LITMIR.BIZ

Through the use of current intertextual methods and narrative criticism, this book offers a fresh examination of the Son of Man in Mark, developing the conclusions of Morna Hooker's 1967 work, The Son of Man in Mark: A Study of the Background of the Term «Son of Man» and Its Use in St. Mark's Gospel. Contrary to recent scholarship that argues Mark's Son of Man does not make any thematic or christological contribution to the Gospel and/or that the OT background of the Son of Man phrase is irrelevant, this work demonstrates that the Son of Man, when examined in light of Daniel 7, advances one of Mark's major themes: the transition of the locus of Yahweh's saving presence from the Jerusalem temple to a new covenant community that is not only founded on the Son of Man's sacrificial death but also is vindicated at his coming in the heavenly temple.

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This exploration of Thomas Aquinas's philosophical theology, decidedly «unorthodox» at the time of its original publication, had the good fortune to be employed extensively–notably at Yale and Cambridge–by my eminent colleagues George Lindbeck and Nicholas Lash. It essayed a «non-foundational» reading of the Summa Theologiae, unabashedly beholden to Wittgenstein, thereby preparing the way for a postmodern yet thoroughly traditional appreciation of the central role which Aquinas played in adapting Hellenic thought to form the hybrid discipline of «philosophical theology.» Such a reading proved a welcome alternative to the neo-Thomist attempt to separate «philosophy» from «theology,» in an effort to show the wider world that the Catholic faith was «based on reason.» While this unfortunate divide has been fixed in the departmental structure of Catholic colleges and universities throughout the world, it was effectively undermined by the universally respected expositor of Aquinas, Josef Pieper, who noted that free creation is «the hidden element in Aquinas's philosophy.» However propitious it may have appeared to Catholic apologists in the heyday of modernism to sever «philosophy» from «theology,» it would have made no more sense to Aquinas than it could have to Anselm or Augustine before him. Ironically enough, a postmodern sensibility presaged by John Henry Newman in his Grammar of Assent finds the neo-Thomist construction of reason unadulterated by faith to be just that–an abstract construction–after Hans-Georg Gadamer succeeded in showing how any inquiry is fiduciary in its inception, and as Alasdair MacIntyre has reminded us that all inquiry is in fact «tradition-directed,» whatever its ostensible attitude towards «tradition.» So a «non-foundational» reading of Aquinas was to prove amenable to current philosophers, as well as more faithful to the thought-world of Aquinas himself.

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This volume looks at the Third Great Awakening, one of the most exciting times in the history of American Christianity. A. B. Simpson's impact on the Third Great Awakening and his influence on the modern church is examined. Emphasis is placed on the denomination he founded, the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Simpson's message, the Fourfold Gospel, is also explored. The Fourfold Gospel is: Christ as the Christian's Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. The denomination Simpson founded took this message not only to North America, but also throughout the world. Five movements made up the Third Great Awakening and Simpson's contribution to each one is examined. These five movements include: Evangelizing, Holiness Movement, Healing Movement, Pre-millenial Movement, and Urban and Worldwide Outreach. As this book concludes with a look at Simpson's influence on the church today, we are reminded that as the church goes through the twenty-first century, the Fourfold Gospel continues to be proclaimed just as it was during the Third Great Awakening.

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Postils for Preaching repristinates an old term for commentaries on the appointed texts by assisting preachers in their time-honored calling of preaching the Word. «Post illa,» some think, probably refers to the reflecting «after this» (meaning upon the texts) that preachers must do in the context of the lives of their congregations and larger communities. These essays do not aim to be sermons but sermon-starters, goads and incitements to consider the assigned texts with serious imagination and good humor, all in the context of the church year and its inter-textual connections. The intention of this publication is to dip into a lifetime of that exegetical and homiletical «bag of tricks» as Jesus himself obliquely recommended when he noted how «every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old» (Matt 13:52). Please consider these postils a «thesaurus» («treasury») from which to borrow insights, references, and allusions as needed and found of value.

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Do various members of the church–regardless of their generation, gender, race, sexual orientation, country of origin, and whatever their doubts are about official church teachings and policies–have any role in determining, safeguarding, and assessing the authentic teaching and praxis of the faith of the church? This has always been a haunting question in the life of the Christian church, though only recently acknowledged, because of the long-standing role of male clergy of European descent with a Eurocentric outlook who held hierarchical offices and determined official doctrines and moral and disciplinary codes. There have been controversies that bear on these matters over the course of the church's history. But it has only been over the last fifty years that the question has received increasing attention among Roman Catholics in terms of the baptismal anointing of the Spirit that bestows the gift of the sense of the faith on individuals and the collective sense of the faithful. This gift provides discerning skills to recognize, receive, and imaginatively and practically apply the living faith in history and society. This book explores these issues from historical, sociological, systematic and theological ethical perspectives, infused by the contributions of world Christianities.

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The most extensive royal accounts in the Hebrew Bible are those of kings David (the «Succession Narrative,» usually identified as 2 Sam 9-20 and 1 Kgs 1-2) and Solomon (the «Solomon Story,» 1 Kgs 3-11). Yet, even though Solomon immediately follows David in the Deuteronomistic History, little has been done to correlate these accounts. But what if these passages were meant to be read together? Utilizing the «Double Redaction» theory, Herbst proposes that an exilic «Deuteronomist» inserted the Succession Narrative into the Deuteronomistic History, then revised the Solomon Story in light of this addition. His key contribution was 1 Kings 1-2, a passage designed to connect the two larger sections, highlighting the similarities and differences of the two kings. Interpreting the composition history of 2 Samuel and 1 Kings in this way gives new insight into the Deuteronomist's views regarding kings and kingship. This approach also solves many of the problems of the Solomon story, in which the narrator appears to simultaneously praise and criticize Solomon. And along the way, Herbst offers new insights into individual passages, further enhancing our understanding of the message of the Deuteronomistic History.

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Virtually every scholar on both sides of the same-sex discussion eventually addresses the account of Sodom found in Genesis 19. However, in recent years, scholars have tended to downplay the importance of this chapter in relation to this debate. This book challenges this trend and seeks to demonstrate how the account of Sodom plays a key role in our understanding of a God-ordained sexual ethic, especially in light of Genesis as Torah–instruction for both ancient Israel and for the Church.

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Paul's understanding of holiness stems from the holiness of God as revealed in the Old Testament. Using varied terminology, Paul describes the holiness that should characterize the believers as the people of God. God expects moral integrity of his people, because he has provided believers with his Holy Spirit to enable them to live exemplary, Christlike lives in this present world, though polluted, as they prepare for the world to come. Believers, who, like Paul, anticipate the Parousia, must not only desire but also pray that holiness becomes a reality in their lives, cognizant of the fact that holiness is a matter of practice, not merely a status that one attains upon justification. Thus, holiness is an imperative for the people of God.

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In this book Michael Di Fuccia examines the theological import of Owen Barfield's poetic philosophy. He argues that philosophies of immanence fail to account for creativity, as is evident in the false shuttling between modernity's active construal and postmodernity's passive construal of subjectivity. In both extremes subjectivity actually dissolves, divesting one of any creative integrity. Di Fuccia shows how in Barfield's scheme the creative subject appears instead to inhabit a middle or medial realm, which upholds one's creative integrity. It is in this way that Barfield's poetic philosophy gestures toward a theological vision of poiēsis proper, wherein creativity is envisaged as neither purely passive nor purely active, but middle. Creativity, thus, is not immanent but mediated, a participation in being's primordial poiēsis.

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Receiving a letter from Paul was a major event in the early churches. Given the orally oriented culture of the time, a letter was designed to be read out loud in front of an audience. The document was an intermediate state for the local transport of the message, but the actual medium of communication was the performance event. This event was embedded in the written text in a manner comparable to a theater script. After careful preparation because of high expectations from ancient audiences, a presenter embodied the message with his voice, gazes, and gestures and made it not only understood but jointly experienced. After presenting a short history of performance criticism, this book clarifies what is meant by the highly ambiguous term «performance» and develops steps to analyze ancient texts in order to find and understand the embedded signals of performance. This leads to a critical assessment of the potential of performance criticism as a method. Then, the method is applied to the Pauline Epistles and other early Christian letters. It proves to be highly rewarding: difficult passages become comprehensible, new aspects come to light, the text's impact on the audience is felt–in short, the texts come alive.

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