Books published by Sydney College of Divinity

ContentsPeter G. Bolt, Editorial: Listening Well, and Listening Again; Richard Bauckham: Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - Fourteen Years Later; Robert Tilley, Crisis? What Crisis?; Ben Cooper, Following and Fishing 101; Peter John McGregor, Conversion of the heart in Luke; Christoph Stenschke, Jesus as the prophet according to Deuteronomy 18:15-22; John Davies, Mansions in the sky, or the indwelling of the spirit?Book ReviewsD.N. Fewell, The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Narrative (Stenschke); G. Forbes & S. Harrower, Raised from Obscurity: A Narratival and Theological Study of the Characterization of Women in Luke-Acts (Tooher); J.W. Jipp, Reading Acts (Evans); S. Shin, Ethics in teh Gospel of John: Discipleship as Moral Progress (Seglenieks); L.M. Trozzo, Exploring Johannine Ethics (Seglenieks); N. Perrin, Jesus the Priest (Lee); D. Hellholm & D. Sanger, The Eucharist - Its Origins and Contexts: Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship in Late Antiquity, Early Judaism, and Early Christianity (Metts)

This book investigates the history of Cyprian's interactions with, and attitudes towards, the five bishops of Rome (Fabian, Cornelius, Lucius I, Stephen I and Sixtus II) during his ten years as bishop of Carthage (A.D. 249-258). It shows Cyprian's ecclesiology to be a collegial one.

This book explores the letters of Bishop Basil of Caesarea as instruments of communion. In particular, it examines how Basil used his letters as instruments for arriving at, maintaining and expressing communion within a pro-Nicene church. For Basil, the divinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was affirmed best through doxological worship and had ecclesiastical communion as its lasting expression. Basil's letters became the instruments through which he nurtured the fulfilment of his ecclesiological vision of the church as communion. His pastoral and theological message, although often set within an individual and local setting, persistently upheld a social and universal outlook expressed in terms of the church's communion. He insisted that the most fervent relationship with God involves communion with humans as well. Personal being within the church is intrinsically relational and communal. When Christians are united in communion with God through partaking of the Eucharist in any given worshipping community, they are united without division and without confusion with all believers and across all periods of time.Basil not only addressed and communicated with people from various walks of life but also became a voice for them as well. Whether letters were addressed to clergy, magistrates, civil or military officials, ascetics, youth, widows, friends or congregations, they found their way to being copied and circulated amongst the faithful and proved to be foundational in bringing into communion the churches of the East. Basil regarded maintaining and expressing communion as of the highest importance for the ministry of the bishop. The act of letter-writing between bishops facilitated their "being in communion" within the Nicene church and, when required, served as proof of this communion through establishing a canon of communion. Amongst Nicene bishops, an affirmation of a creed in writing became the guarantor of a bishop's communion and a sign of his collegiality with all other bishops. The collective voice of the bishops on issues of faith, doctrine and morals, was essential not only to safeguard the church's communion but also to enhance its accessibility. As instruments of communion Basil's letters reveal what he understood as the characteristics of ecclesial communion. This book concludes that key characteristics of communion for Basil are that it be eucharistic, in the Spirit and in Christ, Trinitarian, inspired by the New Testament, traditional, nicene, episcopal, ascetical, institutional, identifying with the poor, catholic, accessible and safeguarded, mutually responsible, doing God's will, and beneficial.

Articles: 3 Editorial: Gospels Across Worlds 7 Mary Ann Beavis The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30): Imagining a Slave's Perspective 22 Louise Gosbell The woman with the 'flow of blood' (Mark 5:25-34) and disability in the ancient world 44 Francis J. Moloney A Study of Mark 16:6-8 Hope in the Midst of Failure 55 James R. Harrison The Historical Jesus as 'Social Critic': An Investigation of Luke 6:27-36 77 Chris Spark Digging, Going Deep, Laying a Foundation: Luke 6:48, Ancient Building and Cultural Communication 86 Peter G. Bolt What Actually Happened on Resurrection Morning? A Clear and Simple Account 101 David Evans A Jerusalemite Source for the List of Nations in Acts 2?Reviews: 115 Wim J.C. Weren, Studies in Matthew's Gospel: Literary Design, Intertextuality and Social Setting 117 Jonathan T. Pennington. The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing: A Theological Commentary 119 Bradley T. Johnson. The Form and Function of Mark 1:1-15: A Multi Disciplinary Approach to the Markan Prologue 121 Armin D. Baum, Detlef Häusser, Emmanuel L. Rehfeld (eds.), Der jüdische. Messias Jesus und sein jüdischer Apostel Paulus 124 Rhonda Burnette-Bletsch (ed.). The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film Part I + II 128 Samuel Byrskog, Tom Holmén, Matti Kankaanniemi (eds.), The Identity of Jesus: Nordic Voices 131 Stephen S. Liggins, Many Convincing Proofs: Persuasive Phenomena Associated with Gospel Proclamation in Acts. 135 Brian J. Wright, Communal Reading in the Time of Jesus: A Window into Early Christian Reading Practices

A collection of essays originally delivered at the Sydney College of Divinity 2017 Learning & Teaching Theology Conference exploring Research-Led Theological Education. Editors: Les Ball & Peter G. Bolt.