The phrases “scripture says” and “as it is written” in early Christian literature appear unremarkable, little more than throwaway lines. Tailoring Scripture with Citation Formulae: Clues about Early Christian Views of the Holy Books and the Holy God contends, however, that they provide much to remark on. Current discussions of scriptural intertextuality either neglect or instrumentalize citation formulae. Within a world of expensive books and widespread illiteracy, though, the formulae would not only have signaled the presence of an upcoming citation. At times they also situated and interpreted a quoted passage. Further, close attention to the formulae yields three interesting clues about early Christian views of the holy books and the holy God. First, the media of the formulae in the Gospels cuts precisely counter to expectations, with the pre-Synoptic tradition indicating a textual view of scripture and Matthew, an oral one. Second, the wellspring of prosopological exegesis, that is, discovering the triune God speaking in Israel’s sacred writings, is best attributed to the Epistle to the Hebrews. Third, while the undisputed Pauline letters say little about the nature of scripture, the apostle’s citation formulae in Romans and Galatians indicate that it operated as a divine hypostasis for him. This book is a comprehensive study including an analysis and catalogue of early Christian formulae.

Quotations from Jewish scriptures play a crucial role in the Letter to the Romans. The Rhetorical Functions of Scriptural Quotations in Romans explores their rhetorical functions in Paul’s argumentation. It offers a careful text-critical analysis of the 51 quotations in Romans, and asks questions such as: does Paul quote accurately according to a wording known to him or does he adapt it himself? Moreover, to what extent does Paul strive to preserve the sense that the quoted words have in their original context? Katja Kujanpää’s approach of combining rhetorical matters with close textual study results in a more comprehensive picture of quotations in Romans than has been previously seen. Thus, the book opens new perspectives on Paul’s argumentation, rhetoric and theological agenda.

Panta 1 shows that the authors of the New Testament understood Christianity and their world from the point-of-view of the pre-Socratic philosopher, Heraclitus of Ephesus who lived around 500 B.C. His philosophy served as the point of view of most of the authors of the New Testament. These statements are supported by examining the historical context of the New Testament, the texts of both the philosopher and the New Testament, and the concepts that they both endorse. Part One examines the bases of much of the New Testament scholarship as it has been formulated for the past century. This part pays particular attention to a critique of David Strauss, and of the tendency in modern theology to reinterpret the New Testament according to modern philosophical or ideological agenda. Part Two examines the philosophy of Heraclitus, based primarily on the commentary by Charles H. Kahn (Cambridge University Press, 1989). Part Three shows affinities between Heraclitus and the books of the New Testament, beginning with John. The author also proposes a theory concerning the identity of Tyrranus in the book of Acts. Part Four examines the Gospel of Thomas, and an interesting writing from the Nag Hammadi library. Part Five contains suggestions concerning Christian Theology and topics including God, Jesus, sin, atonement, and others are discussed.

This book emphasizes the literary creativity of the Evangelist Mark by detailing his use and imitation of literary materials well-known to him and to his first-century audience. All this was in service of what constitutes the "secret of the Kingdom of God," that is, authentic Christian discipleship.

According to a longstanding interpretation, book religions are agents of textuality and logocentrism. This volume inverts the traditional perspective: its focus is on the strong dependency between scripture and aesthetics, holy books and material artworks, sacred texts and ritual performances. The contributions, written by a group of international specialists in Western, Byzantine, Islamic and Jewish Art, are committed to a comparative and transcultural approach. The authors reflect upon the different strategies of »clothing« sacred texts with precious materials and elaborate forms. They show how the pretypographic cultures of the Middle Ages used book ornaments as media for building a close relation between the divine words and their human audience. By exploring how art shapes the religious practice of books, and how the religious use of books shapes the evolution of artistic practices this book contributes to a new understanding of the deep nexus between sacred scripture and art.

The Spirit Says offers a stunning collection of articles by an influential assemblage of scholars, all of whom lend considerable insight to the relationship between inspiration and interpretation. They address this otherwise intractable question with deft and occasionally daring readings of a variety of texts from the ancient world, including—but not limited to—the scriptures of early Judaism and Christianity. The thrust of this book can be summed up not so much in one question as in four: o What is the role of revelation in the interpretation of Scripture? o What might it look like for an author to be inspired? o What motivates a claim to the inspired interpretation of Scripture? o Who is inspired to interpret Scripture? More often than not, these questions are submerged in this volume under the tame rubrics of exegesis and hermeneutics, but they rise in swells and surges too to the surface, not just occasionally but often. Combining an assortment of prominent voices, this book does not merely offer signposts along the way. It charts a pioneering path toward a model of interpretation that is at once intellectually robust and unmistakably inspired.

A book that shines fresh light on the world's major religions to help us build bridges between faiths and rediscover a creative and spiritual engagement with holy texts—from the New York Times bestselling author of A History of God “[An] unusual, often dazzling, blend of theology, history, and neuroscience” —The New Yorker The significance of scripture may not be immediately obvious in our secular world, but its misunderstanding is perhaps the root cause of many of today's controversies. The sacred texts have been co-opted by fundamentalists, who insist that they must be taken literally, and by others who interpret scripture to bolster their own prejudices. These texts are seen to prescribe ethical norms and codes of behavior that are divinely ordained: they are believed to contain eternal truths. But as Karen Armstrong shows in this chronicle of the development and significance of major religions, such a narrow, peculiar reading of scripture is a relatively recent, modern phenomenon. For most of their history, the world's religious traditions have regarded these texts as tools that enable the individual to connect with the divine, to experience a different level of consciousness, and to help them engage with the world in more meaningful and compassionate ways.