The Wesleyan Methodist Church was explicitly abolitionist at its founding, and much
early literature of the denomination has recently come back into print for «black studies» programs.
To
the earlier literature of the subject to which Lightfoot refers I would add the important article of Martin Rist, «Is Mark a Complete Gospel?»
Not exact matches
Realizing
early on that the Catholic Church would be ill - served in the coming battles with secularism without an ability to draw on her own best treasures, Migne devised the scheme
of publishing, in uniform format, the entire extant corpus
of early Christian
literature, much
of which was still in manuscript.
Go in there and find a man by the name
of «Onan» and you will find one
of the
earliest depictions
of the «money shot» in
literature...
The latest piece
of research into the neglected area
of covert political
literature in
early modern England, Greg Walker's impressive Writing Under Tyranny, identifies the moment in 1534 when the humanist genre
of «counsel to princes» was forced to adopt coded terms which, in my view, reached their most sophisticated form in the repressive 1590s.
We shall now consider more briefly some
of the
earlier parts
of the history, using the clue provided by the prophetic
literature.
A chronology
of early Old Testament writings with emphasis on the prophets and their interpretation
of history; also: the call
of Abraham; the post-exilic period; «Wisdom
literature;» Apocalypses; the inconclusiveness
of the Old Testament.
Although, according to Grant, what characterizes the God
of the gospels is «all - inclusive love,» the theme
of love was one that philosophical theologians treated «only with difficulty»; after the New Testament, we encounter «relatively few references to God's love» in the
early Christian
literature.4 The subject
of God's power, however, is an altogether different matter.
Klauck, professor
of New Testament and
Early Christian
Literature at the University
of Chicago, has ideas about what to make
of all this, but the value
of the book is to be found in his brief summaries
of the various topics, the judicious citation
of primary sources, and the up - to - date bibliographies.
Is this simply a hold - over from an
earlier day which the general conservatism
of the educational world perpetuates because it has become a sacred tradition, or is there something in the study
of literature which, regardless
of the field
of specialization into which one goes, makes it
of vital importance?
The rest
of the New Testament and most
of the other
early Christian
literature takes this for granted.
In fact, an examination
of the academic
literature in the area makes it clear that irrespective
of any ethical or moral considerations, most
of the controversial measures simply do not reduce
early pregnancy and may make matters worse.
Melville was not a systematically educated man: though backward in his
early schooling, he taught himself
literature by devouring haphazard naval libraries during the four years
of his sailing adventure.
I should say at the outset that none
of this
literature is written by scholars trained in New Testament or
early Christian studies teaching at the major, or even the minor, accredited theological seminaries, divinity schools, universities, or colleges
of North America or Europe (or anywhere else in the world).
Rhetorical expressions with literary flavor, the rhythm, the variations
of meter etc.
of the
literature in the original language are not regained in the later translations.15 The translation
of the opening formulas in the Gospels gives divergent renderings through modem translations.16 Almost all
early Eastern and Western languages were lagging behind in interpreting Greek language.
Similarly, New Testament literary study has included a strong interest in the comparative analysis
of Greco - Roman literary genres and techniques and those used in the Gospels, Acts and
early noncanonical Christian
literature.
There it was natural to begin with the history, for while some very
early folksongs antedate any written history and the prophecy
of Amos was the
earliest complete book, an important part
of the history found in the Old Testament was written before any other major type
of literature emerged.
Lentricchia, whose
earlier work earned him the epithet «the Dirty Harry
of literary theory, is the author
of Criticism and Social Change (1983), which urges us to regard all
literature as «the most devious
of rhetorical discourses (writing with political designs upon us all), either in opposition to or in complicity with the power in place.»
Again Murray says, «The invocations to the Mother - spirit to descend on the candidate for baptism in the Acts
of Judas Thomas are typical
of early Syriac
literature.»
On typological interpretation in
early Christianity and the Middle Ages see the classic article
of Erich Auerbach, «Figura,» first published in German in 1944 and available in English in Erich Auerbach, Scenes from the Drama
of European
Literature, Meridian Books, 1959, pp. 11 - 76.
The
literature of the
early church overflows with joyous thanksgiving for Jesus Christ and the gift
of his gospel.
As R. Murray observes the
early Syriac
literature is stamped with the individualistic piety
of the primitive «sons
of the covenant.»
They are not the whole
of early Christian
literature, by any means.
He belonged to the Christian church in that city — a church still meeting in the house
of one
of the great families, (See F. V. Filson, «The Significance
of the
Early House Churches,» Journal
of Biblical
Literature 58: 105 - 12.)
Ninian Smart has shown that although Western religious traditions have been predominantly numinous and Eastern traditions predominantly mystical, all the major world religions have in fact included both types
of experience.18
Early Israel gave priority to the numinous; biblical
literature portrays the overwhelming sense
of encounter, the prophetic experience
of the holy as personal, the acknowledgment
of the gulf between the worshipper and the object
of worship.
The modern study
of the «forms»
of literature, their origin and
early development, has found an exceptionally rich field in the biblical
literature, so varied as it is, and extending over so long a period
of time.
In the current
literature I detect not a rejection
of those
earlier slogans but rather an affirmation that, unless there is a church, there can not be a «church for others.»
Now a reading
of the New Testament and other
literature of the
early Christian Church can leave no doubt that the worship
of the first Christians was specifically eucharistic worship.
An
earlier generation
of progressives cared about
literature.
Today a noted Hebrew University scholar, David Flusser, who has a profound knowledge
of early Christian
literature, in his book Jews and Christians Between Past and Future advocates the view that Judaism and Christianity are «one faith.»
Patrick D. Miller, Jr., in The Divine Warrior in
Early Israel31 compares divine warfare in Israel with divine warfare in the
literature of Syria - Palestine.
Jack T. Sanders, The New Testament Christological Hymns (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 197 1) offers a valuable discussion
of the hymn in the context
of other hymns
of the canonical
literature of the
early church.
If I recall correctly, the Torah commentary I have actually compares the five books to various contemporary
literature that survived along with the
early documents so, yea, there's a good case to make for religious scriptures being a category
of literature to explore critically.
Jesus» teaching was not «social,» in our modern sense
of sociological utopianism; but it was something vastly profounder, a religious ethic which involved a social as well as a personal application, but within the framework
of the beloved society
of the Kingdom
of God; and in its relations to the pagan world outside it was determined wholly from within that beloved society — as the rest
of the New Testament and most
of the other
early Christian
literature takes for granted.
Earlier this year at Cheltenham
Literature Festival he even suggested Christians make the best explorers; but I was amused to discover that this intrepid explorer is himself scared
of heights.
No doubt this is one reason why the knowledge
of God is always conjoined with the love
of God in
early Christian
literature.
(See S. J. Case, «Kúpios as a Title for Christ,» Journal
of Biblical
Literature, XXVI (1907), 151 ff.; and The Evolution
of Early Christianity, pp. 116 ff.
Not only is this duality to be found in the recorded words
of Jesus, as we have noted, but with or without the use
of the term «Kingdom,» its presuppositions appear throughout the
literature of the
early Church.
This study
of the contribution
of Hebraic and
early Christian realism to world
literature in effect draws out the corollaries
of the Incarnation for the aesthetic order.
This body
of literature never enjoyed so important a role in the
early Church as the Apostolic Fathers; nonetheless, it shows the great variety
of literature produced by the
early Church.
Some
of us are not aware
of the fact that apart from the New Testament, which is the Church's Book, written by Churchmen in the
early days
of our religion, there are only three or four references to Christ in secular
literature.
Making this
literature Scripture was the Church's way
of saying something like the following: «Through this
literature as through no other writings from our
earlier brothers we continue to find ourselves addressed by God.
Only with the rise
of the research university in Germany
early in the nineteenth century and in America toward the end
of that century was the focus on the classical Western languages and
literatures gradually replaced by departmental specialization and the abandonment
of required courses in favor
of electives.
We may begin our survey
of early Christian
literature with the Pauline Epistles, which, taken as a whole, are the
earliest group
of documents.
The Jews were suffering because
of Satan (invented for this purpose and appearing nowhere in
earlier Jewish
literature) but God would return and defeat Satan in an epic battle.
The funerary
literature,
of which the pyramid texts are simply the
earliest phase, was a constant element in Egyptian
literature from the time
of the pyramid texts until very late in the pre-Christian era.
It is not strange that, when Jesus came upon the scene, the Sadducees, the ultraconservatives
of their day, who accepted only the
earlier books
of the Old Testament and refused credence to the new ideas
of the later
literature, held «that there is no resurrection.»
Literature which analyzes its impact on the canonical writings
of the
early church and on the history
of theology abounds (see CAS, JCP, JP, MJCT, MTJL, EYB, YPMP, AJ, NDNTS, HASRC, TC, JCSC, JCA, CCS, HAS, FF, PPJ, JECM, AJu).
There are many literary echoes
of the swamp image in
early medieval
literature.
In his Life, then, Boniface proclaimed victory over spaces considered by a good deal
of early medieval
literature to be inhospitable to Christian civilization.