New Testament Studies latest

The new issue of New Testament Studies is out.  Abstracts free for all; the remaining content is for subscribers and subscribing institutions:

NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES, VOLUME 57 - ISSUE 03

‘Blessed is Whoever is Not Offended by Me’: The Subversive Appropriation of (Royal) Messianic Ideology in Q 3–7
Simon J. Joseph
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 307-324
doi: 10.1017/S0028688510000329, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

Galatians 5.11: Evidence of an Early Law-observant Mission by Paul?
Douglas A. Campbell
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 325-347
doi: 10.1017/S002868851100004X, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

Paul's Appropriation of Philo's Theory of ‘Two Men’ in 1 Corinthians 15.45–49
Stefan Nordgaard
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 348-365
doi: 10.1017/S0028688511000075, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

Leben allein aus Gnade. Eph 2.1-10 und die paulinische Rechtfertigungsbotschaft
Christine Gerber
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 366-391
doi: 10.1017/S0028688511000051, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

Gott als verlässlicher Käufer: Einige Papyrologische Anmerkungen und bibeltheologische Schlussfolgerungen zum Gottesbild der Paulusbriefe
Peter Arzt-Grabner
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 392-414
doi: 10.1017/S0028688511000038, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

The Encomiastic Topics of Syncrisis as the Key to the Structure and Argument of Hebrews
Michael W. Martin and Jason A. Whitlark
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 415-439
doi: 10.1017/S0028688511000099, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

Why Did the Early Christians Call Themselves ?
Paul Trebilco
New Testament Studies, Volume 57, Issue 03, July 2011, pp 440-460
doi: 10.1017/S0028688511000087, Published online by Cambridge University Press 08 Jun 2011

Biblioblogging Carnival at Unsettled Christianity

Occasionally, I drop off the face of the earth and become so immersed in research that the blogging doesn't so much go onto the back burner as into the back bedroom. It's at times like that the biblioblogging carnivals are so useful. And for May, Joel Watts put together a superb piece over on his number 1 blog:

Biblioblogging Carnival - Unsettled Edition

Talking of number 1 blogs, it seems that these days there is a kind of voting system for blogs too -- May 2011 Top Ten Biblioblogs. Unsurprisingly, the winner there is James McGrath.  But coming in at a very impressive number 7 is April DeConick. It's impressive because it's on the basis of a mere four posts in May, compared to Jim West, at number 10, who posted a record-breaking four million, eight hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and twenty two posts in May.

Update (Thursday, 9.51): Chuck Grantham comments, over on A 'Goula Blogger.

New Bible Gateway features SBL Greek NT

The new version of the Bible Gateway launched last week. It's been on the web for an age. In fact, when I started my NT Gateway back in 1997, it was one of my first links. The new version includes something that will be of interest and use to Bible scholars, another quick and easy way to access the SBL Greek New Testament.

Conference Announcement: Romans 5-8 at Princeton Theological Seminary

Presentations will be offered by an outstanding group of international scholars, including: John M.G. Barclay, Durham University Martinus C. de Boer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Susan Grove Eastman, Duke University Divinity School Neil Elliott, Fortress Press Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Princeton Theological Seminary J. Louis Martyn, Union Theological Seminary (emeritus) Ben Myers, Charles Sturt University School of Theology, Sydney Stephen Westerholm, McMaster University Philip G. Ziegler, King’s College, University of Aberdeen Workshops given by Cleophus LaRue and Gordon Mikoski, Princeton Theological Seminary Short papers will be read in simultaneous sessions. To offer a paper, submit a 200-word abstract by September 1, 2011 to: b.gaventa@ptsem.edu. For further information, vistit the Romans Conference web page.

Q: Do you want to believe?

Courtesy of C. J. Schmidt over on Question Assumptions.

It's tough being a sceptic.

Library of New Testament Studies Latest Titles

Library of New Testament Studies latest titles include:

Continuum Highlights New Titles in the Library of New Testament Studies Series

2011 IPG Independent Publisher of the Year and Academic & Professional Publisher of the Year

Contours in the Text: Textual Variation in the Writings of Paul, Josephus and the Yahad Jonathan D. H. Norton Norton-Piliavsky places Paul's work within the context of ancient Jewish literary practice, bridging the gap between textual criticism and social history in contemporary discussions. The author argues that studies of ancient Jewish exegesis draw on two distinct analytical modes: the text-critical and the socio-historical. He then shows that the two are usually joined together in discussions of ancient Jewish literature arguing that as a result of this, commentators often allow the text-critical approach to guide their efforts to understand historical questions. Published: February 2011 | Hardback: £60.00 Fourth Gospel in First-Century Media Culture Edited by Anthony Le Donne and Tom Thatcher Werner Kelber's The Oral and the Written Gospel substantially challenged predominant paradigms for understanding early Jesus traditions and the formation of written Gospels. Since that publication, a more precise and complex picture of first-century media culture has emerged. Yet while issues of orality, aurality, performance, and mnemonics are now well voiced in Synoptic Studies, Johannine scholars remain largely unaware of such issues and their implications. The highly respected contributors to this book seek to fill this lacuna by exploring various applications of orality, literacy, memory, and performance theories to the Johannine Literature in hopes of opening new avenues for future discussion. Published: February 2011 | Hardback: £65.00 Abuse, Power and Fearful Obedience: Reconsidering 1 Peter's Commands to Wives Jennifer G. Bird Bird analyzes the construction of wives' subjectivity in 1 Peter, working primarily with that is referred to as the Haustafel (household code) section and engaging feminist critical questions, postcolonial theory, and materialist theory in her analysis. Bird examines the two crucial labels for understanding Petrine Christian identity - 'aliens and refugees' and 'royal priesthood and holy nation' - and finds them to stand in stark contract with the commands and identity given to the wives in the Haustafel section. Similarly, the command to 'honour the Emperor', which immediately precedes the Haustafel, engenders a rich discussion of the text's socio-political implications. Published: July 2011 | Hardback: £65.00 Prayer and Vindication in Luke — Acts: The Theme of Prayer within the Context of the Legitimating and Edifying Objective of the Lukan Narrative Geir O. Holmas Holmas asserts that the distribution of strategically-placed prayer notices and prayers throughout Luke-Acts serves a twofold purpose. First, it is integral to Luke's project of authenticating the Jesus-movement as accredited by Israel's God. Holmas shows that Luke presents a consistent pattern of divine affirmation and redemption attending the tenacious prayers of the faithful ones throughout every major phase of his narrative — in turn demonstrating continuity with the pious Israel of the past. Secondly, most importantly the 'ultimate' purpose of Luke 's emphasis on prayer is didactical. In Luke's gospel Jesus summons his disciples (and implicitly his readers) to confident and persistent prayer before the Eschaton, assuring them of God's readiness to answer their entreaties. Published: March 2011 | Hardback: £70.00 Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice Edited by Trevor J. Burke and Brian S. Rosner Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology and Practice takes the view that before anything else Paul must first and foremost be identified as a 'missionary'. Using the entire Pauline corpus the contributors to this volume assess what Paul's correspondence can tell us about how he perceived his role and identity. The work comprises four parts: in section one, Paul's identity as priest, eschatological herald, and missionary-pastor are explored while in part two topics such as the apostle's activity among pagans, his suffering, and Paul 's 'missionary message' to the church at Rome are considered. Section three comprises essays on the Spirit as the governing dynamic, the glory of God as the apostle's missionary goal, and the importance of Paul's Christology in shaping his mission to the Gentiles. Finally, part four addresses Paul's missionary praxis, including his support of his missionary enterprise. Published: March 2011 | Hardback: £70.00 The Danielic Eschatological Hour in the Johannine Literature Stefanos Mihalios Stefanos Mihalios examines the uses of the 'hour' in the writings of John and demonstrates the contribution of Danielic eschatology to John's understanding of this concept. Mihalios begins by tracing the notion of an eschatological time in the Old Testament within expressions such as 'in that time ' and 'time of distress,' which also appear in the book of Daniel and relate to the eschatological hour found in Daniel. Mihalios finds that even within the Jewish tradition there exists an anticipation of the fulfillment of the Danielic eschatological time, since the eschatological hour appears in the Jewish literature within contexts that allude to the Danielic end-time events. Mihalios moves on to examines the Johannine eschatological expressions and themes that have their source in Daniel, finding evidence of clear allusions whenever the word 'hour' arises. Published: March 2011 | Hardback: £65.00 'Who is this son of man?': The Latest Scholarship on a Puzzling Expression of the Historical Jesus Edited by Larry W. Hurtado and Paul L. Owen This book is the first ever collection of scholarly essays in English devoted specifically to the theme of the expression 'son of man'. It describes the major competing theories which have addressed questions such as: What is the original Aramaic expression which lies behind the Greek phrase, and what was its original connotation? How do the gospel writers use the expression 'son of man'? Is it a Christological title, pregnant with meaning, much like the titles son of God, Christ/Messiah, and son of David? Is it used as a way of designating Jesus as a human being of unique redemptive significance? Or does it rather originate in a nuanced use (obscured in Greek translation) of an Aramaic expression used in place of the first person pronoun, as an indefinite pronoun, or for generic statements about human beings? Published: March 2011 | Hardback: £70.00 Dialogue Not Dogma: Many Voices in the Gospel of Luke Raj Nadella Lukan scholars offer varying responses to the issue of divergent viewpoints in the gospel regarding the identity of Jesus, wealth, women, and the emphasis on doing vis-á-vis hearing. Many forms of criticism attempt to explain or harmonize these apparent contradictions. Conversely, Raj Nadella argues that there is no dominant viewpoint in Luke and that the divergence in viewpoints is a unique literary feature to be celebrated rather than a problem to be solved. Nadella interprets selected Lukan passages in light of Bakhtinian concepts such as dialogism, loophole, and exotopy to show that the disparate perspectives, and interplay between them, display Luke's superior literary skills rather than his inability to produce a coherent work. Published: March 2011 | Hardback: £60.00 Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.10-18: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis Brian J. Abasciano Abasciano builds upon his previous LNTS volume, Paul's Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.1-9, continuing the project begun in that volume and its intertextual methodology. This method incorporates into a thorough traditional exegesis a comprehensive analysis of Paul's use of Scripture against the background of interpretive traditions surrounding the texts alluded to, with great emphasis placed on analyzing the original contexts of Paul's citations and allusions. Such an intertextual exegesis is conducted in Romans 9:10-18 with an awareness of the broader unit of chapters 9-11 especially, and also the epistle as a whole. Conclusions for the meaning of these passages and their theological significance are drawn. Published: April 2011 | Hardback: £60.00 Conversion of the Nations in Revelation Allan J. McNicol Allan McNicol examines the longstanding tension between the author of Revelation's description of the destruction of unrepentant nations early in the book in contrast with their final experience of salvation in Rev 21.24-26. McNicol examines how the author of Revelation interprets and re-fashions both scripture and the myths of the age in order to lay out his vision of redemption — leading to his ultimate conclusion that human political power (Rome) will crumble before the influence of the crucified Jesus. Through careful attention to references to the 'pilgrimage to the Gentiles' in prophetic literature, McNicol is able to draw valuable conclusions as to how the core tension examined may be resolved. Published: April 2011 | Hardback: £60.00 Back to top

Was Winston Churchill a Myth (a pig in a hat)?

One of my favourite comedians is Stewart Lee and I am loving the second series of his Comedy Vehicle currently airing on BBC2.  The most recent episode featured a hilarious sketch that reminded me, with all due respect and with apologies, of the Jesus Mythicists.  It's about the historical evidence for Winston Churchill who, it turns out, was actually just a pig in a hat. (Warning: contains expletives):

Michael Thompson's Clothed with Christ

It's good to see that Wipf and Stock have re-published Michael Thompson's Clothed With Christ The Example and Teaching of Jesus in Romans 12.1—15.13, which was originally published by Sheffield Academic Press.

New JSNT

The latest issue of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament is now out. Here is the alert:

Journal for the Study of the New Testament -- Table of Contents Alert

A new issue of Journal for the Study of the New Testament has been made available:

1 June 2011; Vol. 33, No. 4

URL: http://jnt.sagepub.com/content/vol33/issue4/?etoc

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'Who Can Forgive Sins but God Alone?' Human and Angelic Agents, and Divine Forgiveness in Early Judaism
Daniel Johansson
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 351-374
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/4/351?etoc

Not the Prologue of John
P.J. Williams
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 375-386
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/4/375?etoc

Exploring the Sense-scape of the Gospel of Mark
Louise Lawrence
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 387-397
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/4/387?etoc

Book Review: Gunnar Samuelsson, Crucifixion in Antiquity: An Inquiry into the Background of the New Testament Terminology of Crucifixion (Dissertation, University of Gothenburg, 2010)
Brian Pounds
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 398-405
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/33/4/398?etoc

Stoic Physics and the Christ-event: A Review of Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul: The Material Spirit (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010)
John M.G. Barclay
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 406-414
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/4/406?etoc

Paul in the Stoa Poecile: A Response to Troels Engberg-Pedersen, Cosmology and Self in the Apostle Paul: The Material Spirit (Oxford, 2010)
John R. Levison
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 415-432
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/4/415?etoc

Paul's Body: A Response to Barclay and Levison
Troels Engberg-Pedersen
Journal for the Study of the New Testament 2011;33 433-443
http://jnt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/4/433?etoc

66 Books in 66 seconds

The University of Nottingham's Bibledex project has enjoyably edited together its scholars saying the 66 books of the Bible in order in 66 seconds:

Duke University Dept of Religion Facebook page

We now have our own Facebook page. Please come and visit and "like" us:

Duke University Department of Religion Facebook page

B-Greek on the move

One of my earliest experiences of the internet was going on b-greek, the Biblical Greek mailing list, back in the mid 90s. I remember thinking, "Wow, this internet thing is amazing! You can get regular 'emails' plopping into your Pegasus 'inbox' that discuss natty little problems of New Testament Greek!" I remember being so excited that I printed out the daily digest and read it on the train (from university station up to Kings Norton) on the way home.

The list has been going since 1992 and for many of us it has been a great way of discussing interesting problems in NT and related texts. Even when one is not contributing, it is often great to listen in to what others are discussing, even if there is something of a tendency towards theological topics.

Well, now it is on the move. It is morphing from an email list to a forum set-up and you can access the new b-greek here:

B-Greek: The Biblical Greek Forum

Now it is divided up into lots of little "interest groups" and there are other advantages like unicode support and better searchability. I am going to miss the old email list format, but I have already registered for the new forum and I am going to follow via RSS feed and add it to my blogroll so that I don't miss anything important.

Update (11.12am): On second thoughts, the volume of posts on the b-greek forum is going to flood my blogroll so I will take it off the blogroll for now and perhaps create a new one in due course that incorporates the other e-lists too.

Rejected Exam Paper

David Rattigan this morning tweeted this hilarious Rejected Exam Paper on the New Testament, which he penned ten years ago, in the spirit of 1066 and All That. Here's the link and a sample:

Rejected Exam Paper

4. Would you say that Cleopatra was directly responsible for the corporeal decline of Herod the Great? If not, what would you say?

5. Describe, in excessive detail, the woman at the well. What were her pneumatological implications? Could you suggest a suitable remedy?

6. Briefly solve the synoptic problem (3-4 lines max). Explain why the problem still baffles scholars today, and suggest what should be done to them.

Sepphoris 2011 Excavations

My colleagues Eric Meyers and Carol Meyers, and graduate student Alan Todd are pictured here excavating in Sepphoris.  There is a new blog dedicated to the dig:

David Hendin's Sepphoris 2011 Excavation Blog

It's a really thorough, day by day, detailed account and there are tons of pictures.  Really makes you wish that you were there!

Sharon Mattila's Statistics and the Synoptic Problem: Some Quibbles

One of my favourite spare time activities is to dip into statistical studies of the Synoptic Problem. One day I might even write something about it. In going back over an article by Sharon Lea Mattila recently, I noticed that I had scribbled all over my print copy and that some of my scribblings might usefully be transferred to a blog post lest they get lost.

The article I wish to comment on is Sharon Lea Mattila, "Negotiating the Clouds Around Statistics and 'Q': A Rejoinder and Independent Analysis," Novum Testamentum 46/2 (2004): 105-31.  The article is a detailed, lengthy and frequently polemical response to Charles E. Carlston and Dennis Norlin, "Statistics and Q -- Some Further Observations," NovT 41 (1999), itself largely a response to an earlier article by Mattila.  For an excellent summary of  these and other works on statistical studies of the Synoptic Problem, and for full bibliography, see John Poirier, "Statistical Studies of the Verbal Agreements and their Impact on the Synoptic Problem," Currents in Biblical Research 7 (2008): 68-123.

The gist of the article is that Mattila thinks that Carlston and Norlin have overstated the case that Matthew and Luke preserved the Q sayings more faithfully than the Marcan sayings.  One of the key elements in the article is "an independent statistical analysis" that attempts to avoid what she sees as the flaws in their earlier study.

My comments here relate to difficulties with Mattila's figures tabulated on pp. 125-6 of the article:

(1) Mattila claims to avoid "such pitfalls as including sayings containing words from Scripture" (p. 121) but two of her parallels feature quotations from Scripture:

• Matt. 10.34-6 // Luke 12.51-53 quotes Micah 7.6
• Matt. 21.13 // Luke 19.46 is a famous composite quotation of Isa. 56.7 and Jer. 7.11.

(2) Mattila makes the interesting methodological move to count passages normally attributed to Mark-Q overlap as Triple Tradition (p. 122). In some contexts, this could be a strong and defensible move, e.g. it could help us to take seriously the existence of major agreements in triple tradition material, something that has a bearing on arguments for and against the 2ST. However, in this context, in which she is discussing Carlston and Norlin, and dealing specifically with claims about a written Q in comparison with a written Mark, she is potentially transferring material that should be in one table to the other. Four of her Triple Tradition pericopes are in Mark / Q overlap
contexts:

• Matt. 10.19-20 // Luke 12.11-12
• Matt. 13.31b-2 // Luke 13.18b-19
• Matt. 16.6b // Luke 12.1b
• Matt. 18.6-7 // Luke 17.1b-3a.

It's an important difficulty with the analysis when evidence that belongs on one side of the experiment ends up on the other.

(3) Mattila includes the Lucan woes in her analysis in spite of the fact that they have no parallel in Matthew, and against her stated objective of treating Aland's synopsis divisions as the standard.  She is conscious that this is problematic (p. 121).

(4) This is a point that is rarely treated seriously in statistical studies of the Synoptics.  Parable material occupies an interesting position here in that it is both sayings  material (in attribution to Jesus) and narrative (in form).  Parallel parables appear often to be much less close to one another in wording than is other sayings material. Indeed, they sometimes imitate the way that narrative material appears. Mattila's double tradition table includes four parables across 47 verses of Matthew:

• Matt. 7.24-27 // Luke 6.47-9
• Matt. 18.12-14 // Luke 15.4-7
• Matt. 22.2-14 // Luke 14.16b-24
• Matt. 25.14-30 // Luke 19.12b-27

Her triple tradition table includes three parables across only 23 verses in Matthew (the second is the Mark-Q overlap parable of the Mustard Seed listed also above):

• Matt. 13.3b-9 and 18-23 // Luke 8.5-8a and 11-15
• Matt. 13.31b-32 // Luke 13.18-19
• Matt. 21.33-40 // Luke 20.9b-15

(5) Unlike Carlston and Norlin, Mattila excludes from consideration speech from characters other than Jesus (John the Baptist, the Centurion, etc.).  I am not sure about this move, especially as they include famous examples of very high verbatim agreement, thereby potentially skewing the figures for the double tradition.

The Synoptic Problem for Kindle (free)

I mentioned recently that I had made available my 2001 book The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze, with the help of colleagues at Duke University Libraries, over at the internet archive.  You can read online, download as a PDF and so on.

With thanks to one of my readers, it is now also available for free for your kindle -- just go to the archive.org page for the links.

Lead Codices and the Media

Thomas Verenna has an excellent article in Bible and Interpretation on the fake metal codices, with special emphasis on the media failure to check with the experts:

Artifacts and the Media: Lead Codices and the Public Portrayal of History

Robert Cargill lays into Simcha Jacobovici's Nails of the Cross

Bob Cargill has published an excellent, thorough debunking of the ludicrous Nails of the Cross documentary that recently aired on the History Channel:

A Critique of Simcha Jacobovici’s Secrets of Christianity: Nails of the Cross

Simcha makes two bold claims to say the least: the first is that the lost nails of Jesus’ crucifixion have been recovered, and the second is an implicit assertion that the IAA covered it up. Unfortunately for Simcha, his theory has a problem, and its name is Legion, for they are many. Any one of these problems renders Simcha’s theory impossible, and their aggregate renders the theory preposterous.

Bob does not mince his words but at the same time patiently demonstrates why the theory is so absurd. My comments on the fiasco are gathered here.

One of the elements mentioned by Bob is the work of Barrie Wilson who has apparently co-authored a book with Simcha Jacobovici to come out next year on the Arabic Infancy Gospel of the Savior.  Wilson's website provides a teaser:

BRIDE OF GOD:
A Lost Gospel of Jesus’ Marriage to Mary Magdalene
by Simcha Jacobovici and Barrie Wilson

In Bride of God: A Lost Gospel of Jesus’ Marriage to Mary Magdalene, the authors take us into the world of an early Christian community that encoded its beliefs in a now forgotten manuscript, presently collecting dust in the British Museum. In the course of the investigation, the authors decode the manuscript using techniques employed by early Christians for understanding ancient writings. Part mystery story, part adventure/travel and part historical investigation, Bride of God reveals up to now unknown details about Jesus’ family, sexuality and marriage . . . .

Good grief.

Subscribing by email to the NT Blog and the NT Pod

A correspondent asked about an email subscription option for the NT Blog.  I hadn't realized that I had not set one up and I have now done so:

Subscribe to NT Blog by Email

While I was at it, I made sure I also had an email subscription option for the NT Pod:

Subscribe to NT Pod by Email

I've added links on the sidebars of each page too.

Continued Media Fail on the Fake Metal Codices

Over on Paleojudaica, Jim Davila is keeping an eye on the Fake Metal Codices with a new and uninformed piece in the Christian Science Monitor. As Jim notes, there is no attempt to try to find experts to comment on the piece.

I was listening to a most enjoyable (but far too short) programme from BBC World Service the other day on the Hitler Diaries, Witness: The Hitler Diaries Hoax (podcast version here).  In a day before the internet and blogging (1983), it took the media about a week to realize that they had been sold a hoax.  This story has now been running for two months without any widespread recognition that they are fakes and with few serious attempts to consult experts.  It's pathetic.