The Great Lady: Restoring Her Story
Published: Apr 2023
£85.00
In this, the eighteenth of Margaret Barker’s sequence of works on Temple Theology, she returns to give further and fuller attention to the figure of the Great Lady. Barker surveys the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and non- canonical texts from both Jewish and Christian traditions—and undertakes a re-telling of the story of the Great Lady’s shadowy but enduring presence in community memory and later writings.
This extensive volume has three parts:
The Great Lady in the first temple, revered as the heavenly Mother of the Davidic kings until King Josiah’s purge in 623BCE.
The Great Lady in the Book of Revelation, present in her ancient symbols and the hopes of her prophets, which Jesus knew.
The Great Lady hidden in the teaching of Jesus and stories about him, explaining why she was so important in the world of the early Church.
This close study of the Great Lady shows new significance in the words of the Hebrew prophets and the Qumran texts, and offers a new context for early Christian writings and so-called Gnostic texts. Barker shows how the first Christians brought the Great Lady back to their Temple Theology. She proposes that in this community Jesus her Son was the expected MelchiZedek and great high priest, and Mary of Nazareth was honoured as the Mother of God.
The Great Lady: Restoring Her Story
£85.00
In this, the eighteenth of Margaret Barker’s sequence of works on Temple Theology, she returns to give further and fuller attention to the figure of the Great Lady. Barker surveys the Hebrew Bible, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and non- canonical texts from both Jewish and Christian traditions—and undertakes a re-telling of the story of the Great Lady’s shadowy but enduring presence in community memory and later writings.
This extensive volume has three parts:
The Great Lady in the first temple, revered as the heavenly Mother of the Davidic kings until King Josiah’s purge in 623BCE.
The Great Lady in the Book of Revelation, present in her ancient symbols and the hopes of her prophets, which Jesus knew.
The Great Lady hidden in the teaching of Jesus and stories about him, explaining why she was so important in the world of the early Church.
This close study of the Great Lady shows new significance in the words of the Hebrew prophets and the Qumran texts, and offers a new context for early Christian writings and so-called Gnostic texts. Barker shows how the first Christians brought the Great Lady back to their Temple Theology. She proposes that in this community Jesus her Son was the expected MelchiZedek and great high priest, and Mary of Nazareth was honoured as the Mother of God.
On Earth as it is in Heaven: Temple Symbolism in the New Testament
Published: Jun 2009
£12.50
As more and more is being discovered about the beginnings of Christianity, a whole new understanding of the context of Christian origins is emerging. Any serious student now needs a knowledge of the traditions of the temple. This book, a supplement to Margaret Barker's The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem, breaks further new ground, showing how the symbols and rituals of the temple shaped the lives of the early Christians, and illustrates the striking relevance of temple theology to the New Testament.
The influence of the temple cult has to be reconstructed by drawing on the increasing number of non-biblical texts now available. These include those written in the early churches; fragments from among the Dead Sea Scrolls; and Jewish texts written in the early Christian period. Piece by piece the world of the temple is emerging from this material. Through this close study of the Pseudepigrapha and other non-canonical writings, Margaret Barker examines four symbols of temple theology: Light, Life, Blood, and the Robes of Glory. She shows how details missing from the Old Testament descriptions can be recovered from other ancient texts to throw new light upon many significant passages of the Bible.
This is a reprint of the volume published by T. & T. Clark in 1995.
On Earth as it is in Heaven: Temple Symbolism in the New Testament
£12.50
As more and more is being discovered about the beginnings of Christianity, a whole new understanding of the context of Christian origins is emerging. Any serious student now needs a knowledge of the traditions of the temple. This book, a supplement to Margaret Barker's The Gate of Heaven: The History and Symbolism of the Temple in Jerusalem, breaks further new ground, showing how the symbols and rituals of the temple shaped the lives of the early Christians, and illustrates the striking relevance of temple theology to the New Testament.
The influence of the temple cult has to be reconstructed by drawing on the increasing number of non-biblical texts now available. These include those written in the early churches; fragments from among the Dead Sea Scrolls; and Jewish texts written in the early Christian period. Piece by piece the world of the temple is emerging from this material. Through this close study of the Pseudepigrapha and other non-canonical writings, Margaret Barker examines four symbols of temple theology: Light, Life, Blood, and the Robes of Glory. She shows how details missing from the Old Testament descriptions can be recovered from other ancient texts to throw new light upon many significant passages of the Bible.
This is a reprint of the volume published by T. & T. Clark in 1995.