168 Essays in Anarchism and Religion: Volume 1
- For a useful introduction to these see James L. Bailey and Lyle
D. Vander Broek, Literary Forms in the New Testament: A Handbook
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992). - Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: a
Comprehensive Guide (London: SCM Press, 1998), p. 316. - Matthew 13:11, Mark 4:11, Luke 8:10.
- See, for example, Matthew 13.24, 31, 33, 44, 45, 47; 18.23,
20.1; 22.2, 25.1. The phrase “kingdom of heaven”, generally pre-
ferred by Matthew to “kingdom of God”, is identical in meaning
(compare Matthew 13.11, Mark 4.11, and Luke 8.10). - For a the surprising degree of agreement on this between scholars
with quite different ideological positions, see, for example, Dale C.
Allison, Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet (Minneapolis: Fortress,
1998), p. 46; Casey, Jesus of Nazareth, p. 212; Crossan, Historical
Jesus, p. 266; Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New
Millennium (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 142; Paula
Fredriksen, From Jesus to Christ: the Origins of the New Testament
Images of Christ, 2nd edn (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000),
p. 3; Robert W. Funk, Honest to Jesus: Jesus for a New Millennium
(New York: Polebridge, 1996), p. 41; Craig S. Keener, The Historical
Jesus of the Gospels (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), p. 196; Gerd
Lüdemann, Jesus After Two Thousand Years: What He Really Said
and Did (London: SCM Press, 2000), p. 689; E. P. Sanders, Jesus
and Judaism (London: SCM Press, 1985), p. 139; Geza Vermes, The
Religion of Jesus the Jew (London: SCM Press, 1993), pp. 119–151;
Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, p. 11. - Markus N. A. Bockmuehl, This Jesus: Martyr, Lord, Messiah
(Edinburgh: T. &T. Clark, 1994), p. 81. - The phrase “kingdom of God” does not appear in the Hebrew
Bible. However, the kingship or reign of God is a major theme (e.g.
Exodus 15.1–18; Isaiah 6.5–9; Psalm 99.1–5) and is also present
in some non-canonical Jewish texts (e.g. Sibylline Oracles 3:46f;
Assumption of Moses 10; Dead Sea Scrolls 1 QM 2.7, 6.6). A related
idea, that of the “Day of the Lord”, in which God was expected to
intervene directly in history to judge both Israel and her enemies is
a common motif in prophetic literature (e.g. Isaiah 13.6–9, Joel 2,
Malachi 4.1–6).