Monthly Archives: December 2015

This Day In History

25 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by in Biblical Studies, Historical Studies

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25 December is a day when Christians around the world celebrate the coming of God in the person of Jesus Christ (with the exception of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which observes Christmas on 7 January). nativity icon

However, 25 December had played a significant role in Jewish history before the advent (pun intended) of Christmas.

I am currently reading through Craig G. Bartholomew’s new book, Introducing Biblical Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Framework for Hearing God in Scripture (Baker Academic, 2015).  I was reminded of the significance of 25 December when reading a section on the history of Judaism during the Second Temple period. Bartholomew says this (pages 162-163):

Under Syrian rule, Antiochus Epiphanes’s desecration of the temple on December 25, 167 BC, forced the issue of identity to the fore. Some refused to submit to Antiochus’s actions and died rather than submit. Others who escaped looked to Yahweh to act in a new and decisive way to vanquish his enemies. Judas Maccabeus and his companions organized a revolt and drove out Antiochus, so that three years to the day after its desecration, the temple was reconsecrated (December 25, 164 BC)…However, the ambiguity of the years that followed created the same sort of puzzle as had the “return from exile.” God had acted, but it seemed as though another great intervention must still come.

Indeed. Bartholomew does not go on to explore the significance of this in light of the date of the church’s celebration of Jesus’ coming, 25 December. First the desecration of the temple, then the reconsecration of the temple, and finally the arrival of the One who embodied in his own person what every previous temple was a mere symbol of (the book of Hebrews suggests this and much more). Jesus was God’s Temple par excellence.  “The Jews then said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?’ But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” (John 2.20-21)

Without pursuing it further here, let me suggest that we begin to think about the relation of Jesus’ birth (and the day we celebrate it) to the larger matrix of temple theology. I believe there is sufficient historical precedence for doing so.

 

To read or to watch (and listen)?

21 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by in Resources

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Every book has a story. And many of the books that I like to read are the product of research and lectures done by various scholars over a period of time that eventually ends up becoming a book. Often, before a scholar writes a book on a topic he or she will do intense research, give presentations at conferences, teach courses, even preach sermons on the topic in order to nuance their position and fine-tune their work. Additionally these types of venues allow them the opportunity to get feed-back and critique from their peers and fellow scholars. And then, often many months later, a book is finally published with the results of all the hard work. This is the beauty of theology done in community.

With the benefit of technology nowadays we often have the opportunity to watch/hear a presentation of material that eventually finds itself in book form.

Here is an example. Revelation and the Politics of Interpretation

One of the books on my wishlist this Christmas is Revelation and the Politics of Apocalyptic Interpretation 

This book is the result of a conference at Duke University. It contains essays by scholars such as N. T. Wright, Richard B. Hays, Marianne Meye Thompson, etc. and explores the book of Revelation’s intertextual resonances with the Old Testament and its political implications.

But I recently discovered that I can watch a lecture by N. T. Wright (with response by C. Kavin Rowe) which gives the substance of what I think his essay in the book covers. So if you are thinking of buying the book, then why wait? Listen to this lecture and enjoy some of the material now!

YouTubeVideo: Revelation and Christian Hope: Political Implications of the Revelation to John

I. Howard Marshall Present with the Lord

13 Sunday Dec 2015

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Yesterday, 12 December 2015, I. Howard Marshall passed from this world i-howard-marshallat the age of 81. Marshall was a conservative evangelical scholar whose work combined a high regard for the authority of Holy Scripture with a conviction that we are called to study it with the full use of our minds.

He made major contributions to many areas within New Testament studies. He published commentaries on many books of the NT, a New Testament Theology, a book on the doctrine of Inspiration, reference Bible dictionaries, works on NT interpretation methods, many articles, and the list goes on.

He has a special place in my heart because he was not just an academic scholar who stood aloof from the church. He spanned the gulf between the church and the academy. And moreover, he was a NT scholar who emphasized mission. He claimed that “New Testament theology is essentially missionary theology.” Here is the broader context of that claim:

New Testament theology is essentially missionary theology. By this I mean that the documents came into being as the result of a two-part mission, first, the mission of Jesus sent by God to inaugurate his kingdom with the blessings that it brings to people and to call people to respond to it, and then the mission of his followers called to continue his work by proclaiming him as Lord and Savior, and calling people to faith and ongoing commitment to him, as a result of which his church grows. The theology springs out of this movement and is shaped by it, and in turn the theology shapes the continuing mission of the church. The primary function of the documents is thus to testify to the gospel that is proclaimed by Jesus and his followers. Their teaching can be seen as the fuller exposition of that gospel. They are also concerned with the spiritual growth of those who are converted to the Christian faith. They show how the church should be shaped for its mission, and they deal with those problems that form obstacles to the advancement of the mission. In short, people who are called by God to be missionaries are carrying out their calling by the writing of Gospels, letters and related material. They are concerned to make converts and then to provide for their nurture, to bring new believers to birth and to nourish them to maturity.

I. Howard Marshall, New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004), 34–35.

Here are two other tributes put out in honor of Marshall:

He will be greatly missed. May he rest in the fullness of joy!

Recent Research on the Greek of the New Testament

04 Friday Dec 2015

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There has been a steady flow of publications of recent research on the Greek of the New Testament. A lot of work has been done particularly in the area of applying insights gained from theoretical and applied linguistics to the study of the Greek of the New Testament.

If you are looking to get up to speed on recent research in this area first two books to read should be the following:

  1. Advances in the Study of Greek: New Insights for Reading the New Testament by Constantine R. Campbell (Zondervan 2015).
  2. Linguistic Analysis of the Greek New Testament: Studies in Tools, Methods, and Practice by Stanley E. Porter (Baker Academic 2015).

These are both intermediate level books that will get you up to speed on Greek studies.

Here are the chapter titles for Campbell’s book:Campbell_new book

  • A Short History of Greek Studies: The Nineteenth Century to the
    Present Day
  • Linguistic Theories
  • Lexical Semantics and Lexicography
  • Deponency and the Middle Voice
  • Verbal Aspect and Aktionsart
  • Idiolect, Genre, and Register
  • Discourse Analysis I: Hallidayan Approaches
  • Discourse Analysis II: Levinsohn and Runge
  • Pronunciation
  • Teaching and Learning Greek

The book is very helpfully organized. Campbell does an excellent job of boiling down the complex and confusing relationship between various schools of thought and different approaches on each topic. The book should be required reading for students studying Greek. Call me a nerd but I found it hard to put the book down I was enjoying it so much.

Porter’s book is a bit more rigorous and consequently demands a slower read. But don’t
mistake me, it is well worth it.  Porter is stronger on the theoretical side of things than he is on the application (i.e., exegesis of specific texts), in my opinion anyway. But the real strength of this book is the broad coverage of topics at the interface between linguistics and Greek studies.Porter_Linguistic Analysis

Here are the chapters:

  • Who Owns the Greek New Testament? Issues That Promote and Hinder Further Study
  • Analyzing The Computer Needs of New Testament Greek Exegesis
  • “On the Shoulders of Giants”: The Expansion and Application of the Louw-Nida Lexicon
  • Linguistics and Biblical Interpretation
  • A Multidisciplinary Approach to Exegesis
  • Sociolinguistics and New Testament Study
  • Discourse Analysis: Introduction and Core Concepts
  • The Ideational Metafunction and Register
  • Time and Aspect in New Testament Greek: A Response to K.L. McKay
  • Three Arguments regarding Aspect and Temporality: A Response to Buist Fanning, with Excursus on Aspectually Vague Verbs
  • The Perfect Tense-Form and Stative Aspect: The Meaning of Greek Perfect Tense-Form in the Greek Verbal System
  • A Register Analysis of Mark 13: Towards a Context of Situation
  • The Grammar of Obedience: Matthew 28:19-20
  • Verbal Aspect and Synoptic Relations
  • Study of John’s Gospel: New Directions or the Same Old Paths?
  • Method and Means of Analysis of the Opponents in Pauline Letters
  • 1 Timothy 2:8: Holy Hands or Holy Raising?
  • Greek Word Order: Still an Unexplored Area in New Testament Studies?
  • Proper Nouns in the New Testament
  • Hyponymy and the Trinity

Porter’s book demonstrates that those who assume Greek studies have come to a plateau, with nothing new to learn or discover, are wrong. With the tools and resources available today we are in a much better position to make advances in these areas than we were a generation ago. Most of the chapters were originally delivered at conferences (e.g., Society of Biblical Literature, Society for New Testament Studies, etc.), although none of them has been previously published. This book is a must read for anyone who desires to read the Greek New Testament with nuance and precision.