GOD IN STRENGTH

Jesus' Announcement of the Kingdom

Bruce D. Chilton

This book addresses a central question of New Testament scholarship, namely, 'in Jesus' public announcement that the kingdom of God was near, what was meant by "the kingdom of God"?" Chilton tackles this question through a redaction-critical analysis of five synoptic sayings-complexes. In terms of method, Chilton develops further the work of Heinz Schürmann to isolate the redactional elements of the sayings in order to establish the traditional material, which can then be considered for its faithfulness to dominical utterance.

This work also introduces Chilton's important thesis concerning the significance of the Isaiah Targum for understanding Jesus' announcement of the kingdom. He rejects attempts to see the kingdom as an apocalyptic regime, a political movement or a programme for social reform. Instead, Jesus' concern was to announce. God in strength. This, admittedly simple, formulation is necessary to explain the range of Jesus' diction, and 'to preserve the God-centred focus of the kingdom against abstraction'.