Moo / Koch Creation, Nature and Hope in 4 Ezra

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-3-647-53103-8
Verlag: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, Band Band 237, 206 Seiten

Reihe: Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments

This exegetical study of creation and nature in 4 Ezra argues that this first-century Jewish apocalypse’s profound pessimism concerning humankind and the present age is matched by a surprisingly robust belief in the goodness of the created order. 4 Ezra presents the natural world as standing with God over and against corrupt humankind, envisions substantial elements of continuity between the ages and hints that those parts of the earth that remain unsullied by humankind still witness to God’s sovereignty, love and justice and even serve as material pointers to the new creation. This study calls into question the persistent assumption that apocalypticism and the ‘apocalyptic eschatology’ of the historical apocalypses in particular necessarily entails a profound dualism. Emerging as it does from an experience of historical disaster and unresolved questions of theodicy, 4 Ezra especially is often considered an apocalypse in which the doctrine of the two ages has been radicalised to the extent that creation, history and life in this world have lost their meaning or significance. The results of this study, however, indicate that while 4 Ezra considers the world of humankind to be corrupted and corrupting, in the natural world the creator’s sovereignty is not so obscured, and there his original intentions for creation can still be perceived. This study provides a fresh reading of 4 Ezra that takes seriously the book’s unity and coherence. Its conclusions suggest that it may be best to abandon the label ‘apocalyptic eschatology’ given its potential mask the interesting complexities and mix of continuity and discontinuity that attend the portrayal of creation, nature and hope in an apocalypse like 4 Ezra.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Moo, Jonathan A.

Koch, Dietrich-Alex

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Front Cover;1
2;Title Page;4
3;Copyright;5
4;Table of Contents;6
5;Body;8
6;Preface;8
7;1. Creation, the ‘Apocalyptic Outlook’ and 4 Ezra;10
7.1;1.1 Introduction;10
7.2;1.2 Creation, History and Apocalypse;11
7.3;1.3 The ‘Apocalyptic Outlook’ and 4 Ezra;19
7.4;1.4 Situating the Present Study;22
7.5;1.5 Format of the Study;25
8;2. Hearing the Voice of 4 Ezra;28
8.1;2.1 Language and Text;28
8.2;2.2 Overview of the Book;30
8.3;2.3 Unity, Coherence and Finding the Author’s Voice;31
9;3. Creation in the Beginning;36
9.1;3.1 Introduction;36
9.2;3.2 The Vocabulary of Creation;36
9.3;3.3 Adam and the Garden (3:4–6);38
9.4;3.4 Creation and Judgement (6:1–6);46
9.5;3.5 Genesis Rewritten (6:38–54);59
9.6;3.6 Conclusions;69
10;4. Creation Now: A World in Peril;72
10.1;4.1 Introduction;72
10.2;4.2 The Created Order and a Universal Law;72
10.3;4.3 The Parabolic Use of the Natural Order;83
10.4;4.4 Natural Law Rejected?;86
10.5;4.5 A Threatened World;88
10.6;4.6 A Threatening World;93
10.7;4.7 Two Worlds Planned from the Beginning ;97
10.8;4.8 This Aging Saeculum;100
10.9;4.9 Creation’s Plight: Some Conclusions;102
11;5. The Saeculum to Come;106
11.1;5.1 Introduction;106
11.2;5.2 Episode 1;107
11.2.1;5.2.1 Intimations of an end;107
11.2.2;5.2.2 Reasons for an end;108
11.2.3;5.2.3 Signs of the end (I);112
11.3;5.3 Episode 2;116
11.3.1;5.3.1 A pre–determined end;116
11.3.2;5.3.2 Dividing the ages;117
11.3.3;5.3.3 Signs of the end (II);120
11.4;5.4 Episode 3;125
11.4.1;5.4.1 Ways of the world to come;125
11.4.2;5.4.2 The eschatological framework;126
11.4.3;5.4.3 The renewal of creation;136
11.4.4;5.4.4 The immortal age;137
11.4.5;5.4.5 Eschatological rewards;138
11.4.6;5.4.6 Signs of the end (III);141
11.5;5.5 Episode 4;143
11.5.1;5.5.1 A heavenly and earthly city;143
11.5.2;5.5.2 Mother Zion and Mother Earth;145
11.5.3;5.5.3 Eating the flowers of the field;146
11.6;5.6 Episodes 5 and 6;149
11.6.1;5.6.1 The deliverance of creation;150
11.6.2;5.6.2 Another land;153
11.7;5.7 Episode 7;154
11.8;5.8 Conclusions: Ambiguity, Discontinuity and Hope;158
12;6. Summary and Conclusions;162
12.1;6.1 Summary of Results;162
12.2;6.2 Fourth Ezra’s Theology of Creation, the Apocalyptic Tradition and Prospects for Future Research;165
13;Bibliography;174
14;Index;192
15;Back Cover;210

Über Autor(innen)

Koch, Dietrich-Alex
Dr. theol. Dietrich-Alex Koch ist Professor em. für Neues Testament an der Evangelisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster.