Booklists
Earthly Shadows, Heavenly Realities: Temple/Sanctuary Cosmology in Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Jewish Literature
Description
“In antiquity a religion without a temple was unheard of. Christianity had no earthly temple, yet had a strong temple theology. Christianity chose to interpret the very basis of its theology with a process that it opted to abandon!”
So whatever happened to the temple? In this unique collection of essays, the writers direct our attention to where the early Christians looked—to the reality of the sanctuary in heaven. An obvious and often overlooked theme endemic to both testaments, it has profound ramifications for faithful Christian theology today.
Kim Papaioannou holds a PhD in theology from Durham University, England, with an emphasis in the New Testament. He has written extensively on issues of biblical theology and practice, including the monograph The Geography of Hell in the Teaching of Jesus. Ioannis Giantzaklidis is a ThD candidate at the University of Helsinki. His dissertation is entitled “The Fate of the Nations in the Book of Revelation.”
“The earthly sanctuary of the Israelites, together with its services, is quite clearly described in the Bible. We also know quite a bit about Solomon’s temple and its services. Our information on the heavenly sanctuary, however, is rather sparse. This book provides not only the biblical description of the heavenly sanctuary but also a description of the important functions of that sanctuary. The topic has been considered from several different angles. Its authors have brought the heavenly realities to our earthly eyes.”
Nancy Vyhmeister Professor Emerita of Mission Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Andrews University