Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

On the Stuff of Earth, Michael has news of the latest ZNW:

Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 98/1part2 (January 2007)

An RSS feed is available for future alerts, which I hadn't noticed before, so I've added it to my journals RSS feed.

James Tabor on Early Christian Assumptions

James Tabor has an interesting and provocative post on the Jesus Dynasty Blog on:

What We Assume About Early Christianity

Here is an excerpt:

. . . . Acts might well be called “From Jerusalem to Rome: The Story of Paul’s Triumph.” Luke is anxious of course to show great harmony between Peter and Paul, and even a kind of tacit agreement of James, the brother of Jesus, whom Luke has to relunctantly (sic) admit was the leader of the Jesus movement at that time. In fact the “kerygma” or “preaching” of the apostles according to Luke, as reflected in Peter’s speeches in Acts 2:22-38 and 3:11-26, is pure “Paulinism” in terms of its basic parameters–that Christ was sent from God as Messiah, that he died for the sins of mankind, that he was raised from the dead, and that he has ascended to heaven, soon to return as apocalyptic Judge.

I would like to comment on a few things here. I agree about the way that Luke brings James on to the scene to offer "a kind of tacit agreement". Luke's portrait of James is quite odd, like that of a major historical character playing a minor role in the drama. It's like Hamlet in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead but more so. Indeed, it is worth noting that Luke never even identifies James as the brother of Jesus. We know that he is not James the son of Zebedee, who dies in Acts 12, but otherwise the reader unacquainted with other early Christian sources like Galatians 1-2 would have no idea who this character was.

I have a couple of qualms, though, about the characterization of the preaching of the apostles in Acts 2 and 3 as pure "Paulinism", and from two different angles. First, and following Käsemann, Conzelmann et al, I can't help thinking that there is something very odd going on with the theologia crucis (theology of the cross) in Luke-Acts. The thing conspicuously absent from those early Acts sermons is any declaration that "Christ died for our sins". This is a really striking fact, all the more striking given the absence of Mark 10.45 (the "ransom for many" saying) in Luke.

My second qualm relates to the idea that things like "Christ died for our sins" are pure Paulinism. If there is one thing we do know from those "dark ages" of 30-50CE, it is that the earliest Christian preaching, which Paul gave to the Corinthians as of first importance, and which had been handed on to him, placed at its heart Jesus the Messiah's death for his people's sins according to the Scriptures, his burial, and his resurrection according to the Scriptures. Paul is pretty clear in 1 Corinthians 15.1-3 that this key material was traditional. On this, one of my favourite articles is Jeff Peterson, "The Extent of Christian Theological Diversity: Pauline Evidence", Restoration Quarterly 47 (2005): 1-12 [PDF], which I have mentioned on a previous occasion.

Andrew Das, Solving the Romans Debate

Latest from Fortress:

Revealing the audience —and purpose —of Paul's most enigmatic letter

"Why did Paul address a long discussion of Jewish themes to a Gentile audience? Scholars have long debated the "double character" of Romans. Andrew Das promises to resolve the debate through a fresh understanding of the identity and attitudes of the Gentile Christians in Rome and of the expulsion of Jews from Rome under the emperor Claudius. Solving the Romans Debate offers new insight into Paul's concern for the Jewish roots of the Christ movement."

Andrew Das' Solving the Romans Debate powerfully and cogently argues a solution.... that makes perennial problems vanish and that produces a credible coherence that has been lacking in the Romans debate. All of those who are serious about that debate must read this book.

—Stanley Stowers, Professor of Religious Studies, Brown University

Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Blog

It's good to see that Jim Davila has opened up one of his famous course blogs and websites, this time on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

The Trial and Death of Jesus

This book is new from Peeters. My copy arrived today:

The Trial and Death of Jesus
Essays on the Passion Narrative in Mark

Series: Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology, 45

Editors: Van Oyen G., Shepherd T.

Year: 2006
ISBN: 90-429-1834-9
Pages: XI-268 p.
Price: 40 EURO


What is the significance of the trial and death of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark? In its annual meetings the Mark Group of the Society of Biblical Literature studied the trial of Jesus in 2003 and the death of Jesus in 2004. Both speakers and audience expressed the desire to bring some of the papers together in book form. The current volume fulfills this wish. The contributions presented here represent an up to date expression of one of the most important themes in Markan exegesis. The editors use the metaphor of a prism to illustrate the two sections of the book. Like a concave prism spreading light, the first section presents a range of understandings of the meaning of the death of Jesus. Like a convex prism focusing light, the second section uses multiple methodologies to focus attention on the trial of Jesus, particularly the charge of blasphemy. The papers together raise questions, challenge common views, and interrelate themes that push Markan scholarship forward.
---
I have an essay in the volume called "Scripturalization in Mark's Crucifixion Narrative". Here's the full list of contents:

Section One
The Meaning of Jesus’ Death

Sharyn DOWD and Elizabeth Struthers MALBON
The Significance of Jesus’ Death in Mark: Narrative Context and
Authorial Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Mark GOODACRE
Scripturalization in Mark’s Crucifixion Narrative . . . . . . . . . 33

Geert VAN OYEN
The Meaning of the Death of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark: A Real
Reader Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Jocelyn MCWHIRTER
Messianic Exegesis in Mark’s Passion Narrative . . . . . . . . . 69

William SANGER CAMPBELL
“Why did you abandon me?” Abandonment Christology in Mark’s
Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Stephen P. AHEARNE-KROLL
Challenging the Divine: LXX Psalm 21 in the Passion Narrative
of the Gospel of Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Section Two
The Trial of Jesus

Adela YARBRO COLLINS
The Charge of Blasphemy in Mark 14:64 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Jeffrey B. GIBSON
The Function of the Charge of Blasphemy in Mark 14:64 . . . . 171

Michael E. VINES
The “Trial Scene” Chronotype in Mark and the Jewish Novel . . 189

Kelli S. O’BRIEN
Innocence and Guilt: Apologetic, Martyr Stories, and Allusion in
the Markan Trial Narratives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

Tom SHEPHERD
The Irony of Power in the Trial of Jesus and the Denial by Peter –
Mark 14:53-72 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

List of contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Index of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Index of Ancient texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Green Card Application Filed

One of the reasons for increased blog activity over the last few days, and increased happiness, is that I managed to get my application for lawful permanent residency last week. This is such an unbelievably massive job that it sucks all the life and energy out of you for a long time. So I feel like I have resurfaced again. The full story, with a picture, is over on The Americanization of Emily.

Sorting Unicode Greek in MS Word

Steven Craig Miller has written a great little macro to facilitate sorting in MS Word a list of accented Greek words in Greek alphabetical order. I offered to host it here on the NT Gateway, and have added a link on the NT Greek Computer Software page, to the following effect:

Sorting Unicode Greek in MS Word [Zip archive]
By Steven Craig Miller. Click on the link to download a macro which facilitates sorting in MS Word a list of accented Greek words in Greek alphabetical order. Instructions on how to use the macro and exactly what it does is in a PDF file, while the macro itself is in a text file entitled "ConvertUnicodeGreek2Uppercase". For security reasons, a copy of the macro is also in the PDF file. This archive is hosted here at the NT Gateway, but if you have any questions, please e-mail the author of the macro at: stevencraigmiller@comcast.net.

Oh, and while I was at it, I updated all the links on that page too.

Kenneth Atkinson

I have added the following to the Scholars: A page:

Kenneth Atkinson
University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA, USA
List of publications, Bio, Course Materials

Joel Marcus and Gary Habermas to debate the resurrection

Thanks to Ken Olson for passing on news of this event:

Two Views on the Resurrection
Joel Marcus (Duke Divinity School) & Gary Habermas (Liberty University)
February 20 @ 12:20-1:20 – Gary Habermas: “The Resurrection of Jesus and Recent Scholarship”
February 20 @ 7:00-8:30 PM – Two Views on the Resurrection Dialogue (Marcus & Habermas)
Blog: http://resurrectiontwoviews.blogspot.com/
RSVP at resurrectiontwoviews@yahoo.com

Flyer (PDF)

TV Bible Adventure Stories to Air on BBC

From Christian Today:

TV Bible Adventure Stories to Air on BBC
A television series based on Bible stories for children has been scheduled for broadcast on the BBC's children's slot CBBC in March.
by Gretta Curtis

A television series based on Bible stories for children has been scheduled for broadcast on the BBC's children's slot CBBC in March.

Set in the first century AD, the UK-produced Friends and Heroes, is the epic animated tale of two young people - Macky and Portia - whose idealism and friendship leads them across the ancient world.

Through Macky and Portia, the Friends and Heroes series brings stories of the Old and New Testament to a new, worldwide generation of children in the twenty-first century, whatever their faith or background.

The 13 episodes will be broadcast on weekdays between March 12 and 23, sometimes twice a day, starting at 12 noon and 12.30pm, or in single episodes starting at 12.30pm. The series will form part of the BBC's factual output on CBBC which is also used by schools.

Looks like fun.

Grade inflation

There's an interesting piece in today's Duke Chronicle on the question of grade inflation, with the humanities the worst offenders:

Data Shows Rising Trend for Grades
Shuchi Parikh

When freshman Sharmistha Rudra chose her courses this semester, she aimed for balance.

To even out the heavy workload of her biochemistry and physics classes, she looked for a couple of "easy" humanities courses, deciding on a "Water and Conflict" seminar because it carried the lightest workload, according to www.ratemyprofessor.com.

Rudra's instinct that the University's liberal arts classes give out higher grades was not unfounded, according to data from the Office of the University Registrar.

And some evidence indicates that there has been consistent grade inflation in recent years. Latin honors, awarded to the top 25 percent of each graduating class, have had steadily increasing GPA cutoffs since the Class of 2001, the last year data was publicly available.

Summa cum laude, honoring the top five percent of the class, had a GPA cutoff for Trinity College graduates of 3.868 for the Class of 2005, but rose to 3.894 for the Class of 2007. The summa cum laude GPA cutoff for Pratt School of Engineering graduates rose from 3.905 to 3.950 over the same time period . . .

I have only had three full semesters at Duke, so I can't judge how far I am contributing to this problem. What I would say is that the quality of the work that comes in for the courses I teach (Introduction New Testament; Historical Jesus; Life and Letters of Paul) is remarkably high. Duke students are very bright and highly motivated. In other words, it's a nice problem to have. One amusing, or perhaps disturbing feature in the article above is to see a student choosing courses on the basis of ratemyprofessor.com, and on the basis of the alleged easiness of the courses in question.

Gordon Fee, Pauline Christology

On Pauline Perspectives, Matthew Montonini has news of 81 pages worth of sample pages from Gordon Fee's new book on Pauline Christology, at the Hendrickson's website:

Pauline Christology: An Exegetical-Theological Study

Blogroll Clips

As I mentioned earlier, I have recently started using Google Reader. One of its nice features is that it provides a live "clip" service on your website and I have added one here, to the left of the screen. It picks up the latest additions to items on my blogroll, and flags them up for the reader. Or, for a fuller version you can follow the Read More link at the bottom of the clip box, or go to this link:

Blogroll Via Mark

Ultimately, I will probably phase out my older, more static Blogroll list, which is currently served via Bloglines.

Earl Richard Lectures

I came across some useful on-line papers today at the Religious Studies Department at Loyola University. They have a lecture series there called the H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Lectures in Religion and several of these are available on-line, including some of interest to New Testament scholars and students:

Jesus, Mark and the Modern Reader
Earl Richard (Loyola University Yamauchi Lecture, October 22 2000)

The Gnostic Gospel of Thomas: A Lost, Secret Vision of Jesus
Earl Richard (Loyola University Yamauchi Lecture, October 17 1993)

The Rich Young Ruler or the Generous Centurion: Early Christianity and Worldly Possessions
Earl Richard (Loyola University Yamauchi Lecture, March 5 1989)

N. T. Wright Page latest

New on the N. T. Wright page:

Resurrecting Old Arguments: Responding to Four Essays
Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 3.2 (2005): 187–209

The essay is a response to four critiques of his mammoth tome, The Resurrection of the Son of God, by David Bryan, James Crossley, Michael Goulder and Larry Hurtado. It arose out of a couple of sessions at the Historical Jesus Seminar at the British New Testament Conference. I suppose my only regret about the availability of this essay free to all is that it is only one part of a five-part dialogue, and I can imagine that many will read this piece without reading and evaluating all contributors to the debate.

Review of Biblical Literature latest

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

Youngmo Cho
Spirit and Kingdom in the Writings of Luke and Paul: An Attempt to Reconcile These Concepts
Reviewed by John T. Squires

Donald Jackson
Pentateuch: The Saint John's Bible
Reviewed by Walter A. Vogels

Luke Timothy Johnson
Hebrews: A Commentary
Reviewed by Craig R. Koester

Judith E. McKinlay
Reframing Her: Biblical Women in Postcolonial Focus
Reviewed by Valerie Bridgeman Davis

Daniel Patte and Cristina Grenholm, eds.
Gender, Tradition and Romans: Shared Ground, Uncertain Borders
Reviewed by Veronica Koperski

Marie Sabin
The Gospel According to Mark
Reviewed by Pieter J. J. Botha

Antonius Siew
The War between the Two Beasts and the Two Witnessess: A Chiastic Reading of Revelation 11.1-14.5
Reviewed by Pieter G. R. de Villiers

Leif E. Vaage, ed.
Religious Rivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity
Reviewed by Joseph Verheyden

Switch to the new blogger and thoughts on Google Reader

If you had dozens of posts from this blog appear in your reader this morning, it is because I've just made the switch to the new blogger. I tried to switch a month or two ago but it wouldn't let me because my archive was too massive, and hosted off-site. But now it's allowing me to make the switch and I have done so. One of the features of the new blogger is that it enables labels, at last, so they will be a feature from now on. I will not, however, be adding labels retrospectively to old posts, though, not least since there are well over 2,000 of them.

I am also experimenting with the new Google Reader and I am enjoying it a good deal and it is on the road to persuading me to abandon Bloglines, especially as it turned out to be very easy to export all my feeds from Bloglines to Google. And there are features about Google Reader I like, especially the starring of posts, à la GMail. Since I am a fan of Google applications, and use dozens of them (e.g. Calendar, Docs and Spreadsheets, Notebook), it is probably just a matter of time before I switch fully to Google Reader too. The one thing that is holding me back is that Bloglines renders my blogroll here on this blog very well. As far as I can tell, Google Reader does not have quite the same facility, though it does produce other nice features like clips from my blogroll, which is a lot of fun.

Biblical Studies Carnival XIV and February's Biblioblogger

On Thoughts on Antiquity, Chris Weimer has done an excellent job with the latest Biblical Studies Carnival:

Biblical Studies Carnival XIV

And this month's featured biblioblogger is Jim West in an entertaining interview:

Blogger of the Month February 2007

Response to DeConick

Yesterday I posted a draft of my paper Luke 11.27-28 // Thom. 79a: A Case of Thomasine Dependence and April DeConick responds on her blog in Is the Gospel of Thomas Dependent on the Synoptics? The response is a general one, reacting more to arguments about dependence in general (Schrage, Schürmann) than to the specific case I make. Since I make observations here that have not been made before, I am not sure that the general appeal to earlier literature on Thomas, which I mention in the article, really addresses the specific argument made here, which focuses on pervasive and distinctive Lucan features that point to the saying's genesis in Luke's mind. In fact I agree with Prof. DeConick's dissatisfaction with some of the traditional arguments for dependence, which tend to focus on a word here and a word there. As she notes, "The arguments [for dependence] in all cases are based on the presence of words that some scholars regard as traditionally redactional, that is words that are thought to be from the Lukan hand." What I am keen to do in this specific example is to point not just to the odd, isolated word but to the presence of markedly Lucan language, theme, setting and imagery. By attempting to the move the argument away from solely focusing on isolated words, I am hoping to show that the case for Thomas's familiarity with Luke is stronger than it is usually perceived to be.

On this particular pericope, let me attempt to put my argument in a nutshell lest it is thought that I am arguing along the same lines as those like Schrage. I am arguing that this saying, as we have it, comes from Luke's mind and that there is nothing un-Lucan about it. Its presence in Thomas, where it is anomalous, is therefore an indication of Thomas's familiarity with Luke's Gospel.

This, of course, raises some fresh questions, for example: (1) Are there other examples like this? (2) If Thomas is familiar with the Synoptics, how does he hear them and appropriate them? My answer to question (1) is Yes, and perhaps I'll blog those too in due course, if there is sufficient interest. My answer to (2) is that the issues raised by Prof. DeConick briefly in her recent post and at length in her recent books are important ones that need addressing. I think that too much time has been spent in the past on discussing whether Thomas knew the Synoptics and not enough time has been spent in discussing how Thomas used them. More anon on that too.

Latest JBL

I realize that most readers will get the SBL Publications alerts anyway, but for the sake of completeness I liked to mention them here too:

The winter issue of JBL 125.4 has been posted. Changes have been made to the way JBL is displayed on the site. You will have to go to the site and log in before you can see this issue.

For a review of the many new enhancements of JBL, click here.

The articles in JBL 125.4 include:

Bishlam's Archival Search Report in Nehemiah's Archive: Multiple Introductions and Reverse Chronological Order as Clues to the Origin of the Aramaic Letters in Ezra 4-6
Richard C. Steiner

Proverbs 8:22—31: Three Perspectives on Its Composition
Alan Lenzi

Analogical Reasoning in Romans 7:2—4: A Woman and the Believers in Rome
Peter Spitaler

Taming the Shrew, Shrike, and Shrimp: The Form and Function of Zoological Classification in Psalm 8
Richard Whitekettle

What Becomes of the Angels' "Wives"? A Text-Critical Study of 1 Enoch 19:2
Kelley Coblentz Bautch

Did Paul Loathe Manual Labor? Revisiting the Work of Ronald F. Hock on the Apostle's Tentmaking and Social Class
Todd D. Still

Book Reviews

Annual Index: Volume 125 (2006)