Testament Scholarship Research Articles

NEW CREATION AND RESURRECTION IN THE BIBLE AND IN A NEW SOUTH AFRICA: AN OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLAR’S PERSPECTIVE

‘New creation; and ‘resurrection’ are discussed from the perspective of an Old Testament scholar, and interpreted in terms of the function of culture, world view and religion for a new South Africa. The obstacles, opportunities and other important issues pertaining to a relevant hermeneutical approach as well as some possible religious educational models for our context are discussed critically.

Paul and identity construction in early Christianity and the Roman Empire

The question of what subjects Paul addresses in his letters has been a matter of debate in New Testament scholarship. This debate shows the evolution of Pauline studies, whereby early scholars argued that Paul addressed topics ranging from questions of human existence, to relations between Jews and Gentiles, and even topics connecting Paul with the Roman Empire. Most of these scholars view Paul mainly from a religious perspective, particularly in terms of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. However, viewing Paul from a Jewish versus a Christian religious perspective only fails to present the multivalent function of the Pauline corpus. This article employs social identity theory to read Galatians 3:1–10 in order to defend the argument that Paul employs his letters to construct a superordinate identity for his community which embraces not only political perspectives but also has religious and economic trajectories. Contribution: The application of identification, contest and comparison, concepts derived from sociology, to analyze Galatians 3:1-10 in reference to 1st century economic, religious and political contexts to explain the multivalent nature of early Christian identity, contributes to multidisciplinary research aspects of Biblical studies which is in tandem with the scope of HTS Theological Journal .

Same-Sex Intercourse Involving Jewish Men 100 BCE–100 CE

Abstract It is commonplace in New Testament scholarship to assume that Judaism at the turn of the Era univocally condemned same-sex intercourse among men, whether scholars use this supposition to argue that Jesus felt likewise or was uniquely accepting of the practice. The present article provides the original-language text, English translation, and brief commentary for evidence of same-sex intercourse involving Jewish men around the turn of the Era, pointing to the varying testimonies of Josephus, Martial, a graffito, Tacitus, and the Warren Cup. The paper concludes with a reflection on the relevance of the study for understanding Jesus’ sexual politics. This article contains graphic literary and visual depictions of sexual intercourse.

Putting “Theological Interpretation” in Its Place: Three Models and Their Limits

Putting “Theological Interpretation” in Its Place: Three Models and Their Limits

The ‘Temporal Turn’ in New Testament Studies

Reflecting a recent trend across academic disciplines, New Testament scholars are beginning to explore the concept of time and temporality, a concept not well-developed in the field. This article surveys this scholarship from the basis of three inter-related categories: social memory and historical narrative; queer and feminist theory; and apocalypticism and messianism. It addresses the question: How does the concept of time (generally, the idea of continual change) and temporality (concepts and orientations related to the experience of time) serve historical, literary, and theological aims in the New Testament? Further, the article proposes new areas of research that would expand on earlier work and also draw upon the burgeoning field of time and temporality in other disciplines.

FROM THE EDITOR

Contributions to this issue all display a pragmatic orientation. H C van Rooy analyses Ezk. 29:1-26 in its exilic and post-exilic setting, to draw certain conclusions for the role of contemporary prophetic teaching. Jan Botha explains why rhetoric is so much in vogue, and what implications it might have for the practice of exegesis and for current New Testament scholarship. Cornel du Toit discusses basic concepts relating to ideology, and demonstrates how a constructive approach to ideology critique can be developed. Hermie van Zyl concludes with a basic overview of librarian theology and its main proponents.

Crowds and Power in the Early Palestinian Tradition

This article draws on critical crowd theory to explore how historical Jesus research can benefit from a more robust understanding of the crowds that engulf Jesus as subjects of historical change. Conventional approaches to the crowds within New Testament scholarship are complicit in heightening Jesus’ individual exceptionalism. Rather than envisaging the crowds as part of the anonymous background to Jesus’ ministry, or as a literary invention by the Gospel authors, we should instead regard the crowds as a collective expression of underlying social, political, and economic antagonisms.

A Socio-Historical Account to New Testament Scholarship

A Socio-Historical Account to New Testament Scholarship

Latina/o/x Studies and Biblical Studies

Abstract This essay introduces Latina/o/x studies for a biblical studies audience. It examines crucial themes that bridge Latina/o/x studies and biblical studies, themes such as identity and difference with special attention to ethnicity and race; also migration with attention to homing, diaspora, transnationalism, and citizenship. The place of Latina/o/x studies in relevant Hebrew Bible and New Testament scholarship on these topics is also discussed. Ultimately this essay argues that Latina/o/x studies’ epistemological commitments to complexity, relationality, particularity, and collaborative knowledge-making can help ground critical interpretive approaches in biblical studies. This essay also imagines a way that biblical studies—capaciously encompassing the study of Jewish and Christian literature in the ancient world as well as Jewish and Christian biblical reception and rejection histories, and the very category of scriptures more broadly—could deepen Latina/o/x studies own thinking about canon formation and history.

Is Subordinationism a Heresy?

The modern resurgence of orthodoxy in Anglican circles takes as its cardinal tenet the eternal coinherence of three persons in the one Godhead, equal in substance, rank and power. This is assumed to be the doctrine of the Nicene Council of 325, and the putative heresy that denies it is known by the term subordinationism. Although the ample lexicon of Greek heresiology supplies no clear antecedent for this term, the charge of subordinationism is thought to imperil any claim to be teaching in the catholic tradition, even if the teacher is Barth or Rahner. The confidence with which these accusations are levelled, however, seems to be in an inverse ratio to the accuser’s knowledge of history, for neither in New Testament scholarship nor at the cutting edge of the modern study of patristics will one find much evidence that subordinationism is even an anomaly, let alone an aberration from the biblical or conciliar norm. It is only in modern theology, not in the writings of empirical historians, that the Gorgon’s head of Arius is held up to those who question the strict equality of persons. At the same time, we must not forget that the systematician’s reading of Nicaea was until recently also that of the historian. No doubt the reason is partly that until the last half–century every historian was also a confessional theologian; but there is also a certain truth in the older approach so long as some pains are taken to define “subordination”.

The External-Relational Shift in Faith (Pistis) in New Testament Research: Romans 1 as Gospel-Allegiance Test Case

Evidence is marshalled for a recent ‘external-relational shift’ in scholarly understandings of pistis (traditionally translated ‘faith’) among New Testament scholars and historians of early Christianity and its social world. There is a movement away from predominantly personal existential accounts of pistis toward those that are relational and outwardly manifest. ‘Faith’ ( pistis) is predominantly a way of life characterized by fidelity or loyalty which is outwardly expressed in relationships. Beyond the New Perspective on Paul, which is an obvious factor, four streams are feeding this shift: (1) the pistis Christou debate, (2) increased appreciation of ancient social and cultural norms, (3) advances in linguistics, and (4) an emphasis on the gospel as a royal proclamation. To show why the external-relational shift matters theologically, Paul’s use of pistis in Romans 1 is explored along external-relational lines.

The Presence of the Ascended Son in the Gospel of John

The Presence of the Ascended Son in the Gospel of John Markus Bockmuehl The Fourth Gospel distinctively articulates the shared Christian conviction that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead after his crucifixion and was exalted to heaven.1 As for other New Testament writings, that belief also raises the fundamental question of how this same Jesus continues to relate to ongoing Christian faith and experience. Where is Jesus now? Is he here or somewhere else, at a spatial and perhaps temporal remove from the lives his followers lead now? In scholarly and critical study of the Gospels, that rather basic question is further complicated, made more strange and complex by its methodological elusiveness. There are many possible ways to try and contextualize it in either ancient cultural or modern analytical settings. A century ago, standard approaches to the comparative study of ancient religion tended to focus on expressions of divine presence either in terms of "the numinous" (Rudolf Otto),2 of social ritual as expressing the power of society (Emile [End Page 1301] Durkheim), or in history-of-religions comparisons with providential or animistic conceptions. Today the comparative bird's eye view has for the most part surrendered to more focused textual and empirical study of the texts and phenomena in view. So, for example, one frame of reference might be Jewish, early Christian, and Graeco-Roman mysticism, on which a good deal of work has been done in recent years. Others have studied the role of interiority and cognitivity in specific religious traditions. There have been books on ascetical, shamanistic, and neurobiological aspects of ecstatic experience, especially in relation to the Apostle Paul. And a series of recent studies has called for fuller discussion of the role of religious experience in the formation of early Christian belief and theology. The broader theme of divine presence and absence has also repeatedly attracted the attention of scholarship on ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism. A clearer methodological account must be left for another occasion. I do not doubt that many of these modes of characterizing divine presence are relevant to a description of early Christian realities: quite likely they are. This paper probes the focused and in a sense "dogmatic" question about how the Gospel of John envisages the location of Jesus after his earthly lifetime. How does the Fourth Evangelist handle the dialectic between affirmations that Jesus is present with the disciples or on the other hand that he has gone to another place? I am for present purposes not as concerned with abstract definitions of absence or presence in metaphysical or personalist terms,3 nor with a comparative phenomenology of Johannine religious experience. Instead, my focus will be on the Gospel of John's stated ("emic") affirmations about the presence or the absence of the post-Easter Jesus—the convictions that shaped and were in turn shaped by this evangelist and his community. The Fourth Gospel's manuscript distribution and especially its reception in the exegetical disputes and deliberations leading up to the great Christian creeds leave no doubt that this text had an inestimable effect on [End Page 1302] the formulation of Christian doctrine about the person of Jesus Christ. Among the company it keeps in the library of early Christian sacred texts, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are clearly paramount. Richard Bauckham and others have plausibly argued for John's knowledge of something rather like the Gospel of Mark in particular; and despite some useful criticisms, that view may represent a growing consensus.4 But beyond this there has long been a notable trickle of New Testament scholarship which would affirm the historical priority of John over the Synoptics,5 or even just over Luke.6 Others more cautiously propose stages of composition in which each stream of Gospel tradition influenced the other, possibly through the continuing interrelationship between writing and primary or secondary oral tradition.7 But rather more revealing than this Gospel's inscrutable literary relationships with other New Testament texts is its formative influence on early Christian belief. One thinks here of the prologue's exegetical pressure on the creedal language of Jesus as the only-begotten Son...

Kingship and 'State' in Torah, History, and Poetry: Exploring the risk of terminological anachronism in Old Testament scholarship

ABSTRACT In exploring the constituent elements of our modern-day nation state, this contribution wishes to highlight those areas in which anachronism might arise in Old Testament interpretations of 'state'. This might happen due to the influence of deeply-rooted modern-day conceptions, according to which a state consists of a people group living within a distinct territory, governed by a body holding jurisdiction over both people and territory. This contribution explores pre-exilic, exilic, and post-exilic biblical texts containing the elements of people, land, and king, asking whether these texts wish to convey a political or rather a theological message. Keywords: State theory; people (057); land; kingship; Deuteronomic Law of the King

Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second Century Reception by Matthew J. Thomas

Reviewed by: Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second Century Reception by Matthew J. Thomas Curtis J. Mitch Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second Century Reception by Matthew J. Thomas (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018), xv + 230 pp. The present volume is a lightly revised doctoral dissertation written at the University of Oxford under the supervision of Mark Edwards, David Lincicum, and Jenn Strawbridge. It examines one of the most vigorously contested phrases of the New Testament ("works of the law" in the Pauline Epistles) from the standpoint of early patristic reception. Paul, in both Romans and Galatians, formulates a sharp antithesis between "faith in Christ" and "works of the law" (Rom 3:20, 28; Gal 2:16; 3:2, 5, 10). For the apostle, faith in Christ effects justification, while works of the law are denied a role in justification. But what are these works? What do they signify? On what grounds does Paul oppose them? According to M. J. Thomas, modern debates over Paul's "works of the law" have long been impoverished by inattention to the earliest patristic evidence. His dissertation aims to address this deficiency by ascertaining (1) how Paul's earliest readers understood "works of the law," and (2) how these ancient perspectives relate to modern debates among proponents of the Old and New Perspectives on Paul. The parameters of the study extend from the Didache to the death of [End Page 326] Irenaeus. The rationale for these endpoints is derived from the work of Markus Bockmuehl, who argues that New Testament scholars can profitably consider the first 150 years of Christian history as a privileged period of living memory in which a vital connection with the apostolic age remains. Methodologically, the author describes his work as a conceptual study of the Pauline phrase ἔργα νόμου, "works of the law," rather than a purely lexical one. Instead of restricting analysis to occurrences of the expression, which is not attested in early patristic literature before Irenaeus, he identifies texts that evince thematic overlap with Paul's discussions in Romans and Galatians, especially those that are marked by Christian–Jewish polemics and engage in parallel discussions of law, works, and justification. Evidence gathered on this basis is sorted into three categories, labeled A, B, and C. Works in category A ("direct evidence") show clear signs of Pauline influence and reference specific Pauline passages dealing with works of the law. Works in category B ("supporting evidence") have probable Pauline influence and engage Paul's letters, but not specifically passages about works of the law. Works in category C ("circumstantial evidence") show possible signs of Pauline influence and canvass debates that are similar to Paul's in Romans and Galatians, although without reference to Pauline passages about works of the law. Having set forth the scope and procedure of the study (part I), the author moves to examine the views of leading representatives of the Old and New Perspectives on Paul (part II). Once the contours of the debate are framed out, and their views on Paul's "works of the law" are identified, he proceeds in chronological order through the early patristic sources with the aim of discovering what he calls the Early Perspective on Paul (part III). Finally, he brings the ancient evidence to bear on the modern controversy, comparing and contrasting the Early Perspective on "works of the law" with the Old and New Perspectives (part IV). The Old and New Perspectives divide cleanly down the middle of Paul's "works of the law" formula. For the Old Perspective (OP), which is represented in the study by Martin Luther, John Calvin, Rudolf Bultmann, and Douglas Moo, Paul primarily denies works the power to justify. For advocates of the New Perspective (NP) such as E. P. Sanders, J. D. G. Dunn, and N. T. Wright, Paul primarily denies the law the power to justify. (1) What then is the meaning of Paul's "works of the law"? According to the OP, Paul is talking about any works that one might perform to earn favor with God and attain salvation. According to the NP, the apostle refers mainly to the...

Focusing on Paul, Homer and Jesus: Professor Karl Olav Sandnes as a New Testament Scholar

Focusing on Paul, Homer and Jesus: Professor Karl Olav Sandnes as a New Testament Scholar

The Pastoral Epistles: Common Themes, Individual Compositions? An Introduction to the Quest for the Origin(s) of the Letters to Timothy and Titus

ABSTRACT In New Testament scholarship, the pseudonymity of the so-called Pastoral Epistles (1–2 Timothy and Titus) continues to be a majority position, partially because many scholars assume that they were originally designed as a tripartite letter corpus. Over the past decades, however, a growing group of scholars has started to challenge this corpus theory by pointing out the individual qualities of the letters to Timothy and Titus and their mutual differences. These research findings have brought a number of scholars to believe that the letters were composed by more than one author. When the arguments for plural authorship are compared to the traditional arguments for common authorship, it seems the pseudonymity of the Pastoral Epistles is by no means a foregone conclusion. Accordingly, the quest for the origin(s) of the letters to Timothy and Titus must be continued.

Editors’ Introduction

JTI was established in 2007 in order to address the changes in biblical studies that were taking place. The official description of the Journal states:Between 2007 and 2017 JTI was ably led by its founding editor Joel B. Green of Fuller Theological Seminary. Anyone who has worked with Joel knows him to be a wise and efficient colleague and in his editorial duties for JTI he displayed both attributes many times over. As a New Testament scholar of international renown and a leading figure in the early dissemination of theological interpretation, Joel steered the editorial board of JTI superbly and ensured that each volume was on time and the quality of essays in the Journal were of an international standard. The publisher, Board, and editors of JTI thank Joel for his hard work and initiative as he passes the baton of editorial leadership over to a new team. It is testament to his capacity for work that two editors now take over the duties of what Joel managed to do single-handedly. Thank you, Joel.In 2017 Murray Rae of the University of Otago stepped into the role of acting editor in chief and carried out these duties until volume 13, number 1 in 2019. As the series editor of the JTI Supplement Series, Murray is well acquainted with the theological interpretation of Scripture and he stepped into the breach when an editor was required as Joel was no longer able to carry out these duties. Murray ensured the ongoing quality of the Journal and again, the publisher, Board, and editors are grateful for his hard work. We are sure editing a journal was not high on Murray’s to-do list and so we are grateful for all he has done and continues to do for the Journal.As of this volume (13, no. 2), Tim Meadowcroft and Myk Habets are the co-editors of JTI. One is a biblical scholar (Tim) and the other a theologian (Myk), and both are associated with Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand. We are thankful to Joel and Murray, and to the publisher and Board, for this privilege and we hope to conduct the business of the Journal in the same efficient way the previous editors have modeled. In the years since its inception, the original purposes of the Journal remain true and important and JTI has sought to publish essays that have contributed to new understandings of Scripture and theology. This forward-looking turn has, however, more recently been coupled with a backward-looking turn, as biblical scholars and theologians have rediscovered—if that is not too strong a term—the richness of pre-critical interpretation, especially that of the patristics. Alongside canonical readings of Scripture we now find theologies of retrieval, resourcement theologies, and a greater appreciation for the sorts of readings the fathers modeled. Today biblical studies and theology continue to enjoy a convergence of sorts, or perhaps a dialogue is more apropos. Moving beyond the preoccupation to overly define what theological interpretation is (although definitions are still important), we now enjoy many more examples of what theological interpretation of texts looks like in practice. This has brought into dialogue Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Orthodox voices, to name but a few.The editors of JTI look forward to receiving submissions from across the Christian traditions and across the canon as the church continues to listen to and reflect upon the Word written, and work under the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

ASPECTS OF THE RHETORIC OF SOUTH AFRICAN NEW TESTAMENT SCHOLARSHIP ANNO 1992

CITATION: Botha, J. 1993. Aspects of the rhetoric of South African New Testament scholarship anno 1992. Scriptura, 46:80-99, doi:10.7833/46-0-1640.

The New Testament Scholarship of Erasmus: An Introduction with Erasmus’ Prefaces and Ancillary Writings

The New Testament Scholarship of Erasmus: An Introduction with Erasmus’ Prefaces and Ancillary Writings

When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation. By Paula Fredriksen

Famous New Testament scholars are generally expected to write two books, one on Jesus and one on Paul. Fredriksen’s books are From Jesus to Christ, published in 1988 (Yale; 2000, 2nd ed.), and Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle, published in 2018. When Christians Were Jews is a companion to and in many ways a digest (not without modifications of the former) of both. It is also a sequel, which aims to tell the story of what happened more broadly among the Jewish Jesus believers between the death of Jesus and the composition of the Gospels. One has the experience reading this book of having walked halfway through a movie or into a sequel in which many elements of the plot have already been settled; the spartan footnotes often cross-reference Jesus and Paul to which she regularly appeals for fuller explanation. The book is winningly rhetorical and most readers will want, as a consequence of Frederiksen’s characteristic incisiveness and wit, to read the earlier studies for the fuller warrants for her arguments. When Christians Were Jews sometimes reads like a trailer. The terminus ad quem (the first generation – i.e., ca. 70–80) is slightly confusing because while she includes among the first generation of Jewish and Gentile Jesus believers the authors of the Gospels (following the customary order and dating, Mark, Matthew, Luke, John – ca. 70 to 110 CE), on account of their possible testimony to the period ca. 33 to 70 CE, she does not include discussion of other New Testament literature contemporary with the Gospels that might arguably also be pressed into the service of historical reconstruction.