Zugänge zum Wunderbaren

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-200548-9

Zugänge zum Wunderbaren

Wunderdiskurse im Frühen Christentum

Edited by Tobias Nicklas, Michael Sommer, Thomas Paulsen and Kristina Dronsch

[Approaches to the Miraculous. Discourses on Miracles in Early Christianity.]

2026. 360 pages.

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament (WUNT I) 557

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-200548-9

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Summary

Modern theology has long treated miracles as an embarrassment - relics of a pre-scientific age. This volume reverses the lens: it reads miracle narratives as semiotic processes that do not break reality but interpret it.

The contributors to this volume examine discourses on miracles in early Christianity and their contemporary theological reception, advancing the central thesis that miracles should not be understood merely as breaches of natural laws or as marginal narrative phenomena, but rather as complex semiotic processes that interpret and transform reality. The contributors focus on texts that range from the first century to the present, particularly New Testament writings, early Christian literature from the Eastern Mediterranean region, and current homiletic and liturgical contexts in German-speaking countries.
Methodologically, the volume combines historical-critical exegesis, semiotic analysis, and practical-theological reflection. The contributors assume that miracles can only be adequately understood within their respective concepts of reality and must therefore always be analyzed in the interplay of text, intertext, and cultural context. This interdisciplinary perspective moves beyond established narrow interpretations that either reduce miracles to a specific genre or dismiss them as irrational relics of premodern worldviews. Together, the essays develop an expanded concept of the miracle that intertwines sign, reality, and interpretation - opening early Christian texts to contemporary discourse and establishing miracle research as an integral part of theological hermeneutics.

Table of contents:

Wunder in den neutestamentlich gewordenen Texten
Eckart Reinmuth: Die Wunder der Gabe. Notizen zum Antagonismus von Überfluss und Mangel in neutestamentlicher Perspektive - Anni Hentschel: Wunder im Johannesevangelium. Zur Dynamik von Sehen und Glauben - Christos Karakolis: Reinterpreting the Johannine Cleansing of the Temple as A Miracle - Christian Strecker: Wahrheit im Prozess. Bestimmungen des Wahren in der antiken griechischen Philosophie, der Bibel und dem Johannesevangelium - David M. Moffitt: But We Do See Abel: Intermedial Reflections on Hebrews, the Roman Canon, and Depictions of Abel's Sacrifice in Some Mosaics of Ravenna - Michael Sommer: Wunderbares in der Johannesoffenbarung? Ein Dialog mit Stefan Alkiers Minimaldefinition eines Wunders - Kristina Dronsch: Helfen und nicht wundern. Die Geburt der Diakonie in den neutestamentlichen Wundergeschichten

Wunder in frühchristlicher und römisch-hellenistischer Literatur
Peter v. Möllendorff: Apotheose als fake news. Metasatire in Lukians Tod des Peregrinos - David Cielontko: Jesus in the Miracle Stories of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas 2-3: Some Insights on the Theology and Transmission - Thomas Tops: Miracles or Magic? The Intersection of Parrhēsia with Miracles in the Acts of the Apostles, the Acts of John, and the Acts of Andrew - Cosmin Pricop: Wunder (auch) als Zeichen der latenten Allgegenwart Jesu in den apokryphen Johannes- und Thomasakten - Nikolai Kiel: Auferstehungsvorstellung im gnostischen Brief an Rheginos

Theologische und forschungsgeschichtliche Perspektiven auf Wunder
Tobias Nicklas: Ernsthaft von Wundern sprechen? Ein Dialog mit Stefan Alkier - Hermann Deuser: „Dein heiliger Engel sei mit mir...". Wunder, Zeichen und Realität - Abraham Boateng: Miracles: Primal and Post-colonial African traditional thoughts and experience. An African Christian reflection - Werner Kahl: Neutestamentliche Wunderheilungen als barmherzige Befreiungstaten Gottes. Die Bedeutung der Wunderhermeneutik Karl Barths für Exegese und Theologie - Christine Wenona Hoffmann: Dramat(urg)isch von Wundern predigen. Zwischen Performanz und Wirklichkeitsannahme
Thomas Alkier: Schlusswort

Authors/Editors

Tobias Nicklas Born 1967; 2000 doctorate and 2004 habilitation at the University of Regensburg; Professor of Exegesis and Hermeneutics of the New Testament at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Regensburg.

https://orcid.org/0000000210216994

Michael Sommer Born 1984; 2013 doctorate and 2020 habilitation at the University of Regensburg; Professor of Exegesis and Theology of the New Testament at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.

Thomas Paulsen Born 1959; 1992 doctorate and 1998 habilitation at Ruhr University Bochum; Professor emeritus of Greek Studies at the Institute of Classical Philology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main.

Kristina Dronsch Born 1971; doctorate at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main; Professor of Diaconal Studies at Evangelische Hochschule Hamburg.