Michael Neary

Philo of Alexandria

East was impressive, and even Palestininan Judaism was unable to escape its influence.3 Given the imposing discoveries of Greek philosophy on the one hand, and the profound religious conviction of the Jewish people on the other, it was inevitable that these two currents of thought would be seen to relate to each other. Philo’s writings are a product of and a witness to the extensive interaction and rivalry that existed between Greeks and Jews in Alexandria. He reflects the Jewish world outside of

The Importance of Lament in the God/Man Relationship in Ancient Israel

to distinguish several basic categories of psalms, most of which originally served a specific function within temple ritual. The different &dquo;types&dquo; are determined by and emerge from a general &dquo;life-situation&dquo;, consequently they draw upon similar images, words, and phrases to articulate experiences associated with a particular situation. Of the five categories mentioned by him, two pertain to laments, namely, communal laments (Klagelieder des Volkes), occasioned by the occurrence of some catastrophe which threatens to destabilise the whole society (e.g. war or drought), and the individual lament (Klagelied des Einzelnen), where the worshipper is in some personal distress. One-third of the psalter consists of laments in which the people bring before God their deep-seated fears and frustrations. They cry to him for help in their grief and are confident of being heard. These psalms provide us with a very powerful and eloquent testimony to Israel’s robust faith. Real life is confronted with a ruthless honesty and the painful experience of betrayal, sickness, loneliness, anxiety, anger and hatred are recognised as crises of faith which present opportunities for purifying and deepening their understanding of and their faith in God. The very structure’ of this type of psalm illustrates the way in which Israel constantly situated her suffering in dialogue with God and in doing

Creation and Pauline Soteriology

The importance of the Damascus experience in Paul’s life and the extent of its influence on his theology is something which cannot be overestimated. For Jeremias’ it provides “the one and only key to his theology’’ in that practically every doctrine in Pauline theology is contained in embryonic form in that conversion experience. At the centre of this event stood not a system but a person, Jesus Christ, the Kyrios. What is important for us is the complete change and profound influence which it continued to have on h im for the rest of his life. Paul himself interpreted it as “God revealing his Son in me” (en emoi) (Gal 1:16). As such it constituted a complete break with the past. The Apostle often expresses his teaching in great contrasts. Philippians 3:7-1 Oa is a very revealing spiritual biography dealing with, Paul’s loss and gain. Speaking of his early life as a Jew, his high standing, the progress he had made he continues: