The New Testament and the people of God : christian origins and the question of God / N.T. Wright.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: London : SPCK, c1992.Description: volumes <1-4> ; 22-24 cmISBN:
  • 9780281066216 (v. 1 : alk. paper)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 225.6 20
LOC classification:
  • BS2398 .W75 1992
Contents:
v. 1. The New Testament and the people of God. Christian Origins and the New Testament -- The Task -- What to Do with the Wicked Tenants -- The Questions -- The History of Early Christianity -- 'New Testament Theology' -- Literary Criticism -- The Task Restated -- Tools for the Task -- Knowledge: Problems and Varieties -- Towards Critical Realism -- Stories, Worldviews and Knowledge -- Literature, Story and the Articulation of Worldviews -- On Reading -- 'Is There Anybody There?' -- Reading and Critical Realism -- On Literature -- The Nature of Stories -- The Analysis of Stories: Narrative Structure -- The Analysis of Stories: The Wicked Tenants -- Jesus, Paul and the Jewish Stories -- History and the First Century -- The Impossibility of 'Mere History' -- This Does Not Mean 'No Facts' -- Critical Realism and the Threat of the Disappearing Object -- The Causes of the Misconception -- Wanted: New Categories -- Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification -- The Requirements of a Good Hypothesis -- Problems in Verification -- From Event to Meaning -- Event and Intention -- History and Narrative -- History and Meaning -- Historical Study of First-Century Religious Movements -- Judaism in the First Century -- Christianity in the First Century -- Theology, Authority and the New Testament -- Introduction: From Literature and History to Theology -- Worldview and Theology -- On Worldviews -- On Theology -- On Christian Theology -- Worldviews, Theology and Biblical Studies -- Theology, Narrative and Authority -- First-Century Judaism within the Greco-Roman World --
v. 2. Jesus and the victory of God. Jesus then and now -- Heavy traffic on Wredebahn: the 'new quest' renewed? -- Back to the future: the 'third quest' -- Prodigals and paradigms -- The praxis of a prophet -- Stories of the kingdom (1): announcement -- Stories of the kingdom (2): invitation, welcome, challenge and summons -- Stories of the kingdom (3): judgment and vindication -- Symbol and controversy -- The questions of the kingdom -- Jesus and Israel: the meaning of Messiahship -- The reasons for Jesus' crucifixion -- The return of the king -- Results --
v. 3. The resurrection of the Son of God. The target and the arrows -- Shadows, souls and where they go: life beyond death in ancient paganism -- Time to wake up (1): death and beyond in the Old Testament -- Time to wake up (2): hope beyond death in post-biblical Judaism -- Resurrection in Paul (outside the Corinthian correspondence) -- Resurrection in Corinth (1): introduction -- Resurrection in Corinth (2): the key passages -- When Paul saw Jesus -- Hope refocused (1): gospel traditions outside the Easter narratives -- Hope refocused (2): other New Testament writings -- Hope refocused (3): non-canonical early Christian texts -- Hope in person: Jesus as Messiah and Lord -- General issues in the Easter stories -- Fear and trembling: Mark -- Earthquakes and angels: Matthew -- Burning hearts and broken bread: Luke -- New day, new tasks: John -- Easter and history -- The risen Jesus as the Son of God --
v. 4. Paul and the faithfulness of God. Part I. Paul and his world. Return of the runaway? -- Like birds overhead : the faithfulness of the God of Israel -- Athene and her owl : the wisdom of the Greeks -- A cock for Asclepius : 'religion' and 'culture' in Paul's world -- The eagle has landed : Rome and the challenge of empire -- Part II. The mindset of the apostle. A bird in the hand? : the symbolic praxis of Paul's world -- The plot, the plan and the storied worldview -- Five signposts to the apostolic mindset -- Part III. Paul's theology. The one God of Israel, freshly revealed -- The people of God, freshly reworked -- God's future for the world, freshly imagined -- Part IV. Paul in history. The lion and the eagle : Paul in Caesar's empire -- A different sacrifice : Paul and 'religion' -- The foolishness of God : Paul among the philosophers -- To know the place for the first time : Paul and his Jewish context -- Sign of the new creation : Paul's aims and achievements.
Summary: Volume 1: This first volume in the series Christian Origins and the Question of God provides a historical, theological, and literary study of first-century Judaism and Christianity. Wright offers a preliminary discussion of the meaning of the word god within those cultures, as he explores the ways in which developing an understanding of those first-century cultures are of relevance for the modern world. Volume 2: In this highly anticipated volume, N. T. Wright focuses directly on the historical Jesus: Who was he? What did he say? And what did he mean by it? Wright begins by showing how the questions posed by Albert Schweitzer a century ago remain central today. Then he sketches a profile of Jesus in terms of his prophetic praxis, his subversive stories, the symbols by which he reordered his world, and the answers he gave to the key questions that any world view must address. The examination of Jesus' aims and beliefs, argued on the basis of Jesus' actions and their accompanying riddles, is sure to stimulate heated response. Wright offers a provocative portrait of Jesus as Israel's Messiah who would share and bear the fate of the nation and would embody the long-promised return of Israel's God to Zion. Volume 3: Why did Christianity begin, and why did it take the shape it did? To answer this question , which any historian must face, renowned New Testament scholar N. T. Wright focuses on the key question: what precisely happened at Easter? What did the early Christians mean when they said that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead? What can be said today about this belief? This book... sketches a map of ancient beliefs about life after death, in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds. It then highlights the fact that the early Christians' belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions. This, together with other features of early Christianity, forces the historian to read the Easter narratives in the gospels, not simply as late rationalizations of early Christian spirituality, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his 'appearances.' How do we explain these phenomena? The early Christians' answer was that Jesus had indeed been bodily raised from the dead; that was why they hailed him as the messianic 'son of God.' No modern historian has come up with a more convincing explanation. Facing this question, we are confronted to this day with the most central issues of worldview and theology. Volume 4: This highly anticipated two-book ...volume in N. T. Wright's magisterial series...is destined to become the standard reference point on the subject for all serious students of the Bible and theology. The mature summation of a lifetime's study, this landmark book pays a rich tribute to the breadth and depth of the apostle's vision, and offers an unparalleled wealth of detailed insights into his life, times, and enduring impact.Wright carefully explores the whole context of Paul's thought and activity Jewish, Greek and Roman, cultural, philosophical, religious, and imperial and shows how the apostle's worldview and theology enabled him to engage with the many-sided complexities of first-century life that his churches were facing. Wright also provides close and illuminating readings of the letters and other primary sources, along with critical insights into the major twists and turns of exegetical and theological debate in the vast secondary literature. The result is a rounded and profoundly compelling account of the man who became the world's first, and greatest, Christian theologian." -- Publisher descriptions.
Item type: Books
Holdings
Current library Collection Call number Vol info Status Date due Barcode
Judith Thomas Library General Stacks BKS BS 2398 .W75 1992 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) AUA22547 Available AUA22547

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

v. 1. The New Testament and the people of God. Christian Origins and the New Testament -- The Task -- What to Do with the Wicked Tenants -- The Questions -- The History of Early Christianity -- 'New Testament Theology' -- Literary Criticism -- The Task Restated -- Tools for the Task -- Knowledge: Problems and Varieties -- Towards Critical Realism -- Stories, Worldviews and Knowledge -- Literature, Story and the Articulation of Worldviews -- On Reading -- 'Is There Anybody There?' -- Reading and Critical Realism -- On Literature -- The Nature of Stories -- The Analysis of Stories: Narrative Structure -- The Analysis of Stories: The Wicked Tenants -- Jesus, Paul and the Jewish Stories -- History and the First Century -- The Impossibility of 'Mere History' -- This Does Not Mean 'No Facts' -- Critical Realism and the Threat of the Disappearing Object -- The Causes of the Misconception -- Wanted: New Categories -- Historical Method: Hypothesis and Verification -- The Requirements of a Good Hypothesis -- Problems in Verification -- From Event to Meaning -- Event and Intention -- History and Narrative -- History and Meaning -- Historical Study of First-Century Religious Movements -- Judaism in the First Century -- Christianity in the First Century -- Theology, Authority and the New Testament -- Introduction: From Literature and History to Theology -- Worldview and Theology -- On Worldviews -- On Theology -- On Christian Theology -- Worldviews, Theology and Biblical Studies -- Theology, Narrative and Authority -- First-Century Judaism within the Greco-Roman World --

v. 2. Jesus and the victory of God. Jesus then and now -- Heavy traffic on Wredebahn: the 'new quest' renewed? -- Back to the future: the 'third quest' -- Prodigals and paradigms -- The praxis of a prophet -- Stories of the kingdom (1): announcement -- Stories of the kingdom (2): invitation, welcome, challenge and summons -- Stories of the kingdom (3): judgment and vindication -- Symbol and controversy -- The questions of the kingdom -- Jesus and Israel: the meaning of Messiahship -- The reasons for Jesus' crucifixion -- The return of the king -- Results --

v. 3. The resurrection of the Son of God. The target and the arrows -- Shadows, souls and where they go: life beyond death in ancient paganism -- Time to wake up (1): death and beyond in the Old Testament -- Time to wake up (2): hope beyond death in post-biblical Judaism -- Resurrection in Paul (outside the Corinthian correspondence) -- Resurrection in Corinth (1): introduction -- Resurrection in Corinth (2): the key passages -- When Paul saw Jesus -- Hope refocused (1): gospel traditions outside the Easter narratives -- Hope refocused (2): other New Testament writings -- Hope refocused (3): non-canonical early Christian texts -- Hope in person: Jesus as Messiah and Lord -- General issues in the Easter stories -- Fear and trembling: Mark -- Earthquakes and angels: Matthew -- Burning hearts and broken bread: Luke -- New day, new tasks: John -- Easter and history -- The risen Jesus as the Son of God --

v. 4. Paul and the faithfulness of God. Part I. Paul and his world. Return of the runaway? -- Like birds overhead : the faithfulness of the God of Israel -- Athene and her owl : the wisdom of the Greeks -- A cock for Asclepius : 'religion' and 'culture' in Paul's world -- The eagle has landed : Rome and the challenge of empire -- Part II. The mindset of the apostle. A bird in the hand? : the symbolic praxis of Paul's world -- The plot, the plan and the storied worldview -- Five signposts to the apostolic mindset -- Part III. Paul's theology. The one God of Israel, freshly revealed -- The people of God, freshly reworked -- God's future for the world, freshly imagined -- Part IV. Paul in history. The lion and the eagle : Paul in Caesar's empire -- A different sacrifice : Paul and 'religion' -- The foolishness of God : Paul among the philosophers -- To know the place for the first time : Paul and his Jewish context -- Sign of the new creation : Paul's aims and achievements.

Volume 1: This first volume in the series Christian Origins and the Question of God provides a historical, theological, and literary study of first-century Judaism and Christianity. Wright offers a preliminary discussion of the meaning of the word god within those cultures, as he explores the ways in which developing an understanding of those first-century cultures are of relevance for the modern world. Volume 2: In this highly anticipated volume, N. T. Wright focuses directly on the historical Jesus: Who was he? What did he say? And what did he mean by it? Wright begins by showing how the questions posed by Albert Schweitzer a century ago remain central today. Then he sketches a profile of Jesus in terms of his prophetic praxis, his subversive stories, the symbols by which he reordered his world, and the answers he gave to the key questions that any world view must address. The examination of Jesus' aims and beliefs, argued on the basis of Jesus' actions and their accompanying riddles, is sure to stimulate heated response. Wright offers a provocative portrait of Jesus as Israel's Messiah who would share and bear the fate of the nation and would embody the long-promised return of Israel's God to Zion. Volume 3: Why did Christianity begin, and why did it take the shape it did? To answer this question , which any historian must face, renowned New Testament scholar N. T. Wright focuses on the key question: what precisely happened at Easter? What did the early Christians mean when they said that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead? What can be said today about this belief? This book... sketches a map of ancient beliefs about life after death, in both the Greco-Roman and Jewish worlds. It then highlights the fact that the early Christians' belief about the afterlife belonged firmly on the Jewish spectrum, while introducing several new mutations and sharper definitions. This, together with other features of early Christianity, forces the historian to read the Easter narratives in the gospels, not simply as late rationalizations of early Christian spirituality, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his 'appearances.' How do we explain these phenomena? The early Christians' answer was that Jesus had indeed been bodily raised from the dead; that was why they hailed him as the messianic 'son of God.' No modern historian has come up with a more convincing explanation. Facing this question, we are confronted to this day with the most central issues of worldview and theology. Volume 4: This highly anticipated two-book ...volume in N. T. Wright's magisterial series...is destined to become the standard reference point on the subject for all serious students of the Bible and theology. The mature summation of a lifetime's study, this landmark book pays a rich tribute to the breadth and depth of the apostle's vision, and offers an unparalleled wealth of detailed insights into his life, times, and enduring impact.Wright carefully explores the whole context of Paul's thought and activity Jewish, Greek and Roman, cultural, philosophical, religious, and imperial and shows how the apostle's worldview and theology enabled him to engage with the many-sided complexities of first-century life that his churches were facing. Wright also provides close and illuminating readings of the letters and other primary sources, along with critical insights into the major twists and turns of exegetical and theological debate in the vast secondary literature. The result is a rounded and profoundly compelling account of the man who became the world's first, and greatest, Christian theologian." -- Publisher descriptions.