Douglas J. Moo

Bio: Douglas J. Moo is an academic researcher from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The author has contributed to research in topics: New Testament & Biblical theology. The author has an hindex of 11, co-authored 19 publications receiving 773 citations.

The Epistle to the Romans

Abstract: Douglas Moo's work on the Epistle to the Romans is part of The New International Commentary on the New Testament Prepared by some of the world's leading scholars, the series provides an exposition of the New Testament books that is thorough and fully abreast of modern scholarship yet faithful to the Scriptures as the infallible Word of God

An Introduction to the New Testament

Abstract: Aim of the course. The aim of this course is to prepare the student for future exegesis coursework through an investigation of the backgrounds, origins, circumstances, and character of the New Testament books. In order to advance into deeper engagement with the Word of God, students must establish a foundational understanding of the historical context of the New Testament and the earliest Church as well as a basic familiarity with the issues surrounding the scholarly study of the New Testament, today. At Gordon-Conwell, the course ‘Introduction New Testament’ traditionally seeks to supply this need and so lay the foundation for more detailed engagement with individual New Testament books.

Jesus and the Authority of the Mosaic Law

Abstract: a perennial theological issue, has assumed new importance with the popularity of relativistic ethics, the ’new morality’. Proponents of this approach generally reject any appeal to moral ’rules’, including especially those found in the OT.1 On the other hand, sometimes in response to this approach, others stress the eternal and absolute validity of at least the OT ’moral’ law.2 The debate has focused attention on the teaching and example of Jesus, to which both sides appeal for support. And an initial glance at Jesus’ teaching would

The Past Is a Foreign Country - Revisited

Abstract: The past remains essential - and inescapable. A quarter-century after the publication of his classic account of man's attitudes to his past, David Lowenthal revisits how we celebrate, expunge, contest and domesticate the past to serve present needs. He shows how nostalgia and heritage now pervade every facet of public and popular culture. History embraces nature and the cosmos as well as humanity. The past is seen and touched and tasted and smelt as well as heard and read about. Empathy, re-enactment, memory and commemoration overwhelm traditional history. A unified past once certified by experts and reliant on written texts has become a fragmented, contested history forged by us all. New insights into history and memory, bias and objectivity, artefacts and monuments, identity and authenticity, and remorse and contrition, make this book once again the essential guide to the past that we inherit, reshape and bequeath to the future.

Galatians 2:20 as a Corrective to Selected Contemporary Views of Christian Spirituality

Abstract: GALATIANS 2:20 AS A CORRECTIVE TO SELECTED CONTEMPORARY VIEWS OF CHRISTIAN SPIRITUALITY Philip Adam McClendon, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012 Chair: Dr. Robert L. Plummer This dissertation examines various contemporary Protestant views of Christian Spirituality in light of Galatians 2:20 in order to correct some common errors caused by the elevation of personal subjectivism and the misinterpretation of Scripture. The purpose is to demonstrate the continual necessity of the Scriptures as the normative grounds for evaluating and correcting the theological and practical expressions of Christian spirituality. Christian spirituality focuses on the way that one lives as led by the Spirit in light of one’s understanding of and experience with God. While the role of the Spirit in Christian spirituality is critical, direct emphasis on the necessity of grounding one’s spiritual understanding and experience within the context of Scripture is often an absent element. Without the governing standard of the Bible, and with the increased influences of ecumenicalism, mysticism, secularism, subjectivism, and relativism within Protestantism, Christian spirituality remains somewhat ambiguous and covers a substantial range of religious beliefs to include biblical as well as extra-biblical ideas. Thus, to demonstrate how the Scriptures can help govern limits within Christian spirituality, Galatians 2:20 will be examined. This dissertation, then, employs Galatians 2:20 as a guide for establishing essential concepts concerning the spiritual life and, in so doing, corrects some common misunderstandings of the spiritual life. Chapter 1 defines spirituality and provides a brief history of interpretation for Galatians 2:20. Chapter 2 demonstrates that the cross is central to the justification of the believer and results in a transformation of life. Chapter 3 reveals that the Spirit serves as Christ’s representative to the believer empowering them for Christian living. Chapter 4 emphasizes the reality that although the believer is to progress in sanctification, they will continually experience spiritual tension in this life between the Spirit and the desires of the flesh. Chapter 5 explains that personal faith is the means by which the believer lives out the indwelling presence of the Spirit. This lived faith is motivated by the sacrificial love of God. Chapter 6 provides a conclusion based on the preliminary thought regarding the necessity of biblical spirituality in light of some current trends within Christian spirituality.

The Origin of the Eschatological Feast as a Wedding Banquet in the Synoptic Gospels: an Intertextual Study

Abstract: The Problem. The problem this dissertation seeks to address is the origins of the wedding banquet imagery in the teaching of Jesus. Frequently, scholars will state that the image of a wedding banquet was a common messianic image in the first century. However, other than Isa 25:6-8, sources for the image of a banquet for the messianic age in the Hebrew Bible are sparse. Yet the image of a banquet clearly appears in the Synoptic Gospels in both the actions of Jesus as well as his teaching. Because the metaphor of a wedding banquet is not found in the literature of the Second Temple Period, scholars frequently assume that this sort of language was created by the Gospel writers and that Jesus himself did not claim to be a bridegroom. Method. In this study I propose an intertextuality method which seeks to give full weight to the rhetorical value of anauthor's use of earlier texts or traditions. First, the reader must first "hear an echo" within the text. By this I mean one recognizes something in the words or deeds of Jesus that sounds like a text or tradition from the Hebrew Bible. Second, having heard the echo of an earlier text or tradition, one must then determine which texts and traditions may have been used by the author. Since allusions to tradition are not direct citations, a wide range of texts must be gathered with linguistic and thematic links to the later text. Third, these observations drawn from the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple Period literature must be applied to the texts in the Synoptic Gospels which contain banquet or wedding imagery. This third step can be used as a test of the authenticity of the sayings of Jesus. I propose a "criterion of tradition congruence": If it is shown that a saying of Jesus stands within well-known traditions from the Hebrew Bible, then that saying is more likely to be authentic. Conclusion. Jesus did indeed claim to be a bridegroom and his ministry was an anticipation of the eschatological banquet. While there is no single text in the Hebrew Bible or the literature of the Second Temple Period which states the "messiah is like a bridegroom," the elements for such a claim are present in several traditions found in this literature. Jesus created this unique image by clustering three traditions drawn from the Hebrew Bible and applying them to his ministry. First, the eschatological age is inaugurated by a banquet eaten in the presence of God (Isa 25:6-8). Second, the end of the exile is often described as a new Exodus and a new journey through the wilderness (Isa 40-55). Third, the relationship of God and his people is often described as a marriage (Hosea, Jer 2-4). Jesus claimed that his ministry was an on-going wedding celebration which signals the end of the Exile and the restoration of Israel to her position as the Lord's beloved wife. Jesus himself combined the tradition of an eschatological banquet with a marriage metaphor in order to describe the end of the Exile as a wedding banquet.