Title: The New Testament and Hellenistic Judaism, Edited by Peder Borgen and Soren Giversen
Abstract: New Testament and edited by Peder Borgen and Sfren GiversenThis volume of essays emerged from a 1992 conference by the same name held at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Aarhus in Denmark. central themes of the collection are set out in the introductory essay by Soren Giversen, The Covenant -- Theirs or Ours? These are: eschatological apocalyptism in the Jewish Diaspora; Philo and the New Testament; the interpretation of the Old Testament in the Jewish Diaspora and the New Testament; and New Testament themes in the light of the Jewish Diaspora. This list of concerns situates the volume in the particular trajectory of New Testament scholarship that probes the ways in which in this case, Judaism of the Diaspora, provides a context for, and a key to understanding, early Christian literature.Like most conference volumes, this collection represents a variety of approaches and perspectives rather than a comprehensive survey or a sustained argument. A number of articles are general studies. Nikolaus Walter's article, Hellenistic Jews of the Diaspora at the Cradle of Primitive Christianity, examines the importance of Judaism for the development of early Christian thought and practice and concludes that there were varied relationships between Christians and Jews as well as a complex range of influences of Judaism on Christianity with respect to central symbols such as the Torah and activities such as evangelism. Methodological issues are the focus of Marinus de Jonge's article, The So-called Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament and Early Christianity, which argues that an analysis of the history of Christian transmission of the pseudepigrapha must be undertaken before their contribution to our knowledge of Second Temple Judaism can be studied. Lars Hartman's article, Guiding the Knowing Vessel of Your Heart, analyzes the use of the Bible in Alexandrian Jewish literature, with the exception of Philo, and suggests that there are many similarities between ways in which Alexandrian Jews and early Christians used the Bible. These similarities, however, should not obscure the differences, argues Hartman. Rather, it must be recognized that the typological exegesis in which Christians engaged went further than Jews were generally willing to go in their modes of exegesis.Most of the articles focus on specific passages or terms. James H. Charlesworth suggests that Son of David, normally considered one of the central Christian rifles identifying Jesus as the messiah, is better understood as connecting Jesus, a wise exorcist and healer, with Solomon, who is also portrayed in these terms in Jewish texts such as the Testament of Solomon. Although these texts postdate the New Testament, they may well reflect earlier exegetical traditions. Johannes Nissen's article, The Distinctive Character of the New Testament Love Command in Relation to Judaism, argues that what is unique in Christian texts is not the content of the love command, which is also found in Jewish texts, or its particular forms as represented in the New Testament, but the relation of the command to Christ who calls forth a new community which makes love possible. …
Publication Year: 1999
Publication Date: 1999-10-31
Language: en
Type: article
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