Mark Goodacre's academic blog. Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke University, in the Religious Studies Department. Visit my homepage, follow me on twitter, or contact me by email.
Robert Markus was a distinguished medieval and ecclesiastical historian known principally for his writings on St Augustine and the history of the early Church. While he wrote as a committed Christian, he always insisted that ecclesiastical history must be written with the same scientific objectivity as secular history, and that ecclesiastical developments could only be understood in relation to wider changes in society.
In Memoriam: Rev. Professor Robin McL. Wilson and Professor Graham N. Stanton
John Barclay
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 153 - 154
Research Articles
The Female Body as Social Space in 1 Timothy
Adela Yarbro Collins
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 155 - 175
Matthew's Use of Mark: Did Matthew Intend to Supplement or to Replace His Primary Source?
David C. Sim
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 176 - 192
Crucifixion and Burial
John Granger Cook
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 193 - 213
Announcing the Human: Rethinking the Relationship Between Wisdom of Solomon 13–15 and Romans 1.18–2.11
Jonathan A. Linebaugh
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 214 - 237
Paul's Mosaic Ascent: An Interpretation of 2 Corinthians 12.7–9
M. David Litwa
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 238 - 257
A Non-combat Myth in Revelation 12
András Dávid Pataki
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 02, April 2011, pp 258 - 272
There are several videos available online in a series called "The Christ Files". They appear to be from Sydney, Australia, but feature New Testament scholars based in Britain. This one is a short piece in which "Geza Vermes talks about Jewish life in the time of Jesus":
When you have been out of the loop, it is fantastic to be able to catch up via the Biblical Studies Carnival. There is an excellent one for February 2011 over on a blog called A Fistful of Farthings. I'm ashamed to say that it's not a blog I have been reading, so the Carnival has been good for advertising its author's work:
I've been away from the blogs for the last week or so because of a very heavy workload and I've enjoyed catching up here and there over the last couple of days. Catching up on the backlog provides a different way of consuming blogs than the every-day one. One of the interesting features is that one ends up spending more time on blogs with fewer posts. If you go several days without reading the big-posting blogs, the volume of unread posts grows so overwhelming that it is practically impossible to catch up with what you have missed. If there are just a few select posts, on the other hand, you are that bit more likely to read them. So what's the moral of the story? Post less often? Read more regularly? I don't think there is one. Just observing.
Documentary telling the unexpected story of how arguably the greatest work of English prose ever written, the King James Bible, came into being.
Author Adam Nicolson reveals why the making of this powerful book shares much in common with his experience of a very different national project - the Millennium Dome. The programme also delves into recently discovered 17th century manuscripts, from the actual translation process itself, to show in rich detail what makes this Bible so good.
In a turbulent and often violent age, the King hoped this Bible would unite a country torn by religious factions. Today it is dismissed by some as old-fashioned and impenetrable, but the film shows why, in the 21st century, the King James Bible remains so great.
It's an excellent documentary, compelling told, beautifully and colourfully filmed with shots of Oxford, Cambridge and London. It delves into the political dimensions of the translation at the same time as celebrating its scholarship and poetry. Strongly recommended.
The programme was first broadcast on Monday and it is repeated next Wednesday, 2 March. It is available on the iPlayer for several more days. If, like me, you are outside the UK, you'll have to use some jiggery pokery to access it.
Richard Bauckham's USA Tour continues today and tomorrow with the Kenneth Clark Lectures here at Duke, in the neighboring Divinity School. If you are in the area, do come along -- they are free to the public. A reminder of the details:
Individualism and Community in the Gospel of John
Lecture 1
Thursday, February 24, 2011
4:00-5:15 p.m.
0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School
Lecture 2
Friday, February 25, 2011
12:20-1:20 p.m.
0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School
I've just been re-reading Luke Johnson's Writings of the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999), 28, as I set my quiz for my Historical Jesus class today and I was reminded of this wonderful quotation of A. D. Nock:
It is in any case a grave error to think of the ordinary man in the Roman Empire as a depraved and cruel fiend, dividing his hours between the brothel and intoxication, torturing a slave from time to time when he felt bored, and indifferent to the suffering and poverty of others.
Johnson does not give the precise reference, but it appears to be Arthur Darby Nock, Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1933), 218.
I don't know what is going on but for some reason the NT Gateway has disappeared. It has been hosted by Logos Bible Software over the last couple of years, so I have got in touch with them to ask them if they know what is happening. I will, of course, post an urgent update here as soon as I have more. As a temporary measure, you can access the old site at archive.org, but I hope to have more news soon.
I always thought that it would take a lot to unseat Peterson's review of Shedinger as the most negative book review known in our area ("Reading this book fills one with dismay and despair. It is shocking that a work which does not rise to the level of a master's thesis should be approved as a doctoral dissertation; how it found its way into print is unfathomable" etc.). After reading Paul Foster's review of Bartosz Adamczewski, Q or Not Q? The So-Called Triple, Double and Single Traditions in the Synoptic Gospels (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2010), I am beginning to wonder whether this one now wins the prize and betters Peterson.
It appears in Expository Times 122/4 (2010): 177-80 (only available to those with subscriptions or with institutional inscriptions). A couple of quotations will give an idea of the flavour:
Unfortunately, while initial hopes may have been high for the project this book seeks to undertake, the outcome is not only disappointing, it is quite frankly bizarre, idiosyncratic, self-indulgent, unconvincing, lacking in academic judgment, implausible at every turn, methodologically flawed throughout, and poorly written. It demonstrates no critical awareness of the handling of sources, resorts to ad hominem presentations of the positions of various scholars, and cobbles together the most implausible array of historical interpretations. This unsurprisingly results in what may be the most worthless attempt to find a fresh solution to the synoptic problem in recent years. What is truly disheartening about this amateurish and unscholarly book is that because it is the only monograph-length defense of Matthean posteriority, it may be viewed as the major presentation of that theory.
The whole review continues in much the same vein. Of particular note is the conclusion:
Reading this work one does not know whether to roll around with laughter, or to weep with genuine pain. For this reviewer it is the second of those responses that was more prevalent throughout this book. How could a supposedly academic book, published by Peter Lang, a reputable scholarly publishing house, ever see the light of day? There has been a serious deficiency in quality control. This book shows no connection with, or appreciation of any form of mainstream scholarship on the synoptic problem. Opposing views are misrepresented and never sympathetically handled, even though they have far more cogency than the ideas expressed here. The approach is devoid of rigorous analysis of texts, but characterized by unfounded assertions and claims that the most implausible readings are self-evident. Adamczewski has the distinction of producing a book that makes Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code look like carefully researched and highly rigorous historiography.
I wish that Paul would stop beating around the bush and tell us what he really thinks.
On my commute into work this morning, I listened to a fascinating programme that was on Radio 4 about three weeks ago, The Honest Musician's Fear of Accidental Plagiarism (sadly no longer on iPlayer) [Edit: Available again on iPlayer from that link!, 29 October 2015]. It discussed the question of musicians inadvertently plagiarizing others' material. It began with a great story told by Guy Garvey from Elbow about how he accidentally stole one of his best lines, "Oh, kiss me like the final meal", from another song, and about how he confessed to the artist who charged him "one beer" for the offense.
I began to wonder how far this is a problem in our area. Are we ever involved in "accidental plagiarism"? On one occasion I used the line "that with a sharp enough scalpel, everything is unique" in what I thought was an echo of a thought of Michael Goulder's. I later found the practically identical line in his work -- "With a fine enough scalpel, everything is unique". In cases like this, I think it's a bit closer to homage than plagiarism, but it is a fine line. And I bet I've done it on other occasions without noticing.
I have noticed a large number of occasions where scholars have borrowed actual phrasing from James Robinson's brilliantly told stories of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi tractates. One of the lines he uses, "the ultimate act of blood vengeance", is found in many retellings of the story, sometimes with minor variations like "quintessential act of blood vengeance" (Meyer) or "extreme act of blood vengeance" (Ehrman), but more often just as it is in Robinson. The difficulty is that the influential telling of the story is so powerful that the wording can stick.
Thanks to Wieland Willker on Synoptic-L for the note that William Wrede's classic Das Messiasgeheimnis in den Evangelien; Zugleich ein Beitrag zum Verständnis des Markusevangeliums (1901) is now available online at archive.org:
Also available on archive.org are Wrede's Paulus and The Origin of the New Testament. The latter is also now available on Google Books in toto, including for download as a Google ebook, so you can even read it on your phone:
For earlier comments on the availability (and non-availability in some places) of the English translation of Paulus, Paul, see comments over on the NT Gateway blog and here on the NT Blog.
I was re-reading one of my favourite books about Jesus, H. J. Cadbury's The Perils of Modernizing Jesus (New York: Macmillan, 1937), and I enjoyed his use of a word that has fallen out of favour in academic writing, "veriest", as in:
Of the motives of his own action we must admit that we are left to the veriest conjecture" (Perils, 151)
I really like "veriest" and I like "veriest conjecture" even more. A quick google search suggests that the phrase is indeed somewhat archaic, with instances occurring early in the 20th century but falling into disuse thereafter. I might see if I can sneak it into my writing somewhere.
The blog's pseudonymous author is in fact "NTWrong" rather than "NT Wrong" and he introduces himself thus:
NTWrong is a former pastor, whose son is now attending Bible College. New Testament Commentary Survey is written with Mr. Wrong’s son in mind as the primary audience. There is no reason to suppose that thousands of people will make their way to this blog. However, Mr. Wrong hopes the site will be of utility to the occasional individual who stumbles across it.
It's interesting that the author is apparently unaware of real Wrong. Perhaps the early Christians similarly hit on the idea of being pseudo-Paul independently of one another.
Thanks to Mike Grondin on the Gospel of Thomas e-list for the link.
It is thirty minutes long and the first ten or so minutes discuss Codex Sinaiticus and there are contributions from Scot McKendrick, David Parker and Janet Soskice. There are some great shots of the manuscript. It was on BBC 4 on Monday and it was repeated yesterday. You can catch it on the iPlayer from the link above, although international users will need to use some jiggery-pokery if they want to view it. There is also a two minute clip here, featuring Scot McKendrick
Thanks to Phil Harland for sending over the details of this colloquium:
-- Ancient Gospel or Modern Forgery? The Secret Gospel of Mark in Debate
Tony Burke and Phil Harland have been busy arranging a special colloquium on the Secret Gospel of Mark at York University (to be held Friday, April 29, 2011). We would like to invite scholars and students who are interested to attend. The public is also invited to the evening session.
“Ancient Gospel or Modern Forgery? The Secret Gospel of Mark in Debate”
April 29, 2011, York University (Vanier College)
Scholarly Discussion (9 am-5 pm) and Public Debate (7-9 pm)
Featuring: Scott Brown, University of Toronto; Tony Burke, York University; Bruce Chilton, Bard College; Craig Evans, Acadia Divinity College; Phil Harland, York University; Charles Hedrick, Missouri State U.; Peter Jeffery, U. of Notre Dame; Marvin Meyer, Chapman University; Allan Pantuck, U. of California; Pierluigi Piovanelli, U. of Ottawa; Hershel Shanks, Editor of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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I am happy to say that I have had two paper proposals accepted for the SBL International Meeting in London in July. The first may be familiar to regular readers of the blog because it is something I began to brainstorm here. The second is in a section shared with James McGrath so with any luck we might even be in the same line-up.
A Walking, Talking Cross or the Walking, Talking Crucified One? A conjectural emendation in the Gospel of Peter 10.39, 42.
The Gospel of Peter famously presents the reader with a bizarre resurrection account in which a walking, talking cross emerges from the tomb (9.34-10.42). If the image were not already absurd enough, the difficulty is compounded by the lack of precedent for it in the text, with its ordinary, inanimate cross that does not enter the tomb with Jesus. If we conjecturally emend the text from σταυρον to σταυρωθεντα, from "cross" to "crucified", the difficulties are resolved.
Conjectural emendations should not be proposed lightly, but our only witness to this passage, P. Cair. 10759, is late (eighth century) and riddled with errors, including many in this context. If the exemplar had used the nomen sacrum ΣΤΑ (cf. 0212), it is easy to imagine how the scribe might have misconstrued this as abbreviating "cross" rather than "crucified". On this reading, it is "the crucified one" who has been preaching to the departed souls and whose voice is heard. Jesus is the chief character in his own resurrection account and is not upstaged by his cross.
How Reliable is the Story of the Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices?
The story of the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices in 1945 has attained near canonical status in scholarship of early Christianity. James Robinson's compelling narrative of how Muhammad 'Ali al-Samman and his brothers unearthed the jar containing the codices combines skilled investigative journalism with tales of intrigue and blood vengeance. Few appear to have noticed, though, that there are several different versions of the story, including a two person version (1977) and a seven person version (1979), with subtle variations including the identity of person who first found the jar.
Now, newly unearthed footage from a 1987 television series, apparently unknown to contemporary scholars of Nag Hammadi, sheds new light on the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the documents. The Channel 4 (UK) series, The Gnostics, features Muhammad 'Ali himself, in his only known appearance in front of camera, offering his account of the discovery. Although there are several points of contact with the earlier versions, there are also several major points of divergence, which raise fresh questions about the reliability of 'Ali's testimony.
The latest episode of the NT Pod came out last night and the topic this time is What is the Third Quest of the Historical Jesus?. It is the latest in the current series of podcasts on the Historical Jesus that I am running alongside my course on the Historical Jesus at Duke this semester.
Spotted this one over on the b-greek list -- three videos by Professor John Schwandt on accenting Greek. Here's the first with some fun illustrations using hares and turtles:
Details are now available for this year's Clark Lectures in the neighbouring Divinity School here at Duke:
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Established in 1984, the Kenneth Willis Clark Lectureship Fund honors the life and work of Reverend Professor Kenneth Willis Clark, a Divinity School faculty member for 36 years. Each year this fund enables the Divinity School to offer a distinguished program with special emphasis on New Testament studies and textual criticism.
These are free public lectures. No pre-registration is necessary.
Individualism and Community in the Gospel of John
Guest Speaker: Richard Bauckham
Richard Bauckham was until recently Professor of New Testament Studies and Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, and is now Professor Emeritus at St. Andrews. He retired in 2007 in order to concentrate on research and writing, and is Senior Scholar at Ridley Hall, Cambridge, where he does some teaching for the Cambridge Federation of Theological Colleges. He is also a Visiting Professor at St. Mellitus College, London. From 1996 to 2002 he was General Editor of the Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series. He is an Anglican (but not ordained), and was a member of the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England for some years. In 2009 he was awarded the Michael Ramsey prize for his book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, and in 2010 the Franz-Delitzsch-Award for a volume of collected essays, The Jewish World around the New Testament. His other publications include God Crucified: Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament (1998) and The Theology of the Book of Revelation (1993).
Schedule
Lecture 1
Thursday, February 24, 2011
4:00-5:15 p.m.
0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School
Lecture 2
Friday, February 25, 2011
12:20-1:20 p.m.
0016 Westbrook, Duke Divinity School
Please contact Jacquelyn Norris at (919) 660-3529 with any questions.
With an emphasis on textual reception history, the 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies is aimed at graduate students and early career scholars. Contributors are welcomed from the following fields of research: Old Testament / Hebrew Bible, Pseudepigrapha, Dead Sea Scrolls, New Testament and Early Christianity.
There are four plenary speakers:
Prof. Kristin de Troyer
Prof. James R. Davila
Prof N. T. Wright
Dr. Mark W. Elliott
Deadline for abstract submissions is 15 March 2011, which are welcome at StAnGCBECS@gmail.com
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Mentioned already, of course, by Jim Davila over on Paleojudaica. Looks like an excellent occasion.
I am having the kind of busy beginning of term that is reducing the amount of time I have to keep up with the blogs, so it's great to have Jim West putting together a carnival to help us to catch up with what we might have missed. It's really well done -- comprehensive, clear, lively:
It's nice having NT Wrong fronting it again. And there is also the latest of the new Top 10 by votes chart, with congratulations to James McGrath for the well-deserved top spot, and Bob Cargill (nicely caricatured) at number 2.
Over on Abnormal Interests, Duane sings the praises of the New Athena Unicode Font. Another word in its favour for scholars of antiquity -- it has a fine Coptic font and so is ideal if you work on Nag Hammadi codices and so on. I have found it a lifesaver for constructing synopses of the Gospel of Thomas and the Synoptics, where one needs Coptic alongside Greek, and it is the best way I have found for getting things lined up properly without line-alignment going nuts and driving you mad, which happens when you combine different fonts in Synopsis.
Update (22:14): In comments, Jon recommends Antinoou: A Standard Font for Coptic. I have downloaded and given it a whirl and it's definitely a nice looking Coptic font and in many respects superior to New Athena Unicode. Its Greek is a little less pleasing to the eye, but it does render my Greek / Coptic Synopses of Thomas and the Synoptic successfully, so it is going to be a competitor to New Athena -- no question.
Last year I mentioned an innovative piece of assessment, Sanders vs. Crossan through the Medium of Puppets. In my Historical Jesus course running at the moment at Duke, we came to both Sanders and Crossan this week. I decided not to share the puppet versions but instead played this excellent piece in which Ed Sanders explains his approach to Jesus and Judaism. It's about eight minutes long, just a bit shorter than your average NT Pod episode:
I think this is a fantastic way of introducing some of the central concerns in Sanders's approach to the Historical Jesus. It has a resonance with our students too because it is filmed here at Duke.
I really like this piece. I am sympathetic with what he says about Jesus' "matrix", and especially avoiding the term "background". This goes back at least to Geza Vermes's insistence, in Jesus the Jew in 1973, that we avoid seeing historical materials as "background" to the New Testament and instead think of them as witnesses. I don't think the term "matrix" can ever quite catch on in this context, though, given the way that it makes us think of The Matrix. But perhaps James McGrath would disagree and perhaps today's students are not as familiar with The Matrix as students were a decade ago.
If we were to dispense with Q, it would not be without tears. For Q has been all over the world, loved by everyone, feminists and liberation theologians, the sober and the sensational, the scholar and the layperson, a document with universal appeal. Indeed one of the keys to its success has been its ability to woo both conservatives and radicals alike. While conservatives, for example, are drawn by its early witness to sayings of Jesus, others have seen its lack of a Passion Narrative as witnessing to an alternative stream of early Christianity, one not based on the proclamation of a crucified Christ. For those at one end of the theological spectrum, Q can give us a document of Jesus material from before 70, written within a generation of the death of Jesus. For those at the other end of the spectrum, Q aligns itself with the Gospel of Thomas to form a “trajectory” in early Christianity that contrasted radically with emerging orthodoxy, and which only “canonical bias” can now obscure from our view (The Case Against Q, 16-17).
In general, though, I am disinclined to spend too long worrying about possible ideological underpinnings of theories. In the end, it's the truth that counts and I would rather spend an afternoon in the company of the Synopsis, working with the data, than an afternoon speculating about the the ideological motivations of the scholars.
Incidentally, that line "all over the world, loved by everyone" comes from Laurel and Hardy, "Beau Hunks", but I doubt that anyone spotted the subtle allusion. Sadly, the degree of overlap between those who love Laurel and Hardy, and those who love the Synoptic Problem is small.
Leonard Greenspoon, Department of Theology, presents "Codex Sinaiticus, The World's Oldest Bible: What It Is All About and Why Is It So Important?"
Codex Sinaiticus is a fourth century Greek manuscript that provides the oldest surviving text of the complete Christian Bible. For the Old Testament, the text is the Greek translation called the Septuagint. We will look at this manuscript in terms of its origins and also chronicle the exciting (if also at times, frustrating) story of its modern discovery. We will explore what can be learned of its use over the centuries and what it tells us about the transmission and translation of the Bible from antiquity until the modern period. We will also see how modern technology allows us all to view this treasure--as a work of art and, for many, as a source of inspiration--from our own computers.
Joslyn Art Museum in partnership with Creighton's University College, presents a sixth season of stimulating lectures by Creighton faculty. Held in Joslyn's Abbott Lecture Hall on select Sundays at 2:00 pm, CU atJoslyn presents a variety of topics and interdisciplinary perspectives on Joslyn's collections or exhibitions. CU atJoslyn is free with regular museum admission for general public, and always free for Museum members and Creighton students and faculty with ID.
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The latest episode of the NT Pod came out earlier this week and the topic this time is Why Study the Historical Jesus?. It is at the beginning of a series of podcasts on the Historical Jesus that I hope to run alongside my course on the Historical Jesus at Duke this semester.
One of the oldest and most useful sites in our area, Religion Online, appears to have vanished from the net. The site was a repository of hundreds of online articles and books, lots by the giants of the discipline. It was a no-frills, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, basic text kind of set up. I hope it has not gone for good. Luckily, the files are retrievable from the internet archive, e.g. this is one of the most recent archives: Religion Online (Internet Archive). The site appears not to have been updated since 2008, so it may be that its author has simply ceased maintaining it and that the domain name has gone.
It's been a real treat of the new year to have some excellent programmes on Radio 4 to celebrate the 400th year anniversary of the King James Bible. Let me strongly recommend in particular the three part series presented by James Naughtie:
It's a lively, clear and entertaining series with three episodes of 45 minutes each. It features scholars like Alistair McGrath. It's available on the iPlayer for all, international users included, so there are no excuses for not catching up with this. Go to the main link above or to individual episodes here:
Then don't miss Sunday from 9 January when a whole episode was devoted to the King James Bible. It includes interviews with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Ed Kessler and Simon Gathercole. As always with Sunday, it is available as a podcast.
Also worth catching is a discussion on Beyond Belief on 3 January on Translation and this one you can get as a podcast. It is a discussion of translation more broadly but the catalyst is the King James Bible anniversary.
Lots to enjoy there, but the series is the top priority -- well worth a listen.
As regular readers may remember, I like to honour the birthday of Albert Schweitzer on January 14 1875. As it happens, this often falls just when I am teaching the class on Schweitzer in my Historical Jesus course. I am going to be talking about the great man and his legacy next Wednesday, when I hope to use a few clips from the web, which I will also blog here.
Since I last taught the course, in Spring 2009, there has been a fantastic addition to the number of online videos on Schweitzer, a complete online version of the 1956 documentary Albert Schweitzer. (The date is usually given as 1957, but the film itself bears the date 1956). The film earned an Academy Award for "Best documentary" in 1957. Here is Part 1 of 8 over on Youtube:
The other seven parts are easy to find on Youtube -- links will appear alongside the video above. Also available is the German version of the same documentary, this time in glorious colour:
That's the first of eleven parts and again, the rest are easy to find. If you prefer, you can catch the whole thing in good quality at IMDb / Hulu :
Third, a remarkable French piece featuring a fairly lengthy interview with Schweitzer (in French) from dailymotion.com: Video Docteur Albert Schweitzer. It is apparently from 1961 and the quality is very good.
At about eight minutes in, you can watch the eighty-six year old Schweitzer playing the piano. One delightful thing about this footage is that there is a lot of humour -- Schweitzer comes across as a warm, friendly and funny person. Watch all the way to the end to see him waving at the camera as it departs in a boat.
If you would like to see film of the younger Schweitzer, you will have to make do with a reconstruction. This short clip from the Young Indiana Jones features Schweitzer at the piano, while Indiana Jones surveys his books, including Paul and his Interpreters:
Here is a second clip from the same episode, with Schweitzer on a boat with Indiana:
Here is a third clip, on a boat talking about "reverence for life":
Here is a clip of Schweitzer receiving his honorary degree at Cambridge in 1955 from British Pathe News. Click on the picture to view:
SCHWEITZER AT CAMBRIDGE
And finally, also from British Pathe News, some footage of Schweitzer at home in Alsace, including writing and organ playing, from 1959:
The first episode of the NT Pod in 2011 came out last night and it is headed "Did Jesus exist?" It is a short series of reflections on the so-called "mythicist" case with specific reference to two mythicists I have met, George Wells and Timothy Freke. I first met Tim on Channel 4's Right to Reply, in 2001, when he had recorded a piece critical of the BBC's Son of God (Jesus: The Complete Story in the USA). His piece criticized the BBC for not tackling the mythicist case head-on, and the article also featured short critiques of the series from Tom Wright and Judith Lieu. I was in the studio with Right to Reply presenter Roger Boulton, co-producer of Son of God Michael Wakelin and Timothy Freke.
I also reflect briefly on an earlier appearance on Right to Reply, back in 1984, when I was just 17. I was responding to the series Jesus: The Evidence, which featured several scholars of interest -- Geza Vermes, Helmut Koester, Dennis Nineham, Morton Smith. I was a precocious schoolboy and I recorded my little piece in the "video box" in Charlotte Street in London and was amazed when they decided to include it in the programme the next day. The video clip is long since lost (thank goodness), but the series itself survives in several scratchy Youtube versions, which I have blogged about on several occasions (previous blog posts on this series here). It looks peculiarly dated for something not that old, but it retains a real fascination for me. As far as I know, it is the only series ever to provide mini-reconstructions of the life of Rudolf Bultmann.
Anyway, the first episode of Jesus: The Evidence featured George Wells (Youtube excerpt of the Wells segement here) and I discuss that in the latest podcast. Twenty years later, I got to meet George Wells in London when he graciously came along to listen at a lecture series day in London which I shared with John Barton and John Muddiman. I greatly enjoyed our chat.
Wading into an area like Jesus mythicism is, of course, a risky business, but I think it is worthwhile, not least because it is something that can keep Historical Jesus scholars honest. I think it helps us to reflect too on the nature of ancient history. This episode came about because I am about to begin teaching my course on the Historical Jesus this week, and it's a topic that will be in my thinking.
It's the kind of question that you might see on a techie blog, like Mark Hoffman's Bible Studies and Technological Tools and it is the kind of question that could hardly have been less interesting to me until this week. But this week I finally entered the twenty-first century and got myself a smartphone. As a committed Logos user, I did know that they did not yet have anything for Android devices, though something is planned but what was I to do in the mean time?
Mark Hoffman's post Bible Software for Android came just in the nick of time. The place to go is Olive Tree Bible Software. I must admit that I hadn't visited Olive Tree for years. But they are the place to go if you have an Android phone. It's pretty straightforward. I just went to market place on my phone, looked for Olive Tree, found their "KJV Bible Reader", downloaded it and then went, within Olive Tree, to "Browse Online Book Store".
Now here's the trick. It's easy to think that the only option is to pay $35.99 for a Greek NT (NA27), and I couldn't find any other option in the "Bibles" section or in the "Greek and Hebrew" section. But I knew that Olive Tree had the SBL Greek New Testament because Mark Hoffman had told me so. And the place to look is in "Free Books". It takes seconds to download, and is just the kind of thing you want on your phone, i.e. when you are on the go. Back in the study, there are the books and there is Logos. But Olive Tree's reader and the SBL Greek NT is just what I wanted when out and about.
Back in January 2009, I published some Academic New Year Resolutions. The one that generated the most comments was the following:
Be less nice: I need to be much less nice. I notice that other academics focus on their own careers, they ignore emails, or they default to "no" every time. They look after number 1. In recent years, I have spent far, far too much time trying to be kind, collegiate and helpful.
A couple of years on and I think I may have failed. My productivity is still not as high as it should be and I still find myself saying Yes to too many things. So I am wondering whether it is time once again to make the all important academic's New Year's Resolution to be a bit less nice in 2011.
On the other hand, there are some really nice people who are also really productive. Think of Michael Bird, for example. You couldn't find a nicer chap if you tried. Not could you find a more prolific writer. And, come to think of it, Graham Stanton was a role model for how to be a kind, approachable academic and he wrote lots of good stuff too (see On Scholarly Conduct). So it looks like there is no connection between meanness and productivity.
Perhaps the answer is just to become a proper workaholic. That might do the trick. So, resolution for 2011: work harder, sleep less, spend less time with other people, write more.
Happy new year, everyone! A trip to England for Christmas took me away from the blog for a while, and the return to work (i.e. ploughing through the email mountain) has kept me away from it for a little longer.
I have been paying scant attention to the blogs, so the latest Biblical Studies Carnival by Joseph Kelly is a really useful way of catching up. It's a superb achievement of clarity and comprehensiveness.
Meanwhile, all sorts of things are going on in relation to the Biblioblog Top 50 and I have not yet found the time to work out what is what. All I can say is that if NT Wrong is involved, then I am in.
I sometimes wonder whether solo-blogging would have been the way to go. Larry Hurtado is one who does a great job of it, and he reflects now on his first few months at it.
After all, who can keep up with hundreds and hundreds of blog posts every day? And that's just in Jim West's blog. But recently, it seems that James McGrath is looking to emulate Jim's rate of posting. I hate to say it, but I find myself spending a little less long on each of his posts. I suppose that it is a law of the blogosphere: the higher the number of posts in a given blog, the less attention each one gets.
I shouldn't worry, though. I have recently, finally got hold of a smartphone and now I can check the blogs wherever I am. If that takes me away from what I really want to be doing, like watching the cricket on my phone, or followingreviews of the Doctor Who Christmas special, I can spend a bit of time with Bible Software for Android while I wait for Logos for Android, which is "coming soon".
One of the nice things about being in England for Christmas is catching programmes like The Nativity as they air. The fourth and final part aired at 7pm last night on BBC1 and I really loved it. I can't wait to watch it all again properly. It's all on the BBC iPlayer, of course, though international users will need to use a little jiggery-pokery to make it show up for them.
It is good to see the programme getting some coverage in the blogs. As one would expect, Matt Page, over at the Bible Films Blog, is right on top of things, with his own Full Review and then a Review Round-up with further useful commentary, noting that it has been something of a hit, both critically and in terms of viewing figures -- it pulled in more even than The Passion back in Easter 2008. In particular, it's worth noting Doug Chaplin's four part, episode by episode review. I was hoping to do something similar myself, but travel made it impossible, so I am delighted to see Doug doing a better job than I would have done. My full review will follow in due course.
Also worth a visit is Helen Bond's blog post about her involvement as historical consultant on the series.
There have only been a couple of complaints, one from Jonathan Romain concerning the depiction of a rabbi in the series (BBC Nativity drama was not "anti-Jewish") and another where the Daily Express embarrass themselves over a couple of lines of dialogue.
Also worth noting is a nice piece on the BBC blog by Tatiana Maslany, who was brilliant as Mary,Tony Jordan's Nativity: I play Mary. The piece comes with the following clip:
I always used to post the latest episodes of the NT Pod here also on the NT Blog but I have got out of the habit since NT Pod 38. So if you used to be in the habit of picking up the news of new episodes here, then I should add that there have been eight episodes since then, 39 to 46. I won't tire everyone by listing them all, but will point you instead to the NT Pod web page or remind you that you can subscribe in your preferred reader or subscribe via iTunes. Or, of course, you can follow the NT Pod on Twitter or on the NT Pod Facebook page.
I was tagged by Deane Galbraith in the "Most Embarrassing Book Meme" (see also Jim West, Mark Stevens, James McGrath and others) and after a perusal of my shelves during a spare five minutes during my office hours today, here is mine. As I mentioned recently, I am a fan of a full range of Qs and my embarrassing book is another of these:
The book is The Q Document by James Hall Roberts, a sensationalist novel published in 1964, akin to James H. Hunter's The Mystery of Mar Saba published in 1940. James Hall Roberts is actually a pseudonym for Robert L. Duncan (1927-1999) and in case you can't catch the wording on the back cover, it reads:
"Why did Red China want the Q document?
Why did the Vatican send someone to buy it?
Why did the Nazis believe it even though its discoverer was a Jew?
Why did a Catholic priest now contemplate murder because of it?
The air-dates for the new BBC Nativity, written by Tony Jordan, have now been announced over on the Red Planet Pictures website:
This Christmas on BBC One - Monday 20th to Thursday 23rd December 2010 at 7pm
Here is the rest of the blurb over on their website:
Tatiana Maslany and Andrew Buchan star as Mary and Joseph in Tony Jordan's adaptation of The Nativity for BBC One this Christmas.
Over four half-hour episodes the drama tells the traditional tale known to millions from a very human perspective.
With Mary and Joseph's enduring love story at the centre this familiar story is given a contemporary twist, as the drama follows Joseph and Mary from their initial courtship – Joseph desperate to win the heart of Mary – to his emotional turmoil at her unexpected pregnancy.
Tony Jordan said: "The challenge for me was to retell a story that has been told countless times before, a story that everyone knows intimately, yet to do so in a way that will still surprise and move you, to see parts of the story you'd never seen before.
"I really think that we've achieved that and I'm incredibly proud to have been asked by the BBC to be involved in such a wonderful project."
This gripping and vibrant adaptation shows the Nativity from a fresh viewpoint, highlighting how seemingly ordinary people reacted to the extraordinary and miraculous events that befell them.
Rich in colour and humour, the remarkable events that led up to Jesus's birth will unfold across the four nights, from the epic journey of the wise men to the poignant tale of Thomas – a poor shepherd – whose waning faith in God is revived as he kneels beside the crib of the newborn king.
Jordan's Nativity is a spectacular Christmas treat for the whole family.
Andrew Buchan as Joseph, Tatiana Maslany as Mary and Peter Capaldi as Balthasar are joined by an impressive cast including: Jack Shepherd as Melchior; Obi Abili as Gaspar; Art Malik as Nicolaus; Vincent Regan as Herod; John Lynch as Gabriel; Claudie Blakley as Anna; Frances Barbour as Elizabeth; Neil Dudgeon as Joachim; Al Weaver as Thomas the Shepherd; Ruth Negga as Leah and Gawn Grainger as Levi.
'The Nativity' is a Red Planet Pictures, K Films and Temple Street production for BBC One and CBC. It is distributed by BBC Worldwide.
It's nice to see that Mary's parents are Joachim and Anna, the names they have in the Protevangelium of James. I am also pleased to see that the distribution is by BBC Worldwide. For The Passion, the BBC partnered with HBO. It is now nearly three years later and the miniseries has still not made it to the HBO channel or to DVD in the US. Hopefully The Nativity will make it much more quickly to other territories as a result.
Welcome to the Natwivity. From 1st December you can follow Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Wisemen and Others on Facebook and Twitter as the Christmas story unfolds . . . .
The Natwivity takes advantage of social media's unparalleled capacity to engage people as they go about their everyday life to re-tell the Christmas story in a fresh, personal way. People will be able to pick up the 'tweets' in their homes, in the high street using their phones and at work.
The Natwivity will give this famous story an immediate, real-life feel, transforming them from people 2,000 years ago to friends of the follower, who are going through the drama now. Followers will be able to read Mary's angst as she tries to come to terms with the birth of her child, and hear from the stunned shepherds after their encounter with a host of angels.
It's a harmonized Nativity story, featuring several tweets / status updates each day from different characters in the drama. It appears not to be in "real time" given that at the moment the story is focusing on the aftermath of the annunciation and Mary's visit to Elizabeth. There are no Biblical references supplied, so it might be a fun task to get your students to hunt down which parts are from Matthew, which are from Luke and which are from the tweeter's imagination.
There is a little mild humour too, e.g. the shepherds are currently washing their socks by night. Does this mean that in due course three kings of holly and tar will be appearing, one in a scooter, one in a car?
I was sorry to read today on the T & T Clark Blog and Jim West's blog of the death of John Bowden. I used to meet John from time to time in Birmingham when he was a tireless worker for SCM Press and his authors. The chances are that even if you had not realized, you have read a Bowden translation -- Martin Hengel, Gerd Lüdemann, Hans Küng, Gerd Theissen, -- all these were his authors. Sometimes his translation and publication work was so speedy that he would get the SCM edition of a book out more quickly than the Germans managed! It's a great loss.
I am always surprised when people expect me to want to denigrate Q. As it happens, I am a big fan of Q -- I even "like" it on Facebook. So it is good to see Jim Linville bringing up the question of the existence of Q as a possibility for a Science Fiction section at the Society of Biblical Literature in San Francisco next year. And James McGrath invokes my name in the expectation that I may not be convinced.
Actually, I am a complete sucker for the comparison between fictional Qs and had a go at it back in my 2001 introductory textbook, The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze, Chapter 5:
“Q”, the letter used for the hypothetical source that allegedly lies behind much of Matthew and Luke, sounds mysterious and intriguing. On our way through the maze, here is something that has a sense of the thrilling. To many, the term “Q” quickly conjures up images from James Bond or Star Trek. Perhaps, the reader will think, this “Q” will be like the James Bond character “Q”, played by Desmond Llewellyn, ever able to provide some suitable new gadget appropriate to the occasion, equipping us ready to help us out of some implausible yet dangerous situation. Or perhaps it will be like the “Q” of Star Trek: The Next Generation, an ever powerful, strangely illusive, oddly irritating presence always lurking on the sidelines to divert us from conducting our affairs in the way we would like.
Without doubt, the study of Q does carry a thrill for many scholars and students of the New Testament. Some think that this lost source provides us with a window onto the earliest years of the Christian movement, and the work of uncovering Q is now often likened to the work of excavating material in an archaeological dig. Not surprisingly, the “discovery” in modern times of this lost document has led to something of an industry in New Testament scholarship, attempting to reconstruct its wording, its theology, its history, its origin. But before any of this is possible, there is a prior question, a question sometimes ignored, that requires careful attention: what is the evidence for this hypothetical document? How do we know that Q existed? Is the hypothesis based on solid ground or might the Q of Gospel scholarship turn out to be as fictional as the Qs of James Bond and Star Trek?
A little predictable, perhaps. But no one else was making the comparison at the time, and it was irresistible.
Here at the NT Blog, we are up late at night every night, twiddling our thumbs, hanging around and waiting for something worth reading to appear online. Usually, it is slim pickings but tonight is one of those rare occasions when our hope is more than satisfied. Deane Galbraith has one of the best, perhaps the best Biblical Studies Carnival ever over on the Religion Bulletin:
It will take you several hours to read it properly, especially if you follow all the links, as of course you are obliged to do. Galbraith fans gather around -- it's quantity as well as quality.
Thanks to Michael Bird for sending over notice of the new Journal for the Study of Paul and his Letters, announced over on Euangelion. I am a bit late in announcing this one because of the pre-SBL rush. Mike is editing along with Nijay Gupta, also well known from the blogosophere. Although it is not a free journal, there is a free sample first issue, which is in fact a free article from my colleague Susan Eastman, "Philippians 2.6-11: Incarnation as Mimetic Participation".
The latest Journal for the Study of the New Testament is a special issue on Wirkungsgeschichte. Articles are for subscribers and subscribing institutions only. Here is the alert:
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A new issue of Journal for the Study of the New Testament has been made available:
A job in New Testament has just been advertised at the University of Birmingham:
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UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY, THEOLOGY AND RELIGION Lecturer in New Testament and Theology Salary from £36,715 to £49,342 a year
The School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion, College of Arts and Law, University of Birmingham is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in New Testament and Theology. You will possess particular expertise in theology and biblical studies and how these relate to each other and to the study of religion/theology in the contemporary world. You will also have research experience at post-doctoral level, shown through a record of publications and have teaching experience at higher educational level. Ideally you will hold or be nearing completion of a PhD in New Testament Studies/Theology.
You will be required to provide advisory support for research, contribute to the design, development and delivery of programmes of study, and undertake research and administrative activities.
Closing date: 21st December 2010. Ref: 44432
To download the details and submit an electronic application online visit:www.hr.bham.ac.uk/jobs. Alternatively, information can be obtained from 0121 415 9000.
The Tuesday morning of the SBL Annual Meeting tends to be a bit of a non-event. There are sessions still going on, but they are attended by the speakers and just a smattering of people, those who are not yet fatigued and those who do not have a flight to catch for a while. I once had to speak on a Tuesday morning, Boston 1999, but on the whole I have been lucky since then. I do try to make it to Tuesday morning sessions when I can, but this year I could not.
I had a nice breakfast, though, at the Corner Bakery opposite the Hyatt Regency, where I was staying. And from there, I took the metro to the airport -- much cheaper than a taxi -- and was lucky to meet friends at the airport and to have one last Sweet Water 420 before flying.
I enjoyed this SBL. I found the Saturday, with my three speaking commitments, so exhausting that the Sunday and Monday seemed so much more gentle and relaxed in spite of the fact that I had lots on. The session highlight for me was the inaugural Blogging and Online Publication section, and it is good to see that several of the papers from that session have already been posted on the blogs (e.g. Paleojudaica; more below).
Another highlight was going up and down in the funky lifts in the Hyatt Regency -- I really liked them. I was a bit disappointed to discover late on Monday evening, when we tried to go all the way to the top, that the top two floors are closed off for the elite.
I heard several good papers this year and several pretty ordinary ones. I must admit to being disappointed that everyone seems completely devoted to reading papers rather than presenting them. I would like to see more people looking at their audience. On the other hand, I was pleased with the number of clear handouts. There were several papers that would have been greatly improved with nice handouts too.
It was interesting to see that several people did use Powerpoint and Keynote in spite of the charges. I was pretty horrified about the $25-$75 speaker charges and hope that this is not repeated next year. Three were especially memorable -- Bob Cargill and James McGrath at the Blogging session and Joe Weaks at the Synoptic Section. Those three really showed the value of a strong illustrated presentation.
As usual, of course, the real highlight was the socializing with old friends. I particularly liked the Irish pub, Meehans that was just down the road from the conference hotels.
And did anyone else take a day or two to realize that the book exhibit was in two different rooms?
As usual, it was an early star at the SBLt, this time for our Library of New Testament Studies editorial board meeting at 7am. Unlike previous years, the meeting was in a suite, with breakfast laid on, and it enabled us to have a decent and uninterrupted conversation.
The SBL gathers everyone together and so provides the opportunity for things like PhD vivas. I was examining a St Andrews University (UK) PhD and it was the first time I have done this kind of thing at the SBL rather than at the institution itself. That was my major morning's activity.
A particular highlight this afternoon was the inaugural meeting of the "Blogger and Online Publication" section. Several of you might remember the discussion about this earlier this year. Bob Cargill was chairing and he began by mentioning Charlie Haws and Jim West as key characters in getting the section going. The speakers were all excellent -- Jim Davila appropriately beginning, followed by Chris Brady, Michael Barber, James McGrath and Robert Cargill. I agreed with pretty much everything that the panel said, and I'd have thought that it would be ideal for the blogs to get the discussion going on these things. The session was packed out, there were lots of interesting questions and comments, and it was all-round very positive. More anon on this one.
I did the SBL tart thing for the last couple of hours today, taking in both the Cross, Resurrection and Diversity Section and the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media section, the latter a session on Anthony Le Donne's book and featuring Paula Fredriksen on the panel.
It has to be said, of course, that the highlight of the SBL is always the socializing. I visited Max Lager's Wood Fired Grill and Brewery for dinner, and then retired to Meehan's Public House where we were treated very nicely, and got given a free bottle of Fuller's Vintage Ale. Our friendliness and perhaps the British accent helped.
After the pretty exhausting day yesterday, today was much more relaxing and enjoyable. I went to the University of Birmingham breakfast first thing. This has become a bit of a highlight since leaving Birmingham over five years ago, and a nice way of keeping in touch with old friends and colleagues. I ate some rather odd sausages, chicken apple flavour I think they were.
I did the SBL tart thing this morning, flitting between several different sessions of interest. I particularly enjoyed Richard Wright's paper on 1 Cor. 11.2-16 in the Ritual and Gender section. I also enjoyed catching a couple of papers in the Intertextuality section, including Dukie Lori Baron who did a great job.
Today was a great day for free food -- didn't buy any all day. I wasn't expecting to get a free lunch, but it turns out that this is one of the perks of being on the JSNT editorial board. The food was that Mediterranean stuff -- olives, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, all that kind of stuff.
I finally managed to get my strength up to visit the book exhibit today too. I am not a big fan of the book exhibit -- find it depressing seeing all those books -- but I do like meeting people there, and I had a couple of good meetings with publishers.
Another good session today was the Synoptics Section. I went primarily because I wanted to hear Rebekah Eklund's paper on the crowds in the Passion Narrative, which she had initially worked on for my Passion Narratives graduate class last year. She did a great job -- clear, interesting, engaging. But it was a bonus also to catch several other interesting papers, including Joe Weaks's presentation on "MarQ", reconstructing Mark's Gospel on the basis of Matthew and Luke alone as a test for reconstructions of Q. I was on Joe's committee at Brite Divinity School and I really enjoyed his presentation. I don't know whether he forked out $75 for his projector fee but he had a great powerpoint.
It was receptions evening tonight and I took in three -- UNC Chapel Hill, T and T Clark and Duke. All were enjoyable, especially getting the chance to catch up with some old friends. Of course the days of the lavish food are over, but if you are lucky you can grab a cube of cheese and perhaps a cookie. Good if you are a diet.
Several days ago, when I actually checked the programme, I realized that Saturday was going to be a big day. Somehow, I had managed to find myself speaking three times on the one day. The first of these is not, strictly speaking, part of the SBL Annual Meeting. Rather, as some of you will know, the Biblical Archaeology Society holds its annual "BibFest" round the corner from the SBL and several of us go to address the conference there on topics of interest to us. My topic this year was "Paul's Letters: Women, Men and the End", some reflections on the roles played by women in Paul's churches (specifically Phoebe, Prisca, Junia) and then some analysis of the troubling passages in 1 Cor. 11 and 14, with conclusions on the eschatological nature of Paul's views on women and men, in discussion of Gal. 3.28. I like speaking at the BAS -- it is an audience of enthusiasts who always have interesting comments and questions, and who appear appreciative of our coming along to speak to them.
My second stint of the day was in the Ideological Criticism section. This is where all the cool kids hang out, and it is not my usual haunting ground. The topic was James Crossley's book Jesus in an Age of Terror. My paper offered a critique of James's discussion of the "politics of the bibliobloggers" and it is probably something that I will offer here in the blog in due course to generate some further discussion. Zeba Crook spoke second and discussed the representation of the context group in James's book -- and he had some critical things to say. Bill Arnal offered a more sympathetic reading of James's book and Roland Boer offered some sophisticated and often very funny reflections on what James was doing.
James gave a response to our four presentations and there was a very lively discussion afterwards. I am still reflecting on this session and I am not really sure what to make of it. I think I'd like to read all the papers and James's response and to work out where things stand. I'll come back to this in due course. I did not have any time to chew over that session in my mind, though, because I went from a panel with the cool kids to a panel with the bigwigs.
Pat McCullough organized a session entitled "Finding your 'niche' in Biblical Studies". There were five panelists, Christopher Hays, Katharine Doob Sakenfeld, Dale Martin and Paula Fredriksen and me. I have shared here in the blog the substance of my short presentation. I was hugely impressed with the other speakers, all of whom were witty, engaging, compelling. We had ten minutes or so each. The room was packed. There must have been two or three hundred people there, and there were people standing at the side. After we had finished speaking, the room emptied out a good deal, but then there was time for discussion of the topic and many of the contributions from the floor were excellent too.
I dined tonight with an old friend at Azio, an Italian place just a couple of blocks away from the conference and it was a hugely enjoyable evening. There is also a nice little Irish pub not far away from the conference hotels that is well worth a visit.
