Suchergebnisse

George H. van Kooten offers a radical contextualization of Paul's view of man within the Graeco-Roman discourse of his day. On the one hand, important anthropological terminology such as "image of God" and "spirit" derives from the Jewish creation accounts of Genesis 1-2. On the other hand, this terminology appears to be compatible with reflections of Graeco-Roman philosophers on man as the image of God and on man's mind, and is supplemented with Platonic concepts such as "the inner man." For this reason, the author traces the development of Paul's anthropology against the background of both ancient Judaism and ancient philosophy. Although he takes his starting point from Jewish texts, and is not out of tune with particular Jewish thoughts about the close relation between man and God, Paul, like Philo of Alexandria, seems to owe a lot to contemporary philosophical anthropology. Paul's view, for instance, that man needs to be "transformed into the image of God" lacks Jewish antecedents, but reflects the pagan philosophical notion of man's assimilation to God. George H. van Kooten emphasizes that it is no longer possible to deny the relevance of a Greek context for Paul's view of man, and argues that Paul should be understood in the wake of the 1st cent. BC introduction of a comprehensive Platonic doctrine of man's assimilation to God through virtue. Paul's anthropology, which calls for inner transformation and is universally applicable, criticizes the superficial values of the sophistic movement in Corinth and the anthropomorphic images of the gods, and offers a strategy to overcome the ethnic tensions which divide the Christian community in Rome.

Reflections on God, Christ and cosmos in the writings of Paul and the Pauline School show that these authors were familiar with important notions from Graeco-Roman cosmology and theology. George van Kooten comes to the conclusion that they might even have adopted a way of thinking in which Judaism and Graeco-Roman cosmology were forged into a new synthesis, and Christ was viewed as a cosmic god. In this development, Paul and the authors of the Pauline School took up various positions which were all represented in contemporary discussions about God and cosmos in the philosophical schools. Against this background this study also sheds new light on the specific relationship between Colossians and Ephesians.

Intro -- CONTENTS -- INTRODUCTION -- CONTRIBUTORS -- PART I THE NAME IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND EARLY JUDAISM -- WHAT'S IN THE DIVINE NAME? EXODUS 3 IN BIBLICAL AND RABBINIC TRADITION --- Wout Jac. van Bekkum -- BARE FEET AND HOLY GROUND: EXCURSIVE REMARKS ON EXODUS 3:5 AND ITS RECEPTION --- Eibert Tigchelaar -- YHWH'S NAME IN THE AARONIC BLESSING (NUM 6:22-27) --- Horst Seebass -- THE NAME IN KINGS AND CHRONICLES --- Eep Talstra -- A BURNING BUSH ON THE STAGE: THE REWRITING OF EXODUS 3:1-4:17 IN EZEKIEL TRAGICUS, EXAGOGE 90-131 --- Jacques T.A.G.M. van Ruiten -- 'GOD TEMPTED MOSES FOR SEVEN DAYS': THE BUSH REVELATION IN RABBINIC LITERATURE --- Ronit Nikolsky -- PART II THE NAME IN THE PAGAN GRAECO-ROMAN WORLD -- MOSES/MUSAEUS/MOCHOS AND HIS GOD YAHWEH, IAO, AND SABAOTH, SEEN FROM A GRAECO-ROMAN PERSPECTIVE --- George H. van Kooten -- PLATONISM IN THE BIBLE: NUMENIUS OF APAMEA ON EXODUS AND ETERNITY --- M.F. Burnyeat -- DOES IT MATTER TO CALL GOD ZEUS? ORIGEN, CONTRA CELSUM I 24-25 AGAINST THE GREEK INTELLECTUALS ON DIVINE NAMES --- Robbert M. van den Berg -- PART III THE NAME IN THE NEW TESTAMENT AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY -- THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES (PHILIPPIANS 2:9) --- Bert-Jan Lietaert Peerbolte -- JESUS AND THE DIVINE NAME IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- Riemer Roukema -- PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA AND GREGORY OF NYSSA ON MOSES AT THE BURNING BUSH --- Albert C. Geljon -- THE REVELATION OF THE UNKNOWABLE GOD IN COPTIC GNOSTIC TEXTS --- Gerard P. Luttikhuizen -- INDEX OF ANCIENT TEXTS -- I. Ancient Near Eastern Texts -- II. Jewish Texts -- 1. Hebrew Bible -- 2. Apocrypha and Septuagint -- 3. Pseudepigrapha and other Jewish Texts -- 4. Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Texts -- 5. Philo of Alexandria -- 6. Flavius Josephus -- 7. Targumim -- 8. Rabbinic and later Jewish Texts -- III. Greek and Latin Pagan Texts -- 1. Authors -- 2. FGrH & FHG.