Bøger af Brian Matz

An Accessible Introduction to Gregory of NazianzusBrian Matz, a respected scholar of the history of Christianity, provides an accessible and erudite introduction to the thought of fourth-century church father Gregory of Nazianzus. Matz explores Gregory's homilies, especially those that reveal Gregory's affirmation of the full deity of the Holy Spirit, and shows the importance of Gregory's work for contemporary theology and spirituality. This work demonstrates a patristic approach to reading the Bible and promotes a vision for the Christian life that is theological, pastoral, and philosophical. Gregory of Nazianzus is the fourth book in a series on the church fathers edited by Hans Boersma and Matthew Levering.

The projected thirty-volume Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception (EBR) is intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the current state of knowledge on the background, origins, and development of the canonical texts of the Bible as they were accepted in Judaism and Christianity. Unprecedented in breadth and scope, this encyclopedia also documents the history of the Bible's interpretation and reception across the centuries, not only in Judaism and Christianity, but also in literature, visual art, music, film, and dance, as well as in Islam and other religious traditions and new religious movements. The EBR is also available online.

Introduces Protestants to the biblical and historical background of Christian social ethics and examines relevant implications for faithful practice today.

In Patristics and Catholic Social Thought: Hermeneutical Models for a Dialogue, Brian Matz argues that scholars and proponents of the modern Catholic social tradition can gain from the use of ancient texts for contemporary socioethical formation. Although it is impossible to expect a one-to-one correspondence between the social ideas of early church theologians, such as Augustine, and those of modern Catholic social thought, this book offers four hermeneutical models that will facilitate a fruitful dialogue between the two worlds. The result is a challenge to modern Christian ethicists to think more deeply about their work in light of the perspective of those who trod a similar path centuries ago. Matz first examines an "e;authorial intent"e; hermeneutical model, as articulated in the philosophies of Friedrich Schleiermacher and Wilhelm Dilthey. The second is a "e;distanciation"e; model, relying on the thought of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. The third is a "e;normativity of the future"e; model, so named by its proponents, Reimund Bieringer and Mary Elsbernd. The fourth is a "e;new intellectual history"e; model, which relies on contemporary literary-critical theories. In a series of case studies, Matz applies each model to two early Christian sermons on the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man and, in so doing, illustrates that each one draws out different social ideas. Although each model ultimately bears fruit for Catholic social thought today, Matz concludes that the "e;normativity of the future"e; model is the one best suited to a productive use of early Christian texts in contemporary Catholic social thought.