Fracture: The Cross as Irreconcilable in the Language and Thought of the Biblical Writers
by Roy A. Harrisville
Category: Religion

Since the advent of formal biblical criticism the crucifixion has come to be seen by many as merely one event in the process of religious development. Yet for the New Testament writers it was so much more, representing a radical break that forever affected their perception of God and the world. In Fracture Roy Harrisville examines the thought worlds of the New Testament writers, demonstrating how the cross split apart their previously held ideas, causing a profound reorientation centered on the story of the cross. Focusing chronologically on Paul, the Synoptic writers, John and the authors of Hebrews and 1 Peter, Harrisville demonstrates changes in the writers' understanding of sacrifice, law, Hellenism, the apocalyptic, and other areas, changes that created the new values of the radically different Christian community. An insightful work of careful critical scholarship, Fracture opens up new understanding of the Cross's dramatic effect on mental worlds of the New Testament writers, changes that provoked bitter conflict with the neighbors and foes of early Christianity.