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The book investigates omissions in the textual transmission of the Hebrew scriptures. Literary criticism (Literarkritik) commonly assumes that later editors only expanded the older text; omissions would not have taken place. This axiom is implied in analyses and introductions to the methodology. The book investigates the validity of the axiom. After a review of literature, books of methodology, and past research, texts from different parts of the Hebrew Bible are discussed with this aim in view. The investigated texts consist of examples which preserve documented evidence about editorial changes. Passages with variant editions are compared in order to understand omissions as an editorial technique. The comparison of variant witnesses includes, for example, passages where the Greek and Hebrew versions differ and cases where parallel passages differ (e.g., Chronicles in relation to Kings, the Temple Scroll in relation the Pentateuch). Example texts have been taken from the Pentateuch, Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther, Jubilees, etc.The investigation shows that omissions took place in part of the transmission of the Hebrew scriptures. Although omissions were clearly less common than additions, the conclusion challenges the axiom of literary criticism. Rejecting the conventional implementation of the methodology, the book provides a new model for understanding the transmission of the Hebrew scriptures that integrates omissions as a possible editorial technique.

From the beginning many of the early Christian communities led an ascetic lifestyle, although a good number of New Testament texts do not seem suitable for justifying radical ascetic and encratite practice. The question thus arises how the different forms of asceticism could be justified on the basis of those scriptures.The articles of the volume focus on the interpretation and application of New Testament texts in various ascetic milieus and in the works of several early Christian authors and on the reception history of New Testament texts either supporting or resisting an ascetic relecture.

These twelve essays by international scholars investigate Melanchthons theological activities as teacher, confessor of the faith, and defender of his doctrine and ecclesiastical policies as they developed within the context of his service of society and church. In the past quarter century Melanchthon researchers have scrutinized older, mostly negative, interpretations of the Preceptor Germaniae. The editors present in this volume precisely focused appraisals of Master Philip in his role as theologian at the university and in the service of his own prince and others. By carefully placing his use of Aristotle, his understanding of the nature of training for pastoral ministry, his biblical exegesis in context, by analyzing four of his attempts to formulate Wittenberg teaching in public confession, by assessing how his own writings took on normative character for the church, and by tracing his thinking on the free will and the Lords Supper in the midst of controversy, these authors offer carefully etched portraits of Melanchthon as Preceptor ecclesiae. This volume contributes to the expansion of our understanding of Melanchthon as key figure in the Wittenberg Reformation and the currents of controversy that have long surrounded the interpretation of his contributions.

Joar Haga traces the Lutheran doctrine of communicatio idiomatum, the exchange of properties between the natures of Christ, as it developed in some important controversies of the 16th and the early 17th Century. Regarding it as the nerve of his soteriology, Luther stressed the intimacy of the two natures in Christ to such a degree that it threatened to end the peaceful relationship between theology and philosophy. At the same time as the Wittenberg reformers broke with certain strains of their philosophical heritage, they would insist that the continuation of Christs bodily presence was a reality in sacrament and nature (!), irreducible to a sign or to a memory. On the other hand, they did not want to be ignorant of the claims of reason. By rejecting the classic framework for a peaceful coexistence of philosophy and theology on the one hand, and insisting on Christs bodily reality on the other, the quest for a new concept of how philosophy and theology related was implicitly stated.Earlier research identified two traditions of Lutheran Christology: One train of thought follows Luther in emphasising the difference between philosophy and theology. This can be seen in the Tubingen solutions where Johannes Brenz and Theodor Thumm are the most interesting thinkers. Another train of thought can be found in the conservative pupils of Melanchthon, where Martin Chemnitz and Balthasar Mentzer are the most prominent theologians. This research does not merely group the thinkers within the confines of a tradition, but underlines their individual contributions to an open-ended history.

In short, the central argument of this study posits that Goodwins Christology is grounded in, and flows out of, the eternal covenant of redemption, also known as the pactum salutis or counsel of peace. That is to say, his Christology does not begin in the temporal realm at the incarnation, but stretches back into eternity when the persons of the Trinity covenanted to bring about the salvation of fallen mankind. Goodwins Christology moves from the pretemporal realm to the temporal realm with a decidedly eschatological thrust, that is, with a view to the glory of the God-man, Jesus Christ. What this work does is connect two vital aspects of Reformed theology, namely, the doctrine of Christ and the concept of the covenant. The findings of this study show that, for Goodwin, Christ is the Christ of the covenant.

Starting with an exegesis of the book of Chronicles as a single corpus, Jozef Tino sees the king-temple relationship as the leitmotiv of Chronicles. He shows that the Chronicler expresses a specific attitude to the kingship ideology and examines the text from the perspective of its relations with the post-exilic theological traditions when only the Temple in Jerusalem was a living institution but the monarchy was a mere memory from the distant past. Thereby this study offers a new perspective on the whole of Chronicles.

The European reformations meant major changes in theology, religion, and everyday life. Some changes were immediate and visible in a number of countries: monasteries were dissolved, new liturgies were introduced, and married pastors were ordained, others were more hidden. Theologically, as well as practically the position of the church in the society changed dramatically, but differently according to confession and political differences.This volume addresses the question of how the theological, liturgical, and organizational changes changes brought by the reformation within different confessional cultures throughout Europe influenced the everyday life of ordinary people within the church and within society.The different contributions in the book ask how lived religion, space, and everyday life were formed in the aftermath of the reformation, and how we can trace changes in material culture, in emotions, in social structures, in culture, which may be linked to the reformation and the development of confessional cultures.

Assurance was a central issue for the eminent Scottish theologian-pastor Thomas Boston long before it emerged as a focal point of the theological debate in the Marrow Controversy. In The Marrow of Certainty, Chun Tse presents the first full-length study of Bostons theology of assurance in six dimensions: trinitarian, covenantal, Christological, soteriological, ecclesiastical, and sacramental. This work not only furnishes the first-ever intellectual biography of Boston in his Scottish context and controversies, but it also cross-studies the theology of the Marrow of Modern Divinity with Bostons notes. This research argues that Bostons doctrine of assurance centres on union and communion with Christ, the architectonic principle of his theology. The book challenges the common conception that Bostons theology merely follows Calvin, the Scots Confession, the Marrow, the Westminster Standards, and Scottish federalism. Boston, most strikingly, holds in tension assurance as intrinsic to faithitself a gift from Gods sovereignty in electionwhile insisting on self-examination as a human responsibility. This salient mark of his doctrine of assurance originates from his assertion that Christ died for the elect alone but allelect or nothave the warrant to receive Christ. As such, assurance is, theologically, a divine gift and, pastorally, a human endeavour. Certainty is thus both extra nos and intra nos. Boston, this study reveals, has a potent and enduring power to speak on the perennial issue of assurance, rooted in the person of Christ, whom he considers as being the covenant itself.

Why cant Christians agree about communion? Why is it that in some churches all worship services culminate in a holy meal whereas other churches celebrate this "holy supper" only once in a while? Theologian Gregory Soderberg has researched this question, excavating patterns of communion frequency within one of the bigger Christian families: the Reformed tradition. Despite being the sacrament of unity, the eucharist has often been a cause of strife in Christian churches.In his study, Gregory David Soderberg is the first to focus in depth on communion frequency in the Reformed tradition. He concludes that, although the 16th century Reformers desired more frequent communion, this was balanced by their desire to create mature Christian communities. So, preachers and church leaders stressed the priority of moral conduct and the importance of understanding what the eucharist meant for Protestants. The study analyses sources from the very beginnings of this tradition in 16th century Zurich and Geneva, and it follows its trajectories through England and Scotland all the way down to 19th century USA. Ultimately, it is hoped that understanding the polemics of the past will help churches today to celebrate the sacrament of unity more meaningfully.

The founders and forerunners of the Southern Baptist Convention were fundamentally shaped by the thought of Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards and his theological successors. While Baptists in the antebellum South boasted a different theological pedigree than Presbyterians or Congregationalists, and while they inhabited a Southern landscape unfamiliar to the bustling cities and tall forests of New England, they believed their similarities with Edwards far outweighed their differences. Like Edwards, these Baptists were revivalistic, Calvinistic, loosely confessional, and committed to practical divinity. In these four things, Southern Edwardseanism lived, moved, and had its being. In the nineteenth-century, when so many Presbyterians scoffed at Edwardss "innovation" and Methodists scorned his Calvinism, Baptists found in Edwards a man after their own heart. By 1845, at the first Southern Baptist Convention, Southern Edwardseans had laid the groundwork for a convention marked by the theology of Jonathan Edwards.

If salvation makes a person to become God, then how do we understand the word God? Audy Santoso assesses Robert Jensons notion of deification on three main areas: the concept of God, Christ, and self along with their ramifications. In this comparative study, Jensons revisionary metaphysics in his theology opens up an insightful perspective in reading John Calvins theology. Discussion on the Supper shows the intricate relation of what these theologians hope for with the practice of our lives in God. The author makes a comparative assessment and integration between the seemingly opposite metaphysics of Jenson and Calvin while keeping the Creator-creature distinction of Reformed theology intact. Jenson says that the end is music, but the author affirms a better way without negating Jensons.

On a primary level, the author seeks to answer the question, what is the best interpretation of . "The Knowledge of Good and Evil," in Gen 2:9, 17; 3:5, and 3:22? In Gen 3:5 and 3:22, this knowledge is said to be possessed by YHWH and the divine beings. This study analyzes the permutations of ) "good") and ("evil/bad") in the Hebrew Bible, with a majority focus in Genesis and the Deuteronomistic History and with a focus upon those textual instances in which YHWH has influence over good and bad/evil. Due to the results of the data, the author brings in a second level of discussion that focuses upon the hermeneutical principle of divine retribution as a structuring element for ancient Near Eastern historiography. On a third level, the author turns to divine blessing and cursing, and its association with good and evil in ancient Near Eastern texts and in the Hebrew Bible. Due to this specific theocentric analysis of the lexemes juxtaposed with the authors wider study of ancient Near Eastern history and culture, the answer to the guiding question of this study is therefore proposed by the author as, The Divine Knowledge for Administering Reward and Punishment. Ergo, the Eden Narrative tells a story of how humans partly attain divinity becoming like YHWH and the divine beings (Gen 3:5; 3:22; Ps 82) in having acquired the forbidden divine knowledge for wielding ultimate power.

Patristic and rabbinic biblical interpretations are significant contributions to the identity construction of late antique Christian and Jewish groups. The contributions in this conference volume illuminate the reception of biblical texts, themes and figures in patristic and rabbinic writings from the 2nd to the 8th century. They reveal processes of mutual demarcation, which are sometimes extremely polemical, sometimes only implicit and indirectly accessible. The correct interpretation of Scripture is claimed for ones own "we", while at the same time distinguishing it from the "others". Nevertheless, similarities and mutual positive references are clearly recognizable. Especially the often so polemical Christian interpretation is from the beginning rooted in the Jewish tradition and based on it. But also the rabbinic interpretation shows traces of the controversy with Christianity.

Was the Cistercian abbey in Krzeszów really a European center of art and theological thought? This study in eight chapters tries to answer this question. The first chapter shows how deep the foundations of the Krzeszow Abbey go. The next three chapters are devoted to various works, initiatives and architecture of the Baroque era. First, the unique painting of Our Lady of Mercy in the Mater Misericordiae type, which was created in 1624, was presented. Then, the sculptural foundations of Abbot Geyer in the area of the Krzeszow abbey and in its latifundia were discussed. Finally, the architecture of the baroque abbey church, unique on a European scale, was presented. Grace of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This proves what an extraordinary center Krzeszow was in terms of the art created there.In the next two chapters, the reader finds the answer to the question: Was Krzeszow also a significant theological center in Europe at that time? First in terms of Catholic dogmatic, and then in terms of biblical linguistics.The study ends with two chapters, the first of which focuses on the sacralization of the landscape by introducing modern forms of imitation of the Holy Land and the cult of saints. The second one presents the baroque iconography of the Cistercian monastery in Krzeszow from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 20th century, which shows the changes in its social function over the centuries.

Although several of Schlinks writings, including his study of baptism, have been available in English for many decades, the publication of the new German edition offered a significant impetus for providing a fresh and more accurate translation of them. The first English edition of his book on baptism, published in 1972, was an abridgment of the German original. In this new edition, words and sentences that were omitted from the first edition have been restored and complete bibliographic information has been given. The editor has also provided many explanatory endnotes that help to illuminate the books contents. Schlink took the doctrine of baptism seriously, as if it truly matters for the unity of the church. Again and again, he returns to the gospel and its promises that are tied to baptism. While formally open toward siblings in Christ beyond his own confession, his humble and conciliatory method of ecumenism was undertaken consciously and intentionally from within a Lutheran confessional perspective.

Antoni Nadbrzeny exposes the personalistic character of Schillebeeckxs Mariology. In his book the author presents Mary as a human being whose holiness is great and mysterious. According to the Flemish theologian, Mary becomes the guarantor of the full and true humanity of Jesus. It is a Mariology that finds its foundation in the history of salvation. The book does not follow the path of abstract metaphysics, but pays more attention to the real and existential elements of Marys life. This reinterpretation finds its source in the application of phenomenological thought. In his theological picture of Mary, Schillebeeckx rejects all Gnostic, idyllic and dualistic thoughts. The Mother of God appears as someone who seeks God, who shares the tragic fate of the world and recognizes her place and mission in salvation history. She participates in human suffering and the trial of faith.

Critical spatial approaches particularly those informed by the scholarship of Lefebvre, Foucault, and Soja have significantly impacted biblical scholarship over the last twenty years. However, these spatial approaches have been limited due to the methodological challenges inherent in transposing the social-scientific approaches of the aforementioned scholars to the task of biblical interpretation. This volume adapts conceptual metaphor theory as a methodological bridge to address such constraints. The first half of the volume begins by surveying the field of critical spatiality in biblical studies, arguing for the need for fresh methodological development. Thereafter, the volume delineates a particular critical spatial approach, inspired by Lefebvre and Foucault, for which conceptual metaphor theory is proposed as a methodological bridge. The second half of the volume begins by proposing the Psalms of Ascents as a case study upon which the method could be applied. It is then argued that the proposed method if efficacious should provide insight on corpus"Zion theology" and its so-called pilgrimage character. Using the proposed method in conjunction with conventional historical-grammatical tools of poetic analysis, each psalm is analysed with regard to its metaphor and spatiality. The volume concludes that the case study demonstrates the efficacy of the proposed methods by allowing a rich reading of each psalm, especially by explicating the spatial narratives and/or spatial metaphorical conceptualisations that underlie each text, and providing fresh insight on the collection as a whole.This volume has been awarded the2024 Rev. Dr Lien-Hwa Chow Memorial Foundations Outstanding Theological Research Book Award. This award is "to recognize and promote outstanding theological research and publications by Chinese scholars".

Christianity claims that the incarnation provides reliable knowledge about God but also that the incarnation was undertaken freely and thus need not have happened. Alexander Garton-Eisenacher resolves this tension between epistemological reliability and divine freedom, building particularly from the work of Karl Barth. Garton-Eisenacher offers a fresh reading of the Church Dogmatics that demonstrates how Barths theology provides a promising starting point but notes that his argument is ultimately undermined by the doctrine of eternity within which it is framed. The author overcomes this issue by showing how the promising motifs employed by Barth can be authentically derived from the classical doctrine of eternity instead. In so doing, this work shows that reading classical eternity against a Barthian background also serves to draw out a more temporal interpretation of the doctrine than its contemporary characterization, reclaiming it as a viable Christian understanding of Gods relationship to time.

One of the most fundamental questions when reading and trying to understand New Testament texts is the question of genre. It is impossible to understand a text, its meaning and intention, in its proper historical setting if one does not understand its genre: As an example, interpreting a satirical text without understanding the genre would no doubt lead to grave misunderstandings. The same logic applies to texts from the New Testament, and the matter is complicated even further by the immense historical gap between the time of the genesis of the New Testament canon and now. The problem of the New Testament texts genre(s) is therefore a vital area of scholarly discussion within international New Testament scholarship.The current volume utilizes the newest insights from current research on the New Testament to cast new light on the question of the genre of Marks Gospel. Here, prominent international New Testament scholars discuss how we should understand the genre(s) of Marks Gospel, thus making an important contribution to international scholarship on the Gospel of Mark as well as the Gospel genre in general.

During the first half of the sixteenth century the Spanish Inquisition fought "Lutheranism" in a benign way, but as time passed the power struggle between those that favoured reform and the detractors intensified, until persecution became relentless under the mandate of Inquisitor General Fernando de Valdes. The power struggle did not catch Constantino by surprise, but the tables turned faster than he had expected. On 1 August 1558 Constantino preached his last sermon in the cathedral of Seville; fifteen days later he was imprisoned. Constantinos evangelising zeal is evident in all his works, but the core of his theology can be found in Beatus Vir, where he deals with the doctrines of sin and pardon, free grace, providence, predestination, and the relationship between faith and works. In his exposition of Psalm 1, Constantino does not resort to human philosophies but associates the spiritual fall of humanity with ugliness. In his exhortation to the reader, he states: "we shall plainly see the repulsiveness of that which seems so good in the eyes of insane men, and the beauty and greatness of that which the Divine Word has promised and assured those who turn to its counsel."