Donald Senior
Showing all 5 resultsSorted by latest
-
1 Peter Jude And 2nd Peter
$39.95Add to cartCrisis in the church is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the church has always been-and probably always will be-involved in some kind of crisis. Even in the apostolic period, which is regarded by many as the church’s golden age, there were serious crises coming both from the outside, as in 1 Peter, and from the inside, as in Jude and 2 Peter. The three short New Testament letters treated in 1 Peter, Jude and 2 Peter illustrate the problems early Christians faced as well as the rhetorical techniques and theological concepts with which they combated those problems.
In the first part of this volume, Donald Senior views 1 Peter as written from Rome in Peter’s name to several churches in northern Asia Minor-present-day Turkey-in the latter part of the first century CE. The new Christians addressed in 1 Peter found themselves aliens and exiles in the wider Greco-Roman society and suffered a kind of social ostracism. But they are given a marvelous theological vision of who they have become through their baptism and pastoral encouragement to stand firm. They are shown how to take a missionary stance toward the outside world by giving the witness of a holy and blameless life to offset the slander and ignorance of the non-Christian majority and possibly even to lead them to glorify God on the day of judgment.
In the second part of this volume, Daniel Harrington interprets Jude and 2 Peter as confronting crises in the late first century that were perpetrated by Christian teachers who are described polemically as intruders in Jude and as false teachers in 2 Peter. In confronting the crises within their churches, the authors appeal frequently to the Old Testament and to early summaries of Christian faith. While Jude uses other Jewish traditions, 2 Peter includes most of the text of Jude as well as many distinctively Greek terms and concepts. It is clear that for the authors, despite their different social settings, what was at stake was the struggle for the faith.
-
Passion Of Jesus In The Gospel Of Mark
$24.95Add to cartWhich came first: a coherent Passion story or the Gospel of Mark? Contemporary biblical scholarship is divided over this issue of how, exactly, the Passion story developed.
Whatever the shape of the story prior to Mark, it must have been imprinted with Christian experience as well as historical memory. Mark, in turn, felt free to retell and reinterpret that story for his own time and place. The Passion of Jesus was not only a story from the past but also, in the sufferings and hopes of the Christians of Mark’s time, a living reality of the present.
The readers of this insightful work will find that the Passion of Jesus as told by Mark continues to hold meaning for the present.
-
Passion Of Jesus In The Gospel Of John
$24.95Add to cartWith this volume on John the Passion series concludes its study of the meaning of Jesus’ death in each of the Gospels. But though last, it is certainly not less important or a repetition of the other Gospels. In fact, John’s portrayal of the death is as distinctive and unique as the rest of this “maverick” Gospel.
Father Senior explores how the rest of the Gospel prepares for the Passion story. He then gives a detailed analysis of the Passion narrative itself. Finally, he explores the theological motifs that dominate the Passion narrative. With scholarly finesse and deep pastoral awareness, he makes John’s vibrant message of the Passion speak to our life and times.
-
Passion Of Jesus In The Gospel Of Matthew
$24.95Add to cartThe Word of the cross is a living word, crying out for reinterpretation as life takes new shape and expression. Reinterpreting the Gospel was particularly compelling for Matthew’s church because his Christians lived in a time of profound transition. The Passion of Jesus, then, was not simply a story of suffering out of the past but a point of identification for the Christians of Matthew’s own time.
For us twentieth-century Christians, who also know the peculiar suffering and hope of living in an age that is both dying and being born, the Passion of Jesus according to Matthew has special meaning.
-
Passion Of Jesus In The Gospel Of Luke
$24.95Add to cartThe recent resurgence of scholarship on Luke’s Gospel is due, in part, to this Gospel’s special appeal for an age in which questions of economic justice, peace, and the prophetic role of the Churches questions all important in Luke are so urgent.
Father Senior’s exegesis yields a strong sense of what Luke intended to communicate to his readers and, to some degree, what may have been the circumstances that shaped his message. He reveals the Luke who presents Jesus as a champion of the poor and marginalized, whose message of justice is proclaimed with a sharp prophetic edge.