Dia: 7 de abril de 2007

A editora norte-americana Paulist Press publica uma coleção sobre temas bíblicos chamada What Are They Saying About ou WATSA. Ou seja: O que eles estão dizendo sobre…?

Falam os entendidos que os livros desta coleção são muito bons para dar ao leitor um panorama da pesquisa em determinados assuntos.

Pois um muito recomendado, e que acaba de sair, é “O que eles estão dizendo sobre o Jesus Histórico?”, de David B. Gowler, Professor of Religion at Oxford College of Emory University in Oxford, Georgia:

GOWLER, D. B. What Are They Saying About the Historical Jesus? Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2007, 190 p. ISBN 978-0809144457

Leia a avaliação que dele faz Loren Rosson III, em seu biblioblog The Busybody.


O conteúdo do livro é o seguinte:
Preface
1. The Modern Quest for the Historical Jesus
2. The Continuing Quest for the Historical Jesus
3. The Jesus Seminar and Its Critics
4. The Eschatological Prophet and the Restoration of Israel
5. The Mediterranean Jewish Peasant and the Brokerless Kingdom
6. The Elijah-like Eschatological Prophet
7. The Eschatological Prophet of Social Change
Conclusion
Notes
For Further Reading

A descrição do livro na página da editora diz o seguinte:
David B. Gowler’s book introduces, as succinctly as possible, the current scholarly thinking about Jesus of Nazareth. This book summarizes, analyzes, and critiques current influential portraits of Jesus. It answers questions such as: What type of Jew was Jesus? How much of a role, if any, did apocalyptic/ eschatological elements play in the teaching of Jesus? How can we best integrate Jesus’ words and deeds to reconstruct a more complete portrait? It concludes that any portrait of the historical Jesus must come to terms with Jesus as both an apocalyptic prophet and a prophet of social and economic justice for an oppressed people. It seeks to go beyond today’s “domesticated Jesus” and to rediscover the Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet of an oppressed people, who lived his life as a poor peasant artisan suffering under Roman and Herodian oppression in first-century Galilee, and who proclaimed and inaugurated the kingdom of God.


Do mesmo autor, outro livro muito recomendado é:
GOWLER, D. B. What Are They Saying About the Parables? Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2000, 160 p. ISBN 0-8091-3962-6

O sumário:
1. Historical-Critical Approaches to the Parables
2. The Emergence of Literary Approaches to the Parables
3. Fully Developed Literary Approaches to the Parables
4. The Parables and Their Jewish Contexts
5. The Parables and Their Hellenistic Contexts
6. The Parables and Their Social Contexts
7. From Simile and Metaphor to Symbol and Emblematic Language


Dois outros livros desta coleção chamaram minha atenção, embora ainda não os conheça:

LEWIS, S. What Are They Saying About New Testament Apocalyptic? Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2004, 128 p. ISBN 0-8091-4228-7
MCDERMOTT, J. J. What Are They Saying About the Formation of Israel? Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1999, 128 p. ISBN 0-8091-3838-7 (este, porém, não vai dar conta das pesquisas dos últimos 10 anos…)