The origins of Christianity : a historical introduction to the New Testament / Schuyler Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Schuyler, author.

Series:

Oxford Bible series.

Oxford Bible Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity--Origin.

Christianity.

Bible. New Testament--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x,179p.)

Edition:

Revised edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, 1993.

Summary:

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.

Contents:

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

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

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

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.

Notes:

Previous ed.: 1984.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-19-151349-0

0-585-36433-8

OCLC:

437173403