Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World

by David E. Aune

Overview

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

Comparable in scope to Johannes Lindblom's Prophecy in Ancient Israel, this book offers the first comprehensive treatment in English of the place of prophecy in the New Testament period.

Because early Christianity was the product of western as well as eastern religious and cultural traditions, David Aune begins by examining the antecedents of early Christian prophecy. He describes Greco-Roman prophecy — the types of oracles, the people who prophesied, the procedures, and the purpose of prophecy. In examining Israelite-Jewish prophecy, Aune discusses the Old Testament prophets, first-century apocalyptic literature, eschatological prophecy, John the Baptist, and Qumran.

Having thus set the background in detail, Aune examines the character of early Christian prophecy, discussing the early Christian and modern conceptions of Jesus as prophet, and analyzing every known Christian prophetic speech from Paul to the middle of the second century A.D.

Aune attributes the eventual decline of prophecy to the institutionalization of Christianity, in which the functions of teachers, pastors, elders, and deacons replaced the essentially similar functions of prophets.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802806352
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	11/01/1991
Pages:	534
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

Dr. David E. Aune is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Previously, he was Professor of New Testament at Loyola University Chicago (1990-99), and Saint Xavier University (1968-90). He holds the Ph.D. degree in New Testament and Early Christian Literature from the University of Chicago, a M.A. in Classics from the University of Minnesota, a M.A. in New Testament from the Wheaton Graduate School of Theology, and a B.A. in Greek from Wheaton College. Dr. Aune was a Fulbright visiting professor at the University of Trondheim (Norway) in 1982-83; he received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize for study at the University of Tuebingen (Germany) in 1994-95; he was elected a member of the Norwegian Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2001; he was the Annual Professor at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research in Jerusalem in 2002-3. Dr. Aune is the author of more than a hundred articles in scholarly books and journals, and is the author or editor of a dozen books, including 'The New Testament in its Literary Environment' (Westminster, 1987), a three-volume commentary on the Revelation of John (Thomas Nelson, 1998-99), and most recently he has authored 'The Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Rhetoric' (Westminster John Knox, 2003). For further details see his website: www.nd.edu/~daune.

Editorial Reviews

Birger Gerhardsson
—Lund University, Sweden
"This full-scale investigation brings research a good step forward. . . . The presentation is concise and rich, and the author's fine distinctions and his ability to formulate pertinent questions create an indispensable basis for further discussions."

Robert M. Grant
—University of Chicago
"This very important study of early Christian life will enlighten anyone who reads it. It is a major contribution to the whole early Christian world, based on sound learning and written to be read."

I. Howard Marshall
"Professor Aune has written the most comprehensive and detailed study of early Christian prophecy yet to appear. He puts his encyclopedic knowledge of ancient Judaism and the Greco-Roman world to excellent account in placing Christian prophecy within its context. . . . This book is a major contribution to New Testament scholarship and will become the standard textbook on its subject."

G. R. Beasley-Murray
"David Aune's study of early Christian prophecy is an extraordinary achievement. . . . The wide-ranging scope of this work and constructive critical evaluation make it a notable contribution to New Testament scholarship."

F. F. Bruce
"Dr. Aune has given us a more thorough and comprehensive study of early Christian prophecy in its setting than anything that I have seen thus far."

Ralph P. Martin
"Dr. Aune breaks new ground and challenges some well-accepted positions. Earlier writers have been content to set New Testament prophecy in continuity with its Old Testament counterpart. Aune carves a fresh niche for his investigation by acquainting the reader with prophecy in Greco-Roman culture as a milieu that cannot be ignored. . . . His classification of the 'types' of early prophetic oracles is bound to provoke discussion by setting this study on the basis of firm, objective criteria. The result is a most significant, exciting, well-constructed — and eminently readable — book."

From the Publisher