profit from the book. Quod erat demonstrandum!

A Major Statement on Christology from Bishop Robert Barron For a long time, Christians have tried to bridge the divide between Christianity and secular liberalism with philosophy and theology. Bishop Robert Barron shows that the answer to this debate--and the way to move forward--lies in Jesus. Barron transcends the usual liberal/conservative or Protestant/Catholic divides with a postliberal Catholicism that brings the focus back on Jesus as revealed in the New Testament narratives. Barron's classical Catholic postliberalism will be of interest to a broad audience including not only the academic community but also preachers and general readers interested in entering the dialogue between Catholicism and postliberalism. The hardcover edition includes a new preface by the author. Praise for The Priority of Christ "Barron's wonderful book The Priority of Christ brings postliberalism back to its Catholic home. . . . A downright lovely book, written with a kind of winsome literary flair that exhibits the inviting clarity of a master teacher. Highly recommended." --James K. A. Smith, Religious Studies Review "The book is full of gems worthy of hours of contemplation." --Mark G. Boyer, The Priest

This monograph is a defence of the Fregean take on logic. The author argues that Frege ́s projects, in logic and philosophy of language, are essentially connected and that the formalist shift produced by the work of Peano, Boole and Schroeder and continued by Hilbert and Tarski is completely alien to Frege's approach in the Begriffsschrift. A central thesis of the book is that judgeable contents, i.e. propositions, are the primary bearers of logical properties, which makes logic embedded in our conceptual system. This approach allows coherent and correct definitions of logical constants, logical consequence, and truth and connects their use to the practices of rational agents in science and everyday life.

Buddhas, gods, prophets and oracles are often depicted as asking questions. But what are we to understand when Jesus asks “Who do you say that I am?”, or Mazu, the Classical Zen master asks, “Why do you seek outside?" Is their questioning a power or weakness? Is it something human beings are only capable of due to our finitude? Is there any kind of question that is a power? Focusing on three case studies of questions in divine discourse on the level of story - the god depicted in the Jewish Bible, the master Mazu in his recorded sayings literature, and Jesus as he is depicted in canonized Christian Gospels - Nathan Eric Dickman meditates on human responses to divine questions. He considers the purpose of interreligious dialogue and the provocative kind of questions that seem to purposefully decenter us, drawing on methods from confessionally-oriented hermeneutics and skills from critical thinking. He allows us to see alternative ways of interpreting religious texts through approaches that look beyond reading a text for the improvement of our own religion or for access to some metaphysically transcendent reality. This is the first step in a phenomenology of religions that is inclusive, diverse, relevant and grounded in the world we live in.