Examines the pursuit of orthodoxy, and its consequences for the history of Christianity. Christianity is a hugely diverse and quarrelsome family of faiths, but most Christians have nevertheless set great store by orthodoxy - literally, 'right opinion' - even if they cannot agree what that orthodoxy should be. The notion that there is a 'catholic', or universal, Christian faith - that which, according to the famous fifth-century formula, has been believed everywhere, at all times and by all people - is itself an act of faith: to reconcile it with the historical fact of persistent division and plurality requires a constant effort. It also requires a variety of strategies, from confrontation and exclusion, through deliberate choices as to what is forgotten or ignored, to creative or even indulgent inclusion. In this volume, seventeen leading historians of Christianity ask how the ideal of unity has clashed, negotiated, reconciled or coexisted with the historical reality of diversity, in a range of historical settings from the early Church through the Reformation era to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. These essays hold the huge variety of the Christian experience together with the ideal of orthodoxy, which Christians have never (yet) fully attained but for which they have always striven; and they trace some of the consequences of the pursuit of that ideal for the history of Christianity.

The Apostle Paul has shaped the course of Christian ethics for centuries and is widely regarded as the most influential theologian in the Christian tradition. In this authoritative introduction, Morna D. Hooker offers a female perspective on a figure usually portrayed as a conservative misogynist. Looking behind the epistles to reconstruct the real man and his beliefs, she places the scriptures in their original context and suggests a consistent and coherent Pauline theology. Original and thought-provoking, this concise study is essential reading for all who seek to learn more about the most controversial figure in Christianity.

Mission is one of the key subjects for the church today. What does it mean to live the Christian faith in a world of many faiths and none? In this book, two leading scholars explore what mission and discipleship meant for some of the earliest Christian communities. Morna Hooker and Frances Young outline the nature of mission for the earliest Christian communities (in the New Testament and beyond) and relate this to the context of the mission and discipleship today, thereby engaging with and challenging some common assumptions made about mission today. Originally presented as the Hugh Price Hughes Lectures in the West London Mission, the book will be of interest not only to students of theology but to all interested in the life and ministry of the church today.

This book is about the "beginnings" or prologues to the four canonical Gospels, which refer to topics to be dealt with in what follows and offer guidance as to the particular way in which the author feels the rest of the book should be read. The beginnings also contain significant hints as to what the end of the story will be.Beginnings qualifies as a basic introduction to the contents of the Gospels and a helpful starting point for reading this literature. Using the metaphor a key that opens the door, Morna Hooker moves sequentially through Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John as, respectively, a "dramatic key," a "prophetic key," a "spiritual key," and a "glorious key."

Here is a fascinating study that contributes much to our understanding of the Gospel tradition and, in addition, provides evidence that biblical theology is still alive and flourishing.Morna Hooker reviews the prophetic actions in the Old Testament and compares these with the way in which prophetic figures behaved in Jesus' day, in particular John the Baptist and the so-called sign prophets.She then turns to Jesus and considers those actions that can be described as prophetic signs or dramas. Hooker discusses the sign of Jonah, Jesus' refusal to perform signs, the miracles and other prophetic actions like the renaming of Simon, Jesus' eating with tax-collectors and sinners, and the prophetic signs associated with Jerusalem, reaching a climax in the Last Supper.A final chapter examines the different ways in which the four evangelists interpreted Jesus' prophetic actions.