In the Graeco-Roman world, as in our own, people spoke of the divine, of 'religion', 'cult', 'piety' and 'superstition'. But they did not share our sense of a disjunction between 'the religious' and 'the secular', or between theology and other fields of discourse. In these fascinating excursions through the world of early Christian and contemporary non-Christian authors, Downing shows how reflective talk about the divine could readily flow into talk about any and every area of current human concern. This was so in an eclectic Stoic such as Dio Chrysostom, but also in a Platonist such as Plutarch. It was true too of the Jewish-Christian Paul, most richly in Romans. And it characterizes Christian theological reflection in the early Fathers. Such philosophical-theological reflections were expected to have 'cash value' and be enacted in real life. So, for example, Downing compares the life-styles set forward by Jesus and Paul and other early Christians with those urged by other writers in their world. He shows how Paul's discussions of divine Torah echo critical Graeco-Roman debates over law and tradition and how early Christian talk about exorcism resonates with suggestions from Dio. Among the other themes treated here are the 'nature' of women and their part in public discourse; the logic of ancient and modern historiography; aesthetics in the biblical tradition; and the quest for the historical Galilee of Jesus' day. Five of the thirteen chapters in this volume are published here for the first time.

In this challenging and engaging discussion, F. Gerald Downing draws on evidence from Ancient Jewish and New Testament scriptures to analyse the changing history of the concept of 'revelation' within Christianity. Through the discussion of central concepts in the philosophy of language, such as reference and identity, Downing provides a comprehensive analysis of our notion of the concept of knowledge through revelation and self-revelation. Formation for Knowing God contains an overview of the history of the debate regarding the methods and extent of God's revelation, specifically his self-revelation. Downing argues that the conviction that God is selfrevealed stems from eighteenth-century Enlightenment debates, and has no roots in the early Christian tradition, from which we learn that God is incomprehensible. Downing rejects the view that it was the primary purpose of Christ's death to show God's love, claiming that this is unsupported by the scriptural evidence. The positive thesis argued by Downing is that what has been revealed to us is not a matter of knowledge but a matter of faith. Downing's Formation for Knowing God will challenge the assumptions of its readers, providing an alternative and thought provoking approach to the nature of knowledge and certainty within Christianity.

F. Gerald Downing explores the teachings of Paul, arguing that the development of Paul's preaching and of the Pauline Church owed a great deal to the views of the vagabond Cynic philosophers, critics of the gods and of the ethos of civic society.
F. Gerald Downing examines the New Testament writings of Paul, explaining how he would have been seen, heard, perceived and understood by his culturally and ethnically diverse converts and disciples. He engages in a lucid Pauline commentary and offers some startling and ground-breaking views of Paul and his Word.
Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches is a unique and controversial book, particularly in its endorsement of the simple and ascetic life proffered in Paul's teachings in comparison with the greedy, consumerist and self-promoting nature of today's society.

eBook available with sample pages: 020320347X

F. Gerald Downing explores the teachings of Paul, arguing that the development of Paul's preaching and of the Pauline Church owed a great deal to the views of the vagabond Cynic philosophers, critics of the gods and of the ethos of civic society. F. Gerald Downing examines the New Testament writings of Paul, explaining how he would have been seen, heard, perceived and understood by his culturally and ethnically diverse converts and disciples. He engages in a lucid Pauline commentary and offers some startling and ground-breaking views of Paul and his Word. Cynics, Paul and the Pauline Churches is a unique and controversial book, particularly in its endorsement of the simple and ascetic life proffered in Paul's teachings in comparison with the greedy, consumerist and self-promoting nature of today's society.

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