Human Agents Of Cosmic Power In Hellenistic Judaism And The Synoptic Tradition

The ancient world believed that the universe was made up of elements both material and spiritual. These elemental forces affected human life positively or negatively and any human being who could share their energy was a person of great significance - a human agent of cosmic power. This is a significant part of the background of the life and career of Jesus of Nazareth. The present work is a reappraisal of Synoptic accounts of Jesus and his followers in the light of recent developments in the study of ancient magic.

The ancient world believed that the universe was made up of elements both material and spiritual. These elemental forces affected human life positively or negatively and any human being who could share their energy was a person of great significance - a human agent of cosmic power. This is a significant part of the background of the life and career of Jesus of Nazareth. The present work is a reappraisal of Synoptic accounts of Jesus and his followers in the light of recent developments in the study of ancient magic.

Thought-provoking alternative perspective on the full humanity of Jesus Christ In A Man Attested by God J. R. Daniel Kirk presents a comprehensive defense of the thesis that the Synoptic Gospels present Jesus not as divine but as an idealized human figure. Counterbalancing the recent trend toward early high Christology in such scholars as Richard Bauckham, Simon Gathercole, and Richard Hays, Kirk here thoroughly unpacks the humanity of Jesus as understood by Gospel writers whose language is rooted in the religious and literary context of early Judaism. Without dismissing divine Christologies out of hand, Kirk argues that idealized human Christology is the best way to read the Synoptic Gospels, and he explores Jesus as exorcist and miracle worker within the framework of his humanity. With wide-ranging exegetical and theological insight that sheds startling new light on familiar Gospel texts, A Man Attested by God offers up-to-date, provocative scholarship that will have to be reckoned with.

That the synoptic writers believed that Jesus cast out demons and that such a role figured prominently in the Synoptics' portrait of him can scarcely be denied. And yet, only scant scholarly attention has been focused on Jesus' role as exorcist. Even less consideration has been given to the significance of Jesus as exorcist for understanding the historical Jesus. Now, in a provocative and insightful study, Graham Twelftree helps New Testament scholars move beyond such myopia. Twelftree examines exorcists and exorcism in first-century Palestine, assesses the New Testament accounts of demons and their demise, and explores the implications and significance of the fact that Jesus was indeed an exorcist. The volume appeared originally in the noted German series Wissenschaftliche Unteruchmungen zum Neuen Testament.

Amanda Witmer presents an investigation of exorcism in the activities of the historical Jesus, particularly the connection between spirit possession and exorcism on the one hand and the socio-political context of first-century Galilee on the other. Witmer draws on research from the areas of sociology, anthropology, archaeology and biblical studies to illuminate this aspect of Jesus' career, as well as the broader social implications of spirit possession in those he treated and the exorcisms themselves. Evidence found in the strands underlying the Synoptic Gospels is evaluated using the criteria of authenticity and comparative analysis in order to establish early and historical material. Questions posed and answered concern the historical plausibility of Jesus' role as exorcist, the possibility that his own career began with a period of spirit possession, and the meaning that his exorcisms conveyed to his first-century audience. Thus, the methodology includes textual analysis, sociological analysis of general cultural patterns within which first-century Palestine can be fitted, and anthropological analysis of the plausible functions of both spirit possession and exorcism in agrarian societies.

This volume contains a series of provocative essays that explore expressions of magic and ritual power in the ancient world. The essays are authored by leading scholars in the fields of Egyptology, ancient Near Eastern studies, the Hebrew Bible, Judaica, classical Greek and Roman studies, early Christianity and patristics, and Coptology. Throughout the book the essays examine the terms employed in descriptions of ancient magic. From this examination comes a clarification of magic as a polemical term of exclusion but also an understanding of the classical Egyptian and early Greek conceptions of magic as a more neutral category of inclusion. This book should prove to be foundational for future scholarly studies of ancient magic and ritual power. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

A historical examination of the administration in Palestine between 100 BC and AD 70. Detailed case studies of such sources as Josephus, the New Testament and Philo establish who was actually involved in the decision-making process and political manoeuvering. The main issues addressed include: whether there was a system of Jewish government, and whether it included a permanent institution, the Sanhedrin; whether there is evidence that political and religious affairs were separated; whether the Jews were able to convict and execute people under Roman rule; what roles, if any, were played by individuals and social or religious groups in the administration; and what the motivation of those involved in the administration may have been.

This collection of essays is presented in honour of John C. Hurd on the occasion of his retirement as Professor of New Testament at Trinity College, Toronto, and in recognition of a distinguished career in the fields of Pauline studies and computing in the humanities. Given Professor Hurd's interest in Christian origins and methodology, it is appropriate that the contributors to this volume deal with the origin and development of various aspects of Judaism and Christianity. In particular they highlight how a greater attentiveness to method has resulted in a reshaping of our understanding of Christianity or Judaism. The volume is divided into three parts: 'New Understandings of Paul', 'New Understandings of the New Testament', and 'New Understandings of the Relationship between Judaism and Christianity'. Contributors include Walter Aufrecht, Karl Donfried, Robert Grant, John Kloppenborg, Gerd Ludemann and Wayne McCready.

This book explores the ways in which early Christian writers and communities, from late antiquity through the New Testament period, interpreted the scriptures of Israel, as they sought to understand Jesus and the Gospel in relation to God's revelation and past acts in history. These essays represent work on the growing edge of studies of the relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament. The contents, authored by both veteran and younger scholars, treat methods and canons, Jesus and the Gospels, and Acts and the Epistles.