Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament

by Kent Brower, Andy Johnson

Overview

Throughout the biblical story, the people of God are expected to embody God's holy character publicly. Therefore, holiness is a theological and ecclesial issue prior to being a matter of individual piety. Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament offers serious engagement with a variety of New Testament and Qumran documents in order to stimulate churches to imagine anew what it might mean to be a publicly identifiable people who embody God's very character in their particular social setting.

Contributors:

J. Ayodeji Adewuya
Paul M. Bassett
Richard Bauckham
George J. Brooke
Kent E. Brower
Dean Flemming
Michael J. Gorman
Joel B. Green
Donald A. Hagner
Andy Johnson
George Lyons
I. Howard Marshall
Troy W. Martin
Peter Oakes
Ruth Anne Reese
Dwight Swanson
Gordon J. Thomas
Richard P. Thompson
J. Ross Wagner
Robert W. Wall
Bruce W. Winter

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802845603
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	10/01/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	410
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.82(d)

About the Author

Kent E. Brower is vice-principal and senior lecturer inbiblical studies at Nazarene Theological College,Manchester, U.K. "


Andy Johnson is professor of New Testament at NazareneTheological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri.

Table of Contents

Contributors     viii
Abbreviations     x
Dedication to Alex R. G. Deasley   Paul M. Bassett     xiii
Introduction: Holiness and the Ekklesia of God   Kent E. Brower   Andy Johnson     xvi
The Dead Sea Scrolls and New Testament Ecclesiology   George J. Brooke     1
Holiness in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Priorities of Faith   Dwight Swanson     19
Holiness and Ecclesiology: The Church in Matthew   Donald A. Hagner     40
The Holy One of God and His Disciples: Holiness and Ecclesiology in Mark   Kent E. Brower     57
Gathered at the Table: Holiness and Ecclesiology in the Gospel of Luke   Richard P. Thompson     76
The Holiness of Jesus and His Disciples in the Gospel of John   Richard Bauckham     95
Holiness in the Book of Acts   I. Howard Marshall     114
Reading Paul with Acts: The Canonical Shaping of a Holy Church   Robert W. Wall     129
"You Shall Be Cruciform for I Am Cruciform": Paul's Trinitarian Reconstruction of Holiness   Michael J. Gorman     148
Made Holy by the Holy Spirit: Holiness and Ecclesiology in Romans   Peter Oakes     167
Carnal Conduct and Sanctification in 1 Corinthians: Simul sanctus etpeccator?   Bruce W. Winter     184
The People of God in a Pluralistic Society: Holiness in 2 Corinthians   J. Ayodeji Adewuya     201
Circumcision in Galatia and the Holiness of God's Ecclesiae   Troy W. Martin     219
Church and Holiness in Ephesians   George Lyons     238
Working Out Salvation: Holiness and Community in Philippians   J. Ross Wagner     257
The Sanctification of the Imagination in 1 Thessalonians   Andy Johnson     275
The Perfection of Christ and the Perfecting of Believers in Hebrews   Gordon J. Thomas     293
Living as Exiles: The Church in the Diaspora in 1 Peter   Joel B. Green     311
Holiness and Ecclesiology in Jude and 2 Peter   Ruth Anne Reese     326
"On Earth as It Is in Heaven": Holiness and the People of God in Revelation   Dean Flemming     343
Index of Authors     363
Index of Scripture References and Ancient Texts     366

Editorial Reviews

Stephen Barton
— Durham University
"Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament represents a new and much better way of doing what is conventionally called 'the theology and ethics of the New Testament.' In twenty essays — which are scholarly yet accessible — almost all the books of the New Testament are examined for what they display of a holy God who calls a people to holiness. A common critique linking the essays is the inadequacy of the modern tendency to reduce holiness to matters of the private piety of the autonomous self. In contrast, the New Testament texts are shown to be an urgent invitation to Christians past and present to rediscover and embody the public dimensions of the Christian calling to holiness in church and society. This book is the only New Testament study I know that makes the vital link between holiness and sociality so consistently. I commend it strongly."

Dan Boone
— Trevecca Nazarene University
"Rather than lowering a single definition of holiness onto the texts of the New Testament, the authors of Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament have allowed each biblical writer and context to offer its own contribution. As a result, the church is called to embody holiness in each unique situation. From Jewish purity systems to ritual cleaning to circumcision to idolatrous feasts to sexual practices to empire protest, the church is called to experience and express the holiness of God as her guiding narrative and defining characteristic. The corporate understanding of ecclesial holiness found in this book will challenge those who have gone looking for proof texts to prop up a one-two sermonic punch of personal experience. Favorite texts will need to be reconsidered in light of the broader call of the people of God to holiness . . . which will make us not less holy but more publicly holy, more body-practiced holy, more engaged-with-the-world holy. The stories of Israel and Jesus remain the dominant narratives that shape the church, and the triune God remains the central character in a narrative of self-emptying, cruciform love. This expression of the holy God sends the church to the margins of the world where people need justice, compassion, mercy, and peace. This is a new book on my preaching shelf."

From the Publisher