Krister Stendahl

In an arrogant age that asks, "Why are Muslims so violent", this book asks from an unlikely perspective why Christians also are. This work is important because it takes an age-old question, religious violence, and makes it new again. In times like the ones of 2016, this intellectual material is vital. Krister wrote a series of talks in the 1980's on the edges of religious violence and how they often come from concepts of salvation. He believed that the Biblical understanding of salvation as victory was problematic, and proposed instead salvation as nirvana and salvation as shalom. He also proposed that we undergo searches through Scripture for images of peace, of reconciliation, of light. This thought is relevant to conflicts today. Stendahl, as the dean of Harvard and the Lutheran Bishop of Stockholm, has his own authority as one of the wisest theologians of history. This book has its own advantage too, because it is funny, pithy, and a quick read. Stendahl, as the dean of Harvard and the Lutheran Bishop of Stockholm, has his own authority as one of the wisest theologians of history. This book has its own advantage too, because it is funny, pithy, and a quick read.

"Interpretation of Paul has long been dominated by Lutheran/Protestant theological concerns. Paul has been treated as primarily concerned with narrowly personal religious issues, and critics have often contended that Paul was a conservative regarding social issues. The contributors to this volume deal in original and provocative fashion with several interrelated issues running through Paul's letters and their subsequent interpretation in Christian history. The essays cover several interrelated topics concerning Paul and politics: Paul and the politics of interpretation; Paul and the politics of the Roman Empire; Paul and the politics of Israel (relations of Jews and Gentiles); Paul and the politics of the churches (relations of women and men, slaves and free). Contributors include: Krister Stendahl (Harvard Divinity School); Elisabeth Sch ssler Fiorenza (Harvard Divinity School); Richard A. Horsley (University of Massachusetts, Boston); Alan Segal (Barnard College); Antoinette C. Wire (San Francisco Theological Seminary); N. T. Wright (Westminster Cathedral); Sheila Briggs (University of Southern California); Cynthia Briggs Kittredge (Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest); Pamela Eisenbaum (Iliff School of Theology); Mark Nanos (Lees Summit, Missouri); Allen Callahan (Harvard Divinity School); Sze-kar Wan (Andover Newton Theological School); Robert Jewett (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary); and Neil Elliott (Seabury Western). Richard A. Horsley is Professor of Classics and Religion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston and is the author of numerous books including Galilee: History, Politics, and People (Trinity Press)."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

The nature and role of the Holy Spirit is a subject that has intrigued, mystified, and divided Christians for centuries. Drawing from biblical references and personal experience, Krister Stendahl depicts this member of the Trinity as the driving force, the creative energy, and the animating breath of the whole creation. Energy for Life offers a rare perspective on how the Holy Spirit is able to draw together humanity, in its rich diversity, in order to resolve such complicated issues as divisions in the church, the preservation of the beauty of creation, and the meaning of human existence in the imago Dei, the image of God.

There's more than blood and bone beneath the skin ... The victim, a nondescript "numbers cruncher," died horribly just yards away from his terrified wife and daughter, murdered by men who clearly enjoyed their work. The crime scene is one that could chill the blood of even the most seasoned police officer. But the strange revelations about an ordinary accountant's extraordinary secret life are what truly set Chief Inspector Alan Banks off -- as lies breed further deceptions and blood begets blood, unleashing a policeman's dark passions ... and a violent rage that, when freed, might be impossible to control.

A sharp challenge to traditional ways of understanding Paul is sounded in this book by a distinguished interpreter of the New Testament. Krister Stendahl proposes-in the key title essay-new ways of exploring Paul's speech: Paul must be heard as one who speaks of his call rather than conversion, of justification rather than forgiveness, or weakness rather than sin, of love rather than integrity, and in unique rather than universal language. The title essay is complemented by the landmark paper, "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West," and by two seminal explorations of Pauline issues, "Judgement and Mercy" and "Glossolalia-The New Testament Evidence." The book concludes with Stendahl's pointed reply to the eminent scholar Ernst Kasemann who has taken issue with the author's revolutionary interpretations. This volume provides convincingly new ways for viewing Paul, the most formative of Christian teachers.