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1E The early church (in Acts of the apostles) - Coggle Diagram
1E The early church (in Acts of the apostles)
Dodd identified six elements common to the speeches that he considered to be authentic:
that Jesus fulfilled the promises of the Hebrew Bible
that God was at work in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, which was according to God’s purpose
that Jesus has now been exalted and is in heaven
that the Holy Spirit has been given to the church to form God’s new community
that Jesus will soon return in glory
that those who are privy to the message must change their lifestyles accordingly and follow Jesus (repent and be baptised).
Dodd
Dodd distinguished kerygma from didache: he understood kerygma to be a declaration of beliefs, whereas didache is moral exhortation or teaching (though the two may often be found together in the New Testament).
Some critics (e.g. Schweitzer) have suggested that because of the focus on Jewish Apocalypticism (point 5 above) the kerygma is irrelevant. Dodd responds with the idea of realised eschatology
Realised eschatology – the view that although God will come at the end the world, He has ‘broken into the world’ through the life and ministry of Jesus.
We don’t have to wait until the end of the world to experience the fullness of God, it can be realised now.
The kerygmata
· A main theme of the kerygmata of the early church was the belief that Jesus fulfilled the promises of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) through his life, works, death, and resurrection.
· There is also an emphasis on Jesus as miracle worker – for example, Peter draws attention to Jesus’ “miracles and wonders and signs” in Acts 2:22.
· The principal analysis of the kerygmata of the early Christian community is associated with C. H. Dodd.
· Dodd reconstructed the main teachings (kerygmata) that the early church had in common from Paul’s letters, and then argued that these teachings could also be found in Acts of the Apostles.
KEY TERMS
Kerygmata- proclamation, announcement or preaching
Canonical gospels- the ones which the Church has recognised as divinely inspired and which faithfully hand on the apostolic tradition. There are four, and only four: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Apocryphal gospels- those which the Church did not accept as part of the genuine apostolic tradition, even though they themselves claim to have been written by one of the apostles.
Apocalypticism – the belief that the world is about to end. In 1c Judaism, the belief in the sudden coming of God to rule the world and judge it – preceded by the arrival of the Messiah (In Christianity, linked to the second coming of Jesus – the Parousia)
bultmann
Bultmann argued that the kerygmata were the expression of the meaning that Christ had for the early Christians, rather than an expression of historical truths. As such, they need to be ‘demythologised’ to recover their existential meaning. Since so little can be known about the Jesus of history, belief should be concerned with the Christ of faith.
Rudolf Bultmann argued that since ideas can never be expressed without words, there is never a ‘pure kerygma’ that exists separate from the language and mythos of the time