This book contains essays on the letters and theology of the Apostle Paul from leading Pauline scholars. The majority of the essays are based on papers given in the first Finnish national seminar on Paul held in the University of Helsinki in January 2007. Finnish contributions to scholarly discussion on Pauline theology have been widely recognized as challenging and thought-provoking, particularly in regards to Paul's view on the Mosaic Law and soteriology. Heikki Räisänen's view on Paul's inconsistent thinking about Law and other topics has served to polarize discussion among Finnish scholars. The opening essay by Stephen Westerholm outlines the debate and its relation to international discussion. The essays by Heikki Räisänen, Kari Kuula, and Timo Laato are fruits of this on-going discussion. Niko Huttunen approaches the question of Paul and the Law from the Stoic point of view, while Risto Saarinen examines its relation to the theology of Martin Luther. Other principal topics include Paul's opponents and methodological discussion. A comprehensive way to analyze Paul's argumentation is sought in Mika Hietanen's essay. Lauri Thurén examines how Paul's rhetoric must be taken into account when deciphering historical information from his letters. His essay takes Paul's opponents as an example. The opponents are also dealt with by Lars Aejmelaeus and Nina Pehkonen. Their essays focus on anti-Pauline opposition in Corinth and the antagonists in Philippians, respectively.

Reveals the ancient oracle based on the runic Elder Futhark alphabet of the Norse.

The handbook is not tied to a particular methodology but keeps in principle to a pronounced methodological pluralism, encompassing all aspects of actual methodology. Moreover it combines diachronic with synchronic-systematic aspects, longitudinal sections with cross-sections (periods such as Old Norse, transition from Old Norse to Early Modern Nordic, Early Modern Nordic 1550-1800 and so on). The description of Nordic language history is built upon a comprehensive collection of linguistic data; it consists of more than 200 articles written by a multitude of authors from Scandinavian and German and English speaking countries. The organization of the book combines a central part on the detailed chronological developments and some chapters of a more general character: chapters on theory and methodology in the beginning and on overlapping spatio-temporal topics in the end.

This handbook is conceived as a comprehensive history of the North Germanic languages from the oldest times up to the present day. Whereas most of the traditional presentations of Nordic language history are confined to individual languages and often concentrate on purely linguistic data, the present work covers the history of all Nordic languages in its totality, embedded in a broad culture-historical context. The Nordic languages are described both individually and in their mutual dependence as well as in relation to the neighboring non-Nordic languages. The handbook is not tied to a particular methodology, but keeps in principle to a pronounced methodological pluralism, encompassing all aspects of actual methodology. Moreover it combines diachronic with synchronic-systematic aspects, longitudinal sections with cross-sections (periods such as Old Norse, transition from Old Norse to Early Modern Nordic, Early Modern Nordic 1550-1800 and so on). The description of Nordic language history is built upon a comprehensive collection of linguistic data; it consists of more than 200 articles, written by a multitude of authors from Scandinavian and German and English speaking countries. The organization of the handbook combines a central part on the detailed chronological developments and some chapters of a more general character: chapters on theory and methodology in the beginning, and on overlapping spatio-temporal topics in the end. Key features: complete and comprehensive study of the Nordic languages all Nordic languages are treated individually and in their mutual dependence international handbook series two volumes offering the current state of research

The legacy of Pauline scholarship, from ancient to modern, is characterised by a surfeit of unsettled, conflicting conclusions that often fail to interpret Paul in relation to his Jewish roots. William S. Campbell takes a stand against this paradigm, emphasising continuity between Judaism and the Christ-movement in Paul's letters. Campbell focusses on important themes, such as diversity, identity and reconciliation, as the basic components of transformation in Christ. The stance from which Paultheologises is one that recognises and underpins social and cultural diversity and includes the correlating demand that because difference is integral to the Christ-movement, the enmity associated with difference cannot be tolerated. Thus, reconciliation emerges as a fundamental value in the Christ-movement. Reconciliation, in this sense, respects and does not negate the particularities of the identity of Jews and those from the nations. In this paradigm, transformation implies the re-evaluation of all things in Christ, whether of Jewish or gentile origin.

Niko Huttunen presents a challenging new path to complement the general scholarly picture of Paul's teaching on law. Acknowledging that Stoicism permeated Paul's intellectual milieu, Huttunen compares Paul's sayings of law with those of Epictetus - drawing comparisons as a result of careful methodological considerations.

In 2 Cor. 10–13, as in the entire Pauline corpus, the use of the first person plural is surprising. Paul oscillates between singular ('I') and plural ('We'), sometimes within the same sentence. While this literary feature has never been seriously explored, this study undertakes in the first part an investigation of the meanings of 'we' in ancient Greek texts through several literary genres, from Homer to the Hellenistic period. The second part, devoted to 2 Cor. 10–13, shows the neat architecture of these chapters, and the way the key theological message about weakness (ἀσθένεια) and power (δύναμις) is delivered. Also the occurrences of 'We' and 'I' throughout the text reveal a further underlying theology of authority. En 2 Co 10–13, mais aussi dans l'ensemble du corpus paulinien, l'utilisation de la première personne du pluriel est surprenante. Paul passe souvent du 'je' au 'nous', et inversement, parfois dans la même phrase. Ce trait littéraire n'ayant pas encore été examiné de manière approfondie, la présente étude commence par une enquête sur les sens du 'nous' dans plusieurs genres littéraires – dont le genre épistolaire – d'Homère jusqu'à l'époque hellénistique. La seconde partie, consacrée à 2 Co 10–13, montre l'architecture soignée de ces chapitres ainsi que la manière dont Paul communique le message théologique sur la faiblesse (ἀσθένεια) et la force (δύναμις). L’alternance des 'nous' et des 'je' exprime en outre une véritable théologie de l'autorité apostolique.

This volume explores the complex and contradictory ways in which the cultural, scientific and political myth of whiteness has influenced identities, self-perceptions and the process of integration of Nordic immigrants into multicultural and racially segregated American society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In deploying central insights from whiteness studies, postcolonial feminist and intersectionality theories, it shows that Nordic immigrants - Danes, Swedes, Finns, Norwegians and Sámi - contributed to and challenged American racism and white identity. A diverse group of immigrants, they could proclaim themselves ‘hyper-white’ and ‘better citizens than anybody else’, including Anglo-Saxons, thus taking for granted the racial bias of American citizenship and ownership rights, yet there were also various, unexpected intersections of whiteness with ethnicity, regional belonging, gender, sexuality, and political views. ‘Nordic whiteness’, then, was not a monolithic notion in the USA and could be challenged by other identities, which could even turn white Nordic immigrants into marginalised figures. A fascinating study of whiteness and identity among white migrants in the USA, Nordic Whiteness will appeal to scholars of sociology, history and anthropology with interests in Scandinavian studies, migration and diaspora studies and American studies.

The essays by Heikki Raisanen (1941-2015) collected in this volume deal with a broad array of topics, ranging from early Christian identities to bibliodrama and other modern-day approaches to the scriptures. The exegetical studies in the first part explore issues related to early Christian eschatology, virginal conception, and Paul's complex argumentation about the Jews and their salvation in Romans 9-11. The essays on ancient and modern interpretations of the Bible in the second part pay special attention to ethical issues, address the "dark sides" of its reception, and discuss the biblical interpretations of Marcion and Joseph Smith. The third section comprises studies on the Bible and Qur'an, while the concluding chapter provides a comprehensive description of the Bible as scripture from a comparative perspective.