Gerd Theissen

Combining NT scholarship with the racy and readable style of a thriller, Theissen succeeds brilliantly in conveying the gospel story in the fresh and imaginative prose of a novel. Here is a wealth of information about Palestinian life and politics.

The Quest of the Historical Jesus in Narrative Form

The Shadow of the Galilean

Chi erano, come vivevano e che cosa si aspettavano coloro che seguirono Gesù? Queste le domande a partire dalle quali Gerd Theissen elabora la sua "sociologia del movimento di Gesù", ossia un'analisi storico-sociale e psico-sociale di quel movimento di rinnovamento interno all'ebraismo da cui emerse, come nuova religione, il cristianesimo delle origini. Una ricerca sui cosiddetti "carismatici itineranti", portatori di un'etica radicale, che risposero alla crisi della società e della religione ebraica non con l'uso della violenza o con un sovvertimento di poteri, bensí con una rivoluzione di valori e convinzioni religiose - incentrata sull'amore e la riconciliazione - che continua tuttora.

storia sociale di una rivoluzione di valori

Gesù e il suo movimento

A discussion of 'primitive' Christianity - Christianity in its original form, this work was first given as Speaker's Lectures in Oxford. Covering the first five centuries of Christianity, it argues that neither a theology of the New Testament nor a history of the early Church can do justice to all the dimensions of the earliest Christianity. It explores in depth the formation of primitive Christianity and studies the effect of the two great crises of primitive Christianity: the split with Judaism and the threat from Gnosticism. It is aimed at academic theologians.

A Theory of Primitive Christian Religion

As those who have read his The Shadow of the Galilean and Biblical Faith are aware, Gerd Theissen is not someone whose main concern is the theory and practice of preaching. However, he himself is a fascinating preacher, as was evident in his imaginative collection The Open Door, which Frances Young in Theology described as 'nothing less than gripping'. In this book he engages as it were in self-analysis, an analysis of haw he preaches, in order to offer help to others. A first draft was shown to younger ministers, women and men, for their critical comments, and the book derives from lectures which gave rise to lively discussion. Professor Theissen's illuminating comments are grouped round a variety of focal points. The first chapter discusses the biblical world and how that can be approached; then comes the text, and the new possibilities offered by the 'open' text. The third chapter examines how preaching can talk about God and the fourth looks at the existential dimension of preaching. A fifth chapter on preaching as communication is followed by five sample sermons. Preachers will learn a great deal from this book - but so too will their congregations, and anyone interested in the communication of Christianity in the modern world. Few theologians are richer in creative ideas than Gerd Theissen, and they are here in abundance.

Opportunities for Preaching Today

The Sign Language of Faith

An investigation into the social and political history of the Synoptic texts from their roots through to the writing of the Gospels.

Social and Political History in the Synoptic Tradition

The Gospels in Context

Combining New Testament study with the terseness of thriller writing, Theissen conveys the Gospel story in the imaginative prose of a novel. This is a story of our times, or how the gospels might have turned out if they were written by John Le Carre: racy, readable and full of incident.

historische Jesusforschung in erzählerischer Form

Der Schatten des Galiläers

Bruce J. Malina

Wolfgang Stegemann

Contributions by internationally known scholars from the United States, Germany, Scotland, Spain, and Canada move beyond many of the impasses in historical Jesus research. Includes essays using social sciences, social history, and traditional historical methods.

The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels

Sociology of Early Palestinian Christianity

Dagmar Winter

Should the dissimilarity between Jesus and early Christianity or between Jesus and Judaism be the central criteria for the historical Jesus? Gerd Theissen and Dagmar Winter argue that the criterion of dissimilarity does not do justice to the single most important result of more than two-hundred years of Jesus research: that the historical Jesus belongs to both Judaism and Christianity. The two authors propose a criterion of historical plausibility so that historical phenomenon under question can be considered authentic so long as it can be plausibly understood in its Jewish context and also facilitates a plausible explanation for its later effects in Christian history. This book is a cooperative project between Dagmar Winter and Gerd Theissen and represents the fruit of many years of their research on the historical Jesus.

The Question of Criteria

The Quest for the Plausible Jesus

All the main issues for reading the New Testament are covered in this exciting new introduction by one of the world's foremost biblical scholars.

Fortress Introduction to the New Testament

This book, ' Dr Theissen remarks, 'means more to me than any other of my writings. The ideas in it go back to my student days, and my dissatisfaction then over the attitude of so many theologians. I kept on asking myself, how they could go on working, day after day, when they could not even give a convincing answer to the insinuation that God is an illusion. I resolved either to find an answer of my own or to give up theology altogether.' This is his answer. In a short and clearly reasoned study he considers the arguments most commonly produced against Christian belief from the outside, and explores how they can be answered. First he looks at the charge that Christianity is an ideology born out of social conflict and distorted personalities. Then he counters the criticism that religious belief has no grounding in everyday experience and reality. Finally, he argues against the view that the historical approach makes everything relative. There are good reasons, he concludes, for being a Christian. But this does not mean that Christianity can be defended in its traditional form. It will have to change if it is not going to lose all credibility in the modern world

On Having a Critical Faith

The Miracle Stories of the Early Christian Tradition

Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie

* An accessible introduction to the value of the Bible for a general education, by a noted scholar

The Bible And Contemporary Culture

István Czachesz

Lung Pun Common Chan

Der kognitive Ansatz ist eine Chance, sich über den Gegensatz von Theologie und Religionskritik hinweg neu über die Religion zu verständigen. Dieser Ansatz erkennt im Kontraintuitiven und Paradoxen religiöser Überzeugungen eine verborgene Weisheit, die unsere mentalen Strukturen dann anspricht, wenn sie mit intuitiv einleuchtenden Vorstellungen verbunden ist. Auch die Ausbreitungsdynamik des Urchristentums wird verständlicher, wenn man die Geschichte und Theologie, die Sprache und Erfahrungswelt sowie das Gottesverständnis und die Christologie des Urchristentums kognitiv analysiert.

Gerd Theissen

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