Learning New Testament Greek page

I've added three new items to my Learning New Testament Greek page, all related -- companion sites for Jeremy Duff's The Elements of New Testament Greek and for Peter Kevern and Paula Gooder's Exploring New Testament Greek and Learn Biblical Greek over at Teknia.

Greek NT Annotated Bibliography

Thanks to Jon Weatherly of Cincinnati Bible College & Seminary for letting me know the new URL for his Annotated Bibliography Of Reference Works and Commentaries on the Greek New Testament (MS Word document). I've made the update on my Greek NT Gateway: Bibliography page.

Google Print Revolution

From time to time, I have blogged on the growth of Google Print (e.g. Print Google Search on 23 September 2004). Today, prompted by an entry on Google Weblog, I took another visit, and in the several months since my last visit, there has been a dramatic change. I really mean dramatic -- I was quite taken aback by the riches that Print.Google.com was turning up. But don't use the link in the blog entry I've just mentioned -- that no longer works. This is what to do:

Google Print Search

And of course then add your own search term. Since my last visit, Google seems to have got hold of piles of useful books in our area. Generous publishers seem to include Cambridge University Press, Paulist, Eerdmans and Routledge. I did not spot any T & T Clark International material, so perhaps that's something for them to work on.

The way that it works is that punters are encouraged to buy the books that are being made available to them so the left of the screen features lots of relevant buying details on the books in question. If you have ever tried searching inside the books in Amazon.com, you will be familiar with the limitations, e.g. on Google Print too you can rarely go more than three pages in either direction from the page your search has landed you on, though of course you can then simply conduct a fresh search. From time to time, publishers appear to have left key pages blank too to keep you wanting the original version.

I am writing a paper on the moment called "The Rock on Rocky Ground: How Matthew Read Mark's Characterization of Peter" and I was quite taken aback by the number of useful resources I dug out in a two-hour session on Google Print. For example, one of the key things for my paper is Matthew's use of the terms σκάνδαλον, σκανδαλίζω in his portrait of Peter and a search on these turned up all sorts of useful things that I might not have gone straight to in a library, as well as things I would have looked at but would have had to wait until I got to the library, e.g. Stälin's article in TDNT. The research life is going to get a lot easier with this resource, and given the rate of progress at Google in digitizing volumes since I last blogged on this, the future looks bright.

Update (11.24): On RogueClassicism, David Meadows suggests that we curb our enthusiasm a little. I accept David's points that we should not go too far and make over-the-top claims about it, but what impressed me is how much has happened in just the last few months since I had previously blogged on it, and how much useful research I was able to do. I suppose that I am familiar with manipulating the Amazon.com "search inside" facility and Google Print is easier to work with than that. As long as you don't expect Google Print to be comprehensive, you will find a lot of material of interest for your research.

Update (Friday, 10.16): Torrey Seland comments.

Zero tolerance on plagiarism

Michael Homan comments on the excalating problems he has faced with plagiarism among students and recommends a zero tolerance policy. We have had the same struggles here and I would like to think that we are steadily winning the battle, though I sometimes wonder if it is simply the case that the offenders are just getting better at getting away with it. Michael comments:

What will I do when the tears start flowing and I have to hear sob stories about growing up in poverty, and how due to poor public education they had no idea what constituted plagiarism, and that they can't let poor grandma, who is weeks away from death, fail to see them graduate? I had better stock up on kleenex.

I've been there!

The Number of the Beast: 616 and Oxyrhynchus

On Ralph the Sacred River, Ed Cook draws attention to the National Geographic article on the Oxyrhynchus Papyri also discussed in Paleojudaica (and I really share their annoyance at Revelations). The National Geographic article writes:

The latest volume includes details of fragments showing third- and fourth-century versions of the Book of Revelations. Intriguingly, the number assigned to "the Beast" of Revelations isn't the usual 666, but 616.

and Ed comments:

My copy of Nestle-Aland (27th ed.) at Revelation 13:18 lists for the variant reading "616" only "C; Ir mss" (the 5th century uncial manuscript C and some manuscripts cited by Irenaeus). A 3rd or 4th century papyrus containing this reading would be extremely significant, although probably not enough to outweigh the many witnesses for "666."

The relevant article here is the following:

David C. Parker, "A New Oxyrhynchus Papyrus of Revelation: P¹¹⁵ (P.Oxy 4499)", NTS 46 (2000): 159-74

There is a very brief discussion of the variant in question on 169.

Jesus Film Articles

My previous post sent me to check my Celluloid Jesus: Articles and Lectures page and I saw that I had not updated that page since 2001! Several of the links were dead so I have fixed all of those. The next stage will be to add the significant number of useful new articles available, especially post-Passion but that will have to wait. At least the links on that page can now be accessed again.

Pasolini in Palestine

Peter Chattaway has a fascinating post on FilmChat (an absolute must-read blog for those of us interested in films with religious interest) as follows:

Pasolini's Matthew coming to Vancouver

It's about a retrospective entitled The Passion of Pier Paolo Passolini which features the following item:

Seeking Locations in Palestine for "The Gospel According to St. Matthew"
(Sopralluoghi in Palestina per "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo")
Italy 1964.
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
With: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Don Andrea Carraro

Pasolini ended up filming The Gospel According to St. Matthew in southern Italy (Mel Gibson would use some of the same locations forty years later for The Passion of the Christ), but he originally planned to shoot in the Holy Lands. This diary-on-film has Pasolini and his team visiting Galilee, Jordan, Damascus, Bethlehem and Jerusalem – and coming to the conclusion, with disappointment, that Matthew would have to be made elsewhere. B&W, VHS video, in Italian with English subtitles. 52 mins.

Peter comments, "Has this behind-the-scenes short ever been included on any of the various DVD versions of Matthew? If so, then that's the copy I want!" Me too. I've never even heard of this behind-the-scenes film before.

Update (Thursday, 10.33): Tyler Williams comments on codex@biblical-studies.ca. I am actually less of a fan of this film than everybody else is, though I do see things to admire in it. Tyler comments:

Even the way Pasolini presented the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is fascinating. Jesus doesn't say the sermon in one setting, but gives parts of the sermon in various contexts -- the scenes shift between day and night, between inside and outside shots, Jesus with and without a scarf, etc. In my mind (and perhaps only in my mind!) this suggests that Pasolini wanted to present the sermon as more of a compendium of Jesus' teachings, not a long sermon that took place at one time. And the "blessed are the cheese makers" line is brilliant! Oh, so sorry, that's Monty Python.

In my article, "The Synoptic Jesus and the Celluloid Christ: Solving the Synoptic Problem Through Film", Journal for the Study of the New Testament 80 (2000): 31-44, I discuss the way in which the Sermon on the Mount is depicted in the different Jesus films, including Pasolini, arguing that in different ways each of the Jesus films finds it necessary to rework, re-locate, omit, redistribute pieces of the Sermon.

Deirdre Good pages and book

I've updated the Scholars: G page to update the details for Deirdre Good, with CV and Speaking and Preaching Events and Publications. There's also a new book out edited by Deirdre Good called Mariam, the Magdalen and the Mother.

Good News and Bad News

Well worth a repeat here, from Gypsy Scholar by Horace Jeffery Hodges:

Some Good News, Some Bad News . . .

Paul the Apostle goes into a synagogue in the diaspora. He's asked to speak to the congregation. He steps up onto the bimah and says:

"I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Which would you like to hear first?"

The head rabbi replies, "Good news and bad news? Tell us the bad news first. The good news will console us."

Paul says, "Okay, here's the bad news. The messiah has come, but he's been killed."

"What!" exclaims the rabbi. "That's terrible news! What could possibly be good news?"

Replies Paul, "The good news is -- that's good news!"

Moo Article and Paul's Perspective Website

Mark Mattison has several updates on his fantastic resource, The Paul Page including a link to the following article:

Excursus: Paul, "Works of the Law" and First-Century Judaism
Douglas J. Moo

From The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996): 211-217

There's also a link to the following site, which I had not come across before:

Paul's Perspective

It is an extensive site from the "Reformed" perspective, explicitly attempting to challenge the New Perspective on Paul, alongside something called The Federal Vision, which they also oppose. Material on the New Perspective on Paul has its own page which begins with a kind of caricature summary of the New Perspective but goes on with some useful bibliography and some links, promising more on-line reproductions of key articles in due course. One that I had not spotted before is the following:

A. Andrew Das, "Beyond Covenantal Nomism: Paul, Judaism and Perfect Obedience," Concordia Journal (July 2001): 234-252

Fishers of Men

Don't miss Michael Gilleland's post on Laudator Temporis Acti on the place where "Plutarch, in his Life of Brutus (30, tr. Ian Scott-Kilvert), tells a curious story about an incident in which some men were literally caught like fish":

Fishers of Men

IQP Q Text English Translation on-line

Some years ago, Sterling Bjorndahl used to host a web page featuring the English translation of the International Q Project's Q text. When Bjorndahl left academia, that page left the web and there has been no English (or Greek) IQP Q text on-line. But now that's changed and a new, better on-line version is available, with a short introduction and select bibliography and located in the most natural place for it, John Kloppenborg's homepage:

IQP Q Text (English)

Naturally, I have added it at the top of my page on Q Web Materials, which I have also taken the opportunity to update, renewing links and deleting a couple of dead ones, including Charlotte Allen's Atlantic Monthly article, "The Search for a No Frills Jesus", which has gone subscription-only.

Review of Biblical Literature latest

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

Biguzzi, Giancarlo
L'Apocalisse e i suoi enigmi
Reviewed by James West

Clark, Elizabeth A.
History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn
Reviewed by Willemien Otten

Kellum, L. Scott
The Unity of the Farewell Discourse: The Literary Integrity of John 13.31-16.33
Reviewed by Joseph Matos

Leinhäupl-Wilke, Andreas
Rettendes Wissen im Johannesevangelium: Ein Zugang über die narrativen Rahmenteile (1, 19-2, 12--20, 1-21, 25)
Reviewed by Tobias Nicklas

Levine, Amy-Jill, ed.
A Feminist Companion to Paul
Reviewed by Erik Heen

Popkes, Wiard
Der Brief des Jakobus
Reviewed by Matthias Konradt

Porter, Stanely E., ed.
The Pauline Canon
Reviewed by Ron Fay

Smith, D. Moody
John among the Gospels
Reviewed by M. Boring

Tellbe, Mikael
Paul between Synagogue and State: Christians, Jews, and Civic Authorities in 1 Thessalonians, Romans, and Philippians
Reviewed by Richard Ascough

Yeung, Maureen W.
Faith in Jesus and Paul: A Comparison with Special Reference to "Faith that Can Remove Mountains" and "Your Faith Has Healed/Saved You"
Reviewed by Erik Heen

Review of David Norton, Textual History and more

The Church Times carries a review of two books by David Norton:

A TEXTUAL HISTORY OF THE KING JAMES BIBLE and

THE NEW CAMBRIDGE PARAGRAPH BIBLE

Review by J. R. Porter

. . . . In recounting the history of the textual transmission of the English Bible, Dr Norton has produced an impressive piece of work. Not only does he provide a mass of information on a much fuller scale than has ever been attempted before, but he presents it with admirable clarity, using such manuscript evidence as is available, and full lists and tables of variant readings as well as the resources of computer technology. In short, it is a milestone in its particular field, and other scholars and students will find it indispensable . . . .

On-line Biblical Studies Glossaries

On Biblical Theology Jim West mentions A Basic Vocabulary of Biblical Studies for Beginning Students, once upon a time a Featured Link on the NT Gateway. I think the on-line glossary is an excellent way of utilizing the web intelligently in teaching. You can constantly add, update, correct, hyperlink -- it's an old fashioned genre that is a gift to web technology.

This reminds me of a post here last year on putting this and other glossaries to the test:

Deinde's Biblical Studies Glossary

As you can see from the title, the post was occasioned by the new glossary over at Deinde. On that occasion, I put the three glossaries, the Wake Forest one, Felix Just's one and Deinde's to the test on the topic "Synoptic Problem". Wake Forest came out on top, with an honourable mention to Felix Just. Deinde's was incomplete -- a broken sentence but also a limited definition, focussing more on one prominent solution to the problem than on than the problem itself. So how does it shape up several months later? Here's the revised entry:

Synoptic Problem: The question of the relationship between Matthew, Mark, and Luke; both their similarities and differences, The most common belief is the 2 (or 4) source hypothesis that sees Mark as the earliest gospel, with Matthew and Luke each using Mark as a source. Matthew and Luke also used a hypothetical document called 'Q', which explains the verbatim agreements between the two. Matthew and Luke had their own unique material as well [called 'M' and 'L' respectively] so the 4 sources are Mark, Q, M, and L. Another possible understanding of the synoptic problem is the belief that Matthew was written first, with Mark and Luke using Matthew as a source.

Well, it's better, but not much better. It's not been proof-read ("differences, The"), the definition needs tightening up somewhat and the statement about the Two-Source Theory needs more precision. Q does not explain "the verbatim agreements between the two" but the verbatim agreement in non-Marcan material. The last sentence is perhaps the most problematic, though. It gives what is essentially the Augustinian theory, Matthew first, then Mark, then Luke; this is not a "possible understanding" of the Synoptic Problem but a solution to it, and not a popular solution at that. One might have expected other prominent solutions to the Synoptic Problem to have found their way into the entry ahead of Augustine. So on this very limited test run, at least, Wake Forest and Just are still out in front.

Update (10.25): actually, it's worse than I'd realised. There's nothing on the Farrer Theory, but I've just noticed that the Deinde Glossary has an entry on Griesbach as follows

Griesbach hypothesis: The gospel origins theory that believes Matthew was the earliest, Mark created a short version of Matthew, and Luke used both. This eliminates the need for Q, but is not widely held.

No; this is incorrect. The Griesbach theory is that Matthew was first, that Luke used Matthew and that Mark used them both. What is described here is the (so-called) Augustinian theory.

Update (17.56): in some speedy work on Deinde , Danny Zacharias has done a major update on the above entries, and has even added one on the Farrer theory. I apologise if my entry above came across as "a good lesson in being pointed and laughed at in front of a bunch of people". Rather, my hope was along the following lines, as Danny rightly puts it:

The great thing about the web is that these glossary entries haven't been fixed for all eternity by the printing press, they can be quickly changed, so aim for productivity and fire us off an email.

And on the same note, one last small comment on the Synoptic Problem entry: "Contestant 1- The two-(or four) source hypothesis (marcan priority) . . . .": the Two Source Theory does not hold a monopoly on Marcan Priority, an incorrect perception that, I argue, has been a contributing factor to the dominance of the Q hypothesis.

Update (21.58): Joe Weaks comments on The Macintosh Biblioblog: A Biblical Studies Wiki? -- an interesting idea. In passing Joe notes that the entry on the Synoptic Problem is pretty good -- agreed.

Update (Wednesday, 16.10): no wonder the the entry on the Synoptic Problem is good -- Stephen Carlson wrote it! (See commments).

Update (Wednesday 16.12): Deinde comment further. I am inclined to agree that it would be better for us to improve Wiki than to go the TheoWiki route.

J. B. Phillips Translation of the New Testament

Thanks to Whit Stodghill for the following:

J. B. Phillips Translation of the New Testament

It's at the CCEL site and adds the note that this is:

"The New Testament in Modern English", 1962 edition, presented here with the kind permission of Mrs Vera Phillips and the J.B.Phillips estate.

I've added to my Bible Translations and Editions page.

Jeremy Duff's The Elements of New Testament Greek

When I was a student in Oxford in the 1980s, everyone was familiar with "Wenham". "Wenham" was the textbook you used to learn Greek. And everyone studying Theology had to learn Greek -- it was compulsory. Many others for many years have also begun their journey into the Greek New Testament hand in hand with Wenham.

Well, before there was Wenham there was Nunn. Nunn's Elements of New Testament Greek was also published by Cambridge University Press and was the basis for John Wenham's revision which appeared in 1965. Forty years later and Jeremy Duff follows in the same tradition and now replaces Wenham. To ensure continuity, the cover is based on Wenham, and there is a preface by David Wenham, John's son.

Jeremy has been working on this revision for some years. He has tested it extensively in the classroom, has been circulating proofs to interested parties for their own testing and comment and now, finally, it is ready. Unlike its predecessor, the new Wenham is a product of the twenty-first century and features all manner of interesting extras, New Testament Greek Listening Materials CD and a companion website with links, powerpoint slides and more.

Here is more information about the publication with an order form and with an Inspection Copy order form for lecturers:

Jeremy Duff, The Elements of New Testament Greek (PDF)

Here is the Cambridge University Press catalogue page on the book:

The Elements of New Testament Greek

And here is the book's own website:

The Elements of New Testament Greek

Thanks to Tracey McCluskey at Cambridge University Press for the information.

Michael White on Homosexuality and the Bible

The Galveston County Daily News (not, I must admit, a paper I was familiar with) from Texas has a story featuring L. Michael White from the University of Texas at Austin:

Scholar says debate can't ignore Bible
By Kelly Hawes

. . . . “The movement to recognize gay and lesbian people in churches has stopped talking about the Bible,” he said, “whereas the other side says it’s all about the Bible. The two sides are like ships passing in the night.” . . . .

. . . . “The words that we often assume are found in the Bible are not even really there,” he said.

The word “homosexual” was not coined until 1869 as an effort by the medical profession to arrive at a more neutral term than “sodomy” or “sodomite,” White said, and even those words did not come into being until the 11th century, almost 2,000 years after the first portions of the Torah were written. Nonetheless, all appear in some translations of the Bible . . . .

. . . .White was even more emphatic in his analysis of a verse in the New Testament book of Romans that has been interpreted as a condemnation of homosexuality. White says he and many other scholars believe the verse actually refers to a practice called “pederasty,” an ancient Greek tradition in which older men had sex with young boys.

“It is to pervert the New Testament to try to make those passages apply to homosexuality in general,” White said.

Still, he said, it would be wrong to deny that the Bible frowns on homosexual relationships. Of course, it also frowns upon the presence of menstruating women in church, and it celebrates the murder and mutilation of a woman whose only sin was to have been raped . . . .

As a whole the article doesn't do badly to summarise White's lecture (I am guessing), but this paragraph is less careful. There is nothing about "menstruating women in church" that I can think of and what on earth is the other reference to? I'm probably being thick after a hard-working week, but I can't think what it might be referring to.

Better Bibles blog

While checking links on my Bible Translations and Editions page, I noticed that Wayne Leman's Bible Translation page had added a link to a new blog:

Better Bibles Blog

Its purpose is to discuss English Bible translations and to get comments on the good, the bad and the ugly among them -- see his Welcome message. I've added to my blogroll.

Gospel of Mark Articles

With help from Michael Turton, who sent in a bunch of links to on-line articles, I have updated the following page on the NT Gateway:

Gospel of Mark: Articles and Reviews

The fresh additions are all those featuring (New) just next to them, thirteen in all.