Sean the Baptist (in the UCA)

SNTS in Perth: 23–27 July 2013

The Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas is holding its annual meeting this year in Perth, Western Australia. I had been planning to go anyway (as a guest of a colleague; I am not a member of SNTS), but received an email last week inviting me to give a paper, which suggests that perhaps not too many people are making the journey down from Europe or the USA. It will be interesting to participate in an SNTS conference for the first time, and it seems that Australian NT scholars are well represented on the programme.

My paper will be in the following seminar: Reconsidering Literarkritik of the Pauline Letters and its Impact on their Interpretation Conveners: Prof E-M. Becker and Prof. R. Bieringer. I know Professor Bieringer from working with the SBL Second Corinthians seminar over the past few years. The paper is really an excuse to stop sitting on the fence on the questions of the (dis)unity of 2 Corinthians. The title is below.

Wed: Geoffrey Dunn (Brisband): "The Letter 'Credebamus post' from Boniface I or Leo I?"

Thu: Ma. Marilou Ibita (Leuven/Manila): “The Unity of Paul’s Narrative World in 2 Corinthians 1-7: N. Petersen's Narrative-Critical Approach and the Coherence of 2 Corinthians”

Fri: Sean Winter (Melbourne): “Re-framing the Unity Debate: The Rhetorical Situation of Canonical 2 Corinthians”

It would be good to hear who else is coming to Perth from the other side of the world: both British and American colleagues and friends. Perth is a good city in which to spend a few days. If anyone fancied sticking a few extra days onto the end of the conference and heading down to Margaret River to taste some wine, then I would be pleased to hear from you!

Because of SNTS, a number of NT scholars will be passing through Melbourne in the weeks before and after. Harry Attridge of Yale is already here, working in the Dalton McCaughey Library. News of other NT events, seminars and conferences in July/August as they are confirmed.

Forthcoming Volume on Grace

The manuscript went off to the publisher last week. So I am delighted to suggest that you keep your eyes peeled for "Immense, Unfathomed, Unconfined": The Grace of God in Creation, Church and Community (Melbourne: Mosaic Press, 2013). The volume is a collection of essays exploring different aspects of the theme of grace in biblica, theological and Methodist traditions, all in honour of Professor Emeritus Norman Young. The papers were initially given at a Conference for Norman held here in November 2010. I have been the Editor, and have an essay on 2 Corinthians 8–9 in the volume.  The full table of contents is as follows:

Table of Contents

Introduction

Notes on Contributors

The Biblical Witness to the Grace of God

Chapter 1        Suzanne Boorer

‘Is the Priestly Creation Theology Relevant for the Church Today?: An Exercise in Old Testament Hermeneutics’

Chapter 2        Randall Prior, Principal, Uniting Church Theological College Melbourne

‘The grace of God and a new humanity: the gospel of Luke and the redefinition / recovery of pastoral ministry’

Chapter 3        Sean Winter, Professor of New Testament, Uniting Church Theological College, Melbourne

‘Paul’s “Grace” Language in 2 Corinthians’

Chapter 4        Neil Richardson

‘St Paul and a New Ecumenism’

Theological Perspectives on the Grace of God

Chapter 5        Gerald O’Collins SJ, Honorary Research Fellow, Melbourne College of Divinity

‘Easter Grace

Chapter 6        Chris Mostert, Professor of Systematic Theology, Uniting Church Theological College, Melbourne and Janette Gray, Jesuit Theological College Melbourne

‘Grace in Two Theological Traditions’

Chapter 7        Geoff Thompson

Not Quite Unconfined? Rahner and Barth Halt at apokatastasis

Chapter 8        Wes Campbell, Uniting Church Chaplain, University of Melbourne

‘The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ and the Preamble, paragraph 3’, 

Chapter 9        Clive Ayre

‘Divine Grace and Creation Care’

Chapter 10      Clifford Hospital, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion, Queen’s Theological College, Kingston Ontario

‘The idea of the Lord's grace in the Shrivaishnava tradition'

The Grace of God in the Methodist Tradition

Chapter 11      Geoffrey Wainwright,

‘Divine Disproportion and Poetic Paradoxes: Charles Wesley at Chalcedon’

Chapter 12      Tim Macquiban, Superintendent Minister of the Cambridge Methodist Circuit and Minister of Wesley Methodist Church, Cambridge

 “Names, and sects, and parties fall...” : The Wesleys’ Practice of Intra-Faith Love

Chapter 13      Tik Wah Wong

Responsible Grace, Responsible Stewardship

Chapter 14      Glen O’Brien

Christian Perfection and Australian Methodism

Chapter 15      Bruce Barber, Former Dean of the United Faculty of Theology, Melbourne

Unlocking Truth, Unsealing the Book: Three Illustrations of Charles Wesley’s Creative Hermeneutics

Chapter 16      Ian Breward, Professor Emeritus: Church History, Uniting Church Theological College, Melbourne

Charles Wesley's Eucharistic Hymns

Chapter 17      D’Arcy Wood

Assurance of Faith:  the Holy Spirit in the hymns of Charles Wesley

The Grace of God and the Life of Grace

Chapter 18      Theodore Runyon, Emeritus Professor, Candler School of Theology

‘The Earth as the First Sacrament’

Chapter 19      Brian Howe, Professorial Fellow: Social and Political Science, University of Melbourne

Through Life Faith, An Important Theme for The Uniting Church

Chapter 20      Beverley Campbell, Sanderson Research Fellow, Centre for Theology and Ministry, Melbourne

The call to the middle ground: ordination in the Uniting Church

Chapter 21      John Smith, Minister, North Melbourne Uniting Church

Grace and Grumbling, With Reference to the Rule of St. Benedict 

Chapter 22      Katharine Massam, Professor of Church History, Uniting Church Theological College, Melbourne

Work in the Life of Grace

The Life of Grace: Personal Reflections

Chapter 23      Nigel Watson, Professor Emeritus: New Testament, Uniting Church Theological College, Melbourne

The Boundlessness of God’s Grace in the Hymns of Charles Wesley and in the Bible 

 Chapter 24      Sandy Yule,

Memories of Norman Young as a Theological Teacher: A Dialogue 

Chapter 25      Norman Young, Professor Emeritus, Uniting Church Theological College, Melbourne

Reflections on a Theological Journey

Bibliography of the Works of Norman Young

Lent Resources from the Centre for Theology and Ministry

Along with several of my colleagues here at the CTM I have been involved in a small amount of writing for a set of bref daily Lenten reflections. There is a suggested biblical text, short reflection, question and prayer for each day of Lent, including Holy Week.

If you want to have the link to visit for a daily update then go here.

To download the whole series of reflections go here.

I bet you can't guess which days I wrote.

Durham PhD Studentship: The Fourfold Gospel and its Rivals

This from Francis Watson via the the British New Testament Conference mailing list:

My AHRC-funded project on “The Fourfold Gospel and its Rivals” has a PhD studentship attached that will provide three years worth of home fees (or equivalent) and living expenses in 2013-16. The double focus of the project is on early Christian gospels (canonical and noncanonical) and on gospel reception in the patristic era, which should cater for applicants wishing to work primarily in the New Testament field or in patristics – although some overlap would be likely. I’d be most grateful if colleagues would draw this opening to the attention of current or recent students who may be interested in pursuing a PhD in this area. The following suggestions illustrate the kind of PhD topic that would fit the terms of the proj ect, but many others are equally possible: (1) The Protevangelium of James in its relationship to Matthew and Luke, and its later historical and theological significance. (2) Patristic views on gospel origins, from Papias to Augustine. (3) The relationship between selected “gnostic” gospels (e.g. Mary, Judas, Philip, etc.) and the canonical ones. (4) The construction and purpose of either Marcion’s Luke or Tatian’s Diatessaron. (5) Revelatory discourse in John 14-16 and selected “gnostic” gospels. (6) The role of writing in the transmission of the early Jesus tradition: how far back does it go? (7) Tradition, reception, and the “historical Jesus”. (8) Factors involved in the construction of the four-gospel collection. (9) The hermeneutical significance of the four gospel collection. (10) Public responses to publication of newly discovered gospel literature, c.1890-2012. Applicants should have a good first degree in theology/religious studies, a completed or a current MA, and experience in the study of the Greek New Testament. Applications will be submitted in the normal way (for which see the Durham Department of Theology and Religion website), specifying the AHRC project studentship. A detailed research proposal will not be essential, although it may be an advantage. Preliminary enquiries may be addressed to Prof Francis Watson ([email protected]). The closing date for applications for this position will be Monday, 25 February 2013, and the successful applicant will be notified in early March.

Beverley Gaventa to move to Baylor

News just in from Nijay Gupta. Good news for Baylor. No doubt Princeton already have a shortlist of potential replacements.

Come and Work at the United Faculty of Theology

The United Faculty of Theology here in Melbourne is looking for a new Dean. If Academic administration and leadership is your thing (i.e. you have the right experience and qualifications) and you would enjoy working in an exciting and challenging ecumenical environment in theological education, then take a look at the formal information below.

The United Faculty of Theology (UFT) calls for applicants for the position of a full-time Dean.

In renewing its commitment to ecumenical theological education, the UFT is seeking a Dean who will serve the policies and priorities of the UFT and give leadership in the context of the present opportunities and challenges. The position requires experience in theological education and expertise in working with academic teachers, students and administrative staff.

The position will commence in March 2013, but a later starting time would be negotiable. The position is offered in the first instance for a period of three years.

Applications close: 31 January 2013 and should be sent to Margaret Tropea [email protected]; Ph +613 9340 8892

c/o United Faculty of Theology, 29 College Crescent, Parkville 3052, Victoria.

A Position Description is available on request.

Ebeling on Interpretation

"...the task of interpretation can never be replaced by a kind of sieve, with which it may be hoped to separate the religious wheat from the historical chaff."

Gerhard Ebeling, Introduction to a Theological Theory of Language (London: Collins, 1973), 22.

New Book on Baptism: Recovering the Evangelical Sacrament

News has come through of the imminent publication of a new book on baptism by Anthony Cross.

The subject of baptism continues to be of considerable interest—though it frequently appears within broader studies of sacraments, liturgy, worship, and ecumenical studies, and within confessional bounds: credobaptist or paedobaptist—yet it is rarely discussed by Evangelicals. This book, however, is neither an apologetic for credobaptism nor paedobaptism; rather Cross believes that, as practised today, both forms are a departure from New Testament baptism, which, he maintains, was an integral part of becoming a Christian and part of the proclaimed gospel. He argues that the “one baptism” of Ephesians 4:5 is conversion-baptism and that the baptism referred to in the various New Testament strata refers to this “one baptism” (of Spirit and water). The study sets out the case for this interpretation and contends that in key passages “baptism” is an example of synecdoche. The case is then made for a sacramental interpretation of baptism from a thoroughgoing Evangelical perspective. Cross concludes with reflections on the necessity of baptismal reform and the relevance of a return to conversion-baptism for the contemporary church in a post-Christian, post-Christendom, mission setting.

‘The challenge of this thesis … is essentially simple: we are called and challenged simply to accord the significance to baptism that it is accorded within the New Testament.’
John E. Cowell, Minister, Budleigh Salterton Baptist Church, UK, and Senior Research Fellow, Spurgeon’s College, London
 
‘This is a remarkably detailed, biblically focused, and ecumenically sensitive book on the sacrament of baptism. Like Beasley-Murray in his classic study on baptism, Anthony R. Cross brings new insight to the indispensable role of Christian initiation both in personal faith and the life of the church. Highly recommended!’
Timothy George, Founding Dean, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama; Chair of the Doctrine and Christian Unity Commission of the Baptist World Alliance
 
‘This rich theological work on such a significant subject is a gift to the whole church. It is full of good scholarship, wise in judgment, and practical in its insights. We are given a timely contribution on the meaning of Christian identity, inviting us all to reflect again on the biblical teaching, our doctrinal affirmations, our sacramental understanding, and what amounts to faithful practice in the church of Christ.’
Brian Haymes, former Principal of Northern and Bristol Baptist Colleges, and President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain
 
‘Carefully using an impressive range of biblical, theological, and historical scholarship, Anthony R. Cross argues that baptism lost the importance that it had in the New Testament and pre-Nicene church; but that in post-Christendom baptism’s significance is re-emerging. When it embodies New Testament themes of conversion, faith, community, and ethics, baptism once again emerges as a sacrament of untold potential, enriching discipleship, and empowering mission.  This mature fruit of “Baptist sacramentalism” offers gifts to Christians of all traditions. I recommend it enthusiastically.’
Alan Kreider, Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Indiana
 
‘Anthony R. Cross makes a compelling case both for the inseparability of faith and baptism and of water and Spirit baptism. The evangelical insistence on justification by faith alone, he contends, should and must make room for “baptism” as a biblical term encompassing all three: faith, water baptism, and Spirit baptism. Arguably the most important book on baptism since George Beasley-Murray’s Baptism in the New Testament, extending and enriching the argument of that seminal work.’
J. Ramsey Michaels, Missouri State University
 

You might also like to know about two other really good books on baptism from Pickwick. I only have a flyer for the former, but the latter can be found on their website: https://wipfandstock.com/store/Baptism_Historical_Theological_and_Pastoral_Perspectives
 
I've also attached a flyer for Brandon Jones' Waters of Promise. Brandon is a young, North American Baptist scholar who has published his doctorate on a covenantal approach to baptism. It's very good and an important addition to the study of baptism from a Baptist perspective. https://wipfandstock.com/store/Waters_of_Promise_Finding_Meaning_in_Believer_Baptism
 
 
Gordon L. Heath and James D. Dvorak, eds.
Baptism: Historical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspectives. Eugene,Ore.: Wipf and Stock, 2011.
271 pages. $32, from the website $25.60. Attempted to attach the cover image from the website. Gordon is a Baptist, but I don't know about James, though he too teaches at McMaster Divinity College.

New Testament Position at International Christian College in Glasgow

Received from the British New Testament Society Mailing List:

Lecturer in New Testament (Closing date 7th December)

International Christian College

Salary: £22,090 - £25,740 pa

The Lecturer in New Testament will teach courses on our BA(Hons) and
MTh degree programmes and will supervise research dissertations at a
variety of levels including PhD, MPhil, MTh and BA Honours.

The post also involves the pastoral care of students as well as
participating in the spiritual life of the College, including worship
and prayer, and fostering the integration of theology and lifestyle
amongst students.

The postholder will also play an active role in promoting the college
at events and conferences.

The College: International Christian College was created by the
merging of Glasgow Bible College and Northumbria Bible College in
September 1998. The College is evangelical and interdenominational,
training for cross-cultural, youth, children's, urban and pastoral /
preaching ministries in the context of contemporary culture. The
College is the main theological training college in Scotland and the
North of England, offering a range of high quality training
opportunities for Christian workers. The College has over 150 students
on its programmes all of which are validated by the University of
Aberdeen.

To apply for this post, please click the APPLY button below. Full
details of this post and the application procedure are in the
attachment: http://www.jobs.ac.uk/enhanced/fp/afk023.pdf

The closing date is midday UK time on Friday 7th December 2012.

Paul and the Restoration of Humanity: New Book

First in a new series entitled 'Books I might have bought at SBL had the discounts been more favourable'

This from Brill:

Paul and The Restoration of Humanity in Light of Ancient Jewish Traditions

Aaron Sherwood

In Paul and The Restoration of Humanity in Light of Ancient Jewish Traditions, Aaron Sherwood questions the assumption of universalism in Pauline thought, and finds instead that relevant Pauline traditions depict a partly restricted and particularly Israelite restoration of humanity. This important Jewish component of Paul’s thought remains largely unrecognized, but Pauline and other ancient Jewish traditions consistently present Israel and non-Israelites' uniting in their worship of Yhwh as the restoration of both Israel and humanity.

Aaron Sherwood demonstrates in Pauline traditions the same deployment of Israel-nations unification as in biblical and post-biblical traditions. This suggests that rather than secondarily finding space for Gentile justification, the restoration of humanity plays a generative role in Paul’s theology, mission, and apostolic self-identity.

 

Postgraduate Opportunities in Theological Ethics at the University of Aberdeen

Michael Mawson at Aberdeen has been in touch and asked me to publicize new developments in their Department for postgraduate students interested in theological ethics:

We are pleased to announce a new one-year Master's in Theological Ethics degree at the University of Aberdeen.  Aberdeen's department of Divinity is currently one of the top-ranked theology programs in the UK, and recent appointments in the areas of Systematic Theology and Theological Ethics have strengthened the department still further. The Theological Ethics area emphasizes fundamental texts and thinkers in the Christian tradition for engaging contemporary issues and debates.  For more information: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/divinity/pgrad/MThTheologicalEthics.shtml

If you have questions or are interested in applying to the MTh degree feel free to contact Professor Bernd Wannenwetsch, Dr Brian Brock or Dr Michael Mawson.  We will also be happy to meet with prospective students at the ... Society of Christian Ethics meeting (in Chicago in January 2013).

In addition, we would be happy to discuss funding options for both prospective Master's and doctoral students.  Among other things, there will be doctoral funding in the two following two interdisciplinary collaborations: 'Normativity - Nature, Narrative and Nihilism' and 'Transitional Justice, Peace and Reconciliation.'  We would be interested in supporting Welcome Trust applications for students hoping to work in the area of bioethics. Finally, we are willing to support external funding applications for especially strong proposals.  For additional information on funding: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/divinity/pgrad/awards.shtml

Review of the Pope on the Baby Jesus

Anyone who wants to save time in the run up to Christmas can read John Crace's review of Pope Benedict XVI's Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives here.

The spoof on Benedict's appeal to the work of other scholars is great. My favourite line being:

"Marcus Reiser has suggested there is some confusion about the naming of Jesus, arguing that Emmanuel was his real name. This need not detain us long. Emmanuel was a very common second name in Israel at the time. More surprising is that his nickname, according to the great Marian scholar Martin Dibelius, was Jay-Z."

SBL: Good and Bad

I had no real inclination to post detailed reflections on this year's SBL Annual meeting in Chicago. Mark Goodacre pointed out that the use of Twitter was an important part of proceedings this year, and even I had a go at it. Not sure what I think.

Instead, I thought I would list 5 good and 5 less good aspects of the Conference for me, in no particular order.

Good

1. People: always the main event, getting to spend time with so many people who (a) share a professional interest and some of whom (b) you also count as personal friends. It was especially good to connect with members of the Chester TRS Department, my dear, dear friends Alan and Ellie Kreider and Brad Braxton, and many other US and UK friends.

2. Papers: the usual mix, but the highlights were a session on Gender, Sexuality and the Bible, Dale Allison's whirlwind presentation in the John, Jesus and History unit (also mentioned by Mark Goodacre) and Thomas Schmeller's elegant negotiation of the bridge between 2 Corinthians 1–9 and 10–13. I also very much enjoyed the session honoring Chris Rowland and discussing the recent Festschrift in his honour.

3. Meetings: On Saturday morning I met Clifford Green, who is Executive Director of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works in English project (one more volume to come in 2013) to discuss wider dissemination of the articles gathered together in Pacifica 25.2 (July 2012) which I edited. Green's book on Bonhoeffer's Theology of Sociality was what reconnected me Bonhoeffer's importance, so it was a pleasure to meet with him before going to hear David Congdon talk about Bonhoeffer's understanding of mission.

4. Receptions: Friday and Saturday nights were quiet. Monday was Chester, Oxford, Kings and Scottish, with T & T Clark/Bloomsbury and Sheffield on Monday. T & T Clark's was the best of these.

5. Books: Only 6 purchases of which the most important are NA28 and Konrad Hamann's biography of Bultmann, which I plan to read slowly alongside a re-reading of Bultmann himself over the summer break.

6. Chicago: sorry this makes 6, I wrote the others first, but this also needs to be mentioned. Its a great city.

Bad

1. The McCormick Conference Centre: The epitome of dystopian architecture. Everyone hated it, and not just because of the distances.

2. Bars: reception bars were lightening fast to dismantle at the appointed time, and hotel bars almost all shut up shop by 1am. This left little incentive to stick it out for those 3.30 a.m. discussions about life, the universe and the state of the discipline.

3. Sessions: we need less of them, with fewer papers in each session, to ensure better discussion and interaction by a greater number of qualified and knowledgeable people in the room.

4. Travel: 24 hours door to door: enough said.

5. Books: too many at only 20% discount which meant that they remained unaffordable.

Anyone else have a top 5, or 3, or a list of groans?

Oh, and watch this space for a new reception to be introduced into the Programme Book next year in Baltimore

New Book: Tim Bulkley's, Not Only a Father

I am happy to join in those voices that welcome the publication of Tim Bulkley's new book Not Only a Father: Talk of God as Mother in the Bible and Christian Tradition.

Tim's work is to be welcomed for two main reasons. First, the content. The book offers a clear and sustained case in support of the appropriateness of the use of maternal imagery and mother language in our descriptions and naming of God. That case is grounded in a comprehensive demonstration that such language is both biblical and traditional. It is directed towards appropriate reform in liturgical and spiritual practice whereby we are enabled to 'know God in motherliness'. Tim recognizes the provisionality of all God-talk, but understands that God-talk must always be shaped by the witness of Scripture and tradition. That witness makes the naming of God as mother a necessary aspect of our talk about God.

You may already agree with this idea, but on different grounds. You may react strongly against it. And that brings us to the second important feature of the book. You could buy it in print (SIGNS: Archer Theological Monographs; Auckland: Archer Press, 2011) and the link is here. But the author has also made the book available online, and the online version provides opportunity for you to comment on what you are reading; to be part of a conversation about the book's detailed content and overall argument. You will find the link here.

So this is a bold initiative in the world of theological publishing/ Go and take a look. If you like what you read, then say so. if you don't, then post a comment. And if you think the book might be useful for your ongoing study, teaching or research, then buy a copy.

My Paper for the FBS Conference: 'Dung as Idolatry' (Philippians 3:8)

As I noted yesterday, the Fellowship for Biblical Studies Conference is taking place here in Melbourne on September 24–25. I am giving a paper. The details as as follows:

Dung as Idolatry: The Meaning of skubala in Philippians 3:8

Why does Paul choose the term skubala by way of retrospective assessment of his former ‘gains’ in Judaism (Philippians 3:8)? This paper proposes a new interpretation by exploring the relationship in certain Jewish texts between ‘dung’ (the most likely translation of Paul’s term) and idolatry. It will be argued that the rhetorical construal of these former ‘gains’ as idolatry is consistent with the polemical and rhetorical strategy of the surrounding material in Philippians 3. Now that Paul has gained Christ, all other forms of allegiance or achievement are deemed idolatrous. The paper ends with some suggestions as to how this reading of Philippians 3 contributes to wider debates about Paul’s understanding of Judaism.

 

Fellowship for Biblical Studies National Conference

One of the things that I miss about the biblical studies scene in the UK is the annual meeting of the British New Testament Conference (which has, by all accounts, just held a very successful meeting at King's College London and at which a panel of scholars reached definitive agreement about what the discipline of New Testament studies actually is and is for ... or am I being optimistic?). Here in Australia there are few opportunities for biblical scholars to gather from across the country. Therefore it is good to know that the inaugural conference of the Fellowship for Biblical Studies is due to be held here in Melbourne on the 24–25 September 2012. The programme for the conference is as follows:

9.30 Mark A. O’Brien    “Creativity and Limitation in the Making of Biblical Texts”

10.10 Judy Redman        “Finding a lost sheep”

 10.50    Morning Coffee (in the café area)

 11.10 Ian Young     “‘Neither Can Live While the Other Survives’: Linguistic Dating of Hebrew Biblical Texts vs Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible”

11.50 Adam White    “Value Formation and Value judgement: Graeco-Roman paideia as a backdrop to Paul’s judgement language in 1 Cor 4.1-5”

12.30 Dermot Nestor    “Is ‘Israel’ in the Merneptah Stele?”

1.10  Lunch (in the café area)

2.00 Sean Winter    “Dung as Idolatry: The Meaning of skubala in Philippians 3:8”

2.40 Martin Shields    “Was Elihu Right?”

3.20     Afternoon Tea (in the café area)

3.40  Alexandra Robinson    "Jude's Citation of 1 Enoch and its Significance"

4.20 Jon Kenneth Newton    “Story lines in the Book of Revelation”

5.00pm Lucy Davey,    “The Importance of the Chiastic Structure in the Book of Ezekiel”

5.40pm Wine and Nibbles (in the café area)

 

Tuesday 25^th September

9.30 Howard Wallace    “Arthur Boyd and his Bible”

10.10 Stephen Llewellyn    “Metaphors and Eunuchs: The Argument for a Different Reading of Matt 11:12”

10.50 Morning Coffee (in the café area

11.10 Anne Elvey    "Rethinking Neighbour Love: Toward an Ecological Materialist Conversation between Political Theology and Ecological Ethics"

11.50 Rachelle Gilmour     “Juxtaposed Episodes of Biblical Narrative in Dialogue”

12.30 David Sim    “The Gospel of Matthew and Galilee”

1.10 Lunch (in the café area)

2.00 Robyn Vern    “Recent Study of Archaic Biblical Hebrew: shedding new light on understanding Biblical Hebrew”

2.40 Steffen Joeris    “More than family dispute: Mk 13:12-13a and Isa 66:5”

3.20 Afternoon Tea (in the café area)

3.40 Anne Gardner    “Gratuitous Repetition or Meaningful References in Dan 7:1b-2a? Implications for an Ur-text”

4.20 Todd Stanton    “Toward a Comparative Method in Biblical Studies”

5.00pm Wine and Nibbles (in the café area

A mixed bag of papers to be sure, but it is good to see colleagues from Sydney attending in some numbers. As you may have spotted, I am giving a paper. I'll post the abstract for that tomorrow.

The Four Gospels on Sunday

Last Sunday I was in church, a lot: four different services or events. In one of them I talked with people for a while on the topic "What is the Bible For?" and we had a good, rich discussion. At work today I have had to think about two pieces of work that need completing in the near future. On the one hand I need to write 500 words on 'Saint' Matthew (the ecclesiastically implied author of the first gospel). On the other I need to prepare two talks on Luke and the relevant of his gospel for the church and its mission.

So, it was a pleasure to spend a few minutes finishing off Gordon Lathrop's recent book, The Four Gospels on Sunday: The New Testament and the Reform of Christian Worship (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012). If you read this blog and you don't go to church, you don't need to read any further. But if you do, then I can commend Lathrop's book as a clear and provocative plea for the connection between fully critical biblical interpretation and fully faithful Christian worship. In his words, there is an urgent need for our assemblies to become coherent with the Gospels (p.209). In his own unique way (and Lathrop has as unique a prose style as any theologian writing today; you will either love it or hate it) he makes the cause for putting the Gospels at the heart of worship; as the beasts that surround the Lamb. More importantly, Lathrop shows what this might mean in terms of liturgical reform. The constructive liturgical proposals emerge out of a scholarly approach to the gospel narratives and so, for me at least, are particularly satisfying. But the satisfaction is made more complete by the fact that Lathrop is insistent that liturgical reform shaped by the gospels is neither a call backwards to expressions of worship from another time, not is it a call away from the specific historical, social and cultural constraints that constitute the church's current diversity.

Here are two quotations to whet your appetite from the concluding sections:

"The kind of biblically grounded reform we want to consider in our assemblies is no longer the recovery of a golden age of liturgy nor the assertion of a single model of practice. It will not be built on either romanticism or modernism. It also ought not be built on biblical literalism or biblical naivete. Rather, all of our diverse assemblies need to be invited to use the Bible faithfully, which is to say not as a law code nor as a history book but as scripture, as grounds for the encounter with the triune God in assembly. Such faithful use means employing the biblical symbols in support of Christian faith and engaging the biblical texts in a dialogue of critique with our assemblies." (p.197)

"The recovered central matters of the church; the accent on the presence of the risen one in those central matters; the mystery of the Trinity understood as the mystery of the assembly's gathering and the assembly's sacraments; the continually recovered poetics of parataxis and juxtaposition; and renewed work on the strong center and open door of our meetings—such are some characteristics of a biblical-liturgical movement in our time that will have learned from the Gospels and their coherence with assemblies.

This movement will, first of all, be concerned with what happens on Sunday, when the Gospels are read in assembly. At the heart of the proposals from the Gospels to this assembly, we have seen, again and again, this urging: the risen one, the one around whom the meeting gathers, is the crucified one. Mark, by means of the secret and the ring construction, asserted this identity of the risen one already, echoing Paul (Mark 16:6; cf.1 Cor. l:23; 2:2) and establishing the Gospel purpose and the Gospel genre. But the same assertion, the same refusal to forget the cross, is there, also for example, in Matthew's image of the last judgment and Luke's image of the serving Lord. The same assertion recurs in the risen one showing his wounds in John. Why does this matter so much? Why is it the constant theme of all four Gospels? Not because it means to center our assemblies on a cult of violence. On the contrary. Rather, the repeated Gospel interest in proclaiming the crucified risen one means to anchor our assemblies in truth telling about our sin and death and, at the same time, truth telling about who God is. The resurrection is not a fairy tale nor a wish dream. It is an encounter with the God who takes on the awful need of the world and transforms our place of death into the place of life. Because of this repeated theology of the cross, the Sunday assemblies are called to let the words of the meeting tell the truth, the prayers of the meeting be for far more than ourselves, the meal of the meeting proclaim Jesus' death as life giving and so also remember the poor, the bath that constitutes the meeting be seen as a bath that makes us dirtier with the needs of all of our neighbors, the boundaries of the meeting be porous, the tone of the meeting be deeply joyful while avoiding triumphalism, and the leadership of the meeting serve." (pp.204–205)

Lectionary preachers and worship leaders might read this book as a way of stepping back from the week to week task of preparing to lead and preach within the assembly. Many New Testament scholars might want to see the way that Lathrop has connected exegesis to issues of liturgical practice. Thoroughly recommended.

The One Poet I Know

I see Paul MItchell pretty often. We both sit around a table with mutual friends every week or so, to eat and drink and talk and pray. Paul writes for a living, and like any writer could do with selling a book or two every now and again.

So it is great to see that Eureka Street published five of his poems on Monday. Jason has already put up the poem that I would also choose as my favourite from these five.

Beatitudes
for Aung San Suu Kyi

Blessed are those who watched
with stormcloud eyes
the ground open to swallow them
while fork-tongue drivers
drove whipcrack highways
on luxury serpents. Blessed
are those run down & flattened
fang-holed & spat on
for good measure of the trade index.
Blessed, those daughters set on high wires
to balance dollar signs, while bored crowds
jeered for another fall in interest rates. Blessed
too those with empty chests, soles ripped
from their shoes, fed to dogs. But most blessed
are those who stole the hound scraps
nailed them to their feet
& kept on marching.

If you liked that, then think about buying one or other of the collections. Details here.

Luke's Use of Matthew: Luke 1:31 as a Test Case

I am no scholar of the synoptic problem, but I was raised a Q sceptic and continue to remain comfortable with the notion of Luke's knowledge and use of Matthew.

But I looked again at one tiny aspect of the evidence that Mark Goodacre draws on in support of that notion: namely that Luke betrays apparent knowledge of the Matthean Birth Narrative at the following point:

Luke 1:31: καὶ τέξῃ υἱὸν καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν.

Matthew 1:21: τέξεται δὲ υἱόν, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν·

See, The Case Against Q, 56–57.

So far, so good. What is puzzling, however, is that Matthew continues as follows:

αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν αὐτῶν. / and he will save his people from their sins.

The issue is that on the face of it, at least, this further clause would seem eminently in keeping with Luke's redactional interests. While Luke's use of the verb 'to save' is broadly similar to Matthew and Luke, the language of 'salvation' and 'Saviour' is distinctive not least in the following canticles (see Luke 1:47, 69, 77). It might, of course, be suggested that Luke has no interests in Matthew's etymological comment, or that Luke replaces the Matthean clause with the more explicitly Davidic: οὗτος ἔσται μέγας καὶ υἱὸς ὑψίστου κληθήσεται (Luke 1:32). It is also true that the notion of deliverance from 'sin' is always expressed using the verb aphiemi in Luke, rather than sozein. Nevertheless, the Matthean formulation would appear to be conducive to Luke's overall concerns.

I don't have access to Michael Goulder's Luke: A New Paradigm (the library copy is out), so it may well be that he offers an explanation there.

Any thoughts, Mark?

Fellowship for Biblical Studies: August 2012 Meeting

On Thursday August 9th I have the honour of addressing the Fellowship for Biblical Studies. Here is my topic:

The Church Triumphant?
Another Look at 2 Corinthians 2:14–17

Abstract: This paper proposes that the oft-discussed thanksgiving period in 2 Cor. 2:14–17 is to be understood as an inclusive portrayal of the common missional vocation shared by Paul and the Corinthians. This vocation is a participation in the ‘triumph of God’, that has initially taken Paul and the Corinthians captive, through public procession and intentional diffusion of the ‘aroma of Christ’: the gospel. This reading stands in contrast to the dominant reading of the passage (and of 2 Corinthians as a whole) as more narrowly focussed on Paul’s apostolic activity. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the possible implications of this reading for an understanding of 2 Corinthians in general.

If you want to come you either need to be a member of the FBS or be a guest of a member (our little attempt at SNTS-like exclusivity!). The paper follows on from earlier work on Paul's use of the ambassadorial motif in 2 Corinthians 5:20 and the argument basically goes against the grain of all contemporary 2 Corinthians scholarship. We shall see how it goes.