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The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism In Its Jewish Context, James F. Mcgrath Oct 2009

The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism In Its Jewish Context, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

Chapter 5: "Monotheism and Worship in the Book of Revelation" is an excerpt from The Only True God. Copyright 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Used with permission of the University of Illinois Press. This excerpt, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced, distributed, photocopied or posted on-line without the written permission of the copyright holder.


Prologue As Legitimation: Christological Controversy And The Interpretation Of John 1:1-18, James F. Mcgrath Sep 2009

Prologue As Legitimation: Christological Controversy And The Interpretation Of John 1:1-18, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

Recent scholarship on the Fourth Gospel has suggested that this document was produced by a Christian community which was involved in an intense conflict with a local synagogue, the focus of which was christology. This study attempts to relate the Johannine prologue to this context, using Berger and Luckmann's model of legitimation . John's christological portrait of Jesus in the prologue is best understood in terms of the author's use of traditions and imagery which were authoritative to both him and his opponents, in order to defend the legitimacy of his and his community's beliefs. By looking at the prologue …


Review Of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming The Dead Sea Scrolls. The History Of Judaism, The Background Of Christianity, The Lost Library Of Qumran", James F. Mcgrath Sep 2009

Review Of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming The Dead Sea Scrolls. The History Of Judaism, The Background Of Christianity, The Lost Library Of Qumran", James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

James McGrath's review of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, The Lost Library of Qumran"


Review Of Barbara Thiering, "Jesus Of The Apocalypse. The Life Of Jesus After The Crucifixion”, James F. Mcgrath Sep 2009

Review Of Barbara Thiering, "Jesus Of The Apocalypse. The Life Of Jesus After The Crucifixion”, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

James McGrath's review of Barbara Thiering "Jesus of the Apocalypse. The Life of Jesus after the Crucixion."


Review Of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming The Dead Sea Scrolls. The History Of Judaism, The Background Of Christianity, The Lost Library Of Qumran", James F. Mcgrath Sep 2009

Review Of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming The Dead Sea Scrolls. The History Of Judaism, The Background Of Christianity, The Lost Library Of Qumran", James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

James McGrath's review of Lawrence H. Shiffman "Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. The History of Judaism, the Background of Christianity, The Lost Library of Qumran"


The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, James F. Mcgrath Apr 2009

The Dead Sea Scrolls Today, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

James McGrath's review of James C. VanderKam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today


Change In Christology: New Testament Models And The Contemporary Task, James F. Mcgrath Apr 2009

Change In Christology: New Testament Models And The Contemporary Task, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

The purpose of this paper is to review different models of development which have been suggested, and to suggest a way out of the impasse between the two major views which have predominated this field of study.


Uncontrived Messiah Or Passover Plot? A Study Of A Johannine Apologetic Motif, James F. Mcgrath Apr 2009

Uncontrived Messiah Or Passover Plot? A Study Of A Johannine Apologetic Motif, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

The aim of this article is not to weigh the merits of Schonfield's thesis in relation to the historical Jesus, but to suggest that the author of the Fourth Gospel was concerned to argue against similar claims being made by some of his Jewish contemporaries.


A Rebellious Son? Hugo Odeberg And The Interpretation Of John 5.18, James F. Mcgrath Feb 2009

A Rebellious Son? Hugo Odeberg And The Interpretation Of John 5.18, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

A solution to the difficult question of how to interpret John 5.18 appeared to have been provided with the publication of Hugo Odeberg's monumental work, The Fourth Gospel, published in 1929. Odeberg cited a rabbinic expression which characterized a rebellious son as one who 'makes himself equal with his father, and thus suggested that 'the Jews' are here making a similar accusation: they regard Jesus as rebelling against the divine authority. Subsequent scholarship for a long time cited Odeberg as a definitive demonstration of the background and meaning of John 5.18, and thus of the entire passage.


Going Up And Coming Down In Johannine Legitimation, James F. Mcgrath Feb 2009

Going Up And Coming Down In Johannine Legitimation, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

In his study of Johannine christology Wayne Meeks stressed the importance of understanding the ascent·descent schema in any attempt to understand this christology or explain its origin. The work of sociologists Berger and Luckmann on legitimation has the potential to shed light on an ear her stage in this development. Key passages in John show that ascent-descent language is linked to the motifs of the Son of man and wisdom, and suggest that John has developed these two traditional aspects of christology in response to objections and conflict over Jesus' qualifications to be the revealer, and his relationship to God …


Johannine Christianity: Jewish Christianity?, James F. Mcgrath Feb 2009

Johannine Christianity: Jewish Christianity?, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

Since the publication of J. Louis Martyn's Decisive Study, History and Theology in the in the Fourth Gospel (1979), there has been a growing consensus among Johannine scholars that the Gospel of John was composed in the context of conflict with the synagogue, and that it is thus best understood and interpreted against the background of Judaism and Jewish Christianity'. However, several recent studies have sought to challenge this position, primarily on two fronts: Johannine Christology (Casey 1991 :23-38) and the Johannine attitude towards the Torah (Schnelle 1992:31-36). These recent challenges to the growing consensus have also pointed to the …


Review Of Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels, James F. Mcgrath Feb 2009

Review Of Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

In his latest book, Kenneth Bailey provides further study of the New Testament Gospels from the perspective that has been his own unique contribution over the past three decades or so.


Review Of Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels, James F. Mcgrath Feb 2009

Review Of Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies In The Gospels, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

In his latest book, Kenneth Bailey provides further study of the New Testament Gospels from the perspective that has been his own unique contribution over the past three decades or so.


History And Fiction In The Acts Of Thomas: The State Of The Question, James F. Mcgrath Feb 2009

History And Fiction In The Acts Of Thomas: The State Of The Question, James F. Mcgrath

James F. McGrath

The Acts of Thomas has not yet received as much attention as the Gospel associated with the same individual, and this is understandable. Current students of this early Christian work, however, are in danger of missing out on the discussions and differing perspectives long offered by scholars of the Indian church and Indian history on this work. The current study suggests that, while the Acts of Thomas is almost certainly a work of novelistic fiction, this should not lead us to ignore the instances of confirmable historical information embedded therein, as in many other works of historical fiction. The Acts …