By the same word : creation and salvation in Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity / Ronald Cox.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Cox, Ronald.

Series:

Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche

Beihefte zur zeitschrift fnr die neutestamentliche wissenschaft und die kunde der ateren kirche ; 145

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Creation.

Salvation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (408 p.)

Place of Publication:

Berlin : W. de Gruyter, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Middle Platonism explained how a transcendent principle could relate to the material world by positing an intermediary, modeled after the Stoic active cause, that mediated the supreme principle's influence to the world while preserving its transcendence. Having similar concerns as Middle Platonism, Hellenistic Jewish sapientialism, early Christianity, and Gnosticism appropriated this intermediary doctrine as a means for understanding their relationship to God and to the cosmos. However, these traditions vary in their adaptation of this teaching due to their distinctive understanding of creation and humanity's place therein. The Jewish writings of Philo of Alexandria and Wisdom of Solomon espouse a holistic ontology, combining a Platonic appreciation for noetic reality with an ultimately positive view of creation and its place in human fulfillment. The early Christians texts of 1 Cor 8:6, Col 1:15-20, Heb 1:2-3, and the prologue of John provide an eschatological twist to this ontology when the intermediary figure finds final expression in Jesus Christ. Contrarily, Poimandres (CH 1) and the Apocryphon of John, both associated with the traditional rubric "Gnosticism", draw from Platonism to describe how creation is antithetical to human nature and its transcendent source.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Chapter One. Introduction

Chapter Two. Middle Platonic Intermediary Doctrine

Chapter Three. Salvation as the Fulfillment of Creation: The Roles of the Divine Intermediary in Hellenistic Judaism

Chapter Four. Salvation as the Reparation of Creation: The Roles of the Divine Intermediary in New Testament Christology

Chapter Five. Salvation as the Undoing of Creation: The Roles of the Divine Intermediary in "Gnosticism"

Chapter Six. Conclusion

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Dissertation University of Notre Dame 2005.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612073335

9781282073333

1282073338

9783111731339

3111731332

9783110212143

3110212145

OCLC:

476275983