Studies in Early Christology [Paperback]

Martin Hengel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

An important collection of Martin Hengel's studies on early Christology, including previously unpublished work.The essays include 'Jesus the Messiah of Israel', 'Jesus as Messianic Teacher of Wisdom and the Beginnings of Christology', 'Sit at My Right Hand', 'The Song about Christ in Earliest Worship', 'The Dionysiac Messiah', 'The Kingdom of Christ in John', 'Christological Titles in Early Christianity'.A substantial foreword describes the context of the essays in contemporary scholarship.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: T. & T. Clark Publishers, Ltd. (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0567292916
• ISBN-13: 978-0567292919
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,546,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. But of course it's brilliant if it's by Hengel, November 30, 2008

By 

Jeri Nevermind "loves to read" (Idaho) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Studies in Early Christology (Academic Paperback) (Paperback)

Martin Hengel is the single most respected and most famous biblical scholar in the world. Every scrap he produces is translated (he writes in German). This collection of essays is a must read for anyone who is interested in biblical scholarship. However, it is NOT for beginners.

The essays cover a variety of topics, but generally deal the development of Christology in earliest Christianity, especially in the first five to twenty years after the resurrection. "Paul...regarded Jesus to be the promised Messiah of Israel (which)..he holds in common with all the gospels (p 7). In addition, "1 Cor 15:3f shows that the Jerusalem church had already combined...a confession-like statement...the original 'Jerusalem confession' that formed the bedrock for the proclamation of Cephas, the Twelve, James, and all the apostles" (p 11).

Hengel argues persuasively here that all the major Christological developments were formed among Greek speaking Christians, especially that of the salvific nature of the resurrection. All this development must have been in place before Paul wrote an epistle.

As Schlatter once remarked, without a king, why the crown of thorns? Jesus understood this was "the end of the old 'salvation history' and the dawning of the kingdom of God in the work of Jesus himself...Because he is 'more than a prophet'...(Jesus uses) the unique "Amen, I say to you'" (p 66).

By intense study of the terms used by early Christians about Christ, Hengel stresses the belief in Christ's preexistence, the messianic character of his mission, and the atoning significance of the death by crucifixion.

Among the essays: Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, Jesus as Messianic Teacher of Wisdom and the Beginning s of Christology, "Sit at My Right Hand", The Song about ChHrist in Earliest Worship, The Dionysiac Messiah, The Kingdom of Christ in John, and Christological Titles in Early Christianity.

Note: anyone interested in this topic will find Larry Hurtado's many books on earliest Christianity to be of great value. Hurtado takes Hengel's themes and develops them even further.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. But of course it's brilliant if it's by Hengel, November 30, 2008

By 

Jeri Nevermind "loves to read" (Idaho) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Martin Hengel is the single most respected and most famous biblical scholar in the world. Every scrap he produces is translated (he writes in German). This collection of essays is a must read for anyone who is interested in biblical scholarship. However, it is NOT for beginners.

The essays cover a variety of topics, but generally deal the development of Christology in earliest Christianity, especially in the first five to twenty years after the resurrection. "Paul...regarded Jesus to be the promised Messiah of Israel (which)..he holds in common with all the gospels (p 7). In addition, "1 Cor 15:3f shows that the Jerusalem church had already combined...a confession-like statement...the original 'Jerusalem confession' that formed the bedrock for the proclamation of Cephas, the Twelve, James, and all the apostles" (p 11).

Hengel argues persuasively here that all the major Christological developments were formed among Greek speaking Christians, especially that of the salvific nature of the resurrection. All this development must have been in place before Paul wrote an epistle.

As Schlatter once remarked, without a king, why the crown of thorns? Jesus understood this was "the end of the old 'salvation history' and the dawning of the kingdom of God in the work of Jesus himself...Because he is 'more than a prophet'...(Jesus uses) the unique "Amen, I say to you'" (p 66).

By intense study of the terms used by early Christians about Christ, Hengel stresses the belief in Christ's preexistence, the messianic character of his mission, and the atoning significance of the death by crucifixion.

Among the essays: Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, Jesus as Messianic Teacher of Wisdom and the Beginning s of Christology, "Sit at My Right Hand", The Song about ChHrist in Earliest Worship, The Dionysiac Messiah, The Kingdom of Christ in John, and Christological Titles in Early Christianity.

Note: anyone interested in this topic will find Larry Hurtado's many books on earliest Christianity to be of great value. Hurtado takes Hengel's themes and develops them even further.