The Significance of Interpersonal Forgiveness in the Gospel of Matthew PDF Download

Author: Isaac Kahwa Mbabazi
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 162564177X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 269

View

Book Description
"Isaac Mbabazi makes a major contribution to the field of New Testament by arguing that the relevant Matthean theme of interpersonal forgiveness is quite central to the first Gospel. In The Significance of Interpersonal Forgiveness in the Gospel of Matthew, he delineates five sets of evidence in support of his argument. Beginning with a survey of all Matthean forgiveness and forgiveness-related texts, he then carries out an in-depth exegesis of two key Matthean texts in which the idea of interpersonal forgiveness is explicit. Discourse analysis informs his discussion, offering valuable insight into Matthew's point of view. Mbabazi notes that the forgiveness pattern that emerges from contemporary Greco-Roman literature differs remarkably from the pattern found in Matthew, where granting forgiveness appears not only as a reasonable act, but reluctance or failure to grant it makes the unforgiving person accountable to God."

Author: Isaac Kahwa Mbabazi
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1630870323
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 263

View

Book Description
Isaac Mbabazi makes a major contribution to the field of New Testament by arguing that the relevant Matthean theme of interpersonal forgiveness is quite central to the first Gospel. In The Significance of Interpersonal Forgiveness in the Gospel of Matthew, he delineates five sets of evidence in support of his argument. Beginning with a survey of all Matthean forgiveness and forgiveness-related texts, he then carries out an in-depth exegesis of two key Matthean texts in which the idea of interpersonal forgiveness is explicit. Discourse analysis informs his discussion, offering valuable insight into Matthew's point of view. Mbabazi notes that the forgiveness pattern that emerges from contemporary Greco-Roman literature differs remarkably from the pattern found in Matthew, where granting forgiveness appears not only as a reasonable act, but reluctance or failure to grant it makes the unforgiving person accountable to God.

Author: John Paul Heil
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 0227176855
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 208

View

Book Description
The Gospel of Matthew encourages and inspires its audience to practice the true, authentic, and holistic worship required for believers in Jesus to live in the kingdom of heaven. In accordance with all that Jesus taught and exemplified regarding authentic worship, believers are invited to complement their worship of God by worshiping and praying to Jesus as God’s beloved Son, who represents “God with us.” They are also invited to complement their ritualistic worship, especially the baptism and Eucharist instituted for them by Jesus, with an ethical worship that extends to others, especially to disciples, children, and “the least ones” with whom Jesus identifies himself, the mercy God desires for a holistic worship. Indeed, a compassionate mercy toward all is the distinctive and noteworthy hallmark that characterizes the theme of worship in the kingdom of heaven, according to the Gospel of Matthew.

Author: Anders Runesson
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 145145225X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 545

View

Book Description
Judgment and the wrath of God are prominent themes in Matthew’s Gospel. Because judgment is announced not only on the hypocritical but also on those who reject God’s messengers—and because this rejection is implicitly connected with the destruction of Jerusalem—the Gospel has often been read in terms of God’s rejection of Israel, with catastrophic results. Anders Runesson sets out to show, through careful study of Matthew’s composition and comparison with contemporary Jewish literature, that the theme of divine judgment plays very different and distinct roles regarding diverse groups of Jews (including Jesus’ disciples) and non-Jews in this Gospel. Runesson examines various assumptions regarding the criteria of judgment in each case and finds that Matthew does not support some of the most popular slogans in Christian theology. The results and implications for our historical understanding of Christian origins and our theological estimation of Matthew’s place in that story will be of vital interest to scholars and students for years to come.

Author: Dion A. Forster
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1532697457
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 278

View

Book Description
The findings from this study go beyond biblical-theological scholarship on forgiveness. Dion Forster boldly succeeds in showing that creating conditions for deeper human connection transforms impossibility into possibility and shines a light on the face of "the Other", who can now be forgiven. --Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, Professor and Research Chair of Historical Trauma and Transformation, Stellenbosch University Dion Forster refuses to accept the conclusion that understandings of forgiveness may be so different and complex across social, racial and cultural groups in South Africa that actual forgiveness may be impossible. Using Matthew 18:15-35 as a meeting ground, he gathers ordinary Methodist Christians for cross cultural, intergroup Bible reading. He draws upon the philosophical integral theory of Ken Wilber, the insights of intergroup contact theory and the methods of critical biblical exegesis to organize, analyse and understand this encounter. What emerges is a hopeful conclusion that differing conceptions of forgiveness - its challenges and possibilities - can be understood, shared and perhaps, actualized across social, racial and cultural barriers." --Bruce C. Birch, Dean and Professor of Biblical Theology, Wesley Theological Seminary Reading Dion Forster on the (im)possibility of forgiveness, I was once again struck by our desperate need to learn more about ourselves and one another, but also about the meaning of forgiveness in our respective communities. This is an excellent example of the potential of Intercultural Bible Reading. Forster not only makes an outstanding academic contribution with implications for New Testament studies, Systematic and Public Theology, but also for flesh and blood communities wrestling with the possibilities and perils of forgiveness. --Juliana Claassens, Professor of Old Testament Studies and Head of Department, Chair of the Gender Unit, Stellenbosch University This book deals with contested and topical matters. Biblical hermeneutics has always been contested - how to read and understand Biblical passages. Things become even more contested when such passages are read inter-culturally; they become even more contested when the words are about contested personal and social issues, like Jesus' words on forgiveness in Matthew 18. Empirical studies like this show how deeply contested such readings truly are in the context of South African churches, with their painful histories of division and conflict. Future academic work will, therefore, benefit from the creative and careful methodological approach developed in this study. However, this book offers much more than academic promise - precisely because of the theme, so topical today and without doubt topical for a long time to come and in many other places in our contemporary world as well. Forster offers resources for reading and conversation for everyone concerned with public life today. This is public theology in action, showing how faith matters - without prescribing answers, but rather by invitation to join an informed discussion. --Dirk J Smit, The Rimmer and Ruth deVries Professor of Reformed Theology and Public Life, Princeton Theological Seminary

Author: Charles Nathan Ridlehoover
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567697851
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 257

View

Book Description
Inspired by the work of Richard France and his highly influential Matthew: Evangelist and Teacher, Charles L. Quarles and Charles Nathan Ridlehoover have gathered together a collection of works that argue for a re-examination of the defining features of Jesus's role as a teacher in the Gospel of Matthew. This volume suggests that, while each of the Gospel writers display Jesus leading disciples along, speaking to crowds, and confronting Jewish authorities with effective and timely teachings, Matthew's portrayal of Jesus as a teacher contains distinctives that deserve further exploration. After examining Jesus's Old Testament and Second Temple influences and comparing his methods to the contemporary Greco-Roman tradition, the contributors explore Jesus's position as a teacher of faith and forgiveness and a trainer of scribes, and analyse his relationship with several different apostles. Including responsive essays, and concluding with a summary of Jesus and Matthew himself as evangelists and teachers, this journey through the aspects of Jesus's teaching ministry gives readers a more complete look at Jesus's vocation.

Author: Tim Carter
Publisher: James Clarke & Company
ISBN: 0227905636
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 405

View

Book Description
In The Forgiveness of Sins, Tim Carter examines the significance of forgiveness in a New Testament context, delving deep into second-century Christian literature on sin and the role of the early church in mitigating it. This crucial spiritual issue is at the core of what it means to be Christian, and Carter's thorough and erudite examination of this theme is a necessity for any professional or amateur scholar of the early church. Carter's far-reaching analysis begins with St Luke, who is often accused of weakness on the subject of atonement, but who in fact uses the phrase 'forgiveness of sins' more frequently than any other New Testament author. Carter explores patristic writers both heterodox and orthodox, such as Marcion, Justin Martyr and Origen. He also deepens our understanding of Second Temple Judaism and the theological context in which Christian ideas about atonement developed. Useful to both the academic and the pastoral theologian, The Forgiveness of Sins is a painstaking, clear-eyed exploration of what forgiveness meant not only to early Christians such as Tertullian, Irenaeus and Luke, but to Jesus himself, and what it means to Christians today.

Author: Marius J. Nel
Publisher: AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
ISBN: 1928480527
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 187

View

Book Description
What might reconciliation and forgiveness mean in relation to various forms of personal, structural, and historical violence across the African continent? This volume of essays seeks to engage these complex, and contested, ethical issues from three different disciplinary perspectives – Biblical Studies, Systematic Theology and Practical Theology. Each of the authors reflects on aspects of reconciliation, forgiveness and violence from within their respective African contexts. They do so by employing the tools and resources of their respective disciplines. The end result is a rich and textured set of interdisciplinary theological insights that will help the reader to navigate these issues with a greater measure of understanding and a broader perspective than what a single approach might offer. What is particularly encouraging is that the chapters represent research from established scholars in their fields, recent PhD graduates, and current PhD students. This is the first book to be published under the auspices of the Unit for Reconciliation and Justice in the Beyers Naudé Centre for Public Theology.

Author: Maria Mayo
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1666703559
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 275

View

Book Description
Demystifying an unrealistic ideal Maria Mayo questions the contemporary idealization of unconditional forgiveness in three areas of contemporary life: so-called Victim-Offender Mediation involving cases of criminal injury, the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in post-apartheid South Africa, and the pastoral care of victims of domestic violence. She shows that an emphasis on unilateral and unconditional forgiveness puts disproportionate pressure on the victims of injustice or violence and misconstrues the very biblical passages—especially in Jesus’ teaching and actions—on which advocates of unconditional forgiveness rely.

Author: Anthony Bash
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498201482
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 169

View

Book Description
Many endorse the idea of personal forgiveness without fully understanding its complexity and subtlety. This book is a careful and detailed theological exploration of personal forgiveness. It sets forgiveness in its ancient and biblical context, as well as drawing on contemporary debates among philosophers, psychological therapists, and international relations theorists. Forgiveness is written in a clear, accessible style for both the specialist and the non-specialist, and even the most difficult issues are clearly explained and their significance explored. Anthony Bash seeks to restore forgiveness to the center of Christian doctrine and practice, and to defend its place in personal and public life.