Eschatological Context Research Articles

Communal discern in the early church

This article analyses Paul’s use of δοκιμάζειν in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 within the context of verbs for discernment (δοκιμάζειν, πειράζειν, διακρίνειν and their cognates). It discusses Paul’s use of these verbs against the background of discernment in the Septuaginta. Paul’s own understanding of discernment is then further investigated in terms of his socio-religious background and other New Testament books. It shows how he links discernment with a concrete situation and how discernment enables the human heart to realise its full potential by purifying it from all obstacles. It then discusses how the present tense of the imperative δοκιμάζετε in 1 Thessalonians 5:21 points towards the ongoing nature of discerning God’s will and, finally, how Paul’s eschatological context in 1 Thessalonians implies that discernment also has a future dimension.

The “clothe” metaphor in Paul and the entity taking the active role in baptism

The “clothe” metaphor in Paul contributes to the understanding of the entity taking the active role in baptism. Within the infant baptism tradition, it is understood to be God who is the active participant in baptism, while in the believer’s baptismal tradition, human beings respond in obedience. The “clothe” metaphor in the Pauline and disputed Pauline material is applied in connection with baptism, ethical exhortation that is associated with baptism, or within an eschatological context in which the language continues with the baptismal imagery. The metaphor occurs mostly as a direct, reflexive middle, which points to the participation of the entity in the action. The entity thus acts in relation to himself or herself. This nature of the middle voice corresponds to the way in which the metaphor is used in the Pauline and disputed Pauline material, and indicates the conscious participation of the baptismal candidate in baptism. This interpretation argues for understanding baptism in Paul as believer’s baptism, which in turn poses certain questions for those who believe in the infant baptismal tradition.

Disruption, Initiation, and Staging: The Theological Challenge of Christian Preaching

Is today’s Christian preaching really perceived as the living word of God (“viva vox evangelii”) or as boredom, irrelevance and the mere repetition of conventional formula well-known in and outside the Christian community? One hundred years ago Karl Barth and Eduard Thurneysen struggled to find new words for their sermons in order to come closer to what Luther once called the “nova sprach de resurrectione mortuorum.” A century later their question will be asked again against the background of new philosophical insights (“disruption”), liturgical observations (“initiation”), and aesthetic/hermeneutic reflections (“staging/presentation”). A theological description of preaching in the eschatological context of expectation, longing, and astonishment will be suggested.

A Bizarre Invitation to the King's Banquet: The Metamorphosis of a Parable Tradition and the Transformation of an Eschatological Idea

This essay presents an analysis of a particular rabbinic parable tradition, in an attempt to chart its diachronic development as a literary form in traditional Jewish lore. The parables under consideration belong to the grouping identified as “Parables of the King.” These are stories with a royal hero. In the examples discussed here, ridiculous conditions are presented as prerequisites for participation in a royal banquet. This motif derives from a pronounced eschatological context; however, new narrative elements were added at different chronological stages to the parallel versions of the parable, changing significantly its original theological setting. This paper is a study of this literary tradition, in light of a corresponding NT parabolic tradition and of its link to a tradition known from the apocryphal Apocryphon of Ezekiel. The article aims to establish the mode of evolution of the literary form of the parable from the hypothetical ancient Jewish homiletic tradition, as preserved in the NT, to its manifestation in rabbinic literature. At the same time, the article tracks the history of the eschatological idea behind the parable.

Paul’s Understanding on New Creation and Spirit and Its Theological Implications

It can be said that Paul is the most important biblical author who deals with the concept of new creation thoroughly and crucially in the New Testament. Although Paul uses the term rarely (only twice) in his epistles, the concept itself has much broader meaning than its frequency. In other words, the concept may be found even where the word is absent, particularly in the soteriological and eschatological context. The purpose of this article is to explore some theological implications in relation to the concept of new creation understood by Paul. There are three main arguments in it. First of all, there is a pneumatological reality in new creation concept. This can be found in the framework of salvation history. For Paul, Christ event is a transition to bring the new covenant age from the old covenant age. At the same time, Paul understands the Holy Spirit as the power that helps believers ecognize the new covenant age. So it is impossible for Paul to think of new creation without the Holy Spirit. Second, there is an aspect of new humanity in the concept. The presence of a new creation means that new standards of life replace worldly standards. According to Paul, the new standards should be applicable to ethnic groups, churches, and all believers in the new humanity. Finally, Paul’s concept of new creation includes cosmic salvation. The sayings in both 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 and Romans 8:19-21 suggest much more than human transformation. Paul argues that God reconciled “all things” through Christ including the entire natural world.

History vs. Ritual in Time and End-time: The Case of Early Rabbinic Weddings in Light of Catherine Bell

Tannaitic rabbis permit wedding processions but prohibit practices associated with these festivities, including the wearing of bridal crowns. Studies of rabbinic ritual based on social scientific models have overlooked the historical disjunction between Tannaitic and Amoraic evidence for weddings. This study explores this puzzling combination of prohibitions and permissions by making use of Catherine Bell's discussion of ritualization. Attention to practice as outlined by Bell leads to a renewed focus on the textual framing of Tannaitic discourse concerning wedding processions. This focus in turn leads to the recognition that the early rabbis create their own vision of wedding practice through negotiating their own historic moment—end-times. The larger eschatological context explored at the end of Sotah with its talk of extreme ascetic responses to end-times provides a framework for understanding Sotah's limited prohibitions concerning wedding processions and reveals a compromise reached by the various agents that remains otherwise obscured.

D’une péninsule à l’autre : Cordoue, ‘Uṯmān (644-656) et les Arabes à l’époque almohade (XII<sup>e</sup>-XIII<sup>e</sup> siècle)

In Islam, most political and religious reform movements invoke a return to the Tradition supposedly initiated by Muhammad in the seventh century. The Almohads were no exception to this rule, but they went even further: under them, the Muslim West actually freed itself from the Eastern model of Islam. In order to legitimise his self-referential sovereign power, ‘Abd al-Mu’min, the first Caliph of the Almohad Berber dynasty, deployed all the material, ideological and symbolic resources at his disposal, regardless of mutual contradictions. He recovered the tradition of the Umayyad Caliphate by transferring the administrative capital of al-Andalus from Seville to Cordova; he ascribed to the “unruly” Arab tribes their original mission of propagating Islam; and, most importantly of all, he invented a religious relic, a copy of the Qur’ān attributed to ‘Uthmān b. ‘Affān, the third “well guided” Caliph of Islam and “writer” of the definitive Revelation text, and ordered a true cult to be rendered to it that was crucial to the ideology of power that he had instigated. Henceforth, in an eschatological context, the entire Muslim West, centered on the Almohad dynasty, was to become the new cradle of the Divine Word.

Reconciliation priorities for the Church: Some German remarks

Reconciliation has been a topic of major importance in both the German and South-African theological and political contexts. Political events involving the Christian Churches in these countries have prompted a renewed consideration of what is understood by the concept. This article examines some aspects of reconciliation in the contexts of Christian ethics and argues that, from a theological and historical perspective, the nature and practice of what was called reconciliatio is thoroughly religious, although what exactly is involved has been perceived differently over the course of Church history. Reference is also made to the New Testament understanding of the concept and in an attempt to actualise the biblical kerugma, several propositions regarding the significance of a religious view of reconciliation in an eschatological context are provided as a conclusion.

Who are ‘The Dead’ and When was the Gospel Preached to Them?: The Interpretation of 1 Pet 4.6

The interpretation of 1 Pet 4.6 which sees ‘the dead’ as Christians who heard the gospel during their lifetime but who have since died is becoming increasingly widely accepted, especially in recent commentaries in English. William Dalton's monograph Christ's Proclamation to the Spirits has been influential in promoting this view. However, despite its current popularity, there are serious problems with this interpretation, especially in its dependence on assuming a primitive eschatological context for 1 Peter. The view of the verse as referring to a proclamation made to people already dead, on the other hand, is more plausible than recent commentators suggest, and can be defended against their criticisms.