How was evil portrayed in the Second Temple period and the earliest centuries of Christianity? This collection of essays by an international group of scholars, originating with a 2014 conference at St Mary's University in Twickenham, represents the cutting edge of scholarship on portrayals of evil during this time.
This collection of essays originates from the 2014
Evil in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity conference hosted by the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary's University, Twickenham. Featuring an international collection of senior and junior scholars, it represents the cutting edge of scholarship on portrayals of evil in the Second Temple period and the earliest centuries of Christianity. The individual essays consider the significance of »evil« as it relates to a diverse set of topics, including Qumran and its texts, images of disability in 2 Maccabees, dissociations of Jesus from evil in early Christian manuscripts, the »apocalyptic Paul,« Jesus' exorcisms, Gospel cosmologies, the epistle of James,
4 Ezra, the
Ascension of Isaiah, Marcion, John Chrysostom, and the
Acts of the Martyrs.
Table of contents:
Christopher A. Rollston: An Ur-History of the New Testament Devil: The Celestial שׂטן (śāṭān) in Zechariah and Job -
Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer: Evil at Qumran -
Benjamin Wold: Demonizing Sin? The Evil Inclination in 4QInstruction -
Louise J. Lawrence: Evil and the Body of Antiochus IV Epiphanes: Disability, Disgust and Tropes of Monstrosity in 2 Maccabees 9:1-12 -
Tommy Wasserman: Variants of Evil: The Disassociation of Jesus from Evil in the Text of the New Testament -
James G. Crossley: Jesus, Healings and Mark 2:1-12: Forgiveness, a Release, or Bound Again to the Great Satan? -
Christopher W. Skinner: Overcoming Satan, Overcoming the World: Exploring the Cosmologies of Mark and John -
Jonathan A. Draper: Darkness as Non-Being and the Origin of Evil in John's Gospel -
Loren T. Stuckenbruck: How Much Evil Does the Christ Event Solve? Jesus and Paul in Relation to Jewish »Apocalyptic« Thought -
James P. Davies: Evil's Aetiology and False Dichotomies in Jewish Apocalyptic and Paul -
Chris Tilling: Paul, Evil, and Justification Debates -
Steve Walton: Evil in Ephesus: Acts 19:8-40 -
Lloyd K. Pietersen: Artemis, Demons, Mammon and Satan: The Construal of Evil in First Timothy -
Susanne Luther: The Evil of the Tongue: Evil and the Ethics of Speech in the Letter of James -
Nicholas J. Ellis: A Theology of Evil in the Epistle of James: Cosmic Trials and the Dramatis Personae of Evil -
Robbie Griggs: Apocalyptic Experience in the Theodicy of 4 Ezra -
Jonathan Knight: The Portrayal of Evil in the Ascension of Isaiah -
Chris Keith: »The Scriptures are Divine Charms«: Evil, Books, and Textuality in Early Christianity -
Dieter T. Roth: Evil in Marcion's Conception of the Old Testament God -
Paul Middleton: Overcoming the Devil in the Acts of the Martyrs
