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The emergence of African Christianity from missionary tutelage towards the close of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century raised concerns of syncretism that only eased with arguments of contextualisation in the 1970s. The arguments some missiologists in Southern Africa made, especially about the older Spirit churches (Zion and Apostolic churches) as indigenising agents, almost retired the concept of syncretism in relation to these churches in favour of recognising them as being responsive to their context—hence, agents of contextualisation. The advent of the neo-prophetic movement requires a reconsideration of both the concepts of syncretism and contextualisation of the Christian faith, especially in light of the alleged interaction of some in this movement with ancestral spirits. The article concerns itself with the question: why does the advent of neo-prophetism require a conceptual reconsideration of syncretism and contextualisation and to what end? The search for an answer to this question adopts a qualitative desktop research approach. The study seeks to understand the reasons for the traditional healing (sangoma) prophet phenomenon requiring a reconsideration of the mentioned concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What role has the "Old Testament" played in the self-understanding of Christians over the centuries, and what can we learn from the fact that Israel's scriptures are often cited in early Christian texts? Using the Acts of Philip as a case study, this article argues that we should not assume all early Christian writers thought of these as "my own scriptures." When we encounter citations from Israel's scriptures in Christian texts, a variety of interpretive options should be considered, including the possibility that some writers saw Israel's scriptures as "other people's scriptures, not ours," or would have consigned them a limited role in the Christian life, treating them as relevant for apologetics and evangelism—or for talking about apologetics and evangelism—but not for ongoing Christian discipleship. The article offers a new interpretation of Acts Phil. 5–7 and also examines Qur'anic citations in the Dialogue of Timothy I and the Caliph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the Bible’s relationship to immigrants and people perceived by society as foreigners. The topic is addressed against the backdrop of ongoing society-wide discussions about helping people who have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the February 2022 Russian aggression in Ukraine: outlining how the Bible addresses the issue of acceptance and coexistence with refugees and immigrants is intended primarily as a contribution to the debate in a Christian forum. It shows that the Old Testament society, as long as they were willing to accept the required way of life, treated these people kindly and forbade any disadvantage to them by the local society. The Israelites, it is recalled, were themselves guests in Egypt, so foreigners in Israel should remind them of their own identity as suffering but also God-delivered people. In the New Testament, this attitude is elaborated in a new theologically anchored universalism: the stranger is spoken of in a figurative sense, but in practice, the barriers between the local and the stranger are overcome. The stranger, here as an unknown person, a traveller, is one of the persons in need, and by helping him, the Christian fulfils the gospel of Jesus and meets with God. Although some circles in the Early Church tended to oppose the values and customs of the outside world, they never resigned themselves to the ideal of practically lived brotherly love, which newly included the stranger and the unknown. The paper proves that love for foreigners, regardless of their origin or circumstances, is organically rooted in the Bible and Christian ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines three distinct ways of reading Psalm 23(LXX 22), first in the Targum, then in the liturgy of early Christian initiation, and finally in Origen's commentary on the Song of Songs. The Targum focuses on God's protective presence in Israel's history and looks forward to the salvation to come. Reading the psalm in the context of Christian initiation draws out the contextual possibilities of the text. In his interpretation of the Song of Songs, Origen seeks elements of spiritual progress after the stage of initiation. The "inebriating cup" points to a strongly affective dimension of this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at describing the Lukan project by applying – in the wake of other scholars – social memory theories to Luke's double work. In particular, it argues that the type of memory and its criteria defined by Jan Assmann on the basis of the Deuteronomy can help explain the nature of the narrative composed by the auctor ad Theophilum as well as its originality in an early Christian context marked by a proliferation of books and other traditions of the origins of the Church (cf. Luke 1:1a.2.4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although early Judaism was a diverse movement, the vast majority of Jews at the time would have agreed on a set of core convictions, including the persuasion that non-Jews could not simply join the people of Israel as non-Jews. Rather, they had to become Jews. During the two or three decades after the ministry of Jesus, one early Jewish group - at least some of its members! - denounced this consensus and started to accept non-Jews, based on their belief in Jesus as Messiah. According to Acts, the change came about not by theoretical reflection, but by a new "praxis" - a new praxis not by people, but by God who accepted non-Jews as non-Jews. Theoretical reflection followed, in order to understand what had happened and to draw out the implications for non-Jews and Jews. While some early followers of Christ "integrated praxis and theory", others drew different conclusions. This article uses the theme of integrating theory and praxis to shed light on developments in early Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, Reformed circles generally understand that the seven elected in Acts chapter 6 are deacons. The main argument for this is the occurrence of the verb diakoneo describing the function that the group would perform. However, the same term is applied to the apostles as those who hitherto performed the function which the seven came to fulfill. Is it correct, then, to think that the apostles were deacons before the election of the seven? The term "deacon" does not occur in Acts 6. For the correct understanding of the text it is necessary to note the deliberate use of "twelve" to refer to the apostles and "seven" to denote the elected group. In Hebrew culture, the first was the number of the Jew, because of the tribes of Israel, and the second, the Gentile, because of the list of seventy nations in Genesis 10. What motivated the constitution of the group was the fact that the widows of the Hellenistic Jews were being omitted in daily food assistance. What Acts 6 shows is that the apostles establish a Judeo-Hellenistic leadership to work with Jews born outside of Judea. They all have Hellenic names, and one of them was not even Jewish. The text clearly emphasizes that the Spirit enabled them to do much more than "serve the tables," leading them to preach with power and authority, performing signs and wonders. Stephen died preaching to Hellenistic Jews, which is clear from the synagogues listed. Philip is seen later baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, which also denotes something that differs from the diaconal office. Added to this is the fact that there is no reference to elders or deacons in the Scriptures before the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). It follows, therefore, that the seven were a Jewish-Hellenistic leadership, subject to the apostles, for the sole purpose of assisting the twelve in the evangelization and care of Jews born out of Judea in the early years of the nascent church. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the interrelationship between the two major issues that the theologians of earliest Christianity were pondering, i.e., how to explain the suspension of the eschaton, and how to understand the relation between Christ believers and the people of Israel. Whereas within a couple of decades a number of answers were already given to the former question in order to appease the questioners and marginalize the topic, the answer to the latter question has been not only formative for all Christian thinking for two millennia, but also utterly destructive for Jewish–Christian relations throughout the ages. This article recognizes that after two thousand years of supersessionism, it takes a lot of work to articulate a Christian theology which is fulfilment without supersessionism—but not as much work as the first generations of Christ believers had to devote to de-eschatologizing their message in order to be able to hand it over to future generations of Christians. They prevailed the challenge of their time—will we? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The events surrounding Origen's relocation are more complex than has been previously held. In the wake of the Severan Persecutions, as Demetrius attempted to reorganize the Alexandrian house-churches into a more centralized body, he naturally brought Origen's school within this new model. This shift placed Origen more directly under the authority of the bishop, who monitored Origen's activities. When Origen was asked to act as a representative of the Caesarean church in settling a dispute in Athens and subsequently was ordained presbyter, this raised the question of the limits of bishops' powers: could they ordain candidates from outside their own churches? Though his theology may have been questioned, the synods following Origen's ordination focused on issues surrounding the boundaries of ecclesiastical authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current interest in the Galilean Jesus as a historical figure has obscured the christological claims of the New Testament with regard to his person and ministry. This article seeks to build bridges between Jesus and the proclamation about him by exploring three themes arising from accounts of his ministry (messiahship, openness to Gentiles, and the role of wisdom teacher) by examining each theme within the context of Galilean life in the Herodian period, and by demonstrating how these aspects of Jesus' Galilean career are carried forward and developed into the early Christian proclamation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]