Sean the Baptist

Two Queries: SBL Handbook of Style

 

The SBL Style Handbook was published in 2000.  I like many others use it as the basis for my writing.  But I have two queries, that others might be able to help me with.

1.  Given that journals / monograph series have come, gone or been altered between then and now, does anyone know if there are plans for the issuing of an updated abbreviations list? In the old days this used to happen every few years in the pages of JBL, via a new set of 'Instructions for Contributors'.  In other words, is there somewhere that tells me that the accepted abbreviation for the Library of New Testament Studies is LNTS, in the same way that the handbook tells me that JSNTSup was the accepted abbreviation for its predecessor?

2.  Is there an output style for the SBL Style Handbook that will work with EndNote?  I used to have one, but it does not seem to work.

Any help that you NT people out there could give me would be appreciated.

Bonhoeffer: Beyond the two realms

I spent some time last night looking again at the opening sections of Bonhoeffer's Ethics.  What struck me with renewed force was the clarity of his attempt to re-conceptualize the dominant paradigm of Christian ethical reflection, which is rooted (so he claims) in a fundamental distinction between the reality of God and the reality of the world and which thereby creates the all too common dualisms of sacred/profane; church/world; grace/nature. Here is the passage that took hold as I thought about the ubiquity of such two realms thinking within churches:

As long as Christ and the world are conceived as two realms, bumping against and repelling each other, we are left with only the following options.  Giving up on reality as a whole,  either we place ourselves in one of the two realms, wanting Christ without the world or the world without Christ ... Or we try to stand in the two realms at the same time, thereby becoming people in eternal conflict, shaped by the post-Reformation era, who ever and again present ourselves as the only form of Christian existence that is in accord with reality....

There are not two realities, but only one reality, and that is God's reality revealed in Christ in the reality of the world.  Partaking in Christ, we stand at the same time in the reality of God and in the reality of the world.  The reality of Christ embraces the reality of the world in itself. ... There are not two competing realms standing side by side and battling over the borderline, as if the question of boundaries was always to be the decisive one.  Rather the whole reality of the world has already been drawn into and is held together in Christ.  History moves only from this center and towards this center.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Ethics (DBWE 6; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005), 57-58.

The hermeneutical implications of this understanding of the one reality of God-in-Christ, which is not set against the reality of the world, but which constitutes the world's true reality, are multiple.  When giving the Whitley Lecture last year, and insisting that we take seriously the human work of interpretation, the most common objection was that I left no room for the work of the Holy Spirit, as if in so doing we could bypass the interpretive act.  This kind of thinking betrays traces of the two realms understanding that Bonhoeffer seeks to challenge, and it inevitably leads, as I noted in a previous post about debates within the Anglican communion, to what Bonhoeffer calls here a 'battle over boundaries' (your reading is the result of you imposing your own context onto the text and is therefore 'worldly', whereas my reading is the result of Spirit-led insight, and is therefore truly of God).

Odds and Pieces

Just a few things that others may be interested in, although I doubt if any reader of this blog would be interested in all 3.

Paul and Contemporary Philosophy: Geoff Holsclaw has a summary of his impressions of the Saint Paul's Journeys into Philosophy conference that was held in back in June.  Ben asks if any others who attended have some insights to share, and draws attention to a forthcoming book which seems to engage with related themes.

Learning New Testament Greek:  there have long been text based resources for learning NT Greek available online.  However, as pdfs give way to ITunes and streaming video, the chances of someone learning the basics without ever entering a real classroom with a real teacher improve significantly.  The latest I have come across is the site run by Theodore Hildebrandt here but there is also the excellent new development within ITunes whereby James Voelz's Concordia lectures based on his introductory but comprehensive Grammar can be found.  The days of John Wenham are definitely over.  For more advanced students and scholars there is a helpful collection of online reference works relating to NT Greek on Hildebrandt's site, although the fonts may be problematic and so I will not be getting rid of my 1527 page copy of A. T Robertson's Grammar (good Baptist as he was) just yet.

Bonhoeffer Blog Conference: this has been announced by Halden and will run in November of this year.  The focus is on the Ethics in relation to contemporary theology and proposals for contributions are invited.  I am thinking about whether to do something on the use of the Bible in the Ethics not least as a way of publicizing the contribution of Stephen Plant's excellent, but unpublished Cambridge PhD on this subject.  I will have another look through my copy of DBWE Vol 6 over the next few months and see.

GAFCON: The Key Hermeneutical Point

It would be inappropriate, to say the least, for a Baptist to stand in too hasty judgment over those who have decided to renegotiate their relationship with the Anglican Communion (and Baptists that are inclined to disapprove have a consequent responsibility to 'consider their own position' in relation to such issues.)

However, in reading the 'Jerusalem Declaration' that has emerged from GAFCON which can be read in full here the following sentence struck me as lying close to the heart of the hermeneutical issues involved:

We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God written and to contain all things necessary for salvation. The Bible is to be translated, read, preached, taught and obeyed in its plain and canonical sense, respectful of the church’s historic and consensual reading.

Note the omission of the word 'interpreted'.  By failing to mention this level of mediated engagement with the scriptural witness, those who support the concerns of GAFCON are able to (a) imply that anyone who disagrees with their conclusions is reading their own agenda into the text, while they are simply teaching and obeying the plain and canonical sense and (b) identify that plain, canonical sense with the (i) church's historic and consensual reading and further (ii) their own own interpretive conclusions.

As I continue to argue, unless we take the inevitability and responsibility of the human work of interpretation seriously when thinking about Scripture, we will never progress beyond the kind of oppositional and conflictual discourse that characterizes the GAFCON statement (and, as noted above, much of my own Baptist heritage).

Thank God for Poetry

I went to funeral this morning at my church.  We sang "All Things Bright and Beautiful".  And then I came back and came across this poem by Christian Wiman, brought to my attention by David over at Fire and the Rose (that's two I owe him for poetry recommendations).  See the full post here. For me, this poem is a useful antidote to the sentimentality that often accompanies Christian reflection on the natural world (I mean, 'purple headed mountains'?).

Every Riven Thing

God goes, belonging to every riven thing He’s made
Sing his being simply by being
The thing it is:
Stone and tree and sky,
Man who sees and sings and wonders why

God goes. Belonging, to every riven thing He’s made,
Means a storm of peace.
Think of the atoms inside the stone.
Think of the man who sits alone
Trying to will himself into the stillness where

God goes belonging. To every riven thing He’s made
There is given one shade
Shaped exactly to the thing itself:
Under the tree a darker tree;
Under the man the only man to see

God goes belonging to every riven thing. He’s made
The things that bring Him near,
Made the mind that makes Him go.
A part of what man knows,
Apart from what man knows,

God goes belonging to every riven thing He’s made.

You Have to Laugh

The most delicious of ironies.  Conservative Anglicans who, eschewing the delights (and the rampant liberalism) of the Lambeth Conference, are convening in Jerusalem instead, have managed to planned the GAFCON to coincide with the 7th Jerusalem Pride march.  HT: Ruth Gledhill.

Baptist Quarterly: July 2008

Its good to see that Andy has posted details of the recent issue of the Baptist Quarterly at Baptist History and Thought and on his own blog (with abstracts)

Especially poignant is the inclusion of a history of Ghanaian Baptists by Frank Adams who died in December 2006.

Emergency Repairs

Thanks to Catriona for pointing out (on behalf of others it seems; you mean you couldn't email me yourselves!!) that after recent design changes my blog seems to crash Internet Explorer.  To the weak I say GET FIREFOX.  But as one of the strong, who abides by biblical principles to consider the needs of my weaker sisters and brothers, I have removed the "Share This" widget, which I thought was really quite funky, but which, so TypePad tell me, seems to be the root cause of the problem.  Let me know via comments if all seems well, or otherwise please.

Here and There

Last week's joint Manchester-Lausanne conference was good, and my paper seemed to go OK, although inevitably I was less happy with it after delivery (the usual - oh, they were just being nice, kind of thoughts).  I seem to be making a habit of speaking directly after internationally renowned NT scholars; Francis Watson last year and this time Daniel Marguerat (who is currently President of SNTS), and no doubt suffering by comparison.

Here are a few things I have noted over the past few days that I found of interest:

Mike Bird's review of a new biography of George Eldon Ladd: definitely to be placed under the category of "Blimey!....I never knew that"

An interview with the newly anointed Sir Mark Elder, on all things Wagnerian (and Straussian, Elgarian etc.) and life with the Halle.

The 2nd Annual Karl Barth Blog Conference has begun: exploring Jüngel's treatment of Barth in God's Being is in Becoming (the only Jüngel book I have ever managed to read, don't even ask how far I got through God as the Mystery of the World.

I have been dipping into Charles Taylor's impressive The Secular Age recently, so was interested to hear that he co-chaired a commission investigating  Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences  for the Province of Quebec (which, incidentally commissioned Lyotard's famous report on knowledge The Postmodern Condition, 30 years ago - philosophers writing government reports...perhaps it needs to be in Francophone Canada to work.).  There is an abridged pdf version of the report (In English), available for download.  (HT, Jamie Smith)

Finally, this book looks interesting, on the role of the priesthood in contemporary England, with some top notch contributors including Sara Coakley, Sam Wells (though quite how he is praying for England meaningfully all the way from North Carolina is a matter for speculation), Rowan Williams and Andrew Shanks.

J. K. Rowling on Failure and Imagination

I have never read a word of a Harry Potter book, but I confess that I found J. K. Rowling's Commencement Address at Harvard to be rather impressive: funny, insightful and moving.  Check out the text and a video here.  (HT Geoff Pound).

Acadia Divinity College: Videos of N T Wright; James Dunn etc.

There are increasing amounts of good online video resources relating to New Testament studies.  The Hayward Lectures at Acadia Divinity College are an excellent example (HT Phil Sumpter).  The lectures available are:

2003: James Dunn on Oral Tradition in Early Christianity
2004: various (including John Collins, Craig Evans, Martin Abegg) on the Dead Sean Scrolls
2004: John Stackhouse on Feminism
2005: Roger Olson on Post-conservative theology
2006: various on Bible Origins (Emmanuel Tov; James Charlesworth; Stan Porter etc.)
2006: N. T. Wright on Bible and Postmodernism
2007: Chris Seitz on Theological Interpretation

Archaeology and Ideology

Mike Bird picks up on reports from Jordan (although he re-points the word) that a church dating from the period 33-70 A.D. (most likely from the 1st Jewish War) has been discovered in Jordan.  The BBC report is here (and seems to include the astonishing claim that they all lived underground in secret until Constantine!). This comes hot on the tail of news that the Baptist World Alliance has been given permission (along with virtually every other denomination) to build on the site that the Jordanians claim is the real location of Jesus' baptism (the Baptist Times ran it this week with clear statements by David Coffey (President of the BWA) and others to the effect that the site is actually the very place where the Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist.

Well aside from all the obvious questions to be asked about both cases (like...errr....how do they actually know?) or issues that really require further study before any firm conclusions can be drawn (e.g. the ambivalence and ambiguity of the biblical evidence for the baptism site; or the sheer unlikelihood of there being a dedicated church building established at such an early date) we do well to remember a basic point.  Archaeological claims, especially those that (a) establish a claim that this piece of land is where sacred events really happened (and not over there - up or across the river) and (b) are likely to generate significant tourist income, are inextricably bound up with the competing ideologies and politics of the Middle East.  The evidence might indeed suggest, after careful scrutiny, the possible legitimacy of both sites, but my own view is that on the whole, in these issues, a hermeneutic of suspicion is often a necessary tool.

Colloquium on Singing the Ethos of God

Brian Brock's book on ethics and biblical interpretation caused quite a stir when it came out (see Andy's review here).  It will now be the focus of a two day Colloquium organized by the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics on 3-4 September at Tyndale House in Cambridge.  Details can be found here (HT: Douglas Knight).

Paper on John and Torah

This Thursday and Friday sees a meeting of the 2008 Manchester-Lausanne seminar, a biennial get together of members of the Centre for Biblical Studies in Manchester and Institut Romans Des Sciences Bibliques Université de Lausanne.  The theme of the seminar is "Torah in the New Testament" and there will be 17 short papers, including contributions from staff and research students at the University of Sheffield, Geneva and Beersheva.

I am looking forward especially to the following:

Gillian Heald (Sheffield)
        “Works and Faith in Matthew’s Parable of the Sower”

James Crossley (Sheffield)
        “Mark 7:1-23: Revisiting the Question of ‘All Foods Clean’”

Barry Matlock (Sheffield)
        “Helping Paul’s Argument Work? The Curse of Galatians 3.10-14”

Peter Oakes (Manchester)
        “Law and Theology in Galatians”

Daniel Marguerat (Lausanne)   
        “Paul et la Torah selon les Actes des apôtres”

My own paper is on John's Rhetorical Portrayal of the Jewish Law and I have uploaded it so that you can download it here (if you so wish).

Gadamer's Truth and Method for Download

Amazing, but true.  The link is here. (H/T Continental Philosophy)

Paper Proposal: BHS Centenary Conference, Prague, July 2008

I think I forgot to post details of the paper proposal that has been accepted for the Baptist Historical Society Centenary Conference in Prague, 16-19 July 2008.  Here it is:

'All Authority Has Been Given…': Renewing our Vision of the Great Commission

Matthew 28.16-20 has long been a crucial text for Baptists.  Its 'rediscovery' was one of the decisive factors in the rise of the Baptist missionary movement in the late 18th century.  In more recent times, however, that movement, and the text that provides its biblical warrant, have been subjected to sustained critique by those who see within them the divine legitimation of colonial expansion and exploitation.

My paper will survey the use of Matthew 28.16-20 in early Baptist writing, provide an overview of recent criticism from a postcolonial perspective, and offer some exegetical suggestions as to how we might 'renew our vision' of its central, missiological concerns.  I argue that a new vision of Baptist missionary activity must recognise that the command to go and disciple παντα τα ε͗θνη should not be detached from the claim to universal authority (πασα ε͗ξουσια) that the risen Jesus makes.  But such authority is the fulfilment of that which is present in the earthly ministry and future parousi/a of the Son of man.  This christological connection serves to relativize any imperial claims made by Jesus’ followers and remind them that their mission must be characterised by the suffering servanthood of the risen Lord whom they now worship.

Brandon is Back to Blogging

The good news is that Brandon Wason has decided to start blogging again, this time over at a new blog "Sitz im Leben", dealing with Biblical Studies, Early Christianity and Interpretation.  Welcome back Brandon.

Proposal for BNTC: Barth and Interpretive Pluralism

I have just heard from the Chairs of the Hermeneutics Seminar of the British New Testament Society that my paper proposal for this September's conference has been accepted.  It read as follows:

Interpretive Pluralism in Theological Perspective: The Contribution of Karl Barth

The literature that is generally gathered under the heading of philosophical hermeneutics continues to have significant influence on contemporary (hermeneutically informed) biblical scholarship.  However, in recent years a number of scholars from both the biblical and systematic fields have argued that the insights of philosophical hermeneutics must ultimately be judged by appropriately dogmatic criteria.  Thus, while those who draw on the resource of philosophical hermeneutics often affirm and even celebrate the fact of interpretive pluralism, those who insist on locating interpretation within a theological framework are often suspicious of such pluralism in the light of the prior theological conviction that in the Bible, Deus dixit.

The theology of Karl Barth is central to this debate.  In this paper I argue that while it is correct, theologically, to locate our understanding of interpretation within the wider dogmatic context of God's communicative action, the notion that this rules out ideas such as multiple meaning or valid interpretive pluralism is mistaken.  I suggest that a reading of Barth's discussion of interpretive work in Church Dogmatics I/2 provides a way of understanding how the Word of God that the words of Scripture mediate, in so far as it is both revelation and hiddenness, divine and human, invites interpretation that is therefore marked by provisionality and plurality.  This condition is entirely appropriate to the creaturely state of the interpreter.  The reality of interpretive diversity, when seen within the perspective of a theology of covenant relations, is less a situation to be overcome and more the very condition for hearing the Word of God today.

PhD Topics in Baptist History?

If anyone feels like they might want to do a PhD in 18th Century Baptist History, Michael Haykin has a list of 12 possible topics here.  I am not offering to supervise any of them, except maybe the one on "Exegesis of the Gospels in 18th Century Baptist authors".

Baptist on the Back Row

This picture via Rowan Williams' excellent website.  Spot the Baptist (and the Bishop of Durham)