Subject Index

Words that naturally occur many times are not included in the subject index unless substantial discussion about those topics accompanies the reference. Such words include “God,” “Jesus,” “Christ,” “scripture,” “faith,” “holy spirit,” and others.

Abraham: in Barth’s Romans commentary, 13–14; faith of, 62; as father of the Jews, 43; hope of, 63; in interpretations of Paul and James, 104–5

Adam, 202

adoption, by God, 308

afterlife, 222, 295–99, 306–7

agape, 39, 279–80, 349; defined, 280

agnosticism, 154, 157

allegory: Barth’s modern theological, 16, 17; in interpretations by orthodox church fathers, 113; parables interpreted as, 162–64; Paul’s in Galatians, 89–90; in premodern interpretation, 2–3; rejected by Gabler, 8

anachronism: in Bultmann’s interpretations, 21; creative, 31, 190; in interpreting parables as allegory, 163; in Matthew, 177; in postmodern interpretation, 126; “race” as category of ancient world, 273n18; “supernatural” in ancient world as, 212

androgyny, 284–86

angels: in contrast to mortal human beings, 275–76; in the empty tomb stories, 206; in a messianic army, 218; providing knowledge of God, 50, as “supernatural,” 156; in the theology of Pseudo-Dionysius, 119

Anglican churches, 55, 76, 92–93

anti-Judaism, 19–22

anti-Semitism, 21n34, 81, 178–79, 345–48

Aphrarat (Syriac church father), 258

apocalyptic, 20, 132–33, 214; literature, 310

Apocrypha, 84

apologetics, 31, 68

apostles, 200

Aristotle, 64, 140, 152, 331, 338

asceticism, 277–78, 281–82

atheism, 154, 157, 350

Athens, 328–31

atonement, 186, 187; absent in Luke, 180

Augustine: on atonement, 187; on becoming divine, 309; on church as “enclosed garden,” 349; on divine simplicity, 138, 140; on original sin, 291; as reader of Psalms, 1; on rule of love in interpretation, 70

authorial intention, 102–3; in conservative Christian interpretation, 58; interpretation not limited by, 240; in Ladd’s interpretation, 24; as modernist, 3, 88, 101, 235, 252; not “the meaning” of the text, 96–99; a “text” as having, 25n37

baptism, 52, 87, 230; the role of the spirit in, 251

Barth, Karl, 11–18, 28

Basil of Caesarea, 258, 308–9

beloved disciple, the, 44, 45n4

Bernard of Clairvaux, 220

bishops, 87; elected by the people in early Christianity, 335

body, 267–68; of Christ, 264; of Christ as androgynous, 325; church as, 336–38; human, 270; as mystical, 321–22

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich, 217n65

Book of Common Prayer, 35

Bultmann, Rudolf, 11, 18–23, 28

Calvin, John, 309

Calvinism, 137

canon, 71, 75–78

canonical criticism, 78n11

capitalism, 34–35, 67, 303, 340, 343–45

Catherine of Siena, 257–58, 259

celibacy, 217

Chalcedon, definition of, 192

Christ: the body of, 289; church as the body of, 319–23

Christology, subordinationist, 183–85

Christomonism, 247–48, 255, 256

church, 13, 17; as feminine, 165; gender of, 323–26; visible and invisible, 322–23

Cicero, 223, 339

class, 271–72, 341; ancient, 336–39; and conflict, 139

colonialism: modern, 342–43; Zionism as, 347

communion of saints, 52, 91–92, 246–47, 321–22

Constantine, 340

Constantinian Christianity, 340–41

contradiction, 247

conversion, 14, 21, 31–32, 65–66

council (boulê), in ancient cities, 329, 331–32

courts, in ancient cities, 329

creatio ex nihilo, 131–32, 160–61

creation, 133–34, 136, 213, 263, 276, 282

Creed, the Apostles’, 197, 198, 311, 321

Creed of Athanasius, 184, 197

Creed of Nicea, 169, 198–99, 254, 311

creeds: containing “filioque,” 256; on creation, 161; “ecumenical,” 36; in liturgy, 5, 152, 153; on the spirit, 241, 245

crisis, 23

culture, 53–54, 68, 219; and Christ, 216

Cyril of Alexandria, 309

David: “author” of Psalms, 1–2; and Jonathan, 283

death, 198, 215, 276–77

deification (theosis), 308–10

demagogue, topos of, 338–39

democracy: ancient, 139, 326–32; as valued, 117

demythologization, 22, 59, 147

denominations, of churches, 312n1

depression, 154n77

Descartes, René, 156

despair, as opposite of faith, 350–51

diocese, original meaning in Rome, 336

Dio Chrysostom, 331–32, 339

Dionysius, Pseudo-, 138

discourse theory, 60n24, 68–69

divorce, 88–89, 277–78; and remarriage, 317–318

Eastern Orthodoxy, 36, 76, 190, 255–57, 308, 322–23, 324

ecumenism, 36

Einstein, Albert, 157–58

ekklesia, 177, 285, 326–39; as “called out,” 340

election, doctrine of, 45, 66, 156. See also predestination

emergence theory, 268–69, 288

emperor, Roman, 116–17, 297–98

empire, 314

empiricism, 84; Christian eschatology dependent on, 310; as evidence for faith, 111–12; as evidence in interpretation theory, 96–97; in explanations for faith, 69, 135, 153; in modern epistemology and theology, 50–55

empty tomb, 26–27, 203, 204–12

Enlightenment, 336

Ephrem, 349

epistemology, 38–70; reserved, 40, 69

equality: of gender, 166–67; impossible under capitalism, 343–44; in some early churches, 333; valued in the NT and by Paul, 344

erôs, 278–81

eschatology: Bultmann’s version of, 20–21; and Christian alternatives to traditional household, 317; and the future “kingdom,” 315; and future states of “nature,” 306; and hope of universal salvation, 241–42; and Jesus as “son of man,” 191; as necessary for Christian theology, 350–52; not “optimism,” 310; in the NT, 132–33; in Paul’s epistemology, 39; reserved, 133, 308; and salvation, 295–96

eternity, 127, 299

ethics, 161–62

Ethiopian Church, 76n8

ethnicity, 17

eucharist, 87, 320

evangelism, 31

experience: of Christian mystics, 194–95; of collective Christians as constituting “tradition,” 108–9; of the divine, 162; of faith, 152; of Jesus as absent, 180; not a discrete “source” for knowledge, 56; not always reliable as source for knowledge, 69–70; of resurrection appearances, 200, 212–14; of selves, 270; and sexuality and gender, 260–61; teaching that all words for God are inadequate, 144

faith: in James and Paul, 105–6; the nature of, 13–14, 61–70, 135, 151–54; as preceding knowledge in John, 45–46; as social, 45–46

family, 277–78, 316; and household, 285; ideology of, 333, 340, 341–42; and Jesus, 217

filioque, 36, 254–57

finitude, 274–77

flesh, 222–23

forgiveness, 131

foundationalism: defined and described, 33; and empiricism, 52; epistemological, 40–41; of modern historicism, 30; and a nonfoundationalist approach, 32; the rejection of, in reading scripture, 126–27; and simple “observation,” 96; in “sources” for religious knowledge, 55

free will, 66n39, 300, 303

Gabler, Johann Philipp, 6–9

Galen (ancient medical writer), 157, 225–26

Gaudium et Spes, 239

gay erotic, 283–84

gender: and God, 260; of God, 162–167; hierarchy, 281; hierarchy in Paul, 284–85; and sexism, 321

gentiles: as “grafted into” Israel in Paul’s theology, 301–2, 345; and idolatry in Paul, 145; and the Jerusalem church in Acts, 51; as keeping the Law of Moses in Matthew, 178; and Law in Paul, 104–5; Paul as becoming, 339; in Paul’s theology and Barth’s commentary, 15–17; as “resident aliens” in 1 Peter, 303; as “without excuse” in their idolatry, 47

Gnosticism, 21, 22

God: the body of, 114–15; as crucified, 189; as father, 118, 142, 160, 164–66; the gender of, 118; as king, 115–17; the name of, 122–23, 148–51, 164, 165n97; the nature of, 167–68; as one, 143; as personal, 154–60, 165; as shepherd, 117–18; and spirit as “persons,” 242; as transcendent, 125–28

gospel, 65, 71, 78–80, 217–19, 300; “of prosperity,” 67

grace: as causing faith, 68–70, 152, 304; and predestination, 66; reciprocal in the kingdom, 315; the spirit causing, in the world, 352; and universal salvation, 234

Greek Orthodox Church, 76

Gregory of Naziansus, 308–9

habitus, 64, 91, 152–53, 274, 300, 307–8

hamartia, 286, 287, 294

heaven, 289

Hebrew Bible, 31, 81, 82–84

hell, 31, 35, 59, 61, 292, 298–99, 304; Jesus in, 196–98

Hellenism, 282

heresy, 19, 35, 113, 127, 135, 166, 174, 189, 254–55

hierarchy, 168, 171, 202, 223; in ancient political structures, 332–33; in early church structures, 335; in household and church, 321; reversal of, 182, 315

Hildegard of Bingen, 237–38

historical criticism, 2–37 passim; and anachronism, 126; and an “impersonal” God, 156; the limits of, 85; in NT theology, 100–103; and sexual ethics, 277, 285; and subordinationist Christology, 183–85; and the trinity, 169–70, 242

history, 2–37 passim; and ancient interpretation, 90; the nature of, 203–4; and resurrection, 212–15; and theological truths, 59–61, 87–88

holy ghost, 246–47

holy spirit: as absent, 244; as corporeal, 244; gender of, 257–61; impersonal, 244–47; as life of church, 312–13; as mother, 258, 259; as Paraclete in John, 194; and revelation, 219; as rubber band, 249

homoousios, 192

homosexuality, 51, 53, 54

honesty, 348–49

hope, 62–63, 69, 310

household: ancient, 333; church as, 316–19

humility, 253–54, 272, 277, 303, 304; and humiliation, 188

icons, in Eastern Orthodoxy, 190

ideology: ancient conservative, 139; ancient democratic, 338; of “bible-olatry,” 95; capitalist, 35, 303; in Christology, 174; and the church, 340–45; democratic, 332–39; of gender, 324–26; as harmful, 118; imperial Roman, 297–98; of individual autonomy, 217–72, 300; of modern anti-Judaism, 21; of modern family, 278; of “optimism,” 310; of patriarchy, 165; of “purity,” 140–41; of the Third Reich, 23

idolatry: of the Bible, 95; and divine simplicity, 141–42; of family, 285, 317, 342; and gentiles, 47; of institutional authorities, 56; of institutions, 312; nationalist, 314; and negative theology, 120; origin of, in Paul’s thought, 264–65; of pantheism, 135; of patriarchy, 118, 164–66; of the phallos, 325–26; principle of nonviolence as potentially, 218; of the self, 310; and the trinity, 28; why dangerous, 144–48, 154

incarnation, 129, 190–93, 195–96, 309; in the church, 323

individualism, 23, 264, 271, 300, 303

immanence, of God, 128–38

immortality, of soul or spirit, 265

imperialism, modern, 342–43

inspiration, of scripture, 85–88

interpretation, necessity of, 256–57

intersex, 285

Irenaeus, 291

Israel: in allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs, 282; in Barth’s Commentary, 17; as chosen people, 300; Christian dependence on, 80–81; and Christian use of Jewish scripture, 82–84, 219–20; the church and, 107; as ekklesia in LXX, 326–27; gentiles in relation to, 145; modern, and the Christian church, 345–48; modern state of, 347; the salvation of, in Paul’s theology, 24; supersession of, in Christian theology, 301–2; when portrayed as female, 165

James, 69

Jesus: absent, 180, 193–94, 243, 246; apocalyptic Jewish prophet, 174; arrest of, 218; birth of, 60; death of, 187; disciples’ worship of, 28–29; as divine, 23; “founder of Christianity,” 175; “Great Moral Teacher,” 173–74; the historical, 10–11, 19, 22, 60, 75, 90, 100–101, 175, 277–78, 317; as “philosopher,” 174–75; prophet and martyr, 181; shepherd, 117–18; son of God, 170–72; son of man, 190–91

Jews, as saved, 240

John (author of Revelation), and Rome, 341

John the Baptist, 232

Judaism: in Barth’s Romans commentary, 16–17; in Bultmann’s interpretation, 22; and the Christian Old Testament, 80–81; in the Gospel of Matthew, 178–79; and interpretation of the Tanakh, 84; and the love commandment, 167; and the name of God, 148–49; in recent scholarship on Paul, 15–16; and resurrection of the body, 307

Julian of Norwich, 195, 300

Kähler, Martin, 10–11, 18n30, 33–34

kenosis, 188

kerygma, 19, 78

King, Martin Luther, Jr., 62

kingdom of God, 20, 305, 313–16, 341, 351

knowledge, 143–44

krisis, 13, 16, 19

Ladd, George Eldon, 23–28

language, 57–58, 140–41; and “purity,” 85, 149

Law of Moses: in the Gospel of Mark, 179; in the Gospel of Matthew, 177–78; in Paul’s theology, 15–16; summed up in love, 167

Lindbeck, George, 187

liturgy, 29, 69, 79, 160, 166, 246, 300; in Hebrews, 346; and trinity, 172–73

lot, selection by, 329–30; in early churches, 334

love: and divine inspiration, 240; erotic, 260–61; and failure, 294; God as, 140, 155, 167–68; God maintaining the universe through, 263; Greek words for, 280; and hell, 298; marker of the kingdom of God, 315; nothing can separate us from, 198; and the nuclear family, 342; in Paul’s epistemology, 39; of self, 281; superior to faith and hope for Paul, 63; ultimate meaning of the universe, 69–70, 152

Lumen Gentium, 239

Luther, Martin, 19, 291

manual labor, Paul’s, 338

Marcion, 31, 46, 80, 112–13, 115

Marxism, 34–35

Mary, 245; as begetting God, 166; womb of, filled by spirit, 261

mathematics, 57–58

medicine: ancient, 138, 143, 166n101, 223, 224–25; Hippocratic, 224, 225n10

mercy, 301

messianic secret, 42

Methodist churches, 55

mind, 268–69, 288

miracle, 158–60, 161, 212, 214, 276

misogyny, 165, 325, 333

modernism: and epistemology, 108; and faith as assenting to propositions, 64; and foundationalism, 41, 285; and historical criticism, 2–37 passim; and the historical Jesus, 215; and historicism, 110; and history, 61; and individualism, 271, 300, 303; and the “literal” meaning of texts, 88; in psychology, 270; rejection of allegory, 163; and rules of interpretation, 89–90; and “the supernatural,” 160

monotheism, 165

Moses, 88–89

mystery, 351

myth, mythology: ancient Greek, 138; and the atonement, 187; in the Bible, 5; and biblical anthropology, 270; of creation in the Bible, 132; and “Death” in the Bible, 276; defined, 60–61, 152; false, 147; God’s actions in Genesis as, 263; Jesus’s descent into hell as, 198; modernist rejection of, 8, 24; a “personal God” as, 160; and sin in the Bible, 293–94; true, 69, 196; true and false, 60–61, 197–98

narrative, in constructing the self, 273–74

nationalism: as ideology, 340, 342–43; Zionism as, 347

nature: versus culture, 53; as divine in pantheism, 156–60; eschatological, 306; and faith, 68; “laws of,” 157–60, 306; as revelation, 92; as source for knowledge of God, 219; and “the supernatural,” 126

Neoplatonism, 126

Nicholas of Cusa, 70n40, 279n36

Odes of Solomon, 258

Old Testament: alternate names for, 81–85; in Bultmann’s interpretation, 21; Christian embrace of, 31; Christian interpretation of, 219–20; and the election of Israel, 300; and the erotic, 281–83; interpreted by NT writers, 73; and “natural” theology, 46–47; relationship to NT, 80–85; theology of, 1

optimism, 310

Origen, 113–14

original text, of scripture, 72, 77

orthodoxy: in biblical interpretation, 115; of Christology in John, 182–83; and church fathers, 113; defined for the trinity, 169–70; of divine immanence, 130; and God’s relation to the universe, 155, 158; and historical criticism, 85, 277; historical development of, 28–29; and the historical Jesus, 216; and the humanity of Jesus, 220; of Jesus’s divinity, 127; and the name of God, 150–51; and the Old Testament, 80, 219; and resurrection of the flesh, 59; and the soul, 269; as starting point, 35–36; and subordinationist Christology, 184; and theological anthropology, 270

pacifism, 217–19

Palestinians, 347

pantheism, 130

parables, 162–64; in Mark, 179

Paraclete, 51, 193–94, 231, 241, 242–43, 256

parousia, 132–133n46

parrhêsia, 348–49

patriarchy, 56, 165

patriotism, 341, 342–43

patripassianism, 188–89, 191

Paul, the Apostle: and adoptionist Christology, 171–72; and atonement, 186; in Barth’s interpretation, 12–17; in Bultmann’s interpretation, 21–22; and celibacy, 278; as depicted in Acts, 48, 243, 332; on knowledge, 38–40, 51; in Ladd’s interpretation, 24–25; on marriage and family, 317–18; on the material spirit, 222–26; in paradise, 121; as prophet, 181; as reader of scripture, 1–2, 89, 94–95, 104–5, 112; on the resurrection, 199–203; and Rome, 341; and sin, 287–91; as “slave of all,” 338; on terms such as “Christian” or “Christianity,” 345; on the veiling of women, 8

peace, 161–62

perception, 52–53

perfectionism, 291, 292–93

perichoresis, 260

Pharisees, 88–89, 176–77

philia, 279–80

philosophy: in accounting for faith, 69; ancient, on afterlife, 274; ancient, in Bultmann’s interpretation, 21–22; ancient, on divine simplicity, 138–39; ancient, on immaterial substance, 201; ancient, on self-control, 278; ancient, on self-sufficiency, 271–72; ancient, on the nature of God, 157; ancient, on the suffering of God, 188–89; Christianity as not, 64–65, 303; of history, 203–4; as influence on Christian doctrine, 140–41; influence on church fathers, 122; as influencing the translation of the LXX, 74; of language, 57; modern, and emergence theory, 288; modern, on the human person, 268–69; Paul’s reference to, in Acts, 48, 130, 228; on “rationalism” and “empiricism,” 50

Plato, 138, 331, 339; Galen on, 225n10

Platonism, 122, 188–89, 225, 303

pneuma: in bodies and cosmos, 154–55; of Christ or of the cosmos, 264; cosmic, 228, 233; gender of, 257–59; of God, 129; as a neuter noun, 28; in Paul’s notion of the resurrected body, 201–3; as physical, 114–15n7; as providing knowledge, 50; of resurrected body, 305

politics, 16, 20–21, 54; American, 342; ancient theory of, 138–39

polytheism, 151

pope, 53, 92, 93

postmodernism: and apophatic theology, 123; defined, 33–35; and historical criticism, 191; and premodern biblical interpretation, 110; and resurrection of the body, 199; 213n58; and social construction of the self, 263; and “the supernatural,” 158–60; and “tradition,” 103

prayer, 172; and the spirit, 250–51

predestination, 66–67, 156, 300–304; and universal salvation, 196

premodern: and allegorical interpretation, 163; assumptions about scripture, 1–2, 5; confrontation with four Gospels, 176; interpretation of scripture, 110, 252; notions of a violent God, 298; notions of sacraments, 351; postmodern is not, 34

Prisca, as church leader, 334–35

prophecy, 86–87, 229

prophets, carried by the spirit, 251–52

Protestantism: of Bultmann’s interpretations, 19, 21, 22; and canon, 76; as cognitive belief in a supreme being, 49; and the doctrine of transcendence, 137; on interpretation of Romans, 301; on justification by “works,” 303–4; and the resurrection of the flesh, 199; and the sacraments, 351; and suspicion of doctrine of deification, 308; and suspicion of “natural theology,” 50

pseudepigraphy, 25

psychê, 201–3, 265–67

Ptolemy (second century Valentinian author), 113, 115

queer theology, 260–61

queer theory, 284–86

race, 273n18

rationality, as relative, 274

reader response theory, 96–99

reason, 56

Reformation, 92

refuge, church as, 349–50

religion, 22–23, 49, 58: versus faith, 12–14; versus theology, 7

resurrection, 88; of believers, 297; of the body, 222–26, 276; faith in, 215; of the flesh, 59, 198–99, 304–5; of Jesus, 10–11, 26–27, 44, 195, 198–215, 226; as salvation for human beings, 304–8

revelation: according to Gabler, 8; of God’s gender, 164; inadequate for full knowledge of God, 144; and “natural theology,” 236–37; necessary for sufficient knowledge of Christ, 92; not limited, 219; as source of knowledge, 45–50; by the spirit, 241

revolution, 217–18

rhetoric: ancient democratic, 338–39; Paul’s training in, 339; Paul’s use of, 334

Roman Catholicism: and the Anglican Church, 92; the canon of, 76; caricatured in Protestant scholarship, 19; on divine immanence, 137; doctrines special to, 36; and epistemological “sources,” 55; and explanations for evil, 293; in relation to other churches, 322; on the resurrection of the flesh, 199; and the sacraments, 351

Roman Empire, 219, 340–41

Rome, and the goddess Roma, 288–89

ruach, 221, 257–59

Rule of Faith, 36

sabbath, 130

sacrament, 161, 190, 238; church as, 323, 351–52

Sadducees, 88

salvation, 91, 294–300; universal, 24, 195–96, 239–42

Satan, the devil, 22

science: account of “energy” in modern, 155; ancient, on pneuma, 201, 223–24; on the beginning of the universe, 213; the construction of the human self in modern, 263; creation stories not, 132; in Einstein’s understanding, 157; and emergence theory, 268–69, 288; epistemological foundationalism in, 33; and the existence of “hell,” 198; and explanations for existence of homosexuality, 54; in explanations for existence of “religion,” 48–49; human transcendence in modern, 270; and Jesus’s resurrection, 199; and “laws of nature,” 159; modern, and problems with the term “physical,” 224; and modern cosmology, 139; “multiverses” in modern, 306; versus mythology, 5; not the subject of the Bible, 90; seeming impossibilities of modern, 144; as source for theology, 56, 216, 219; “the supernatural” in modern, 160; theology as, 53

scripture, 56, 58–61; authority of, 93–95; as inerrant or infallible, 87–88, 90–91; as nonreferential, 101–3; perspicuity of, 91

self-sufficiency, 271–74

sensus literalis, 91

Septuagint (LXX), 82–83n18, 326–27

sexuality, 260–61, 277–86, 307, 350; divine, 138–44

sin, 264, 286–94; the body of, 289; as cosmic force or agent, 287–89; original, 291–93

Slavonic Church, 76

sola scriptura, 91–93, 313

sophia, 259

soul, 265–70; immortality of, 274–76; salvation of, 265

Spinoza, Baruch, 156–58

spirit, 29; gender of, 242–43; in inspiration, 251–52; in interpretation of scripture, 252–53

“spiritual” interpretation, 12, 59n21. See also allegory

spiritus, gender of, 259

Stoicism, 157, 223–24, 225

supernatural, 126, 156–60, 160–61, 212

supersessionism, 81, 82, 179, 219–20, 345–47

synagogue, 327; in Acts, 346

Syriac Christianity, and the spirit’s gender, 258–59

Tatian, 176

temple, Jerusalem, 20; Jesus’s actions in, 173–74

theodicy, 65, 161, 293

theology: apophatic (negative), 14, 17, 32, 120–25, 151; natural, 46–50, 92, 236–37; nature of, 32, 37; provisional, 37; systematic, 5, 24, 30

Thomas, Gospel of, 317

Thomas Aquinas, 36, 138, 141–42n63, 142, 152, 159, 168n105, 213n58

time, 127, 132

tradition: not cited as a discreet “source” for knowledge by NT writers, 107–9; and the “Old Testament,” 85; in relation to scripture, 56; and spirit as masculine, 257

transcendence, 135–36; of God, 189; of human beings, 270

transgender, 285

Trent, Council of, 36

trinity: in Acts?, 231; bound together by the spirit, 248–51; in community in biblical interpretation, 87; and the “death of God,” 189; definition of, for orthodoxy, 169–70; deified human beings not members of, 309; doctrine of, derived from liturgy, 172–73; as erotic, 260–61; as historically developed, 29; Jesus as second person of, 214; in Ladd’s interpretation, 28; not in NT read historically, 85; NT texts taken as hinting at, 232; in the Old Testament, 114; in Romans 8?, 235; the spirit in the, 221–22, 242–47; as taking on “flesh,” 191

vinculum caritatis, 249–50

vinculum trinitatis, 248–49

violence, and the historical Jesus, 217–19

“Watchers,” 47

Wisdom, as feminine, 164, 166

Wittgenstein, Ludwig, 64

women, in the early church, 319

works, 13

Wrede, William, 9

Zionism, 347–48