New Testament Theology and Ethics
Product ID: 802142042
All too often, argues Ben Witherington, the theology of the New Testament has been divorced from its ethics, leaving as isolated abstractions what are fully integrated, dynamic elements within the New Testament itself. As Witherington stresses, "behavior affects and reinforces or undoes belief."Having completed commentaries on all of the New Testament books, a remarkable feat in itself, Witherington now offers the second of a two-volume set on the theological and ethical thought world of the New Testament. The first volume looks at the individual witnesses, while the second examines the collective witness.The New Testament, says Ben Witherington, is "like a smallish choir. All are singing the same cantata, but each has an individual voice and is singing its own parts and notes. If we fail to pay attention to all the voices in the choir, we do not get the entire effect. . . . [If the first volume was] about closely analyzing the sheet music left to us by which each musician's part is delineated, [this second volume attempts] to re-create what it might have sounded like had they ever gotten together and performed their scores to produce a single masterful cantata."What the New Testament authors have in mind, Witherington contends, is that all believers should be conformed in thought, word and deed to the image of Jesus Christ--the indelible image. Review: Faith without deeds is no faith at all. - The author is passionate about the topic and discussed it in detail. The application and implication of New Testament ethics for theoligy and the Christian's relationship with God was one of the strong points of this book. He did not provide a list of do's and dont's, but a principle to integrate in everyday walk with Christ. I liked his concept of improvising: like actors studing and becomming the characters they play, the Christian have to study Christ's life, teachings and and examples. In the process of life, being the image of Christ, we will be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and solve ethical issues easier because we know the character of Christ. The author's writing style is poetic and in the beginning of the book refreshing. It becomes however to much at the end of the book. It is a extensive volume and by the time you near the last third of the book, the repeating of ideas and cliches becomes frustrating. I will however recommend this book to Christians and theologians who wants to live their faith.
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R**L
Faith without deeds is no faith at all.
The author is passionate about the topic and discussed it in detail. The application and implication of New Testament ethics for theoligy and the Christian's relationship with God was one of the strong points of this book. He did not provide a list of do's and dont's, but a principle to integrate in everyday walk with Christ. I liked his concept of improvising: like actors studing and becomming the characters they play, the Christian have to study Christ's life, teachings and and examples. In the process of life, being the image of Christ, we will be able to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and solve ethical issues easier because we know the character of Christ. The author's writing style is poetic and in the beginning of the book refreshing. It becomes however to much at the end of the book. It is a extensive volume and by the time you near the last third of the book, the repeating of ideas and cliches becomes frustrating. I will however recommend this book to Christians and theologians who wants to live their faith.
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