Christian Bible Research Articles

Orthodox Christian Biblical Studies in Pursuit of Identity: The Role and Impact of Personal Research Practices

The article explores the pursuit of identity in Ukrainian Orthodox biblical studies not only in liturgical, exegetical, moral, educational and apologetic dimensions, but also from the perspective of academic criticism. It reviews the key points of this process, as discovered in the legacy of prominent representatives of the Kyivan biblical study tradition. Governmental influence on the Church’s educational policies, balancing between loyalty to the Orthodox tradition and Western biblical criticism, is among the factors that have shaped biblical studies, this issue being explored in the article. Historical milestones of biblical studies are presented, as is the research of prominent Kyivan scholars. Considering all these aspects and other crucial issues, the conclusion shows what makes the Kyivan tradition of biblical studies unique and of lasting importance.

Violence in the Christian Bible: Assessing Crossan’s use of ‘violence’ as a key analytical concept

In this article Crossan’s analysis of violence in the Christian Bible is assessed by means of two overlapping strategies. The first strategy takes seriously the insistence by scholars of comparative religion that the application of theorised key concepts to case studies may throw new light on an issue. By taking David Chidester’s mapping of definitions and theories of the concept of ‘violence’ as a point of reference, Crossan’s conceptualisation of violence in the Bible is assessed. Secondly, Burton Mack’s critical application of Girard’s theory of violence to early Christian myth formations and their legacy in the West is compared with and used to assess Crossan’s analysis. In conclusion, the imperative to reflect further on the ethical question of violence is highlighted.

Mark the Evangelist: His African memory

Mark is the author of the oldest gospel in the Christian Bible. Not much is known about him or his family except for a few references in the Bible. The general assumption, originating in the West, is that Mark was born and bred in Palestine. One of the main proponents of the Western view is Walter Bauer, a German theologian of the first half of the 20th century. His views rely heavily on the argument from silence, as Africa had – and to a great extent still has – an oral culture. Contrary to the Western view, Thomas Oden, an American theologian, did research on the oral culture and investigated the African memory of Mark. This article presents a critical discussion and a review of the book written by Oden in 2011 titled The African memory of Mark. Oden seems to be very subjective in his remarks in favour of Africa, as is also clear from his book titled How Africa shaped the Christian mind, written in 2007, and the question is if he really has enough grounds for his postulations.

God Speaks Hebrew: The Hebrew Text and Septuagint in the Search for the Christian Bible

God Speaks Hebrew: The Hebrew Text and Septuagint in the Search for the Christian Bible

Sacrifice and the Body: Biblical Anthropology and Christian Self-Understanding. By John Dunhill.

<i>Sacrifice and the Body: Biblical Anthropology and Christian Self-Understanding</i>. By John Dunhill.

Climatologists, Theologians, and Prophets: Toward an Ecotheology of Critical Hope

Climatologists, Theologians, and Prophets: Toward an Ecotheology of Critical Hope

Missions in the Hebrew Bible revisited: Four theological trails instead of one confining concept

The discussion on missions in the Old Testament has led to an unsatisfying diversity of results. In order to let the Old Testament speak for itself as an independent voice of the Christian Bible, foreign concepts like “missions” have to be replaced by theological concepts inherent to the Hebrew Bible itself. The Torah and Former Prophets develop four theological lines within the theme-field of a positive (blessing) mandate to the nation of Israel concerning others: (1) the mandate as mediator of blessing to all the families of the earth; (2) the mandate as mediator of knowledge of God to non-Israelites; (3) the mandate as royal priesthood mediating between Yhwh and the Gentiles; (4) the mandate as host people for strangers. These mandates cannot be subsumed under one single organizing concept like (passive or centripetal) “missions,” “witness,” or “messenger.” Instead they have to be understood as situational specifications of the original blessing mandate to Abraham. The theological intention of these Old Testament texts is to actualize a vision of worldwide knowledge of God in the hearts of their readers.

On the issue of Biblical resources of Anthropology and Christian Pedagogy – the image of Elijah as the patron of “the burnt out” by the post-modernity

This publication referring to the research program of the sources of anthropology and Christian pedagogy is designed to show the prophet Elijah as an alter ego of modern man – tired of post-modern era, age-related changes, often lost in the intricacies and depths of the virtual world, who has to live in the reality of post-Christian Europe, in the war of cultures, religions and civilizations. Elijah, who, despite the crises (depression) remains unbending faith in the true God, and in the end does not die (is transferred to heaven) can be the patron of “the exhausted” with postmodernism. The description of the psychological character of Elijah connecting the reality of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible is based on the research of outstanding contemporary scholars of the Italian language area: Bruno Secondin and Gianfranco Ravasi.

Goiter in portraits of Judith the Jewish heroine.

Judith was a legendary Hebrew heroine who beheaded the general Holofernes and saved the children of Israel from destruction by the Assyrian army. In the Book of Judith, which is still present in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles, Judith is presented as an illustrious woman who defeated the enemy using her virtue and fortitude. The present investigation has revealed 24 portraits in which Judith has been depicted with variable grades of thyroid gland enlargement on the scene where she decapitates Holofernes. There is no doubt that the integration of a slight thyroid enlargement in the paintings is a stylistic hallmark that portrays an idealized female beauty with a balanced neck and graceful body. The large extended goiter was probably depicted by the artists as a symbol of a powerful masculine body and her courage, and at the same time, it probably also reflects better anatomic accuracy and knowledge of artists from that period.

기독교의 중국화에 대한 비판적 연구

In history, argument on sinicizing Christianity was raised twice at a church in China. One is 1920’s indigenization movement which occurred mainly by the intellectuals of Chinese churches to find out a way out against anti-Christianity movement. The other is Three-Self Movement which has tried to sinicize Christianity by Chinese communist party and its government, and its followers Three-Self churches since a new China construction in 1949. A three-Self church is the church that accomplishes the sinicization of Christianity requested by Chinese communist party and its government. Recently Chinese government and its communist party have begun to set a tangible policy and enforce it so as to sinicize Christianity, that is, a five must-take and a five must-shift. The former is Religious policy & law, Health & medical service, Knowledge of science & technology, Poor relief & helping the needy, Creating a harmonious society. The latter is Localization of religion, Normalisation of management, Indigenization of theology, Publicization of finance, Adaptation of doctrine. These policies are concretization of Three-Self and the guidelines for sinicization of Christianity. When the sinicization of Christianity is estimated, indigenization was an inevitable product against anti-Christianity movement. It was a workof settlement but was different from Chinaization of sinocentrism which is in line with Three-Self supported by Chinese communist party and its government. Their assertion seems pretty persuasive but is actually one of united front tactics. They use Christianity to build an ideal socialist society in the name of Three-Self church and sinocentrism. Their ‘a five must-take and a five must-shift’ policies are far from being indigenization and the biblical Christianity.

Intertextuality as a Means of Negotiating Authority, Status, and Place—Forms, Contexts, and Effects of Quotations of Christian Texts in Nineteenth-Century Missionary Correspondence from Yorùbáland

From the early 1840s, Church Missionary Society agents were active in the Yorùbá mission in what today is Southwest Nigeria. Both European and African missionaries—often former slaves who had converted to Christianity—corresponded with the Society, and in their writing frequently used quotations from the Bible and other core Christian texts. These quotations were recontextualised (Fairclough 2003) in the missionaries’ writing and formed intertextual bonds (Blommaert 2005) between their correspondence and the original texts. For the missionaries these bonds provided solace and meaning in difficult situations, established their status and authority as proficient theologians in the face of their European audience, and explicitly linked them with the Christian narrative of ‘spreading the word’. Especially for the Yorùbá agents, this practice of creating intertextuality was a means of negotiating and affirming their African-Christian identity, thus establishing and expressing their new place in the Christian tradition.

The Bible in Early Christianity: Audiences, Projects, and Agendas

The Bible in Early Christianity: Audiences, Projects, and Agendas

E-Reading and the Christian Bible

The Christian Bible is now available in thousands of digital forms, re-imagined for electronic reading on mobile, tablet and desktop screens. This article introduces findings from an online survey of digital Bible users, analysing their demographics, reading practices, motivations and experiences. Survey responses are analysed in conversation with recent debates among Christian commentators and broader arguments in the study of e-reading in education and other contexts. Religious e-reading shows some distinctive and unexpected features, in comparison with reading in other contexts, and this article proposes some initial hypotheses about the impact of digital media on sacred text.

Book Review: Understanding Canon: Tomas Bokedal, The Formation and Significance of the Christian Biblical Canon: A Study in Text, Ritual and Interpretation

Book Review: Understanding Canon: Tomas Bokedal, The Formation and Significance of the Christian Biblical Canon: A Study in Text, Ritual and Interpretation

&lt;i&gt;Song of Songs&lt;/i&gt;: A celebration of and invitation to participate in the fullness of life

The Song of Songs is usually appreciated for its celebration of love in the foreground, erotic or divine, if these are not regarded as different aspects of the same experience. This has perhaps led to the neglect of the celebration of life as pertinent background in a unique way in the Hebrew and even Christian Bible as a whole. In a secular world disillusioned by the perceived emphasis on death in traditional religion and therefore desperately obsessed with life, this biblical poetry may come as a surprising liberation through its critical and creative voice even within the religious canons of two world religions.

Book review: Uygur Manichaean Texts. Texts, Translations, Commentary. Volume ii: Liturgical Texts, written by Larry Clark Book review: Biblical and other Christian Sogdian texts from the Turfan Collection, written by Nicholas Sims-Williams a.o.

Book review: Uygur Manichaean Texts. Texts, Translations, Commentary. Volume ii: Liturgical Texts, written by Larry Clark Book review: Biblical and other Christian Sogdian texts from the Turfan Collection, written by Nicholas Sims-Williams a.o.

Holy resilience: the Bible's traumatic origins

Human trauma gave birth to the Bible, suggests eminent religious scholar David Carr. The Bible's ability to speak to suffering is a major reason why the sacred texts of Judaism and Christianity have retained their relevance for thousands of years. In his fascinating and provocative reinterpretation of the Bible's origins, the author tells the story of how the Jewish people and Christian community had to adapt to survive multiple catastrophes and how their holy scriptures both reflected and reinforced each religion's resilient nature. Carr's thought-provoking analysis demonstrates how many of the central tenets of biblical religion, including monotheism and the idea of suffering as God's retribution, are factors that provided Judaism and Christianity with the strength and flexibility to endure in the face of disaster. In addition, the author explains how the Jewish Bible was deeply shaped by the Jewish exile in Babylon, an event that it rarely describes, and how the Christian Bible was likewise shaped by the unspeakable shame of having a crucified savior.

Metafore vir die ontmoeting tussen God en mens en ’n ‘swerwende’ teoloog se soekend-wandelende reis

Metaphors for the encounter between God and humanity and a roaming theologian’s reflective journey. This article maps the theology of Christo van der Merwe as a mobilising theology which aided the Netherdutch Reformed Church in Africa (NRCA) in discerning its character, role and purpose. The core of Van der Merwe’s theology consists of a journey with God as encountered in the narratives about Jesus and the Spirit told in the Christian Bible. The article shows that the mobilising core of his theology is due to an ‘interoperational relationship’ between ‘knowing and believing’. In the article, the metaphor ‘roaming’ is used to illustrate this biographical journey as contextual theology which equips pastors with ministerial skills to take care of people who are haunted by trauma.

The Bible in Chinese Christianity

The Ecumenical ReviewVolume 67, Issue 1 p. 96-106 Christianity in China The Bible in Chinese Christianity Its Reception and Appropriation in China Archie C. C. Lee, Archie C. C. LeeSearch for more papers by this author Archie C. C. Lee, Archie C. C. LeeSearch for more papers by this author First published: 24 April 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/erev.12139Citations: 1Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume67, Issue1March 2015Pages 96-106 RelatedInformation

Biblical Ethics: 3D

The past two decades have seen significant developments in the field of biblical ethics. The article looks at these in three dimensions so as to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the efforts of biblical scholars and Christian ethicists. The author perceives that a more integrated approach to biblical ethics, collaboration on various levels, innovation in our approaches, and humble learning from our colleagues worldwide can throw light on our search for future direction in the field.