Archive for category Criticism

Daniel O. McClellan’s Master Thesis is now online

Participating in bloggership, Daniel has placed his Master’s Thesis (from Oxford no less) online. I had the chance to meet Daniel during SBL and seems a great deal better than some of the search terms give him credit for… You can find his thesis here.

 

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Introducing the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters from Eisenbrauns

Logo for Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters (JSPL)

Introducing JSPL | Contribute | Subscribe | Editorial Board

See for yourself…

Read the editor’s introduction and a sample article. Download the sample issue. (PDF, 336 k)

Table of Contents

Introducing the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters

The Apostle Paul stands as an incredibly important figure within the religious and intellectual history of Christianity and Judaism in the first century. The study of Paul (the historical person, author, tradition, and legend) and the Pauline letters (content, context, authenticity, theology, and reception) continue to capture the fascination of scholars, students, religious communities, and even the media. A number of journals geared toward New Testament studies in general often contain a disproportionate number of articles dedicated to the study of the Pauline corpus. There is a never-ending avalanche of Ph.D. theses written about Paul and about the countless approaches and methods used to analyze the Pauline materials. Indeed, the study of Paul and the Pauline letters appears to be an almost inexhaustible field of investigation. Therefore, we think it time that Pauline research should have its own dedicated journal as a specific conduit for Pauline research as it is broadly practiced. In light of these considerations, it is my pleasure to present to you the Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters (JSPL).

The JSPL will present cutting-edge research for scholars, teachers, postgraduate students, and advanced undergraduates related specifically to study of the Apostle Paul and cognate areas. It is proposed that the many and diverse aspects of Pauline studies be represented and promoted by the journal (see below, “Contribute“). The purpose of the journal is to advance discussion on these areas of Pauline research. As such we invite submissions on the above mentioned topics that make a significant and original contribution to the field of Pauline studies.

The inaugural issue of JSPL includes a contribution by one of its editorial board members, Dr. Susan Eastman of Duke Divinity School (USA) on “Philippians 2:6–11: Incarnation as Mimetic Participation.” Delving into the Christ-Hymn, Eastman argues for a close link between imitation and participation in Paul’s explication of his gospel to the Philippian audience. The first regular issue of JSPL will include studies such as Paul Foster, “Eschatology in the Thessalonian Correspondence”; Michael Gorman, “Justification and Justice”; Richard Bell, “Paul’s Theology of Mind”; and a review of Douglas A. Campbell’s The Deliverance of God by Christopher Tilling and Michael Gorman, with a further response from Douglas Campbell.

Contribute

We invite contributions in areas such as:

  • Pauline chronology and biography
  • The Pauline corpus, including its collection and textual transmission
  • The historical, cultural, literary, and social context of Paul and the Pauline writings
  • Diverse perspectives, such as post-colonial interpretation and critical theory
  • Studies in Pauline theology and theological interpretation of Paul’s letters
  • The reception of Paul in the early church
  • Studies in the history of Pauline research
  • The relation of Pauline texts to practical theology
  • Essay-length reviews of significant new publications in Pauline studies
  • Issues dedicated to particular themes

Get it here:

Eisenbrauns – Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters.

 

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The SBL New Testament?

Jeremiah woke me up early this morning with news that the SBL is coming out with a critical text for the Greek New Testament. We think.

You can find the website here

Does anyone have any clue about this?

 

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The Apostles were Methodists

Abelard and his pupil, Héloïse, by Edmund Blai...

Peter Abelard and his 'student'

Jim has erred. Again. He contends, as a response to Jason Miller’s argument, that there were different Judaisms and several different early sects of Christianity.

Jews in Jesus’ day argued as much among themselves as Jews of our day. This is why all talk of ‘the Jews’ or even ‘Jews’ requires extensive qualification and why New Testament scholars need to be much more careful in describing ‘Judaism’. The general population isn’t equipped to know which fragment of the many Judaisms are in mind when writers use the word ‘Jew’.

Wrong, Jim.

We all know that Christianity has always existed as the exact same thing, in the exact same way, with the exact same interpretations, and the exact same viewpoints as the Apostles.

We can trace the arc of history from Peter to Paul to John to Ignatius, Polycarp and Papias to Montanus to Marcellus and Abelard to Wesley and finally, to me. There is not a whisper of a difference between me and St. Pete.

 

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Who Knew Jesus Wasn’t a White, European Guy?

Who Knew Jesus Was a White, European Guy

Serious, if only they would read Imaginary Jesus the world would be a better place, for you, and me, just wait and see…. put a little love, oh wait. Sorry, sometimes, I just bust into song. It’s embarrassing…

I grew up thinking of Jesus as intimidating and distant and not very likeable. But Crossan and Borg and their lot can make you start to like JC again. After this past weekend, for example, I finally get the Palm Sunday joke: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey because a pompous Roman emperor would have ridden in on a charger. And it becomes a matter of some charm that Jesus never asks anyone for blind faith. In answer to the question put to him by John from prison (“Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”), Jesus responds to the courier: “Go and tell John what you see and hear: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.” (Mt. 11:5: Crossan observes that in the context of grinding oppression, the most miraculous item in this list is that the poor are learning that God has good news for them.)

You can read the rest here about the upcoming celebration of the Jesus Seminar

Does the Historical Jesus Matter? | (A)theologies | Religion Dispatches.

 

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Mark Goodacre, T.C., N.T. Wright and the New Testament

This was recorded a year so ago, but still relevant. As I watching it, I noticed that T.C.‘s question was asked and answered by Dr. Goodacre. It involved N.T. Wright, who some consider the greatest New Testament scholar since before Paul.

You’ll just have to watched all of it to find it.

Also, for great podcasts on the New Testament, you might check Dr. Goodacre’s other sites

 

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Is Conservative Support for the New Testament Circular?

The role of such naturalism as a motivating factor in the work of the form critics is often explicit, but as an argument against a more traditional position it suffers from the obvious drawback of circularity. Consequently, form critics have typically supported their conclusion of late dating of the gospels and Acts by pointing to ostensible anachronisms and errors of detail that show the authors to have been, not eyewitnesses, but creative and tendentious redactors writing at a substantial remove from the events they are purportedly recording.

Read the rest here…

dangerous idea: Tim and Lydia McGrew on archaeological support for the New Testament.

I tend to be more conservative on certain things as I approach the New Testament – evidences, authorship, etc… although I try to allow for critical, and objective thought.

But, is evidence for the bible circular? And if so, can we prevent it or somehow show that not all logic is circular?

 

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