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The purpose of this article is an analysis of Kant’s view upon the momentous historical phaenomenon of Jesus Christ, his birth, his teachings and his suffering on the cross, in the light of Kant’s ethics and philosophical theology. The German philosopher conceives Jesus’ life as an experience of embodied “archetype of moral perfection”, and accordingly evaluates traditional theological concepts about Jesus with regard to the extent in which they can purely and fully express the underlying ideal of reason. Kant can therefore include the idea of an immaculate birth of a sinless creature, as a practical symbol, into the creed of the religion of reason, although this same idea as a theoretical notion immerses the reason in scholastical speculation. Kant sees the core substance of moral religion as preached by Jesus represented in the commandments of love towards God and our fellowmen. In the specific precepts of the Evangelical morals the philosopher emphasizes the shift of accent in Jesus’ doctrine from the purposiveness of external conduct towards the inner disposition. For a sacrifice of worldly satisfactions for the sake of a pure life Jesus opens a prospect of a prize in heaven: and yet, according to Kant, different from the man who fulfills his duty for duty’s sake. The “steward” from the Gospel parable acts legally, but not morally. Nevertheless is his disposition so widely spread that Kant may identify the path of external churchism with the “broad way”, while the path of good conduct is the “narrow way”; it is however essentially important that, for Kant, for all possible rigor of demands on the “narrow way”, the correct vision of the essential way of God-worship (the disposition of moral religiosity) does not exclude wandering along the “broad way”. Jesus, according to Kant, gives an example through his suffering and his death: suffering serves as a “touchstone” of moral disposition. In the same way as the archetype of holiness has with his holy will overcome his suffering which, for him, was not punishment for a crime, so one following his lead has practical faith in the ideal of perfection, if he is capable of liberating himself from the empirical logic of punishment and remuneration, and obeys the rule of duty in its full extent as an unconditional norm. The image of the Cross becomes thus apparent in the focus point of Kantian moral religion, just as it stays in the focus point of early Protestant piety. There remains merely a question about what happened after the Cross.

The testing aspect of Satan is present in many religious narratives. Satan has tried to mislead many religious leaders chosen by God. However, Satan is also seen the real reason for mankind’s earthly life and for being sinners. In the Christian religious tradition, Satan is known for this feature and when we look at the Gospels, it is seen that Jesus encountered such a situation. At first, Satan deceives Adam and his wife Eve, causing them to fall from heaven. The dialogue with Jesus, on the other hand, contains a heavenly depiction of Jesus being with wild animals. Satan, a being depicted in Jewish tradition by his evil qualities in God’s service, has positioned before God along with the Christian tradition. Satan subjected Jesus to an important test in the desert. There is a similarity between the attitude of the Jews during their forty years in the desert and Jesus’ resistance to forty days of hunger and thirst. In this process, Jesus, unlike the Jews, frustrated Satan’s efforts in the face of being tested by being the sinless Son. The accounts of Satan's testing of Jesus in the Canonical Gospels contain variances as well as similarities. This article discusses the baptism, the tearing of the sky, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' testing in the desert, Satan's approach to Jesus, and Satan's despair. The article provides a table that summarizes and describes the discrepancies and inconsistencies in the Gospels with regard to Satan’s testing of Jesus. It used a comparative method to reveal and evaluate the differences between the Gospels, as well as to contribute to a better understanding of the narrations.

Religious ethics, like its sibling, religious studies, emerged out of the divinity schools and theological seminaries in the mid‐20th century. Many years have now passed since these academic disciplines have secured independent standing in universities and colleges, independent from their theological beginnings. The time seems right, then, to ask what theological inquiry might gain from religious ethics and what religious ethics might look like when done in a theological mode. Reflection on the manumission scene in the 15th chapter of John's gospel, on the exegetical puzzles it poses, offers one possible example of these gains and this mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The communion (koinōnia) of the Spirit calls for moral rapport with God, based on the reception of divine righteousness in the "fruit of the Spirit" among humans. This article explains the centrality of such moral rapport to the koinōnia of the Spirit, on the basis of insights from the book of Genesis, some of the Hebrew psalmists, and the apostle Paul. It gives special attention to Paul's perspective on the "fruit of the Spirit," thereby identifying distinctive evidence for the reality and the goodness of God, by way of contrast with either a purely mystical or a purely intellectual approach. Paul offers a perspective including " koinōnia of Jesus Christ," pointing to his koinōnia with God in Gethsemane and thus confirming the central role of moral and volitional personal rapport with God. This approach gives moral and christological depth to the koinōnia of the Spirit, enriching it with divine righteousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barabbas has a small role in the Gospels, but his presence influences the way the Christian story has been told and received over the centuries. While he is mentioned in all four Gospels during the account of Jesus' Roman trial, he never appears "on-stage" in the Gospels. His main purpose is to exculpate the Romans of responsibility for the killing of Jesus of Nazareth, and to shift the blame onto the Jewish crowd assembled in the presence of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. Religious educators require context to present material that involves Barabbas. This article provides an overview of the contemporary scholarship on Barabbas in the New Testament. It provides discussion of teaching and learning approaches that can be included in classrooms to assist in removing Barabbas as an obstacle to positive Jewish–Christian relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers a fresh reading of John the Baptist's infancy and childhood narratives in the Gospel of Luke. It argues that Luke utilizes the motif of "hiddenness" to create tension so that John bursts forth into his public ministry in Israel from a place of obscurity. John suddenly appears in public to prepare the way for the messiah. This reading offers for a unifying concept of "concealing-then-revealing" which provides an explanatory lens for several opaque textual units in Luke's Gospel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the most intimate prayer of Jesus in Mark's Gospel. He prayed this right before his capture and there one may sense the struggle of the (divine) man confronting death. In Mk 14,18 he speaks about his resurrection, but he is not facing death easily. Nine of his disciples have to sit down, and three have to accompany him. In Gal 2,9 we read about stulos, and in Mk 3,16--17 Jesus gave new names only to these three disciples, and they wanted to suffer and die with him (Mk 10,38--39; 14,29.31). Jesus is troubled facing death, but this is not distrust. The disciples do not make up this story, otherwise it would lack Jesus's fear, and the fact that they fall asleep. In this story Jesus is stretched to the limit, therefore he needs the companionship of his disciples. He needs the closeness of his disciples, but he needs to be alone with his Father. He is still in hearing range, but who is the one who recorded his prayer. The heart of this passage is his prayer: he wants to escape death, but for him the will of his Father is more important. Jesus returns three times to his disciples, and finds Peter sleeping three times, and then he denies him three times. Jesus remains more and more alone. The prayer is not for escaping the temptation, rather for standing up to the test. The soul may represent the willing spirit as in Ps 51,12), which earlier is identified with the Holy Spirit, or the pneuma means the human spirit (Mk 2,8; 8,12). He warns his disciples, that the body is weak. After his third return they don't have to stay awake and pray anymore; this is a new situation. Now Jesus knows what God's will is, and he is ready to die. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present essay proposes to describe the hermeneutics that Terry Eagleton developed to read the texts of the canonical gospels. To accomplish this purpose, we reviewed the content of two texts written by the British author, The Gospels and Humor. When visiting these two writings by the British scholar, we approach the two main theories adopted by him to interpret the canonical books, namely, Marxism and the Bakhtinian carnival. The result to which it aims is a renewed procedure of reading the Bible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We revisit, starting with the Patristic sources, the quaestio disputata of the laughter (or not laughter) of Jesus, in order to establish the role of laughter in the representation of the God of the Christians. In a reaction against the old theologia mythica, the mythology (with the "inexhaustible laughter" of the gods), the Fathers of the Church substantially redefined the status of laughter and humor in Christian life and spirituality. They did so from the exemplum o Jesus and the silences of the Gospels, but also reusing laughter as a border between orthodoxy and heterodoxy in the definition of Christology itself. Knowing that the Christ of the Gnostics, like the pagan divinities, laughs much more than the Jesus Christ of the Gospels and of ecclesiastical doctrine, we are interested in establishing how laughter (human or divine?) was used in the elaboration of the diverse Christologies: in a constant tension between the Docetic tendencies that affirm the laughter of Jesus in order to negate his humanity and highlight the otherness of the man Jesus in contrast with the divine Christ (Gnosticism) and the "Catholic" reading that denies the historical Jesus the laughter "proper to man", with the consequent risk of diminishing the real humanity of Christ, which is however underscored in the "tears" and the drama of the Passio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gospel of John contains not only paradoxical thought but also formal paradoxes—short logical riddles of a kind put to rhetorical use by ancient speakers. One overlooked formal paradox is the aphorism in John 13:20. The evangelist models this paradox on a reversal of the logic of Heraclitus’s river paradox. While Heraclitus’s river paradox is a means to deliberate essence, Jesus’s “receiver’s paradox” is a means to deliberate agency. Jesus intends the paradox as a way to help the disciples reflect further on their concerns for mission. As a result, this interpretation alleviates concerns that the utterance is unrelated to the discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how malevolent figures such as Beelzebub, demons, and Satan were utilized to validate the healing and exorcism powers of Jesus, focusing on the case of the mute/blind mentioned in the synoptic Gospels. The group accompanying Jesus was divided regarding the origin of his powers, with some believing in his divine messianity and others suspecting a diabolical association. The claims about this association did not discredit his miracles but rather his messianic position. The objective is to analyze the corresponding passages in the Gospels to provide historical-cultural arguments concerning the understanding of the transcendent reality in the context of the synoptic Gospels, contributing to the discussion on the Gospels and the historical figure of Jesus of Nazareth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Book of Isaiah is often called "the fifth Gospel" among Christians. It is not because of the embrace of St Jerome's opinion, or because of the literal meaning of the prophet's name, which translates to: "God redeems". It is the content of the book itself that has been inspiring generations of Christians to understand it in such a way. This article is a study of a group of texts from Isa. 7, 10-25; 9, 5-6; 11, 1-11, interconnected by the concept of Messianism, which centers on the figure of a royal descendant from the house of David. The article itself is not a typical exegetic study; instead, by making use of the numerous works of modern exegesis, it once again takes on the fragments of the aforementioned texts, those which have a key meaning for the messianic concept. The same analysis shall be conducted of Matt. 1, 23 in which this kind of messianic concept is brought up through a quotation from Isa. 7, 14. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our article, we seek to find answers to questions such as whether there are a differences between the depictions of Jesus' personality in the Gospels and the Qur’ān, and if so, whether these differences indicate distortion or have a specific meaning in the sources. Using the documentation method, We first try to reveal how Jesus was introduced in the religious sources of Christianity and Islam. Later, we determine the personality of Jesus by referring to the Gospels and the Qur’ān. The interpretations of Christians' holy books and Islamic interpretations, encyclopedias, books, magazines and articles about the personality of Jesus were copyrighted after being labeled and classified. Jesus, as a historical figure, is the most commented prophet on his life.Issues such as his birth, childhood, youth, death and resurrection have been discussed for years by both Christian and Muslim theologians. The issues discussed by the theologians have been wondered by people and many works have been put forward.The basic sources about Jesus, which is the subject of the research, are the Bibles and Bible interpretations for Christians; for Muslims, they are the Qur’ān, tafsir and hadith books. As a historical figure, Jesus is the most commented prophet on his life. For this reason, the personality of Jesus in the Gospels and the Qur’ān has been tried to be presented comparatively. In our opinion, it will be useful to reveal the differences between the texts of the Bible and the Qur’ān. Although the personality of Jesus is described in the Gospels by entering details such as place, time and people, it is revealed as a phenomenon in the Qur’ān without giving any details. In the Christian faith, St. Jesus is considered as one of the elements that make up the trinity, the fundamental belief of many Christians. According to them, St. Jesus is not merely a prophet, but also the eternal word of God, the son of God, who is essentially one with God. Furthermore, according to Christian belief, Jesus who originally resided with God, came to Earth after Adam’s expulsion from heaven, assuming human nature to save people living in sin by purifying them from their sins. In contrast, the Qur’ān offers a distinct portrayal of Jesus. According to the Qur’ān, he is a prophet appointed by Allah. The Qur’ān aims to correct the erroneous beliefs of Christians. Accordingly, The personage of Jesus is not a fable or a story, but a real piece of evidence from which people should learn. Unlike the Christian belidf, the Qur’ān does not present Jesus as the son of God; rather, he is recognized solely as a prophet. According to the Qur’ān, Jesus proved his prophethood through his personality and revealed the infinite power of Allah to the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present artícle-essay aims to point out some notes that make it possible to perceive Don Bosco's life actíon, that is, his way of actíng, as being the fruit of the comprehension of a man who understood the Incarnate Word, God incarnate in the concrete reality of every human person, not alien to the sufferings and social dilemmas. To answer this objective, the method adopted for this research will be deductive-inductive. As for the methodology, it will be a literature review. It is possible to note that, besides being a spiritual leader, Don Bosco was a deeply "human" man, for he understood the reality of human existence in its existential and real peripheries, not only spiritual. But he was also a man compelled by the spirituality of the Incarnate Word, and this dimension is very important in his mission, because it constitutes his ideal of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a queer reading of the doctrine of miraculous conception and an exploration into how applying an intersex lens to these conception texts can liberate an intersex Jesus. In it, I explain the basics of intersex and otherwise queer theologies, before looking at sex difference in the New Testament through the figures of eunuchs, and conducting an intersex reading of Jesus' conception and biology. I argue that, if we believe Mary to be a virgin at the moment of Jesus' conception, with no external male influence, then Jesus is necessarily a chromosomal 'female' (and therefore intersex, due to his 'male' physical appearance). I then discuss the ways in which his biology can transcend prescriptive roles of sex, mirroring how his social behaviour transcends prescriptive roles of gender. What this queer reading of Jesus can tell us relates to a gender-expansive view of deity – troubling rigid Church institutions by celebrating the breaking of binaries that constrain us. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Onomastic congruence (a feature defined in this article) is characteristic of historiographic biographies from the Early Empire. The Synoptic Gospels display onomastic congruence, as well as conservatism in their treatment of names. The preservation of names, especially those centred around key roles and events, suggests that some names may have been preserved in the oral archives of early Christian communities to footnote living eyewitness sources, paralleling historiographical situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The saying in Matthew 9.37–8 and Luke (Q) 10.2 reads as follows: 'He said to his disciples: The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to dispatch workers into his harvest'. The present study attempts to illuminate this logion by considering its setting in first-century Palestine. The focus here is not on the logion's possible metaphorical application, but on the literal saying, which involves ancient agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslim scholars have always accepted that Jesus escaped the attempt to crucify him, was raised to heaven, continues to live there and will return at the end of time. The Qur’ān is usually cited as the source of the first two beliefs, whereas the latter two have their main support in ḥadīth, although both sources are also cited in support of all these views. This paper focuses on what the Qur’ān says about Jesus’ fate after the failed attempt to crucify him. It reviews the majority view before discussing how it started to be questioned in the late 19th century by scholars who offered alternatives. The article then focuses on the terms tawaffī and rafʿ, which the Qur’ān uses in describing God’s intervention to save Jesus. My analysis confirms the centuries-long understanding of the Qur’ānic text that Jesus was raised alive to heaven. However, it disagrees with the traditional view that he is still alive, finding instead support for the alternative view of the minority of modern scholars that Jesus did not live a supernaturally long life, hence he is dead. The relevant Qur’ānic verses indicate that Jesus was raised alive to heaven and died there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a bibliography of historical Jesus research from 2000 to 2023 in German and English language publications. In addition to the bibliography, a brief introductory essay identifies trends in historical Jesus research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jesus is referred to as Rabbi or Rabbouni on four occasions in Mark. Most scholars assume that it was a commonplace term during Jesus' lifetime and it is a Hebrew synonym for Teacher. It will be posited that it was not in use during the early decades of the first century CE and that it is actually an Aramaic term utilized by Mark and endowed with a messianic valence. This will be viewed within the context of Mark's agenda of obfuscating the true identity of Jesus and employing Aramaic as a code language. Both Bartimaeus' petition and Judas' betrayal of Jesus will also be viewed from this perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theorists on Christian leadership on a broad scale embrace servant leadership theory (Åkerlund, 2015; Bredfeldt, 2006, pp. 88-89). There is, however, also an awareness of the deficiencies of the theory in light of Christian realism. This article looks at what may be called the dark side of leadership posed by the challenge of the problem of evil in theological anthropology. There are of course several dark sides of leadership and the one which is addressed here is the problem of hypocrisy in Christian leadership. Against this backdrop, Jesus' criticism of the hypocrisy of some Jewish religious leaders may be helpful with Matthew 23 as the central text. In this chapter which Benedict Viviano has called the least loved chapter in the gospel of Matthew (Viviano, 1990, p. 3), Jesus provides a scathing attack on the contemporary Jewish religious leaders. The criticism of the leadership gives several negative principles for Christian leadership and the overall problem may be identified as hypocrisy. This article analyzes the problem of hypocrisy in leadership in Matthew's gospel situated within the gospel itself and the overarching theological concern. Whereas hypocrisy is identified as Matthew's moral nightmare, the moral dream may be called wholeness, providing the consistency between the inward nature of a person which the hypocrite lacks. A distinct Matthean response to the problem of hypocrisy in Christian leadership is formulated both by way of identifying hypocrisy and by describing the path towards wholeness through repentance and God-centered living which is laid out in Matthew's gospel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luke-Acts is a theocentric narrative. It tells how God in and through Jesus acts out of faithfulness to the covenant on behalf of Israel. This article uses this fundamental claim to offer a post-supersessionist reading of Luke-Acts. It contends that genealogical Israel (the Jewish people) remains God's people because of election. God turns to Israel offering forgiveness and salvation. The people struggle to respond. All Israel, including Jesus's disciples, stumbles. Some Jewish people are more faithful, others less. Together they comprise the less-than-faithful people of God to whom God is faithful. Luke's Jesus and Paul embody this dynamic. Jesus recapitulates Israel's history, acting faithfully on its behalf for its salvation. He dies in solidarity with the Jewish people, faithful and unfaithful alike. He is raised, proleptically guaranteeing their restoration. Paul embodies how God remains loyal to recalcitrant Israel. Apart from repentance from Paul, an encounter with the risen Lord transforms this "God-fighter" simply because he is a "chosen vessel". In Paul, Luke narrates God's radical fidelity to Israel. God will restore Israel, opening blind eyes to see Jesus as messiah. The article distills the author's forthcoming monograph Reading Luke-Acts after Supersessionism: The Salvation of Israel and the Nations in Accordance with the Scriptures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the background of current interdisciplinary discussions in philosophical and theological ethics and discourses on morality, this interdisciplinary essay explored the conceptualisation of morality in emerging Christianity. It illustrated how the early Sayings Source Q and the Gospel according to Mark recollect Jesus of Nazareth's reception of the Jewish Torah. Then it sketched how Paul's understanding of God's and Christ's compassion serves as guide to integrate basic notions from Hellenistic ethic in his moral exhortation. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: Taking cognisance of modern discussions on ethics and morality, the essay placed Early Christian morality within the context of the Law (Jewish Studies) and highlighted Christian reception of virtues in the Graeco-Roman world as studied by ancient philosophy. In conceptualising morality, emerging Christianity borrowed cardinal moral guidelines from its social environment. This foundational procedure studied by the History of the Early Church (within its Jewish and Graeco-Roman context) can serve as a model for Systematic Theology and Ethics to guide contemporary Christianity in their adaptation of moral principles from their cultural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author of the First Epistle of John predominantly addresses the 'theological concept of righteousness' in two pericopes: pericope 1 (1:5-2:2) concerns the 'Righteousness of God', and pericope 2 (2:28-3:12) explores the 'Righteousness of God's children' from various perspectives. The adjective, da, occurs twice (1:9 and 2:1) and the noun, da, appears once (1:9) in the first pericope. In the second pericope, the adjective, da, occurs three times, the adjective daa once and the noun, das, also three times. This research starts with a discourse analysis to determine semantic networks to be used for the structuring of the reasoning and rhetoric in this research. Network A: The environment and foundation of righteousness: The glorious and measureless love of God in the familia Dei. Network B: The revelation of the righteousness of God in Jesus. Network C: A rhetorical strategy to alert God's children to live righteously: Contrasting statements. Network D: A rhetorical strategy to encourage God's children to live righteously: Parousia. Network E: Those who do what is right are righteous - they cannot sin anymore. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The theological concept of righteousness is explored from various perspectives, integrating semantic networks from biblical theologies, systematic discourses and Christian spiritualities to unfold the significance of the environment and foundation of righteousness, the love of God in the familia Dei, and the encouragement to live righteously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article cursorily discussed the views of Karl Barth and the perichoresis doctrine on the Holy Trinity. The aim of the article was to discuss how both Barth and perichoresis almost touch the fact that God is one, although they do not admit it. They rather maintain the classic conviction ('default idea') that God consists of three hypostases (Persons) in one ousia (Being). Barth's view is that God has different Seinsweisen, indicating that God reveals himself to humankind as Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. Perichoresis refers to God as a flow or a mixture of three Persons, wherein the flow or the mix is so close that it almost constitutes one Person. The authors of this article took the arguments of Barth and perichoresis one step further and argued that God is one. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: By studying Barth's views and the perichoresis doctrine, this article challenged the dogma of the church regarding the Holy Trinity. The classic or Reformed ('default') view is that there are three Persons and one Being, while we proposed only one God with at least three Seinsweisen. Practical theology, church history, Old Testament and New Testament disciplines were utilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Last Days in the Desert (Rodrigo García, US 2015) portrays the devil as Jesus’s doppelganger, demonstrating the rivalry between good and evil as the two compete over the efficacy of Jesus’s faith. With Jesus assessing himself as he responds to the devil, the film offers a self-reflexive evaluation of faith as it is challenged by skepticism. By analyzing the film using the idea of an evolutionary faith instinct, the article presents Jesus’s trust in God as empowerment that allows him to endure elements of nature and find signs of divinity. The devil’s eventual exhausted impatience and his loss of his wager with Jesus bolster the applicability of a faith instinct. Ultimately, the film is an opportunity for this rendition of Jesus to be articulated in terms of evolutionary discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I offer an interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew in its originating context with a view to making some suggestions about how Matthew may still speak today. Working by inference from the shape and content of the Gospel, I suggest that, against the backdrop of the partings of the ways between synagogue and church, Matthew wrote for the following reasons: to establish and display Jesus' identity; to help his readers understand better who they are; to strengthen his readers' faith; to provide a warrant for Gentile inclusion in the people of God; and to show how God's new people are to live. I then reflect on what may be considered responsible ways of appropriating Matthew for today, including the way in which his apocalyptic theology generates an ethos of moral seriousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, we read of a peculiar encounter. A Samaritan woman meets a Jewish rabbi at a rather unusual time of the day at a well. It is a difficult task to have a clear picture of who the Samaritans were exactly, but we may assume three theories about them. The first approach is connected to the view of how the Samaritans perceive themselves. They see themselves as the true Israel and everyone else as heretics. Their own Torah inherited from Moses is the genuine one, and the others have just falsified it. The second approach belongs to the Judeans. They regard as valid what we can read in the Jewish Old Testament, in the Second Book of Kings, Chapter 17, verses 24-41. According to this view, the Samaritans' origin can be traced back to the Mesopotamian immigrants. Some Israelites mixed with pagans. After their return from the Babylonian captivity, the Jews refused to rebuild the Temple together with the Samaritans. This led to the building of a new temple by the Samaritans, and hence tensions arose between Jews and Samaritans. The third view can be called the scientific approach. According to this, there was no disruption in the 5th century BC between Samaritans and Jews. Assyrians settled the Samaritans. The Jews looked at them with suspicion because of their ethnic and mainly religious background. The actual drifting apart became obvious in the 2nd century BC and after their temple was destroyed. The Samaritans worked on their own Pentateuch and had their own priesthood, and these facts became a fundamental difference between them. Since then, the Jews have regarded Samaritans as pagans and as their enemies. In John 4, at the beginning, the woman sees in the man a traditional enemy, but her attitude slowly changes. She is not sure if her conversational partner is greater than Jacob, who was their highly esteemed predecessor. At a certain point of their discussion, the unnamed woman calls the rabbi "Sir" and regards him as a prophet. The woman has strong doubts about Jesus being the Christ to come and whom the Samaritans have been expecting. At the end of this conversation, the woman changes her attitude, speaks without hindrance about the young rabbi, and recognizes with her fellow villagers that this is the long-expected Saviour. The woman's openness is remarkable, who is not stuck with her predefined ideas but is ready to listen carefully to the man whom at first she identified as her enemy. In this Gospel, we can read many stories. One of them is Nicodemus, who is not entirely sure about what Jesus asks of him. Jesus's disciples are often perplexed and confused when their Master speaks to them. Here we can read of a woman who understands Jesus and recognizes Christ in him. She does not merely believe in Jesus but becomes a missionary among her fellow Samaritans. There is a huge difference between them at the beginning, but they slowly start to approach each other, and the woman is converted in the end. Her life is helped and influenced dramatically and existentially by the patience and understanding of Jesus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay argues that Jesus’s confession of ignorance about the day and hour of his return (Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32) is logically inconsistent with the Nicene-Constantinopolitan doctrine of his “consubstantiality” (homoousia) with God the Father. The essay first defines “consubstantiality”, then presents three formulations of the argument, and finally rebuts a number of possible responses: from the textual originality of the phrase “nor the Son”; from the reinterpretation of “knows” as “makes known”; from the ideas of partitive exegesis and communicatio idiomatum; and from the question of the Holy Spirit’s knowledge of the things of God.

There are three main types of atonement, namely the ‘classic’ type where Christ is a Victor, the ‘Latin’ type where Christ is satisfaction and the type of ‘humanism’ in which God is Love. These three types contain language of violence. However, the most striking language of violence is the ‘Latin’ type, where God is seen as the Angry one, who is thirsty for blood and asking to be satisfied. The sacrifice of redemption is seen as the idea of ‘bribe to God’. Some theologians reject this idea and look for other alternatives. This article aims to find other alternatives while maintaining the idea of redemption sacrifice. The author uses a Jewish perspective in reading the Bible. From the entire Bible metanarrative, the authors construct the theory of atonement by focusing on the idea of Besorat Hageulah, the Gospel of redemption. On the cross is the sacrifice for redemption that expresses God’s justice and love. The bloodshed on the cross is not to satisfy God, who is angry, but as a sign of God’s love for humans according to the demands of justice ‘life shall go for life’ (KJV, Dt 19:21). Contribution: This article is interdisciplinary in the sense that it touches on issues such as redemption, mercy and peace. In this article, the author has shown how redemption brings peace and love. The implication is in the life of the nation and state as God’s creatures.

The most impressive Muslim mystic, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240), devotes a chapter in his book Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam to Jesus. He emphasizes the divinity of Jesus and offers a distinctive viewpoint. In addition to two different expressions regarding Jesus’s divinity, by which some deny this divinity and some affirm it, similar to the Bible’s differences, he specifically focuses on the duality of reality (taḥqīq) and illusion (tawahhum) in relation to Jesus. Accordingly, Ibn ʿArabī views the divinity of Jesus as related to his aspect of reality (the identity that emerged in his human form) and regards the denial of his divinity as related to his aspect of illusion (his human form). This research investigates Ibn ʿArabī’s views on the divinity of Jesus. It adds that the evidence confirming Jesus’s divinity is not based on the general theory of the unity of being but instead points directly to Jesus’s divinity. The epistemological position of Ibn ʿArabī toward the theory of the “indwelling (ḥulūl) of God in Jesus” is discussed in light of his significant phrases.

Throughout their long history of theological debates, both Christians and Muslims have studied and challenged one another’s beliefs and Scriptures. From the ninth century onward, Muslims have studied the Bible and criticized Christian Trinitarian doctrines. Similarly, al-Ghazālī, a famous Muslim philosopher and theologian wrote a treatise to challenge the divinity of Jesus. Since in his view Christians have identified Jesus with God in accordance with the fourth Gospel, he focuses on this Gospel and interprets it in a way to refute the divinity of Jesus. He suggests a metaphorical interpretation of this Gospel, and therefore, studies all of its complicated verses in figurative, rather than literal, terms. By doing so, he concludes Jesus was a human being, not a divine being as Christians believe.

This article deals with the claim that Jesus (4 BC), Mani (216 CE), and Muḥammad (570 CE) are the “Seals of Prophets,” relating it to the theologically developed Johannine concept of the Paraclete. These three historical figures are believed to be the “Seals of Prophets” after whom the chain of Prophets has ended according to their religious and cultural traditions. However, most of the research on the subject is pursued exclusively from within the perspective of each religious and cultural tradition, and without discussing the Johannine theologically developed concept of the Paraclete by relating it properly either to Jesus, or to Mani, or to Muḥammad, especially when one considers the fact that Mani claims to be the Paraclete of Jesus in his recently found works, Kelley Library and CMC Writings. Similarly, Muslim writers maintain that Muḥammad was the Paraclete of Jesus and the “Seal of Prophets.” Furthermore, there has been no question about how the claim of being the “Seal of Prophets” about these historical personalities could be considered valid, since after the death of Jesus, Mani came and claimed to be the Paraclete of Jesus and the “Seal of Prophets.” And after Mani’s death, Muḥammad came and, as Muslim writers believe, he was the Paraclete of Jesus and the “Seal of Prophets.”

This article cursorily discussed the views of Karl Barth and the perichoresis doctrine on the Holy Trinity. The aim of the article was to discuss how both Barth and perichoresis almost touch the fact that God is one, although they do not admit it. They rather maintain the classic conviction (‘default idea’) that God consists of three hypostases (Persons) in one ousia (Being). Barth’s view is that God has different Seinsweisen, indicating that God reveals himself to humankind as Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit. Perichoresis refers to God as a flow or a mixture of three Persons, wherein the flow or the mix is so close that it almost constitutes one Person. The authors of this article took the arguments of Barth and perichoresis one step further and argued that God is one. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: By studying Barth’s views and the perichoresis doctrine, this article challenged the dogma of the church regarding the Holy Trinity. The classic or Reformed (‘default’) view is that there are three Persons and one Being, while we proposed only one God with at least three Seinsweisen. Practical theology, church history, Old Testament and New Testament disciplines were utilised.

The testing aspect of Satan is present in many religious narratives. Satan has tried to mislead many religious leaders chosen by God. However, Satan is also seen as the real reason for humanity's earthly life and for being sinners. In the Christian religious tradition, Satan is known for this feature, and when we look at the Gospels, it is seen that Jesus encountered such a situation. At first, Satan deceives Adam and his wife, Eve, causing them to fall from heaven. The dialogue with Jesus, on the other hand, contains a paradise depiction of Jesus being with wild animals. Satan, a being depicted in Jewish tradition by his evil qualities in God's service, has been positioned before God along with the Christian tradition. Satan subjected Jesus to an important test in the desert. Jesus' resistance to forty days of hunger and thirst is similar to the attitude of the Jews during their forty years in the desert. In this process, Jesus, unlike the Jews, frustrated Satan's efforts in the face of being tested by being the sinless Son. The accounts of Satan's testing of Jesus in the Canonical Gospels contain variances as well as similarities. This article discusses baptism, the tearing of the sky, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' testing in the desert, Satan's approach to Jesus, and Satan's despair. The article provides a table that summarizes and describes the discrepancies and inconsistencies in the Gospels concerning Satan's testing of Jesus. It used a comparative method to reveal and evaluate the differences between the Gospels and contribute to a better understanding of the narrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rarely do members of diverse religions engaged in interreligious dialogue find agreement on metaphysics and doctrine, though such conversations may be very fruitful and lead to greater understanding and mutual illumination. In the area of religious experience, however, recognition of commonality may be much more readily apparent, and in such encounters, the life and spirituality of Jesus provide a meeting ground. This essay examines Jesus as a catalyst for spiritual inspiration and transformation from Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and nontraditional perspectives. As an integral figure in Islam, Jesus appears in the writings of the likes of Ibn Arabi, Rumi and more contemporary Sufi teachers. Hindus and Buddhists, too, have embraced him, from Sri Ramakrishna and Gandhi to Thich Nhat Hanh. This essay will explore the integral role Jesus plays in such interreligious contexts, embodying self-sacrifice, wisdom and active love and interweaving personal transformation, contemplative practice and social engagement in the pursuit of liberating spiritual realization. In so doing, the essay will argue that such interreligious perspectives are an essential element in a full accounting of Jesus' place in the spiritual lives of diverse human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African Christian women, given their faith commitment, see Jesus chiefly as a liberator from all forms of oppression, a friend of the weak and the downtrodden, and a herald of full experience of God's reign. Jesus' solidarity with the poor and the sinners, his inclusivity and ability to bridge the class gap in the Jewish society of his day are often sources of inspiration in their struggle for full emancipation. Their major concern is how to make this a reality in their own lives. Indeed, African female theologians often regret the inability of Christian tradition to uphold this legacy of Jesus in the greater part of its history, especially in Africa. Thus, they appear sceptical about Christianity's ability to make Jesus' liberating power effective in the lives of African women. This paper addresses certain questions in this regard: What does Jesus mean for African Christian women, especially as evident in the writings of African female theologians? Are there possible points of continuity and/or discontinuity between what Jesus is for them and what he was for the Jewish women of the first-century Palestine? How can African Christian women walk with Jesus towards the path of emancipation and fullness of life? Would they have to compromise their African identity or would this identity be a major player in the process? How does the future they envisage - the coming of God's reign - influence their hermeneutical approach to the Bible and their personal relationship with Jesus? To answer these questions, the paper examines the convoluted nature of the African Christian women's predicament, especially given the intersectionality of gender and race, and how this plays out in the faith tradition on which they hang their hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the teaching about Jesus in English primary schools urgently needs to include scholarship in Religious Education (RE) about teaching religion through the principles of Religion and Worldviews research and scholarship in Religious, Biblical and Theological Studies about decolonising the curriculum. RE teachers from the beginning of a child's first lessons should present a Jesus who is Jewish with a context which is located within Judaea two thousand years ago. In addition, the artwork and imagery used in the teaching about Jesus should be as carefully chosen as the content of lessons to avoid the dominance of Jesus being depicted as the White Western Christ of tradition. As the historical Jesus and the Christ of faith is of interest to many communities, both within the Christian church and in other religions, this article shows that this is not fully reflected in the imagery and teaching about Jesus in the classroom. The research for this has been around for over thirty years in RE, but has become much more urgent with the focus on decolonising the curriculum. The teaching about Jesus needs to be at the centre of decolonisation in RE because Christianity is the one specified religion that schools must teach and it is the dominant religion in curriculum time. Presenting varied imagery from the UK and around the world and teaching about the historical Jewish person of Jesus is crucial to allow children from all backgrounds to engage with discussions and ensure all voices are heard in the classroom. This approach references anti-racist approaches to education and years of research about Jesus which are currently not reflected in all primary teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant interpretation of Acts 3:22 and 7:37 understands Deut 18:15, 18–19 to be applied to Jesus so as to identify him as an anticipated, individual "prophet like Moses." Interpreting these verses instead as understanding Deut 18 as a general reference to prophets, however, provides a smoother reading that aligns with the Lukan theme of the prophetic anticipation of Jesus as the messiah. Other literature does not provide decisive support that Deut 18 would be interpreted as prophesying an individual. Jesus is not the prophet like Moses, but rather the one of whom Moses and the prophets spoke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the source material that gave rise to the notion that Jesus befriended sex workers. It considers the first and century evidence. It turns then to medieval fiction for the source of this misunderstanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims at showing how Jesus is the apex of biblical canons, the authority that grants the status of sacredness to Christian, canonical and biblical books. It uses an intercultural approach involving three cultural frames of reference whereby the Protestant Church leadership will represent a contemporary culture, while the Roman Catholic Church stands for traditional church culture, and Jesus’ authority reflects an original biblical culture. Consequently, the article consists of three parts: the impact of Scripture on the contemporary Protestant Church in Africa, the authority of biblical canon in the Roman Catholic Church and Jesus’ authority in original biblical cultures. Contribution: The article has established that in the biblical cultures, Jesus’ authority is recognised in canonical gospels and in extra canonical writings. In the Catholic Church, this authority is celebrated in the liturgy, expanded from the canonical biblical books and translated into the canon law. In the current Protestant Church in Africa, Jesus’ authority empowers the ministers to significantly impact their audiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]