The Golden Rule

I just noticed I was tagged in this book meme thing (why do they call it a “meme”?) by Ken Brown.  Here are my five:

1.  Unity and Diversity in the New Testament by James D.G. Dunn.  Anything written from Dunn, whether I agree or disagree, is always top quality.  But this book helped me to clearly see that diverse Christian interpretations are ultimately rooted in the diversity in the NT canon itself.  Since people are all different and no one has the complete picture, I think we can celebrate diversity in Christianity while holding to the unified center Dunn lays out:  ”the unity between the historical Jesus and the exalted Christ.”

2. Lord Jesus Christ by Larry Hurtado.  I think Hurtado lays out the case for an early high Christology as best as one can make it.  He shows how the combination of Jewish mediator traditions (Wisdom, Melchizedek, Enoch, Yahoel, Metatron, etc) and charismatic visions and exegesis could lead to a binitarian devotional pattern and his exploration of early Christian cultic practices is ingenious.  Not the last word on the subject (see the excellent recent series by April DeConick for instance), but an important one.

3.  Border Lines by Daniel Boyarin.  I will never think the same way about the relationship of Judaism(s) and Christianity(s).  His “Wave Theory” Model is solid:  a wide variety of religious dialects on the Judaeo-Christian spectrum (ranging from Marcionites to non-Christian Jews) developed into clusters through diffusion and eventually organized into Rabbinic Judaism and Orthodox Christianity.  He shows how  binitarianism, once comfortably at home in Judaism, was expelled by the Rabbis as “Two Powers” just as Christian heresiologists expelled Modalism in parallel developments of identity formation (honourable mention to Segal’s, “Two Powers in Heaven”).  

4. A Marginal Jew Series by John P. Meier.  If I had to pick a book I would say Volume II, but I think Meier’s whole series is just the best work on the Historical Jesus out there.  He is just so thorough, so careful and so detailed in his study (honourable mention to E.P. Sanders, “Jesus and Judaism”, Dale Alison “Millennarian Prophet” and Scot McKnight’s “Jesus and His Death”).

5. Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink.  Again, there is much I disagree with, but has so much important things to say about the myth of redemptive violence and resisting the fallen Powers.  One of the most powerful calls to live out the ethics and non-violence of the kingdom.

That was tough and there are so many other authors I wish I could add if it was a top 10 list.  Maybe I should have stuck with the “B-I-B-L-E – that’s the book for me” or something cheesy like that   Anyways, I guess this is the part where I am supposed to tag other people so how about  Tyler Williams, Scot Bailey (I know he has been tagged already), Michael Barber, Loren Rosson, and Nick Norelli.