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Subject Area: Religion-Christianity-Christology

AFROCENTRIC INTERPRETATIONS OF JESUS AND THE GOSPEL TRADITIONS:
Things Black Scholars See That White Scholars Overlook
 Slater, Thomas Bowie
2015 1-4955-0282-1 264 pages
This collection of essays is an Afrocentric examination into the gospels and Jesus-studies by persons of African descent. The study encourages us to reassess our commonly held beliefs about biblical interpretation by offering us a fresh point of view and different cultural perspective than those that have been developed by traditional Eurocentric research. This work challenges our presuppositions about the Bible and biblical interpretation.

Albrecht Ritschl and the Problem of the Historical Jesus
 Marsh, Clive
1992 0-7734-9822-2 248 pages
This study reappraises Albrecht Ritschl and represents a fresh perspective on his work, through his study and use of the canonical Gospels. Ritschl's concern for theological responsibility when interpreting the life of Jesus is noted and explored in a discussion of the New Testament canon and the problem of the christological diversity found within the Gospel tradition.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name. Sung Prayer of the Christian Tradition
 Rogal, Samuel J.
2010 0-7734-3869-6 60 pages
These works are presentations and studies of well-known Protestant hymns.

Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus
 Craig, William Lane
1989 0-88946-616-5 420 pages
Draws on the evidence of Paul and the Gospels to present the case for accepting the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Conflict, Holiness, and Politics in the Teachings of Jesus
 Borg, Marcus J.
1984 0-88946-603-3 397 pages
A study of the political dimension of the ministry of Jesus, presented as a corrective to the over-emphasis on eschatology in much New Testament scholarship. ". . . certainly one of the most constructive and original books about Jesus to have been written in recent years. . . . there is also a great deal of fresh and valuable detailed exegesis. . . . an illuminating perspective on Jesus in the social context of his day [and] an important contribution to an important ongoing debate." - Themelíos ". . . full of wise judgments and fresh insights. . . . The argument is crisp; the perspective is fresh and groundbreaking; the judgments are sound and serious. . . . an excellent study, of exceptional insight and coherence." - Biblical Theology Bulletin

Conscientious Objections Toward a Reconstruction of the Social and Political Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth
 Kelly, J. Landrum Jr.
1994 0-7734-1935-7 460 pages
The author argues that Jesus' views were based on belief in a non-retributive, omnibenevolent God, challenging not only the Mosaic Law but assumptions about eternal punishment and the divine sanction of the state and its retributive institutions of war and punishment. It also interprets Paul as being the first Christian revisionist. As a result, orthodox Christianity, through the influence of Paul (and thus Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin), has mistakenly promoted the 'just war' and 'divinely-ordained state' doctrines in the name of a thinker whose conclusions were in the opposite direction.

Difference Between Hearing and Reading About Jesus
 Waterford, William Bede
2008 0-7734-5259-1 356 pages
This study examines the difference between reading and hearing biblical texts, a difference demonstrated in ten studies wherein theories of aural and literal interpretation are applied to the Greek text of Mark 6:30-8:27a. The biblical texts used in the studies vary in the size, as do the themes and issues investigated.

Drinking the Blood of Jesus. A theological rationale from the Jewish blood prohibitions
 Van Noppen, Ronald
2015 1-4955-0360-7 420 pages
This excellent book is very well written, thoroughly researched and full of insight, Readers will find much new light shed on the conundrum of ‘drinking Jesus’ blood’, on John 6 as a passage, and on Johannine theology in general.

Five Problems in the Interpretation of the Shepherd of Hermas Authorship, Genre, Canonicity, Apocalyptic and the Absence of the Name
 Wilson, J. Christian
1995 0-7734-2392-3 112 pages
This study contains five essays concerning the Shepherd of Hermas and an introduction which spells out the author's views on the major critical issues involved in the study of this early Christian document. The first essay examines remarkable similarities in genre between the Mandates of the Shepherd and 1QS, similarities too complex to be coincidental. The second examines the canonical history of the Shepherd, which was widely accepted as a book of the New Testament in the second and third centuries, offering possible explanations for its canonical demise in the fourth and fifth centuries. The third essay offers possible explanations for the fact that, while clearly a Christian writing, the Shepherd over its entire 114 chapters never mentions the name Jesus nor the title Christ. In "The Twilight of Apocalyptic", Wilson notes the apocalyptic form of the Shepherd in comparison with its minimal apocalyptic content, and that it is a prime example of how ecclesiology took the place of apocalypticism in second century Christianity. The final essay examines the legacy of the Shepherd of Hermas for our understanding of early Christianity.

Following Joseph Campbell's Lead in Search of Jesus' Father
 Frost, William P.
1991 0-88946-249-6 278 pages
Searches for "ultimate meaning: the basic religious dimension, that transcendent quality by which existence, happiness, and human suffering, hopes and expectations, heroic sacrifice and the affirmation of life, love and death receive some perspective".

FOUNDATION OF KARL BARTH'S DOCTRINE OF RECONCILIATION: Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen
 Mueller, David L.
1991 0-88946-583-5 510 pages
Tripartite study introduces some of the main lines of Barth's developing theological perspectives, traces their developing theological differences with particular reference to diverging interpretations of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and analyzes his mature teaching concerning the doctrine he termed "the heart of the Church's dogmatics." Chapters include: The Early Barth and his Critics; The Cross and the Resurrection: The Barth - Bultmann Debate (1941-1948); and The Doctrine of Reconciliation in the Church Dogmatics.

Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus During the Deist Controversy
 Craig, William Lane
1985 0-88946-811-7 474 pages
A study of apologetical arguments of anti-Deist thinkers, tracing a series from Vives' De veritate fidei christianae (1543) to Paley's Evidences of Christianity (1794).

How are we healed by Christ? An explanation of John 9:1-41
 Diericx, Erin M.
2014 0-7734-0073-7 116 pages
The literary paradigm approach to this study on “healing” examines three key features in Chapter 9 in the Book of John. It provides a literary criticism on the text from an ahistorical view, it examines the autonomy of the text, and points us toward its aesthetic meaning. This approach helps the reader to understand "healing” from the perspective of the individual’s physical healing as well as his psychosocial and spiritual healing experience.

Jesus and the Economic Questions of His Day
 Oakman, Douglas E.
1986 0-88946-608-4 312 pages
A study of the social conditions of first-century Palestine that explores the economic context of the historical Jesus, focusing on: issues of production and economic distribution; the "Jesus tradition" from an economic perspective; comparative material from biblical and Hellenistic authors; Jesus' occupation and the settings a carpenter might have encountered in finding work; the social contracts that could have resulted in Jesus' becoming a broker or bridge between social classes; and reflections on the economic values in the words and ministry of Jesus.

Jesus' Last Passover Meal
 Smith, Barry D.
1993 0-7734-2370-2 232 pages
The goal of this work is a historical reconstruction of the Last Supper, of not only the who, what, where, and when, but also the why. It begins with a detailed account of how a typical first-century Passover would have proceeded, and then moves into a literary-critical analysis of the relevant New Testament texts.

Jesus, Born of a Slave: The Social and Economic Origins of Jesus' Message
 Munro, Winsome
1998 0-7734-2440-7 712 pages
This book is an exploration of Jesus' social origins and location in the society of his time and place. The hypothesis proposed is that Jesus was of slave status because he was born of a woman who was a slave. Contends that his career outside his household of origin was as a "freedman" with continuing obligations to his former owner. This hypothesis explains much that is otherwise obscure in the early Christian writings concerning Jesus, and facilitates reconstruction of his life and crucifixion. The book applies adaptations of methodologies used by the Jesus Seminars of the Westar Institute, of which the writer was a Fellow, to determine the historicity of teaching ascribed to Jesus. Table of Contents: Introduction; Jesus as a Slave - Historical Plausibility; In the Form of a Slave; Slave or Son? John's Gospel; Slave Experience in Jesus' Teaching; From Slave to Slave/Child of God - the Synoptic Gospels and the Acts; An Outlaw Slave and the Jewish Law - the Synoptic Gospels; A Fugitive Slave and His Community in the Synoptic Gospels; Condemnation and Death of an Upstart Slave; Family and Birth Traditions; Conclusions and Reflections; Bibliography and Index

Matthew's Narrative Use of Galilee in the Multicultural and Missiological Journeys of Jesus
 Hertig, Paul
1998 0-7734-2444-X 204 pages
Matthew deals with underlying tensions created by synagogues which were isolated from the multicultural context of Galilee and churches which were contextualized in multicultural settings, attempting to bridge these opposing constituencies through a three-horizon hermeneutic: the Galilee of the Gentiles text of Isaiah 9:1,2; contemporary Judaism; and the missionary church in a multicultural context. This study provides insights into the historical background of Galilee in a first-century multicultural context. The multicultural foundations of the Matthean community have implications for contemporary mission practice. This study brings together ecclesiology and missiology, long separated, which must be bridged according to Matthew's holistic model of church and mission in dynamic partnership.

Portrayal of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew
 Cabrido, John Aranda
2012 0-7734-1406-1 556 pages
This is the first monograph on Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as “Shepherd.” Seven passages are selected and critically analysed. (Matt 2,1-12; 9,35-38; 15,21-28; 18,10-14; 25,31-46; 26,30-35; 28,16-20)

Problems in Translating Texts About Jesus: Proceedings From the International Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, 2008
 Caspi, Mishael
2011 0-7734-3753-3 468 pages


Raising of Lazarus and the Passion of Jesus in John 11 and 12
 Burke, Alexander J.
2003 0-7734-6694-0 274 pages
This study holds that the fourth evangelist adopted and combined various traditions in chapters 11 and 12 into a single, unified eschatological statement, separately and specially conceived, as a complex literary and theological hinge of John’s Gospel, a bridge between Christ’s ministry to the world and his ministry to his disciples. The extent and unity of this statement has been disguised by the tendency to apply to John a pericopean mentality suitable for the Synoptics but foreign to John. When John 11 and 12 are viewed as a single, eschatological statement, an analysis of its three dominant literary forms (plot structure, sign and dialogue structure, and narrative dramatic structure) can help establish that the passage of 10:40-12:50 constitutes a tightly-knit literary unity. John shapes Jesus’ final discourse, 12:44-50 primarily as the natural conclusion of his eschatological statement, and secondarily as a summary of chapters 1-12 because the insertion of 11 and 12 is itself designed as the climax and summary of chapters 1-12. This new interpretation gives the passage a tight and comprehensive fit with the whole of John’s Gospel.

THE LIFE AND MINISTRY OF JESUS AS ENACTMENT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION:
A New Proposal for Interpreting Matthew 28:16-20 in Light of Matthew’s Gospel
 Brands, Michael
2015 1-4955-0333-X 476 pages
This stimulating book fills a lacuna in New Testament studies on the interpretation of the missional paradigm of the “Great Commission” by energizing an interdisciplinary dialogue and fresh inquiry into the passage, it’s biblical theology, it’s missiological theory and it’s contemporary cultural perspective which are deeply rooted in Jesus’ mission and His vision for the coming kingdom of God.


The Parable of the Woman in Childbirth of John 16:21: A Metaphor for the Death and Glorification of Jesus
 Rushton, Kathleen
2011 0-7734-1500-9 404 pages
She has provided feminist theology and Johannine studies with new challenges and new creative insights and understandings with which future scholars, activists and mystics will need to engage if we are to allow the moon to come into view and not just the finger that points to it as we read and engage with this study.

Theological Significance of Jesus’ Temple Action in Mark’s Gospel
 Chávez, Emilio G.
2002 0-7734-7141-3 276 pages


Theology of Inclusion in Jesus and Paul. The God of Outcasts and Sinners
 Simmons, William A.
1996 0-7734-2436-9 216 pages
This volume represents the latest and most comprehensive treatment of a critical issue of New Testament studies: Paul's relationship to the historical Jesus. It clearly defines the nature and scope of the issue by analyzing the debate from F. C. Baur to the most recent materials on the subject. The subject is examined from several standpoints: methodological, theological, historical, and sociological.

To Empower as Jesus Did. Acquiring Spiritual Power Through Apprenticeship
 Milavec, Aaron
1982 0-88946-966-0 345 pages
Defends the thesis that the concrete reality of religious life is best understood as a learned activity. Milavec illustrates this thesis through an interpretation of Jesus which pictures him as a "master" apprenticing his disciples, with analyses of individual growth in community, the manner in which personal transformations can occur, and the role of scripture, prayer, and ritual in promoting religious life.