The Birth of the Trinity: Jesus, God, and Spirit in New Testament and Early Christian Interpretations of the Old TestamentHow and when did Jesus and the Spirit come to be regarded as fully God? The Birth of the Trinity offers a new historical approach by exploring the way in which first- and second-century Christians read the Old Testament in order to differentiate the one God as multiple persons. The earliest Christians felt they could metaphorically overhear divine conversations between the Father, Son, and Spirit when reading the Old Testament. When these snatches of dialogue are connected and joined, they form a narrative about the unfolding interior divine life as understood by the nascent church. What emerges is not a static portrait of the triune God, but a developing story of divine persons enacting mutual esteem, voiced praise, collaborative strategy, and self-sacrificial love. The presence of divine dialogue in the New Testament and early Christian literature shows that, contrary to the claims of James Dunn and Bart Ehrman (among others), the earliest Christology was the highest Christology, as Jesus was identified as a divine person through Old Testament interpretation. The result is a Trinitarian biblical and early Christian theology. |
Contents
Reading as BirthThe Trinity Emerges | vi |
Divine Dialogues from the Dawn of Time | xlii |
Theodramatic StratagemsThe Sons Mission | liv |
CrossShaped Conversations | xxxvi |
Praise for Rescue | lxi |
Triumphant Talks | lxxxvi |
Reading God Right | cvii |
The Read | cxl |
Index of Biblical References | 3 |
Index of Other Ancient Sources | 24 |
42 | |
48 | |
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The Birth of the Trinity: Jesus, God, and Spirit in New Testament and Early ... Matthew W. Bates No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
addressed adoptionist ancient Jewish Scripture Apostolic Proclamation author of Acts author of Hebrews Bauckham begotten Biblical character Christology Christology of Divine citation citing context conversation David Dial dialogue discussion divine economy divine persons earliest Christians earliest church early church Eerdmans enthronement Epid Evangelists evidence exegetical Father firstperson future gnostic God the Father God’s Gospel Grand Rapids Greek Haer Hellenistic Hermeneutics historical Jesus human hypothesis identified incarnation Irenaeus Isaiah 42 Israel James D. G. Dunn Jesus Christ John Justin Martyr Lord Luke Matt Matthew messiah monotheism N. T. Wright Old Testament Origen Paul Paul’s personcentered portrayed praise preexistent prophet prosopological exegesis prosopological interpretation prosopological reading prosopon Psalm Psalm 68 PsBarnabas reading strategy regarded rescue resurrection Romans says scholarship scriptural interpretation Septuagint servant ServantSon Son’s speaker speaking speech spoken synoptic temple Tertullian theodramatic interpretation theodramatic reading theodramatic setting theological trans Trinitarian Trinity Tyconius words