Academic literature on the topic 'Christianity studies (including biblical studies and church history)'
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Journal articles on the topic "Christianity studies (including biblical studies and church history)"
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Kaplan, Steven. "Dominance and Diversity: Kingship, Ethnicity, and Christianity in Orthodox Ethiopia." Church History and Religious Culture 89, no. 1 (2009): 291–305. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/187124109x407943.
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AbstractThe purpose of this article is to survey the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church with an emphasis on several features which are of significance for comparison to Syriac Orthodox Christianity. Although it focuses primarily on the period from 1270 during which 'Ethiopian' was a national rather than ethnic identity, it shares several themes with other papers in this volume. After considering the manner in which Christianity reached Ethiopia and in particular the central role played by the royal court in the acceptance and consolidation of the Church, attention is given to the claims of successive Ethiopian rulers and ethnic groups to be 'Israelites', that is, descendants of biblical figures most notably King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The paper next considers the manner in which monastic movements, which emerged in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, were associated with ethnically based resistance to the expansion of the Christian kingdom. Other themes include the development of a tradition of biblical interpretation and Christological controversies. The paper concludes with a discussion of ongoing research concerning the Ethiopian diaspora which has developed in the period since the Marxist revolution of 1974.
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Brakke, David. "The Early Church in North America: Late Antiquity, Theory, and the History of Christianity." Church History 71, no. 3 (September 2002): 473–91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0009640700130239.
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By almost any measure, the study of ancient Christian history is alive and well, even if one limits one's view to the North American scene. Over the last three decades the number of publications in the field, both books and articles, has grown considerably, fueling (among other things) the astonishing success of theJournal of Early Christian Studies, founded by the North American Patristic Society (NAPS) a decade'ago. Each year the program of the annual meeting of NAPS features more papers and attracts more participants (even though they must stay in less than ideal, even appropriately monastic, dormitory rooms). The number of papers on early Christian topics at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature (as well as the American Philological Association) is very impressive.
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Elkins, Kathleen Gallagher, and Thomas M. Bolin. "Boundaries, Intersections, and the Parting of Ways in the Letter of James." Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 74, no. 4 (October 2020): 335–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0020964320936401.
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The letter of James reveals long embedded anti-Semitic elements at work in the articulation of the distinction between Judaism and Christianity. However, careful examination of the text and the history of the early synagogue and church challenges us to rethink how (and whether) Judaism and Christianity have parted ways. James’s use of biblical traditions is not simply an embrace of torah piety or “works righteousness,” but rather a careful juxtaposition of wisdom and prophetic traditions aimed to call the letter’s first readers, and us, to move toward the margins of our ecclesial, academic, and wider communities.
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Hammond, Geordan. "Versions of Primitive Christianity: John Wesley's Relations with the Moravians in Georgia, 1735-1737." Journal of Moravian History 6, no. 1 (2009): 31–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/41179847.
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Abstract This article is an examination of John Wesley's relationship with the German Moravians in Georgia, which focuses on their respective conceptions of primitive Christianity. Wesley saw Georgia as a laboratory to implement his High Church Anglican/Nonjuror inspired vision of introducing the doctrine, discipline, and practice of the primitive church in the new colony. Wesley's determination to implement his views of primitive Christianity affected all of his relationships in Georgia including his interactions with the Moravians. A close investigation of Wesley's journals and diary along with the journals and letters of the leaders of the Moravians shows that discussion of the nature of the primitive church dominated their conversations. Wesley believed that primitive Christianity could be restored by renewing the precise doctrine, liturgy, discipline, and devotional practice of the primitive church, while the Moravians stressed the communal spirit of the primitive church as worthy of contemporary emulation. Although the Moravians claimed to maintain episcopal apostolic succession, they did not agree with Wesley that it was essential to an efficacious ministry. The leaders of the Moravians, while showing some sympathy with Wesley's High Church primitivism, retained their focus on the spirit and communal form of the early church. Therefore, relations between Wesley and the Moravians in Georgia were marked by mutual respect and tension due to their differing conceptions of primitive Christianity.
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Melton, Narelle Jane. "Lessons of Lament: Reflections on the correspondence between the Lament Psalms and early Australian Pentecostal Prayer." Journal of Pentecostal Theology 20, no. 1 (2011): 68–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/174552510x526232.
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AbstractThis paper reflects on research which discovered a correspondence between the form of the biblical lament psalms and the early Australian Pentecostal (1908 – 1937) practice of prayer. It is argued that this has significant implications for Christians today in relation to the critique that the contemporary church has lost the practice of lament. Specifically four dimensions of lament-prayer were considered for contemporary Pentecostal Christianity, including (1) the lament dialogue, (2) the lament protest, (3) the margins of lament, and (4) the glossolalic lament. Overall, it is proposed that Pentecostal Christians are uniquely situated to forge a path in light of these results and re-incorporate laments into their worship and pastoral care practises.
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Asamoah-Gyadu, J. Kwabena. "'Broken Calabashes and Covenants of Fruitfulness': Cursing Barrenness in Contemporary African Christianity." Journal of Religion in Africa 37, no. 4 (2007): 437–60. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/157006607x230535.
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AbstractChildlessness is an issue of deep religious concern in Africa. Men, women and couples with problems of sexuality and childlessness make use not only of the resources of traditional African religions but also of the many Pentecostal/charismatic churches and movements that have burgeoned throughout sub-Saharan Africa in the last three decades. Initially this was the domain of the older African independent churches, as far as the Christian response to childlessness is concerned; the new Pentecostals have taken on the challenge too. Based on the same biblical and traditional worldviews that events have causes, these churches have mounted ritual contexts that wrestle with the issues of sexuality and childlessness. In pursuing this salvific endeavor, however, the needs of those who may never have children seem to have been neglected by the churches considered here and represented by the Pure Fire Miracle Ministries, a Ghana/Nigeria charismatic church located in Ghana. is partial approach to 'healing' childlessness has led to one-sided interpretations of what it means to be fruitful and prosperous and deepened the troubles of the childless.
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Bontrager, Shannon Ty. "The Imagined Crusade: The Church of England and the Mythology of Nationalism and Christianity during the Great War." Church History 71, no. 4 (December 2002): 774–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0009640700096293.
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The Church of England, being the state church of an imperial nation of diverse peoples and creeds, had to contend with provocative controversies in the early twentieth century leading up to the First World War. Perhaps the greatest was secularization, which gained momenturn in the previous century.2 The last fifty years of the nineteenth century proved threatening for church leaders. Horace Mann's 1851 religious census in England and Wales, although controversial, insinuated church attendance was much lower in Great Britain than previously perceived. Causing more anxiety, the State Church consistently lost authority over many of its traditions, including administering burial grounds and the last rights ceremony.3 Additionally Ecclesiastical courts gave up authority to the civic courts of British society.
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SHAW, JANE. "Women, Gender and Ecclesiastical History." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 55, no. 1 (January 2004): 102–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022046903007280.
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Outrageous women, outrageous god. Women in the first two generations of Christianity. By Ross Saunders. Pp. x+182. Alexandria, NSW: E. J. Dwyer, 1996. $10 (paper). 0 85574 278 XMontanism. Gender, authority and the new prophecy. By Christine Trevett. Pp. xiv+299. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. £37.50. 0 521 41182 3God's Englishwomen. Seventeenth-century radical sectarian writing and feminist criticism. By Hilary Hinds. Pp. vii+264. Manchester–New York: Manchester University Press, 1996. £35 (cloth), £14.99 (paper). 0 7190 4886 9; 0 7190 4887 7Women and religion in medieval and Renaissance Italy. Edited by Daniel Bornstein and Roberto Rusconi, translated by Margery J. Schneider. (Women in Culture and Society.) Pp. x+334 incl. 11 figs. Chicago–London: The University of Chicago Press, 1996. (first publ. as Mistiche e devote nell'Italia tardomedievale, Liguori Editore, 1992). £39.95 ($50) (cloth), £13.50 ($16.95) (paper). 0 226 06637 1; 0 226 06639 8The virgin and the bride. Idealized womanhood in late antiquity. By Kate Cooper. Pp. xii+180. Cambridge, Mass.–London: Harvard University Press, 1996. £24.95. 0 674 93949 2St Augustine on marriage and sexuality. Edited by Elizabeth A. Clark. (Selections from the Fathers of the Church, 1.) Pp. xi+112. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1996. £23.95 (cloth), £11.50 (paper). 0 8132 0866 1; 0 8132 0867 XGender, sex and subordination in England, 1500–1800. By Anthony Fletcher. Pp. xxii+442+40 plates. New Haven–London: Yale University Press, 1995. £25. 0 300 06531 0Empress and handmaid. On nature and gender in the cult of the Virgin Mary. By Sarah Jane Boss. Pp. x+253+9 plates. London–New York: Cassell, 2000. £45 (cloth), £19.99 (paper). 0 304 33926 1; 0 304 70781 3‘You have stept out of your place’. A history of women and religion in America. By Susan Hill Lindley. Pp. xi+500. Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1996. $35. 0 664 22081 9The position of women within Christianity might well be described as paradoxical. The range of practices in the early Church with regard to women, leadership and ministry indicates that this was the case from the beginning, and the legacy of conflicting biblical texts about the role of women – Galatians. iii. 28 versus 1 Corinthians xi. 3 and Ephesians v. 22–3 for example – has, perhaps, made that paradoxical position inevitable ever since. It might be argued, then, that the history of Christianity illustrates the working out of that paradox, as women have sought to rediscover or remain true to what they have seen as a strand of radically egalitarian origins for Christianity which has been subsumed by the dominant patriarchal structure and ideology of the Church. The tension of this paradox has been played out when women have struggled to act upon that thread of egalitarianism and yet remain within Churches that have been (and, it could be argued, remain) ‘patriarchally’ structured.
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DeStefano, Michael T. "DuBourg's Defense of St. Mary's College: Apologetics and the Creation of a Catholic Identity in the Early American Republic." Church History 85, no. 1 (February 29, 2016): 65–96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0009640715001353.
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When the Baltimore Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church issued a pastoral letter critical of St. Mary's College in 1811 it provided an opportunity for Louis DuBourg, the college's president, to respond with an apologetic defense of the college and of Catholicism more generally. In doing so he synthesized several strands of Catholic apologetics, including the via notarum, the utilitarianism that came to dominate French Catholic apologetics in the eighteenth century, the emphasis upon beauty and emotion that characterized Chateaubriand's Genuius of Christianity, and the earlier work of Bishop Bossuet critical of the doctrinal instability of protestantism. Aimed at a popular audience, DuBourg's apologetics created an identity for the American Catholic Church that emphasized its place within the largest part of worldwide Christianity, its role as educator of the best minds of Western civilization, and the beauty of its worship.
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Yarotskiy, Petro. "Arsen Rychinsky as a scholar and polemicist." Ukrainian Religious Studies, no. 41 (December 26, 2006): 10–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.32420/2007.41.1842.
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In a number of the author's scientific religious studies, A. Richinsky appears as a deep researcher of the history of Christianity and, in particular, of the history of Ukrainian Christianity. In controversy with his opponents, he attests to a thorough knowledge of the process of forming Christian dogmas of church canons, biblical texts, which he convincingly and skillfully operates as a professional exegete. At the same time, A. Richinsky appears to us as a tolerant, ecumenical personality, not inclined to religious confession, bias towards "non-believers", free from religious fanaticism and clerical extremism. If such a figure were today among our Ukrainian intelligentsia or, better yet, among the Orthodox hierarchy, the cause of unification of all Ukrainian Orthodox churches would inevitably have come to a standstill.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Christianity studies (including biblical studies and church history)"
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Kirk, Alexander N. "Paul's approach to death in his letters and in early Pauline effective history." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:41c8b162-fbe4-4de3-a26b-cf6138eb8f11.
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This thesis analyzes the Apostle Paul’s approach to his own death. The term “approach” is deliberately vague and is intended to encompass a number of questions: What was Paul’s attitude toward his death? How did he act and what did he say and write in view of it? What hopes did he hold for himself beyond death? These questions are explored through a close reading of three Pauline letters that look forward to Paul’s death and other relevant texts in the first two generations after Paul’s death (A.D. 70–160). Thus, this thesis is a study of Paul’s death in prospect and retrospect. Starting with the latter, the first half of the thesis examines portraits of the departed Paul in Acts 20:17–38; 1 Clem. 5.1–6.1; Ign. Eph. 12.2; Rom. 4.3; Pol. Phil. 9.1–2; and the Martyrdom of Paul. It is argued that these portraits exhibit a complicated network of similarities that may be described using Wittgenstein’s concept of “family resemblances.” Viewed as a part of Paul’s early effective history, these early portraits of Paul offer substantial resources for the interpretation of his letters. The second half of the thesis examines portraits of the departing Paul in 2 Cor 1:8–14; 4:16–5:10; Phil 1:18d–26; 2:16b–18; 3:7–14; and 2 Tim 1:12; 4:6–8, 17–18. The “decision of death” referred to in 2 Cor 1:9 is highlighted as a religious experience and one which goaded Paul to formulate his approach to death. It is argued that his death did not primarily present an existential challenge, but a pastoral one. Although touching upon three areas of recent scholarly interest (Paul’s theology of death and beyond; Paul’s religious experience; and Pauline reception), this thesis sets forth a new research question and fresh interpretations of early Christian and Pauline texts.
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Anthony, Peter Benedict. "Interpreting vision : a survey of patristic reception of the Transfiguration and its earliest depiction, with special reference to the Gospel of Luke." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7f76f633-e2bf-4319-90ff-c5f87dd7f1c3.
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This thesis shows that patristic interpretation of the Transfiguration had a sensitivity to visionary and ecstatic motifs within the synoptic Transfiguration narratives, and particularly Luke’s, which prompted a rich breadth of hermeneutic interaction with our texts. I offer the evidence of my survey of the reception history of the Transfiguration in the first 900 years of Christian history as a way of filling a number of gaps in knowledge in modern biblical scholarship concerning the Transfiguration narratives. This thesis begins, in Chapters 1, 2, and 3, with an appraisal of interpretation offered by modern biblical scholars, patrologists, and art historians. Critical comment often overlooks a series of ambiguities in the narratives, particularly the distinct characteristics of Luke’s version. These include the question of whether the disciples enter the overshadowing cloud, the presence of priestly or cultic imagery, visionary motifs frequently found in apocalyptic texts, such as the disciples’ drowsiness, and Peter’s confusion at not knowing what he said. Chapters 4-7 examine the earliest reception in 2 Peter, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Acts of Peter, explore at some length Origen’s and Tertullian’s interpretation, and also look at Latin and Greek comment after Origen. I show many ancient writers to understand the disciples as experiencing ecstatic vision. Some also use cultic language appertaining to the Jerusalem Temple in their exegesis of the Transfiguration. They also employ the narrative to interpret other prophetic or visionary texts. Many of these distinguishing features of interpretation frequently stem from their attentiveness to the Lucan narrative. Chapter 8 examines the earliest artistic depictions of the Transfiguration from the sixth century onwards. This chapter indicates that many of the visionary and cultic themes we have outlined in previous chapters are frequently overlooked by art historians, and also that Luke’s narrative exercised a greater influence on representation of the Transfiguration than many people have imagined. This thesis concludes with a reconsideration of the visionary character of the Transfiguration narratives. Many of the ambiguities, overlooked details, and distinctive traits we pointed to in our opening chapters will be seen to have had much greater significance through many centuries of early hermeneutic tradition and artistic depiction than is the case in modern historical critical scholarship.
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Strawbridge, Jennifer Ruth. "'According to the wisdom given to Him' : the use of the Pauline Epistles by early Christian writers before Nicaea." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:81a6546b-95e1-44ad-afca-f32d0b038db1.
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This thesis is a study of the interpretation and reception of the writings attributed to the apostle Paul based on the collation of references to Pauline texts in pre-Nicene Christian writings. The material is analysed utilising a method worked out by Teresa Morgan and Raffaella Cribiore to understand the nature and extent of indebtedness to literary authorities in ancient pedagogy. The application of their method means that the most frequently cited passages from the Pauline corpus become the focus for detailed examination, and a chapter is devoted to the following passages: 1 Corinthians 2.6-16, Ephesians 6.10-17, 1 Corinthians 15.50-58, and Colossians 1.15-20. In each chapter, selections from early Christian texts which use these passages are chosen for in-depth analysis because they are representative in their interpretative approaches of the totality of texts examined. Across many different early Christian writings, images and phrases from these Pauline pericopes were used to support and defend a wide range of theological arguments about the nature of divine wisdom and its contrast with human wisdom, the importance of standing firm in faith, the nature of resurrection and the body, and the nature of Christ. On the basis of the analysis throughout this thesis, conclusions are drawn firstly, about the close connection between scriptural interpretation and theological doctrines; secondly, about early Christian formation, separate from scholarly attempts to recover early Christian catechesis, school teaching, and pedagogy; and finally, about early Christian identity and how it is formed and informed by early Christian use of these four passages.
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Babík, Milan. "In pursuit of salvation : Woodrow Wilson and American liberal internationalism as secularized eschatology." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2009. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0ba3fcd9-ecbc-4789-83c9-3fdb1c290aea.
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This work reinterprets the idea of progress at the heart of Woodrow Wilson’s liberal internationalism through the lens of secularization theory, which holds that modern philosophies of progress stand on religious foundations and represent secularized vestiges of biblical eschatology. Previous applications of this insight reveal a selective pattern: Whereas totalitarian and illiberal narratives of progress such as Nazism and Marxism-Leninism have received lavish attention and spawned extensive political religions literature, liberal progressivism has been ignored. This dissertation rectifies this neglect. Initial chapters present the biblical conception of history as the myth of salvation, introduce secularization through the writings of Karl Löwith and Hans Blumenberg, respectively its principal proponent and main critic, and test the limits of the concept to confirm its applicability to liberal progressivism. The main part aims secularization theory at Wilson’s idea of progress in the broader context of American liberal thought. From the 17th-century Puritan vision of a “city upon a hill” to the 19th-century doctrine of “manifest destiny”, biblical eschatology defined the way Americans envisioned history and their role in it, giving rise to a sort of liberal-republican millennialism. Wilson was no exception: Considering faith essential to authentic knowledge, he regarded history as a providential process, the United States as a divinely appointed redeemer nation, and himself as a Christian statesman performing God’s work in a fallen world. His foreign policy was fundamentally a religious mission to transform international relations according to the Bible, thereby fulfilling the prophecy of salvation. The dissertation demonstrates the eschatological foundations of his statecraft through specific examples and draws attention to their illiberal and totalizing implications. Final passages note the enduring relevance of Wilson’s principles and, based on their reinterpretation in this work, reflect critically on their suitability as a guide for future American foreign policy.
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Moore, Nicholas J. ""Not to offer himself again and again" : an exegetical and theological study of repetition in the Letter to the Hebrews." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:7402e9b1-28f1-4075-b407-dd02c30c1d20.
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Repetition has received a bad press in certain streams of theological tradition; this reception has in part been caused by, and has in turn affected, readings of the Letter to the Hebrews, which speaks about repetition in ways unique in the New Testament. The present study addresses the insufficient critical attention paid to repetition in Hebrews, challenging the assumption that it functions uniformly and negatively throughout the letter, and exploring the variety of ways in which Hebrews presents repetition. The plurality of prophetic speech displays God’s manifold kindness in the old covenant; such speech is not opposed to but is fulfilled in Christ’s coming, and its ongoing repetition in the new covenant through citation and exposition serves to promote and explicate that event. Repeated mutual encouragement is essential to persevering in the Christian life and avoiding apostasy. And the regular entry of the Levitical priests into the outer sanctuary of the tabernacle in Heb 9.6 foreshadows the continual access to God achieved through Christ. Where repetition has a negative or contrastive role in the author’s argumentation, it does not cause inefficacy but rather indicates a weakness whose source is elsewhere – and which, moreover, is revealed fully only in the light of the Christ event. The uniqueness of Christ and of his death construed as a sacrifice, developed from concepts of singularity in Day of Atonement and early Christian crucifixion traditions, forms a unifying strand in the letter’s Christology. Rather than functioning in simple opposition to repetition, this singularity corresponds to continuity and eternity, and is developed at times in contrast to, and at times in correspondence with, repetition. The study thus offers a reappraisal of repetition in Hebrews, laying the foundations for renewed appreciation of the importance of repetition for theological discourse and religious life.
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Ellis, Nicholas J. "Jewish hermeneutics of divine testing with special reference to the epistle of James." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:0046deb6-8d05-4b36-aa1c-0b61b464f253.
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The nature of trials, tests, and temptation in the Epistle of James has been extensively debated in New Testament scholarship. However, scholarship has underexamined the tension between the author’s mitigation of divine agency in testing ( Jas 1:13–14) and the author’s appeal to well-known biblical testing narratives such as the creation account (1:15– 18), the Binding of Isaac ( Jas 2:21–24), and the Trials of Job ( Jas 5:9–11). is juxtaposition between the author’s theological apologetic and his biblical hermeneutic has the potential to reveal either the author’s theological incoherence or his rhetorical and hermeneutical creativity. With these tensions of divine agency and biblical interpretation in mind, this dissertation compares the Epistle of James against other examples of ancient Jewish interpretation, interrogating two points of contact in each Jewish work: their portrayals of the cosmic drama of testing, and their resulting biblical hermeneutic. The dissertation assembles a spectrum of positions on how the divine, satanic, and human roles of testing vary from author to author. These variations of the dramatis personae of the cosmic drama exercise a direct influence on the reception and interpretation of the biblical testing narratives. When the Epistle of James is examined in a similar light, it reveals a cosmic drama especially dependent on the metaphor of the divine law court. Within this cosmic drama, God stands as righteous judge, and in the place of divine prosecutor stand the cosmic forces indicting both divine integrity and human religious loyalty. These cosmic and human roles have a direct impact on James’ reading of biblical testing narratives. Utilising an intra-canonical hermeneutic similar to that found in Rewritten Bible literature, the Epistle appeals to a constructed ‘Jobraham’ narrative in which the Job stories mitigate divine agency in biblical trials such as those of Abraham, and Abraham’s celebrated patience rehabilitates Job’s rebellious response to trial. In conclusion, by closely examining the broader exegetical discourses of ancient Judaism, this project sheds new light on how the Epistle of James responds to theological tensions within its religious community through a hermeneutical application of the dominant biblical narratives of Job’s cosmic framework and Abraham’s human perfection.
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Billingham, John. "Divine authority and covenant community in contemporary culture." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3d96890d-8111-4922-9809-30c51d75e5b6.
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The question I address is: how might a theology of authority be conceived in the light of questions raised by what is termed 'post-modernity'? Is it possible to articulate a theology of authority coming to the church community 'from God' that avoids an oppressive and alienating heteronomy? The thesis explores the question of authority as of vital importance in the sociological dimension of religion, calling for legitimisation (in light of claims made for itself) and as obligatory in the theological sphere. For this reason the project involves two methodologies (theological and sociological/ethnographic). While this investigation is relevant to all sections of the Christian church, particular attention is paid to Baptist churches in the UK, since they hold a concept in their tradition that I suggest is valuable in answering the question of the thesis, namely that of covenant. Within the Christian tradition there is an inner 'problematic' relating the personal authority of Christ to the forms of institution (church) and text (scripture). I explore this with a brief survey of theological authority as found in the fourfold foundation of scripture, tradition, reason and experience. From this is developed a brief theological and Christological reflection on divine authority and covenant theology as found in Karl Barth and his response to the 'inner problematic'. Within contemporary culture I view authority through the lens of so-called 'postmodernism', identifying four challenges to the notion of 'external authority' (all of which exemplify a move from the external to internal, and objective to subjective approaches to authority). This is further explored by means of qualitative research with one-to-one interviews conducted in a Baptist church in York. This data is reflected upon by means of ethnography and 'judicious narratives', especially in dialogue with material from Guest ('congregational study'), Heelas and Woodhead ('subjectivised-self') and Healy ('theodramatic horizon' and 'practical-prophetic ecclesiology'), providing an intersection between the language of theology and sociology. The concept of church as covenant community is explored in Baptist and (more briefly) Anglican traditions, leading to a constructive proposal that both the inner-church 'problematic' and the 'postmodern' challenge to authority might begin to be resolved with the notion of covenant. It is within this context of relationship, human and divine, that the authoritative and revelatory Word of God, the story that is Christ, is found in community and praxis. Here is a 'triangulating' relationship between authority, story and covenant revealing divine authority in a non-coercive way and relevant to contemporary culture.
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King, Rebekka. "The New Heretics: Popular Theology, Progressive Christianity and Protestant Language Ideologies." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/34082.
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This dissertation investigates the development of progressive Christianity. It explores the ways in which progressive Christian churches in Canada adopt biblical criticism and popular theology. Contributing to the anthropology of Christianity, this study is primarily an ethnographic and linguistic analysis that juxtaposes contemporary conflicts over notions of the Christian self into the intersecting contexts of public discourse, contending notions of the secular and congregational dynamics. Methodologically, it is based upon two-and-a-half years of in-depth participant observation research at five churches and distinguishes itself as the first scholarly study of progressive Christianity in North America. I begin this study by outlining the historical context of skepticism in Canadian Protestantism and arguing that skepticism and doubt serve as profoundly religious experiences, which provide a fuller framework than secularization in understanding the experiences of Canadian Protestants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In doing so, I draw parallels between the ways that historical and contemporary North American Christians negotiate the tensions between their faith and biblical criticism, scientific empiricism and liberal morality. Chapter Two seeks to describe the religious, cultural and socio-economic worlds inhabited by the progressive Christians featured in this study. It focuses on the worldviews that emerge out of participation in what are primarily white, middle-class, liberal communities and considers how these identity-markers affect the development and lived experiences of progressive Christians. My next three chapters explore the ways that certain engagements with text and the performance or ritualization of language enable the development of a distinctly progressive Christian modality. Chapter Three investigates progressive Christian textual ideologies and argues that the form of biblical criticism that they employ, along with entrenched concerns about the origins of the Christian faith ultimately, leads to a rejection of the biblical narrative. Chapter Four examines the ways in which progressive Christians understand individual 'deconversion' narratives as contributing to a shared experience or way of being Christian that purposefully departs from evangelical Christianity. The final chapter analyses rhetoric of the future and argues that progressive Christians employ eschatological language that directs progressive Christians towards an ultimate dissolution.
Books on the topic "Christianity studies (including biblical studies and church history)"
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Opočenský, Milan. Faith challenged by history: Reports, lectures, sermons, and Bible Studies. Geneva: World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 2001.
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Francis, Esler Philip, and St. Andrews Conference on New Testament Interpretation and the Social Sciences (1994), eds. Modelling early Christianity: Social-scientific studies of the New Testament in its context. London: Routledge, 1995.
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God and the nations. Green Forest, Ark: Master Books, 2002.
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Donald, Senior, ed. The Catholic study Bible: Including the revised New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
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National Conference on Patristic Studies (2009 : Cambridge, England), ed. Studia patristica: Including papers presented at the national Conference on Patristic Studies held at Cambridge in the Faculty of Divinity ... in 2009. Leuven: Peeters, 2011.
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Jesus followers in the Roman Empire. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2017.
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W, Attridge Harold, Meeks Wayne A, Bassler Jouette M, and Society of Biblical Literature, eds. The HarperCollins study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, including the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical books with concordance. San Francisco, Calif: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.
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Clark, Kroeger Catherine, ed. I suffer not a woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in light of ancient evidence. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Book House, 1992.
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St. Paul versus St. Peter: A tale of two missions. Louisville, Ky: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1995.
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Jesus in the Manichaean writings. London: T&T Clark, 2003.
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Kling, David W. "Introduction." In The Bible in History, 1—C0.P25. 2nd ed. Oxford University PressNew York, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197525364.003.0001.
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Abstract The introductory chapter provides a rationale for the book, arguing that an understanding of the history of Christianity requires a knowledge of the multitudinous ways that the Bible has been interpreted throughout Christian history. As an interdisciplinary study of history, theology, and biblical studies, this book addresses the history of ten texts—in some cases a single text, in others clusters of related texts, and in still others, whole chapters or large portions of a book in the Bible. Each chapter is shaped roughly like an hourglass. That is, the history of a text is traced on either side of a particular episode in which the text is appropriated by an individual or a community and undergoes an innovative interpretation. This critical juncture—the neck of the hourglass—becomes the primary focus of attention in each chapter. Selected episodes illustrate the varied application of scriptural texts related to church polity, theology, missiology, ethics, and religious experience. Some texts have been a course of comfort; others have been a source of social transformation; still others have been the basis of revolutionary behavior.