Several years ago, a Latter-day Saint friend encouraged me to read British Methodist theologian Margaret Barkerâ??s books. Now I understand why.
A cautionary note. Barker has a large corpus of books to her credit, including The Great Angel: A Study of Israelâ??s Second God and The Great High Priest: The Temple Roots of Christian Liturgy. I have only read her much briefer summary, Temple Theology: An Introduction. Not being a biblical scholar or a scholar of either ancient Judaism or early Christianity, I am not prepared to critique Barkerâ??s work. As far I know, her most significant arguments have not found broad support outside of Mormon circles.
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