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Eerdmans eBook Sale – 80 books, 80% off

21 Wednesday Sep 2022

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, People to Know, Resources

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Discounts, Eerdmans, Gospels, New Testament Studies, Paul

There are some great books for sale by Eerdmans until September 30th. Head over to the Eerdmans Blog (click here) to see the complete list.

Here are my top picks:

An Anomalous Jew: Paul Among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (Michael F. Bird) – $5.60

Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels (Richard Bauckham) – $4.99

Paul and the Language of Faith (Nijay K. Gupta) – $6.99

Reading with the Grain of Scripture (Richard B. Hays) – $11.60

The Messianic Theology of the New Testament (Joshua Jipp) – $10.60

Reading the Epistles of James, Peter, John & Jude as Scripture: The Shaping and Shape of a Canonical Collection (David Nienhuis and Robert W. Wall) – $6.00

Apocalypse, Prophecy, and Pseudepigraphy: On Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (John J. Collins) – $6.80

Book Review – Fortress Introduction to The Gospels by Mark Allan Powell

13 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Resources, Reviews

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Biblical Criticism, Books, Gospels, Jesus, New Testament Studies

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Mark Allan Powell is a veteran in biblical studies. He has published broadly for both scholars and lay readers. He has been an active contributor in academia for many years serving in the Society of Biblical literature and on the board of several respected academic periodicals. He also has a long history of teaching New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary (more than thirty years). Powell is certainly qualified to write this textbook about the Gospels.

As the title indicates, this book is intended to be an introduction, which for Powell means orienting readers to the world of the Gospels and the scholarship that has helped us to understand them (pp. 1-2). The actual introduction lays the groundwork in several key respects. It gives the reader an overview of the various academic fields of research that scholars use in studying the Gospels (e.g., archeology, sociology, and the social sciences). It describres the various dynamics that make up the world in which they were written (e.g., religious, political, social, and philosophical dynamics). Finally, it explains how the gospel genre has been understood in the past and how it is best understood today. Powell suggests that the canonical Gospels are most similar to ancient Geco-Roman biographies, with several important caveats: they display a strong influence from Jewish literature, they are not very much like modern biographies, and they are more than ancient biographies in the exalted way they depict their main character.

After the introduction Powell devotes the first chapter to the gospel tradition and its main stages of development stretching from the original events in the ancient world all the way to their reception in, and impact on, the modern world. He breaks the transmission down into six generally consecutive stages of development. I say “generally” because they are not completely distinct stages, strictly speaking, but they do generally flow from ancient to modern in terms of the focus for academic research. First, there is historical Jesus studies—which as its name suggests, is the historical task of reconstructing the words and aims of Jesus himself as he existed in history, before the writings we know as the Gospels were produced. Second, the early tradition encompasses both oral and written elements. Scholars who study the oral transmission of the gospel tradition are called form critics. Form criticism typically procedes by identifying distinct segments of material, classifying them according to type (e.g., miracle story, parable, hymn, pronouncement, and so on), discern their original function, then try to reconstruct what they looked like (or sounded like) before being included in the written document. Scholars who study the written sources of the gospel tradition are called source critics. Source criticism, simply put, studies the written sources that the evangelists might have used when composing their own written documents. This entails trying to figure out the relative relationship between the four canonical Gospels. The third stage in this sequence of tradition is the composition or redaction of the Gospels. Redaction critics study the way that the evangelists uniquely crafted their Gospels by selecting, arranging, and sometimes even emending, the stories they include. The goal is to discover something of the purpose and intention of the evangleists in the composition process. The fourth stage of transmission is manuscript preservation. Text criticism, as it is often called, studies the history and relationship of the manuscripts that provide the foundaiton for our modern critical editions of the Greek New Testament. This includes studying the various differences in manuscripts, their causes, and attempting to determine the initial reading of the text in each case. The fifth stage in the transmission of the gospel tradition is translation. Here Powell demonstrates how translating the Bible into English inevitably continues the process of developing the gospel tradition in new directions as translators wrestle with philosophical issues in their attempts to achieve varying degrees of clarity and accuracy in translation. Taking any utterance that originated in one culture and linguistic environment and trying to articulating it in another culture and linguistic environment can be incredibly difficult, and something is almost always lost in translation. The sixth and final stage of development is reception. This field of research studies how the gospels have been heard and understood down through the ages. As the gospel tradition is received in various groups that are situated in different social locations it has created different effects in its readers. Thus scholars have found value in studying the relationship between the perspective of the reader and the meaning that is found in the text. The various approaches that pay attention to this process of reception is sometimes called reader-response criticism. This field of study is further divided into several subdisciplines: rhetorical criticism, Wirkungsgeschichte, ideological criticism, postmodern criticism, and narrative criticism.

The central part of the book (chs. 2-5) is organized by devoting a chapter to each of the four canonical Gospels, with the chapter on the Gospel of Luke also including Acts. Each of these chapters follows the same basic format with four sections each. Powell begins each chapter with a section providing a source critical summary, commenting where appropriate on the general feel and structure of the Gospel and its relationship to the others. In the following section he describes from a literary standpoint the unique chracteristics of the Gospel. Next Powell walks the reader through a reconstruction of the historical context of the Gospel’s composition, considering in turn the question of authorship, location, date, and provenance. In the fourth and final section of each of these chapters he provides a description of the major themes as developed within the Gospel. This process is repeated for Mark, Matthew, Luke-Acts, and John.

The final chapter is devoted to a consideration of noncanonical Gospels. Powell limits his discussion to works that are typically considered to originate in the second century or, in a couple cases, to works that have garnered attention from New Testament scholars for various other reasons. He splits up the noncanonical Gospels into two groups.

The first group he labels “Narrative Gospels” because they comprise stories which relate to Jesus. The Protoevangelium of James which is more about Mary than Jesus, nevertheless contains some overlap with the canonical Gospels. It was popular among early Christians and remained so for many years, as evidenced by the manuscript tradition. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas focuses on Jesus’s early years as a child. It contains various miracle stories purportedly done by the child Jesus. This Gospel was not popular among church leaders presumably on account of the less than flattering picture it paints of Jesus. The Gospel of the Hebrews is only known through references to it in other documents. It was apparently received well by some heavy hitters in the church (e.g., Origen, Clement of Alexandira, and Jerome), but after the fifth century it dissapears from the historical record. Somthing similar can be said for the second century Gospel of the Egyptians which we also only know through several references in other works. The Gospel of the Savior concerns alleged speeches Jesus made toward the end of his life. Apart from its own manuscript tradition (which is small) it is not referred to by any others, good or bad. The Gospel of Peter is a second century account of Jesus’s passion. There is much overlap with canonical Gospels in terms of content, though not in wording. It was mentioned by the church historian Eusebius and also by Serapion, Bishop of Antioch.

The second group of noncanoncial Gospels Powell labels “Sayings Gospels” because they are not so much narrative as they are collections of teachings or sayings of Jesus. The Gospel of Thomas is perhaps the most important by all accounts. Its date and authorship have been of significant inderest to scholars. The fact that the death and resurrection of Jesus is absent from its purview and the theological dissonance between it and other early orthodox gospel traditions has also contributed to its significance for some New Testament scholars. It was used primarily by Gnostic groups. The Apocryphon of James reports Jesus’s teaching to James and Peter just before he ascends to heaven. The Dialogue of the Savior describes a conversation between Jesus, Matthew, Judas, and Mary, and is gnostic in its thematic content. The remaining Gospels Powell discusses in this group are gnostic in character (or anti-gnostic, as in The Epistle of the Apostles): The Gospel of Judas, The Gospel of Mary, and The Gospel of Philip. To sum up the chapter Powell himself puts it this way:

The noncanonical Gospels are a mixed lot: some were regarded as heretical by church leaders, or dismissed for some other reason, but othrs seem to have been less disparaged than they were simply marginalized.…Yet for the most part they did survive! They were copied and treasured, often for hundreds of years, even without official support or enduring, widespread popularity. (p. 245)

Mark Allan Powell has done a great service for students and interested lay persons by writing this book. It can be said with reasonable certainty that he has achieved his goal of orienting readers to the world of the Gospels and the scholarship that has helped us to understand them. A careful review of the end notes reveals that almost every single book that he references is a reputable scholarly academic work. He certainly has a firm grasp of the secondary literature on the Gospels. In line with the nature of textbooks Powell refrains, for the most part, from adjudicating on contentious or hotly debated issues, preferring instead to inform the reader of how various scholars deal with the the issues.

There are, however, a few matters where his own perspective shines through. To take one example, when he discusses the “synoptic problem” (pp. 22-27) he describes the three main views that scholars take, noting that the Two-Source Hypothesis is the most dominant view. It becomes clear in the remainder of the book that he takes the Two-Source Hypothesis—along with the postulated existence of Q—for granted (see pp. 95, 129, 147, 189). That being said, his personal bias does not get in the way of the overall objectivity of his presentation.

I offer the following reflections by way of personal response and engagament with other elements of Powell’s book. In the section dealing with historical Jesus studies (pp. 17-22), Powell gives the impression that this field of research is mostly about writing biographies about Jesus in the modern sense. In fact, Figure 3 (pp. 19-21) is labeled “Modern Biographies of Jesus,” and lists no less than ten major interpreters who have offered historical reconstructions of Jesus in recent years. I have not read all of these authors, but I am familiar with N. T. Wright’s work on Jesus. I do not think Wright would say any of his work on Jesus constitutes a “biography.” Especially considering that Powell only takes into account one of Wright’s books, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996). By contrast, Wright has written a biography on the apostle Paul—which has a very different texture to it than his work on Jesus—Paul: A Biography (New York: HarperCollins, 2018). I think Powell could improve this section by carefully distinguishing historical reconstructions from mere modern biographies.

In the chapter on the Gospel of Mark, Figure 16 (p. 75) compares the references to the “kingdom of God” with references in other Gospels to demonstrate the dominance of the concept in Mark’s Gospel. However, the figure does not display the many “kingdom of heaven” references in Matthew. It seems this would skew his representation of the situation in the chart, which gives the appearance of skewing the data to make a point.

Powell claims that Mark 1:9-11 is the only place in the Bible where the heavens are torn (pp. 78-79). However, Richard B. Hays offers a reading of this “tearing of the heavens” that is more convincing in my opinion, referring to a passage in Isaiah in which he cries out to God asking him how long until he “rends the heavens” and comes down to rescue his people. See Hays’s book, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016), 16-20. Powell seems not to be aware of this other tearing of the heavens in Isaiah 64:1.

In the chapter on Luke-Acts Powell discusses the models for understanding Jesus drawn from the Greco-Roman world. He discusses several in partricular that I found insightful: Jesus as philosopher, immortal, and benefactor (pp. 160-62). These are thought-provoking comparisons. When reflecting on Luke’s motive behind such comparisons one is reminded of what Josephus did for the Romans in translating Jewish culture for a Roman audience (I am thinking especiually of his use of terms such as “wearing the diadem,” etc., in place of messiah language). See, on this point, especially Matthew V. Novenson’s The Grammar of Messianism: An Ancient Jewish Political Idiom and Its Users (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 145-148.

When describing the various models and images that Luke employs for understanding Jesus Powell concludes by saying, “Taken together, these glimpses provide a complex and somewhat confusing portrait of Jesus that would have offered most of Luke’s readers something that was familiar, mixed, perhaps, with much that was not” (p. 163). I do not think I would describe the results of Luke’s tapestry in this way. Luke’s portrait of Jesus may seem confusing to us but we must, in my opinion, maintain a hermeneutic of trust and assume that it made sense to his first readers.

There is one small lacuna in the chapter on the Gospel of John that relates to the identity of the author. Overall Powell does a good job of describing the complexity of the issue (pp. 196-200), but he does not mention the work of Richard Bauckham in this context. See especially Backham’s chapter, “Who Was The Beloved Disciple? (Continued),”  in Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017). To be fair, he does reference others, but as far as I am aware Bauckham makes a contribution to the question that is somewhat unique. Although Bauckham’s position is, admittedly, a minority, he is an accomplished scholar in Johannine studies and so I think Powell’s section here would’ve benefited from mentioning his work.

When discussing the Gospel of John’s use of symbolism Powell mentions the piercing with a spear and the consequent flow of water and blood from Jesus’s side (pp. 191-192). He lists several interpretations that have been suggested (sacraments, forgiveness, Holy Spirit, etc.) including his own (birth). However, he does not mention the possibility of an intertextual allusion to Ezekiel 36:22-37:14. This is the interpretation that underlies The Bible Project’s video on “The Water of Life”: https://bibleproject.com/explore/water-of-life/

Let me hasten to say that all the above criticisms notwithstanding this is a wonderful textbook for Gospel studies. One of the greatest strengths of this book is the way it introduces readers to the world of biblical scholarship that informs our understanding of these texts so dear to us.

Tombs as Sacred Space in Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament

07 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Research Topics / Book Ideas

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Death, Jesus, Second Temple Judaism, Temple, Tomb

Lightstone book cover

Jack Lightstone has written an interesting chapter on “The Dead and Their Tombs” in his book, The Commerce of the Sacred: Mediation of the Divine Among Jews ni the Greco-Roman World (Columbia University Press 2006). In the chapter he deals with the Hebrew Bible and other Judaic literature of antiquity. What would be very interesting indeed would be if someone would bring Lightstone’s chapter/thesis in conversation with the New Testament, especially with the New Testament’s account of the burial and tomb of Jesus of Nazareth.

“By the end of the Second Commonwealth, then, and possibly several centuries before, the tombs became a gate to heaven, as were the altars of Ancient Israel, rather than a passage to the netherworld.”¹ Lightstone also notes a striking correlation between two of Herod’s magnanimous building projects, namely, the mausoleum in Hebron and the Temple in Jerusalem: “The one is a scaled-down version of the other—with of course one major difference; in place of the Sanctuary, which occupied the center of the Temple compound, one has in Hebron the six raised tombs of the Mausoleum…Here, as at the altar, heaven and earth met.”²

One cannot help but wonder whether the early accounts of Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection are drawing on precisely this aspect of the first century Jewish cultural encyclopedia. One wonders, also, what the empty tomb might have to contribute to the conversation?


¹ Lightstone, The Commerce of the Sacred, 50.

² Lightstone, ibid., 51.

Forthcoming Books

02 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Historical Studies, People to Know, Resources

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Commentaries, Gospels, New Releases, Pauline Theology, Second Temple Judaism, Textual Criticism

Biblical Studies

Conformed to the Image of His Son: Reconsidering Paul’s Theology of Glory in Romans (Haley Grandson Jacob, w/ a foreword by NT Wright, IVP Academic)

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New Testament Christological Hymns: Exploring Texts, Contexts, and Significance (Matthew E. Gordley, IVP Academic)

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Jesus in Jerusalem: The Last Days (Eckhard Schnabel, w/ a foreword by Craig Evans, Eerdmans)

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Second Temple Judaism

T&T Clark Companion to the Dead Sea Scrolls (Ed. by George Brooke and Charlotte Hempel, T&T Clark)

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Commentaries

Galatians: A Commentary (Craig S. Keener, Baker Academic)

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The Letter to the Galatians NICNT (David A. deSilva, Eerdmans)

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Textual History of the New Testament

Can We Trust the Gospels? (Peter J. Williams, Crossway)

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An Echo of Ezekiel in the Mouth of Jesus

16 Wednesday May 2018

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Destruction of Jerusalem, Echoes of Scripture, Ezekiel, Gospels, Jerusalem, Jesus

Destruction of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 33:21-33 contains a report of the fall of Jerusalem. On the night before the herald arrived with that world-shattering news Ezekiel received a word from the Lord telling of doom that is to come upon the Judeans who remained in the land, the non-deportees (see v. 24 “the people living in those ruins in the land of Israel”). This is to serve as a warning for Ezekiel’s community who delight in listening to Ezekiel but with no true effect upon their hearts (cf. the repeated pronouncement, “they hear your words but do not put them into practice” vv. 31, 32).

This passage has a profound echo in Jesus’ words to his own contemporaries in Matthew 7:26; Luke 6:49: “everyone who hears my words and does not do them”. Jesus’ word brings with it a somber warning for those of his listeners who have ears to hear the echo of Ezekiel. Just as Ezekiel’s warning against hearing-without-acting preceded the terrible announcement concerning the ominous fate of Jerusalem, so Jesus’ foreboding words should be heard as a warning not unlike that of Ezekiel: if the people don’t respond with their whole hearts then Jerusalem will destroyed, again. 

Jesus came back to this motif again in Mark 13 (“not one stone will be left upon another” v. 2), Matthew 24, and also in Luke 19:41-48:

41 As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side. 44 They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” 

45 Then he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling things there; 46 and he said, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.” 

47 Every day he was teaching in the temple. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to kill him; 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were spellbound by what they heard.

One curious feature of this passage is the final note that “all the people were spellbound by what they heard” (NRSV). Another translation has “all the people hung on his words” (NIV). This could also be seen as a faint echo of the contemporaries of Ezekiel who was told the following words: “Your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord’. My people come to you, as they usually do, to hear your words, but  they do not put them into practice…to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well” (Eze 33:30-32). In other words, the people were mesmerized by the prophet. This was true of both Ezekiel and Jesus. But the dire predictions concerning the people and the beloved city of Jerusalem was also equally certain for both Ezekiel and Jesus:

Ezekiel 33:33 “When all this comes true—and it certainly will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them”

Matt 24:33-34 “When you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened”

The continuing relevance of Ezekiel’s message for Jesus’ contemporaries lay simply in this: if they did not turn from their zealous festering for violent revolt against Rome and heed his message (in other words, if they didn’t repent from their current aspirations and give allegiance instead to the ευγγελιον of Jesus) then the people of Jesus’ day would experience the same terrible fate as the people of Ezekiel’s day—a fallen city and all the horror that accompany it. 

Repentance: Ethical or Eschatological?

02 Wednesday May 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Historical Studies, Research Topics / Book Ideas, Resources

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Eschatology, John the Baptist, Jubilees, Repentance

Mark 1:15 Verse Art

What is the background and meaning of “repentance” as used in the gospel accounts? The word is traditionally understood from within an ethical framework: cease from sinful activities or lifestyles and begin to live morally upright and virtuous lives. But perhaps Jesus’ (and the Baptist’s?) call to “repentance” should be understood primarily from within an eschatological, rather than ethical, framework. The difference is subtle but important. A study of the relevant Old Testament texts is crucial here. And one strand that comes out is the question of the nature of the repentance being a corporate activity versus an individual activity. Thinking of repentance in ethical terms misleadingly implies isolated individual activities. But perhaps repentance is meant to be understood as a corporate activity having quite different implications. In other words, the call to repentance means what it means within the overarching announcement of the return of YHWH and the dawning of the kingdom of God.

One interesting text related to this is Jubilees 1:13-18. The book is dated from about 150 B.C. so it is a fitting text to demonstrate the way some Jews in the Second Temple period thought about repentance. In this passage, the audience of the book of Jubilees lives long after the time of Moses but is being reminded that not only their exile was predicted by the scriptures but also their national repentance, and it will serve an eschatological purpose. Notice how the predicted repentance serves as the catalyst for the end of exile and construction of the new sanctuary/temple (see bold text):

Jubilees 1:13-18 — And I will hide My face from them, and I will deliver them into the hand of the Gentiles for captivity, and for a prey, and for devouring, and I will remove them from the midst of the land, and I will scatter them amongst the Gentiles. And they will forget all My law and all My commandments and all My judgments, and will go astray as to new moons, and sabbaths, and festivals, and jubilees, and ordinances. And after this they will turn to Me from amongst the Gentiles with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength, and I will gather them from amongst all the Gentiles, and they will seek me, so that I shall be found of them, when they seek me with all their heart and with all their soul. And I will disclose to them abounding peace with righteousness … and they shall be for a blessing and not for a curse, and they shall be the head and not the tail. And I will build My sanctuary in their midst, and I will dwell with them, and I will be their God and they shall be My people in truth and righteousness. And I will not forsake them nor fail them; for I am the Lord their God’  — R. H. Charles, ed., Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913), 12.

As VanderKam rightly summarizes, “Some future generation, presumably that of the author [of the Book of Jubilees], must receive this message of God’s faithfulness, Israel’s infidelity, and the power of confession, repentance, and obedience to the covenantal stipulations to open a new day in the covenantal relationship between the Lord and his holy people” — James C. VanderKam, “Jubilees, Book of,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 1031.

This is not to suggest that there is no ethical importance to repentance, merely that it is not the theologically load bearing element of the concept. Repentance, as a national and religious phenomenon, was meant to result in so much more than a new generation of morally upright people; national repentance was expected to result in the end of exile, the return of YHWH, and the rebuilding of the temple—in short, repentance was the advance sign of the fulfillment of all the glorious prophetic promises in Israel’s scriptures. Repentance was therefore eschatological.

So when Mark tells the readers of his gospel that “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:4-5), Mark is tapping into exactly this eschatological matrix of hope. Or, to put it another way, there is a reason that Matthew says “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’” (Matthew 3:1-2). Repentance has eschatological import.

Free Articles From Novum Testamentum

17 Saturday Mar 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Resources

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Acts, Ecclesiology, Ernst Käsemann, Eschatology, Free Stuff, Paul's Epistles, Richard B. Hays, Richard Bauckham, Romans

Novum Testamentum

The periodical Novum Testamentum, published by Brill, is celebrating its 60th volume this year. As a promotion they are allowing free downloads of selected articles during 2018.

Here are links for a few from the first batch made available (until May 16th):

  • Unity and Diversity in New Testament Ecclesiology – Ernst Käsemann (Volume 6, Issue 4)
  • The Eschatological Earthquake in the Apocalypse of John – Richard Bauckham (Volume 19, Issue 3)
  • “Have We Found Abraham to be Our Forefather According to the Flesh?” A Reconsideration of Rom 4:1 – Richard B. Hays (Volume 27, Issue 1)
  • PTEBT 703 and the Genre of 1 Timothy: The Curious Career of a Ptolemaic Papyrus in Pauline Scholarship – Margaret M. Mitchell (Volume 44, Issue 4)
  • The Significance of the Distribution of Self-designations in Acts – Paul Trebilco (Volume 54, Issue 1)

To receive notice of other free downloads and other news related to Brill Biblical Studies & Early Christianity sign-up for their e-newsletter here.

2018 Gifford Lectures (Part 5)

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Historical Studies, People to Know, Resources

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Eschatology, Gospels, Jesus, Kingship, Lectures, N. T. Wright, New Releases, Temple

Here is my favorite quote from the previous lecture (lecture 4):

The gospels do not contain apocalyptic, in the first century sense they are apocalyptic. They are describing how the revelation, the unveiling, the visible coming of God took place; thus as far as the gospel writers were concerned…YHWH had returned to his people

As Wright explains, the theme of the return of YHWH has huge implications for understanding, among other things, Jesus’ well known journey toward Jerusalem beginning in Luke 9:51 and culminating in his death and resurrection. Luke tells the story in such a way to suggest that Jesus’ journey is the “actualization” of YHWH’s return to Jerusalem which was long-foretold by the prophets. This highlights the seriousness of Jesus’ “apocalyptic” rebuke of Jerusalem in ch. 13 and again in ch. 19, “You did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you!”

There is a lot to consider there, but I will leave it as is for now. Below is the video for the next lecture, titled “The Stone the Builders Rejected: Jesus, the Temple and the Kingdom”

As always, here is the link to the University of Aberdeen webpage for the lectures.

2018 Gifford Lectures (Part 4)

12 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, Historical Studies, Resources

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Apocalyptic Interpretation, Eschatology, History, Lectures, N. T. Wright, New Creation, New Releases

My favorite quote from the previous lecture (lecture 3):

We ought not to speak of God incarnate until we have studied the incarnate God.

This wonderfully succinct quote is an excellent demonstration of the way Wright brings together history and theology in his larger project. It is worth sitting and pondering how the two parts of that statement fit together.

Here is the fourth lecture, “The End of the World? Eschatology and Apocalyptic in Historical Perspective”

As always, check out the blurb over at University of Aberdeen’s web page. All eight lectures are now posted there.

Recent Books on Paul

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by thecruciformpen in Biblical Studies, People to Know, Resources, Reviews

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Biographies, Douglas A. Campbell, Gordon Fee, John M. G. Barclay, N. T. Wright, New Perspective on Paul, Paul's Epistles, Pauline Theology

There is a bundle of new books out recently (or coming out soon) on the apostle Paul, and by some pretty big hitters too.

Paul_Wright

In case anyone was wondering if N.T. Wright had anything else left to say about Paul after he published his magnum opus several years ago (1,500 pages of text!), he does. And this time it is a biography. I am looking forward to reading this one; I already put in a pre-order.

Paul_Fee

Gordon Fee may be getting old but you couldn’t tell from his writing (incidentally, I imagine folks said the same thing about Paul too). At a brief +/-200 pages this book will make a great read for folks who aren’t looking to exhaust the subject. If you have read Fee’s Pauline Christology I suspect there will be some overlap (or condensing?) but with a gifted writer as Fee is, you will never be bored. Buy this book. It may be his last.

Paul_Campbell

Douglas Cambell is another big hitter in Pauline studies, particularly of the ‘apocalyptic Paul’. I am guessing this book is an attempt to aim some of his scholarly thought (e.g., The Deliverance of God) at more popular audience. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how Campbell teases out his ideas about how Paul’s thought develops and changes from his conversion to his death.

Paul_Barclay

John Barclay has also recently published a major work on Paul (Paul & The Gift), so why another book? Well, this one is part of the ‘Very Brief Histories’ series, so I imagine its genesis has more to do with the publishers wanting Barclay’s authorship than any new developments in Barclay’s thought on Paul. But, at just over 100 pages it would make a nice winter read with a cup of hot chocolate.

Paul_SusanEastman

Finally (for this list anyway), there is the more narrowly focused book by Susan Eastman of Duke Divinity, Paul and the Person: Reframing Paul’s Anthropology. With a foreword (and endorsement) by John Barclay it promises to be rewarding. Although it will probably be most appealing to academics and scholars, it will also probably be relevant for Christians interested in psychology and counseling (due to the focus on personhood).

 

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