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Author: Hector Avalos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909697737
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 476
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Book Description
Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? Judging by the vast majority of books on New Testament ethics, the answer is a resounding No. Writers on New Testament ethics generally view Jesus as the paradigm of human standards and behaviour. But since the his-torical Jesus was a human being, must he not have had flaws, like everyone else? The notion of a flawless human Jesus is a paradoxical oddity in New Testament ethics. According to Avalos, it shows that New Testament ethics is still primarily an apologetic enterprise de-spite its claim to rest on critical and historical scholarship. The Bad Jesus is a powerful and challenging study, presenting de-tailed case studies of fundamental ethical principles enunciated or practised by Jesus but antithetical to what would be widely deemed 'acceptable' or 'good' today. Such topics include Jesus' supposedly innovative teachings on love, along with his views on hate, violence, imperialism, animal rights, environmental ethics, Judaism, women, disabled persons and biblical hermeneutics. After closely examining arguments offered by those unwilling to find any fault with the Jesus depicted in the Gospels, Avalos concludes that current treatments of New Testament ethics are permeated by a religiocentric, ethnocentric and imperialistic orientation. But if it is to be a credible historical and critical dis-cipline in modern academia, New Testament ethics needs to discover both a Good and a Bad Jesus.
Author: Hector Avalos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909697737
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 476
Get Book
Book Description
Did Jesus ever do anything wrong? Judging by the vast majority of books on New Testament ethics, the answer is a resounding No. Writers on New Testament ethics generally view Jesus as the paradigm of human standards and behaviour. But since the his-torical Jesus was a human being, must he not have had flaws, like everyone else? The notion of a flawless human Jesus is a paradoxical oddity in New Testament ethics. According to Avalos, it shows that New Testament ethics is still primarily an apologetic enterprise de-spite its claim to rest on critical and historical scholarship. The Bad Jesus is a powerful and challenging study, presenting de-tailed case studies of fundamental ethical principles enunciated or practised by Jesus but antithetical to what would be widely deemed 'acceptable' or 'good' today. Such topics include Jesus' supposedly innovative teachings on love, along with his views on hate, violence, imperialism, animal rights, environmental ethics, Judaism, women, disabled persons and biblical hermeneutics. After closely examining arguments offered by those unwilling to find any fault with the Jesus depicted in the Gospels, Avalos concludes that current treatments of New Testament ethics are permeated by a religiocentric, ethnocentric and imperialistic orientation. But if it is to be a credible historical and critical dis-cipline in modern academia, New Testament ethics needs to discover both a Good and a Bad Jesus.
Author: J. L. Houlden
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0567084752
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 145
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Book Description
In Ethics and the New Testament, the author applies strict critical standards to the Gospels, epistles and other writings, which he examines in historical perspective. His explanation of contemporary attitudesincluding gnosticismhelps to clarify the str
Author: Hector Avalos
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781909697188
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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Book Description
In this immensely wide-ranging and fascinating study, Avalos critiques the common claim that the abolition of slavery was due in large part to the influence of biblical ethics. Such a claim, he argues, is characteristic of a broader phenomenon in biblical scholarship, which focuses on defending, rather than describing, the ethical norms encountered in biblical texts. The first part of Avalos's critique explores how modern scholars have praised the supposed superiority of biblical ethics at the cost of diminishing or ignoring many similar features in ancient Near Eastern cultures. These features include manumission, fixed terms of service, familial rights, and egalitarian critiques of slavery. At the same time, modern scholarship has used the standard tools of biblical exegesis in order to minimize the ethically negative implications of many biblical references to slavery. The second part of the book concentrates on how the Bible has been used throughout Christian history both to maintain and to extend slavery. In particular, Avalos offers detailed studies of papal documents used to defend the Church's stance on slavery. Discussions of Gregory of Nyssa, Aquinas and Luther, among others, show that they are not such champions of freedom as they are often portrayed. Avalos's close readings of the writings of major abolitionists such as Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce and Frederick Douglass show an increasing shift away from using the Bible as a support for abolitionism. Biblical scholars have rarely recognized that pro-slavery advocates could use the Bible just as effectively. According to Avalos, one of the complex mix of factors leading to abolition was the abandonment of the Bible as an ethical authority. The case of the biblical attitude to slavery is just one confirmation of how unsuitable the Bible is as a manual of ethics in the modern world.
Author: Raymond Kemp Anderson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532647387
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 118
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Book Description
Anderson shows how Early Christians’ faith took root in a multicultural world just as diverse and conflicted as our own. Their basic attitude turns out to have been one of astounding freedom—not a cultus of rules, but a matter of whole-hearted response; for they lived in conversation with the One whose love for all his wayward creatures is utterly tenacious. We find ourselves continually surprised by an insistent grace that treasures all persons equally while exposing and deposing our evil. Such faith still evokes basic confidence; and we find ourselves, ever again moved by gratitude and trusting each others’ Christ-emboldened freedom. If we are embraced by grace, our becoming “great again” can only mean unlimited concern for all and free-flowing interactive service. The playful work ethic that ensues holds promise for our politically splintered post-industrial age. The New Testament’s seed-like ethical genotype still unfolds into a secure, all-embracing, and mutually supportive “sabbatic” life stance. What could be more relevant for our future in conflicted times?
Author: William Spohn
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1441190678
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
What does Jesus have to do with ethics? There are two brief answers given by believers: "everything" and "not much." While evangelical or fundamentalist Christians would find authoritative guidance in the words and commands of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament, many mainstream Christian ethicists would say that Jesus is too concrete or narrowly particular to have any direct import for ethics.In this book, Williams Spohn takes a middle way, showing how Jesus is the "concrete universal" of Christian ethics. By forming a bridge from the lives of contemporary Christians to the words and deeds of Jesus, Jesus' story as a whole exemplifies moral perception, motivation and Christian identity.In addition, Spohn shows how the practices of Christian spirituality--specifically prayer, service, and community--train the imagination and reorient emotions to produce a character and a way of life consonant with Christian New Testament moral teaching.
Author: William Henry Lazareth
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 9781451420227
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
"This user-friendly, informative historical theology also challenges contemporary Christians at affirm common biblical ground for theological ethics and to facilitate more public social witness."--BOOK JACKET.
Author: Richard B. Hays
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062313444
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 965
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Book Description
A leading expert in New Testament ethics discovers in the biblical witness a unified ethical vision -- centered in the themes of community, cross and new creation -- that has profound relevance in today′s world. Richard Hays shows how the New Testament provides moral guidance on the most troubling ethical issues of our time, including violence, divorce, homosexuality and abortion.
Author: Daniel Harrington, SJ
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742549944
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
Jesuits Daniel Harrington and James Keenan have successfully team-taught the content of this landmark study to the delight of students for years. In this book they take the fruits of their own experiences as theologians, writers, teachers, mentors, and friends to propose virtue ethics as a bridge between the fields of New Testament Studies and Moral Theology. Answering the call of the Second Vatican Council for moral theology to "draw more fully on the teaching of Holy Scripture," the authors examine the virtues that both flow from Scripture and provide a lens by which to interpret Scripture. By remaining true to both the New Testament's emphasis on the human response to God's gracious activity in Jesus Christ and to the ethical needs and desires of Christians in the twenty-first century, the authors address key topics such as discipleship, the Sermon on the Mount, love, sin, politics, justice, sexuality, marriage, divorce, bioethics, and ecology. Covering the entire sweep of ethical teaching from its foundations in Scripture and especially in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection to its goal or "end" with the full coming of God's kingdom, the authors invite readers more deeply into an appreciation of the central biblical themes and how, based on the themes, Catholic Christian moral theology bears on general ethical issues in culture. Complete with reflection questions and suggestions for further reading, this book is essential reading for professors, students, pastors, preachers, and interested Catholics.
Author: Frank J. Matera
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 9780664225155
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342
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Book Description
Neither Jesus nor Paul developed a formal ethical system, yet each left a moral legacy that forms the core of New Testament ethics. In this book, Frank Matera examines the ethic found in the teachings of Jesus and Paul. He explores the broad range of moral concerns found in these writings and finds an identifiable unity that underlies the ethical teachings of both.
Author: Richard A. Burridge
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802844588
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 513
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Book Description
In contrast to many studies of New Testament ethics, which treat the New Testament in general and Paul in particular, this book focuses on the person of Jesus himself. Richard Burridge maintains that imitating Jesus means following both his words -- which are very demanding ethical teachings -- and his deeds and example of being inclusive and accepting of everyone. Burridge carefully and systematically traces that combination of rigorous ethical instruction and inclusive community through the letters of Paul and the four Gospels, treating specific ethical issues pertaining to each part of Scripture. The book culminates with a chapter on apartheid as an ethical challenge to reading the New Testament; using South Africa as a contemporary case study enables Burridge to highlight and further apply his previous discussion and conclusions.
