Luke Timothy Johnson
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"For me, Paul has always been the most difficult and therefore also most delightful advocate and interpreter of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the human experience of God's transforming power through Christ. In Paul's letters, above all I have found the quality of mind and the depth of conviction that could arouse in me both excitement and passion. And it is Paul's letters, above all, that show how important and difficult is life together in the church."-...
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A selection of sermons or homilies preached over a fifty-year period explicitly linked to the church's liturgical year-thus, In Season. The sermons exemplify how engagement with lectionary texts, the church's cycle of worship, and the circumstances of contemporary believers, can all be brought into lively conversation.
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Argues that theology can respond faithfully to the living God only by paying due attention to human bodily experience
Scripture points to the human body and lived experience as the preeminent arena of God's continuing revelation in the world, says Luke Timothy Johnson. Attentively discerning the manifestations of God's Spirit in and through the body is essential for theology to recover its nature as an inductive art rather than- as traditionally...
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A witness to the peculiar way of being that is the scholar's
Luke Timothy Johnson is one of the best-known and most influential New Testament scholars of recent decades. In this memoir, he draws on his rich experience to invite readers into the scholar's life-its aims, commitments, and habits.
In addition to sharing his own story, from childhood to retirement, Johnson reflects on the nature of scholarship more generally, showing how this vocation...
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First of a two-volume work providing a framework for understanding the life and thought of the apostle Paul
In this methodological tour de force, Luke Timothy Johnson offers an articulate, clear, and thought-provoking portrait of the life and thought of the apostle Paul.
Drawing upon recent developments in the study of Paul, Johnson offers readers an invitation to the Apostle Paul. Rather than focusing on a few of Paul's letters, Johnson lays out...
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A selection of homilies and sermons preached in "Ordinary Time" that focus on the texts of the lectionary and the demands of Christian life. Some are short talks delivered in the context of the monastery, some are sermons delivered to students of theology, some are presentations to congregations scattered across the US, and some are sermons preached at ritual moments of transition.
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In this and every age, the church desperately needs prophecy. It needs the bold proclamation of God's transforming vision to challenge its very human tendency toward expediency and self-interest - to jolt it into new insight and energy. For Luke Timothy Johnson, the New Testament books Luke and Acts provide that much-needed jolt to conventional norms. To read Luke-Acts as a literary unit, he says, is to uncover a startling prophetic vision of Jesus...
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Great Courses volume 31
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The Crusades to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims represented deep ambiguities in Christian identity. Grasp the nature of these conquests as combined religious mission, popular movement, and political calculation. Then study the four most critical Crusades; their objectives, varied outcomes, and ultimate failure in both political and religious terms.
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Great Courses volume 17
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In the 4th and 5th centuries, prominent cities competed for authority within the imperial religion. Look first at the reasons for the early primacy of Rome, and Constantinople's later emergence as Rome's rival. Then study the rivalry of Antioch and Alexandria, and how they opposed each other in both intellectual and religious terms.
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Great Courses volume 8
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In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, martyrdom and apologetic literature responded powerfully to the persecution of Christians. Investigate the phenomenon of martyrdom as the perfect form of discipleship, in the actions of martyrs who exalted in their sacrifice. See how apologetic literature created a reasoned case for Christianity in the wider world.
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It's easy to forget that philosophy means "love of wisdom," not "love of thinking." In addition to the philosophy that tells you how to think well, the field also provides guidance on how to live well, solid advice on how to be a good father or friend, or how to grow old gracefully or to know what true happiness is.
Greek and Roman thinkers such as Marcus Tullius Cicero, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Dio Chrysostom, and Plutarch of Chaeronea...
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After 2,000 years, Christianity is the world's largest religion and continues to prosper and grow. What accounts for its continued popularity? In these twenty-four lectures, Professor Johnson maintains that the most familiar aspects of Christianity, its myths, institutions, ideas, and morality are only its outer "husk." He takes you on a journey to find the "kernel" of Christianity's appeal: religious experience. You'll travel back to Christianity's...
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For most of the last 2,000 years, questions about the figure of Jesus have begun with the Gospels, but the Gospels themselves raise puzzling questions about both Jesus and the religious movement within which these narratives were produced. Is it possible to shape a single picture from the various accounts of his life given us by these Gospels? This far-ranging course examines not only the canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John familiar...
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Great Courses volume 33
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Our contemporary universities have origins in medieval universities that were entirely Christian. Trace the rise of universities in the West - their functions, curricula, and the development of scholastic theology with its methodology of dialectical reasoning. Assess the expression of Christian thought in the theology of Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus and in the poetry of Dante Alighieri.
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Great Courses volume 20
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In grasping Christianity's development in the Western empire, investigate two major controversies, Donatism and Pelagianism, rooted in questions of moral rigor and personal holiness. Then, grapple with three religious leaders who shaped Latin Christianity: Ambrose of Milan, Jerome, and the monumental figure of Augustine of Hippo.
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Great Courses volume 3
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Judaism is the most important cultural context for early Christianity. Contemplate the circumstances of Jewish life in ancient Palestine as well as in the Diaspora. In particular, examine cultural and ideological factors that divided the Jews, the tensions they faced between assimilation and separation, and their resistance to Greek culture and Roman rule.
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Great Courses volume 5
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Christianity spread with amazing speed in the decades following Jesus's death. Begin by observing how this expansion happened and the broad adaptations Christianity made in a relatively short period. Then investigate the role of Paul's letters as a primary record of the convictions, culture, practices, and troubles of the early Christians.
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For nearly 2,000 years, the Christian faith has remained at or near the center of Western moral debate and conceptions of human identity, just action, and ultimate meaning. How did this happen?
Find out in these 36 illuminating lectures that tell the phenomenal story of Christianity's first 1,500 years, in all its remarkable diversity and complex dimension. In the company of Professor Johnson, you'll follow the dramatic trajectory of Christianity...
19) History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation: The Shaping of Orthodoxy
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Great Courses volume 10
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Here, identify the pivotal factors that secured the framework of Christianity, defining an orthodoxy based in tradition and reason. In particular, study the role of Irenaeus of Gaul in establishing the canonical scriptures, the rule of faith in one God, and the religious authority of the bishops.
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Great Courses volume 34
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The 14th century saw a period of natural and human-caused disasters that negatively affected society and the church. Track the extreme hardships of the Black Death, prolonged wars, and the terrors of the Inquisition. See also how the same era produced a flourishing of Christian mysticism and the beginnings of humanist literature.