Carlson colours the Synopsis again

The world is divided into those who enjoying colouring their Synopsis and those who do not. Well, that's one way I like to divide the world up. I was taught to colour the Synopsis by Ed Sanders in his lectures on the Synoptic Gospels in Oxford in the mid 1980s and I was captivated by this straight away. There's no question that it is an ideal way of getting familiar with the data in the Synopsis. And everyone who has tried it at any length will have reached the stage where they become quite frustrated by it because it's never as easy to apply as you might wish. I did make the mistake as an undergraduate, though, of beginning to colour directly in my copy of Greeven's Synopsis. So I now always advise students to photocopy first and then colour; always avoid defacing books if possible, especially with coloured pencils.

I have just been teaching the Synoptic Problem and Redaction Criticism to new first year students over the last couple of weeks, so it is nice to have the topic of colouring the Synopsis come to light again on the web courtesy of Stephen Carlson's post today Multi-color Synopsis @ Synoptic Problem website, which draws attention to the relaunch of his colouring project, probably the first attempt to colour the Synopsis on the internet back in ?1996. Here's the first page of the new Synopsis:

John's Imprisonment

The first noticeable thing is the excellent and necessary move to unicode fonts from the Symbol font used in the earlier version, at the time a necessary evil. The second thing to notice is the colouring scheme, which Stephen explains in the blog entry, and which is continuous with the earlier system. One of the things that is fascinating about the business of Synopsis colouring is how different systems appear intuitive to different people, and I suppose this shows differences in how we find it helpful to view things. I remember looking at the way that other students did their revision and being surprised by how different it was to the way that I organized my own. I feel the same way now when I see how colleagues organize their hand-outs. This is something of a round-about way of saying that I don't at this stage find Stephen's scheme as intuitive as my own (explained in The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze, with English examples here and blogged on here), which to me has the advantage of giving at-a-glance visual clues to what kind of agreement one is dealing with. For example, since Mark is red, a purple in Matthew will tell us straight away that there is some Marcan material in Matthew here since purple has red in it. Or when I look at green material, I see something with no red in it whatsoever, and this is double tradition (Q) material, i.e Matthew (blue) + Luke (yellow). And so on -- I like the combinations and the way that the colours merge into one another and contrast with one another. For me it creates a kind of colour map of the Synopsis, representing visually the way in which the different agreements and disagreements are networking with one another.

But I didn't begin this post with a view to discussing again my own preferred scheme, but to commend Stephen on the re-launch of an excellent project.

Update (Wednesday, 23.32): Stephen Carlson comments and comes up with the great idea of using user-defined CSS (cascading style sheets) to override Stephen's own colour choices. I've followed Stephen's instructions and have adjusted the style sheet but can't seem to get it to achieve the desired result. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong there; is it just me? One comment, though: even if I can get it to work, Stephen's scheme works with triple tradition agreements = default / black text, and so not separately encoded, whereas mine works with triple tradition agreements as brown (i.e. expressive of blue+red+yellow, Matthew+Mark+Luke), so in order to get from Stephen's scheme to mine, the default text would also need to be encoded and not just left.

I've been thinking a little more about my scheme too and want to pose this question: what do we think we are doing when we colour the Synopsis? Well, for me one of the goals is to create a visual map of the way in which the different agreements network together, i.e. to find a way of visually presenting the contours of a given passage that one can pick up straight away. It's a bit like diagramming Greek grammar. The way the primary-colours and combinations scheme works is to present to the reader with a one-look demonstration of the different degrees of agreement and disagreement. I am not sure if I am finding a clear way to articulate this yet, and at the root of my inability to articulate it may be some misunderstanding on my part of how, for example, Stephen's scheme works, e.g. I am more familiar with primary colours and combinations in painting and paint-mixing than I am with "the primary colours of light", but in the latter does blue+red+green = black (Matt+Mark+Luke = triple agreemnt) in the same way that blue+red+yellow = brown on my scheme? It's probably just my ignorance showing here.

Update (Thursday, 16.02): Catherine Smith helps me out with the Primary Colours of Light with that link to a nice diagram. The diagrams here bear out my concern. The top one could be re-labelled according to my colouring scheme for the Synoptics, replacing blue / red / yellow with Matthew / Mark / Luke, purple with Matthew + Mark orange with Mark + Luke, green with Matthew + Luke, brown with Matthew + Mark + Luke. In fact, it occurs to me that that would be a useful way of my demonstrating my colouring scheme. But the same is not true for the primary colours of light in relation to Stephen's scheme since the latter has a rough adherence to the combinations but not a complete adherence.

One other thing -- Stephen corrects the CSS in his post on Synoptic Colors but I still can't get it to work for me. I am probably being Mr Thicko on this but can't work out what I am doing wrong.

Wright on Galatians

Another new addition to the N. T. Wright page -- what a fine and comprehensive resource it has become:

Gospel and Theology in Galatians
N. T. Wright

Originally published in L. Ann Jervis and Peter Richardson, Gospel in Paul: Studies on Corinthians, Galatians and Romans for Richard N. Longenecker (JSNTSup, 108; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994): 222–239

I was just lecturing on Galatians today too; what a fascinating epistle it is. I was encouraged by how much the students in the class today engaged with the intricacies of the epistle too. One of the most interesting comments, and it took me a couple of seconds to process it, was in response to a question I asked about whether they thought they would have been convinced by Paul if they had been in Galatia. The comment was "I think I would have been convinced by Paul's opponents in Galatia, but then I'm a woman".

Caviezel as Superman?

While on the topic, and also in homage to Christopher Reeve who died yesterday, the rumours about Jim Caviezel (Jesus in The Passion of the Christ) show no sign of abating, for example in this article in the Baltimore Sun about Christopher Reeve (A Super Man). The most thorough coverage of the rumours is in Christianity Today and most recently in this update:

Reel News: Latest reports deepen mystery behind Caviezel/Superman rumors
Jeffrey Overstreet

James Carroll on The Passion and Anti-Semitism

I mention this not because it's well-observed or well-written (it isn't) but because it typifies what is problematic about so many of the overreactions to The Passion of the Christ. It is from today's Boston Globe:

A new anti-Semitism
By James Carroll

But this year, a startling manifestation of foundational hatred of the Jewish people has occurred in the very heart of well-intentioned Christian faith. When the blockbuster DVD of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" was released a few weeks ago, the astounding appeal of an already hugely successful film was made clearer than ever. For many, this portrait of the suffering and death of Jesus is a powerful religious experience, despite its hyper-violence and despite a blatant portrayal of "the Jews" as Satan's allies in the murder of one revered as the Son of God.

There have been several examples of the same caricature in recent months, but it is still worth adding that it is incorrect and misleading to talk about "the Jews" in inverted commas in this way. The film never uses the term "the Jews" in its dialogue / subtitles (except in the phrase "king of the Jews"). Nor is it the case that the Satan figure is any more prominent among Jewish characters in the film than with non-Jewish. Indeed, it is striking that the most memorable of the Satan scenes, during the scourging, when the Satan carries an ugly baby, occurs at the moment of supreme human evil, when the sadistic Roman guards are flagellating Jesus. As I attempted to make clear in my article on the subject, there are concerns with this film, as there are with all of the Jesus films, but these concerns are not adequately addressed by misrepresentation.

Review of Bibical Literature latest

Latest from the Review of Biblical Literature under the NT heading:

Fitzmyer, Joseph A.
Spiritual Exercises Based on Paul's Epistle to the Romans
Reviewed by Preston Sprinkle

Gaca, Kathy L.
The Making of Fornication: Eros, Ethics, and Political Reform in Greek Philosophy and Early Christianity
Reviewed by Chris Frilingos

Harland, Philip A.
Associations, Synagogues, and Congregations: Claiming a Place in Ancient Mediterranean Society
Reviewed by Michael Kaler

Horsley, Richard A.
Paul and the Roman Imperial Order
Reviewed by Verlyn Verbrugge

Porter, Stanley E.
Reading the Gospels Today
Reviewed by Kevin W. Larsen

Porter, Stanley E.
Reading the Gospels TodayReviewed by Dennis R. Lindsay

And it is interesting and encouraging to see the RBL branching out into other media too. The following is a review of a DVD set:

An Archaeological Search for Jesus: Hosted by Hershel Shanks
Reviewed by Daniel Gurtner

More on the James Ossuary

On Biblical Theology, Jim West notes the latest on Biblical Archaeology Society's updates on the saga of the James Ossuary:

Hebrew Script Expert Ada Yardeni on the James Ossuary and the Jehoash Tablet

In a sentence, "In sum, I am confident that the James ossuary inscription is authentic. About the Yehoash inscription, there is more doubt."

Update (Tuesday, 21.23): I must admit that I was rather hoping that Stephen Carlson would make one of his informed comments on this latest contribution, and I was not disappointed -- see Hypotyposeis.

Farrer on-line

There are several on-line resources connected with Austin Farrer and I thought I would gather them together here on this, the centenary of his birth. First, his own writings. This article is one that he is now quite well known for. I scanned it from the pages of the volume myself and edited and uploaded, I think in 1997 or 1998. At that point there was only one scanner in the university and I had to make appointments to hire it for an hour at a time, and a slow business it was:

Austin Farrer, “On Dispensing With Q”, D. E. Nineham (ed.), Studies in the Gospels: Essays in Memory of R. H. Lightfoot (Oxford: Blackwell, 1955): 55-88

This piece was an essay added to the English translation of Kerygma and Myth by Rudolf Bultmann and Five Critics (London: SPCK, 1953):

An English Appreciation by Austin Farrer

It is made available on-line, along with the whole of that book, by Religion-Online; unfortunately, the edition does not give the original page numbers.

Sadly, that about sums up the on-line Farrer content. But here are some interesting materials relating to him:

Synoptic Gospels Primer: Austin Marsden Farrer

This is a page from Mahlon Smith's fine Synoptic Gospels Primer.

This piece, by Jeff Peterson of Austin Graduate School, was given as a paper at the SBL Annual Meeting of 2000 in Nashville, as part of a session on the Farrer Theory of Synoptic origins, at which Mark Matson and I also spoke. The respondents were John S. Kloppenborg and Elizabeth Struthers Malbon:

Jeffrey Peterson, “A Pioneer Narrative Critic and His Synoptic Hypothesis: Austin Farrer and Gospel Interpretation”, Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 2000 (Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Paper Series, 39; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000): 651-672

Finally, the most important for today's celebration -- an on-line transcript of a sermon preached by the Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries, at Oriel Colletge on 8 September this year, at the conclusion of the Centenary Conference:

Celebration of The Centenary of the Birth of Austin Farrer, October 11th 2004

This is hosted on the Diocese of Oxford website and features a colour picture of Farrer. Here is a nice excerpt:

When I was at Cuddesdon there were two sets of lectures which made the whole experience of college worthwhile. One was by Bill Vanstone, the other was the series of Holy Week lectures by Austin Farrer. He came quietly and quickly up the aisle at Cuddesdon parish church, mounted the pulpit and without any ado talked to God for an hour before descending the pulpit and walking quickly out again with as little fuss as he had come in. It was a privilege to overhear him talking to God. I also came out of the church with a sense that as he had spoken my mind had gone click, click, click as question after scarcely formulated question seemed to receive an answer and a fresh insight. I would have been hard put to decide whether it was a spiritual experience or an intellectual treat. It was of course both. And this highlights the nature of Farrer’s genius. Genius normally consists of one talent in extreme degree. Farrer’s was of three aspects, the mind, the imagination and the spirit fused together in such a way that each reached its perfection in relation to the other two.

I found out recently too that there does exist a recording of Austin Farrer's last sermon, preached on the Sunday before he died, on "The Ultimate Hope", and it is available for sale on a CD from St Mary's Church at Temple Balsall.

Austin Farrer Centenary

Today is the centenary of the birth of Austin Marsden Farrer on 11 October 1904. Farrer, who died in 1968, was a fine philosopher and religious thinker, in the words of Rowan Williams "possibly the greatest Anglican mind of the twentieth century". His thought has been celebrated already at a special conference in honour of his memory in Oxford (Austin Farrer Centenary Conference) and another is due to run in the USA in November (Captured by the Crucified). Although a fine theologian, Farrer had another string to his bow and was also a brilliant and much underrated Biblical scholar. What follows is a very warped personal appreciation, warped because it is partly mediated through others and is dependent on my own limited encounters with his work.

My own encounter with Austin Farrer's work has been mediated through at least two other people, Michael Goulder, whose own contributions to Biblical studies began by taking on his mantle, and John Muddiman, my doctoral supervisor, who was also a student of Farrer. One of Farrer's most well known contributions to New Testament Studies was his seminal article, itself now almost half a century old, called On Dispensing with Q, in which he made one of those great intuitive leaps that only the finest minds are able to make but which, alas, often only bear fruit many years after the genius's death. By suggesting that it is possible to "dispense with" Q, while holding on to Marcan Priority, on the grounds that a good case could be made for Luke's direct knowledge of Matthew, Farrer paved the way for the serious working out of the theory in Michael Goulder's work, almost all of it after Farrer's death. I have a personal stake in this, but would like to add that I can't help thinking that the tide is beginning to turn on the Synoptic Problem; people now seem so much more willing to acknowledge the strength of Farrer's alternative.

But On Dispensing with Q represents a minor, if interesting, part of Farrer's output on Biblical Studies. Indeed it was essentially the outcrop of his having found, when working on Matthew, that he simply could not find the Q theory plausible, in spite of the fact that it was held by all his Oxford colleagues and much of the rest of the guild. And his work on Matthew is well worth reading. I return to it regularly, and gain a little more from it on each return. I am thinking here of St Matthew and St Mark (Westminster: Dacre, 1954). I am happy to say that there is a Birmingham link here too. This book was given as the Edward Cadbury Lectures 1953-4 here in Birmingham. The Cadbury Lectures are still going strong over fifty years later; in my time here we have had Heikki Räisänen and Ed Sanders. But St Matthew and St Mark is a remarkable book in that it essentially realises that understanding Matthew provides a key to understanding Mark, and vice versa. Farrer saw Matthew, rightly in my view, as a systematic explicator of Mark's dark mysteries. Read the introduction to that book -- it has some of the best material you will read on either Matthew or Mark.

The other thing that is striking about St Matthew and St Mark is that it is essentially a development of, a reworking of an earlier work of Farrer's, A Study in St Mark (Westminster: Dacre, 1951). I remember reading this as a student and finding it fascinating in some respects but in others unconvincing. In particular, there is a problem with the extent of Farrer's attempts to understand the Marcan symbolism of numbers. And Farrer himself was not convinced and revised his thoughts in St Matthew and St Mark, though he still convinced few even in the fresh format. But what I admire here is Farrer's understanding and appreciation of the questing nature of Biblical studies (my term). I reckon that if more of us were prepared to experiment in the way that Farrer did, and if fewer of us were worried about being seen to change our minds in public, scholarship might be much more interesting. One gets the feeling when reading Farrer that if only he had long enough to meditate and work through all of this, that in the end he would get there and crack Mark's code.

One other legacy from Farrer's Biblical criticism has stayed with me from the first moment I encountered it in a library in Oxford some years ago, and it is his wonderful and disparaging use of the term "paragraph criticism" as a means of describing the work of the form-critics. Farrer was really well ahead of his years here, not only in showing some scepsis for the obsession with pericopae that characterised the work of the form-critics, but in anticipating not only redaction-criticism but also narrative-criticism, as Jeff Peterson recently argued. But I should also mention his work on Revelation, which I have never myself studied in the way I might have done because I have never spent as much time on Revelation as I might have done, A Rebirth of Images: The Making of St John's Apocalypse (London: Dacre, 1949).

A little later, I will point to some web resources on Farrer to help out in celebrating this, his centenary.

Death of Derrida

On Christian Origins, Peter Kirby notes the death of Jacques Derrida on Friday, aged 74. This is the BBC News story:

Deconstruction icon Derrida dies
Jacques Derrida, one of France's most famous philosophers, has died at the age of 74

Derrida, who suffered from cancer, died in a Paris hospital on Friday night.

The Algerian-born philosopher is best known for his "deconstruction theory" - unpicking the way text is put together in order to reveal its hidden meanings.

Fellow academics have charged that Derrida's writings are "absurd", but his mark on modern thinking is undisputed, correspondents say.

In his long career, he taught at the Sorbonne and at several American universities.

Jacques Derrida could claim to be one of the few philosophers of the late 20th Century who people other than students of the subject had actually heard of, says Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield.

In retrospect, I rather regret preferring the steakhouse to Derrida when he spoke at the SBL Annual Meeting the year before last, on a Saturday night. How fickle I am!

Here's The Guardian's version of the story:

Philosopher Jacques Derrida Dies at 74
Elaine Ganley

Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

On the Textual Criticism e-list, which now seems to have pretty much replaced the defunct TC-List, Wieland Willker draws attention to this new resource:

Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts

Its mission statement is that "The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts desires to take high-resolution digital photographs of Greek New Testament manuscripts, preserving the treasures of the Church and making the images accessible for scholarly research" and its director is Daniel Wallace. It is apparently based in Frisco, Texas. The design is nice and the early signs are good for the site. They currently have three MSS on-line, Codex 669, Lectionary 1683 and Minuscule 2813. Worth keeping a close eye on.

Journal of the Evangelical Theology Society on-line

On Biblical Theology, Jim West notes this useful development:

Journal of the Evangelical Theology Society On-line

So far, volumes from 1996 to 2002 are available. The articles themselves are PDFs, but some of the tables of contents could do with a run through the spell-checker. Still, good news to another journal of interest to our field going the open access way.

Jerusalem Post latest on Ossuary

Stephen Carlson mentions this in Hypotyposeis and thanks also to Stephen Goranson for sending over the link. In this online edition, the interview with Hershel Shanks is not that easy to read because the interviewer's remarks are not properly distinguished from Shanks's. But here's the link:

'IAA handling James ossuary case very poorly'
Calev Ben-David

One of the interesting pieces of information comes at the end of the article, that "The IAA declined to react to the comments made in this interview. The Israel Police told The Jerusalem Post that they have concluded their investigation into Oded Golan, and have passed their findings to the State Attorney's Office, which is now weighing whether to file charges against him."

The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha

Several other bibliobloggers have already mentioned this, but some links are too important not to underline oneself. This looks like a very promising project, properly thought-through and so far beautifully executed, using sophisticated but aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly lay-outs:

The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha

The project is directed by Ken Penner, David Miller and Ian Scott. Good to see them using unicode fonts for the project, surely the future of all such projects. So far, The Testament of Job has been fully prepared with critical apparatus; also available are Testament of Abraham and 1 Enoch. There are invitations for others to get involved too. A very promising project -- all strength to their arms.

Evangelicals debate Steve Chalke on Jesus

Ekklesia has had a couple of pieces on a new book by Steve Chalke on the doctrine of the atonement, questioning how central penal substitution should be. My interest in this has been to see a couple of NT scholars croppting up. Previously it was Lloyd Pietersen, who I know from the British NT Society. This time it is my friend Simon Gathercole, who does not get a good write-up in this story:

Evangelicals debate Chalke's Message of Jesus

Evangelical scholars including James Dunn, Stephen Travis, Nigel Wright, Clark Pinnock, Robert Brow, Mark Baker and Joel Green, had all questioned the biblical basis of penal substitution, and the importance accorded to it in Evangelicalism - a point made by the Evangelical Alliance.

Opponents of Steve Chalke’s position were given equal time to speak and make their case against the book.

It was however difficult at times to work out what Dr Simon Gathercole, a Lecturer in New Testament at the University of Aberdeen and Dr Anna Robbins, a Lecturer in Theology and Contemporary Culture at the London School of Theology, were actually saying.

Review of Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible

Robin Griffith-Jones has an appreciative review of the Eerdman's Commentary on the Bible in this week's Church Times:

EERDMANS COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE By James D. G. Dunn and John W. Rogerson
Reviewed by Robin Griffith-Jones

. . . .The range of approaches exemplified in the book is immensely stimulating. It may, however, (albeit unjustly) lessen the value of the volume as a compendium of the information that pastors and students have come to look for in a commentary . . . .

The voices we hear in this volume are the voices of those personally involved in the faith and the Church. They are well equipped to urge us, as S. C. Barton does, to take with full seriousness both the historical contingency of the text and the text’s continuing significance in the life of the Church. “We have to read it eschatologically, as the ‘word of God’ for the present with a view to the future consummation of all things.”

There is a vivid sense, here, of how intimately the text addresses these contributors and their readers as individuals: as scholars, in particular, almost all working in Britain or the United States. But the anger of the text at intractable structures of power generally reaches the reader (I think) only faintly, from the middle distance. The anger of some readers with the text — and with the endorsement it has been used to lend to those structures — is even harder to hear.

But Griffith-Jones really likes it. He comments that "The list of the 67 contributors is a roll-call of current scholarship". I am not sure about the word "current". The contributors represent the top notch senior colleagues in the guild, what my friend Michael Goulder would call "the top brass". In some ways, this is an excellent thing. But I would add something here from my own experience. As a graduate student in Oxford, I did some work, in the very early stages, for John Muddiman and John Barton on the Oxford Bible Commentary. My task was to do some research on the publications of scholars who were towards the beginning of their careers in order that the editors could assess who might be useful to approach as potential contributors, the point being to give the commentary some longevity by featuring not only the top brass but also the up-and-coming. I reckon that that was a good idea.

BBC Religion under scrutiny

Today's Guardian features news of a review of BBC's religious output:

BBC's religious and EU coverage under scrutiny
Matt Wells

Publishing the terms of reference for the reviews yesterday, the governors said the Central Religious Advisory Committee, which advises British broadcasters on coverage of religious issues, had "highlighted concern about the marginalised scheduling of much religious output, including the absence of a regular slot, and the lack of understanding of religious faiths on the part of some programme-makers".

Jana Bennett, the director of television, has agreed to develop a new religion strategy. The last one, approved two years ago, is not believed to have been a success.

Well, I'll be keeping an eye on this. I think the BBC has produced some excellent religious programming over the last few years, and I've been lucky enough to have been involved with some of it myself.

Scripturalization in Mark's Crucifixion Narrative

Things have been quiet for a couple of days on the blog because I've had the usual enormous backlog of administration, and especially an enormous backlog of correspondence, all made worse by having to prepare teaching after returning early on Monday morning from Rome. But one happy interlude has been provided by the sheer necessity to get an article written on "Scripturalization in Mark's Crucifixion Narrative", which I will be giving in the Mark Group at this year's SBL Annual Meeting. We had our Graduate Biblical Studies Seminar in Birmingham today and it gave me the chance to give the new paper, which I finished at around 2.30 a.m. last night, a first try-out. Here's a summary at the end of the paper, pending my posting the whole paper on-line at the weekend after I have done a little more tweaking:

Allow me to summarise our discussion. (1) Scholars still seldom appreciate just what an extraordinary undertaking it is to have tried to write a narrative about a hero who was crucified. (2) Mark overcomes the problem with this anomalous frightful by grounding his story in God’s will as revealed in the Scriptures. (3) The process concerned is one of scripturalization, the retelling of traditional materials in the light of the Scriptures, a view more plausible than the alternative of prophecy historicized. (4) The context for the Scripturalizing work was one in which Mark was in continuity with Christians going back at least to 50s Corinth, and no doubt to 30s Jerusalem, and it was the liturgy, something that has left its own mark on the text in circumstantial evidence.

It is simultaneously a pleasure and an irritation (but I think more of a pleasure) that one is working towards a conclusion on this kind of thing only to find oneself getting a host of extra ideas. One thing that I have been struck by has been the way in which Jesus' cry of dereliction functions in Mark's narrative. This may not make a lot of sense without the whole context, but I am in the mood to share it here. What I am concerned about is the scholarly cliché of seeing the cry of derelection as a sign of "embarrassment". Is Mark really in any way embarrassed by this moment? I don't think so. Rather, the more that one dwells on the magnitude of the task Mark has embraced, that of telling a story in which a hero is a victim of crucifixion, the more such a cry makes perfect sense.

In these verses, where Jesus is, of necessity, largely silent, the Scriptures speak all the more loudly. They provide Mark with the means of telling a plausible story (a crucified victim might be depicted uttering a few choice words, but extensive conversations are quite out of the question if one wishes to keep one’s narrative plausible) at the same time as making it theologically robust. It acts as a useful reminder that discussions about the cry of Jesus from the cross as being an embarrassment, as being the more likely historically because of that, as quite out of place. Mark is not in the least “embarrassed” by this cry. It is an ideal means of expressing plausibly the horror of the cross at the same time as reaffirming, by quoting the Psalms, that it is in God’s will.

We had two other papers today, the first my colleague David Parker discussing Textual Criticism and Theology and the second his student Richard Goode talking about Orality and Textuality in the Gospel, both stimulating.

Review of Biblical Literature latest

Latest from the Review of Biblical Literature under the New Testament heading:

Bockmuehl, Markus
Jewish Law in Gentile Churches: Halakhah and the Beginning of Christian Public EthicsReviewed by Lutz Doering

López Rosas, Ricardo
La Señal del Templo, Jn 2, 13-22: Redefinición Cristológica de lo Sacro
Reviewed by David Brondos

Nasrallah, Laura
An Ecstasy of Folly: Prophecy and Authority in Early Christianity
Reviewed by John Marshall

Räpple, Eva Maria
The Metaphor of the City in the Apocalypse of John
Reviewed by Mark Bredin

Suh, Joong Suk
The Gospel of Paul
Reviewed by Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte

Tomson, Peter J.
Translated by J. Dyk
'If this be from Heaven...': Jesus and the New Testament Authors in their Relationship to Judaism
Reviewed by Michele Murray

Sample Articles and Sample Journal Copies from Blackwell

Blackwell Publishers have sent around a circular announcing the availability of sample articles and sample copies of its religion journals available on-line:

Blackwell Publishing is offering open access to some key articles from its top religion and theology journals. To access the articles, please click on the links below and select the 'sample article' displayed near the bottom of the screen.

Should you wish to access a whole sample issue online you may do so by selecting the 'View a Sample Copy' option on the left-hand side of the screen, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Dialog: A Journal of Theology
www.blackwellpublishing.com/dialog

The Heythrop Journal
www.blackwellpublishing.com/heyj

International Journal of Systematic Theology
www.blackwellpublishing.com/ijst

Journal of Chinese Philosophy
www.blackwellpublishing.com/jocp

Journal of Religious Ethics
www.blackwellpublishing.com/jore

Journal of Religious History
www.blackwellpublishing.com/jorh

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion
www.blackwellpublishing.com/jssr

An extra 64 pages for 2005!
Modern Theology
www.blackwellpublishing.com/moth

The Muslim World
www.blackwellpublishing.com/muwo

New to Blackwell for 2004!
New Blackfriars
www.blackwellpublishing.com/nbfr

Includes 2 Issues of Conversations in Religion and Theology!
Reviews in Religion and Theology
www.blackwellpublishing.com/rirt

Teaching Theology and Religion
www.blackwellpublishing.com/ttr

Zygon
www.blackwellpublishing.com/zygon

Loren Rosson Reviews Passion book

Loren Rosson has a helpful review of Robert Webb and Kathleen Corley (eds.), Jesus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ on Amazon and reproduced on the Xtalk e-list:

Jesus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (Amazon)

Jesus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (Xtalk)

In my view, he's perhaps a little too harsh on Crossan, a little too generous to me and about right about the rest, but it's a thoughtful and well-written review. I really must get my own thoughts out about this book; hope to get a chance soon.

Update (Thursday, 01.36): this has developed into a very interesting thread and I've not been able to resist sending in contributioins myself -- click on the link above to read the archive.

Blogger problems today

On Paleojudaica, Jim Davila reports on problems he has had all day with Blogger. Me too. I go to publish and it blanks on me. I try again, same result. I then find later that it has published the same entry several times and I have to go through and delete. But it seems to have cheered up again now.

Visual Bible International Update

Regular readers may know that I keep an eye on news about Visual Bible International, the producers of the word-for-word films of Biblical books, the most recent among which was The Gospel of John (dir. Philip Saville, 2003). What little news there is continues to be discouraging; this piece from USNews.com is on Garth Dabrinsky, the man behing the revamped organisation:

Garth Dabrinsky

But in recent months, Visual Bible International, the Florida company for which Drabinsky coproduced his $10 million film, the Gospel of John, has been embroiled in headline-grabbing lawsuits by former officers amid reports of sagging sales and mounting debts. Drabinsky, 54, dismisses a recent lawsuit as "a joke" and blames Mel Gibson for stealing his thunder. "Obviously we were the flavor of the moment till The Passion took over," he says. "And it was kind of overwhelming."

Now Drabinsky is negotiating a new video deal for his film. But in SEC filings last June, Visual Bible --formerly known as American Uranium--declared that if income didn't materialize, the company could be forced to close up shop. Still, Drabinsky shrugs off any suggestion of impending disaster. "In business careers, there are moments of soaring highs and deep lows," he says. "^You can't lose yourself over either. You have to stay the course."

For a film with a British director and a British lead, I find it remarkable that it has still not been released in this country, either in cinemas or on video and DVD. There are ways of marketing these things! I'm not sure about the claim that The Passion had an adverse effect on this film. One could argue that the interest in that film generated a lot extra publicity at the time, and its release several months before The Passion gave it the chance for enthusiasts to get out and see it while ancipating the bigger film.

Early Christianity Glossary

N. S. Gill's Ancient / Classical History announces:

Early Christianity Glossary

It's clearly still in development, but could be another useful glossary in the long term (cf. Deinde's stronger one, and my recent blog comments on other on-line glossaries). I'd have liked to have seen some comment on the use of "A.D." and "B.C." here, at least some acknowledgement that they are not now used by many scholars. But this makes me wonder something out loud. Is there anyone apart from Biblical scholars / theologians using BCE / CE? It's been out there a long time now. Is it ever going to catch on more broadly?

Update (23.18): N. S. Gill emails to note that she has now added sentences on "B.C.E." and "C.E."

Ernest Best

I join with fellow bloggers in mourning the death of Ernest Best, announced on Paleojudaica today. I met Paddy Best just once, at the British New Testament Conference in 1998, when -- sadly -- he was clearly unwell. A fine scholar, with many a useful contribution to NT studies.

Beatification of Anne Catherine Emmerich

A footnote to my Rome Travel Diary. One correspondent noted that it really was going a bit far in my appreciation of The Passion of the Christ to be in Rome at the same time as Anne Catherine Emmerich was getting beatified! The story of the beatification is here on Beliefnet:

Vatican Set to Beatify Gibson's Passionate Muse
By Kevin Eckstrom

It's not something I've blogged about before, but I have followed the story. I knew that it was coming up soon but was still taken aback when on Saturday I asked in St Peter's Square what was going on and people said that it was being prepared for a beatification on the following day. We all had to be given special passes to be allowed anywhere near. None of the members of the crew I was with knew who she was, "I think it's some 19th Century Austrian woman". One sidenote -- while in St Peter's Square, we were constantly harrassed by the police in spite of the fact that we had permission to film there. On Sunday itself, though, we were filming in the catacombs, so were not present for the actual event.

Update (19.06): coverage of the beatification is all over the news; here's a link from BBC News, which profiles Emmerich and Emperor Karl I, who was also beatified.

Christian Origins goes blog

It's good news to see Peter Kirby's Christian Origins getting blogified:

Christian Origins

Kirby has for some time been the author of great internet sites connected with Christian Origins -- he's a massive contribution. It's a great idea to transform the Christian Origins site into a blog, or at least to blog-enable or blog-power it. It's already on my Bloglines list and I am looking forward to reading it.

Rome Travel Diary, Day 3

I got a lie in this time, until 7 a.m., because the others had some filming to do I don't remember where. They picked me up at 8 and we drove down the Appian Way to the catacombs. A little filming outside but most of it was inside the catacombs; lots of walking up and down not talking for all the in-between shots, some walking and talking, then the main piece on Mark was filmed in a spot next to a fish and Chi-Rho symbols. The questions on Mark were the same sort of thing as for Luke and John yesterday, though now with particular stress on Mark as the first Gospel. Why did he take this radical new step? Who was he? Where did he get his materials? As far as I understand it, this sequence in the catacombs will come after the material on Paul, featuring Eddie Adams out in Ephesus and filmed last week. We linked it in by talking about Rome and about persecution, and persecution as a possible back drop for Mark.

It was a bit nippy down in the catacombs and this rather focused the mind; had to make sure I didn't delay things by needing to retake anything. One long pause was caused by a camera lamp breaking, just before we were to film the Mark material. After that, we had to use the ordinary electric lightbulbs on the ceiling, and it is pretty dim down there. So Robert and I stood directly underneath the light, quite close together. Apparently it looked quite good, so I'll be interested to see it.

In between the Mark shoot and the Matthew one, it was great to get outside and bask in the warm sunshine just for long enough to thaw out. Like yesterday, I was ravenously hungry throughout -- getting up early, only a croissant for breakfast, on your feet, trying to concentrate; whatever it was I was really ready for lunch later when we got it.

We did the whole of the Matthew section inside the Sebastapol chapel and sitting down. Same format, but as with each one some specific focus on the Gospel in question. With Matthew, we really focused on the question of its Jewish nature and I attempted to explain, in response to Robert's questions about anti-Semitism, that in order to understand it we need to read it in its intra-Jewish context. I also talked a little about Matthew "re-Judaising" Mark's Jesus. Just after this interview, we did lots of shots of our walking to that spot from different angles, and so on, and Robert fell up some steps. Just after that, when he asked a question, I started giggling and the others all did too. Having gone through that barrier, it became difficult to be serious again and each time I looked at Robert, he or I or one of the others giggled. Unprofessional, perhaps, but it was quite a happy few minutes; it was so close to the end of the shoot that perhaps there was something of relief in it that we were getting to the end and that all had gone well.

I am sitting at Rome Ciampino airport now, finishing this travel diary. I have too long a journey home, with a train ride from stansted to Birmingham longer than the plane journey from Rome. But I have the paper to read, one book left, and an article to write which was due last Thursday, and I have a lot of sleeping to do. I've enjoyed keeping this travel diary and may repeat the experiment on a similar work-related occasion. Otherwise, back to normal blogging again.

Rome Travel Diary, Day 2

Up at 6 a.m. Nice to see Robert Beckford, my colleague from Birmingham, who is presenting Who Wrote the Bible. We took a taxi to St Peter' Square where the morning's filming all took place. It was the first time I'd been there and by dawn's early light, it was a wonderful sight. As the morning went on, it filled up until it was packed full of tourists and lots of priests and nuns. One happy sight was a group of nuns clearly visiting the Vatican for the first time and loving every minute of it, drinking it all in.

Our topics today were Luke and John. Although they will, of course, go later in the programme, the filming was prior. Tomorrow we do Mark and Matthew in the catacombs. It's probably the most enjoyable filming I have been involved with. I had the chance to be relaxed, to be more expansive than usual, and to talk about a topic I know something about. At one stage I even got the chance to talk about Luke's sources! Quite often when I've been involved with television, the necessity to distill everything down to just the one succinct soundbite has been the key thing. But on this shoot, at an early stage, director Polly Morland told me to be less "soundbitey" and asked both of us to explore the issues in slightly less frenetic a style. It was a particular contrast with my most recent experience, filming for Jesus' Family Tree, when much of the rest of the documentary had already been filled and the director had a very clear idea of precisely what she wanted on each question. (No criticism implied; the context and content of my contribution to each documentary is very different). Moreover, Robert Beckford's enthusiastic, engaging style of interviewing, and the fact that I was not having to give self-contained answers, made it fun.

We spent something like four or five hours at St Peter's Square; I'm not sure precisely how long it was. We used lots of different locations around there, some static filming and some of us walking around. And there were lots of long shorts of Robert and me walking around. For both Luke and John the same sorts of questions. Who were they? When were they writing? What were their sources? Were they making this up? How did they depict Jesus? What themes come through? Were they eyewitnesses?

After a pasta lunch, I was free for the rest of the day. The others went to film a sequence on canon in a library. After a good sleep back at the hotel I had a little time to explore Rome alone. I probably should have bought a guide book and map, but it was nice just to wander and see what I found. I went to the top of the Victor Emmanuel building, passing the statue to an unknown soldier, and took in the fine view of Rome. I decided to head down to the colisseum from there and stuck around there, and had a beer at the café across the road from it, before heading back to the hotel to meet the others and go out first for some drinks and then some food. The fixer, called Nancy, did all the Italian speaking for us; it was either that or the universal language of pointing and smiling. I had some calamari. Robert broke off half way through the meal to do a live interview, sitting at the table, on his mobile phone, for his radio programme on BBC WM (West Midlands). After the meal, several of us found a nice spot to have a little more red wine on one of those lovely continental late summer evenings (it feels like summer to me out here -- much warmer than England is at the moment).

Rome Travel Diary, Day 1

Friday, 23.05 BST: In my hotel room in Rome; there is no internet connection available, either wireless or otherwise, but since I have my laptop with me, and since this trip is work-related, I have decided to keep a diary as time permits. I will upload on return on Sunday night / Monday morning, and will upload in the appropriate time slots, to reflect the times when I wrote each section, as if I had also posted them at those times.

Spent much of the day travelling. For me is an excellent way of catching up on both reading and sleeping. Slept so deeply during the latter part of my train journey to Stansted that the guard had to wake me up, so it was a good thing that my destination, the airport, was the terminus.

But also read Travis Derico's SBL Seminar Paper for the Synoptics Section, "Upgrade and Reboot: A Reappraisal of the Default Setting". It is an interesting read. As I see it, the paper makes one important point: generalised appeals to "orality" are not particularly helpful given the many varieties of orality in antiquity. And there is the related point that to talk about "variability" as a general characteristic of orality simply will not do. But those important points aside, I found the paper frustrating on two levels. First, I was surprised that, given the title, a clear allusion to James D. G. Dunn's NTS article of a year or so ago, and the related book Jesus Remembered, the article did not engage Dunn's work at all. There was simply one footnote expressing general support for Dunn's project. It made me wonder whether this was a case of a paper having set out with one intention and then having gone on with another.

My second point of frustration was its failure actually to engage the case for literary interdependence among the Synoptics. The paper repeatedly talks about "Synoptic type similarities" and the levels of agreement between the Synoptics, implying that oral tradition could explain such agreement in toto. But this is such a radical case, such a major departure from the consensus view, that the vagueness with which the consensus is characterised is inadequate. I also felt that there was a basic confusion between the case for some kind of literary relationship and the case for specific solutions to the Synoptic Problem. These are different, if related points.

The next article I read was Maurice Casey's critique of Larry Hurtado's Lord Jesus Christ from the most recent JSNT, a stimulating read, at its strongest on John's Gospel (can a document that calls its opponents "the Jews" still be called a Jewish document?) and at its weakest on its characterisation of Hurtado's arguments as sometimes "evangelical". Hurtado's response is also strong, and makes some effective points against Casey. Happily, both pieces on the whole avoid the kind of polemic that can be typical of such critiques and responses, and they are far more interesting and engaging for that restraint. A word about the editor of JSNT, David Horrell: he is doing a fine job of producing these kind of exchanges from top notch scholars on recent major works of interest, and getting them out in good time. Good for him, and long may it continue. I now find that I look forward to the latest JSNT more than any of the other journals, and that certainly did not used to be the case.

Eventually I departed from London Stansted for Rome. Sadly, the associate producer of the programme was unable to come with me because of passport difficulties so we simply met at the airport and I travelled alone. Slept lots more on the plane but also finished Martin Hengel's Crucifixion, a book I have long wanted to read properly but have only recently purchased, second hand.

Rome alone, for the first time, with no Italian and little idea of where I was going was a challenge, but I did managed to find my way to my hotel with the help of a taxi driver named Paolo who pointed to key sites on the way. I'm not quite sure precisely where I am, but a late evening walk on a pleasant, mild evening, a beer and a sandwich sitting outside on a cobbled pavement and watching Friday night Rome pass by, have given me a happy first taste of the place. But it will be nice to meet up with some people I know tomorrow.

Possible blogging break

I am flying to Rome later today to take part in a documentary being filmed for Channel 4 with the working title, "Who wrote the Bible?" Since this is a business trip, I am going to take my blogging machine with me, but don't know yet whether I will have time or opportunity to use it, so it's a possible blog break.

Francis Watson articles on-line

Thanks to Andy Goodliff for drawing to my attention the fact that Francis Watson's homepage now features a good number of full-text articles and excerpts from work, both that published elsewhere and that not. It's yet a further sign of that steady revolution that is taking place on the Open Access front of scholars providing copies of their research freely available to all on their homepages. And it's very welcome. The main link is here:

Professor Francis Watson

Included are excerpts from his new book (Word document):

Paul and the Hermeneutics of Faith

And a recent journal article (PDF):

'The Authority of the Voice: A Theological Reading of 1 Cor. 11.2-16', New Testament Studies 46 (2000): 520-36

And the materials not currently published elsewere (Word documents):

• The resurrection and the identity of Jesus
  
• The crucifixion in Mark
  
• Christ and Reality in Ephesians
  
• Theological exegesis of Genesis 18-19
  
• The Spirit and Biblical Hermeneutics
  
• Theological Interpretation
  
• Theses on Theological Interpretation

The Theology Generation

There's an encouraging article, for those of us teaching Theology in the UK at least, in this week's Tablet:

The theology generation
Christopher Lamb
What lies behind the increasing popularity of theology among university students? We asked one of them to investigate

. . . . It is hardly a "dossers' degree". Research by Manchester University of 18 theology and religious studies departments shows that six have raised their grades in the past year, with record numbers of students being interviewed for places. To get a place at St Andrews University in Scotland requires A-level grades of ABB (up from BBC), while at Durham, students need grades - or predicted grades - of ABC to even be called for an interview.

Even for someone who knows nothing about the subject, theology sounds interesting and looks good on a CV - provided the degree is from a good university. In that sense it is much like any other arts or humanities degree.

"Almost all of our students read theology for general interest, as they would English or history," says Rosalind Paul, admissions tutor for divinity at Cambridge. "A degree is about training the mind."

To learn about history, the Bible, Christianity and the influence of the Churches are good places to start. Theology is extremely flexible: not only does it bring together the disciplines of philosophy, literature, linguistics and history, but the choice of what to study within a theology degree is extraordinarily wide. "I've looked at everything from Buddhism to the Catholic Church's reaction to the Holocaust," says Patrick Scott, who is studying theology at Bristol University . . .

You may need to register (free) first. The article finishes with a quotation from a graduate of Exeter College, Oxford -- nice to see my college represented in the article (and I recognise the name of the student too, Richard Price). It's good to hear of the rising popularity of Theology. Much of the article chimes in with my own experience. I've spoken at two sixth form days this year, which we run in Birmingham for prospective students of Theology and Religion, and both have been well attended and full of really enthusiastic people. On each occasion I have encouraged them not to lose their enthusiasm before they come to university.

Oral Performance and Its Context

Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2004.09.44 has added a detailed review of what looks like a fascinating and helpful book, especially given the current interest in this topic in NT studies. It is a Brill book so probably one for the library rather than personal possession:

C.J. Mackie (ed.), Oral Performance and Its Context (Mnemosyne Suppl. 248. Leiden: Brill, 2004)
Review by Jose M. Gonzalez

Relaunch of The Expository Times

Alison Jack, the executive editor of the Expository Times, has sent me this information about the relaunch of the journal. I asked if I might also make it available on the blog and she was happy to agree:

----------------------
Relaunch of The Expository Times

For over a century The Expository Times has enjoyed a reputation for its thought-provoking articles, helpful sermons and stimulating book reviews.

The Journal has large and dedicated following all over the world and many of our readers subscribe to The Expository Times throughout their working life.

With its roots in biblical scholarship, The Expository Times provides a valuable service in the continuing education of the ministry and over the years has evolved to reflect this.

In the Spring of 2005 The Expository Times will be re-launched to meet the demands of a 21st century readership. The re-launch will be accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign to thousands of ministers, colleges and seminaries worldwide.

We are therefore now inviting friends and colleagues to contribute articles to the new look Expository Times.

The ingredients which have made The Expository Times popular and successful over the years will still be very much in evidence in the new journal and The Expository Times’ principal focus will remain biblical. However, we are looking to expand the remit of the journal to cover other areas of interest to our readership. Our readers have indicated to us that they are interested in a wide range of scholarly issues covering aspects of current debate in academic circles but written in a clear and accessible way.

Expository Times’ readers are highly educated and informed and we want at all costs to maintain the academic credibility of the journal but we also need to adapt to appeal to the demands of a minister working in a busy environment. Therefore we are looking for stimulating and informative articles of 3-4000 words in length, on the bible and theology, in particular, relating to the ministry and avoiding any unnecessary academic jargon.

The format of the journal, which will be familiar to many of you, will remain relatively unchanged. Roughly divided into three sections the journal will feature articles, a worship resources section (including commentaries and sermons) and book reviews.

The journal appeals to an international, interdenominational audience, with a wide range of theological viewpoints, and articles should reflect this. The following offers a rough guide to the themes we are looking for but is by no means exhaustive:

· The bible and contemporary society
· Apocryphal writings
· New and Old Testament history and background
· Social issues including gender and race
· Ethical dilemmas
· Liturgy and worship including history and liturgical change
· Pastoral matters
· Practical Theology
· Contemporary issues affecting the Church
· Surveys of literature in the field
· Hymns and hymn writers
· Using multimedia in sermons
· Practical preaching tips
· Preaching on themes
· Preparing sermons for various audiences, eg children, teenagers, racially mixed audience etc
· Using the internet
· Interfaith issues
· Biography
· Autobiographical articles, charting the evolution of the thinking of a theologian or biblical scholar

We very much hope that you will want to contribute an article and would like to invite you to contact us to let us know what you would be willing to offer.

In particular, we are looking for contributions to be published in April, May and June 2005 for which copy will be needed by the beginning of November, December 2004 and January 2005.
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You can contact the editor on a.jack@ed.ac.uk.

Questioning Q

My copy of Questioning Q arrived in today's post. This book is a collection of essays edited by Nick Perrin and me and featuring a Foreword by N. T. Wright. It is published by SPCK in the UK and InterVarsity Press in the USA (who are giving a publication date of February 2005 for their version). The essays are contributed by Nick Perrin, me, Mark Matson, Jeff Peterson, John Poirier, Eric Eve, Richard Vinson and Ken Olson. It was a pleasant surprise to see the volume this early; the date given in SPCK's publicity is October 22. However, there is next to nothing on the internet available to advertise the volume and it's not really available to buy yet. I'll post some more news when I have it. But it was a great pleasure to see the book more than three weeks earlier than I had expected. In the mean time, here are the bibliographical details:

Mark Goodacre and Nick Perrin (eds.), Questioning Q (London: SPCK, 2004); Foreword by N. T. Wright. Paper. ISBN: 0281056137.

The only thing that I was a little disappointed about was that SPCK have dropped the individual contributors' names from the cover of the book. I'll perhaps dig out a picture of the earlier draft of the book cover and post it here when I have a moment.

The Miners' Bishop: Brooke Foss Westcott

Last week's Church Times (I was away at the weekend) features a review of an interesting looking biography of the New Testament scholar and Bishop of Durham Brooke Foss Westcott:

THE MINERS’ BISHOP: Brooke Foss Westcott
By Graham A. Patrick

Reviewed by John Whale

Problems with Semeia on Ebind

Monica Vila Echague points out to me that the Semeia volumes on Ebind now ask for a username and password so it seemed that these were no longer free to all users (See the list on my Journals page; this is the second list; the first one is hosted by SBL). However, it seems that if one types in Username: "any" and Password: "any", then one can still obtain access to these files. If I were you, though, I'd save any you want on your hard drive now lest they really have gone before long. It has happened before.

Short Review on Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ

I have commented before on the Miramax book called Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ and I am still planning to post my comments on this essay collection here in due course. (Note: this is not the same book as Jesus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ). Here's a short review on IndyStar.com:

Perspectives on "The Passion of the Christ" (scroll down a bit)

. . . . The book suffers from weak editing. By the third time a writer explained that "synoptic" means "seen together" (as in the synoptic Gospels), I was wishing they'd just put a glossary in the front.

The writers' attitudes toward Mel Gibson's movie range from discomfort to contempt. Surely, they could have found someone thoughtful who flat-out liked the film? Having said that, the essays are generally well-written and cover in detail the reasoning of those who did not love the movie . . . .

I quite agree with these comments -- the weak editing, or lack of editing, is something that I'd like to come back to in my review; it is an element that contrasts with the more recent Webb and Corley edited volume. I also thought that it was pretty depressing reading a book that on the whole was so thoroughly negative about the film, and which was sometimes misinformed and often descended to caricature and polemic.

Mahlon Smith revisits The Passion

In Mahlon Smith's Virtual Religion Weblog, he revisits The Passion of the Christ with some comments on some comments by Catherine Baril:

Gisbon's Passion Revisited

Catherine Baril's comments, extensively quoted by Mahlon, are essentially an explanation of why she has no intention of watching the film. I have a genuine and sympathetic understanding of this position since I experienced this myself earlier this year. I often used to write in this blog of my dread of going to see this film, not least because of my extreme aversion to violence and violent films. Indeed it was only my fascination with Jesus movies that effectively made it compulsory that I should see it. I was ready to hate it. And I would say that while I still very much understand those who feel that they cannot face viewing it (including my Mum and my wife!), in my own experience the viewing of the film has proved an emotional, a spiritual, a profoundly uplifting and moving experience, an experience I am pleased that I have been able to share with many others who feel the same way.

A side comment -- Mahlon comments "at the risk of appearing obsessed". Well, if anyone can share with him on that one, it's me! But I am not concerned about the amount of the attention this film has generated from Biblical scholars. If we are not able to comment in an informed way in the public arena on such an important cultural event directly related to our primary interests, then the more fool us.

Tom Wright answers emailers

Over on the N. T. Wright Page, Tom Wright provides answers to questions asked by various emailers on the "WrightSaid" email list. This is an occasional feature organised by the group's maintainer Kevin Bush:

Bishop Tom Wright answers Wrightsaid Questions (September 2004)

Unfortunately, most of the answers are short and some simply refer the reader to already published work. The answers do feel a little rushed, but of course it's better than nothing. I would like to see the authors of the questions identified on this page too; at present we have simply anonymous questions and I like a bit more personal information, at least a name. At the conclusion, Wright offers some information on forthcoming publications:

Paul for Everyone: Romans is coming out next month (SPCK in UK, WJKP in USA); that a small book provisionally entitled Scripture and the Authority of God is due out in a few months; and that I am working on the book-version of the Hulsean Lectures I gave on Paul in Cambridge last spring -- provisional title, Fresh Perspectives on Paul...

More Gems on Katapi

And it's not just Streeter's Four Gospels (see previous post) but several other full on-line books made available on Katapi including:

Introduction to the New Testament by A H McNeile.
First published Oxford University Press 1927.

A Historical Introduction to the New Testament by Robert M Grant.
First published by Collin's 1963.

The Riddle of the New Testament by Sir Edwyn Hoskyns & Noel Davey.
First published Faber & Faber 1931.

On-line Streeter, The Four Gospels

On Hypotyposeis, Stephen Carlson notes this remarkable development:

B. H. Streeter, The Four Gospels: A Study of the Origins (London: Macmillan, 1924)

It's not just a straight transcription but a very nicely produced on-line edition by someone called Paul Ingram. The internet continually has the ability to surprise one on a daily basis. Just one comment at this stage: though the edition is beautifully hyperlinked, what would help enormously would be the original page numbers too for referencing purposes.

Update (30 September): I've now added to the New Testament Gateway: Synoptic Problem: Books and Articles page.

AKMA on the SBLSP clause

It's good to see AKMA coming on board with the concerns expressed in various blogs over the "hands off" clause ("Because these papers represent works in progress, they should not be quoted or otherwise cited without permission from the author") in the new on-line version of the SBL Seminar Papers:

Matter of Principle

But more important, the whole issue points to the extent to which this constituency of academia has yet to come to terms with the changes — and especially the opportunities — that online publication entails. Trevor and I have been knocking ourselves out, trying to find people who were willing to publish their work online at all. We’ve encountered all varieties of resistance, to what will be a matter of uninteresting fact in a few years. Rather than seeing the positive implications for disseminating scholarly debate over biblical topics, the guild responded with fear and with futile clutching after an illusory control.

Caviezel mistaken for Jesus

OnlyPunjab.com has this remarkable story about James Caviezel (who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ):

Jesus actor mistaken for the real deal

James Caviezel . . . was on a one-week tour of the east Mexican state of Veracruz.

According to Mexican newspaper Reforma, dozens of residents from villages throughout the state, one of the poorest in the country, asked Caviezel to heal the sick and perform other miracles as he passed through.

The actor, who is himself a strict Catholic, said: "The belief of these people really moved me.

"It was a shock for me to see how they came up to me to ask for my help. I had to explain to them that I was only an actor, and wasn't really the son of God."

This reminds me of the famous story about Robert Powell finding a great tapestry of his face in a church once when he was on holiday; it's a slightly scary reminder of just how powerful a medium film can be.

Herodian Palace excavation

RogueClassicism references this interesting article on Haaretz:

The Jewish millionaire who surrendered to the Romans
By Ran Shapira

David Meadows describes this as "a nice report on the excavation of a Herodian-era palace at Ramat Hanadiv, which appears to have been abandoned during the Jewish Revolt that began in the 60s A.D.". Well worth a read.

Review of Biblical Literature Latest

Latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature

Dart, John
Decoding Mark
Reviewed by Lincoln Blumell

Dart, John
Decoding Mark
Reviewed by Mark Schuler

Herranz Marco, Mariano
La Virginidad Perpetua de María
Reviewed by Bernie Cueto

Milavec, Aaron
The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

Milavec, Aaron
The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary
Reviewed by Eric Noffke

Milavec, Aaron
The Didache: Text, Translation, Analysis, and Commentary
Reviewed by Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte

Murray, Michele
Playing a Jewish Game: Gentile Christian Judaizing in the First and Second Century CE
Reviewed by Joshua Burns

Paul Books and Articles page update

I am teaching Paul this term, so have been updating some links on the NT Gateway page on Paul, specifically Books and Articles. There are new URLs for the articles by John Gager and Francis Watson, and two new Tom Wright links from the N. T. Wright page, all marked with the red "New" and "New URL".

January 2005 Conference on the Rhetorics of Identity

This was posted yesterday on Rhetoric-L by L. G. Bloomquist on behalf of J. David Hester:

Dear Friends and Colleagues -

Due to interest concerning the conference, we have extended the deadline for submissions.

Please post this information anywhere you wish - the wider the variety of fields represented at the conference, the more exciting it will be.

Previous conference participants are encouraged to return; those who have not yet participated are most heartily welcome to join us.

-J. David Hester

**************

The Centre for Rhetorics & Hermeneutics is [excited] pleased to announce Rhetorical Constructions of Identities: Place, Race, Sex and the Person, the next in series of successful international conferences exploring rhetorical theory in the context of pressing public issues. The conference will take place Thursday through Saturday, January 20-23, 2005 at the University of Redlands in Redlands, California.

All proposals pertinent to the topic will be considered. Explorations can include: biblical constructs of sacred identity and persona, issues of race and ethnic constructions, religious reconstitutions of the subject, sexed identities and desire, political and legal definitions of the subject and their implications, philosophies of individualism, honor-shame cultures and dyadic personalities, the conflict of allegiances, the role of the person in rhetoric and ad hominem argumentation, medical discourse and research and their impact upon ideas of the self, among other subjects. Participants from the fields of anthropology, philosophy, literature, rhetoric, religion, social and political sciences, medicine and ethics, to name a few areas of possible interest, are welcome.

Our conferences are unique in their conception and dialogic approach. They have remained interdisicplinary and transdisciplinary in inspiration and practice. Our commitment is to provide a context of safety where respect and dialog can take place, where experts come together to share from a variety of fields offer insights not usually available in larger and more disciplinary settings, and where international connections are fostered.

Proposals must be submitted by October 31, 2004 with notification of acceptance made by November 8, 2004. As we have done in the past, all proposals must be sent in by mid-January for distribution to all conference participants prior to arrival. Presentations are limited to 10 minutes, with 30-45 minutes roundtable dialogue to follow.

Participants who have joined us in the past will be given priority, but we welcome any and all to come join in the exchange. Registration is free, but transportation, lodging and food must be covered by the participants themselves.

The presentations will be published electronically in the journal Queen, but possibility of pulp publication will be discussed at the conference.

Please send proposals by October 31, 2004 to david@ars-rhetorica.net and /or jdhester@adelphia.net.

New N. T. Wright articles

The N. T. Wright Page has published three more articles by N. T. Wright. These are clearly lectures of some kind and appear to be three lectures in a series (see the opening lines of the third) on "Christian Origins and the Resurrection of Jesus":

The Resurrection as a Historical Problem

Early Traditions and the Origin of Christianity

The Resurrection and the Postmodern Dilemma

One request to Kevin Bush, alongside thanks for his fine site, would be that he gives date / place / origin of these papers.

Warren Carter on Pilate

Bible and Interpretation have published a short essay on Pontius Pilate, by Warren Carter:

Pontius Pilate: Roman Governor
Warren Carter

N. T. Wright, Future of the People of God

The N. T. Wright page provides a link to Open Source Theology's materials from a conference featuring Tom Wright:

The Future of the People of God

There are preparatory reading materials, including summaries of Wright's books, and there are MP3s of each of four sessions.

Horizon on King Solomon's Tablet of Stone

I forgot to mention this earlier, so apologies to anyone in the UK who might have caught this if I'd have mentioned it in time, but tonight there was a good documentary on King Solomon's Tablet of Stone which touched also on the James Ossuary. It was on Horizon on BBC2 and the programme's web site carries a useful summary:

King Solomon's Tablet of Stone

It also promises a full programme transcript in due course. There were several interesting pieces of footage, one showing how to make a fake patina, another showing Oded Golan's arrest (or at least Golan in handcuffs being led away) and another showing the pieces retrieved from Golan's residence, including what were claimed to be several half-completed fakes, and loads of bullae.

Added Note: I've had a hunt around and see that if anyone is desperate, there is a repeat showing on Wednesday 6 October, BBC1, at 4.05 a.m.

Print Google Search

Open Access note this useful resource from Research Buzz:

Isolating Google's Printed Material in a Google Search Form

This is a nice little form that isolates the material that is part of Print.Google.com so that you can run searches on that material alone. (See Print.Google.com here for a comment on this). Having used this form on some NT topics (cf. earlier entry, New Testament on Google Print), it seems that there is still not a great deal of information there, and on the whole Amazon.com still provides a far better service when it comes to searchable full-text. Here some tidbits that I found using the form, all relatively short excerpts:

Jesus and the Politics of Interpretation (excerpt on the Quest for the Historical Jesus)
by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza

Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times
by Paul Barnett

Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus: The Discovery and Text of the Gospel of Thomas
by John Dart, Ray Riegert

Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence
by Robert E. Van Voorst

Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity
by Paula Fredriksen

Jesus, Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
Bart Ehrman

Death of Jesus and the Birth of the Gospels

I have been invited to speak to clergy from the Worcester diocese today at a Patronage Day at Worcester Cathedral. My topic is "The Death of Jesus and the Birth of the Gospels", which is also the planned subtitle of the book I am planning on the Passion narratives. While preparing for this last night, it occurred to me that it might be useful to make available on my home page a lecture I gave last year at Wellesley College in which I set out my stall for that research, as it were. What I would like to do, therefore, is to add a little section on my home page on "work in progress" in which that and other pieces of current research are made available. It shouldn't take long to do and I hope to sort this out soon.

Synoptic Problem Web Site makeover

Stephen Carlson's Synoptic Problem Home Page has begun a makeover, announced on Hypotyposeis and with comments already by Rubén Gómez and Tim Bulkeley. Here's the new site, with a slightly changed name:

Synoptic Problem Web Site

The major change is the CMS, now using Blogger. I like this idea and the site is looking great. There are precedents in the area, e.g. The Stoa Consortium or Ancient / Classical History. I have toyed with the idea myself for the New Testament Gateway proper, especially as this blog increases and, perhaps, in time the main gateway site decreases. If I were to do that, I'd keep the main page as a separate means of entry (as site map), but I would merge the blog and the gateway. But I'm not yet sure if that's desirable or appropriate, so for the time being it is the status quo but with an eye on those who are going down that route.

"Hands off half-baked papers" @ Deinde

It is good to see Deinde back and blogging again. For some reason, my Bloglines stopped picking up the RSS feed for it so I missed it for a while. One post from last week picks up on the discussion between the various biblioblogs on the SBL Seminar Papers (see SBL Seminar Papers Discussion continues for all the links) with this title:

The SBL Sez "Hands Off Half-Baked Papers"

Paul Nikkel comments usefully on the Open Access implications and possibilities of the move to web publication of the Seminar Papers.

Blogging mechanics 2: Comments old and new

A couple of weeks ago, I introduced blogger's own comments feature (New Blogger Features), explaining that while this was preferable to the old Haloscan comments, I did not want to lose a year's worth of old comments and so decided to put the two side by side. Unfortunately, no one seems to have realized that the "New comments" link was supposed to be the one to click and use, and commenters still used the old Haloscan "Comments" link. So I am trying something different -- I've relabelled the old Haloscan comments with "Old Comments" and the Blogger feature with just "Comments". So please use the "Comments" link and not the "Old comments" link. I hope that that makes sense; if not, I'll just scrap the older comments link anyway, but I'd prefer to keep it so that the older comments stick around.

Blogging mechanics 1: links in new windows

Should blogging links open in new windows? One correspondent and one commenter say yes; two commenters say no, one suggesting that one can always do this anyway oneself with a right click of the mouse. So I'll stick with the status quo -- links will not open in new windows unless the user chooses to make them do that. Frankly, I would probably forget to keep doing it anyway; blogger enables one to add links quickly and easily and adding a little extra code each time is not ideal. One other relevant note -- if, like me, you read blogs in Bloglines, links open in new windows anyway, always keeping Bloglines in the background.

Review of Biblical Literature latest

There is always time, of course, for the latest reviews on NT themes from the Review of Biblical Literature

Edwards, Mark
John
Reviewed by William M. Wright

Gorman, Michael J.
Apostle of the Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction to Paul & His Letters
Reviewed by Timothy Gombis

Gorman, Michael J.
Apostle of the Crucified Lord: A Theological Introduction to Paul & His Letters
Reviewed by Renate Viveen Hood

Kazen, Thomas
Jesus and Purity Halakhah: Was Jesus Indifferent to Impurity?
Reviewed by Darian Lockett

Moxnes, Halyor
Putting Jesus in His Place: A Radical Vision of Household and Kingdom
Reviewed by Zeba Crook

Wakefield, Andrew Hollis
Where to Live: The Hermeneutical Significance of Paul's Citations from Scripture in Galatians 3:1-14
Reviewed by Kenneth Pomykala

Bits and bobs, blog blips and breaks

When late on Thursday night I happily wrote that I would be blogging again on Monday, I'd not realized just how overworked I'd be on my return from travelling. I am so behind at the moment with absolutely piles and piles of work and more that I do not foresee being able to blog much at all this week.

Friday's travel was work related -- filming for a forthcoming BBC / Discovery programme called Jesus' Family Tree. My interview was filmed in the lower library at Worcester College, Oxford, a lovely old-fashioned library with old tomes that were obviously rarely consulted. My interview focused particularly on things like Thomas (in legend and history), the story of the Virgin Birth, questions about Joseph's former marriage, Jesus' relationship to his brothers and sisters during his ministry and especially at the crucifixion and beyond; and the genealogies. The last time I talked about the Virgin Birth on TV I got into trouble and I couldn't help being a little conscious of that. The general experience was slightly different from others I've had. The director was conscious of exactly what she was looking for in the interview and some of the questions I was asked multiple times (e.g. in the piece on Thomas, I was asked to do it again without saying 'Judas' because that was to be introduced by the narrator before this clip). I've done a bit of work for TV and radio, and every one is different, almost always enjoyable in different ways. This programme, by the way, does not go out until next Spring in the USA (Discovery Channel) and not until 2006 on the BBC. This is not a programme that I have a consultant's role on; I'm just a participant, so have no idea at this stage how it will turn out. But it looks pretty interesting -- two episodes totalling 100 minutes are planned, and much of the location filming, in Israel and elsewhere, is already done.

I have been doing some more reading and thinking about crucifixion while travelling and can now, I think, answer my own question of a week and more ago (Ancient Narratives of Crucifixion) and would like to do explain here when I get a chance.

I have also almost finished Jesus and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ and have jotted down pages of notes, especially on John Dominic Crossan's article, "Hymn to a Savage God". I'll be adding these here when chance allows. Overall, I am impressed with the book. It reads much better than the under-edited rival, Perspectives on the Passion of the Christ, much of which I really disliked. I'll be explaining my reactions to both of these as soon as chance allows. At the moment, that is not looking like being imminent, alas.

Blogging rest

I am away in Oxford, London and Paris this weekend and will not be taken my blogging machine with me, so the weblog is taken a break until Monday. See you then.

Theologians urge caution over Passion DVD

Beliefnet today carries this story:

Christian Leaders Urge Caution on 'Passion' DVD Release
By Kevin Eckstrom

A statement signed by 97 theologians, pastors and other church officials said the "visually powerful portrayal" of the death of Jesus in Gibson's film includes "numerous explicitly anti-Jewish elements that we consider an affront to the gospel."

"It encourages misunderstanding of the role of Jews and their leaders in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' death; it includes gratuitous anti-Jewish portrayals; and its promotion by Christians has largely ignored the pain and concern of the Jewish community about the film," the statement said.

The statement was coordinated by John Merkle, a professor of theology at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University in Minnesota, and Peter Pettit, director of the Institute for Christian-Jewish Understanding at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa. . . .

. . . . They also had strong words for their Christian colleagues. "We ... find it lamentable that Christian leaders so easily pass over its anti-Jewish character in favor of what they perceive to be its positive aspects," the signers said.

Notable signers included Harvey Cox and Karen King of Harvard Divinity School, Mary Boys of Union Theological Seminary, former Swedish Lutheran Bishop Krister Stendahl and the Rev. John Pawlikowski, director of the Bernardin Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Without wanting to sound facetious, I am surprised that only 97 signatories could be found. When I surveyed scholarly reaction to the film, I was amazed by the number of those who reacted negatively to the film, certainly the vast majority of those Biblical scholars who commented in public. I'd be interested to see the full text of this statement, but my concern would be that sweeping generalizations of the kind quoted above actually discourage a critical engagement with the strengths and weaknesses of the film, instead encouraging a descent into caricature that can only limit what the signatories are presumably hoping to achieve.