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The origins of Christianity

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This is a revised and updated version of a student textbook concerning the historical problems involved in the study of the New Testament and modern techniques for solving them. The author also examines the influence of the New Testament on subsequent religious and secular history. ; The life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and the beginnings of the movement which venerated him are of profound religious significance to Christian believers today. However, these events are also part of our common history and have had enormous influence on the development of Western civilization, They are, therefore, legitimate subjects of historical enquiry. The historical introduction to the New Testament investigates the foundation of the new religious movement in the life of Jesus, the experiences which acted as a catalyst on missionary activity after his death, the factors which led to a separation of the movement from Judaism, and the development of the ecclesiastical structure through which Christianity has influenced subsequent secular and religious history.

Title The origins of Christianity : a historical introduction to the New Testament / Schuyler Brown.
Edition Revised edition.
Publisher Oxford, England : Oxford University Press
Creation Date 1993
Notes Previous ed.: 1984.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Content Intro -- Contents -- 1. INTRODUCTION -- 2. HISTORY AND THE NEW TESTAMENT -- Christianity and the rise of historical consciousness -- Past and future in the New Testament -- The rise of modern historiography -- The sources for earliest Christianity -- The 'apostolic age' and the 'apostolic writings' -- The problem of 'origins' in modern historiography -- The critical function of historiography -- The social history of earliest Christianity: reading between the lines -- Historical criticism and the testimony of religious writers -- Ancient historiography -- The problem of source material -- The problem of canonicity -- Fundamentalism and exaggerated scepticism -- Historical affirmations and faith affirmations -- Dating the New Testament books -- New Testament references to the fall of Jerusalem -- Literary and theological evidence -- The expectation of Jesus' return -- Theological similarity as evidence for contemporaneity -- The Gallic inscription -- The dating of Luke-Acts -- The testimony of the New Testament books to their contemporary situation -- The influence of literary genre -- The sources of the New Testament authors -- Biblical interpretation in the first century CE -- Interaction between 'prophecy and 'fulfilment' -- Interaction between Judaism and Hellenism -- Indications of earlier sources -- Stylistic assimilation and 'imitatio' -- The sources of Acts -- The sources of the Jesus tradition -- Form criticism -- A Scandinavian alternative -- The origin of the Jesus tradition -- The Gospels in the context of Graeco-Roman literature -- 3. JESUS OF NAZARETH -- Jesus as a historical problem -- Theological presuppositions of the 'new quest' -- Two theories of post-Easter creation of gospel tradition -- Jesus' condemnation and death: the starting point for historical reconstruction -- Jesus' controversies with the scribes.
Jesus and the Jesus tradition -- Acts and Paul -- Jesus, history, and the kerygma -- Jesus' claim of authority -- Jesus' understanding of his mission -- 'Christ', 'Suffering Servant', or 'prophet'? -- Jesus' miracles -- Jesus' parables -- Jesus and the social order -- Jesus and apocalyptic -- Jesus the teacher of wisdom -- Jesus' experience of God -- Jesus' table fellowship with 'tax gatherers and sinners' -- The ethics of Jesus -- Jesus and the Baptist -- Jesus and the new covenant -- Conclusion -- 4. LORD AND SPIRIT -- The beginning of the Christian mission -- The empty tomb -- The flight of the disciples -- The appearances of Jesus -- The pre-Pauline credo -- The appearance to Peter -- 'Seeing', 'seeing that', and 'revealing' -- The Old Testament and intertestamental literature as background -- The resurrection of Jesus and the historian -- The gift of the spirit -- Conclusion -- 5. 'NEITHER JEW NOR GREEK' -- Christian self-definition and the New Testament -- Jewish self-understanding and the Jewish War -- The Hellenists -- Peter, James, and Paul -- Paul's view of Israel -- Paul in the Acts of the Apostles -- Paul and Jerusalem -- Matthew's special material -- The Matthean community and the Jewish War -- The Matthean community in Syria -- The Matthean community and post-70 Pharisaism -- The Matthean community and the Gentile mission -- The Gospel of Signs' -- The Johannine community and post-70 Judaism -- Hie Johannine community and other Christian groups -- Conclusion -- 6. THE CHURCH -- From 'the churches' to 'the church' -- The apostle as founder -- 'Apostle of Jesus Christ'-'apostles of the churches' -- Apostleship and association with the earthly Jesus -- From the Easter experience to 'the word of faith' -- 'Believing through hearing'-'believing through seeing' -- The basis for apostolic authority.
Paul's authority in the churches he founded -- Tradition in earliest Christianity -- Paul and the apostles before him -- The Twelve -- The second generation -- The gospels -- The formation of the Pauline corpus -- The appeal to apostolic authority -- The Johannine community and the Jesus tradition -- The Johannine community's acceptance of apostolic authority -- Luke-Acts -- The Pastoral Epistles -- Relations between Christian communities -- The Christian life -- Gnosis -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index of Passages Cited -- General Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.
Series Oxford Bible Series
Extent 1 online resource (x,179p.)
Language English
Copyright Date ©1984
National Library system number 997010720307705171
MARC RECORDS
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