Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
VOLUME 33
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Christian Origins
THE WESTMINSTER DICTIONARY OF NEW TESTAMENT AND EARLY CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
AND RHETORIC. By David E. Aune. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2003. Pp. xii + 595. $49.95, ISBN 0-66421917-9.
Except for twenty-one articles, this dictionary is the
product of Aunes personal efforts. Its principal stress is on
the literary and rhetorical dimensions of early Christian literature from approximately 50 to 150 CE. For Aune, early
Christian literature cannot be understood in isolation from
its Jewish and Gentile matrix and milieu. As is to be expected,
the manner of writing and speaking in the ancient world has
greatly influenced the NT as well as other early Christian
writings. Aune emphasizes the literary and rhetorical theories and practice of the ancients, without neglecting many
aspects of modern literary criticism. Random checks of articles such as those on the individual books of the wearied
demonstrate the breadth of Aunes research, and betoken the
bibliographical aids that a careful reader can expect. On the
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Part two, paying particular attention to the influence of postbiblical Jewish parable culture. She continues her examination of the parables in Part three, concluding with an
appendix addressing the fundamental question posed in this
volume, How Should I Read a Jesus Parable? With its
unique voice, this text offers a new and refreshing approach
to the parables for a broad audience, students, pastors, and
scholars alike.
Matthew R. Hauge
Azusa Pacific University
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Wolter. Monographische Reihe von Benedictina, Biblischkumenische Abteilung, 17. Rome: Benedictina Publishing,
2005. Pp. 227. Paper, 30.00, ISBN n/a.
This volume collects eight essays presented in the XVIII
Colloquium Oecumenicum Paulinum 2004 in Rome that deal
with the letter to the Ephesians. Reimund Bieringer examines the semantic implications of the term anakephalaiosasthai in Eph 1:10. In analysing Eph 2, Michel Quesnel traces
back the author and the addressees of Ephesians. Christos
Krakolis compares the two prayer-reports in Eph 3:1421
and 1:1523, Samuel Byrskog treats the relevance of the
paraenetical passage Eph 4:116 to the development of a
Christian identity of the addressees, and in interpreting Eph
4:175:20, Rudolf Hoppe discusses the relationship between
paraenesis and ecclesiology in Ephesians. Morna D. Hooker
analyses Eph 5:216:9 with regard to the aspect of the
transformation of relationships in Christ, Yann Redali
investigates the importance of Ephesians pertaining to faith
and theology in the twenty-first century. According to
Wolters summary of the essays, the author of Ephesians
attempts to induce his addressees to transform their spiritual unity into an ethical way and to present it demonstratively. The Christian ethical life, defined as a practical
ecclesiology, has the function to make the ecclesia recognisable and sensible for being the body of Christ.
Thomas Witulski
University of Mnster
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THE HISTORICAL JESUS AND THE FINAL JUDGMENT SAYINGS IN Q. By Brian Han Gregg.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament,
2. Reihe, 207. Tbingen, Ger.: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
Pp. xiv + 346. 64.00, ISBN 978-3-16-148750-7.
This modified version of a Notre Dame dissertation
directed by David Aune argues for the authenticity of the
final judgment sayings in Q. Gregg identifies twelve such
sayings, all of which come from what is often considered Qs
second stratum. In a very helpful context chapter, Gregg
surveys the spectrum of beliefs about the final judgment in
late Second Temple Judaism: judgment is foreseen as imminent and about to fall on Gentile nations as well as the
wicked within Israel, which is envisioned as mired in apostasy and lawbreaking. For each of the twelve final judgment
sayings in Q, Gregg provides a special bibliography, exegeses of the Matthean and Lukan sayings, a reconstruction and
exegesis of the Q text, a determination of the most primitive
version of the saying, scholarly arguments for and against
its authenticity, and Greggs conclusions. Gregg finds ten of
the twelve sayings to be authentic; the two remaining are
uncertain, but are probably authentic because of their coherence with the other ten. These authentic sayings show that
the historical Jesus conceived of himself as the uniquely
authoritative messenger of God and warned that rejecting
him would result in condemnation at the final judgment.
Interestingly, Jesus (according to Q) did not state or imply
that the final judgment was imminent. Those convinced that
Q contains a mostly historically accurate portrait of Jesus as
a sectarian eschatological preacher who put himself at the
center of his message will find much to confirm their conviction. Those not inclined to see Jesus as apocalyptically
oriented will have to take Greggs work seriously.
Robert J. Miller
Juniata College
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between the two goes far in explaining their success. Christianity and Judaism did not necessarily communicate to
women an announcement of liberation, but women sought a
social framework for the independence that was theirs as a
matter of right. Rituals in religion are not merely tokens of
theological realities but must be seen in the circumstances
of their overall social environment; circumcision, for example, can be seen as both symbolizing and maintaining male
dominance. Hence the repudiation of circumcision by the
early church had important consequences for the place of
woman in Christian society. To conclude, the aforementioned remarks are only a fragment of the many insights to
be found in these closely reasoned and well-researched
essays. NT scholars should find them helpful for the ongoing
process of answering the question: what accounts for the
rise of early Christianity?
Casimir Bernas
Holy Trinity Abbey
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CHRISTUSBEKENNTNIS UND JESUSBERLIEFERUNG BEI PAULUS. By Detlef Huer. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe, 210.
Tbingen, Ger.: Mohr Siebeck, 2006. Pp. 416. 74.00, ISBN
3-16-148962-4.
In this revised dissertation, Huer seeks for the
tradition-historical and theological relation of Jesus and
Paul. According to him, Paul knew much of the Jesustradition, which is concerned with Christology. Paul could
have acquired this knowledge very early in Damascus and
Jerusalem. This result leads Huer to the hypothesis that
there is a tradition-historical continuity and a real conformity between Paul and Jesus concerning their Christological concepts as well as their concepts of paraenesis.
According to Huer, the development of the basic aspects
of Christology were finished in the fourth decade of the first
century CE, and substantial elements of Pauline Christology can be traced back to Jesus himself respective to the
tradition about him. This means, in turn, that the different
concepts of Christology, which were developed later in early
Christianity, are reducible to a common basis of traditions
and do not trace back to contradictory formulas and confessions or in a deep, unbridgeable cleft between different
groups led by (different) apostles. It is questionable, however, whether this monocausal explanation can sufficiently
illuminate the development of differently accentuated Christological concepts in early Christianity.
Thomas Witulski
University of Mnster
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Christian origins. For example, rather than taking the position that early Christianity was either patriarchal or consisted of a discipleship of equals, the authors join others
who think that Christianity participated in a movement
toward greater social freedom for women but that it was not
the source of such freedom. The polarity of ascetic versus
domestic lifestyle also comes under scrutiny as the authors
show that married or widowed women likely had significant
roles in the early Christian movement, but that this reality
has been obscured by an emphasis upon virginity and
female celibacy. The independently authored chapter by
Janet Tulloch is a wonderful exploration of some banquet
frescoes in the catacombs of Marcellino and Pietro. In sum,
this is an excellent book, recommended for a wide audience
including undergraduates and scholars of the ancient world
in general.
Alicia Batten
Pacific Lutheran University
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