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The Shema in John’s Gospel

In Christology, Gospel of John, John, Lori A. Baron, Mohr Siebeck, R. B. Jamieson, Shema on February 24, 2023 at 3:00 pm
Cover of book

2023.02.04 | Lori A. Baron. The Shema in John’s Gospel. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. 2. Reihe, 574. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.

Review by R. B. Jamieson, Capitol Hill Baptist Church, Washington, DC.

What causes John’s Gospel to stand out when set against the backdrops of the Synoptic Gospels, the whole New Testament, and early Judaism? In The Shema in John’s Gospel, a revision of the author’s PhD thesis submitted to Duke University in 2015, Lori A. Baron argues that one key factor is John’s unique development of the theology and ethics of the Shema.

After a brief introduction, the book surveys the role of the Shema in Deuteronomy (Ch. 2), the rest of the Hebrew Bible (Ch. 3), Second Temple literature (Ch. 4), the New Testament minus John (Ch. 5), and, finally, the Gospel of John, first considering chapters 5, 8, and 10 (Ch. 6), then the Farewell Discourse (Ch. 7). A brief conclusion considers the Shema’s role in John’s account of the crucifixion, John’s oft-alleged “anti-Judaism,” and the Johannine prologue. 

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Jesus’ Death and Heavenly Offering

In atonement, Cambridge University Press, Hebrews, Jonathan Rowlands, R. B. Jamieson, sacrifice on November 23, 2021 at 9:30 am

2021.11.17 | R.B. Jamieson. Jesus’ Death and Heavenly Offering. Society of New Testament Studies Monograph Series 172; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-1-108-47443-6.

Review by Jonathan Rowlands, St. Mellitus College.

In this monograph, Jamieson addresses two questions concerning the soteriology of Hebrews. First, when and where does Jesus offer himself? Second, what role does Jesus’ death play? His thesis is immediately clear: “Jesus’ death is not when and where he offers himself, but it is what he offers” (p. 1). In the introduction, by means of outlining his own contribution to the issue, Jamieson offers a helpful fivefold taxonomy for scholarship on the soteriology of Hebrews that anybody approaching the issue for the first time would do well to consult in the first instance (also outlined in a 2017 article in Currents in Biblical Research 15.3).

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Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism

In Benjamin E. Reynolds, Brill, Gabriele Boccaccini, Gospel of John, Jewish Backgrounds, John, Messianism, R. B. Jamieson on August 27, 2021 at 3:00 pm

2021.8.14 | Benjamin E. Reynolds and Gabriele Boccaccini (eds). Reading the Gospel of John’s Christology as Jewish Messianism: Royal, Prophetic, and Divine Messiahs. Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity 106; Leiden: Brill, 2018. ISBN: 978-9004349759.

Review by R. B. Jamieson, Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

Among the four canonical Gospels, the Christology of John is often taken to be the least Jewish because it is the most divine. The essays collected in this volume aim to show not only that John’s “messianology,” so to speak, is recognizably Jewish, but that even its divine claims for Jesus have at least some clear antecedents in Jewish messianic expectation. In this twofold aim the volume amply and admirably succeeds. 

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