bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Thomas Aquinas, 2 Corinthians 5, and the Christian Hope for Life after Death
Authors: Hentschel Jason 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
The question of the afterlife in Christian life and thought has once again become the focus of a number of recent works, both popular and academic. Today, this question typically focuses on the relationship of body to soul and the content (or even the purpose) of the intermediate state in light of the professed—though not necessarily popular—Christian belief in the resurrection of the body. Much of the discussion is directly concerned with the immensely practical version of this question: what hope do we give to the dying and the bereaved? In this article, I suggest that the exegetical and philosophical insights of Thomas Aquinas, as found most particularly in his relatively unmined biblical commentaries, provide not only a refreshing reading of 2 Cor 5 but also a more pastorally astute explication of the hope Paul finds in both the intermediate and resurrection states.
You Are Filled in Him: Theosis and Colossians 2–3
Authors: Blackwell Ben C. 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
In Col 2:9–10, Paul makes a striking statement about Christ and those who believe in him: "in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you are filled in him." With the parallel use of πλήρωμα and πληρόω, Paul wants readers to see a connection between Christ's fullness and believers' filling. By providing a close reading of chaps. 2–3, I demonstrate that Colossians gives one of the clearest accounts in the NT of what was later termed "theosis," or deification. This deifying transformation is Christologically shaped, such that the repeated emphasis of Paul's letter is embodying Christ's death and life. After demonstrating the argument exegetically, I then explore how this reading coheres with patristic views of deification and whether it nullifies the Creator-created distinction.
Worshiping the Father, Worshiping the Son: Cultic Language and the Identity of God in the Gospel of Matthew
Authors: Leim Joshua E. 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACTS
This article attempts to provide a more coherent account of Matthew's theological grammar than is currently on offer by closely examining two linguistic patterns in the Gospel: Matthew's literarily sophisticated use of the word "worship/pay homage" (προσκνέω) and its relation to Jesus' identity as Son of God. I argue that the pattern of Matthew's προσκνέω language vis-à-vis Israel's God and Jesus creates an "ungrammaticality" (à la Riffaterre) that requires of the reader a second or "hermeneutic" reading to discover how the narrative coherently holds this tension together. Matthew, I contend, rearticulates the identity of God around the Father-Son relation.
Ecclesiology, Election, and the Life of God: A Missional Reading of the Thessalonian Correspondence
Authors: Johnson Andy 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
This article explores portions of the Thessalonian correspondence through a missional lens, focusing on its depiction of the church's election, the mode of the church's participation in the missio Dei as it lives out its election, and the particular sort of missional understanding of the Trinitarian God this reading suggests. This exploration is framed by a conversation with two recent proposals that revise (McDonald), or interact heavily with (Flett), Barth's Christological redefinition of the doctrine of election. The article assumes that Barth was right to redefine the doctrine of election Christologically and that doing so must factor into how one articulates an ontology of the Triune God. As a starting point, it also utilizes McDonald's basic twofold representational dynamic of election, namely, election as the representation of God to others and others to God. However, the article's reading of the Thessalonian correspondence suggests a different understanding of the elect's participation in the missio Dei than is articulated by either Flett or McDonald. Features of these letters suggest that the elect's participation in the missio Dei is best understood as ontic participation in the Triune God's actions/being, that is, as a Spirit-generated representing of God's very self to others and others to God. The article concludes with an attempt to ground this understanding of the elect's participation in the missio Dei in an ontology of election that gives the Spirit a more prominent place in the Triune God's unfolding life with God's elect people.
Joseph Remembered the Exodus: Memory, Narrative, and Remembering the Future
Authors: Reese Ruth Anne 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
The author of Hebrews selected, shaped, and narrated the events and characters of Heb 11. By drawing on collective memories shared between the preacher and the audience, the author encourages the congregation to share in the life of faith demonstrated by those who are referenced. This life of faith is not based on an unrealized future but rather on the presence of the future in the past. In the particular section of Heb 11 that deals with Abraham and his descendants (vv. 8–22), there are appeals to significant identity shaping collective memories such as the person of Joseph and the exodus. The surprising comment that Joseph remembered the exodus is one example of the way in which a collective memory such as the exodus is appealed to as evidence for a true hope, based on an eschatological future that is embedded in the memory of the past. The book of Hebrews describes the eschatological future as something that has already begun (demonstrated in Heb 12 as well as in Heb 1:2) and makes use of collective memory as one more means to solidify that anticipation. For early Christians, the memory of the exodus was a memory of God's deliverance demonstrated in the OT, as well as a memory of Jesus and the deliverance he pointed toward at the Last Supper, accomplished on the cross, and will bring to complete fulfillment on the last day.
"One Like a Son of Man" in the Court of the Foreign King: Daniel 7 as Pointer to Wise Participation in the Divine Life
Authors: Meadowcroft Tim 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace of Danielic interpretation that ch. 7 functions as a literary hinge in the book of Daniel in that it affects the reading both of the court tales and of the visions. This article proposes that Dan 7, and particularly the figure of the one like a son of man, may also be interpreted as programmatic for a theological appreciation of the court tales in Dan 1–6. The central point of ch. 7 is the vision of the one like a son of man in the throne room of the Ancient of Days, a vision that is then interpreted in terms of its significance for "the holy ones," who emerge in the second half of ch. 7. The interplay between the one like a son of man and the holy ones reflects a dynamic of participation on the part of the holy ones in the divine life. I explore this dynamic further by looking at the gospel iteration of the Son of Man, other biblical strands of the theme of participation, resulting understandings of the theological doctrine of the incarnation as both "deification" and "inhominization," and the ethical significance of participation in the divine life. In the wider context of the Daniel tales, a theological understanding of the wise contextualization of their faith on the part of the young men at court may now be guided by the programmatic theme of participation in the divine life that emerges in Dan 7. The outcome is an appreciation of the role of the holy ones as participants with the one like a son of man in the throne room scene, from whence they exercise wisdom in the routine conduct of the life of faith. Their conduct arises out of their participation. And their stories become part of our own ethical participation in the divine life.
"You Will Be Children of the Most High": An Inquiry into Luke's Narrative Account of Theosis
Authors: Kuecker Aaron J. 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
Motivated by Luke's insistence on the ascension of Jesus, this essay investigates the potential for reading Luke–Acts as a witness to a particular vision of salvation as theosis. The argument begins with the introduction of Jesus in the annunciation as "Son of the Most High" and moves to Jesus' provocative teaching in Luke 6:35–36 that those who practice enemy love and radical generosity will be called "sons of the Most High" precisely because the Father practices enemy love and radical generosity. It culminates with the ascended Jesus' enactment of the practices of enemy love and radical generosity in an encounter with his enemy Saul of Tarsus. The essay identifies Acts 9 as a primary exemplar of theosis as a Spirit-enabled, ecclesial, nonviolent, full-bodied participation in the body, life, and ongoing history of the ascended Lord Jesus. According to the narrative logic of Acts 9, Saul is incorporated into the ascended Lord Jesus and into the church through the power of the Spirit and in baptism. Saul's theosis becomes evident throughout Acts in his Spirit-effected transformation from a life of violence to a life marked by practices of enemy love and generosity. Luke–Acts supports a version of theosis that is both counter-imperial—with its insistence on enemy love and power for the sake of blessing—and fully Trinitarian. It is the Spirit who incorporates humans into the life and ongoing history of Jesus, thus joining them to the life of God and the God-like pattern of life described in Luke–Acts.
To Fear and Not to Fear the Creator God: A Theological and Therapeutic Interpretation of Luke 12:4–34
Authors: Spencer F. Scott 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
Luke 12:4–34 represents the most extensive discourse in the NT concerning humanity's dual responsibility both to fear and not to fear God. Jesus deftly negotiates this tension without excising the terrible aspect of God-fearing: God remains both the fearsome, "demanding" judge with authority to kill and consign to hell (12:5, 20) and the winsome nurturer of all life, inspiring joy and confidence rather than fear and anxiety ("Do not be afraid," 12:4, 7, 32). This article aims to unfold Jesus' densely packed argument, driven by two principal concerns: one theological, focused on the character and activity of God, especially as Creator (and related images of Father, Bird-Keeper, Landowner, Farmer, and Shepherd); and the other therapeutic, focused on the care and security of his "friends" (12:4, 14) and "flock" (12:32) in an anxious world ruled by a gracious (yet still fearsome) God. Put another way, Luke 12:4–34 constitutes a banner example of creational and pastoral theology, guiding wise cognitive-emotional appraisals of fear, both helpful and harmful, within a God-centered view of life and death.
The Means and End in 2 Peter 1:3—11: The Theological and Moral Significance of "Theōsis"
Authors: Reuschling Wyndy Corbin 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
2 Peter 1:3–11 is an important text for understanding the Christian doctrine of theōsis. This text is the basis for two arguments I will make in this article. First, I suggest, as many Eastern Orthodox theologians have, that theōsis is the desired end of the Christian life. Second, because I am a theological ethicist, I am interested in probing the implications of this text for grounding the Christian moral life in God's own goodness. Theōsis, therefore, is not just an important theological category but an equally important ethical one for locating the source and purpose of the Christian moral life. I will suggest that theōsis as our participation in God's divine nature is not just an end but also a means by which we learn to embody the goodness of God as a key motivation and purpose in Christian ethics. To sharpen the ethical importance of theōsis, I will offer a brief exploration of the virtues listed in this text, suggesting that making every effort to add to and practice these virtues is part of what it means to participate in God's goodness and hence God's nature. In summary, a theological interpretation of this text offers an understanding of theōsis with significant moral implications for connecting theōsis with morality, and for integrating the ends of our lives with the means by which we live them through participation in the divine nature both now and when our union with God is fully realized.
The Disunity and Unity of the Psalter in the Fathers
Authors: Edwards Robert G. T. 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
Origen, Eusebius, Didymus, Diodore, and Gregory of Nyssa—among other Christian interpreters of the psalms—stand in a tradition of envisioning the Psalter as a theological unity. These claims to the unity of the book of Psalms come about through struggling with its disunity, which appears in many cases to be a problem that needs solving. Not all come to similar conclusions as to the mechanism of this unity. Still, its coherence as divine revelation is clearly established at the latest by the time of Gregory of Nyssa's writing of his In inscriptiones Psalmorum. Further, this unity of the Psalter is conceived of as primarily Christian, rather than simply something inherited from Hellenic (mostly Neoplatonic) understandings of literary unity.
Response to Walter Moberly's "Theological Thinking and the Reading of Scripture"
Authors: Ticciati Susannah 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACT
This article is a response to Walter Moberly's critical appraisal of my interpretation of Rom 9–11.¹ It seeks, on the one hand, to locate more specifically the hermeneutical disagreement between Moberly and me, concluding that Moberly (unlike me) continues to privilege historically "original" meaning. It argues, on the other hand, for a relational hermeneutic that enables creation ex nihilo to function as a valid interpretational frame of reference (for both Rom 9–11 and Deut 32), thus addressing Moberly's charge of "anachronism."
Ancient, Modern, and Future Interpretations of Romans 1:3–4: Reception History and Biblical Interpretation
Authors: Jipp Joshua W. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
One of the most valuable uses of the reception history of biblical texts is the way it enables interpreters to see how specific exegeses of texts are tied to the hermeneutical framework within which they are read. Romans 1:3–4 presents an interesting and important test case. Modern interpretations tend to construe these verses primarily within a history-of-religions framework, seeking historical clues to support a particular version of an early, and most often adoptionist, Christology. Ancient interpretations, on the other hand, overwhelmingly read these verses as supporting a dogmatic construal of the two natures of Christ, using the text primarily to support the real humanity of Christ. Reception history allows one to see that both ancient and modern readings of Rom 1:3–4 are intimately related to their specific hermeneutical frameworks. This article suggests that the primary matrix of meaning for these verses is, in the first instance, Paul's own letter to the Romans, and it seeks to integrate these verses within Paul's broader argumentation in Romans.
Reformation Responses to Novatianism: 16th-Century Interpretations of Hebrews 6:4–6
Authors: Cooper Derek 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
The text of Heb 6:4–6 has posed an ongoing problem for Christian exegetes throughout the history of the church. Ever since the Novatian heresy in the 3rd century, interpreters have offered a number of responses to this difficult pericope. Although precritical interpreters agreed that Novatian's exegesis was insufficient, they differed noticeably in their actual exposition of the passage. This is especially the case with 16th-century interpreters of this passage. Erasmus of Rotterdam, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, though all trained in humanism, came to remarkably different conclusions based on their hermeneutical approaches. Erasmus, armed with humanism but still a loyal supporter of Rome, could at once reject Pauline authorship while simultaneously relying on the tradition to solve the exegetical dilemma. Luther, who lectured on the epistle early in his career and subsequently relegated it to the four letters of the NT of "a different reputation," used the results of humanist exegesis but coupled them with his single-minded theology of God's mercy to reject Pauline authorship, thereby reading and using Hebrews selectively. Calvin, in a splendid example of what might be termed 16th-century canonical criticism, accepted the premise of authorship that Erasmus and Luther espoused yet assertively claimed the book to be canonical and interpreted the section through the lens of election and reprobation.
"Minimalism" and Old Testament Theological Hermeneutics: The "David Saga" as a Test Case
Authors: Earl Douglas S. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
In recent OT scholarship, there is a growing tendency to understand the portrayal of Israel in the OT as bearing little relation to the ancient Israel of history—the so-called minimalist stance. In particular, the existence of a united monarchy under David is now questioned and often rejected. Readers of the OT with theological concerns often appear to confront or disengage with these trends and their implications for the study of the OT. But might theological interpreters fruitfully engage with minimalist readings of the OT? Taking John Van Seters's The Biblical Saga of King David as a test case of a radically revisionist reading of the life of David, the implications of a reading of this sort are considered in hermeneutical and theological perspective.
Quran Criticism, the Historical-Critical Method, and the Secularization of Biblical Theology
Authors: Eskola Timo 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
The emergence of historical criticism of the Bible was partly influenced by medieval Quran criticism. This background was still well known in the 19th century but was later forgotten when emphasis was laid on Greek literature. Scholars such as Riccoldo da Monte di Croce had written critical works against the Quran. This tradition reemerged 200 years later in Germany when Martin Luther translated Riccoldo's Confutatio Alcorani. The special features in Riccoldo's work are the criteria he used hoping to prove that the Quran was not divine revelation. The famous Deist Hermann Reimarus later demanded that the Bible be read in the same way as other literature. His examples in Wolfenbüttel Fragments are mostly taken from the Quran. Reimarus adopted Riccoldo's criteria when interpreting the Bible. The purpose of his rationalistic criticism was to show that contradictions, inconsistencies, and lies prove that, as with the Quran, neither can the Bible be held as divine revelation. Reimarus, in his apology "for the Rational Reverers of God," stated that Christian doctrines are based on a fraud because the apostles created the whole Systema only after Jesus' death. Jesus' original proclamation was political. This dichotomy, confirmed later in David Strauss's biography on Reimarus, became the basis for the criterion of dissimilarity in NT interpretation. Rudolf Bultmann then gave this criterion its present formulation, and it is still used, for instance, by the Jesus Seminar.
Scripture, Christian Canon, and Community: Rethinking Theological Interpretation Canonically
Authors: Thompson Richard P. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Traditional approaches that have dominated the landscape of biblical studies in recent centuries have directed the interpretive task to historical understandings of textual meaning. These approaches have informed interests regarding theology and a given biblical passage or book, so that scholarly treatments in recent decades have focused mostly on theology as something to be found behind or in that text. Although the biblical canon provides general boundaries and categories within which biblical scholarship has done its work, a theological understanding of Christian canon has had a limited role within the arena of biblical interpretation and, in particular, the theological interpretation of these biblical texts. This essay asserts that the notion of Christian canon has a substantive role in the theological interpretation of the Bible. The first part considers issues in what may be called the "hermeneutics" of Christian canon. The second part considers three ways that this theological notion of Christian canon defines the task of theological interpretation. First, the Christian canon creates a different literary and interpretive context for the interpretation of these individual biblical books—a context that provokes potential intertextual and intracanonical connections in addition to intertextual connections available within the original reception context(s). Second, Christian canon assumes the Christian faith community as the place where theological interpretation occurs. Third, the notion of Christian canon assumes that the objectives behind reading and interpreting the Bible in its ecclesial context includes how the faith community lives out her interpretations of biblical texts in faith and practice.
Apocalypticizing Dogmatics: Karl Barth's Reading of the Book of Revelation
Authors: Mangina Joseph L. 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Although Karl Barth has rightly been called an apocalyptic theologian, his relation to the book known as the Apocalypse has not often been noted. This article seeks to clarify Barth's relationship to Revelation in three areas: (1) the characteristic themes that emerge in the citations appearing in Church Dogmatics; (2) a long exegetical excursus on Revelation in Church Dogmatics 3/3 on the question of angelology; and (3) theological interpreters whose approach to Revelation has been influenced by Barth. Although Barth's appeals to the Apocalypse tend to be ad hoc and confirmatory, it is possible that the book would have played a more prominent role in the unwritten volume 5 of Church Dogmatics.
Introducing Premodern Scriptural Exegesis
Authors: Greene-McCreight Kathryn 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
This article introduces the following three essays in this volume of the Journal of Theological Interpretation, which seek to point out the elements that make patristic exegesis different from our own. The articles illustrate how, in contrast to our own biblical studies, patristic exegesis can seem foreign and off-putting but at the same time stimulating, adventurous, and useful to the life of the church. Patristic exegetes assume (without making a case for it) that Holy Scripture is the voice of the Triune Living God. Reading Scripture is therefore an act of faith and obedience, almost even a sacramental act. Patristic exegesis of Scripture holds as its goal the formation of its reader in the love of God and the love of neighbor. Reading Scripture is therefore a school from which we never graduate, because in this world love of God and love of neighbor are always imperfectly practiced. The authoritative context for the exegesis of the Fathers is ecclesial; it is neither academic (as is modern exegesis) nor individualistic (as is much of popular American Christianity's biblical interpretation).
Interpreting the Bible as Bible
Authors: Wilken Robert Louis 
Published: May 2022

Abstract
Modern historical criticism has disengaged understanding of the Bible from the long Christian tradition of interpretation, severing the bond between text and reader, between Scripture and the living church tradition. As a consequence, patristic and medieval interpreters are dismissed as serious commentators on the Holy Scriptures. This essay offers examples from classical Christian exegetes that illustrate how reading the Scriptures from within rather than against tradition deepens our understanding of the Bible.