Somatic Comprehension Of Unity

By systematically examining the New Testament's teaching, Ferguson unveils a comprehensive model of the church that is boh biblically centered and relevant to a world on the verge of the twenty-first century.

This book analyzes Paul's Letter to the Ephesians and demonstrates that the Letter's implied audience heard its individual units as a rich and complex pattern of chiastic structures. It shows that, not only is the entire Letter arranged in fifteen units that function as a comprehensive chiastic structure, but that each of these fifteen units in turn exhibits its own chiastic structure. By attending carefully to the structure and rhetoric of Ephesians, this work demonstrates how the implied audience is persuaded and empowered by the progression of the Letter to “walk in love” and so contribute to the cosmic unity of all things in Christ.

The aim of this book is to describe the particular character of the unity of the Ephesian Church. The next step of the study is the determination of the literary genre. This is pursued on the basis of an analysis of texts, especially of Eph 1,3-14 and its function within the letter, and also a study of the language, style and purpose of the author. The book proposes a new description of the unity of the Church in terms of a somatic comprehension. The literary genre is described in terms of a Christ-agogy, namely, a Christian Mystagogy. This indicates the special place of Ephesians among the Pauline letters.

The meaning of Paul's comments about the new creation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 6:15 has long been obscured. Debate has raged for years, with some arguing that the phrase new creation solely refers to the inward transformation believers have experienced through faith in Jesus Christ, and others that this phrase should be understood cosmologically and linked with Isaiah's new heavens and new earth. Still more advocate an ecclesiological interpretation of this phrase that centres Paul in the new community formed around Jesus Christ. In As It Was in the Beginning, Mark Owens argues that the concept of new creation should be understood within the realm of Paul's anthropology, cosmology, and ecclesiology. Paul's understanding ofnew creation belongs within an Urzeit-Endzeit typological framework, especially within 2 Corinthians 5-6 and Ephesians 1-2. Owens's reading of new creation gives due weight to the use of Isaianic traditions in Paul's letters, and to demonstrate that the vision of new creation in 2 Corinthians and Galatians is in striking harmony with that of Ephesians.

A major introduction, translation and verse-by-verse commentary.Professor Best provides an overall view of Ephesians which demonstrates the power and consistency of its author's work. Among the many important elements in this commentary, Ernest Best explores, for example, the relationship between the primarily theological aspects of Ephesians which concentrate on the nature of the church, and the primarily ethical aspects which concentrate on the behaviour of members of Christian communities towards one another.An indispensable reference for scholars, students and clergy.

Hardly any other topic is as important for the coexistence of mankind as the question of justice and reconciliation. In this volume, we want to examine this important question from different interdisciplinary and international perspectives in order to develop an overall understanding that will contribute to reconciliation in various cultural and religious fields of conflict in the world. Particular attention will be paid to the theological perspective on reconciliation, in which justice and restoration of relationships play a central role.

An accessible introduction to the chief themes and contem porary relevance of the Letters to Ephesus and Colossae.

An abbreviated edition, in paperback, of the commentary in the ICC series. For those who lack the linguistic and historical grounding, or the time, to deal with the ICC volume, this Shorter Commentary retains all the important elements of the introduction and commentary, but excludes foreign-language material, technical notes and excursuses.

Paul's view of the church as the temple and his concern about its purity in 1-2 Corinthians has traditionally been interpreted from the perspective of a Jewish background. However, Yulin Liu reveals that the pagans were very aware of temple purity when visiting some temples in the Greco-Roman world, and the purification concerns of three pagan temples in Corinth are documented in his work. The author affirms that the Gentile believers among the Corinthian community were able to grasp Paul's message because of it. Also, Liu investigates Paul's use of temple purity to address the necessity of unity, holiness and faithfulness of the Corinthian Christians in an eschatological sense. The separation of God's people from profane matters actually points to a new exodus and a progressive consummation of the construction of the eschatological temple-community.

"The author of Ephesians shows an interest in the Isaianic new exodus (INE) in facilitating his focus on the present triumph of the people of God. The recipients required both insight and confidence, especially in regard to the certainty of their salvation, its mysterious nature, Jewish-Gentile relations, and their former manner of life. In the face of these challenges the author maintains that victory is secured through God's choice of them and the working of his redemptive program--which inevitably leads to triumphal blessings. As with the exodus-era Hebrews, the readers participate in paschal redemption, now embodied in Christ, along with his resurrection and ascension as the triumphant new exodus warrior over principalities and powers. In addition, and as predicted by OT writers, Gentile proselytes share the blessings of the new exodus, but now on equal footing and access as Jewish Christians--creating a new eschatological temple. Triumphant Christ distributes gifts, facilitates Spirit-endowed living, and enables Christian warfare that mirrors Yahweh and his servant. The recipients of the epistle appear to be called to view INE triumph as above, below, now and not yet, while not discarding current applications on earth. "

This study of Ephesians 5:21-33 contains a helpful discussion of metaphorical language and a careful analysis of the argumentation of a much-disputed biblical passage. Both sides in the interpretative debate will have to rethink their current interpretations in the light of this book.

ÒPower and Magic is one of those few books which literally cannot be ignored by any serious bible student. In fact, it makes the classical commentaries on Ephesians that I am familiar with virtually obsolete. Clinton Arnold has done us all a great favor by throwing vital new light on our understanding of what really motivated the Apostle Paul to write one of his most important epistles.Ó Peter Wagner, Fuller Theological Seminary ÒThis scholarly book is a valuable contribution to understanding the spiritual world we live in. Clinton Arnold helps us to understand Paul's message to the early church and consequently to the church at the end of twentieth century.Ó Neil Anderson, Freedom in Christ Ministries ÒPower and Magic is one of the most helpful biblical teachings available on the subject. I know it will be helpful to any reader.Ó John Wimber, Association of Vineyard Churches ÒI consider Power and Magic to be one of the most valuable books in my library. Arnold's research into the world view held by the inhabitants of the Greco-Roman world focusing on spiritual power is outstanding. I continually recommend this book to pastors, missionaries, seminary professors, students, and thoughtful Christians in all my seminars worldwide on spiritual warfare.Ó Ed Murphy ÒI have found this book extremely enlightening and consistently biblical. Reading it is a definite must for those who wish to understand the biblical world view.Ó Ed Silvoso, President, Harvest Evangelism

The problem of the historical Jesus remains one of the most important themes in New Testament scholarship. Closely related to this problem is the question, How far can the impact made by the earthly Jesus and his own self-understanding sustain the weight of the Christological construction put upon them by the early church? In the past two decades some scholars have taken an increasingly gloomy attitude toward the possibility of knowing anything of substance about Jesus from the Gospels or, at the opposite extreme, have sometimes made outlandish claims about him. Others, like the contributors to this volume, have begun moving the discussion into fresh areas of creative, responsible inquiry.

Up to now the teaching on baptism in the Holy Spirit has been based on a few scriptural texts, whose interpretation was disputed. This doubt cast its shadow on those who promote baptism in the Holy Spirit. Now new evidence has been found in early post-biblical authors (Tertullian, Hilary of Poitiers, Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Philoxenus, and the Syrians) which demonstrates that what is called baptism in the Holy Spirit was integral to Christian initiation (baptism, confirmation, Eucharist). Because it was part of initiation into the Church, it was not a matter of private piety, but of public worship. Therefore it was and remains normative. This is an intriguing ground-breaking study of value to RCIA teams, pastors, theology teachers and students, and Church offices.

This insightful study offers the first comprehensive overview of the theology and praxis of Roman Catholic theologian Heribert Mühlen. This theologically accurate and historically sensitive book shows that Mühlen has gone beyond his popular early academic exercise by documenting and proposing a liturgical praxis that aims at providing a concrete framework for the acceptance and renewal of the human covenantal relationship with God. In every respect, Mühlen's theology and praxis marks the beginning of a new profile of the Church. A letter and epilogue by Heribert Mühlen are included.

This volume of essays is dedicated to Professor Ralph Martin of the University of Sheffield, formerly Director of the Graduate Studies Program at Fuller Theological Seminary, widely known for his incisive and disciplined scholarship on the New Testament. The editors called on associates from his various teaching posts, former students, and colleagues in the field for these original essays, the range of which reflects Professor Martin's own broad interests in New Testament studies, worship and ministry. Contributors to the volume are: Ernest Best, Colin Brown, James Dunn, E. Earle Ellis, Donald Guthrie, Donald Hagner, Gerald Hawthorne, Colin Kruse, Andrew Lincoln, I. Howard Marshall, Leon Morris, Peter T. O'Brien, Terence Paige, Eduard Schweizer, Graham Stanton, Marianne Meye Thompson and Michael J. Wilkins, with a curriculum vitae and reminiscences supplied by Lynn A. Losie and Leslie Allen.

The address to wives at Eph. 5.22-24 represents an expansion of Col. 3.18. What guided the expansion? An answer emerges from an investigation of Pauline and Jewish reflection about Adam, Christ and the New Creation. The argument of the study is that Eph. 5.22-24 contains language which elsewhere in the Pauline Corpus associates Christ with Adam or the first two chapters of Genesis. Both the adamic character of the language at Eph. 5.22-24 and the application of Gen.2.24 to Christ and the church (Eph. 5.31-32) support the contention that Pauline New Creation theology guided the construction of Eph. 5.22-24. The first chapter outlines the shortcomings of previous investigations which have underestimated the adamic character of Eph. 5.22-24. Chapter two contains a detailed analysis of the grammatical structure of the text, which leads to the conclusion that the logical and theological core of the text is Eph. 5.23c. The arguments in the next chapter demonstrate that the soteriology of 5.23c is to be interpreted in the light of 2.14-18., which recasts Christ's death on the cross in language found in Gen.1-2, suggesting the adamic character of 5.23c. The fourth chapter explores the adamic nature of the terms head and subordination whitin Pauline text prior to Ephesians. The final chapter contains a fresh exegesis of Eph. 5.22-24 in light of Pualine New Creation theology and some brief hermeneutical reflections.

Ephesians and Colossians is the first of eighteen volumes in the new Paideia commentary series. This series approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Each sense unit is explored in three sections: (1) introductory matters, (2) tracing the train of thought, (3) key hermeneutical and theological questions. The commentaries shed fresh light on the text while avoiding idiosyncratic readings, attend to theological meaning without presuming a specific theological stance in the reader, and show how the text uses narrative and rhetorical strategies from the ancient educational context to form and shape the reader. Professors, graduate and seminary students, and pastors will benefit from this readable commentary, as will theological libraries.

From L.A. Schokel, S.J.'s preface: A professor dead at 58 seems to us a professor manque. His life has been cut off in full flower with senseless finality - a man's years are seventy. Even though we know that death is the beginning of true life, we miss the life which was his presence among us. But someone who has given himself to teaching can stay alive in his writings. He can live on in the pages which we read, though these pages, like their author's life, have reached completion. We the colleagues, friends and fellow religious of Dennis McCarthy wish to extend his career by publishing in this volume his collected essays. Some of these essays are rigorously technical, with footnotes; others are a type of personal reflection which some call haute vulgarisation. There are two types of readers then, which are addressed. We tend to think of a professor in terms of his field of specialization, perhaps in terms of his most influential book or most notable success. As though he were a dead butterfly on exhibit or a tree labelled in Latin. The professor usually provides a reason for such simplification. Thus McCarthy evoked the term covenant. This was the subject of his basic work, and this is the subject of eight articles in the present work. But this book does not end with covenant. McCarthy views covenant as the relation between man and God. Connected with covenant are other institutions of the Old Testament world - the Holy War, the rite of installation, leadership, monarchy, the role of blood in sacrifice.