Books by "Prof. C. Clifton Black"
4 books found
In a striking departure from customary readings of the Acts of the Apostles as the story of the growth of the church, Gaventa argues that Luke's second volume has to do with nothing less than the activity of God. From the beginning of the story at Jesus' Ascension and extending until well past the final report of Paul's activity in Rome, Luke narrates a relentlessly theological story, in which matters of institutional history or biography play only an incidental role. Gaventa pays careful attention to Luke's story of God, as well as to the numerous characters who set themselves in opposition to God's plan.
Analyzes the various New Testament conceptions of God and suggests how they can best contribute to a contemporary constructive theology. In this important new volume in the Library of Biblical Theology, Larry W. Hurtado introduces the different understandings of God that arise in the books of the New Testament, and explores the ramifications of those views for contemporary theology. Questions covered include: Why has the subject of God received comparatively little attention in much contemporary New Testament scholarship? Is the Christian God of the New Testament the same deity described in the Old Testament? What impact does the New Testament's emphasis on Jesus have for its discourse about God? How do New Testament references to the Divine "Spirit" affect its understanding of God? Given the diversity of the New Testament writings, is it possible to speak of a sole New Testament view of God? How should contemporary theology understand the triadic shape of New Testament discourse about God in light of the later development of the doctrine of the Trinity?
Devastating circumstances still enslave most African Americans in American society today, especially in urban environments. They struggle with economic devastation, family disintegration, black-on-black crime, unemployment, political and social injustice, as well as the structural racism that fuels all of these. In the midst of this horrible din, there is a whisper from the Lord, a faith statement upon which there can be established an ethic of transformation for an oppressed African American Christian community. The whispers of faith, hope, and ethical direction that flow out of the New Testament materials have always taken their fleshly shape in light of the context in which African Americans have found themselves. Blount studies selected New Testament texts and evaluates them in light of their first-century contexts, primarily from a socio-linguistic perspective, and then reads them through the eyes of the contemporary African American Christian. This study analyzes the differences between the first century context, which prompted the biblical writers to reflect ethically upon their faith statements as they did, and the present reality of African Americans in the United States, which motivates their Christian leaders to reflect upon these same statements in such radically different ways. An example of a twentieth-century ethical situation is Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign of civil disobedience which appeared to be in direct contradiction to the ethical prescriptions in Romans 113 and 1 Peter 2:13-17, which mandate unqualified Christian obedience of government. Blount urges African American Christians to continually reevaluate the ethical principles established for first-century biblical communities in light of the novel circumstances that prevail today. In so doing, African Americans will be giving flesh to the inspirational whisper of the New Testament.
Mark’s genius lies, not in telling a story about Jesus, but in creating conditions under which the reader may experience the peculiar quality of God’s good news. The Evangelist hurries one along breathlessly, “immediately,” making sure that the reader lurches with the characters into one pothole after another. “What is this new teaching” that consorts with the flagrantly sinful, turning the pious homicidal, intimates into strangers, and mustard seeds into “the greatest of all ... shrubs”? Jesus’ closest adherents, the Twelve, are among the most muddled. Who can blame them? They ask for an obscure parable’s interpretation and receive an answer even more confounding. They are told to feed thousands with next to nothing. Their boat almost capsizes while their teacher sleeps. As they oar in rough waters, the teacher strides the waves intending to bypass them. Putting the reader in the same boat, Mark structures conversations with Jesus that make little sense, if any. The Twelve are craven, stupid, self-serving, and disobedient: meet the average Christian. Besides, “their hearts were hardened.” Who hardens hearts? God. Should not God’s Messiah lift the burdens of those following him? What kind of Christ heads to a cross, handing his disciples another for themselves. “Do you not yet understand?” from the Introduction