Temple Theology: An Introduction

Barker is not only an independent scholar in the field of Life of Jesus research, but also a Methodist minister as well, which might come as a surprise, since her writing is challenging and revolutionary. Her scholarship is refreshing in the fact that she writes both narrowly as an exegete but also broadly as a historian and which is unique in this field, although none the less challenging and refreshing. Her field of interest covers not just `Life of Jesus' research but also the history and tradition of the Davidic first temple cult and the origins of what became Christianity through to the time of Jesus and beyond.This particular title may be considered as a general introduction to her work and was originally presented as a series of lectures given at Heythrop College, London University in 2003. It is a surprise to learn from her research that Christianity is older than Judaism, but her arguments (which are extensively explained and argued in great detail in her other writings) are solid and clear. Her argument being that Christian theology developed very quickly because it had evolved out of a preceding and fully formed and earlier faith - one which was not Judaism or the faith of the second temple, but the theology of the first, Davidic temple, and to which Jesus and his followers were the successors. She is therefore also parenthetically refuting the usual assumption that a mature Christian theology necessarily developed gradually through a confluence with Greek philosophy and culture.Unlike many academics in this field - and one thinks here of writers such as Dominic Crossan - Barker does not project concepts framed within her/our culture upon the culture that she is researching. Consequently she attempts to explain the researched facts rather than falling into the trap of taking preconceptions drawn from our culture and projecting them upon the one under investigation.This is intended as an introduction to Barker's extensive and ongoing work, much of which is very detailed and challenging to read. Read this one first! Cutting edge.

Mrs Barker's writings should be required reading for all who claim to study the Bible (I'd like to say all Christians but that's hoping for too much!) and would-be be theologians. Most of her books are densely packed with technical references to ancient texts beyond the purview of most readers, but here is an accessible overview of her thesis. This is that Christianity is derived from the beliefs of the Israel of the FirstTemple, the doctrine of the Son of God, the Trinity are not later importations but beliefs which were expunged by post-exilic Judaism.One of the main problems shown by MB is that the modern Bible is very different to the scriptures accepted by Jesus and the early church and that the post-reformation church has too readily accepted the rabbinic redaction of the Old Testament.I could say a lot more, but read it for yourself.

The author develops a strong argument for linking many Christian beliefs with the practices and beliefs of first temple Judaism. She is particularly good at drawing out the idea of invocation and how it is a central activity in the Eucharist. However she does take a very Protestant view of truth, ie whatever is oldest must be the proper or right version. In fact if a document were to be shown to be the oldest writing by say, Saint Paul, just because scholars showed it to be authentic and ancient, unless the Church received and accepted it as truth it would not be so. This is really the consequence of the filoque and the demotion of the Holy Spirit in western thinking. The Church is led by God to discern truth, age and authorship are not the deciding factors.Barker also over-emphasises the divisions between first and second temple Judaism, seeing developments or changes as somehow being deviations from the true Judaism, whereas one must be open to the possibillity that just as God's revelation of Himself is ongoing to the Church, so too the Jews may actuaslly have been led by him and so not have had a static faith.There are the odd moments when Barker identifies interesting links between different themes, but frequently she then refers to these later as though they have been firmly established and uses them to propose other theories which often left me muttering to myself that she had not established her ideas in strong enough ways to make such jumps.Overall an intersting book that is very readable, and certainly raises some fascinating questions, I learned things from it and was left thinking about God in new ways. However, the strong Protestant approach was ultimately unsatisfying, it would be good to have someone more firmly rooted in the Church deal with these issues.

This is an intriguing book as it veers at times towards a conspiracy theory of Jewish Temple ideology and secret counter-ideology. It might explain why the Tabernacle in the Wilderness doesn't seem to feature much. However, if the author is right, it explains a lot about the origins of Christian theology. It's good value, too!

This book was recommended to me as a good read. I have to say that I was not disappointed. The subject matter is riveting and thought provoking. Despite the sometimes complexity of the chapters MB has presented her subject in a clear and well ordered manner allowing the reader to grasp the salient points she has raised. I would recommend this book to any serious student.

I am very much absorbed in Miss Barker's thesis .Last year I had the privlegde of meeting her and hearing her present 3 excellent papers.

Amazing new slant on OT theology. Read it!

Excellent ouvrage de référence. A recommander à tous ceux qui veulent mieux comprendre le culte du temple depuis ses origines

I am not much of a reviewer of books. My reviews can be summed up basically with the line, "It was good!", or, "It wasn't good!" Margaret Barker was an unfamiliar author before I decided to pick this small introduction up. From the first lines to the last, she captivated me. I don't know too much about Old Testament or Judaical Temple Theology, so when I say I learned a lot, keep that in context. This book made me want more on the subject and more from the author. Quite a fun experience reading this and getting my feet wet with this side of Judaism and Christian background.

There are a few books one picks up that one finds difficult to put down and fewer of them are non fiction. In this little gem one finds a glimpse into a distant past which any reader of Old or New Testament would find familiar, but not so clearly revealed. New documents of the last century but more recently come to light again reveal to us a view of this sacred place and its theology. Professor Barker has done a masterful work of bringing these works together to paint us a picture of Solomonic temple worship and its impact upon Christianity. I just finished reading this little book and have begun to read another of her wonderful works on the ancient temple and its symbolism.In this book Professor Barker shows to us that the Gospel of the New Testament and indeed its theology and rites have roots in the distant past and that Christianity was not a radical departure from, but a logical outgrowth from and fulfillment of Judaism. The rites of the first temple are clearly shown to us and, as pointed out clearly, since they were given to Israel as a means to bring them into the presence of God by Yahweh, who is shown to us by the good professor to be none other than Christ himself, (not in the trinitarian sense) a means to bring them to their Messiah, even Christ the Lord. Also that Jesus was the son of the ineffable God is also demonstrated, a clear representation of the distinctness of their persons.It would appear from this treatise that not only Judaism, but also Christianity may morn the loss of the temple in their worship, a means to bring them closer yet to God and give them a more clear and beautiful picture of that God they worship. Temple worship is much to be desired, not the sacrifice of animals, which was done away in Christ, but those things which bring one into the presence of God while yet on earth.To anyone desiring to understand the continuity of God's work and word from beginning to end, this work will go a long way toward fulfilling that desire.

For the LDS reader, Margaret Barker's writings chime like Nibley and Nephi with an understanding of the context of the Old and New Testaments, the Godhead, and the temple. After learning about Barker's theories of Jesus as Melchizedek in Melchizedek's Seal & Scroll (a rich LDS book), I turned to the source. This book is Margaret Barker at her best, condensed into 93 pages.Barkers radial thesis (from page 11) "It is beyond doubt that the faith of the temple became Christianity. Images and practices that most Christians take for granted such as priesthood, the shape of a traditional church building, or the imagery of sacrifice and atonement are all obviously derived from the temple..."and later: "The gospel as it was first preached by Jesus, and as it was developed and lived by the early Church, concerned the restoration of the true temple."Temple Theology explains how the first Christians were looking back to the First Temple theology for a Messiah who was Melchizedek and who would restore the ancient temple rites. She then proceeds through the chapters devoted to Creation, Covenant, Atonement, and Wisdom. Together with Mitchell's Melchizedek Scroll, we come to understand the centrality of the Messiah/Melchizedek in ancient and modern temple worship.Beware that not all of Barker's ideas mesh with present LDS Theology, (e.g. wisdom goddess, angel Melchizedek) but she may be dead right in the end.

The writing is a little intense, and for me requires deep concentration when reading it. My personal worship of God has been enhanced by this book, as I find that the author really knows her subject matter, has done her homework, so to speak. I am studying other works by this author, and I find that she is knowledgeable about what she writes here. I recommend this book to those who would wand to know more about christian worship, or just worshiping altogether. Mili McQuivey