Margaret Barker

This collection of articles confirms Norman Whybray's place as one of the foremost contributors to scholarship on wisdom literature in the last three decades of the twentieth century. A former President of the Society for Old Testament Study, and winner of the British Academy's Burkitt Medal, Whybray wrote extensively on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and his interests extended to Job, Ben Sira, and wider areas of concern such as the relationship of wisdom to other Old Testament books and genres. Including a Foreword by David Clines and an Introduction by Katharine J. Dell, this collection brings together for the first time all of Norman Whybray's articles in this subject, thus not only inspiring afresh, but also providing a useful resource for scholars interested in that enigmatic group of writings that make up the wisdom literature of the Old Testament.

Margaret Barker believes that Christianity developed so quickly because it was a return to far older faith - far older than the Greek culture that is long-held to have influenced Christianity. Temple Theology explains that the preaching of the gospel and the early Christian faith grew out of the centuries' old Hebrew longing for God's original Temple. These longings form the basis of the Old Testament exile theology and cause us reassess the relationship between Christianity and the Hebrew tradition. This is no fundamentalist work harking back to the idea that 'the oldest is the purest' Rather it is recognition that the Old Testament has a complex heritage and that those who shared this heritage did not share the same beliefs or scriptures - amongst these people were the first Christians. In her exploration of temple theology, Margaret Barker finds clear references and beliefs in fundamental Christian concepts such as atonement, creation and covenant. This is a thorough and fascinating exploration of the theology of the original Jewish Temple.

Margaret Barker has been researching and writing about the Jerusalem temple for over twenty years. Many of her studies have remained unpublished. Here for the first time her work on the roots of Christian liturgy has been brought together.Whereas most scholarship has concentrated upon the synagogue, Margaret Barker's work on the Jerusalem temple contributes significantly to our understanding of the meaning and importance of many elements of Christian liturgy which have hitherto remained obscure. This book opens up a new field of research.The many subjects addressed include the roots of the Eucharist in various temple rituals and offerings other than Passover, the meaning of the holy of holies and the Christian sanctuary, the cosmology of temple and church, the significance of the Veil of the Temple for understanding priesthood and Incarnation, the Holy Wisdom and the Mother of God, angels and priesthood, the concept of unity, the high priestly tradition in the early church and evidence that Christianity was a conscious continuation of the temple.All scholars and students whose interest encompasses the origins of Christian (and Orthodox) liturgy, the Old Testament, early Christianity, Jewish Christian relations, Platonism and the origins of Islam will find this book a hugely rewarding source of information and new ideas.

Margaret Barker shows that Revelation represents some of the oldest material in the New Testament, some of it from Jesus himself. Her work illuminates the formative years of christianity in the social, religious, and political situation of mid-first-century Palestine in quite a remarkable way. This book will have profound implications for the understanding of Christian origins and the development of Christian liturgy.

Redraws the map of the New Testament and Christian origins confronting much of the scepticism of recent New Testament scholarship to offer a new understanding of Resurrection, Christology, atonement and parousia.

What did "Son of God," "Messiah," and "Lord," mean to the first Christians when they used these words to describe their beliefs about Jesus? In this book Margaret Barker explores the possibility that, in the expectations and traditions of first-century Palestine, these titles belonged together, and that the first Christians fit Jesus' identity into an existing pattern of belief. She claims that pre-Christian Judaism was not monotheistic and that the roots of Christian Trinitarian theology lie in a pre-Christian Palestinian belief about angels--a belief derived from the ancient religion of Israel, in which there was a "High God" and several "Sons of God." Yahweh was a son of God, manifested on earth in human form as an angel or in the Davidic King. Jesus was a manifestation of Yahweh, and was acknowledged as Son of God, Messiah, and Lord. Barker relies on canonical and deutero-canonical works and literature from Qumran and rabbinic sources to present her thoughtful investigation.