F Gerald Downing's Books

Formation for Knowing God

Imagining God: At-One-ing, Transforming, for Self-Revealing

By: F. Gerald Downing

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Formation for Knowing God

Imagining God: At-One-ing, Transforming, for Self-Revealing

By: F. Gerald Downing

God is Self-Revealed" we are assured by many Christians today. Yet this conviction stems only from eighteenth-century Enlightenment debates. Early and ongoing Christians, with their Jewish roots, trusted God as a committed and saving but heavily clouded presence (whether by God's choice, or our inadequacy, or both). Continuing Christian tradition has thus insisted that there is much more to this God than we can hope to get our heads round. Yet such Christians have trusted that this loving, saving, triune God's purpose is to transform us Godward. "The divine Word became as we are so we might become as he is." Meanwhile, some of us at least can find ourselves drawn to share with our predecessors and one another in imagining how this may be. And then we may be drawn to realize in practice what we imagine--in active service to God among fellow humans and all God's fragile creation. Then, we may hope, we may have been brought to know God more nearly as God is. Gerald Downing first argued this fifty years ago, and here he restates the issues with fresh insights and renewed hope.

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Page Count

288

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1498270182

ISBN 13

9781498270182

Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches

By: F. Gerald Downing

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Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches

By: F. Gerald Downing

F. Gerald Downing explores the teachings of Paul, arguing that the development of Paul's preaching and of the Pauline Church owed a great deal to the views of the vagabond Cynic philosophers, critics of the gods and of the ethos of civic society. F. Gerald Downing examines the New Testament writings of Paul, explaining how he would have been seen, heard, perceived and understood by his culturally and ethnically diverse converts and disciples. He engages in a lucid Pauline commentary and offers some startling and ground-breaking views of Paul and his Word. Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches is a unique and controversial book, particularly in its endorsement of the simple and ascetic life proffered in Paul's teachings in comparison with the greedy, consumerist and self-promoting nature of today's society.

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386

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134694571

ISBN 13

9781134694570

The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment

By: Jeremy F. Hultin

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The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment

By: Jeremy F. Hultin

This book aims to contextualize early Christian rhetoric about foul language by asking such questions as: Where was foul language encountered? What were the conventional arguments for avoiding (or for using) obscene words? How would the avoidance of such speech have been interpreted by others? A careful examination of the ancient uses of and discourse about foul language illuminates the moral logic implicit in various Jewish and Christian texts (e.g. Sirach, Colossians, Ephesians, the Didache, and the writings of Clement of Alexandria). Although the Christians of the first two centuries were consistently opposed to foul language, they had a variety of reasons for their moral stance, and they held different views about what role speech should play in forming their identity as a "holy people.

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301

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BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

904743367X

ISBN 13

9789047433675

Revelation and Theology

The Gospel as Narrated Promise

By: Ronald F. Thiemann

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Revelation and Theology

The Gospel as Narrated Promise

By: Ronald F. Thiemann

Arguing that the Christian doctrine of revelation is necessary for understanding the prevenience of God's grace, Ronald Thiemann defends the doctrine of revelation by focusing on the identity and reality of the promising God depicted in the biblical narrative. According to Thiemann, The crisis of revelation has occurred within a cultural context decisively marked by radical pluralism. The modern defender of God's reality must seek to show how God is, both in relation and prior to those human concepts by which we seek to grasp his reality. He or she must do so by an argument which resists the reduction of theology to anthropology. In analysis of such diverse thinkers as John Locke, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Thomas Torrance, Thiemann criticizes the epistemological foundationalism adopted by theologians to provide theoretical justification for the divine origins of Christian beliefs. He argues that the doctrine of revelation must be seen as an account supporting the intelligibility and truth of a set of Christian convictions. His notion of the narrated promise reveals God's prevenience as promiser and humanity as recipient of the promise. In an examination of the Gospel of Matthew, Thiemann shows how the biblical narrative identifies God as the God of promise and invites the reader to participate in God's prevenient reality.

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209

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

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ISBN 10

1597523585

ISBN 13

9781597523585

Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth

The Women in Jesus' Life

By: F. Scott Spencer

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Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth

The Women in Jesus' Life

By: F. Scott Spencer

The women in Jesus' life are a raucous and rowdy bunch, including "riotous" foremothers, "loose women," and "distressed daughters of Israel." Reading these new ways of interpreting women in the Gospels, male New Testament scholars have discovered liberating perspectives. In seven scintillating studies, Spencer explores among others the genealogy of Matthew's Gospel to discover the riotous yet righteous nature of Jesus' foremothers, slave girls and prophetic daughters in Luke-Acts, and women leading men in the Gospel of Mark 5-7. Scott Spencer, a virtuoso young New Testament scholar, provides his own lively forays into reading the Gospels through women's eyes. He shows what it is like for a man to read stories about the women in Jesus' life from a new perspective. Spencer is an able and inventive scholar whose broad-ranging insights and engaging style make his work very accessible.

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209

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1441140239

ISBN 13

9781441140234

Order and (Dis)order in the First Christian Century

A General Survey of Attitudes

By: F. Gerald Downing

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Order and (Dis)order in the First Christian Century

A General Survey of Attitudes

By: F. Gerald Downing

Articulate first century Mediterranean society, Jewish and Christian included, expressly favoured harmonious order in society, in individuals, in communication, and in thought. Its common basis was the patriarchal family, the rule of law, rational self-control, and rational thought. Yet there was also resistance to oppressive and unjust order in all spheres; and while law could be held educative, yet there were substantial first century critiques of law, not just Paul’s, and awareness that judicial procedures could be chaotic and biassed. Strands of such dissidence appear in Jesus and in Paul, with significant relevance for any understanding of the early Christian movement(s) and contemporary Judaism(s) in Graeco-Roman context, but also with important implications for any practical reflections and application.

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Page Count

409

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004255818

ISBN 13

9789004255814

Paul, Apostle to the Nations

An Introduction

By: Walter F. Taylor

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Paul, Apostle to the Nations

An Introduction

By: Walter F. Taylor

Who was Paul; what did he do, what did he write? Walter F. Taylor sets out to bring together a wealth of contemporary perspectives in a clear and accessible synthesis, bringing to bear on his subject the best of recent social-scientific and cultural-anthropological thinking on Paul. An appendix presents a clear summary of issues related to Pauls thought on gender and sexuality.

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385

Publisher

Fortress Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1451424469

ISBN 13

9781451424461

Jesus, Paul, and Power

Rhetoric, Ritual, and Metaphor in Ancient Mediterranean Christianity

By: Rick F. Talbott

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Jesus, Paul, and Power

Rhetoric, Ritual, and Metaphor in Ancient Mediterranean Christianity

By: Rick F. Talbott

Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus represent two of the most influential figures of history because of the expansion of later Christianity. But Christianity's historical development includes a checkered and troubling past of abusive power that also impugns both Jesus and Paul. European colonialism carried the "gospel" to the world, claiming Jesus and Paul as architects of its oppressive empire building. Modern churches in America quote Jesus and Paul to inspire, inform, and justify a host of cultural values that often include the subordination of women and marginalization of others who differ in beliefs, values, and lifestyles. Talbott analyzes how Jesus and Paul responded to the systems of oppressive power in their day, and how each in turn used power to form their respective communities. The conclusions are based on the most recent scholarly approaches to Jesus and Paul and will enable modern readers to judge for themselves how Jesus and Paul envisioned the use of power among their communities.

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219

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1597524484

ISBN 13

9781597524483

What Did Jesus Do?

Gospel Profiles of Jesus' Personal Conduct

By: F. Scott Spencer

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What Did Jesus Do?

Gospel Profiles of Jesus' Personal Conduct

By: F. Scott Spencer

What Would Jesus Do? is a popular phrase in Christian circles, but answers to that question might be more on-target if we spent more time exploring, as Scott Spencer has, What Did Jesus Do? Spencer examines both the Synoptics and the Gospel of John as he tries to catch a wide-angled vision of Jesus' behavior in the gospels. Rather than focus on sayings or pronouncements as an authoritative code of conduct, he studies Jesus' deeds or actions as keys to his identity and vocation. While not ignoring Jesus' teaching, this study is more interested in discovering how Jesus personally lived up to his own moral instruction -- his personal conduct. Chapters are devoted to Jesus' actions with respect to his family, his friends, his body, his possessions, his work, his reputation, and the environment. Spencer suggests paths -- and pitfalls -- for relating Jesus' personal conduct to individual behavior, how we might move from what Jesus did in the New Testament to what we should do today. F. Scott Spencer is Professor of New Testament at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, Virginia and is the author of The Portrait of Philip in Acts: A Study of Roles and Relations and Acts. He is the Chair of the New Testament section for the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion.

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294

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Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

1563383926

ISBN 13

9781563383922

John's Apologetic Christology

Legitimation and Development in Johannine Christology

By: James F. McGrath

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John's Apologetic Christology

Legitimation and Development in Johannine Christology

By: James F. McGrath

The Gospel according to John presents Jesus in a unique way as compared with other New Testament writings. Scholars have long puzzled and pondered over why this should be. In this book, James McGrath offers a convincing explanation of how and why the author of the Fourth Gospel arrived at a christological portrait of Jesus that is so different from that of other New Testament authors, and yet at the same time clearly has its roots in earlier tradition. McGrath suggests that as the author of this Gospel sought to defend his beliefs about Jesus against the objections brought by opponents, he developed and drew out further implications from the beliefs he inherited. The book studies this process using insights from the field of sociology which helps to bring methodological clarity to the important issue of the development of Johannine Christology.

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283

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1139430645

ISBN 13

9781139430647

Evangelical Theology, Second Edition

A Biblical and Systematic Introduction

By: Michael F. Bird

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Evangelical Theology, Second Edition

A Biblical and Systematic Introduction

By: Michael F. Bird

Gospel-Centered Theology for Today Evangelical Theology, Second Edition helps today's readers understand and practice the doctrines of the Christian faith by presenting a gospel-centered theology that is accessible, rigorous, and balanced. According author Michael Bird the gospel is the fulcrum of Christian doctrine; the gospel is where God meets us and where we introduce the world to God. And as such, an authentically evangelical theology is the working out of the gospel in the various doctrines of Christian theology. The text helps readers learn the essentials of Christian theology through several key features, including: A "What to Take Home" section at end of every part that gives readers a run-down on all the important things they need to know. Tables, sidebars, and questions for discussion to help reinforce key ideas and concepts A "Comic Belief" section, since reading theology can often be dry and cerebral, so that readers enjoy their learning experience through some theological humor added for good measure. Now in its second edition, Evangelical Theology has proven itself in classrooms around the world as a resource that helps readers not only understand the vital doctrines of Christian theology but one that shows them how the gospel should shape how they think, pray, preach, teach, and minister in the world.

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Page Count

1007

Publisher

Zondervan Academic

Published Date

ISBN 10

0310093988

ISBN 13

9780310093985

Meaning and Truth in Second Corinthians

By: Frances M. Young,David F. Ford

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Meaning and Truth in Second Corinthians

By: Frances M. Young,David F. Ford

This new and refreshing approach to 2 Corinthians shows how exegesis of the New Testament writing can issue in theology that is relevant to today. Beginning with an account of the essential thrust of the text, the authors argue for the unity of the letter, setting it against both its Jewish and Hellenistic backgrounds, and examining questions of meaning and reference in the interpretation of particular passages. They then consider how the text can be illuminated by the modern study of hermeneutics, as well as by new sociological approaches. The whole study reaches its climax with an assessment of Paul's authority then and now, and the importance of what he says about God. To conclude, the authors provide their own vivid and compelling translation of Paul's words, inviting a complete rereading of the letter in the light of all that has gone before.

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299

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Wipf and Stock Publishers

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ISBN 10

155635813X

ISBN 13

9781556358135

Christ-faith and Abraham in Galatians 3–4

Paul’s Tale of Two Siblings

By: Johnathan F. Harris

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Christ-faith and Abraham in Galatians 3–4

Paul’s Tale of Two Siblings

By: Johnathan F. Harris

On what basis are Gentile Christians justified and full inheriting members of Abraham’s family? By being circumcised and keeping the Torah? Paul answers by reinterpreting the Abraham narrative in light of the Christ-event as a story of two siblings. True Abrahamic children are those whose Spirit-wrought life arises, as God promised Abraham, from the event of Christ-faith. Like Isaac, they receive the life-giving power of the Spirit that is tethered to God’s promise and the event of eschatological faith. By contrast, those who, like Ishmael, are related to Abraham only by means of the flesh are slaves and not heirs.

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320

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BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9004680969

ISBN 13

9789004680968

The Gospel of the Lord

How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus

By: Michael F. Bird

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The Gospel of the Lord

How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus

By: Michael F. Bird

Balanced, comprehensive survey of the critical questions involved in studying the four Gospels In this book, through a distinctive evangelical and critical approach, Michael Bird explores the historical development of the four canonical Gospels. He shows how the memories and faith of the earliest believers formed the Gospel accounts of Jesus that got written and, in turn, how these accounts further shaped the early church. Bird's study clarifies the often confusing debates over the origins of the canonical Gospels. Bird navigates recent concerns and research as he builds an informed case for how the early Christ followers wrote and spread the story of Jesus -- the story by which they believed they were called to live. The Gospel of the Lord is ideal for students or anyone who wants to know the story behind the four Gospels. Watch an interview with Michael Bird from our Eerdmans Author Interview Series:

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408

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Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1467440310

ISBN 13

9781467440318

Honor Among Christians

The Cultural Key to the Messianic Secret

By: David F. Watson

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Honor Among Christians

The Cultural Key to the Messianic Secret

By: David F. Watson

David F. Watson brings a new perspective to the "messianic secret," relying not on the Christological concerns of 19th- and 20th-century theologians, but on recent insights into the role of honor and shame in ancient Mediterranean culture on the part of social scientists. Mark's portrayal of Jesus simultaneously shows his ability to provide favors and benefits to others and his refusal to put himself forward or draw attention to himself as a benefactor, thereby teaching that in God's kingdom it is not the great and powerful who are most highly regarded, but the humble.

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Page Count

242

Publisher

Fortress Press

ISBN 10

1451406223

ISBN 13

9781451406221

Cynics, Paul, and the Pauline Churches

Cynics and Christian Origins II

By: Francis Gerald Downing

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Cynics, Paul, and the Pauline Churches

Cynics and Christian Origins II

By: Francis Gerald Downing

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369

Publisher

Psychology Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0415171598

ISBN 13

9780415171595

Book's by F Gerald Downing

Formation for Knowing God

Formation for Knowing God

Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches

Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches

The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment

The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment

Revelation and Theology

Revelation and Theology

Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth

Dancing Girls, Loose Ladies, and Women of the Cloth

Order and (Dis)order in the First Christian Century

Order and (Dis)order in the First Christian Century

Paul, Apostle to the Nations

Paul, Apostle to the Nations

Jesus, Paul, and Power

Jesus, Paul, and Power

What Did Jesus Do?

What Did Jesus Do?

John's Apologetic Christology

John's Apologetic Christology

Evangelical Theology, Second Edition

Evangelical Theology, Second Edition

Meaning and Truth in Second Corinthians

Meaning and Truth in Second Corinthians

Christ-faith and Abraham in Galatians 3–4

Christ-faith and Abraham in Galatians 3–4

The Gospel of the Lord

The Gospel of the Lord

Honor Among Christians

Honor Among Christians

Cynics, Paul, and the Pauline Churches

Cynics, Paul, and the Pauline Churches

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