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This volume examines the role of identity formation and stages of sequencing of the steps of reconciliation which is an enduring rather than ad an ad hoc phenomenon. RIPAR 4 asks for both the challenges to it from the domestic and international systems and the actors involved, as well as for the role of history, memory and remembrance either as catalysts for or obstacles to reconciliation. The analyzing of the connection among the past, the present and the future in actual or prospective reconciliation embraces all these topics and questions.Influenced by the crisis in the former Sovjet Union following the March 2014 Russian annexation/integration of Crimea and the movement of Russian soldiers into Eastern Ukraine to aid Ukrainian separatists the essays in this volume were written in 2015. Reconciliation is a frequently ill-defined term. As an aspiration in this volume it encompasses three senses: an incipient, thin and minimal form amounting to passive, peaceful coexistence after enmity; a more elaborate, intermediate and engaged form that is captured by the term rapprochement; and a thick or fuller form denoting active friendship, empathy, trust, magnanimity and, ultimately, amity. Beyond the definitional goal, the volume addresses ten themes. Firstly, reconciliation is being questioned as a process and/ or a terminal condition. A view is made on the requirements for the transition from conflict to a reconciliatory process, and the obstacles to beginning a process of reconciliation. Its soft and hard expressions inter alia in emotional and political dimensions are also subject of the authors interest. The observations about conflict and cooperation offered in this volume wish to add significantly to the burgeoning literature of reconciliation. These essays demonstrate that we need a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives to grapple with conflict and to promote reconciliation.

Novick studies the relationship between rabbinic midrash and classical (and to a lesser extent pre-classical) piyyut?. The first focuses on features of piyyut? that distinguish it, at least prima facie, from rabbinic midrash: its performative character, its formal constraints, and its character as prayer. The second part considers midrash and piyyut? together via an analysis of a narrative form that looms large in both corpora. The "serial narrative" is a narrative that binds biblical history together by stringing together instance of the "same" event across multiple time periods. Thereby, Novick surveys basic features of serial narratives in midrash and piyyut?. Subsequent chapters take up instance of specific serial narrative forms from Second Temple literature to piyyut: the kingdom series, the salvation history, and the serial confession. Together, the two parts yield a nuanced account of the continuities and discontinuities between the two great corpora produced by rabbinic and para-rabbinic circles in Roman Palestine.

This is a study on Reformed theological debates during the Long Eighteenth Century in Britain and New England. By Long a period that goes beyond 17001799 is in view. This examination begins just before the eighteenth century by looking at the Neonomian-Antinomian debate in the 1690s. This is followed by the Marrow Controversy in Scotland in the eighteenth century. After that, the authors address the ecclesiological debates between George Whitefield and the Erskines. The doctrine of free choice concerning Edwards and his departure from classical Reformed orthodoxy is highlighted next, followed by reflections on the Edwardseans and the atonement. Returning to Britain again, the volume provides a study on hyper-Calvinism, and on eschatological differences among key figures in the eighteenth century. More specific debates in particular Baptist circles are noted, including the battle over Sandemandianism and the Trinitarian battles fought by Andrew Fuller and others. Returning to ecclesiology, a discussion on the subscription controversy in Philadelphia in the early eighteenth century and an analysis of the debate about the nature of revival in New England close this volume.

The doctrine of the pactum salutis (covenant of redemption) offers the idea of a covenant between the very persons of the Trinity for the redemption of humanity. The doctrine received most of its attention in seventeenth-century Reformed theology, and has been criticized and almost totally forgotten in dogmatics since the eighteenth century. Most recent Reformed dogmatics tend to ignore the doctrine or disparage it from biblical, trinitarian, christological, pneumatological, and soteriological perspectives-namely, the doctrine lacks scriptural basis; it is tritheistic; it leads to subordination of the Son; it omits the role of the Holy Spirit; and it applies a deterministic idea for the Christian life. The theologies of Witsius, Owen, Dickson, Goodwin, and Cocceius portray a very robust form of the doctrine. Witsius argues with the help of a peculiar methodology of cross-referencing and collation of related scriptural texts that the doctrine is firmly based on biblical exegesis that was passed on from the patristic era. The doctrine formulated by Owen endorses the doctrines of inseparable operations and terminus operationis so as to give deep insight into the Trinity. In Dicksons doctrine, the Sons voluntary consent and obedience to the will of the Father are highly emphasized. Likewise, Goodwins depiction of the Holy Spirit secures the divinity of the Spirit as well as his indispensable role for the transaction and accomplishment of the pactum. The doctrine in the theology of Cocceius sheds much light on the vibrant dynamic of the Christian life in accordance with the ordo salutis. The doctrine of the pactum salutis of the five Reformed theologians clearly shows that the doctrine is both promised and promising for theology and the life of faith.

Within the book of Job, the interlocutors (Job, the friends, and Yahweh) seem to largely ignore one anothers arguments.This observation leads some to propose that the dialogue lacks conceptual coherence. Lance Hawley argues that the interlocutors tangentially and sometimes overtly attend to previously stated points of view and attempt to persuade their counterparts through the employment of metaphor.Hawley uses the theoretical approach of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to trace the concepts of speech and animals throughout the dialogue. Beyond explaining the individual metaphors in particular texts, he shows how speech metaphors compete with one another, most perceptibly in the expressions of jobs words are wind. With regard to animal metaphors, coherence is especially perceptible in the job is a predatory animal metaphor. In these expressions, the dialogue demonstrates intentional picking-up on previously stated arguments.Hawley argues that the animal images in the divine speeches are not metaphorical, in spite of recent scholarly interpretation that reads them as such. Rather, Yahweh appears as a sage to question the negative status of wild animals that Job and his friends assume in their significations of people are animals. This is especially apparent in Yahwehs strophes on the lion and the wild donkey, both of which appear multiple times in the metaphorical expressions of Job and his friends.

Coolhaes was a Reformed preacher, a writer of theology, a critic of the churches of his day, and an advocate of religious diversity. Coolhaes opposed much of the building up of the organization of the Reformed Church in the Northern Netherlands and Dutch Republic in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The struggle between Coolhaes and the Leiden magistrates on one side and the Leiden consistory and fellow-preacher Pieter Cornelisz on the other encapsulated the question of authority which was being asked by many. At the same time, Coolhaes theology, especially his Spiritualistic understanding of the sacraments, his Erastianism, and his views on free will made him suspicious to his Reformed colleagues. The latter of which leading him later to be labeled the forerunner of Arminius and the Remonstrants. All this eventually led to his defrocking at the synod of Middelburg and soon after to excommunication from the Reformed Church. The question this book answers, therefore, is: What sort of church would the critic Coolhaes himself have wanted to design for the new Republic?The first part of the book gives a new biographical sketch. Fresh information, sources, and un-examined works by Coolhaes himself have been uncovered since H.C. Rogges nineteenth-century biography. In the second part the ecclesiology of Coolhaes takes center stage: His ideal church would have been characterized by diversity, for diversity of religious confessions in the same society would stabilize it and diversity of views even within a confession would not harm it.

Frances Luttikhuizen chronicles the arrival, reception, and suppression of Protestant thought in sixteenth century Spainreferred to at that time as Lutheranism. It opens with several chapters describing the socio-political-religious context that prevailed in Spain at the beginning of the sixteenth century and the growing trend to use the vernacular for parts of the Mass, as well as for catechizing the populace. Special attention is given to the forerunners, that is, the early alumbrado-deixados, the role of Cardinal Cisneros, and the impact of Erasmus and Juan de Valdes, etc. The use of archival material provides new details regarding the historical framework and the spread of evangelical thought in sixteenth century Spain. These dispatches and trial records greatly enrich the main body of the work, which deals with the arrival and confiscation of evangelical literature, the attitude of Charles V and Philip II towards religious dissidents, and the severe persecution of the underground evangelical circles at Seville and Valladolid. Special attention is given to the many women involved in the movement. The recurrent mention of the discovery and confiscation of prohibited literature shows how books played an important role in the development of the movements. The final chapters focus on the exiles and their contributions, the persecution of foreigners, and the years up to the abolition of the Inquisition. The work concludes with the efforts made in the nineteenth century to rediscover the history of the persecuted sixteenth century Spanish Protestants and their writings.

Theologians, Church Historians, Historical Theologians.

The focus of this study is on Oecolampadiuss 1534 commentary on the biblical book of Hebrews, which derived from his theology lectures at the University of Basel in 1529-1530. Jeff Fisher compares his exegesis with more than twenty-five of the most relevant interpreters from the early church to the Reformation. He shows that by recovering and adapting an Alexandrian interpretive notion of Christ as the goal of Scripture, Oecolampadiuss Christoscopic reading of Scripture served as an essential step in the shift toward Reformed interpretative approaches, such as that of John Calvin.

In recent decades New Testament scholarship has developed an increasing interest in how the Gospel of John interacts with literary conventions of genre and form in the ancient Jewish and Greco-Roman context. The present volume brings together leading scholars in the field in order to discuss the status quaestionis and to identify new exegetical frontiers. In the Fourth Gospel, genres and forms serve as vehicles of ideological and theological meaning. The contributions to this volume aim at demonstrating how awareness of ancient and modern genre theories and practices advances our understanding of the Fourth Gospel, both in terms of the text as a whole (gospel, ancient biography, drama, romance, etc.) and in terms of the various literary tiles that contribute to the Gospels genre mosaic.

Over the past several centuries, John Owens writings on scripture have captured the attention of numerous interpreters across a relatively diverse range of disciplines. His own distinctive contribution to this doctrine was forged with a genuine fear for the on-going pre-eminence of scriptural authority in the English church firmly in view. In the face of various rival perspectives, Owen insists every Christian believer ought to be clear on the reason they believe scripture to be the word of God. Focussing on the treatise Reason of Faith (1677) in conversation with his wider theological corpus, Andrew M. Leslie studies Owens approach to scriptural authority and Christian faith. He argues that Owen creatively drew upon an ecumenical dogmatic and metaphysical heritage to restate and refine the traditional Reformed position on scriptures divine authority, sensitive to developments in his own late seventeenth-century context. In particular, Leslie explores how Owen shares a growing concern to ground Christian faith in objective evidence, all-the-while ensuring that its ultimate foundation lies in the irresistible authority and truthfulness of God, mediated "in and by" the inspired text of scripture. Leslie also draws out the broader significance Owen ascribes to scripture in shaping a believers relationship with the Triune God, especially its vital role in their gradual transformation into the likeness or image of Christ.

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs (T12P), one of the longest texts of the so-called "Old Testament Pseudepigrapha," presents the fictitious farewell speeches that the twelve sons of Jacob held on their respective deathbeds. Tom de Bruin examines these twelve monologues as literary products in order to understand the function of the text for the setting in which it was composed. He approaches T12P from three directions: an analysis of the paraenetic parts, a discussion of the anthropology, and a comparative examination of other contemporaneous works documenting a world-view similar to T12P.These three approaches merge into a detailed discussion about the reasoning behind the admonition in T12P, and identifies the fundamental message of the text, namely that each person stands between the forces of good and evil and that this person is called to constantly decide which way to follow. Though T12P is still familiar with the apocalyptic origin and plays with the cosmological implications of this great controversy, the text clearly puts the emphasis on the battle inside each individual. It is thereby an important witness for reinterpreting and reapplying apocalyptic traditions through ethicizing them and focusing on the individual. Such an individualistic application of the great controversy theme can be found in a number of other (mostly Christian) works, revealing a similar understanding of mankinds existence and development as in T12P. The analysis of the ethical reappropriation of apocalyptic traditions in T12P provides important insights into the foundations of early Christian ethics, ancient anthropology, and the Jewish and Christian understanding of the struggle between good and evil.

The reforms begun by Luther and Calvin became two of the largest and most influential movements to arise in the sixteenth century, but frequently, these two movements are seen and defined as polar opposites ones theology is Reformed or Lutheran, one is a member of a Reformed or Lutheran congregation. Historically, these were two very separate movements but more remains to be understood that can best be analyzed in the context of the other.Just as surely as the historical question of the boundaries between Calvin and Luther, or Lutheranism and Calvinism must be answered with a resounding yes, the ongoing doctrinal questions offer a different picture. In the more systematic doctrinal articles, an argument is forwarded that the broad confessional continuity between Luther and Calvin on the soteriological theme of union with Christ offers still-unexplored avenues to both deeper understandings of soteriology. Through such articles, we begin to see the possibility of a rapprochement between Calvin and Luther as sources, though not as historical figures. But that insight allows the conversation to extend, and bear far greater fruit.Contributors are, J.T. Billings, Ch. Helmer , H.P. Jurgens, S.C. Karant-Nunn, R. Kolb, Th.F. Latini, G.S. Pak, J. Watt, T.J. Wengert, P. Westermeyer, and D.M. Whitford.

Jordan J. Ballor takes as his point of departure the doctrine of the covenant as it appears in the theology of the prominent second-generation reformer, Wolfgang Musculus (14971563), who is perhaps the earliest Reformed theologian to give the topic of the covenant a separate and distinct treatment in a collection of theological commonplaces. Musculus teaching on the covenant is characterized by the important distinction he makes between general and special covenants, and it is rooted in his exegetical work on the book of Genesis. Where Musculus Loci communes demonstrate his antispeculative, soteriologically focused and pastorally driven approach, his exegesis provides fulsome guidance in the study of Scripture. This examination of Musculus views on covenant and related doctrines is followed by explorations concerning causality and metaphysics. It concludes with considerations on law and social order. This book is the first full-scale study to place Musculus theology within its broader intellectual context and to focus on Musculus theology as found both in his Loci communes and in his extensive and voluminous exegetical work. Musculus positions on doctrines related to covenant, causality and law reveal the eclecticism of Reformed reception of medieval traditions. The final section of this study places Musculus within the later development of Reformed orthodoxy in the 16th and 17th centuries, concluding that Wolfgang Musculus is a significant and often-overlooked figure worthy of further consideration.

As the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament the Septuagint is probably the first great translation project of Greco-Roman antiquity. Together with the Septuagint text the religion and culture of ancient Judaism came to the fore of a Greek speaking audience, which did not have any access to the holy scriptures of the Jews in Hebrew. That translation project also manifested a transfer of religious, social, and anthropological categories and concepts of Semitic origin to another cultural world of language and science that itself was shaped by Hellenism.Over the last years the Septuagint has gradually edged closer into the interest of Biblical scholars and into the centre of historical and philological research. In the course of this main attention has not only been paid to further particulars of its origination in Alexandria but also on various linguistic specifics and distinctive features with regards to content of the Greek Bible. The question, however, which has hardly been studied so far, is to what extent the Greek translation of the Bible consists of stylistic and rhetorical elements that are not present in the Hebrew source text. Did the translators made use of their rhetoric and stylistic skills to give their translations a distinctive ornatus? Can we, according to Augustine, rightly claim that not only the authors of the Biblical texts but also the translators knew to formulate et eloquenter et sapienter, i.e. in an eloquent and wise manner? This issue, neglected in current research, is taken up in this collected volume. Seven scholars investigate into stylistic and rhetorical elements present in various books of the Bible (e.g., Psalms, Amos, and Solomons Book of Wisdom) and establish a field of work that deserves to receive more attention in the future.Contributors are Eberhard Bons, Jennifer M. Dines, Katrin Hauspie, Jan Joosten, Thomas J. Kraus, A. Leonas, and K. Usener.

This exegetical study of creation and nature in 4 Ezra argues that this first-century Jewish apocalypses profound pessimism concerning humankind and the present age is matched by a surprisingly robust belief in the goodness of the created order. 4 Ezra presents the natural world as standing with God over and against corrupt humankind, envisions substantial elements of continuity between the ages and hints that those parts of the earth that remain unsullied by humankind still witness to Gods sovereignty, love and justice and even serve as material pointers to the new creation. This study calls into question the persistent assumption that apocalypticism and the apocalyptic eschatology of the historical apocalypses in particular necessarily entails a profound dualism. Emerging as it does from an experience of historical disaster and unresolved questions of theodicy, 4 Ezra especially is often considered an apocalypse in which the doctrine of the two ages has been radicalised to the extent that creation, history and life in this world have lost their meaning or significance. The results of this study, however, indicate that while 4 Ezra considers the world of humankind to be corrupted and corrupting, in the natural world the creators sovereignty is not so obscured, and there his original intentions for creation can still be perceived. This study provides a fresh reading of 4 Ezra that takes seriously the books unity and coherence. Its conclusions suggest that it may be best to abandon the label apocalyptic eschatology given its potential mask the interesting complexities and mix of continuity and discontinuity that attend the portrayal of creation, nature and hope in an apocalypse like 4 Ezra.

Frederik A.V. Harms untersucht Calvins Ekklesiologie ausgehend von dessen Kommentar zu den Kleinen Propheten von 15571559. Harms stellt Calvins Sicht auf die Kirche aus historisch-systematischer Sicht dar. Seine Studie uber die Ekklesiologie des groen Reformers wird begleitet von zwei historischen Teilen. Zum einen bietet Harms Calvins historischen Kontext aus den Jahren 1558 bis 1559, als dieser Vorlesungen zu den Kleinen Propheten hielt. Andererseits bietet Harms einen Uberblick uber die Auslegungsgeschichte der Kleinen Propheten von der Zeit der Fruhen Kirche bis zur ersten Generation reformierter Orthodoxie.

Der reformierte Theologe Peter Martyr Vermigli (14991562) war ein Moderator. Er suchte den Mittelweg zwischen theologischen Extremen. Dafur typisch waren seine Uberlegungen zu den aueren Zeichen der gottlichen Gnade. Solche Zeichen die menschliche Natur Christi, die vernehmbaren Worte der Schrift und die sichtbaren Worte der Sakramente sollten laut Vermigli weder zu stark verfleischlicht noch zu stark spiritualisiert werden. Obwohl Gott auch direkt, ohne dazwischen geschaltete Zeichen, handeln konnte, hat er verfugt, Heil durch diese Zeichen zu erwirken. Deshalb lassen sich die innere spirituelle Kraft und das auere Zeichen nicht voneinander trennen. Vermigli, ein gebildeter humanistischer Forscher, vertrat wohl bedachte, distinguierte Positionen. Ein tieferer Blick in seine Theologie, wie ihn Zuidema wagt, lohnt sich, um die inneren theologischen Vernetzungen seiner Zeit besser kennen zu lernen.

Stand-Alone Commentary Set from Christopher Ash Sets Out a Deeply Christian Study of the PsalmsWhile reading Psalms, it is common for commentaries to focus on Old Testament meaning, without connecting it deeply to Christs fulfillment in the New Testament. By studying Scripture this way, believers miss out on the fullness of Gods word. The key to experiencing authentically Christian worship is learning a Christ-focused approach to praying and singing the Psalms.In this comprehensive, 4-volume commentary, Christopher Ash provides a thorough treatment of all 150 Psalms, examining each psalms significance to David and the other psalmists, to Jesus during his earthly ministry, and to the church of Christ in every age. The first volume in the set is a detailed handbook that explains how to interpret the Psalms with Christ at the center. The remaining 3 volumes cover each psalm in depth, with introductory quotations, a deep analysis of the texts structure and vocabulary, and a closing reflection and response. Ash also includes selected quotations from older readings of the Psalms, including patristic, medieval, Reformation, and post-Reformation scholars. Perfect for pastors, Bible teachers, and students, this commentary set helps readers sing and pray the Psalms with Christ in view.Stand-Alone Commentary: Christopher Ashs research also builds on other commentaries for a comprehensive, thorough resource on the Psalms Exhaustive: Ashs exegesis includes all 150 Psalms and their superscriptions, and explores how the Psalms are quoted and echoed throughout the New Testament Applicable and Heartfelt: Explains how a Christ-centered approach to reading the Psalms influences doctrines of prayer, prophecy, the Trinity, ecclesiology, and more Ideal for Pastors and Serious Students of Scripture: Written for Bible teachers, Sunday school and youth leaders, and small-group leaders

In this volume, the contributions analyze diverse apocalyptic phenomena, religious and secular alike. The authors use the category of entanglements in order to demonstrate that the terms "religious" and "secular" remain ideal type abstractions, which dissolve upon a closer empirical look. They converge on the assumption that apocalypse as literature genre and lens of interpretation either leads towards emancipation or totalitarian control. The role of apocalypse in the advance of modernity is analyzed and how the once religious concept changes through secularization and adaptation by various movements on the political spectrum. The main goal is to achieve mutual appreciation by both religious and secular actors alike, who seek to enhance the common good. Both the church and secular society must humbly recognize that each needs the other. The church must recover its apocalyptic roots and the secular society admit its limitations.