The Transformation of Roman Ideology in Three Early Christian Retellings of Genesis
Celene Lillie examines core passages from three Gnostic texts from Nag Hammadi, On the Origin of the World, The Reality of the Rulers, and the Secret Revelation of John
Luke's two-volume work contains the only narrative depictions of Jesus' ascent into heaven in the New Testament. While select studies have focused on particular aspects of these accounts, however, the importance of the ascension to Luke-Acts calls for renewed attention to the narratological and theological significance of these accounts.
The ending of Mark's Gospel is one of the great unsolved mysteries. Comments about the different attested endings date back to Eusebius in the fourth century. This volume argues that Eusebius proposes a double solution to the problem that can be read as recognizing the authority of both the Longer and the Abrupt conclusions to Mark's Gospel.
Paul B. Fowler argues that rhetorical questions in Romans 3?11 structure the argument, not as responses to criticism but as Paul's careful guiding of the reader, and that these chapters, like the paraenesis in Romans 12?15, address specific circumstances in Rome - tensions between Jew and Gentile .
A. Andrew Das reviews six proposals for "grand thematic narratives" behind the logic of Galatian. Das weighs each of these proposals exegetically and finds them wanting, examples of what Samuel Sandmel famously labelled "parallelomania." Das reflects on the risks of seeking comprehensive stories behind Paul's letters and offers a path forward.
The first two chapters of 1 Corinthians have played a significant role in the history of Christian theology. Interpreting the central event in Christianity, the crucifixion of Jesus, Paul reflects on the wisdom and foolishness of God in the "word of the cross."
Sarah Harding examines Paul's anthropology from the perspective of eschatology, concluding that his view of humans depends on his belief that the cosmos evolves through distinct aeons in progress towards its telos. Harding describes a temporal distinction
James opposes the exploitation of the Roman Empire and a peculiar Pauline form of hybridity that compromises with it; refutes Roman cultural practices that threaten the identity of the letter's recipients; and condemns those who would transgress the boundaries between purity and impurity, God and "world."
Christians around the world recite the "Lord's Prayer" daily, but what exactly are they praying for - and what relationship does it have with Jesus' own context? The author reviews scholarship that derives the so-called Lord's Prayer from Jewish synagogal prayers and refutes it.
