Search results for ""Author Loren T. Stuckenbruck""

The mythical story of fallen angels preserved in 1 Enoch and related literature was influential during the Second Temple period. This myth, initially attested in the Enochic Book of Watchers and picked up in further parts of 1 Enoch, was received in writings composed in Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek, and had a profound impact on streams of religious thought in the western and oriental world, as well as in Africa. This volume collects studies by Loren T. Stuckenbruck that explore aspects of this influence in some of the literature and demonstrate how it was reused and adapted to address new cultural and religious contexts ( Book of Giants, Book of Jubilees, Dead Sea Scrolls, Book of Tobit, Book of Daniel, Genesis Apocryphon, Philo). In addition, apart from whether influence of the fallen angels' tradition can be established, Stuckenbruck analyses the degree to which it offers a theological framework through which to reconsider theological approaches to several New Testament texts (Synoptic Gospels, Gospel of John, Acts, Pauline texts, and the Book of Revelation). Themes covered in the essays include demonology, prominent evil figures, giants, exorcism, petitionary prayer, the birth and activity of Jesus, the holy Spirit, conversion of Gentiles, "apocalyptic" and the understanding of time, and theological anthropology.

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From the Wisdom of Ben Sira to the writings of Paul, many Second Temple Jewish and early Christian texts recognize the inescapable role of testing and temptation in human experience. Though God is often presented as one who tests, testing is also attributed to Satan, Mastema, the people of God, and individual humans. How did ancient interpreters react to texts that depict the God of Israel as testing, tested, or intervening on behalf of those undergoing a test? What assumptions do authors have about the role of testing in human experience? How does the vocabulary used for testing and temptation influence the meaning of the text? The essays in the present volume constitute an opening foray into addressing these questions, and this volume aims to catalyze further research into additional dimensions of testing and overlooked motifs in the relevant literature.

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This collection of essays originates from the 2014 Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity conference hosted by the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary's University, Twickenham. Featuring an international collection of senior and junior scholars, it represents the cutting edge of scholarship on portrayals of evil in the Second Temple period and the earliest centuries of Christianity. The individual essays consider the significance of "evil" as it relates to a diverse set of topics, including Qumran and its texts, images of disability in 2 Maccabees, dissociations of Jesus from evil in early Christian manuscripts, the "apocalyptic Paul," Jesus' exorcisms, Gospel cosmologies, the epistle of James, 4 Ezra, the Ascension of Isaiah, Marcion, John Chrysostom, and the Acts of the Martyrs.

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Angelic beings have occupied an important place in many traditions within Judaism and Christianity from Second Temple times up until the present. In this volume, essays by scholars from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and North America draw attention to a wide variety of ways in which traditions about angels were addressed and developed over time, including examples from the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls and related literature, early Christian writings, "magical" texts, and the rich heritage of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The contributions as a whole demonstrate the interwovenness of Jewish and Christian tradition and, in turn, reveal how much the consideration of angelology reflects broader hermeneutical, textual, and tradition-historical approaches to the study of religion.

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While there has been much scholarly attention devoted to the Enochic Book of the Watchers, much less has been paid to the Book of Giants from Qumran. This volume is the proceedings of a conference that convened in Munich, Germany, in June 2014, which was devoted to the giants of Enochic tradition and in particular the Qumran Book of Giants. It engages the topic of the giants in relation to various ancient contexts, including the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and ancient Mesopotamia. The authors of this volume give particular attention to Manichaeism, especially the Manichaean Book of Giants, fragments of which were found in Turfan (western China). They contribute to our understanding of the range of stories Jews told in antiquity about the sons of the watchers who descended to earth and their vibrant Nachleben in Manichaeism.

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The "Great Commission," which Jesus gave to his disciples according to Matthew 28:19-20, is seen in Christianity as the origin of the mission and the practice of baptism in the church. This text has undergone a great deal of intensive exegesis. In the last 300 years in particular, it was the basis for the missionary work done by many Western churches in all parts of the world, and apart from its significance for the motivation and validation of religious mission, this text was also used as a means of strengthening colonial ideas and interests in developing countries. This volume deals with aspects of the early Christian mission. The articles, which were presented originally at a symposium which took place from 30 September to 1 October 2014, cover problem areas in New Testament exegesis (Gospels, Acts, Paul and Deutero-Pauline letters) as well as in church history (referring to traditions of mission in Africa and Asia), and together they provide an introduction into possible interpretations and perspectives that emerge when reading selected literature attentively.

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The Lord's Prayer belongs at the core of Christian tradition. There is hardly any text of the New Testament more frequently cited in liturgical, group, and private settings. The contributions in this volume are the fruitful result of an international symposium held at the University of Tübingen in early October 2018. The volume examines the Lord's Prayer in conversation with Jewish tradition, situates it in relation to New Testament theology, and explores its reception history in early Christianity. Thus, the articles in this volume demonstrate the richness of the Lord's Prayer and its relevance for both Jewish and Christian identity.

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The volume brings together essays that explore the topic of memory and remembrance in the ancient world, taking into account the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy, 1 and 2 Kings), ancient Judaism (1 and 2 Maccabees, Psalms of Solomon, Dead Sea Scrolls), the classical world, the New Testament (Jesus, Synoptic Gospels and Acts, Gospel of John, Pauline letters) and Early Christianity (Petrine tradition). The essays, which focus on a wide range of sources from antiquity, open up new questions about the social and religious function of memory. As a collection, they demonstrate how much social memory theory can contribute to the understanding of the ways ancient texts were, on the one hand, shaped by conventions of memory and, on the other hand, participated in and contributed to evolving strategies for reading "the past".

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