bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Barcosiba and Qumrân
Authors: Toombs L. E.
Published: February 2009

The vigorous discussion to which the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has given rise has usually proceeded on the assumption that documents such as the Manual of Discipline and the War Scroll represent specific nd distinctive teachings of the Qumrân Community. If this is so, we are in possession of an important witness to the life and thought of one relatively small segment of first-century Judaism. But is the horizon of the scrolls necessarily so limited? There are at least two alternatives. (a) Assuming that the Qumrân Community were Essenes, Essenism may still be regarded, even after Qumrân, as a widespread phenomenon with many varied modes of expression, of which the Community at Qumrân was but one. Its library then lets us look at an Essenism which did not come into existence when the buildings at Qumrân were erected, nor perish with their destruction. (b) Even though the documents themselves are sectarian and Essene, many of the ideas contained in them may well have been the objects of common belief outside the sect and outside the wider areas of Essenism. If the type of thought which the Dead Sea Scrolls represent was widely diffused among the general population, we have in these parchments an entry, not into the mind of a small company of recluses alone, but into an important phase of religious thought in the Judaism of the Graeco-Roman period. Should this prove to be true, we shall be able with more confidence to get behind the transforming effect of two unsuccessful revolts against Roman rule, and to see more clearly the true features of popular religion before the wars.
Faith and Reason in Paul's Epistles
Authors: Bornkamm G.
Published: February 2009

A study of the relationship between faith and reason in Paul's theology, such as we are now going to undertake, would seem to be a particularly fruitless investigation. We all know from the opening chapters of I Corinthians that the apostle, as a preacher of the message of the cross, fought just as bitterly against the wisdom of this world as against the attempt to achieve righteousness through works. The wisdom of this world and the righteousness based on works are both characteristic of the man who is seeking to assert himself before God and whose attempt miscarries. Just as Christ is the end of the law, it must apply in the same sense that he is the end of the wisdom of this world. God has destroyed it through the cross (I Cor. i. 18ff.). From now on the words ‘He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord’ hold good both for Jews and Greeks alike (I Cor. i. 31). One cannot seriously discount the significance of these passages by saying they contain nothing but exaggerated and casual utterances. Paul has expressed himself here in fundamental, comprehensive and consciously offensive terms, in order to demonstrate the contrast between the news of the Crucified, a σkáνδαλoν for the Jews and a μωία for the Greeks, and the wisdom of the world, which is foolishness in God's eyes. These words of the apostle have in fact given offence again and again. Since the days of Celsus and Porphyrius they have aroused the indignant protests of the opponents of Christianity. Goethe voiced them quite openly, ‘Living till seventy wouldn't be worth the trouble, if all the wisdom of the world were folly in the sight of God’ (Max. und Reflex. 2). We must certainly not forget that in I Cor. i–iii the apostle is speaking about the wisdom of the world and not directly about reason itself. But this distinction does not seem to help us much. The trenchant answer which Paul gives his opponents who contest his claim to be a true apostle and man of the Spirit forces us to ask whether he leaves man's reason any place at all: ‘Yes, we certainly walk in the flesh (έν σαρkί) but we do not wage our war in the manner of the flesh (kατα σαρkα)—for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God for the destruction of strongholds—as we destroy sophistries (λoγiσμoúς) and all arrogance, which exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought (νóημα) into captivity under the obedience of Christ’ (II Cor. x. 3–5).
Essai D'Interpretation Du Chapitre Xi De L'apocalypse
Authors: Feuillet André
Published: February 2009

La section proprement prophétique de l' Apocalypse johannique (iv–xxii) se divise nettement en deux grandes parties. La seconde partie (xii–xxii) est née d'une situation concrète que l'on parvient assez aisément à reconstituer: le point de départ en est la persécution dirigée contre les chrétiens par le pouvoir impérial.
Elijah, John and Jesus: an Essay in Detection
Authors: Robinson J. A. T.
Published: February 2009

I have called this an essay in detection. That means it is a tale of some mystery and still more imagination. It must be left to the reader to decide whether it should properly be classed as detective fiction.
Qumrân et le Nouveau Testament
Authors: Benoit Pierre
Published: February 2009

Ces réflexions, qui furent d'abord proposées lors de la séance de clôture du Meeting de Ia S.N.T.S. à Aarhus (1960), ne prétendent pas explorer en détail les relations entre les écrits de Qumrân et le N.T., ce. qui serait une tâche immense, ni méme dresser le bilan des recherches entreprises et de leurs résultats actuels, ce qui engagerait des analyses et une bibliographic considérables.
A Critique of the ‘Curse/Death’ Interpretation of 1 Corinthians 5.1–8
Authors: South James T.
Published: February 2009

There has been in recent years an upsurge of interest in the social description of early Christianity, particularly in the reconstruction of its ‘social world’. Any valid sociological analysis of early Christianity of necessity depends upon the exacting interpretation of the NT texts, since these constitute the necessary data for such studies. In many cases such exegetical ground-work has been done thoroughly and well, so that fruitful social studies can be conducted on the basis of the resulting data. Unfortunately, in the case of early Christian disciplinary practices, relatively little careful research has been done, and much of what has been done is, in the opinion of the present writer, seriously flawed. Social descriptions based upon this data are inevitably likewise flawed, and a distorted picture of early Christian communal life is the unfortunate result. The nature of early Christian discipline is obviously a problem of a social nature, but before serious sociological studies can be done, there must be a correction of the distortions which are currently prevalent in the scholarly consensus regarding this subject.
Rich and Poor in the Courts of Corinth: Litigiousness and Status in 1 Corinthians 6.1–11
Authors: Mitchell Alan C.
Published: February 2009

Compared with that of classic Pauline texts, the history of exegesis of 1 Cor 6.1–11 is modest. Still, the fact that this text has not been studied much does not render it problem-free. On the contrary, it continues to elude an easy interpretation. The standard treatment discusses the integrity of these eleven verses, looks at their placement within the context of chapters 5 and 6, and attempts to explain whether and how Paul envisioned Christians settling their legal disputes. Little attention, however, has been given to the social situation of the community that may have occasioned Paul's remarks about lawsuits in Corinth. This study examines that social situation on the premise that Paul sees the problem of lawsuits on two levels. One looks to the community's relationship to the outside world. The other looks to the community's internal life, where Paul understands the litigiousness of some Christians to be part of the larger problem of social division in the Corinthian churches.
Making Mary Male: the Categories ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ in the Gospel of Thomas
Authors: Meyer Marvin W.
Published: February 2009

The CopticGospel of Thomasis one of the most spectacular of the fifty-two tractates filling the thirteen codices of the Nag Hammadi library. Discovered in December 1945 by several Egyptianfellahin, the Nag Hammadi tractates were subjected to a variety of political and scholarly ploys, and were not made available in their entirety until the very end of 1977, when the last of the volumes of manuscript pages in theFacsimile Editionand the one-volume edition ofThe Nag Hammadi Library in Englishfinally appeared.1One of the very first of the documents to be published was theGospel of Thomas, and its appearance has already stimulated the production of numerous articles and monographs by the scholars who have recognized its significance for our knowledge of Christian origins and early church history. Since the time of its initial publication scholars have suggested a variety of interpretations of theGospel, and to date no consensus has been reached. Yet, in my estimation, a reasonably strong case can be made that theGospel of Thomas, in its present form, belongs at least on the periphery of Christian Gnosticism, and to that extent the Coptic text may be termed a gnosticizing gospel.2
Ti Emoi Kai Σoi
Authors: Maynard Arthur H.
Published: February 2009

In John 2. 4 there is a peculiar Greek idiom which has not only given almost every translator difficulty, but which is, in the opinion of the writer, both a key to the way in which the author of the Fourth Gospel used his sources, and to his interpretation of Jesus. The verse reads ‘And Jesus said to her: τί έμοί καί σοί; woman, my hour has not yet come.’
The Enigmatic AΛΛA In 1 Corinthians 2.9
Authors: Frid Bo
Published: February 2009

It is a well-known fact that 1 Cor 2. 9, containing the famous and mysterious words about ‘things which eye never saw, and ear never heard, and never entered into the mind of man, (all the) things that God prepared for those who love him’, offers a set of various problems. Consequently, the verse has been carefully studied in many of its aspects.
The Origin of the Title ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ in Revelation 17. 14
Authors: Beale G. K.
Published: February 2009

The purpose of this note is to discuss the christological title ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’ in Rev 17. 14. Most commentators have generally understood the title to have its broad background in intertestamental Judaism and the Old Testament. The title is also attested in Babylonian and Egyptian tradition, but such an influence is unlikely here since John usually limits his sphere of reference to the Old Testament and its related literature and traditions. Among the possible above-mentioned references in Judaism and the Old Testament, 1 En 9. 4 bears closest resemblance to Rev 17. 14. The 1 En reference could be in mind, not only because of its similarity of wording, but also because its context concerns eschatological judgment (i.e. of the fallen Watchers), as does that of Rev 17.
Neue Neutestamentliche Papyri III
Authors: Aland Kurt
Published: February 2009

Der letzte Aufsatz in dieser Reihe (‘Neue Neutestamentliche Papyri II’) erschien im Jahrgang XII, 1966. Er behandelte vor allem die grundsätzlichen Fragen, welche durch 75 ausgelöst worden waren. Damit waren die Papyri aufgearbeitet, welche in der ‘Kurzgefaßten Liste der griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments’ verzeichnet waren. Die Liste reichte zwar bis 76, aber über diesen Papyrus – aus dem 6. Jahrhundert stammend und Joh. iv. 9, 12 enthaltend – war nichts besonderes zu sagen.
The Contribution of Qumran Aramaic to the Study of the New Testament
Authors: Fitzmyer Joseph A.
Published: February 2009

Our knowledge of the corpus of extra-biblical and extra-rabbinical Aramaic texts has largely been the acquisition of the last seventy-five to a hundred years. Through numerous discoveries in Egypt, Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Persia and the Indus Valley we have come to know what various phases of Aramaic were like from the tenth century B.C. until roughly the eighth century A.D. This knowledge has enabled us to situate the biblical Aramaic of Ezra and Daniel in a matrix similar to that provided by extra-biblical Hebrew texts for biblical Hebrew.
The Study of Jewish Christianity
Authors: Klijn A. F. J.
Published: February 2009

In 1830 F. C. Baur tried to demonstrate that the early Church was split up into Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians, but more than a hundred years later H. Köster wrote: ‘…a label such as, for example, “Jewish-Christians” is misleading insofar as everyone in the first generation of Christianity was a Jewish-Christian anyway…’. In spite of this observation it still seemed possible to organize a ‘colloque’ on Jewish Christianity and to publish a book with many contributions to this subject. But it cannot be denied that the word ‘Jewish Christian’ poses a problem which we shall study in the present essay. First we shall give a brief survey of the study of Jewish Christianity from F. C. Baur to the present time in order to show the development of the word ‘Jewish Christian’, and with the results of this survey we shall then try to show what can be regarded as belonging to the field of Jewish Christianity at the present moment.
Situation et Signification de Hébreux v. 1–10
Authors: Vanhoye Pere A.
Published: February 2009

Les commentateurs de l'épître aux Hébreux sont unanimes à reconnaître l'importance particulière des dix premiers versets du chapitre v, texte qui présente d'abord une description du sacerdoce (v. 1–4) et en précise ensuite l'application au Christ (v. 5–10). L'attention des exégètes, cependant, ne s'attache guère à l'interprétation d'ensemble de ce passage, elle se concentre le plus souvent sur certains problèmes de détail, comme celui de l'exaucement de la prière du Christ, qui a suscité, on le sait, une conjecture célèbre de Harnack. Quant à l'interprétation d'ensemble, on estime apparemment qu'elle ne présente pas de difficulté, et cette opinion fait qu'on se dispense de traiter clairement certaines questions, qui, mériteraient pourtant d'être discutées.
Zu Einem Neuentdeckten Unzialfragment Des MatthÄus-Evangeliums
Authors: Junack Klaus
Published: February 2009

Auf der Tagung der Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis Ende 1968 berichtete Irving A. Sparks/Claremont über die Entdeckung eines neuen Unzialfragments. Im Journal of Biblical Literature LVIII (1969), 201–2 veröoffentlichte er dann einen Bericht darüber mit näheren Angaben zum Fragment und mit einem Textabdruck. Danach handelt es sich dabei um einen schmalen Streifen, der bei l 852 (Sinai, Katharinenkloster Gr. 218) zwischen fol. 176 und 177 in den Bund geklebt ist und bei einer kollation von 11852 im Zusammenhang mit den Arbeiten für das International Project entdeckt wurde. Sparks beschreibt das Fragment folgendermaßen:
Observations on the Targumic Character of the Prologue of John
Authors: Borgen Peder
Published: February 2009

Recent analyses of the Prologue of John have to a large degree centred around two questions, (1) the question of poetic and prose forms of styles, and (2) the question of unity or disunity of thought, both within the Prologue itself and between the Prologue and the rest of the Gospel. Several scholars, such as R. Bultmann, E. Käsemann, R. Schnackenburg and R. E. Brown, have reached the conclusion that the Evangelist has used and partly reshaped and supplemented a hymn.1This hyposthesis has drawn criticism from scholars who stress that this distinction between poetry and prose is impossible to maintain. Thus E. Haenchen and W. Eltester have characterized the style as hymnic prose.
Aufgaben Der Neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft
Authors: Hengel Martin
Published: February 2009

Der Göttinger Naturwissenschaftler und Schriftsteller Georg Christoph Lichtenberg bemerkte selbstkritisch: ‘Wer nichts als Chemie versteht, versteht auch die nicht recht.’1Der Nationalökonom Walter Eucken soil dieses Wort auf die Wirtschaftswissen-schaften übertragen haben. Müβten wir im Blick auf unsere Disziplin nicht erst recht formulieren: Ein Neutestamentler, der nur etwas vom Neuen Testament versteht,kanndieses gar nicht richtig verstehen? Ist doch der Gegenstand der neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft – zumindest wenn wir äβerlich gesehen von der Bezeichnung ausgehen – in der Gestalt des Nestle-Aland 26. A. nur ein einziges griechisches Buch im Kleinformat von jetzt 680 Seiten, der alte Nestle 25. A. hatte gar nur 657 aufgrund seines kleineren textkritischen Apparats. Nach Morgenthaler2umfaβt es 137490 Worte. Allein dieses Manuskript hat 14514. Unter den theologischen wie den geisteswissenschaftlichen Disziplinen, die mit eigenen Lehrstühlen versehen an den Universitäten gelehrt werden, hat das Fach ‘Neues Testament’ gewiβ den am starksten begrenzten Gegenstand. Man vergleiche nur die Nachbardisziplin, die Kirchengeschichte: Der ganze Migne mit 378, die Weimarana mit 100 und das Corpus Reformatorum mit 101 Bänden, dazu zahllose andere Quellen, stehen diesem einen, kleinen Buch gegenüber.
Israel Im Lukanischen Werk
Authors: Merkel Helmut
Published: February 2009

Seit mehr als 40 Jahren ist das lukanische Werk ein ‘Sturmzentrum’ der Neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft. An den Wind-maschinen standen vornehmlich deutsche Neutestamentler – ich nenne nur E. Käsemann, Ph. Vielhauer und H. Conzelmann –, die ihre Lukaskritik aus innertheologischen Beweggriinden – theologia crucis versus theologia gloriae, existentiale Interpretation versus Heilsgeschichte – vorbrachten. Um die Stillung der Stürme haben sich u.a. O. Bauernfeind, W. G. Kümmel, E. Schweizer, U. Wilckens, W. C. von Unnik verdient gemacht. Schien damit die Zeit für ruhige Detailarbeit gekommen, so brauten sich neue Stürme über Lukas zusammen, diesmal in der Neuen Welt. Diese neue Lukaskritik zentriert sich um das Thema meines Referates, und die Beweggründe sind in der Betroffenheit über den Holocaust und seine möglichen Wurzeln im Neuen Testament zu finden, S. Sandmel, R. Maddox, J. T. Sanders und H. Räisänen sind prominente Vertreter dieser neuen Lukaskritik.
L'importance de la Place d'une Negation: OYX APΠAΓMON HΓHΣATO (Philippiens II. 6)
Authors: Carmignac Jean
Published: February 2009

Les exégètes considèrent en général Philippiens ii. 6 comme un passage très difficile. Ils sont tellement hypnotisés par le terme άρπαγμόν et par ses trois significations possibles (‘acte de voler, dérober, ravir’, ou bien ‘chose volée, dérobée, ravie’, ou bien ‘chose à voler, à dérober, à ravir’) qu'ils oublient de considérer attentivement la négation ούΧ et de se demander sur quoi elle porte exactement: sur άρπαγγύν, devant lequel elle est placée, ou sur ήγήΣαΚο dont elle est séparée.
The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus
Authors: Craig W. L.
Published: February 2009

Until recently the empty tomb has been widely regarded as both an offence to modern intelligence and an embarrassment for Christian faith; an offence because it implies a nature miracle akin to the resuscitation of a corpse and an embarrassment because it is nevertheless almost inextricably bound up with Jesus's resurrection, which lies at the very heart of the Christian faith. But in the last several years, a remarkable change seems to have taken place, and the scepticism that so characterized earlier treatments of this problem appears to be fast receding. Though some theologians still insist with Bultmann that the resurrection is not a historical event, this incident is certainly presented in the gospels as a historical event, one of the manifestations of which was that the tomb of Jesus was reputedly found empty on the first day of the week by several of his women followers; this fact, at least, is therefore in principle historically verifiable. But how credible is the evidence for the historicity of Jesus's empty tomb?
The Transformation of Wisdom. A Study of the Prologue of John's Gospel
Authors: Ashton John
Published: February 2009

There are two fundamental questions concerning the Prologue, one literary, the other historical. The literary question was raised by Bultmann in his seminal article for the Gunkel Festschrift of 1923:‘Wie weit ist von dem prāexistenten Logos die Rede, von wo ab von dem in der Geschichte auf-tretenden, d.h. von Jesus?’The commentators, remarks Bultmann, disxsxsagree on the answer to this question, and this disagreement has persisted. For Bultmann the main difficulty arises from the fact that although v. 14 offers the firstexplicitstatement of the Incarnation, the Christian reader cannot but take vv. 10 f. as an allusion to the life of Jesus, and consequently also v. 5 (which is parallel to it) and probably v. 4 also. Bultmann's solution was to see the Prologue as a pre-Christian Gnostic hymn, stemming from Baptist circles and subsequently taken over by the evangelist and adapted to form the opening of the Gospel. There have been many different answers since.
Der Erste Thessalonicherbrief und die Entstehung der Paulinischen Anthropologie
Authors: Schnelle Udo
Published: February 2009

F. Chr. Baur sah in dem ‘Mangel an einem selbständigen Inhalt’ ein untrügliches Kennzeichen für den unapostolischen Charakter des 1 Thess. Die Bedeutungslosigkeit des Schreibens und das Fehlen dogmatischer Ideen waren für ihn das Hauptargument für die Annahme, der erste Thessalonicherbrief sei ein in paulinischer Form nachgebildeter Brief mit dem Zweck, die Idee der Parusie ‘dem christlichen Bewußtsein näher zu bringen’. Wird auch heute diese These Baurs nicht mehr vertreten, so macht dennoch sein Verdikt der theologischen Belanglosigkeit des 1 Thess auf ein nach wie vor aktuelles Problem aufmerksam: das Fehlen wichtiger Begriffe und Theologumena anderer Paulusbriefe im 1 Thess. So sind die anthropologischen Termini σάρξ άμαρτία, θάντος, σμα, έλενθερία und ζωή nicht belegt, fehlen derδικ-Stamms und derστανρ-Stamm und erscheint schließlichνόμοςim 1 Thess nicht. Die theologischen Konzeptionen der Rechtfertigungslehre, der Kreuzestheologie, der Kirche als Leib Christi und der Taufe als eines Begräbnisses mit Christus sind dem 1 Thess offensichtlich unbekannt. Zudem spielt das AT keine Rolle, sind die eschatologischen Aussagen von denen anderer Briefe erheblich unterschieden und ist die Polemik Pauli gegen die Juden in 1 Thess 2. 14 ff. einzigartig.
Paul's Sense of Place: an Anthropological Approach to Community Formation in Corinth
Authors: Barton Stephen C.
Published: February 2009

Recent scholarly study of the early Christian gatherings (or ‘churches’) has rightly emphasized their indebtedness to the household model of association. One only has to think of the use of the house as a place of meeting, the terminology of paternalism and brotherhood, the conversion of whole households, the praise accorded to the practice of hospitality and the endorsement given to contemporary marital and household ethics in the New Testament writings.
The Place of the Emmaus Story in Luke-Acts
Authors: Robinson B. P.
Published: February 2009

In Luke 24. 13–32, we read of two disciples (Cleopas – who may or may not be the Clopas of John 19. 25 – and an unnamed disciple) being joined on the evening of the day of Jesus' Resurrection as they walk to Emmaus (a village of uncertain location, but said by Luke to be about seven miles from Jerusalem) by the Risen Lord, whom they recognise only after they recline at table with him and he breaks bread and distributes it to them (24. 30–31). Their visitor then abruptly disappears (24. 31) and they return to Jerusalem to tell the Eleven (24. 35).
Jesu Seefahrten und die Stellung von Joh. 6
Authors: Kruse Heinz
Published: February 2009

Der See Kinnereth (Gennesaret) nimmt in der öffentlichen Wirksamkeit Jesu eine hervorragende Stellung ein. War doch das an seinem Nordufer gelegene Dorf Kefar-Nahum, nicht seine Heimatstadt Nazareth, der eigentliche Wohnort Jesu während seiner Tätigkeit in Galiläa (‘Er nahm seinen Wohnsitz in Kefar-Nahum’, Mt. 4. 13). Dies war ‘seine Stadt’ (‘Er fuhr über den See und kam in seine Stadt’, Mt. 9. 1). Von dort aus unternahm er verschiedene Verkündigungsreisen, aber immer wieder zog es ihn nach Kefar-Nahum zurück. Das ist auch nicht zu verwundern, denn wohl die Mehrzahl seiner zwölf Apostel stammte aus diesem oder benachbarten Orten, oder war zum mindesten dort wohnhaft: Simon bar Jona, Andrea bar Jona, Jakob bar Zebedai, Johanan bar Zebedai, Philippos, Mattai bar Alpai, vielleicht auch Thomas (vgl. Joh. 21. 2); von den übrigen, bis auf Nathanael bar Tolmai, der aus Kana stammte, wird nichts überliefert. Von Andreas und Petrus wird ausdrücklich berichtet, dass sie aus Bethsaida stammten; sie wohnten jedoch in Kefar-Nahum, und Jesus wohnte wahr-scheinlich in ihrem Hause.
The Role of Peter in the Fourth Gospel
Authors: Maynard Arthur H.
Published: February 2009

In a meeting of the Fourth Gospel Task Force at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in 1972 I made an incidental remark to the effect that everyone agreed that Peter was depreciated in the Fourth Gospel. Immediately I was taken to task by other members of the Task Force! Since I had for years assumed that this was one of the few agreed upon conclusions of Fourth Gospel Research, I decided that it was time to research this area again and see what, in fact, the role of Peter actually is in this Gospel. In the intervening months the significant book coming out of the National Dialogue between Lutheran and Roman Catholic theologians entitledPeter in the New Testament, edited by Raymond E. Brown, Karl P. Donfried and John Reumann has appeared, with a chapter on ‘Peter in the Gospel of John’, which is especially relevant to this study.
Coordinated Sayings and Parables in the Synoptic Gospels: Analysis Versus Theories
Authors: Linton Olof
Published: February 2009

Preliminary Remarks. There are in the Synoptic Gospels many examples of Sayings joined in pairs or larger groups. Separately and in other connections such texts have certainly been discussed again and again. But the phenomenon as such has hardly been dealt with in a coherent study. Therefore I have chosen to gather a number of these instances and discuss them together, especially those cases where two parts of a double saying are built up in an analogous way. But the present study has – as the sub-title ‘Analysis versus Theories’ indicates – also a synoptic intention. This is not, as in the case of most synoptic studies, to corroborate some already existing synoptic theory or to present a new one. The analysis has to be carried through radically. But why, then, especially take up those texts where we meet with ‘Coordinated sayings and parables’? Because here we have an opportunity not only to make a comparison between the versions of the evangelists, but also to complete this with a comparison between the coordinated sayings.
Comparison, Self-Praise and Irony: Paul's Boasting and the Conventions of Hellenistic Rhetoric
Authors: Forbes Christopher
Published: February 2009

Since the publication of E. A. Judge's ‘Paul's Boasting in relation to Contemporary Professional Practice’, and more especially since the appearance of H. D. Betz'sDer Apostel Paulus und die sokratische Tradition, scholarly attention to Paul's ‘boasting’ in 2 Corinthians 10–12 has focussed on the question of literary form.
Die Anfänge der Johanneischen Schule
Authors: Strecker Georg
Published: February 2009

Im Neuen Testament findet sich eine Reihe von Schriften, die man als die johanneischen zu bezeichnen pflegt. Dabei ist nicht so sehr die ‘Offenbarung des Johannes’ gemeint, die als einzige dieser Werke sich ausdrücklich auf einen Verfasser mit Namen ‘Johannes’ bezieht, vielmehr das Johannesevangelium und die drei Johannesbriefe. Die Bedeutung dieser Literatur für das Verständnis der urchristlichen Theologiegeschichte ist kaum zu überschätzen. Im folgenden soll der Versuch unternommen werden, die Frage nach ihrer Entstehung und Geschichte in der Form eines Überblicks zu beantworten. Der an dieser Stelle zu begründenden Auffassung kommt selbstverständlich nur die größere oder geringere Wahrscheinlichkeit zu, wie sie allgemein für historisch-kritische Urteile festzustellen ist. Doch wird sich zeigen, daß auch der verbreitete Konsens, der heute für die Forschung zur johanneischen Frage charakteristisch ist, sich im Bereich von Hypothesen bewegt.
Justification by Grace–to the Doers: an Analysis of the Place of Romans 2 in the Theology of Paul
Authors: Snodgrass Klyne R.
Published: February 2009

Not surprisingly, the thought of the Apostle Paul is being given fresh consideration in our time.1Old problems, particularly the relation of Paul to Judaism and his view of the law, continue to vex New Testament studies. A subject which deserves more attention in this reconsideration of Paul is his belief that judgment is according to works. Those who take such statements seriously end up with a quite different picture of Paul from those who soft-pedal the issue. For example, Karl Donfried asserts that it is the obedient Christian who remains in Christ who will be saved on the last day, and that Paul expects a final judgment for Christians which can result in salvation or in wrath.2Even though such language sounds like ‘heresy’ to ears accustomed to the usual explanations of Paul, Donfried's argument must be given serious attention for it attempts to treat seriously statements in Paul that are too frequently neglected.
Toward the Renewal of New Testament Christology
Authors: Keck Leander E.
Published: February 2009

The study of NT Christology will be renewed if it recovers its proper subject-matter - christology - and its proper scope, the New Testament.

The scholarly literature shows that what is called NT christology is, by and large, really the history of christological materials and motifs in early Christianity, and their ancestry. This massive preoccupation with history has, to be sure, produced impressive results. In fact, today it is difficult to imagine a study of NT christology which is not influenced by this historical analysis of early Christian conceptions of Christ and their antecedents. Nevertheless, the time is at hand to take up again what was set aside - an explicitly theological approach to NT christology, one which will be in-formed by the history of ideas but which will deliberately pursue christology as a theological discipline. It is doubtful whether the study of NT christology can be renewed in any other way. This essay intends to illumine and substantiate this claim by considering briefly the nature of christology, then by reviewing the turn to history and its consequences for the study of NT christology, and finally by sketching elements of an alternative.
Zur Entstehung der Evangelien
Authors: Pokorný Petr
Published: February 2009

Die Untersuchungen über die Entstehung der Evangelien müssen vor allem das Markusevangelium beachten, weil es nach der Zweiquellentheorie die bedeutendste Vorlage der beiden übrigen Synoptiker ist und weil die ganze Gruppe der urchristlichen Schriften, die man heute Evangelien nennt, durch das Markusevangelium beeinflußt ist. Das Markusevangelium wird in den Beiden Dimensionen untersucht, durch die die einzelnen literarischen Texte mit den breiteren Bezugssystemen verbunden sind: entstehungsgeschichtlich (syntagmatisch) und in der paradigmatischen Dimension, d.h. in den Assoziationen, die seine Lektüre erweckt und in den Ähnlichkeiten und Unterschieden seiner Struktur im Vergleich mit anderen Texten. Daß man auf solche komplexe Weise vorgehen muß, ist zum Konsensus geworden. In der Methode und in den konkreten Ergebnissen gibt es jedoch viele offene Fragen und Widersprüche. Von den früheren Beiträgen ausgehend3möchte ich jetzt einige Konsequenzen für die Methode ziehen und neue Beobachtungen hinzufügen, die m.E. für die Auslegung der Evangelien und für das Verständnis ihrer Funktion von Bedeutung sind.
John and the Synoptics: the Empty Tomb Stories
Authors: Neirynck Frans
Published: February 2009

Fifteen years ago, at the meeting in Gwatt, Switzerland (1967), when I read my first paper before the Society, I gave it the title: ‘Les femmes au tombeau. Etude de la rédaction matthéenne’. It was a redactional study of Mt. 28. 1–10, with a special concentration on the verses 9–10, the appearance of Jesus to the women, and its parallel in Jn. 20. 17. My paper today could be entitled: Fifteen years later. Many things have changed in the course of these years. An important exegetical contribution has been devoted to the empty tomb stories in the gospels and, more significantly, the scholarly discussion on ‘John and the Synoptics’ has been brought to the foreground. To mention only the Journal of our Society: July 1980, ‘John and the Synoptics: Some Dimensions of the Problem’, by D. M. Smith; April 1981, ‘John and the Synoptic Gospels: A Test Case’, by B. Lindars.
Un Peuple d'entre les Nations (Actes 15.14)
Authors: Dupont Jacques
Published: February 2009

Le premier paper que j'ai eu l'honneur de présenter à notre Société remonte au meeting de Norwich (1959), il y a vingt-cinq ans. J'y avais cherché à mettre en lumière l'unité de l'ouvrage de Luc, évangile et Actes, en m'appuyant sur les grandes articulations du récit et en y découvrant la même manière d'envisager l'accession des Gentils au salut.1 Mais cet intérêt porté par Luc à la signification théologique de l'appel des Gentils constitue l'autre face d'un problème plus fondamental encore, celui que soulève le rapport entre le peuple d'Israël et l'Eglise chrétienne.2 Ce problème a plus particulièrement retenu mon attention dans l'exposé que j'ai fait, il y a sept ans, au Colloquium Biblicum de Louvain sur les Actes (1977), en prenant comme point de départ la conclusion de ce livre.3 Ici encore, il s'agissait essentiellement de sondages opérés aux articulations majeures de l'ouvrage.
Spirit and Community in the Johannine Apocalypse
Authors: Jeske Richard L.
Published: February 2009

In the history of interpretation of Rev the expressionέν πνεύματι, as used in 1. 10; 4. 2; 17. 3; and 21. 10, has been accepted so categorically as a signal of a unique state of personal visionary consciousness that other alternative meanings have been left relatively unexplored. The purpose of this paper is to inquire whether this expression is meant to describe an actual condition of ecstasy experienced by the author either previous to or during his writing activity, or whetherέν πνεύματιshould be seen as a different kind of component within the complex of symbolism shared by the author and his original readers.
Lukan Eschatology
Authors: Wilson S. G.
Published: February 2009

Since the advent of Hans Conzelmann's book The Theology of St Luke it has become a byword of New Testament studies that Luke is a man with a theological axe to grind. He is pictured as one who has systematically manipulated and recast his sources down to the smallest detail, in order to squeeze them into his over-all theological framework. Before this, Luke was thought of as a sort of homely old Hellenist; doctor, author, friend of Paul, he was seen as a man of wide sympathies but of no great theological depth—hence the traditional reference to his interest in women, Gentiles and the poor and outcast.
ΚΟΡΒΝ, Ο ΕΣΤΙΝ ΔωΡΟΝ
Authors: Duncan J. , Derrett M.
Published: February 2009

It is said that Jesus’ comments (Matt. xv. 4_6, Mark vii. 9_13) are unfair, or incompetently reported.2It is desirable to clarify the practice and the law to which he referred.
An Examination of the Text and Apparatus of Three Recent Greek Synopses
Authors: Elliott J. K.
Published: February 2009

Serious study of the synoptic problem can be undertaken only with the aid of a Greek synopsis. At the present time three such synopses are readily available: Aland's Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum now in its 12th edition, the 13th edition of Huck extensively revised by H. Greeven and the recently published text by B. Orchard. In this article these synopses are referred to as follows: Aland as Syn when all 12 editions are intended, otherwise as SynA=1–8 or SynB=9–12 to differentiate between the two major editions of the text, the earlier of which has a text comparable with the twenty-fifth edition of Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece (= N–A25) and the later a text comparable with N-A26; Greeven's revision as H-G; and Orchard's text as Orchard.
Die Heilung des Kranken vom Bethesdateich aus Joh 5.1–18 in frühchristlicher Sicht
Authors: Mees Michael
Published: February 2009

Der synoptischen Heilungsgeschichten, etwa Mk 2. 1–12, nicht unähnliche und doch auch wieder verschiedene Wunderbericht aus Joh 5. 1–18 wurde vom Evangelisten aus der Tradition übernommen und seinem Werke ein-gegliedert, also dessen Absichten dienstbar gemacht und daher mit neuem Inhalt gefüllt, also aktualisiert. Dabei mag die heutige Gestalt der Erzählung durch verschiedene Rezensionen des Evangelientextes bedingt sein oder auch schon in der vorausgehenden Tradition erfolgt sein, was verschiedene durchschimmernde Tendenzen nahe legen könnten. Auf alle Fälle ist der Heilungsbericht des Kranken vom Bethesdateich im heutigen Zusammenhang Teil eines grösseren Abschnittes und als solcher das grosse Zeichen, gewirkt am Sabbat, das zur Anerkennung des wahren Geheimnisses der Person Jesu und daher zu einem tiefen Glauben führen soll, aber den Widerspruch der Juden herausfordert. Die Erzählung hat also ihren Selbstzweck verloren.
Sur un Silence du Nouveau Testament: l'Esprit de Dieu a l'Oeuvre dans le Cosmos et l'Humanite.
Authors: Chevallier Max-Alain
Published: February 2009

‘L'Esprit du Seigneur a rempli l'Univers et lui qui maintient tout dans l'unité, il connaît toute parole.’ Tel est l'introït de la fête de la Pentecôte dans la liturgie de l'Eglise catholique latine; c'est une citation du livre de la Sagesse (1. 7). La thèse d'une omniprésence de l'Esprit saint s'est trouvée, au cours des siècles, développée dans différentes directions. Sensible à la question de la vérité, le Moyen-Age aimait commenter une maxime datant du 4e siècle: ‘Toute vérité, quel que soit celui qui la dise, vient du Saint-Esprit.’ Préoccupé de la sécularisation contemporaine, le Concile Vatican II disait: ‘L'homme, sans cesse sollicité par l'Esprit de Dieu, ne sera jamais tout à fait indifférent au problème religieux.’ Et, soucieux comme toute notre génération de la justice dans la société, il affirmait: ‘L'Esprit de Dieu qui, par une providence admirable, conduit le cours des temps et rénove la face de la terre, est présent à [l'] évolution [des mentalités dans le sens du progrès social].’
Paul's Conversion and the Development of his View of the Law
Authors: Räisänen Heikki
Published: February 2009

There is not the slightest doubt about the immense significance of Paul's Damascus experience. It changed Paul's life and turned a persecutor into a missionary. Jesus Christ became and remained the centre of Paul's existence.

It is another question, however, to what extent Paul's theology was conceived soon after the call experience.1 Was Paul's peculiar view of the law as found in Galatians or in Romans an immediate consequence of his Christophany? That is at least a very common view.2 Paul's call experience resulted, it is held, in his making immediately a sharp contrast between ‘works of righteousness’ and ‘righteousness by faith’. In his Damascus experience Paul perceived that Christ was the end of the law and God's judgment ‘upon all human accomplishment and boasting’3. It is also commonly held that that experience made Paul regard the law as a ‘spur to sin’, from which the death and resurrection of Christ had liberated the believers.
The Social Contexts of Jesus the Teacher: Construction or Reconstruction
Authors: Downing F. Gerald
Published: February 2009

The importance of an awareness of the wider social context of any movement or individual is widely acknowledged, and does not need arguing. It constitutes a necessary criterion of the adequacy of any historical account. Yet there does not seem to have been any significant development in our critical appraisal of it among other criteria, and we still fail to produce agreed results. As a check on how things stand with other historians we may take, as a typical current survey, C. Behan McCullagh,Justifying Historical Descriptions. McCullagh makes a distinction that I have myself made before, but he makes it rather more elegantly. It lies in a contrast between the explanatory ‘scope’ and the ‘power’ of an historical account. An historical reconstruction may have a very wide scope, appearing to include all the data that is conventionally allowed to be relevant, and thus seem very persuasive. But the question remains to be asked, what power has it to exclude competing explanations?
Adolf Schlatter's Interpretation of Scripture
Authors: Stuhlmacher Peter
Published: February 2009

Four years ago Paul Ricoeur gave a lecture here in Tübingen on ‘Philosophische und theologische Hermeneutik’,and advised us theologians in particular to give thought to our current practice and teaching in regard to the understanding of the biblical text. A real understanding of texts means, according to Ricoeur ‘to understand oneself in the light of the text. It does not mean imposing upon the text one's own limited capacity for comprehension, but exposing oneself to the text…It is not the (understanding) subject who forms…understanding, but … the self is formed by the “subject matter” of the text’ If we follow Ricoeur and attempt to practise such a form of understanding of the biblical text, then in the present-day situation of theology and church we fall all too quickly into a dilemma. The splendid tradition of modern biblical criticism, founded in Tübingen above all by F. C. Baur, seems to conflict with Ricoeur's proposal. How are we, trained and dedicated as we are to the historical and critical investigation and analysis of the biblical texts, to return again to that readiness and capacity for exposing ourselves to the texts and understanding ourselves anew in the light of them, i.e. before the tribunal of the Bible? Would that not mean precisely to abandon the scientific ethos to which we have so long considered ourselves bound? It is a searching question and, as we well know, a source of distress to many. This distress is intensified when today we hear not a few Christians pronounce a decisive ‘No!’ to all scientific biblical criticism. For them ‘understanding oneself in the light of the text’ of the Bible is only possible when all the historical insights we possess in regard to the Bible have first been rejected. A study document of the Lutheran Missouri Synod affirms: ‘We reject the doctrine, which under the name of science has gained wide popularity in the church of our day, that Holy Scripture is not in all its parts the Word of God, but in part the word of man and hence does, or at least might, contain error. We reject this erroneous doctrine as horrible and blasphemous, since it flatly contradicts Christ and His holy apostles, sets up men as judges over the Word of God, and thus overthrows the foundation of the Christian church and its faith.’
The Line of Thought in Gal. 2. 14b–21
Authors: Lambrecht Jan
Published: February 2009

Twenty-five years have now passed since R. Bultmann published his brief but stimulating study ‘Zur Auslegung von Galater 2, 15–18’ in the Ernst WolfFestschrift.According to Bultmannv.17abis neither a rhetorical question nor an objection deriving from Paul's opponents; rather, it is an absurdity formulated by Paul himself and designed to function ‘in seiner gegen den Standpunkt des Petrus gerichteten Argumentation’. This absurdity would then be rejected by means of the μή γένοıτο ofv. 17c. In Bultmann's opinionv.17abis a conditional period contrary to fact; the illative particle άρα is to be preferred to the interrogative άρα. The expression χρıστς άμαρτιαςδıάκονος may be paraphrased as follows: Christ is a minister ‘derer, die (immer noch, wie bisher) in ihren Sünden stecken; er hat sie nicht von der Sünde befreit’. It is to such an absurd conclusion, affirms Paul, that the opponents' goal of re-establishing the abrogated Law must lead. These and further aspects of Bultmann's article have been dealt with – critically in some instances – by several authors and so there is no need for us to discuss them again here.
Realized Eschatology at Corinth
Authors: Thiselton Anthony C.
Published: February 2009

C. K. Barrett, F. F. Bruce and E. Käsemann very briefly state, almost in passing, that difficulties at Corinth arose from an over-realized eschatology. In C. K. Barrett's words, the Corinthians were behaving ‘as if the age to come were already consummated…For them there is no “not yet” to qualify the “already” of realized eschatology.’ This claim, however, needs to be argued more closely, and objections to it considered, since it remains a matter of controversy. The most recent attack on this diagnosis of the situation at Corinth comes from E. Earle Ellis. He argues, firstly, that the error in I Cor. xv ‘offers doubtful support for an eschatological interpretation of I Cor. 4. 8’, and secondly, that it is unlikely that Paul would criticize the Corinthians ‘merely for appropriating an eschatological perspective that he himself has taught’.
Was Canonical Luke written in the Second Century?—A Continuing Discussion
Authors: Wilshire Leland Edward
Published: February 2009

The American scholar John Knox is noted for his defence of the thesis that the canonical gospel of Luke reached its final form after it had passed through the hands of the heretic Marcion in the second century. This thesis, hinted at by the scholar Semler in the eighteenth century and argued by F. C. Baur in the nineteenth century, was again stated by John Knox in an article in 1939 and in a book, Marcion and the New Testament, in 1942..
Das Gleichnis von den ‘ungleichen Söhnen’ (Matth. xxi. 28—32)
Authors: Merkel Helmut
Published: February 2009

Das kleine Gleichnis von den ungleichen Söhnen in Matth. xxi. 28–32 hat in der Forschung hauptsächlich wegen seiner verwickelten Textüberlieferung Beachtung gefunden. Es reizte bedeutende Außenseiter wie J. Wellhausen, A. Merx und E. Hirsch zu Rehabilitationsversuchen der ‘westlichen’ Überlieferung, ohne daß deren stark psychologisierende Überlegungen, wie sie ähnlich schon Hieronymus angestellt hatte, überzeugen konnten. Auch der neueste Rekonstruktionsversuch von J. R. Michaels, der auf die Kombination sekundärer Lesarten hinausläuft, widerspricht allen Regeln textkritischer Vernunft. Unsicher bleibt, ob man mit AlandsSynopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum(1967) den Jasager oder mit dem Greek New Testament den Neinsager voranstellen soll; für den Sinn ist dies unerheblich. Über die Herkunft der Parabel machte man sich meist keine Gedanken; die Bezeichnung ‘Sondergut’ schien zu genügen. Auf die Logienquelle wollten A. Plummer, A. Loisy, C. G. Montefiore und – sehr zurückhaltend – E. Hirsch unser Gleichnis zurückführen, während E. Lohmeyer seine heute vergessene Pais-Quelle als Fundort anbot.
On the Evidence for the Creative Role of Christian Prophets
Authors: Hill David
Published: February 2009

It has become almost a commonplace in New Testament scholarship to attribute to Christian prophets in the early Church a creative role in respect of sayings which the Gospel tradition presents as dominical utterances. The authority, among modern scholars, for this view is to be found in the formcritical analyses and conclusions of Rudolf Bultmann. Christian tradition, he affirms, took over certian Jewish materials and put them on the lips of Jesus (e.g. the Marcan Apocalypse): the Christian community also revised or reworked elements from older traditions (e.g. the interpretation of the Sign of Jonah in connection with the person of Jesus, Matt. xii. 40) and even formed logia which reflect its own interests and concerns. Such logia are ‘inauthentic’ (in the sense that they are not genuine dominical sayings) and, according to Bultmann, they may originally have gained currency as utterances of the Spirit in the Church, without their ascription to Jesus being initially intended. Sayings like Rev. xvi. 5 (in which the risen Christ speaks) and Rev. iii. 20 show clearly the process of the creation (or, reformulation) of such logia (den Prozeβ der Neubildung solcher Herrenworte). These sayings would only gradually (erst allmählich) have been regarded as prophetic words of the historical Jesus. ‘The Church drew no distinction between such utterances by Christian prophets and the sayings of Jesus in the tradition, for the reason that even the dominical sayings in the tradition were not the pronouncements of a past authority, but sayings of the risen Lord who is always a contemporary for the Church.’