Kirjahaku

Particularly after the standard commentaries by Ernst Haenchen and Hans Cormehnann, the Acts of the Apostles has come to be seen as a work in which the theology of its author has distorted his account of earliest Christianity. Attention has therefore focussed on that theology, in an attempt to give as full a picture of it as possible and consequently the question 'what actually happened?' has fallen right into the background. Professor Luedemann does not go back on the work of his German predecessors. But he is very well aware of the question of the historicity of Acts and their failure to deal with it thoroughly. So in his work, which essentially takes the form of a commentary, he goes through Acts from beginning to end, trying to ascertain whether despite all the difficulties it is nevertheless possible to establish a core of reliable historical information in particular sections of the work. The result is an important addition to the literature on Acts, much needed since the Haenchen and Conzelmann commentaries are now dated. A notable feature of the work is its attention to the literature written in English. Account is taken of this up to 1986.

Since his student days, Gerd Ludemann has noted how both New Testament scholars and theologians have tended to be evansive about what actually happened at the resurrection of Jesus. How was Jesus seen? Was the tomb really empty, and, if so, what happened to the body? Dissatisfied with so much of what he read, he set out to write his own book, making a thourough examination of all the passages relating to the resurrection in the New Testament, beginning with the fanmous verse in 1 Corinthians 15 and going through to the last chapter of John's Gospel. The results of this exhausttive study are largely negative, Ludemann succeeds in demonstrating just how much tradition and the evangelists themselves have contributed to the Easter story. THis is an honest scholarly book with the ring of truth, and needs to be read without prejudice. Those who do so will find that in fact it is remarkably positive.

According to the official view, held for almost two thousand years, early Christianity was marked by great harmony, and heresy only emerged at a later stage. This book, written in nontechnical language for interested non-theologians, argues that such a picture is wishful thinking. Using all available sources, including newly-discovered Gnostic texts, Professor Luedemann argues that in many areas, 'heresy' in fact preceded 'orthodoxy' and was later forcibly replaced by it. The controversies shed an interesting light on the human character and concerns of the first Christians, who were occupied not only with right belief but also with power. The first chapter investigates the positions of Christians in Jerusalem in the first two centuries, since they were the ones who in fact introduced the concept of heresy into the church, and pays particular attention to the revision of the portrait of Paul and his theology. Then it goes on to the dramatic events around Marcion and his approach to a scriptural canon. Thirdly, it examines the conflicts underlying the Johannine writings, the formation of the Apostles' Creed and the formation of the New Testament canon. Professor Luedemann argues that his findings have important and liberating consequences for the understanding of both Christianity and the Bible.

What historical realities lie behind the birth of Jesus and the idyll of the Holy Family? This book investigates all the evidence in the writings of the earliest church and the rival Jewish sources. It examines the New Testament Christmas stories, reconstructs the traditions used in them, and discusses the question of what really happened in connection with the birth of Jesus. The picture that emerges is a much darker one, in keeping with the troubled times in which Mary gave birth. According to anti-Christian polemic, a scandal was associated with Jesus and his mother. This view denigrates Jesus as a child born out of wedlock and brands his mother a sinner. But, Professor Liidemann argues, the Christian myth of the virgin birth also supports equally pernicious attitudes. By daiming that Mary's pregnancy was brought about miraculously by the Holy Spirit, it denies the right of women to sexual and cultural self-determination. Many Protestants and Catholics today continue to assert the virgin birth. In so doing, instead of taking Mary seriously as a woman of her time and therefore also taking seriously women in our time, they trivialize or make taboo the damaging consequences of the myth of Mary for believing men and women.

What actually happened at the resurrection of Jesus? Gerd Luedemann suggests that this question-considered unanswerable by many-is of crucial importance to Christians and that it can be answered more specifically than has been the case in recent studies. Luedemann begins with the oldest list of witnesses to the resurrection (1 Corinithians 15) and proceeds from there to three texts from Paul and the Gospels to investigate the events of Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost. The Easter faith, which Luedemann finds had originally nothing to do with the empty tomb, ultimately stems from visions of Peter and the other disciples, both men and women. These, along with Paul's vision on the road to Damascus, Luedemann examines by means of historical criticism and depth psychology. He concludes that the original core of the Easter faith reflects the message of Jesus as the experience of forgiveness of sins and the overcoming of death.