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This project was conducted to clarify Who is Imam Mahdi and Who is his mother and his lineage and to show that Imam Mahdi is Antichrist or a Promised Saviour besides Jesus Christ? . Also this project goals are showing Who is Imam Hussein and his relationship with Imam Mahdi and How the Government of God will establish by Imam Mahdi and Jesus Christ. This project has some publications that you can access to them by: https://www.qeios.com/read/8MCKUZ https://www.qeios.com/read/YZ9W2P https://www.qeios.com/read/7O9RTI https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=3782361

Scholars in the past have signalled the almost complete absence of Paul - as a cypher for the Pauline letters and tradition(s) - in Africa. The apparent lack of use or deliberate ignoring of Paul in Black, African and Liberation Theologies on the continent in all its pluralist variety and richness is generally taken as testimony to the perceived strangeness of the apostle in Africa. However, even if Paul's strangeness does not equate with his absence, at least not altogether, Paul's profiles in Africa include dimensions such as Paul as a stranger, as an unwelcome guest, as a conquering traveller and as a victim of tradition. I argue that Paul's absence from as well as strangeness in Africa may be more apparent than real, and that hermeneutical patterns and practices more than epistolary content may have played a stronger role in the construal of Paul in Africa. CONTRIBUTION: Evaluating a range of entrenched interpretive profiles of Paul in Africa exposed certain hermeneutical tendencies that offer the potential for reinterpretation and reassessment of the use of Pauline materials on the continent and elsewhere

For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the voice of the Psalms is theologically identical to the voice of Christ. Bonhoeffer’s primary warrant for this conviction came from the New Testament’s pattern of discourse. Yet, as Rein Bos has demonstrated, the New Testament employs Old Testament texts in at least four senses: a christological sense, an Israel-oriented sense, an ecclesial sense, and an eschatological sense. Bonhoeffer’s interpretive practice did in fact explore these additional senses of the Psalms, but his hermeneutical theory remained too narrow to do them adequate justice. Bonhoeffer’s example demonstrates how christological interpretation of the Psalms is necessary for Christian theology and praxis but not sufficient.

Interpretation of Ephesians and Colossians has often proceeded on the basis that the stance of the original authors and recipients towards Israel is supersessionist, i.e., that the church has entirely replaced or superseded Israel as the locus of divine scriptural promises. By contrast, this article presents a post-supersessionist reading of Ephesians and Colossians. The reading strategy seeks to read the letters as situated within the dynamics of the apostolic mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus as the Jewish christos/messiah to the nations. This mission is envisaged in Acts as a priestly dynamic in which the blessings of salvation in the christos/messiah began within a distinctly Israelite original community and proceeded to the nations without necessarily negating Jewish distinctiveness. The reading highlights key instances of this Israel-centered missionary dynamic in Ephesians and Colossians. It also seeks to demonstrate how this dynamic helps to provide satisfactory answers to key exegetical questions in the letters. Furthermore, it offers alternative non-supersessionist readings of critical passages concerning circumcision, law, and Jewish identity in the two letters. The article is a distillation and summary of research in the author’s previously published book Reading Ephesians and Colossians After Supersessionism: Christ’s Mission through Israel to the Nations.

Era Society 5.0 which focuses on the utilization of technology for human interest ( human-centered ); on one hand becomes a fresh air after in the previous era there was a lot of dehumanization due to the dominance of the development of digital technology, big data, artificial intelligence and automatization. On the other hand, this development is considered as the causalty of moral decadence, polarization, inequality and various forms of social problems that are massively increasing in the midst of society. In this context, how should the church play a role in implementing transformational mandat within the society? The Church is God's gift to the world to involv e in serving the world’s problems. The Church presents as God’s compassion manifestation towards sinners and marginalized group of people who are exp loited and domina ted . This research approach use d a descriptive qualitative method that involves historical and explorative studies of biblical texts and literature research . Historical studies were conducted to find the transformative role of the church throughout the history of human civilization history . An explorative-ecclesiological approach is used to synchronize the role of the church in the light of transformative ecclesiology. Historical studies in this study have found that in the church development history from the New Testament church, medieval ages to the reform era, the church was not only present to carry out the mandate of spiritual transformation ; but also present ed in addressing the daily life basis’ problem s and advocating the fatalist groups in the midts of capitalists and paternaists ’ oppression. The role of the church as a servant is a form of manifestation of the transformative mandate belongs to the church. As a servant the church must reflects the existence of Christ as a faithful Servant. The Church must follow, obbey the commandments, live the mission and have the ministry focus as Christ ’s .

The discipline of cognitive narratology applies insights of cognitive linguistics to narrative analysis. This study seeks to demonstrate the value of cognitive narratology by exploring the role of the reader and the extent of the reader’s knowledge in constructing characters. While traditional narrative criticism often limits itself to the world of the text, cognitive narratology recognizes that the reader’s knowledge from other texts and the real world also contributes to the construction of characters. This study will show that the extent of the reader’s literary and social knowledge of a text affects the construction of characters. As a case study, we will examine the calling of Peter in the canonical Gospels and show how four readers with varying degrees of knowledge will arrive at different constructions of Peter’s character.

This Introduction provides an overview of a cognitive-narratological approach to characters and characterization in New Testament narratives. We begin by comparing conventional and cognitive approaches to New Testament characters and characterization, and delineating a practical methodology designed to sensitize readers to a variety of interpretative possibilities that arise from the cognitive turn within narratology. Afterwards, we apply that methodology in three ways. First, we acquaint readers with the prospect of tracing characters within one New Testament narrative. Then, we hint at the analysis of character migration, that is, a character’s development across more than one narrative. Finally, we provide insight into the analysis of character emotions and the readers’ empathy with characters. To illustrate these aspects, we focus on examples from the Gospel of Mark.

In 1939, scholars associated with the pro-Nazi Thüringian German Christian movement founded a research institute dedicated to the task of removing the legacy of Judaism from Christianity. The mission of the Institute for the Study and Elimination of Jewish Influence on German Church Life was to render Christianity acceptable within the antisemitic and militarized climate of National Socialism. This task required purging Christian theology of Jewish influence, a feature evident in the Institute's version of the New Testament titled The Message of God. This publication aimed to transform the religious experience of ordinary German believers and would eventually sell over 200,000 copies. This article examines material in this text as it relates to the Sermon on the Mount and concludes that, despite the apparent incongruity between Nazi ideology and New Testament ethics, the editors of the so-called ‘Nazi Bible’ believed their task to be guided by Christian ethical principles.

There is a diversity of teaching about marriage in the New Testament. Opening up this diversity provides a pastorally more generous, and theologically more adequate, understanding of marriage than claiming, and then finding, an alleged unanimity of view. The article considers, in chronological order, the teaching of Paul, the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, and the teaching of the later Letters on marriage, acknowledging the differences. It then suggests several pastoral benefits for ministry arising from the acknowledgement of the diversity of teaching.

Drawing from recent ancient historical, New Testament and Second-Sophistic scholarship, this article proposes that the enigmatic 2 Peter can be better understood with closer reference to anti-sophistic polemical writings. Increasing light has been shed on the sophists’ interest in wisdom, display and rhetoric in contexts such as Athens, Rome, Corinth and cities of Asia Minor in the first centuries CE. After introducing historical attempts to identify a worldview compatible with 2 Peter’s polemical response, this article (1) describes the nature of the Second Sophistic in the first century with reference to two contemporary anti-sophistic polemicists, Epictetus the Stoic and Philo the Jew, (2) highlights features of 2 Peter which resonate with contemporaneous anti-sophistic writings, beginning with 2 Pet. 1.16-21 and (3) observes the way in which the Ante-Nicene Fathers, when seeking to discredit later sophistic opposition, drew heavily from 2 Pet. 2–3. It may outrun the evidence to conclude that 2 Peter’s opponents were professional σοϕισταί‎ per se. It can be affirmed, however, that 2 Peter bears significant resemblance with first- and second-century anti-sophistic polemic and may be best understood with reference to it.

This article surveys a selection of figures in the recent history of historiography with particular focus on their discussion of the nature of historical epistemology (including facts, evidence, and knowledge) and concludes with implications for New Testament history. Figures and works are selected for their representativeness of new thinking in the field at their time, their critique of prior thinking, and in some cases their reception/critique by representatives of that prior thinking. Specifically, I consider in varying depth the historical epistemology of E. H. Carr, G. R. Elton, Hayden White, Richard Evans, Frank Ankersmit, John Zammito, and Aviezer Tucker. These exemplars are considered in order to construct a landscape of traditional, postmodern, and post-postmodern philosophy of historical epistemology. The survey is selective, but the effect is dialectic; ending with recent post-positivist historical epistemology, I raise a number of considerations for thinking about New Testament history.

espanolLa presente reflexion interroga al Nuevo Testamento acerca de lo que constituye la «esencia del cristianismo». Comienza constatando la centralidad de Jesucristo, a quien sus primeros seguidores consideraban cimiento y piedra angular. A continuacion, observa que las confesiones pascuales en las que se asienta esta conviccion no solo dicen algo sobre Jesus, sino que tambien afirman algo sobre Dios, cuya imagen queda modificada al confesar a Jesus como Hijo y Senor. Esta nueva imagen de Dios aparece asi como el rasgo mas distintivo del cristianismo en los origenes. EnglishThe present essay interrogates the New Testament about what constitutes the «essence of Christianity». It begins by noting the centrality of Jesus Christ, whom his first followers regarded as the foundation and cornerstone. It then notes that the Easter confessions on which this conviction is rooted not only say something about Jesus, but also affirm something about God, whose image is modified by the confession of Jesus as Son and Lord. As a consequence, the new image of God appears as the most distinctive feature of Christianity in the beginning.

The article examines the New Testament foundations of family law in the Household Codes (Col 3,17–4,1; Eph 5,21–6,9 and 1 Pet 2,18–3,7) in which the role and the mutual obligations and rights of the family members are established. An analysis and identification of the family law framework in the Household Codes are the focus of the first part of the article. In the second part of the article, selected Gospel texts in which Jesus meets parents and cures their children are analyzed to identify the legal structure of the family relations in these dynamic meetings. The method of study follows in the footsteps of methodical approaches called social­-scientific criticism.

Satan is a key figure in many New Testament books. The authors of these books build on hugely diverse Second Temple traditions and themes. A recurring trend in New Testament Satanology is to assume or argue for a monolithic image of Satan throughout the New Testament. This trend is seen, most recently, in Farrar and Williams’s (2016) argument for a distinct, coherent Satanology, published in this journal. Such a uniform New Testament Satanology is untenable: there is only evidence of New Testament Satanologies. Within the 27 books of the New Testament, and indeed within works of a single author, various – sometimes almost contradictory – Satanologies are evident. As such, the New Testament authors continue the Second Temple trend of diverse Satan traditions, and any examination of Satan should keep this front and centre.

The following article is part of an essay trilogy dealing with space and spatial concepts in the New Testament. In this trilogy, the spatial thematic approach is profiled as an interface for political, social-historical and theological–christological questions. The article illustrates how this interface function works in the basileia theme in Matthew and Luke.

In first-century CE Judaism, the Scriptures validated Jesus and his message, but later Christians “read back” to Old Testament sources of New Testament texts. Constant alluding to a past document tended to make the document look obsolete and useful only as a source. Can the Old Testament regain its generative power for Christians today? The article sketches the first-century Christian situation, looks at subsequent interpretation, and calls on recent Roman Catholic documents to revise old assumptions.

This study examines a number of specific examples of halakhic (Jewish legal) matters discussed in the New Testament that are also dealt with in the Dead Sea Scrolls. This paper compares and contrasts the rulings of these two traditions, as well as the Pharisaic views, showing that the Jewish legal views of the Gospels are for the most part lenient views to the left of those of the Pharisees, whereas those of the Dead Sea Scrolls represent a stricter view, to the right of the Pharisaic views. Ultimately, in the halakhic debate of the first century ce, the self-understanding of the earliest Christians was very different from that of the sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The meaning of speaking in tongues portrays a language that challenges the church in its interpretation in matters of spiritual gifts from God. This article focuses on the Old and New Testament perspectives on tongues; tongues reveal God’s judgment, promises, fulfilment and its negative usages such as selfishness, jealousy, and discouragement. This is mostly for those who do not speak the language. On its positive side it looks at it as an initial sign of baptism in the spirit in which the Pentecostals and charismatic movements put their emphasis on the faith and practice. As it follows its usage in prayer, thanksgiving, truth, praise to God, the edification of the individual and prophecy to the entire church. Church history provides the understanding of the use of tongues particularly in reference to early church fathers, such as Eusebius, Irenaeus, Dean Ferrar, Chrysostom Bishop of Constantinople, and Augustine of Hippo and briefly on the reformation period. It concludes by proposing the practical strategies for discovering the gift of tongues, through workshops on spiritual gifts, small group discussions, gift discovery group and its application in the church and individual.

In the ancient world, the average life expectancy was far lower than that in the western world today. There are some biblical characters, however, even in the New Testament, who lived into their 80s and beyond. In this article, modern theories of gerontology are examined to indicate questions to ask, and insights to gain, in seeking to understand four such persons of mature years who are briefly mentioned in Luke’s Gospel but who play critical roles in the biblical story. The wisdom available to them on coping with the latter years (as seen in the “aging poem” in Ecclesiastes 12:1–7) is reviewed to assess whether those values are apparent in these four characters, and to compare it with modern ideas.

Allan H. Anderson has done extensive research about Pentecostalism as a global phenomenon, his work is well situated in the phenomenology of religion which is regarded as a useful conceptual framework in Pentecostal research. The study is conducted in the form of a comparative literature study and draws from literature on the phenomenon of Pentecostalism in the work of Allan H. Anderson to have a critical understanding of the prosperity gospel and how it impacts current conversations on the commercialisation of religion in Pentecostalism. The World Council of Churches (WCC) regards the emergence of strong Pentecostal and charismatic movements from different localities as one of the most noteworthy characteristics of world Christianity today – calling it a shift to the centre of gravity of Christianity. Due to the influence of the commercialising of religion on Pentecostalism, this centre is threatened but it can also be an opportunity for mission and transformation. The study illustrates how the commercialising of religion has become a part of Christianity, how it has been clothed and shipped by missionaries from the European and North American context into the Two-Thirds world. The vision of the early church is to be holy, while the vision of the early Pentecostal movement is to restore New Testament Christianity that can assist Pentecostals today to have a balanced view of the commercialisation of religion that embraces both individual and social holiness that is faithful witnesses of the mission Dei and bring transformation in society.

espanolLa Ultima Cena es uno de los temas mas representados en la visualidad de la cristiandad occidental. La obra de Jaume Ferrer conservada en el Museo Diocesano y Comarcal de Solsona ha sido entendida por los especialistas como una representacion de dicho tema. En la presente investigacion se tratara de demostrar que la obra de Ferrer no es una Ultima Cena sino una Uncion en Betania. La argumentacion se realiza a partir de dos ejes fundamentales: la inexistencia en la representacion de los tipos iconograficos propios del tema de la Ultima Cena y la importancia del papel de Judas y Maria Magdalena como antagonistas. La metodologia empleada es la propia de la iconografia e iconologia y los materiales utilizados remiten tanto a variadas fuentes textuales (Nuevo Testamento, evangelios extra-canonicos, patristica, leyendas, sermones, canones…) como a otras imagenes que forman parte de la tradicion cultural convencionalizada de la obra objeto de estudio asi como de su ambito conceptual e imaginario. EnglishThe Last Supper is one of the most represented themes in the visuality of Western Christendom. The work of Jaume Ferrer conserved in the Diocesan and Regional Museum of Solsona has been understood by specialists as a representation of this theme. This research will try to show that Ferrer’s work is not a Last Supper but The Anointing at Bethany. The argument is made from two fundamental axes: the non-existence in the representation of the iconographic types of the theme of the Last Supper and the importance of the role of Judas and Mary Magdalene as antagonists. The methodology used is that of iconography and iconology and the materials used refer both to various textual sources (New Testament, extra-canonical gospels, patristics, legends, sermons, canons ...) and to other images that are part of the cultural tradition of the work under study as well as its context in a boarder sense.

In ancient literature, visual experience of the environment is created through vivid descriptions of landscapes, cityscapes, and buildings. The world is created before the mind’s eye of the readers through ekphrastic depiction, and the readers become eyewitnesses to the scenes described. They are captivated and persuaded to accept the speaker’s point of view. This renders ekphrastic visualisation a powerful rhetorical strategy and pedagogical tool due to its ability to influence emotions and to elicit appropriate reactions. This article focuses on exemplary descriptions of landscapes in ancient factual and fictional literature and the ethical implications evoked through the readers’ becoming eyewitnesses to ‘real’ and ‘fictive’ landscapes.

This article analyzes the phenomena that arise when the images of New Testament authors are placed before, alongside, and within the titles and incipits of New Testament texts in ancient manuscripts. Such images facilitate encounters with “specters” of the authors, invoking their bodily presence in the absence of their physical body. They are encodings of collective memory but also participants in perpetuating and sometimes modifying the physical appearance of apostolic figures. On occasion, the blending of textual incipits with apostolic images sublimate authorial identity and textual identity; the bodies of apostles become frames through which to view their written works. Although they are paratexts, apostolic icons can rearrange and aggregate other paratextual features including titles and even Euthaliana. Images of the apostles further interact with anonymous features of NT manuscripts, such as Euthaliana, providing authorization for works without ascription in the manuscripts themselves. Images of the apostles in NT manuscripts are therefore more than decoration or pious creativity. They are loci of presence, identity, memory, and authority.

Sabbath and the Lord’s day are important concepts in the Old and New Testament. However, Christian traditions have downgraded their role and significant correlation with the Christian worship. The question is how the meaning of Sabbath and the Lord’s day could contribute to understanding the biblical teaching about worship. This article investigates Sabbath dan the Lord’s day from the historical redemptive perspective, demonstrates their significances, and considers their application for the current issue of online services. It argues that Sabbath and the Lord’s day realize of God’s vision regarding the purpose of creation and the new creation and underline God’s present seen through the right and harmonious relationships between human and all creations. Christian worship should signify their sacramental roles demonstrating God’s present through the right and harmonious relationship of believing community. This may become a substantial issue of online services, which is hardly able to show harmonious fellowship of true believers.

One of the factors in the emergence of radicalism is the misinterpretation of the Scriptures and the weak theological education in the family. Parents as the primary and first educators in fact tend to leave their assignments to other parties who do not necessarily educate their children properly. The impact of this bad and incorrect theological education tends to form a mindset of exclusivism and rejecting inclusivism that creates intolerant people, considers all who do not have the same opinion and belief as the address of violence that must be eradicated. The family, both in the Old and New Testament times, in this case the parents, has the obligation and responsibility to educate children to understand the essence of God properly and correctly to His people. This article uses the mix methods method by collecting data on 30 (thirty) members of the Whatsapp Group STM Marsiurupan Sipoholon District which aims to describe 5 (five) theological educational content in Christian families as a preventive foundation for radicalism, especially radicalism in the name of religion in a descriptive qualitative method. 5 (five) theological educational contents are (1) Educating children to understand the Scriptures properly and correctly; (2) Understanding the essence of One God; (3) Understanding the essence of God as a savior, (4) Understanding the essence of God as a preserver; and (5) Understanding the essence of God as loving and compassionate.

This is the first translation into Danish of the Coptic Sahidic version of Athanasius’ famous 39th Festal Letter from AD 367, which established the Biblical Canon and contained for the first time precisely those 27 New Testament scriptures which are still the Christian norm today. The translation is introduced, annotated, and based on the two existing Coptic manuscripts. The Greek excerpt of a part of the Festal Letter is also translated.

W prezentowanym artykule dokonano przeglądu wydań XIX-wiecznych polskich Biblii celem odnalezienia modeli edytorskich, według których pojawiały się kolejne edycje. W pracy uwzględniono 62 wydania, które ukazały się na przestrzeni lat 1810–1900. 42 z nich bazowały na tłumaczeniu przyjętym w Biblii Gdańskiej, a 20 na tłumaczeniu Jakuba Wujka. Spośród analizowanych edycji wskazano na 23, według których ukazywały się kolejne polskie Biblie (w XIX wieku). Obok zidentyfikowanych poszczególnych modeli w pracy zaproponowano także 7 podstawowych linii edycyjnych. The presented article reviews publications of 19th century Polish Bibles in order to find editorial models upon which subsequent editions were based. The work considers 62 editions published between 1810–1900. 42 of them were based on the translation adopted in the Danzig Bible and 20 on the translation by Jakub Wujek. Among the analyzed editions, 23 were identified, according to which subsequent Polish Bibles were published (in the 19th century). In addition to the editorial models indicated, the work also proposes 7 basic editing lines.

This article offers a survey and assessment of the state of New Testament scholarship and disability studies. It provides some critical reflections on the current trends and trajectories of the fie...

Court tales provide narrative depictions of the imagined interface between the rulers of a society and their subjects and can often provide fuel for readings of self and society. Many of the canonical court tales display patterns of social interaction in new contexts (Egypt and Babylon) and assist in novel corporate contextualization. This article seeks to read the court tales of Bel and the Dragon (Daniel 14) in relationship to both the court tales of Aramaic Daniel (2–7) and the earlier tales of Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 41). It will then anchor these readings within the context of Alexandrian Egypt—one suggested location for composition—and see how they may suggest patterns of identity and social engagement for a plausible audience.

This article examines 33 ‘generic’ citations of Israel’s scriptures in the NT, defined as passages containing an introductory formula or other overt reference to a source, but lacking any actual quoted text. Each passage (from the gospels, Acts and Pauline epistles) is examined in terms of its citation form and particular meaning in context, and then this broader pattern of ‘generic’ citation is compared with Second Temple citation practices. Having rarely been studied collectively, these citations provide interesting insight into how the NT authors draw upon the whole of the OT – without reference to specific prooftexts – to make assertions about Israel’s history, Christology, and the church. They should be given more consideration in the broader field of biblical intertextuality.

Dale Tuggy argues that my trinitarian views are in conflict with the theology of the New Testament; the New Testament, rather, is unitarian. I show several flaws in this argument, and point out the New Testament evidence that eventually led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Hasker’s “social” Trinity theory is subject to considerable philosophical problems (Section II). More importantly, the theory clashes with the clear New Testament teaching that the one God just is the Father alone (Section III). Further, in light of five undeniable facts about the New Testament texts, we can know that the authors of the New Testament thought that the only God was just the Father himself, not the Trinity (Section IV). Hasker can neither deny these facts nor defeat the strong evidence they provide that in affirming a triune God in the late 4th century, catholic tradition departed from apostolic teaching about the one God (Section V).

El reciente documento de la PCB, «¿Qué es el hombre?», dedica un epígrafe a la realidad del trabajo. Su análisis se centra sobre todo en el Antiguo Testamento. Queda pendiente, por tanto, una aproximación al Nuevo. Este artículo busca ofrecer, partiendo de lo apuntado por el documento, unos elementos y una articulación entre ellos sobre la que desarrollar, en concreto, una teología paulina del trabajo. Como se propone, estos elementos deben sacarse de todas las áreas de la teología, aunque, al final, confluyan en la antropología: el misterio de Dios, la creación, la cristología, la eclesiología, la moral y la escatología.

A thorough analysis of the genealogies in Gen 4:17–5:32 has shown that they are the result of a highly creative (hypertextual) and at the same time strictly sequential reworking of an older text of Deut 2:9–23. This means that the theories postulating the genealogies in Gen 4:17–5:32 as having come from various hypothetical sources of the Pentateuch (J, P, etc.) are no longer necessary to explain their origin and function. Similarly, detailed analysis of the genealogies presented in Luke 3:23–38 and Matt 1:1–‍17 has demonstrated that the Matthean genealogy is the effect of a deliberate reworking of the earlier genealogy composed by Luke. That, in turn, means that the theory of the “Q source,” intended to serve as an explanation of the origin of the Matthean–Lucan materials that had not come from the Gospel of Mark, is also exegetically superfluous.

Swami Vivekananda was the most influential pioneer of a Yogi Christ, illustrating well over a century ago how the life and teachings of Jesus might be incorporated within a larger Hindu worldview—and then presented back to Western audiences. Appropriation of Jesus, one of the central symbols of the West, might be viewed as the ultimate act of counter-Orientalism. This article begins by providing a brief biography of Vivekananda and the modern Hinduism that nurtured him and that he propagated. He articulated an inclusivist vision of Advaita Vedanta as the most compelling vision of universal religion. Next, the article turns to Vivekananda's views of Christianity, for which he had little affection, and the Bible, which he knew extraordinarily well. The article then systematically explores Vivekananda's engagement with the New Testament, revealing a clear hermeneutical preference for the Gospels, particularly John. Following the lead of biblical scholars, Vivekananda made a distinction between the Christ of the Gospels and the Jesus of history, offering sometimes contradictory conclusions about the historicity of elements associated with Jesus's life. Finally, the article provides a detailed articulation of Vivekananda's Jesus—a figure at once familiar to Christians but, in significant ways, uniquely accommodated to Hindu metaphysics. Vivekananda demonstrated a robust understanding and discriminating use of the Christian Bible that has not been properly recognized. He deployed this knowledge to launch an important and long-lived pattern: an attractive, fleshed out depiction of Jesus of Nazareth, transformed from the Christian savior into a Yogi model of self-realization. Through his efforts, Jesus became an indisputably Indian religious figure, no longer just a Christian one. The Yogi Christ remains a prominent global religious figure familiar to Hindus, Christians, and those of other faiths alike.

This article examines the New Testament teaching about man in the authentic epistles of Paul the Apostle. In particular, it studies the anthropological phenomenon of conscience as one of the important ethical terms in Christian worldview. In spite of the fact that this topic has been thoroughly investigated by Western biblical science, Russian theological environment has not been paying it sufficient attention. Therefore, from the position of theological and philological research within the framework of the historical and cultural approach, the article dwells on conscience expressed by Paul the Apostle through the term συνeίδησις in the epistles to the Corinthians and the Romans, whose authorship as St. Paul’s is unquestioned by modern biblical studies. The research shows that Paul the Apostle used the term συνeίδησις in a sense related to human awareness, without any explicit emphasis on morality as in the works by Stoic philosophers. For St. Paul, the term συνeίδησις in a general sense means an autonomous anthropological instance of a person’s judgеment/assessment of his/her own behaviour in relation to the norms, laws and rules adopted by him/her. However, depending on the historical circumstances in the life of Christian communities, Paul the Apostle gave this term his own semantic connotations. According to this research, in the text of the Pauline epistles συνeίδησις appears not only as a general anthropological phenomenon, but also as an independent (autonomous) personified witness to the truth, as an instance that checks the correspondence between the declared value norms in the mind and the person’s own behaviour. This instance reflects the mental activity of a conscious human as a person in any cultural and historical epoch regardless of his/her religious preferences. For citation: Priest Aleksiy (Razdorov A.N.). New Testament Anthropology: Conscience as an Anthropological Phenomenon in the Context of the Epistles of St. Paul the Apostle. Vestnik Severnogo (Arkticheskogo) federal’nogo universiteta. Ser.: Gumanitarnye i sotsial’nye nauki, 2021, no. 1, pp. 114–124. DOI: 10.37482/2687-1505-V080

The quest of New Testament studies for a well-resourced future would be substantially aided by its explicit abandonment of a narrow methodological focus in favour of building links with other disciplines and by its acknowledgment that exegetical insights may arise from examining the impact of biblical texts down the centuries. In the potential appropriation of Jesus by Christian transhumanists interested in human bodily enhancement, for example, the healings of his earthly ministry are ignored because they are understood to restore human bodies to a previous form (a position recognizable in much of New Testament scholarship) rather than augment them to a new one. Building on deaf nineteenth-century interpretations which see the mental abilities of the deaf man in Mk 7.32-37 as being enhanced beyond human norms by Jesus, this article examines the healings of three blind men (Mk 8.22-26, Mk 10.46-52 and Jn 9.1-41). While the Johannine blind man is explicitly said to be blind from birth (whatever New Testament translations have often been made to say!), this article proposes that Blind Bartimaeus in Mk 10 should also be viewed this way. While their becoming sighted restores them to a common human pattern, their lack of prior sighted-experience means that it is their ability to see instantly that strongly implies the presence of an augmentative element to their healings. A postscript notes the different attitudes to the permission required to transform the human body within these narratives and suggests transhumanists consider the ethical implications of each story carefully before they incorporate the earthly Jesus into their arguments.

The Letter of James is the most puzzling book of the New Testament, as it contains a number of enigmatic places. One of these places is James 2:18, which has been called the crux interpretum and which is rated as one of the most difficult places in the New Testament. The exegetical explanations of James 2:18 are manifold and not one of these explanations entirely satisfies. Our verse is part of the textual unit James 2:18‒20, which attempts to clarify that works, are a sign of faith. To clarify this fact, James uses arguments that are dialogical in nature. First, he introduces the topic: “Let’s admit that someone would say, you have faith, and I have works.” The pronouns “you” (James 2:18aβ) and “I” (James 2:18aγ) do not associate with the discussion partner or the author of James’ letter, but refer to two hypothetical persons who, through dialogue, represent a typical case of separation of faith and deeds, i.e. between “having faith” (James 18aβ) and “having works” (James 2:18aγ). At this point, in accordance with the customs of the dialogue, the author of the letter intervenes in order to refute the presented statement in a clear and concise manner. In his answer, which includes two sentences joined together by a double chiasm (James 2:18bα‒β), James declares that faith without works cannot be shown or proved. For the author of the letter, faith is inseparable from deeds, just as a word must be inextricably linked to a specific action that includes prompt and effective assistance to those who experience misery, unjust violence, and find themselves without protection (cf. James 1:21, 23‒25,26‒27).

The purposes of this research are to argue that the Gospel of Matthew uses the term ekklēsia with spiritual and physical meanings and that this term is based on God’s invitation through Jesus to all people to come into this assembly. The implication is that this ekklēsia will be filled with all people with different ethnicities, nations, languages, sexes, level of piousness and educations. I will employ word studies, historical background studies, and the literary structure of Matthew as my methodology to reach these goals.

The subject of consideration is wealth and poverty in the views of representatives of Christian and medieval thought. The attitude to wealth and social inequalities has evolved along with the development of the Christian religion and its penetration into the higher spheres of society. Both the New Testament and the early church fathers are mostly negative about wealth and getting rich. In later centuries, private property no longer aroused such emotions – it was even thought that poverty is not pleasing to God. Property inequalities and the division of society into states were accepted, claiming that people cannot be equal to each other but equal to God. Canonist thought reached the highest level in the works of Thomas Aquinas.