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A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume II: Mentor, Message, and Miracles
This book is the second volume in John Meier's masterful trilogy on the life of Jesus. In it he continues his quest for the answer to the greatest puzzle of modern religious scholarship: Who was Jesus? To answer this Meier imagines the following scenario: Suppose that a Catholic, a Protestant, a Jew, and an agnostic were locked up in the bowels of the Harvard Divinity School library... and not allowed to emerge until they had hammered out a consensus document on who Jesus of Nazareth was and what he intended.... A Marginal Jew is what Meier thinks that document would reveal. Volume one concluded with Jesus approaching adulthood. Now, in this volume, Meier focuses on the Jesus of our memory and the development of his ministry. To begin, Meier identifies Jesus's mentor, the one person who had the greatest single influence on him, John the Baptist. All of the Baptist's fiery talk about the end of time had a powerful effect on the young Jesus and the formulation of his key symbol of the coming of the kingdom of God. And, finally, we are given a full investigation of one of the most striking manifestations of Jesus's message: Jesus's practice of exorcisms, hearings, and other miracles. In all, Meier brings to life the story of a man, Jesus, who by his life and teaching gradually made himself marginal even to the marginal society that was first century Palestine.
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A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume III: Companions and Competitors
No man is an island, not even Jesus, as John Meier writes in Companions and Competitors, the third installment of his four-part series, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus. The first volume, an overview of Jesus' background, chronology, and early years, was followed by a second that analyzed Jesus' most important messages and deeds. Here, Meier explains his conviction that No human being is adequately understood if he or she is considered in isolation from other human beings. He leads readers through the concentric circles of companions (including the followers who became his disciples and apostles) and competitors (such as Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritans) that shaped Jesus' life in first-century Palestine. Meier, a priest and New Testament scholar at Notre Dame, writes in the engaging, methodical style of an astringently avuncular professor: chapters are carefully outlined, with straightforward headings such as Points of Comparison and Contrast, Caveats on Comparisons, and The Sheer Oddness of Jesus). His findings, particularly his explanation of the essentially Jewish nature of Jesus' relationships, are a valuable addition to the field of Historical Jesus scholarship.
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A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Volume IV: Law and Love
John Meier's previous volumes in the acclaimed series A Marginal Jew are founded upon the notion that while solid historical information about Jesus is quite limited, people of different faiths can nevertheless arrive at a consensus on fundamental historical facts of his life. In this eagerly anticipated fourth volume in the series, Meier approaches a fresh topic--the teachings of the historical Jesus concerning Mosaic Law and morality--with the same rigor, thoroughness, accuracy, and insightfulness on display in his earlier works.
After correcting misconceptions about Mosaic Law in Jesus' time, this volume addresses the teachings of Jesus on major legal topics like divorce, oaths, the Sabbath, purity rules, and the various love commandments in the Gospels. What emerges from Meier's research is a profile of a complicated first-century Palestinian Jew who, far from seeking to abolish the Law, was deeply engaged in debates about its observance. Only by embracing this portrait of the historical Jesus grappling with questions of the Torah do we avoid the common mistake of constructing Christian moral theology under the guise of studying "Jesus and the Law," the author concludes.
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Apostle of the Last Days: The Life, Letters, and Theology of Paul
A single-volume treatment based on the eschatological center of Paul's message
Paul's life, letters, and theology are unified by the theme of the overlapping of two ages--this age and the age to come. With the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the age to come (i e, kingdom of God) broke into this present age but didn't end it. Where other important doctrines such as justification by faith, reconciliation, and the cross of Christ were key players in Paul's theology, Marvin Pate compellingly demonstrates that the overarching theme driving the Pauline corpus was indeed Paul's inaugurated eschatology. In fact, Paul's apocalyptic framework was only one of a number of other rival eschatologically focused religious perspectives of the day, such as the Imperial Cult, Hellenistic/syncretistic religion, and the merkabah Judaizers. Paul's vigorous debates with the churches he served centered on the exclusivity of the gospel of Christ that he preached: the nonnegotiable apocalypse of Jesus the Messiah. Apostle of the Last Days will be welcomed in the classroom as a one-volume treatment of Paul's life and letters as well as his theology.
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Blasphemy & Exaltation in Judaism
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Doubters Guide to Jesus an Introduction to the Man from Nazareth for Believers & Skeptics
A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is an introduction to the major portraits of Jesus found in the earliest historical sources. Portraits because our best information points not to a tidy, monolithic Jesus, but to a complex, multi-layered and, at times, contradictory figure. While some might be troubled by this, fearing that plurality equals incomprehensibility or unreliability, others take it as an invitation to do some rearranging for themselves, trying to make Jesus neater, more systematic and digestible.
After two millennia of spiritual devotion and more than two centuries of modern critical research, we still cannot fit Jesus into a box. He is destined to stretch our imaginations, confront our beliefs, and challenge our lifestyles for many years to come.
In A Doubter's Guide to Jesus readers will find themselves both disturbed and intrigued by the images of Jesus found in the first sources.
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Exploring People of the Bible: Exploring People of the New Testament (John Phillips Bible Characters Series)
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From Religion To Christ
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Heaven So Near So Far The Story of Judas Iscariot
In this sequel to Heaven, How I got Here, Colin S. Smith masterfully retells the gospel story from the perspective of Judas Iscariot.
Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and Peter, who denied Jesus, both hit a low point in their lives when it looked as if they were done with Jesus forever. Yet these men responded in very different ways. Judas separated from the other disciples and gave up on faith in Christ completely. Peter chose a different and a better path.
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Introducing Paul: The Man, His Mission and His Message
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JESUS & PAUL RECONNECTED
Todd Still brings these superb scholars together in hopes of encouraging further conversation and contributing to this growing area of New Testament research. The result is a new and stimulating exploration of these two extraordinary figures of the faith.
Contributors:
John M. G. Barclay
Markus Bockmuehl
Beverly Roberts Gaventa
Bruce W. Longenecker
Francis Watson
Stephen Westerholm
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Jesus as a Figure in History How Modern Historians View the Man from Galilee
Here is the first comprehensive, balanced account of historical Jesus studies. Beginning with brief discussions of the early days of historical research into the person of Jesus and the methods developed by researchers at the time, Mark Allen Powell offers insightful overviews of some of the most important participants in the contemporary Jesus quests.
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