Bibliography
| Title: The jubilee proclamation in the ministry and teaching of Jesus. A tradition-critical study in the Synoptic Gospel and Acts Type: Generic Year: 1981 Abstract: "Throughout the synoptic gospels are references to themes of good news to the poor and release or forgiveness. This dissertation is an investigation of the extent to which these themes should be seen as an elaboration or development of OT Jubilee traditions (as found primarily in Leviticus 25 and Isa 61:1-2), and of their significance as elements of a Jubilee proclamation in the ministry and teaching of Jesus. This tradition-critical study begins with an examination of OT Jubilee texts and of their roots in both OT sabbath year laws (Exod 21:2-6; 23:10-11; Deut 15:1-18) and the ancient Near Eastern custom of royal decrees of ""release"" at the beginning of a sovereign's reign. Jubilee references are then traced through the literature of late Second Temple Judaism, including casual notations in the writings of Josephus, mystical or apocalyptic sepeculation in the Book of Jubilees and works of Philo, and legal and prophetic commentaries of the early rabbis and in the literature of Qumran (in particular 11 Q Melchizedek). The investigation of the synoptic gospels focuses on passages citing or paraphrasing Isa 61:1-2 (notable Luke 4:14-43 and Matt 11:2-6/ /Luke 7:18-23), and on these passages where motifs and themes associated with that text are developed. Such motifs and themes as good news to the poor and release of foregiveness, associated with Jesus' proclamation of the kingdom as well as with his identity and power, occur in teachings attributed to Jesus and in stories told about him which are found in all of the sources underlying these gospels and in summary statements provided by all three evangelists. Thus Jesus is presented as the herald of God's eschatological reign, whose proclamation includes the Jubilee message marking its near boundary. While it is not clear whether Jesus' reference to those themes, or their occurrence in the gospels, reflects a deliberate emphasis on their Jubilee roots, or whether those themes (which happen to be found in OT Jubilee texts) were chosen for other reasons, nevertheless the breadth of attestation of Jubilee themes and motifs in the synoptic gospels is one clue that Jubilee themes may indeed be traceable to Jesus. The criterion of multiple attestation is supplemented by the criterion of dissimilarity not only relative to the literature of Second Temple Judaism, but also relative to the proclamation and concerns of the church, as evidenced by the Book of Acts. Words for forgiveness and for the proclamation of good news occur in Acts, but there they do not seem to function as Jubilee themes. Instead they have christological and ecclesiological significance. Since language associated with Jubilee traditions is present without Jubilee meaning, the evidence in Acts supports indirectly the suggestion that those themes stem from Jesus, to whom they were so closely linked that they formed part of the church's proclamation of Jesus even without attention to his own message. As traditions about Jesus' earthly life were collected in the gospels, Jubilee themes referred both to Jesus' heralding of God's reign and to the church's witness to Jesus, not only as herald, but as himself ""Lord"" and ""Christ"". Appended to the dissertation is a brief postscript identifying some possible implications of Jubilee motifs and themes as found in the NT for issues in ethics and liberation theology." Keywords: New Testament / Early Christianity |