The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries (2 vols.)

by Eric M. Vanden Eykel; Alan Kirk

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2018

Overview

The first several centuries following the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus were formative for Christian practice, spirituality, and doctrine. These two valuable monographs present compelling research into how Christians during this period engaged with the memory of Jesus Christ at a time when the New Testament canon was only just starting to take its final shape.

Key Features

• Introduces readers to how modern research on memory can provide insights into how early Christians remember the life and death of Jesus
• Examines how non-canonical gospels give insight into how the early Church responded to the stories of Jesus
• Includes detailed bibliographies for further study

Product Details

• Title: The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Volumes: 2
• Pages: 560
• Resource Type: Monographs
• Topic: Early Church

Memory and the Jesus Tradition

• Author: Alan Kirk
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 320

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Alan Kirk argues that memory theory, in its social, cultural, and cognitive dimensions, is able to provide a comprehensive account of the origins and history of the Jesus tradition, one capable of displacing the moribund form-critical model. He shows that memory research gives new leverage on a range of classic problems in gospels, historical Jesus, and Christian origins scholarship.

This volume brings together 12 essays published between 2018 and 2016, newly revised for this edition and organized under the rubrics of: ‘Memory and the Formation of the Jesus Tradition’, ‘Memory and Manuscript,’ ‘Memory and Historical Jesus Research,’ and ‘Memory in 2nd Century Gospel Writing.’ The introductory essay, written especially for this volume, argues that the old form critical model, in marginalizing memory, abandoned the one factor actually capable of accounting for the origins of the gospel tradition, its manifestation in oral and written media, and its historical trajectory.

Alan Kirk is Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University, USA.

"But Their Faces Were All Looking Up" Author and Reader in the Protevangelium of James

• Author: Eric M. Vanden Eykel
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 240

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This study of the Protevangelium of James explores the interrelationship of authors, readers, texts, and meaning. Its central aim is to better understand how the process of repetition gave rise to the narratives of the early Christian movement, and how that process continued to fuel the creativity and imagination of future generations. Divided into three parts, Vanden Eykel addresses first specific episodes in the life of the Virgin, consisting of Mary's childhood in the Jerusalem temple (PJ 7-9), her spinning thread for the temple veil (PJ 10-12), and Jesus' birth in a cave outside Bethlehem (PJ 17-20).

The three episodes present a uniform picture of how the reader's discernment of intertexts can generate new layers of meaning, and that these layers may reveal new aspects of the author's meaning, some of which the author may not have anticipated.

Eric M. Vanden Eykel is Assistant Professor of Religion at Ferrum College, USA.