The New Testament Christological Hymns


Book Description

A study of the hymnic and liturgical material in the New Testament which describes Christ's nature and person. Professor Sanders analyzes the hymns in detail and finds in them a common mythological pattern. He traces its origin to a particular and unorthodox branch of Judaism which is itself a branch of the 'wisdom' tradition where the thanksgiving hymn had its home. His conclusions therefore have considerable importance and implications for questions about the origins of Gnosticism and its influence on Christianity. This is the full-scale historical religious study of the New Testament Christological hymns, and English readers will find particularly useful Professor Sanders' critical survey of recent continental scholarship on this and related subjects.




New Testament Christological Hymns


Book Description

We know that the earliest Christians sang hymns. But are some of these early Christian hymns preserved for us in the New Testament? Matthew Gordley takes a new look at didactic hymns in the Greco-Roman and Jewish world of the early church, considering how they might function in the New Testament and what they could tell us about early Christian worship.




Hymns to Christ


Book Description




At the Lighting of the Lamps


Book Description

The Christians, from the very outset, committed their theology and prayer to the form of the song. The hymnal elements in the New Testament are among the earliest of all strands, some of them composed within a decade of the death of Jesus. From the third century onwards it was their custom to light the lamps of the house when dusk fell, and sing a hymn, for the onset of evening marked the new liturgical day in the earliest centuries. This collection of some of the most charming of the hymns of the Early Church presents the original Greek and Latin verse with a facing translation and a pronunciation guide for the Byzantine Greek. They range from simple chants such as the Phos Hilaron, comparing Christ to the "cheerful light" of a lamp, to sophisticated pieces by some of the great rhetoricians such as Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, Synesios, and Romanos. This is a book that will delight both academic and church readerships.




Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?


Book Description

To answer the title question effectively requires more than the citing of a few texts; we must first acknowledge that the way to the answer is more difficult than it appears and recognize that the answer may be less straightforward than many would like. The author raises some fascinating yet vexing questions: What is worship? Is the fact that worship is offered to God (or a god) what defines him (or her) as "G/god?" What does the act of worship actually involve? The conviction that God exalted Jesus to his right hand obviously is central to Christian recognition of the divine status of Jesus. But what did that mean for the first Christians as they sought to reconcile God's status and that of the human Jesus? Perhaps the worship of Jesus was not an alternative to worship of God but another way of worshiping God. The questions are challenging but readers are ably guided by James Dunn, one of the world's top New Testament scholars.




Christology from the Margins


Book Description

Provides a comprehensive queer discussion of Christology, concluding with the view of Christ's person and work from a queer perspective. Suitable for undergraduate study.




A Symphony of New Testament Hymns


Book Description

A Symphony of New Testament Hymns opens a window of insight into familiar Scripture passages - poetic passages that were later often set to music. By showing that the composers of some of these traditional New Testament, pre-60 C.E. hymns intentionally created passages that are lyrical or hymnic within the prose, this work presents the sometimes hidden depth behind their construction and meaning. Inspired by Roy Harris' Folksong Symphony, Father Karris arranges his treatment of Philippians 2:6-11, Colossians 1:15-20, Ephesians 2:14-16, Timothy 3:16, 2 Timothy 2:11-13, Titus 3:4-7, and 1 Peter 3:18-22 in a way that faith-fully addresses today's spiritual concerns, such as spirituality, ecology, reconciliation, baptism, and angels. The first book in English in thirty years to study New Testament hymns, A Symphony of New Testament Hymns brings readers greater enjoyment of these lesser-known Pauline hymns and a deepening of faith. Father Karris contends we have much to learn from what these songs proclaimed about Jesus at a time when the four gospels hadn't been published. The first chapters, Beginnings" and "Background," address the nature of hymns. Subsequent chapters contain a translation and analysis of the above texts, a study of contexts, key concepts and images, suggestions for reflection on the contemporary significance of the hymn, and an annotated bibliography. The concluding chapter offers a retrospective look at the many Christological themes reflected in the texts. Viewing Paul's letters and the common New Testament introduction topics from a refreshingly unique perspective, A Symphony of New Testament Hymns is especially appropriate for students and professors of the New Testament. Those looking for biblical spirituality, liturgists and musicians looking for new texts to set, and those in catechetical work - especially those involved in the RCIA - will also benefit from Father Karris' distinctive look at how the earliest Christians lyrically proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord. Robert J. Karris, OFM, taught New Testament for sixteen years at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He is a veteran author, known primarily for his studies on Luke. He holds a ThD from Harvard University. "




Old Testament Yahweh Texts in Paul's Christology


Book Description

How Paul reread his Bible goes hand-in-glove with the differences that developed between Christianity and Judaism.--Larry Hurtado "Journal of Biblical Literature"




The Psalms in the New Testament


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive summary of the use of the Psalms at Qumran and in the New Testament. For the first time this collection offers a set of studies which will offer an overview of the role and function of the Psalms in the first century. Each chapter considers matters of textual form, points of particular interest, and hermeneutics. Together, this collection forms an important research tool for Septuagintal and manuscript studies, first-century hermeneutics and the development of Christian apologetics and theology. The contributors have all either written or are writing monographs on their particular section of the New Testament/ Qumran. In a number of cases, the particular chapter will be the first of its kind (such as Steve Moyise's discussion of Psalms in Revelation).




Lord Jesus Christ


Book Description

This outstanding book provides an in-depth historical study of the place of Jesus in the religious life, beliefs, and worship of Christians from the beginnings of the Christian movement down to the late second century. Lord Jesus Christ is a monumental work on earliest Christian devotion to Jesus, sure to replace Wilhelm Bousset s Kyrios Christos (1913) as the standard work on the subject. Larry Hurtado, widely respected for his previous contributions to the study of the New Testament and Christian origins, offers the best view to date of how the first Christians saw and reverenced Jesus as divine. In assembling this compelling picture, Hurtado draws on a wide body of ancient sources, from Scripture and the writings of such figures as Ignatius of Antioch and Justin to apocryphal texts such as the Gospel of Thomas and the Gospel of Truth. Hurtado considers such themes as early beliefs about Jesus divine status and significance, but he also explores telling devotional practices of the time, including prayer and worship, the use of Jesus name in exorcism, baptism and healing, ritual invocation of Jesus as Lord, martyrdom, and lesser-known phenomena such as prayer postures and the curious scribal practice known today as the nomina sacra. The revealing portrait that emerges from Hurtado s comprehensive study yields definitive answers to questions like these: How important was this formative period to later Christian tradition? When did the divinization of Jesus first occur? Was early Christianity influenced by neighboring religions? How did the idea of Jesus divinity change old views of God? And why did the powerful dynamics of early beliefs and practices encourage people to make the costly move of becoming a Christian? Boasting an unprecedented breadth and depth of coverage — the book speaks authoritatively on everything from early Christian history to themes in biblical studies to New Testament Christology — Hurtado s Lord Jesus Christ is at once significant enough that a wide range of scholars will want to read it and accessible enough that general readers interested at all in Christian origins will also profit greatly from it.