Reflection on Scot McKnight's Recent Blog "Writing--On the Side"

My colleague Scot McKnight has written an extremely insightful blog, "Writing--On the Side" at Jesus Creed. I think Mike Bird my friend and fellow-blogger is an example of a young scholar who exemplifies what Scot is suggesting. I am always amazed at how much writing Mike produces.

However, I struggle to write. It doesn't come easy for me. I don't wake up in the morning thinking about what I will reflect on in writing today. There are people who have this kind of mind and a gift for ideas. I don't feel that I fit into that category. Still I have learned an important lesson although I don't practice it as I should.

I have learned that even ideas come best through the process of writing. Often us young guys feel we don't have any thing to write about; we don't have any ideas to develop in writing. Yet, there is a kind of writing that is called "generative writing" that gives space to think and even develop ideas. This kind of writing is messy writing, like writing in a journal. There are little tricks that can be done to force this kind of writing. One technique I use is timed writing. I have a timer on my wrist watch that I set for five minutes. I write as much as I can on a particular issue for five minutes not being concerned about grammar or spelling. The only requirement is that I write sentences. I usually am able to write between 200 and 300 words. If I do these timed writings three or four times I have written nearly 1000 words. This can be a very positive thing for those of us for whom writing is difficult. Within just 2o minutes you have nearly 1000 words. Often in this group of words there are some real gems to develop in more refined writing.

The only real condition of this kind of writing is that one disciplines oneself to write daily. As you know from my contribution to this blog, I don't practice this as often as I should--especially as I am in the throws of my first semester of teaching. Surely this predicament is a legitimate excuse for not writing much.

Stanley Porter and Romans

While I'm at it I thought I might plug the book by Stan Porter on Romans.

This new addition to the Readings series of commentaries, expounding the letter paragraph by paragraph, is distinctive among commentaries on Romans in foregrounding a literary approach. To comprehend the letter, Porter shows, we must always be aware of the letter-writing and rhetorical conventions its author was deploying.

The commentary is organized around the five-part epistolary structure that Paul developed for this fundamental letter, a structure that gives shape to its logically unfolding theological argument. Recognizing this structure is vital for interpreting the traditional sections of the body of the letter, as well as for understanding the placement of the problematic chapters 9–11 within Paul’s thought.

One of the primary means of development Paul uses within the letter is the diatribe style as a rhetorical device for shaping and presenting his argument. Through the insistent questions and responses of the diatribe, Paul opens up the major theological issues of the letter—human depravity, sin and works, justification and righteousness, reconciliation, life in the Spirit, and the role of Israel.

Stanley E. Porter is President and Dean, and Professor of New Testament, at McMaster Divinity College, Hamilton, Ontario.

Porter has written a few articles on Romans already (esp. Romans 5) and they provide a good taste of what is to come. Distinguishing features of this commentary, I imagine, would be a preference for epistolary genre over a rhetorical genre, a good exegesis of the Greek at certain points (e.g. katallasso), and probably some use of discourse analysis.

Shopping List for ETS-SBL

Less than a week until I head off for Washington D.C. and here it is what is on my shopping list.

Stanley E. Porter, Romans



J.K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament



Klaus Berger, Theologiegeschichte des Urchristentums. Theologie des Neuen Testaments

The Best of Men ...

As the tragic saga of the secret life of Ted Haggard unfolds, I'm reminded of the words of the Scottish Preacher Robert Murray McCheyne: "The best of men, are men at best!"

Justin Taylor of the blog Between Two Worlds has several posts following the affair as it unfolded.

Two things come to my mind:

(1) Ted Haggard has tragically soiled his testimony before the world.

(2) How Christians respond to Haggard's failure may itself become a witness to God's grace and forgiveness embodied in the community that confesses his name.

Authorship of Colossians

I spent part of my Friday evening reading through R. McL. Wilson's ICC commentary on Colossians and Philemon with a glass of Wolf Blass Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon. Unsurprisingly Wilson goes for pseudonymity rather than Pauline authenticity. But there was a good quote from A.J.M. Wedderburn towards Pauline authenticity:

"The idea of a later pseudonymous letter written to a city that was in ruins and to a church there that perhaps no longer existed and which Paul had never visited (Col. 2.1) seems too macabre to be likely, especially since the letter makes no mention of this disaster that had overtaken the city." (Baptism and Resurrection, 70).

That would prove only that it was written during Paul's lifetime and not necessarily by Paul, but it is a good point.

My review of this book is in good timing as I'm about to start a series on Colossians at Chapel at HTC. Of course my favourite commentaries on Colossians remain O'Brien, Wright, Lightfoot, and Dunn.

Things to do at ETS - SBL

Several persons have been posting thoughts on how to survive or get through ETS/SBL including Sean Winter, John Lyons, and the blog-father himself Mark Goodacre (I just learnt yesterday that Mark, incidentally, has published in Evangelical Quarterly, something I did not know of previously!). Well here's my advice (some real some amusing):

1. Go to the right hotel. Last year in Philly I told the cab driver to take me to the Holiday Inn near the convention centre. She took me to the Down-Town Philly Holiday Inn when I should have gone to Holiday Inn at Valley Forge (where the ETS coference was being held prior to the SBL convention in down town Philly). There are two Holiday Inns, both are near convention centers, but about 30 miles apart. Don't let it happen to you.

2. Wear shoes that won't disintegrate. This happened to me at ETS and I was using sticky tape provided by a book seller to keep my shoes together. Thank you Fortress Press.

3. If someone accuses you of heresy based on your recent JETS article, ask them if they have actually read the article. In some cases they haven't actually read it and are just going on something they read on a blog.

4. If you are from outside the US don't let the locals try guess where you are from. According to one cab driver I was probably from some place called "Milwaulkee" [sic] because I looked and sounded "square and goofy".

5. Remember, last day of sales at SBL: show no mercy, give no quarter, and take no prisoner. If you have to stomp over some poor old lady who is Emeritus at Columbia State to get to the Oxford book stall first, well so be it, it was her fault for getting in your way in the first place, and she's old enough to know better. And if some snotty nosed Ph.D Cand from Vanderbilt tries to snatch the latest volume by Ehrman out of your hands, kick that effeminate Ivy-league snob in the google.com.

6. If you see Michael Bird be sure to wish him a happy birthday on Saturday the 18th of November as he will be 32 years old.

7. If you see some Ph.D cand from SBTS holding a sign that says, "will exegete for food" throw him your loose change since the poor lad probably spent all of his savings just trying to get there.

8. Walk up to the Prometheus book stall ask the sellers if they'd like to hear your testimony about how you went from being an atheist to becoming a Christian.

9. If you see Michael Bird, buy him lunch or dinner cause its his birthday on Saturday.

10. Say to Jim West, "Oh my gosh, look Jim, its Rudolf Bultmann!". When he turns to look give him an atomic wedgee and then run (he used to be in the military police).

11. If you see Joe Cathy ask if he is "packing"? If you are going down any dark alleys at night try to have Joe with you. It's always good to travel at night with a man who is armed to the back death with an MP-5, grenades, and knives.

13. Walk past the Prometheus book stall and ask, "How is Madalyn Murray O'Hare doing these days?

14. Come to all of Michael Bird's papers (two at ETS and two at SBL), last year at my presentation only four people showed up. My ego can't take that kind of a beating again.

15. Go to the Scottish Uni's Reception. Good food and good British scholars abound.

16. When you're cruising the book stalls take a hanky with you to wipe your mouth as you may be salivating, esp. if it's your first SBL.

17. If you see Michael Bird buy him a book from Brill as a birthday present.

18. Remember if you buy it, you still have to take it on the plane.

19. If you see N.T. Wright run up to him and shake his hand and tell him how honoured you are to meet the Archbishop of Canterbury, and then express surprise and disappointment that he's not in fact Rowan Williams.

20. In order to get into the exclusive Yale reception (really good food and quality alcohol) walk into the room holding hands with your best friend (Joel Willitts) and tell everyone that you are Yale grads who got married last year in Canada and that you just finished writing your thesis on an Eco-Feminist-Post-Colonial interpretation of Rom 1.26-27. All I can say is that it worked for me and Joel last year!

21. Go to the Prometheus book stall and tell them how Antony Flew inspired you to become a Christian.

22. After talking to James Crossley always check to make sure that you still have your wallet.

23. Buy Brandon Wason a beer and ask him how Emory is treating him.

24. Turn up to the papers that you are supposed to present.

25. If you meet Sean Winter for the first time, walk up to him and say, "Are you from Milwaulkee, because you look kinda ..."

26. Even if you're not an egalitarian, go to the Christian for Biblical Equality dinner on Wenesday night. Nice folk. I wish complementarians and egalitarians would fellowship together more.

27. If you see Al Mohler at ETS, ask him he'd like to have a beer at the "Evangelicals for Hilary Clinton Reception"

28. Offer to get a coffee for Robin Parry, book seller for Paternoster, if he's looking tiried.

29. Take notes at all the presentations that you go to (I. Howard Marshall still does).

30. Relax and have a good time. Take in some seminars, meet and mix with people, sign a few publishing contracts, and drink as much free alcohol at the receptions as you can without violating bibical commandments about drunkenness and carousing and without imperiling your witness.

See ya there! If you can't find me, I'll be the red head Aussie guy that looks "kinda square and goofy".

Functional Subordination within the Trinity

Is eternal functional subordination within the Trinity a heresy? Is the Son eternally subordinate to the Father in function? In my mind there is no doubt that there is ontological equality, but I don't see a prima facie problem with functional subordination. The reason I say this is because I'm doing a review of Kevin Giles' book Jesus and the Father at ETS in two weeks time. Ben Witherington has an exert out of Giles' book for those interested (here). My initial thoughts are that this debate has been hijacked by those who are using intra-Trinitarian relations to fight the gender wars in North America. I think subordination is consistent with Phil 2.6, John 5.18 and quite explicit in 1 Cor. 15.28. But those who want to use the Son's willing submission to the Father as a theological rubric for complementarianism are barking up the wrong tree. There may be "priority" or even "rank" in the Trinity, but there is nothing from the intra-Trinitarian relations that dictates that "rank" is determined by gender. The women-in-ministry issue must be settled on other grounds and appealing to the Trinity to justify any particular view of gender or social equality is misguided.

I would add that Craig Keener has written a fine article on the subject and he comes out in favour of subordination, even though he's a committed egalitarian Is subordination within the Trinity really heresy? A study of John 5:18 in context TrinJ (1999).

There is a good bibliography of the topic at the Theology Matters matters blog and another blog, Kruse Kronicle offers some reflections on the debate too.

I think I'll stick to NT stuff after this presentation, or better yet, let the erudite Ben Myers figure it all out for me.

Pistis Christou Bibliography

Update: The "Faith of Jesus Christ" Bibliography has been posted on Jim West's site Biblical Studies Resources. We will probably update it every now and then.

Myself and Preston Sprinkle have completed the mother-of-all-pistis-christou bibliographies. Does anyone know of a good site where we should post it? I'd prefer to post it on the net as a PDF rather than a html. Any ideas?

Reaping the Rewards

My deepest thanks to all of those who have purchased books, DVDs, and misc. items through my Amazon.com links. With the revenue it generates I have been given a gift certificate through which I have been able to add to my library the following volume:

James M. Robinson, The Nag Hammadi Library (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1990).



My favourite passage in the entire NHC is still Gos Thom 114:

Simon Peter said to them, "Make Mary leave us, for females don't deserve life."
Jesus said, "Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of Heaven."

This still makes me chuckle.

Finally, keep buying books and DVDS.

Christians in Syria

Patrik Hagman of the blog God in a Shrinking Universe has a fascinating post about Christians in Syria.

Christ was born in Palestine, but Christianity was born in Syria.
Bashir al-Assad, President of Syrian Arab Republic

Matthew as a Legalist?

Willi Marxsen advocated that Matthew was a legalistic because in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew presents Jesus as giving moral imperatives with no indicatives that precede them. Charles Talbert (Reading the Sermon on the Mount, p. 43) contends that there is an indicative in Matthew, that of Jesus' gracious call to his disciples and his presence with them. He writes:

Matthew’s way, moreover, involves him neither in soteriological legalism nor in legalistic covenantal nomism. Like Paul and the Fourth Evangelist, his soteriology is by grace from start to finish. He just uses a different conceptual repertoire. Surely he cannot be faulted for that.

A Southern Baptist Statement of Cooperation

Towards the end of last week I had some correspondence with Wade Burleson (Pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Oklahoma and a Trustee of the International Missions Board) who has taken a forthright stance on some issues transpiring in the SBC. I shared with Wade some ideas that myself and Joel Willitts have been working on in an essay-manifesto entitled, Solum Evangelium: Renewing Evangelicalism with the Evangel. The essay-manifesto is still in the editing stage and we hope to make it available in the near future, but Wade liked the paper so much that he incorporated elements of it in his post A Southern Baptist Statement of Cooperation. The "Statement" functions as a basis of unity for missionary cooperation in the SBC and is going to be presented to a forum of Baptist leaders. Join with me in prayer that this "Statement" will have a powerful and renewing effect in the SBC.

Review: Craig A. Evans, Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies

Craig A. Evans
Ancient Texts for New Testament Studies: A Guide to the Background Literature
Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2005
$35 USD // £ 20 // $49 AusD
ISBN: 1565634098.

I. Howard Marshall has told a generation of doctoral students at Aberdeen University to "make the primary sources your mistress". However, one would have to be an Academic Solomon to be able to know and master the many mistresses that are out there: the Pseudepigrapha, the Apocrypha, versions of the OT, Dead Sea Scrolls, Josephus, Philo, Papyri, Targumim, Apostlic Fathers, Graeco-Roman literature, and so forth. But one volume that allows students to gain a basic familarity with the primary sources including their translations and scholarly apparatus is this book by Craig A. Evans.

Evans gives an overview of the writings of the Old Testament Apocrypha, the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, versions of the OT (Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Syriac), Targums, Philo and Josephus, Rabbinic literature, New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Early Church Fathers, Gnostic Writings, and other material such as Graeco-Roman authors, inscriptions, and papyri. Each chapter gives an overview of the texts that are dealt with, summaries of the various documents themselves, helpful bibliographies, and examples of their relevance for New Testament study.

On the one hand the book is quite thorough in that it surveys material that often gets overlooked in standard introductions such as the Masada and Murabba documents and Ostraca. On the other hand the sections on the Nag Hammadi library and Graeco-Roman literature were notoriously light. Given the Hellenization of all Judaism in the second-temple period (to some degree or another), one would have expected a lot more on Greek and Latin authors and perhaps even a section on rhetoric and ancient letter writing. However, this is a minor deficiency in an otherwise superb work and the lacuna can be easily overcome by reading David Aune's, Westminster Dictionary of New Testament and Early Christian Literature and Rhetoric (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2003).

One of the problems that I encounter in teaching a NT 101 survey course is trying to convince my students of the value of reading the primary source documents to illuminate the history and context of early Christianity. To this end, Evans gives a good rationale for the value of reading these texts in his introduction. He also dedicates an entire chapter to examples of New Testament exegesis and how an awareness of these primary source documents illuminates our understanding of the New Testament.

Evans is aware of the latest research in most areas (he refers to Nicholas Perrin's study of the Gospel of Thomas and Tatian's Diatessaron) and he is cautious as to how he interprets the evidence (such as the relationship of Jesus and John the Baptist to the Qumran community). There are also some good explanations of certain things such as the differences the between the Amoraic and Tannaic rabbis, messianic interpretation in the Targums, and he frequently identifies the major themes of the various corpra.

The volume also has several very useful appendices including: (1) canons of Scripture that include the Apocrypha; (2) Quotations, allusions, and parallels to the New Testament; (3) Parallels between New Testament Gospels and Pseudepigraphal Gospels; (4) Jesus' parables and the parables of the rabbis; (5) Jesus and Jewish miracle stories; and (6) Messianic claimants of the first and second centuries.

This is an immensely helpful volume for anyone, student or scholar, who is trying to grapple with the vast array of primary source literature and have on hand a reliable summary of their contents and significance. Highly recommended!

The book can be purchased from either Hendrickson publishers in the USA, or for those in the UK/Europe, it is available through Alban Books. The book is also advertized on my Amazon.com sidebar.

Blurb: One of the daunting challenges facing the New Testament interpreter is achieving familiarity with the immense corpus of Greco-Roman, Jewish, and pagan primary source materials. From the Paraphrase of Shem to Pesiqta Rabbati, scholars and students alike must have a fundamental understanding of these documents’ content, provenance, and place in NT interpretation. But achieving even an elementary facility with this literature often requires years of experience or a photographic memory. Evans’s dexterous survey—a thoroughly revised and significantly expanded edition of his Noncanonical Writings and New Testament Interpretation—amasses the requisite details of date, language, text, translation, and general bibliography. Evans also evaluates the materials’ relevance for interpreting the NT. The vast range of literature examined includes the Old Testament apocrypha, the Old Testament pseudepigrapha, the Dead Sea Scrolls, assorted ancient translations of the Old Testament and the Targum paraphrases, Philo and Josephus, Rabbinic texts, the New Testament pseudepigrapha, the early church fathers, various gnostic writings, and more. Six appendixes, including a list of quotations, allusions, and parallels to the NT, and a comparison of Jesus’ parables with those of the rabbis will further save the interpreter precious time.

Latest issue of Evangelical Quarterly (2006)

Michael F. Bird
The peril of modernizing Jesus and the crisis of not contemporizing the Christ

Anna M. Robbins
Something in common? The human person as moral agent in individual and corporate expression.

Brian R. Talbot
Fellowship in the Gospel: Scottish Baptists and their relationships with other Christian churches 1900-1945

Diversity in Proto-orthodox Christianity

I'm reading through Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, and I'm shaking my head against the view that a cartel of proto-orthodox leaders conspired and then successfully executed a plan to impose doctrinal uniformity upon the pluriform and diverse Christian groups spread over the known world. My objection is that proto-orthodoxy was a little more diverse and tolerant than many realize. Towards an eventual big project on this, this is what I've come up with so far:

"Against those that think that the proto-orthodox imposed unity on the diversity of early Christianity, it is crucial to remember that proto-orthodoxy contained a great deal of diversity itself as is evident from the New Testament. A comparison of the Synoptic, Johannine, and Pauline materials provide ample evidence for this point as the New Testament contains a diverse array of voices. Also Justin Martyr knew of Jewish Christians groups that he considered ‘orthodox’. Tertullian could speak up for the Montanists as those ‘enthusiastic men of the Spirit’. The various hymns and creeds of early Christianity, including those within the New Testament (e.g. Phil. 2.5-11) and through to the Apostle’s creed, were not designed to stifle diversity as much as they functioned to give a basic and broad bare agreement among diverse Christian groups. At Rhossus in the early second-century, the Bishop of Antioch, Serapion, was quite willing at first to allow the church there to use the Gospel of Peter in their private readings alongside more recognized texts, it was only after it was found to be congenial to docetic interpretation that he prohibited the document. But Serapion’s de fault response was to give the document the benefit of the doubt. Serapion never explicitly labels the Gospel of Peter as heretical, but merely states that it was conducive to docetic interpretation. The inclusion of the antilegomena (i.e. the disputed writings) in the canon shows that dispute about what writings were considered authoritative had elasticity and some Christians were willing to accept texts that they were not 100% sure about. In which case, we find both tolerance and boundaries functioning within the matrix of proto-orthodox Christianity. Those boundaries did not occur ex nihilio but were already emerging as part of the struggle of Christians to create and discover their own identity vis-à-vis Judaism and Paganism. Thus the proto-orthodox did not impose uniformity across the board, but they did set limits to diversity. What is more, those limits were not created by a numerically small elite that imposed their iron will upon the unwilling majority, but those boundaries were successful only because they resonated with the pre-existent beliefs, attitudes, and convictions of the majority of Christians across the Mediterranean."

© Michael F. Bird

Loome Theological Booksellers

Karla and I are visiting some friends up in the Twin Cities (that's Minneapolis-St Paul for our non-Americans) this weekend--North Park had a fall break on Friday so it meant and extended weekend. We have very good friends who live outside Minneaopolis, Joel and Myndi Lawrence(they were DTS and Cambridge contemporaries and Joel now teaches theology at Bethel Seminary). In addition, Paul and Caroline Mathole, dear friends from Cambridge, are visiting the US and we all met up at the Lawrences.

Outside of the Twin cities is a little town called Stillwater. Stillwater sits on the banks of the St. Croix River which forms the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is known for two things: antiques and second-hand books. Believe it or not in this small Minnesota town resides the largest second-hand theological book shop in the world: Loome Theological Booksellers. It possesses approximately 225,000 to 250,000 volumes in ares including biblical exegesis, patrisitic & mediaeval literature, Byzantine & Eastern Orthodox studies, liturgy & worship, sacred music, church art & architecture, religous biography & hagiography, Reformation & Recusancy, and Protestant & Catholic Americana.

It is no exaggeration to say that one could spend a weekend pursuing the shelves of the two buildings full of books. While I was only able to look for a few hours, I did find a handful of things I needed and many more I would have liked to have purchased.

It is worth the effort to visit Stillwater sometime. It could be a lovely weekend away as the little town on the shores of the St. Croix river offer an inviting and relaxing invitation. By the way, there is a cool Starbucks just a block from the bookshop which invites you to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee as you marvel over your discoveries.

Poem about Judas Iscariot

During a game of trivial pursuit I once came across a question which asked, "What colour hair did Judas Iscariot have?" I have read my Bible in and out and back to front and never come across the colour of Judas' hair. With great curiosity I flicked over the card and learnt, to my surprise, that the answer was "red". I spoke with Marvin Meyer in Budapest sometime ago and he confirmed to me the legend that Judas was a red-head. (For those that do not know me, you should know that I am a red-head).

Given the recent Judas frenzy with the publication of the Gospel of Judas and the several ensuing books by Marvin Meyer, Bart Ehrman, Tom Wright and (soon) Simon Gathercole, I thought I would include reference to a poem about Judas that I found in the book by Richard Bauckham and Trevor Hart called At the Cross.

In Hell there grew a Judas Tree
Where Judas hanged and died
Because he could not bear to see
His master crucified
Our Lord descended into Hell
And found his Judas there
For ever haning on the tree
Grown from his own despair
So Jesus cut his Judas down
And took him in his arms
"It was for this I came" he said
"And not to do you harm
My Father gave me twelve good men
And all of them I kept
Though one betrayed and one denied
Some fled and others slept
In three days' time I must return
To make the others glad
But first I had to come to Hell
And share the death you had
My tree will grow in place of yours
Its roots lie here as well
There is no final victory
Without this soul from Hell"
So when we all condemned him
As of every traitor worst
Remember that of all his men
Our Lord forgave him first

D. Ruth Etchells
Beirut, January 20, 1987

I'm not advocating the entire theological package here, but it's a nice poem and fits in snugly with the recent Judas frenzy of media and scholarly attention.

Job Offer: HTC Development Officer

Here at the Highland Theological College we are seeking a Development Officer to add to our staff.

The Development Officer will be responsible for student recruitment and for advertising and marketing our courses. The Development Officer will assist hte Prinicpal with fund-raising and development work, and will take on some general administrative tasks, including maintaining our database. The Development Officer will also be a point of contact for our supporters, including speaking at meetings, visiting churches and so on.

Please send applications to:

Mrs. Fiona Cameron, PA to the Principal of HTC, High St. Dingwall, IV15 9HA, Scotland, UK.
fiona.cameron[at]htc.uhi.ac.uk

Latest issue of New Testament Studies (2006)

The latest issue of New Testament Studies includes the following articles:

Who Comes from the East and the West? Luke 13.28–29/Matt 8.11–12 and the Historical Jesus
MICHAEL F. BIRD

Die Bedeutung der Synoptiker für das johanneische Zeugnisthema. Mit einem Anhang zum Perfekt-Gebrauch im vierten Evangelium.
ROLAND BERGMEIER

Markion vs. Lukas: Plädoyer für die Wiederaufnahme eines alten Falles
MATTHIAS KLINGHARDT

Pagan Philosophers and 1 Thessalonians
JOHN GRANGER COOK

Psychologische Einsichten Quintilians in der Institutio Oratoria
PETER LAMPE

Pontius Pilate and the Imperial Cult in Roman Judaea
JOAN E. TAYLOR

The Reading ‘Who Wished to Enter’ in Coptic Tradition: Matt 23.13, Luke 11.52, and ‘Thomas’ 39
TJITZE BAARDA

The Death of James Barr

For those that don't know, James Barr, distinguished hebraist and biblical scholar who exposed grave flaws in the traditional approaches to philology and exegesis, passed away recently. You can read the obituary in the Times.

HT: Mark Goodacre

SWBTS and Speaking in Tongues

The Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary of Forthworth, TX have voted to include a doctrinal statement effectively banning any faculty member or trustee from speaking in tongues even as a private prayer language (see BP News). The actual wording is that professors cannot "promote" practices such as speaking in tongues. That might sound ambiguous, but "promote" here has the obvious meaning of "admit to doing it", i.e. no member of SWBTS can admit to having a private prayer language. This is in response to a sermon preached by Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington where he admitted to speaking in tongues and took issue with the IMB for refusing to hire missionaries who did have a private prayer language.

HT: Denny Burk

Before I make an extended tirade on this point let me preface my thoughts with two points:

One: I'm not a Charsimatic, I don't speak in tongues and I'm not sure what to make of all that untie-my-bowtie-who-stole-my-honda stuff. Yet I'm not a cessationist either, so I'm open to what the Spirit will do in the life of other believers.

Two: I'm mad. I'm raging mad that an evangelicalesque institution would turn "private" prayer language, not tongues in public worship, but private prayer language into a make-or-break issue, an issue about what separates the good guys from the bad guys, an issue about who is wearing the white hats and who is wearing the black hats, an issue about who is of the Jedi and who is the Sith, and issue about what defies the bonds of fellowship and partnership.

On second thoughts, I won't go into my tirade, less I write in anger. But Joel Willitts and I are about to publish an essay (or perhaps manifesto might be a better description) called Solum Evangelium which is a call to make one's understanding and expression of the gospel the basis of fellowship and ministry partnership: it commeth! In the mean time if you're in a SBC church and if you're preaching this Sunday (sadly I'm not) this is what I BEG you to do: preach Galatians, the epistle of liberty and life in the Spirit. To those who would shackle and fetter us with the tyranny and bondage of neo-Fundamentalism I say let them hear the word that they fear to hear: Freedom. As Jesus said, "He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives"; as Paul says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!" As John says: "if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed"; Or even as Ernst Kasemann put it, "Jesus means Freedom"! So preach freedom, the freedom of Christ Jesus, the freedom of the Spirit over the letter, the freedom to differentiate between areas of conviction and areas of command. The freedom to major on the majors and to minor on the minors. The freedom to agree to disagree. The freedom to walk hand-in-hand with those whom you don't always see eye-to-eye with on every controversial topic. If you preach freedom in the face of the prayer-police they will accuse you of being a liberal-clauset-charismatic-democrat-voting-pseudo-evangelical-compromiser. In response, preach Galatians some more, preach it until they cover their ears and call down curses on you. Then preach Galatians again and again. And if they preach back at you with a gospel of Jesus + cessationism or Jesus + anything else, then you must out-preach them! Let the gospel of grace and liberty fall from your lips like in did in the days of John Owen, of John Knox and Jonathan Edwards. Make it clear that we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with ALL of our brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what ecstatic utterances they pray in. At the end of the day, if one prays in tongues, he does so unto the Lord. If one does not pray in tongues, he still prays unto the Lord. But tongues or no tongues, we all pray to the same Lord, yours and mine, theirs and ours!

Update: see the post by Wade Burleson on the issue.

Soli Deo Gloria

Recent Travels around Scotland

I've been lucky of late to have had a few invitations to speak at various postgrad seminars around Scotland including New College, Edinburgh University and at St. Mary's College of St. Andrews University. My papers were respectively on "Jesus the Law-Breaker?" (Edinburgh) and "Sectarian Gospels for Sectarian Christians?" (St. Andrews). I had a wonderful time with many enagaging questions and discussions with faculty and students at each presentation. What I love about Scotland is the sense of collegiality between the Universities and, despite coming from a small Theological College part of a University-still-in-the-making, I was treated with great warmth and as a partner in a common enterprise. The many, many, many American Ph.D candidates around the Universities have made it very enjoyable too and I have enjoyed their hospitality and friendship (in fact, I count some of them of my closest friends in Scotland, esp. some of the lads in Aberdeen!). Yes, Scotland is definitely the place to either teach or learn Theology and Biblical studies!

The photos are of St. Andrews Cathedral in St. Andrews and John Knox's statue in New College.

Richard Bauckham's New Book

Last night I was reading some of Richard Bauckham's new book to my daughter - no, not Jesus and the Eyewitnesses (my six year old daughter Alexis is probably not up to that yet, we do work through the GNB though!) - I mean his "other" new book: The MacBears of Bearlock. A children's book written by Richard Bauckham about a bear family who live beside a loch in the north of Scotland. It seems like a good read for children, and it's certainly not as technical as some of his other works. Don't expect to find any encoded allusions to second-temple monotheism or a literary structure for Revelation hidden in the subtext. It is not an allegory in the C.S. Lewis style, but just a fun and adventursome story for children. Good clean fun with a bunch of Scottish bears trying to solve a mystery and keep everyone in the family happy at the same time!



For those interested it can be purchased at Amazon.uk for about £4.99 or about $7.00 (USD) + postage and handling. Your kids will love it! It's a good way to get them exposed to NT scholars at a young age. Who knows, maybe one day when they are grown up they'll be browsing through a book store and see Richard Bauckham's The Gospel for All Christians and will buy it thinking that it is a sequel by the same author to their favourite childhood book! Perhaps not. Anyway, I hope MacBears sells like a Harry Potter novel!

John Stott on Evangelicalism

Over at Stuff of the Earth Michael Pahl has a good post on Bruce and Stott on Evangelicalism. It includes an interview with Stott from Christianity Today and shows that Stott is in essential agreement with the understanding of Evangelicalism as layed out by Bruce (see the post below).

F.F. Bruce on Evangelicalism

On Evangelicalism, Bruce writes:

"I cannot remember a time when I did not hold this to be the essence of the gospel [Jesus' sacrificial death], but questions which attached themselves to it in earlier days have apparently resolved themselves. It is for this reason that I am always happy to be called an evangelical, although I insist on being an unqualified evangelical. I do not willingly answer, for example, to such designations as 'conservative evangelical'. (Many of my positions are indeed conservative; but I hold them not because they are conservative - still less because I myself am conservative - but because I believe they are the positions to which the evidence leads). To believe in the God who justifies the ungodly is to be evangelical. On many points of New Testament criticism I find myself differing from such post-Bultmannians as Ernst Kasemann and Gunther Bornkamm, but critical differences become insignificant in the light of their firm understanding and eloquent exposition of the Pauline gospel of justification by faith, which is the very heart of evangelical Christiantiy. I deplore the misuse of the noble world 'evangelical' in a party sense. I emphasize this account of what it means to be evangelical because from time to time speakers or writers try to limit the scope of the word by imposing further conditions, as who should say: Unless you subscribe to b, c, and d in addition to a, you cannot be recognized as evangelical. All that this amounts to is that they are imposing their own 'pickwickian' sense on the word." (In Retrospect, pp. 309-10).

Amen, Brucey my Boy!

One thing for Bruce that gets repeated in his book is that faith, evangelical faith, is about "I know whom I have believed in" and not "I know what I have believed in".

E.P. Sanders and Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition

A new reprint of Sanders' classic book has just been released and is available at
Amazon.com for those interested.

Coincidentally, today was the day when I again taught the Synoptic Problem to my first year students - this is always an interesting day. The relevance of the topic always comes up as does the question of why God would give us Scripture in this way! And once again, after setting my students to study the Synoptic accounts of the parable of the mustard seed, most of them thought that the Farrer-Goulder-Goodacre theory had the most mileage!

F.F. Bruce on ETS

"On another visit to America I participated in the twenty-fifth anniversary conference of the Evangelical Theological Society, held in Wheaton College, Illinois, in the last week of December 1973. For its silver jubilee the Society invited two foreign guests - Dr. Howard Marshall of Aberdeen and myself. Our contributions with published in the proceedings of the conference, New Dimensions in New Testament Study, edited by R.N. Longenecker and M.C. Tenney (1974) ... The Evangelical Theological Society strikes me as being a more conservative body than the Tyndale Fellowship in this country, but there is a maturity of scholarship in the twenty-odd papers in this volume which augurs well for the progress of the society during the next quarter of a century."

F.F. Bruce, In Retrospect, p. 241.

Is this a compliment or a polite jibe at ETS?

C. Kavin Rowe - Early Narrative Christology

Those into Lucan studies should take note of this book by C. Kavin Rowe of Duke University. I've only read the conclusion, but it seems like an informative read.

Early Narrative Christology
The Lord in the Gospel of Luke
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft - BZNW 139
by C. Kavin Rowe





Despite the striking frequency with which the Greek word kyrios, Lord, occurs in Luke's Gospel, this study is the first comprehensive analysis of Luke's use of this word. The analysis follows the use of kyrios in the Gospel from beginning to end in order to trace narratively the complex and deliberate development of Jesus' identity as Lord. Detailed attention to Luke's narrative artistry and his use of Mark demonstrates that Luke has a nuanced and sophisticated christology centered on Jesus' identity as Lord.

Available from Eisenbrauns here.

How effective was the birkat ha-minim

The birkat ha-minim was the curse on Christians added to the eighteen benedictions at Yavneh and was important in the expulsion of Christians from Jewish synagogues, e.g. John 9:22 (so the story goes), but how far ranging and how effective was such a curse:

"If the intent of the blessing was to exclude Christians from the synagogue, it failed. It failed in third-century Caesarea, where Origen preached on Sunday to Christians he knew were in synagogue the day before, and it failed in the late fourth-century Antioch where John Chrysostom condemned his flock for their visits to the synagogues at a time when the empire was already Christian."

Martha Himmelfarb, "The Parting of the Ways Reconsidered: Diversity in Judaism and Jewish Christian Relations in the Roman Empire: 'A Jewish Perspective'," in Interwoven Destines: Jews and Christians Through the Ages, ed. Eugene J. Fisher (New York: Paulist, 1993), p. 49.

Anti-Judaism, Anti-Semitism, and Anti-Zionism: What's the difference?

Paula Fredriksen writes:

Is anti-Judaism, then, the same as anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism? I do not think so. The first is a theological position; the second, a racist one; the third, a political one.

Paul Fredriksen, "The Birth of Christianity and the Origins of Christian Anti-Judaism," in Paula Fredriksen and Adele Reinhartz (eds.), Jesus, Judaism and Christian Anti-Judaism: Reading the New Testament after the Holocaust (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2002), 28.

In this sense I would say that certain documents in the NT (esp. John, Hebrews and Matthew) could be said to be anti-Judaistic (i.e. they reinterpret the Jewish tradition so as to produce a theological break from it) but they are not anti-semitic.

F.F. Bruce on Faith and Academia

Here's a classic quote from F.F. Bruce:

I am sometimes asked if I am aware of a tension between my academic study of the Bible and my approach to the Bible in personal or church life. I am bound to say that I am aware of no such tension. Throughout my career as a university teacher I have also discharged a teaching ministry in my local church and occasionally in other churches. Naturally, when I discharge a teaching ministry in church I avoid the technicalities of academic discourse and I apply the message of Scripture in a more practical way. But there is no conflict between my critical or exegetical activity in a university context and my Bible exposition in church; the former makes a substantial contribution to the latter. At the same time, membership in a local church, involvement in the activities of a worshipping community, helps the academic theologian to remember what his subject is all about, and keeps his studies properly 'earthed'. One constantly hears complaints nowadays, among Catholics and Protestants alike, of the widening gap between scholars' understanding of Scripture and the use made of it by 'ordinary' Christians. The gap would not be so wide, I am sure, if more scholars were to involve themselves in the day-to-day life of a local church and communicate the fruits of their scholarship to their fellow church members in a form which the latter could assimilate. I have known some distinguished scholars who did this, to their own enrichment as well as the enrichment of the others.

F.F. Bruce, In Retrospect, pp. 143-44.

Data Sheet on Messianic Expectation

Glen Miller of Christian Think Tank has a good hand out on Jewish messianic expectation in the second-temple period. I haven't checked all of his references, but it looks kosher.

Also, does anyone know of a reference from Philo where crowds in Alexandria mock the hope of a Jewish ruler who was to come and reign over the world? I thought it was in Embassy to Gaius, but I can't find it.

F.F. Bruce's Biography

I am currently reading through the biography of F.F. Bruce In retrospect: Remembrance of things past. It's a cracking read. In a footnote, Bruce writes about one anonymous chap: "This good man in later years described me as an 'ecclesiastical liberal'; I suspect he meant it as a criticism, but I welcomed it as a compliment" (p. 27). Even Brucie got called a liberal! Maybe some of us aren't in such bad company afterall.

See here and here for a review of the book.

The New Testament in Christian Hymns

Ever wondered what verses in the NT appear in what Christian hymns? Then check out the list at Cyber Hymnal. For instance, you can find the great Christian hymns that contain quotes from or allusions to Galatians or Hebrews or Daniel. When you click on a song it gives you the lyrics and plays the music as well!

Hebrews and Catholicity

What Hebrews may lack in apostolicity it makes up for in catholicity. Consider the following quote from Jerome:

The Epistle which is inscribed to the Hebrews is received not only by the Churches of the East, but also by all Church writers of the Greek language before our days, as of Paul the apostle, though many think it is from Barnabas or Clement. And it makes no difference whose it is, since it is from a churchman, and is celebrated in the daily readings of the Churches. (Epist. 129)

New Books from T&T Clark

The following books stood out in the Dove Booksellers list:

Westfall, Cynthia Long
Discourse Analysis of the Letter to the Hebrews: The Relationship between Form and Meaning
(T & T Clark International, 2006)

Tonstad, Sigve K
Saving God's Reputation: The Theological Function of Pistis Iesou in the Cosmic Narratives of Revelation
(T & T Clark International, 2006)

Taylor, Mark E
Text-Linguistic Investigation Into the Discourse Structure of James
(T & T Clark International, 2006)

Slee, Michelle
Church in Antioch in the First Century, CE: Communion and Conflict
(T & T Clark International, 2006)

Robert Gundry reviews Bart Ehrman

Over at Evangelical Textual Criticism I have posted a link to Robert Gundry's review of Ehrman.

New Blogs XI

Through Evangelical Textual Criticism I have discovered the blog The Amsterdam NT Blog by Jan Krans and Martin de Boer of the New Testament department of the Faculty of Theology at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

Jan and Martin, welcome!

Wedderburn on Pauline Chronology

Mark Goodacre has made some interesting posts on why Gal. 2.1-10 = Acts 15. See his The Jerusalem Council: Gal. 2.1-10 = Acts 15 and The Jerusalem Council: Gal. 2.1-10 = Acts 15: Response to Critics including responses from Ben Witherington and others.

I thought I would add to the mix Alexander Wedderburn's reconstruction of the chronology (not because I fully concur with it, but because I find it interesting). This occurs in his book A History of the First Christians (London: T&T Clark, 2004), 91-120.

Wedderburn's approach is as follows:

Galatians 2.1-10 = Acts 11.27-28 and Acts 15
Galatians 2.11-14 = Acts 18.22


His chronology follows this path (p. 103)

30 Crucifixion of Jesus
31-32 Conversion of Paul
33-34 First visit to Jersusalem
Paul in Syria, Cilicia
44-49 Famine in Judea
45-46 Second visit to Jerusalem
Conference/Antioch collection
46-47 First missionary journey (Acts 13-15)
48-51 Second missionary journey
49 Claudius' edict
49-50 Paul's arrival in Corinth (1 Thess written)
51-52 Quarrel in Antioch (Acts 18.22 and Galatians written soon after)
52-57 Third Missionary Journey
Gathering of the Collection
Apostolic Decree
57 Collection journey, Paul arrested
57-59 Paul's imprisonment in Caesarea
59-60 Festus arrives as procurator and sends Paul to Rome
60- Paul in Rome

The chronology I have preferred (with modification) is found as an appendix in Ben Witherington's book The New Testament Story

Theological Terms and the Princess Bride

When students and scholars use technical theological terms the wrong way (like Hypostatization, Apocalyptic, Sitz im Leben, Hermeneutics etc) I always feel like quoting the movie The Princess Bride: "You keep using that word, but I do not think it means what you think it means".

Anyway, that is my introduction to what I really wanted to say: the entire Princess Bride Screen play is available here.

Journal of Theological Studies 57 (2006)

The latest issue of JTS 57 (2006) features the following articles:

Jean-Claude Haelewyck
The Relevance of the Old Latin Version for the Septuagint, with Special Emphasis on the Book of Esther

Michael F. Bird
The Markan Community, Myth or Maze? Bauckham's The Gospel for All Christians Revisited

C. M. Tuckett
Nomina Sacra in Codex E

Andrew Cain
Vox clamantis in deserto: Rhetoric, Reproach, and the Forging of Ascetic Authority in Jerome's Letters from the Syrian Desert

Dirk Krausmüller
Divine Self-Invention: Leontius of Jerusalem'S Reinterpretation of the Patristic Model of the Christian God

Theodora Antonopoulou
Eustathius of Antioch and a Fragment Attributed to Patriarch Photius

D. C. Parker
Review Article: The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. By BRUCE M. METZGER and BART D. EHRMAN. Fourth Edition. Pp. xvi + 366. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005

T.W. Manson - Jesus and the Non-Jews

Thanks again to Rob Bradshaw for uploading another significant short study onto the web. This time it is: T.W. Manson, Jesus and the Non-Jews. This is a brief lecture about materials pertaining to Jesus and Gentiles in the Gospels. And it is important, let me tell you why.

In many studies of the historical Jesus and the early Christian mission, particularly those with a salvation-historical focus, it is commonly argued that Jesus limited his mission to Israel (e.g. Matt 10.5; 15.24) because the Gentiles would be saved later. In which case, the mission to Israel by Jesus is a bottleneck that has to be traversed before the real mission to the Gentiles can get underway. Jesus' mission to Israel becomes a matter of form and polity in giving Israel first bite of the salvation-historical pie in full knowledge that they will reject it and that the rest of the pie will go to the Gentiles (I think that this is E.P. Sanders' problem with Joachim Jeremias).

In contrast, Manson had a different perspective. In his view Jesus' mission to Israel was part of a larger narrative. Jesus went to Israel because a transformed Israel would transform the world. Thus, we should refrain from saying that Jesus went to Israel because the Gentiles would get saved later; instead, Jesus went to Israel because he was a prophet of restoration eschatology, calling Israel to embrace the kingdom and the covenant, and those who accept the calling would become the Israel of the new age and they would fulfill the covenantal role of being a light to the nations (Isa 42.6; 49.6) and be a kingdom of priests (Exod 19.5-6).

In other words, the continuity between Jesus and Paul is not with the periodizing framework of "Jew then Gentile" in Rom 1.16, it is rather in the narrative framework embedded in Rom. 15.8-9 "Christ became a servant of the circumcized on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs, so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy".

The Samaritan Messiah, the Taheb

In studying the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman in John 4, I was struck by the statement of the woman "I know that Messiah is coming (the one called Christ); whenever he comes, he will tell us everything" (4:25). While I did not know much about the Samaritans, I did know that they only viewed the Torah as sacred Scripture. So I wondered how a Samaritan would not only have had a belief in Messiah, but would have referred to him as such.

There are obviously two levels that must be kept in mind when dealing with a question like this. The first is what is most likely historically and second what can we assert John himself crafted in his telling of the story?

The answer to the first question is that in fact Samaritans did have a concept of an eschatological figure (in this sense a Messiah) called the Taheb, although the term comes from a 4th c. Samaritan text (cf. Marqah Memar 4:7, 12). The word means restorer (when not a proper name "repentant") and is linked with the expectation of a prophet like Moses who will arise (Deut. 18:15, 18; cf. John 1:21).

Thus, it is likely that the woman and her community held the belief in a Messanic figure, but did not refer to him as the "Messiah", but perhaps "a prophet" (John 4:19). It is possible historically that the Samaritan woman used the term that Jews would most commonly use to refer to this eschatological figure seeing that she was in dialogue with a Jew. More likely however, is that John in reporting the event uses the Hebrew/Aramaic term Messiah.

For more information on the Samaritans see www.the-samaritans.com.

What is "the Gospel"?

Michael Bird and I are working on a definition of the "gospel" for something we are planning to co-publish and we would like your feedback. What do you think about this definition? What are we leaving out? What are including that you think is not essential? How would you define "the Gospel"?

Here is our working definition:

The gospel announces the good news that God's Kingdom has come on the earth in the life death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord and Messiah, in fulfillment of Israel's Scriptures. The gospel calls for faith, repentance and discipleship -- its conconmitant effects include the forgiveness of sins, justification, reconciliation, adoption, judgment, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. What accompanies the proclamation of the Gospel is the work of the gospel exemplified in works of liberation and mercy.

Bart Ehrman on the Web

Over at ETC Peter Williams has an excellent interview with Bart Ehrman.

One can also read a debate of Bart Ehrman vs. William Lane Craig on the resurrection.

My main point of contention with Ehrman is that he maintains (at least in his SBL lecture last year) that "we cannot talk about the Word of God because we do not have the original words", and yet, he continues to write historical books about Jesus, Paul and Mary Magadalene which is only possible if the textual tradition has some integrity and if the autographs in some way corresponded to historical people and events. Ehrman the textual critic cries that "the Emperor has no clothes" while Ehrman the historian is holding a fashion parade with Jesus, Paul and Peter on the cat walk.

Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles

Robert Bradshaw of Biblical Studies.org.uk had uploaded onto the web, articles by Stan Porter and Robert Wall from BBR on Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. These are probably two of the best articles on the subject that I have read and well worth reading. Wall and Porter are good scholars who are aware of the canonical and interpetive issues at stake too. Do read them if this area interests you. Which reminds me that a paper is to be presented at ETS evaluating I. Howard Marshall's view of metonymity for the authorship of the Pastorals. For those interested the references are:

Robert W. Wall, "Pauline Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles: A Reponse to S.E. Porter," Bulletin for Biblical Research 5 (1995): 125-128.

Stanley E. Porter, "Pauline Authorship and the Pastoral Epistles: A Reponse to R.W. Wall's Response," Bulletin for Biblical Research 6 (1996): 133-138.

Name that Quote?

Who said:

"Bad history will result in bad theology. (Try to imagine a Christianity centered on a sixth-century Norse Jesus slain by invading Finns. It won't work)."

Bauckham on Eyewitnesses

Thanks to the lads at Apollos one can now download the article by Richard Bauckham, "The Eyewitnesses and the Gospel Traditions", Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus 1 (2002): pp 28-60 on-line at their website. At the moment the Apollos website hosts over 1000 quality articles and studies and if those guys can get some donations they will be able to post even more resources on-line for students, scholars and pastors. I know from experience that such resources are much cherished by those who live in developing countries so please consider a donation.

Quotes from the Ode's of Horace - I

"What slim youngster, his hair dripping with fragrant oil,
Makes hot love to you now, Pyrrha, ensconced in a
Snug cave curtained with roses?
Who lays claim to that casually chic blonde hair in a braid?" (1.5)

"Others can praise in their verse Mitylene, Rhodes and its glories
Great Ephesus, high-walled, twin harboured Corinth,
Bacchus's home town Thebes, or Delphi, haunt of Apollos
Or Tempe up in Thessaly." (1.7)

"Thou son of Saturn, father and protector
Of humankind, to thee Fate has entrusted
Care of great Caesar; govern, then, while Caesar
Holds the lieutenancy." (1.12)

"Chloe, you will not venture near,
Just like a lost young mountain deer
Seeking her frantic dam; for her each
Gust in the trees is a needless fear" (1.23)

"When somebody as dear as he is dead,
Grief must be huge and uninhibted.
Melpomene, to whom, God-given, belong
Lyre and clear voice, teach me a funeral song.
So, now Quintilius sleeps the sleep which men
Never recover from; and who knows when
Honour, Good Faith and naked Truth will find
His parallel again among mankind?" (1.24)

"To each his life-work. Let the Calenian
Prune back his vines. Let merchants with moneybags
Swill out pure gold cups the wines they
Buy on the profits from Tyre and Sidon" (1.31)

"Guard Caesar bound for Britain at the world's end,
Guard our young swarm of warriors on the wing now
To spread the fear of Rome
Into Arabia and the Red Sea coasts" (1.35)

Trans. James Michie.

Fox now has a Christian Movies Wing

According to ABC News (that is the Australian Broadcast Corporation) Fox is set to make a number of Christian movies including an adaption of Milton's Paradise Lost and one on the Nativity Story.

Spokesman Steve Feldstein assures the company's just tapping into a massive US market:

"All of this programming is entertainment first. We're not in the business of proselytising or preaching." [Heaven forbid!]

John's Gospel for Jewish believers in Jesus

As I began studying John's Gospel recently, in preparation for teaching undergrads, I was surprised to discover that John's Gospel is perhaps the most Jewish of the four Gospels even exceeding my beloved Matthew.

While no doubt a debatably viewpoint, I am growing in my conviction that the Fourth Gospel was written by a Jew, for Jewish believers in Jesus. The purpose of the Gospel then is
to confirm for these Jewish Jeshua believers that they were remaining faithful to the Jewish faith.

For a strong defense of this view, consult the excellent commentary by Craig Keener.

Christian Claims as Blasphemous to Jews

I'm currently working on an article on Jesus and the Parting of the Ways between Judaism and Christianity. One thing that I find intriguing is that a number of charges laid against Jesus at his trial/interogation are used against Christians in other literature. Consider the one of blasphemy in Mark 14.64 which is brought against Christians in Acts 6.11 and Justin, Dial. Tryph. 38. In fact the latter reads:

And Trypho said, "Sir, it were good for us if we obeyed our teachers, who laid down a law that we should have no intercourse with any of you, and that we should not have even any communication with you on these questions. For you utter many blasphemies, in that you seek to persuade us that this crucified man was with Moses and Aaron, and spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud; then that he became man, was crucified, and ascended up to heaven, and comes again to earth, and ought to be worshipped."

Aristotle on Righteousness

To righteousness it belongs to be ready to distribute according to desert, and to preserve ancestral customs and institutions and the established laws and to tell the truth when interest is at stake, and to keep agreements. First among the claims of righteousness are our duties to the gods. Then our duties to the spirits, then those to country and parents, then those to the departed; and among these claims is piety … righteousness is also accompanied by holiness and truth and loyalty and hatred of wickedness (Aristotle, On Virtues and Vices, 5.2-3).

In view of this is it fair to think of Aristotle's view of "righteousness" as essentially about distributive justice, or does it also contain a sense of right relationships, i.e. fulfilling one's civil and ceremonial duties to others, divine and human?

Quotes about the Gospel

My co-blogger (Joel Willitts) and myself have come up with a rather novel and subversive idea, namely, that the centre of Evangelicalism is not inerrancy, complementarianism, or the confession (i.e. the 1689 LBC, the only truly reformed confession :). Instead, the centre of Evangelicalism is the evangel! Whoa! Now before you say, "Avert your eyes children, he may change form!" Or, "Let's burn this heretec like a grilled cheese burger" hear me out. I'm not denying the veracity and utility of those other things, but they are not the sine qua non of Evangelicalism. For us what defines, characterizes, shapes, inspires, drives, nourishes, and permreates Evangelicalism and and Evangelical Theology should be the evangel!!!

What the word ‘evangelical’ will objectively designate is that theology which speaks of the God of the Gospel.
- Karl Barth, Evangelical Theology: An Introduction (trans. Grover Foley; Great Britain: Collins, 1963), 11.

A renewed theology will be evangelical, that is, centered on the gospel of reconciliation and redemption as attested in Holy Scripture.
- Donald G. Bloesch, A Theology of Word and Spirit: Authority and Method in Theology (Downers Grove: IVP, 1992), 124.

Evangelical Theology should be a Theology of the Gospel.
- Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ‘The Voice and the Actor: A Dramatic Proposal about the Ministry and Minstrelsy of Theology,’ in Evangelical Futures: A Conversation on Theological Method, ed. John G. Stackhouse (Regent: Regent College Publishing, 2000), 61.

To be ‘evangelical’ is to read Scripture in the light of the euangelion that lies at its heart.
- Francis Watson, ‘An Evangelical Response,’ in The Trustworthiness of God: Perspectives on the Nature of Scripture, eds. Carl Trueman and Paul Helm (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 287.

Revelation does not merely bring the gospel: the gospel is revelation.
- Klyne Snodgrass, ‘The Gospel in Romans: A Theology of Revelation,’ in Gospel in Paul, eds. L. Ann Jervis and Peter Richardson (JSNTSup 108; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 108.

The gospel stands at the beginning of the story that explains why there are Christians at all, on the boundary between belief and unbelief – often, for the hearer, prior to a knowledge of the Bible itself. For the person entering from the outside, the gospel is the introduction to the faith, the starting-point for understanding. It then rightly becomes the touchstone of the faith. Since this is where faith begins, it is essential that faith continues to conform to it.
- Peter Jenson, The Revelation of God (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2002), 32.

Communio Sanctorum

Following up on my post about Steven Harmon and Baptist Catholicity, I came across an interesting site called Communio Sanctorum — A Reformational Contribution to Catholicity which also discusses the issue of Catholicity from a Reformed perspective. There is some interesting discussion going on there and Wyman Richardson has some interesting things to say about NT Wright and Written Prayers.

Essays for NT students

It's that time of year again where I must ponder what assessment ventures to set before my undergrads. Something that will challenge their thinking and stimulate their minds about the New Testament as both History and Scripture. Well, this is what I'v chosen this year:

NT Introduction

What are the warning passages in Hebrews warning against?

What is the centre of New Testament Theology?

Romans

“Romans 14.1-15.13 is a manifesto for unity in the ethnically diverse house churches in Rome.” Discuss.

Who is the “I” and “wretched man” of Romans 7:7-25?

Write an exegesis paper on Romans 11.25-32.

Write an exegesis paper on Romans 16.1-7.

Exploring other Faiths

Judaism: ‘Who are God’s People in the Middle East?’

1 Corinthians

Is the resurrection body of believers the same as the resurrection body of Christ according to the Corinthian correspondence?

Issues in the Study of Early Christianity

This evening I've been browsing over Gerd Luedemann, Primitive Christianity: A Survey of Recent Studies and Some New Proposals (London: Continuum, 2003) and it has got me thinking about the field of study itself.

First, what should the discipline be called:

1. New Testament History
2. Christian Origins
3. Primitive Christianity
4. Urchristentum
5. Beginnings/Anfängen of Christianity

Are these terms synonymous or are we talking about different fields? Is NT History limited to the NT canon while Christian Origins is broader?

Second, what is the content of this discipline, is it Theologiegeschichte (theological history), Religionsgeschchte (religious history), Literarischegeschichte(literary history), or Sozialgeschicte (social history). Does it have to be only one and how do these sciences interact?

Third, what is the terminus for a study of early Christianity: 70 AD, 100 AD, the death of Ignatius, the time of Justin Martyr, Constantine - is there a clear end point which marks the transition from "early Christianity" to "early church history"?

Social-Science Bibliography

From the University of Melbourne, Australia, I have come across a useful bibliography on sociological studies of the New Testament called New Testament World/Backgrounds.

Reviews of Nicholas Perrin on Thomas and Tatian

Nicholas Perrin (Wheaton, IL, USA) has argued in several works that the Gospel of Thomas was dependent on Tatian's Diatessaron, see: Nicholas Perrin, Thomas and Tatian: The Relationship Between the Gospel of Thomas and the Diatessaron (AB 4; Leiden, Brill, 2002); idem, ‘NHC II,2 and the Oxyrhynchus Fragments (P.Oxy 1, 654, 6550): Overlooked Evidence for a Syriac Gospel of Thomas,’ VC 58 (2004): 138-51; idem, ‘Thomas: The Fifth Gospel?’ JETS 49 (2006): 67-80.

I find Perrin's proposal very attractive, but confess that I remain agnostic about the overall thesis. I think the strength of Perrin's arugment is that a Syrian provenance for Thomas seems quite probable, the Diatessaron may have been the first or only Gospel-like piece of literature available in Syriac at the end of the first century, the reconstruction of common catchwords in Syriac is suggestive of a Syriac original for Thomas, and perhaps the order of the sayings in the Diatessaron in comparison with Thomas is a possible indication of dependency. On the other hand, an original Greek text for Thomas is not impossible esp. since we do have Greek fragments. What is more there are simply too many unknowns in the equations to be decisive, esp. when we are talking about Syriac texts which we do not have access too. Like many others, I am simply not qualified to be able make an informed decision about matters pertaining to Syriac or the Diastessaron in order to either affirm or disagree with Perrin's proposal. That being said, if Perrin is correct then there's a lot of North American scholarship that can be taken to the trash can for good.

Mark Goodacre coveniently lists the reviews of Perrin by David Parker, Paul-Hubert Poirier, Robert Shedinger, and Peter Williams.

Around the Blogs - I

For a biographical portrait of NT Wright check out the account written over at Adversaria and then go read the alternative version "NT Wright the Real Story" at Waiting Room of the World. HT: Jim West.

Everyone who teaches Greek must read the post over at Codex called, Dr. Seuss Learns Greek - blogs rarely make me laugh but this was hillarious. HT: Michael Pahl There's also one on Hebrew too.

All Baptists are henceforth to go read Timothy George's essay in First Things called Southern Baptists after the Revolution HT: Denny Burke.

There is also a BMCW review available of Mark Chancey's recent book: Greco-Roman Culture and the Galilee of Jesus HT:

The Gospel of Justification?

A term that gets tossed around quite a lot in Reformed Evangelical circles is the, "The Gospel of Justification" (In fact, a book has recently been published with this very title, see Wayne C. Stumme, ed., Gospel of Justification in Christ: Where Does the Church Stand Today? [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006]). But I confess that I find this term misleading and unhelpful.

1. This is simply not the language of the NT. There are more common references to the "gospel of God" (Rom. 1.1; 15.16; 2 Cor. 11.7; 1 Thess. 2.8-9) and the "gospel of Christ" (Rom. 15.19; 1 Cor. 9.12; 2 Cor. 2.12; 9.13; 10.14; Gal. 1.7; Phil. 1.27; 1 Thess. 3.2). Surely it makes better sense to have the grammar of our faith permeated and nourished by the language of Scripture itself.

2. The Dik- word group (words for "righteousness" and "justify" etc) very rarely occur in proximity to euangelion ("gospel") or euangelizomai ("I preach the gospel"). In Rom. 1.17, Paul can say, "For in the it [i.e. the gospel] a righteousness of God is revealed". Note what Paul does not say. He does not advocate that the gospel is the righteousness of God, but he says that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. Furthermore, the dikaiosyne theou ("righteousness of God") is not a cipher for the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, but with its OT background it refers more properly to God's saving activity or to God's saving righteousness and is broader in scope than merely justification itself. Rom. 1.16-17 introduces all of Romans, chapters 1-16, and not merely Romans 1-4.

3. An additional problem is that the "gospel of justification" as I have heard it explicated seems to spend an incredible amount of time making sure that one has the correct understanding of imputation. Thus, the gospel of justification becomes in reality the gospel of imputation. Now I'm not trying to denigrate the idea of imputation, but I suspect that in such an emphasis Jesus becomes the presupposition for the gospel rather than its primary content.

4. Lastly, if the subject of the gospel is the object of faith, then it appears that some preachers and commentators are regarding jusitification and imputation as that which one must believe in order to be saved or justified. In which case, one is justified by believing in justification through imputation. But the gospel I find in the NT makes Jesus Christ the subject of the gospel and the object of faith. One is saved and justified, not by believing in justification and/or imputation, but by faith in Christ (e.g. Rom. 10.9-10). Jonathan Edwards warned against confusing doctrinal statements about justification with the article of justification itself (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1974], 1.654).

5. Less we think that justification has no relationship to the gospel, far from it, justification by faith remains Paul's most coherent and robust theological expression of the gospel when the gospel is challenged by Torah-centred Jewish Christians who urge Gentiles to do the works of the law to either complete what is lacking in their faith or as a condition for eschatological vindication.

The Hellenists in Early Christianity

I'm currently reading through Todd Penner's interesting book, In Praise of Christian Origins: Stephen and the Hellenists in Lukan Apologetic Historiography for an review article which will be part of my 'triology' of articles on Luke-Acts for next year. I found one interesting quote in Penner from T.W. Martin:

‘Thus, it is now thought that it was this community of Christian Hellenists who accelerated the transferral of the Jesus tradition from Aramaic into Greek, who helped bring Christian theology fully into the realm of Greek thought from free Aramaic pre-acculturation, who were instrumental in moving Christianity from its Palestinian setting into the urban culture of the larger Empire, who first saw the implications of Jesus’ resurrection for a Law-free Gospel for the gentiles (and for Jews), and who were the bridge between Jesus and Paul. These Christian Hellenists were the founders of Christian mission outside Palestine, and a theological tradition capable of articulating a gospel for the Greco-Roman world.’

T.W. Martin, ‘Hellenists,’ ABD 3.136.

Exciting Publishing Event in Pauline Studies

It is with great joy that I announce what may well be one of the biggest events in Pauline studies since St. Paul the Evangelist said to Tertius, "Terty, my boy, get ready to take a letter, let's see if those Gentiles in Rome will give me a stash of cash on my way to Spain. Something rhetoricalesque should do the trick!"

ANNOUNCING:

The Faith of Jesus Christ:
Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies

Edited by Michael F. Bird and Preston M. Sprinkle
Paternoster
Due for release mid-late 2008

The “Faith of Jesus Christ” represents an attempt to grapple with one of the most perplexing problems in Pauline studies, namely that of the pistis christou debate. The topic is now well rehearsed in contemporary scholarship and this volume sheds new light on the question by presenting rigorous exegetical studies from both sides of the debate. It also brings creative new proposals to bear on the problem, and orients the discussion in the wider spectrum of historical, biblical and systematic theology. The “Faith of Jesus Christ” represents the most penetrating and comprehensive attempt to date to grapple with the significance of Jesus’ faithfulness and obedience for Christian salvation and the extent to which it is represented in key biblical texts.

Contributors lined up so far include:

Stanley E. Porter (McMasters Seminary)
Barry Matlock (Sheffield University)
Douglas Campbell (Duke University)
Mark A. Seifrid (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Paul Foster (New College, Edinburgh)
David DeSilva (Ashland Theological Seminary)
Peter Bolt (Moore Theological College)
Ben Myers (University of Queensland)
Joel Willitts (North Park University)
And other luminaries yet to be confirmed.

More anon.

The Odes of Horace and Augustan Propaganda

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (b. 65 BC, d. 8 BC) fought initially on the side of Pompey against Julius Caesar during the civil war that marked the end of the old republic. Despite being on the loosing side, he eventually found favour with Caesar Augustus and became a successful poet. In his Odes, book four, ode five, there is a poem addressed to Augustus. It includes this stanza:

As long as Caesar is safe, who would fear the
Parthian, who [would fear] the frozen Scythian, who
[would fear] the swarms which savage Germany breeds?
Who would worry about war with fierce Spain?

The poem with a very good commentary can be read here.

The ode is a good example of Roman propaganda which connected the welfare and propserity of the empire with the coming of Augustus.

Teaching and Preaching Hebrews

I'm in the process of reconsidering which NT courses to teach in the future at HTC. I'm seriously considering introducing a course on Hebrews and Revelation. And that of course leaves open which text books to use. Well, on Hebrews, I have to recommend these books:

Andrew Lincoln, Hebrews: A Guide (London:T&T Clark, 2006)



This is the best overview of the theology, themes and critical issues of Hebrews that I have seen to date. Lincoln is perhaps a little more optimistic about the application of rhetoric to Hebrews (but so is DeSilva), still, this is a solid read and absolutely ideal for students.

David A. DeSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on the Epistle "to the Hebrews" (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000).



A good commentary on Hebrews with excellent sections on Apostacy and Perseverance. DeSilva's articles in Tyndale Bulletin are also worth reading.

A mention in despatches should also be made about:

Craig Koester, Hebrews (AB; New York: Doubleday, 2001) [The only reason I chose DeSilva over this was because it was cheaper - otherwise it was equal in value].

Daniel Harrington, What are They Saying About Hebrews? (New York: Paulist Press, 2005)

Who the Heck is Ilse Fredrichsdorff?

Who the heck is Ilse Fredrichsdorff? In reading over Robert Yarbrough's excellent book, The Salvation-Historical Fallacy (p. 342, n. 9) he gives this quote from the preface of M. Albertz, Die Botschaft des Neuen Testament (1947-57) which left me gob-smacked:

"This book is dedicated to the young brethren of the Confessing Church. I was united with them in my office as leader of the Office of Theological Examination of the Confessing Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. I was all the closer to these brethren, whose status was illegal from the start, in that perforamnce of my ministry resulted in the loss of my freedom as well as my ordination, withdrawn by a bogus ecclesiastical authority. This book's dedication bears two names [one is Erich Klapproth, the other is] Ilse Fredrichsdorff ... When the church struggle began she was a young girl belonging to the Confessing Church congregation Nicolai-Melanchthon in Spandau. Through our congregation she came to take up theological study. She studied in our theological college and in Basel with Karl Barth. She became curate of the only truly evangelical confessional school that could be established under the Third Reich, the school for non-Aryan Christian children who were no longer permitted to attend the public school. During the war she reamined in congregations northeast of Berlin, in that region where the last battle prior to Berlin was waged. She was so much in demand for her pastoral skills that the major of the troop emplacements behind which lay the villages she served repeatedly requested her aid among the troops. Later she led the displaced congregations with the word of God, went back to the hunger zone as much as possible, and, after she had buried hundreds of the thousands who perished, succumbed herself to starvation (II/1, 13-14)."

Baptist Catholicity II

In reading over Steve Harmon's book Baptist Catholicity, he makes some controversial points about baptism and justification.

Harmon urges Baptist's to recognize the legitimacy of other Baptisms in other denomiantions, even paedo-baptism. He argues:

There is indeed one baptism practiced by the church in its catholicty - a baptism that includes both 'beliver's baptism' as a baptismal practice most appropriate to New Testament-like experiences of adult conversion and infant baptism as a baptismal practice most appropriate to the experience of being nurtured from infancy toward faith by family and congregation - and this one baptism belongs at the beginning of one's journey of faith rather than at multiple subsequent points along that journey. (p. 126)

He also suggests that the Baptist World Alliance should give consideration to joining the Methodists and recognizing the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification signed in 1999 between the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation (p.199). I think this would be a mistake since the 1999 declaration is a fudge that does not do justice to the reformed objections to the tridentine formulations. The document (which I have read in-depth) does point out some common ground and remove unhelpful caricatures, but it fails to deal with the central differences between them.

What was also interesting was that for Harmon, the main thing that prevents him from joining the Catholic church was his support for the ordination of women (p. 200).

In sum, the main strength of Harmon's book was urging Baptists to rethink the idea of liturgy and the role of tradition in relation to biblical authority. This is a book well worth reading. Other reflections on this book are offered by Sean the Baptist.

BNTC 2006 Highlights (For Me)

The BNTC in Sheffield was a glowing success. Congrats to the Sheffield biblical studies department for organizing a good show. It was the first BNTC that Mark Goodacre had missed in 10 years, and my first BNTC. I arrived a day early and got to walk around Sheffield (in the pouring rain) which included a look around the bookshops, checking out the library, and browsing the botanical gardens.

Graham Stanton's paper "Messianism and Christology: Mark, Matthew and Luke", was of natural interest to me since I'm working on a rolling project on Messianism in the Gospels (publishing one article a year on the subject). In the seminar groups, the Jesus Seminar,
James Crossley presented a rationale for a secular/socio-economic approach to historical Jesus studies. James did not convince everyone that "conversion" is essentially about sociological integration and any persuasion of beliefs is secondary. My own paper on Matt 8.11-12/Luke 13.28-29 went okay, although Maurice Casey and James Crossley took exception to my view of the temple demonstration was (partly) concerned with censuring Jewish nationalism, but I'll throw in my load with Wright, Evans, and Davies.

Crispin Fletcher-Louis gave a provocative paper on "Jewish Monotheism and NT Christology: Reflections on Recent Developments" and his idea that humans are the idols/icons of God was much pondered.

Peter Williams gave a superb lecture (both in content and in presentation) on the prologue of John's Gospel noting that the early ms and early interpreters usually make the breaks at v. 5 and sometimes v. 14.

Maurice Casey's main paper on "The Solution to the Son of Man Problem" was a summary of his research on the topic and follows up on Vermes' proposal of "bar enasha" as a self-reference.

I got to meet John Nolland (another member of the Aussie biblical studies Diaspora) and Sean Winter.

For me the highlight was the Acts seminar where we debated the unity of Luke-Acts. I gave an overview of research since 1993 and C. Kavin Rowe (Duke) and Andrew Gregory (Oxford) in turn presented their own ideas in relation to reception-history and what that contributes to the topic (see the 2005 issue of JSNT). Steve Walton put together a good and interesting seminar.

Andrew T. Lincoln was elected as the new present of BNTC and in talking with Andrew I learned that he actually reads this blog ocassionally - so congrats to Andrew.

First Week of Teaching a NPU

Many of you have already come to know the experience of beginning a teaching career. Someone recently compared it to starting up a business. The first weeks, months and perhaps years are incredibly stressful and busy as you prepare new courses and lectures, hang with students and faculty and become acclimated to the institution.

At the end of my first week at North Park, I am relaxing on this Saturday morning with a cup of coffee taking stock of the week. My days have been long and full and I find that I am just a step (perhaps even a half-step) in front of the students. I am getting into my office early in the morning before my 9:15 class and just pulling off the printer my class notes as I dash to teach. What a pace!

However, I love this job! I love interacting with the students in my classes. I love the challenge of teaching the Bible to undergrads who have very diverse backgrounds and interests -- most haven't cracked the spine of a Bible. I am having a blast.

This is a long weekend for universities in the US as Labor Day is Monday. Perhaps I will get a couple of steps a head of my students this weekend, but probably not. I will probably watch baseball, hang with family and go to a movie instead; I really want to see the movie Invincible.