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The first book-length study of the outsider designations that early Christians used and what they reveal about the movement's identity, self-understanding and character.
This commentary provides an exposition of 1 Timothy's message, which is relevant to many theological and pastoral situations faced by Asian church communities today.
What terms would early Christians have used to address one another? In the first book-length study on this topic, Paul Trebilco investigates the origin, use and function of seven key self-designations: 'brothers and sisters', 'believers', 'saints', 'the assembly', 'disciples', 'the Way', and 'Christian'. In doing so, he discovers what they reveal about the identity, self-understanding and character of the early Christian movement. This study sheds light on the theology of particular New Testament authors and on the relationship of early Christian authors and communities to the Old Testament and to the wider context of the Greco-Roman world. Trebilco's writing is informed by other work in the area of sociolinguistics on the development of self-designations and labels and provides a fascinating insight into this often neglected topic.
In this book, Paul Trebilco seeks to discuss all the evidence for the life of the early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius, seen in the context of our knowledge of the city as a whole. Drawing on Paul's letters and the Acts of the Apostles, the author discusses the beginnings of the life of the early Christians in Ephesus, both before the Pauline mission and during that mission. He then shows that in the period from around 80-100 CE there were a number of different groups in Ephesus who regarded themselves as Christians - the Pauline group addressed by the Pastorals, the Johannine group spoken of in 1-3 John, the opponents of the Pastor, the Johannine secessionists, and the Nicolait...
Highly respected New Testament scholar Craig Keener is known for his meticulous and comprehensive research. This commentary on Acts, his magnum opus, may be the largest and most thoroughly documented Acts commentary ever written. Useful not only for the study of Acts but also early Christianity, this work sets Acts in its first-century context. In this volume, the last of four, Keener finishes his detailed exegesis of Acts, utilizing an unparalleled range of ancient sources and offering a wealth of fresh insights. This magisterial commentary will be an invaluable resource for New Testament professors and students, pastors, Acts scholars, and libraries. The complete four-volume set is available at a special price.
The essays in the present volume celebrate the work of Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago) by engaging, extending, and challenging her ground-breaking research in three areas: (1) the letters of Paul the Apostle, both authentic and pseudepigraphic; (2) the emergence and rapid development of early Christian literary culture over the first few centuries of the cult’s existence; and (3) Late Antique interpretive practices and perspectives, particularly among patristic readers of the scriptures.
In Romans 6:1–14, Paul corrects an erroneous ethical conclusion drawn from the narrative of God's grace in Romans 3–5. This innovative study employs tools from cognitive linguistics to unveil Paul's sophisticated rhetorical strategy for resolving the "indicative-imperative" tension. By moving beyond traditional theological frameworks, the book shows how Paul presents believers’ new identity as defined by a new obligation, illuminating the metaphorical narrative that undergirds Paul's logic. Readers will better understand the importance of conceptual spaces like "in sin" and "in Christ," and how Paul conceptualizes the relationship between believers and their "old selves" who have been crucified.
When Paul heard that a Christ-follower in Corinth was in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother, the apostle insisted the man be removed immediately from the congregation. This dramatic response is surprising, as Paul responds to other serious situations with much less vehemence. Why did Paul react to the immoral man with such urgency and severity? Using socio-cultural tools, this study explains the importance of group identity and witness for Paul’s ecclesiology. The argument lays a foundation for contemporary readers to appraise contexts where an expulsive response to sin might be appropriate.
In the tradition of The First Urban Christians by Wayne Meeks, this book explores the relationship between the earliest Christians and the city environment. Experts in classics, early Christianity, and human geography analyze the growth, development, and self-understanding of the early Christian movement in urban settings. The book's contributors first look at how the urban physical, cultural, and social environments of the ancient Mediterranean basin affected the ways in which early Christianity progressed. They then turn to how the earliest Christians thought and theologized in their engagement with cities. With a rich variety of expertise and scholarship, The Urban World and the First Christians is an important contribution to the understanding of early Christianity.
Going against the false perception that all Latinx views on the Bible are homogeneous, the contributors in this book use different hermeneutic perspectives to interpret the New Testament. Each chapter examines one of the twenty-seven documents thematically instead of following the traditional verse-by-verse commentary format.