R P B S Blog

The following new reviews have been added to the Review of Biblical Literature:

Philip S. Alexander
The Mystical Texts: Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice and Related Manuscripts
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5270
Reviewed by Samuel Thomas

John Barton
The Nature of Biblical Criticism
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5957
Reviewed by James D. G. Dunn

Roland Boer
Symposia: Dialogues concerning the History of Biblical Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6128
Reviewed by Henning Graf Reventlow

Andrew Chester
Messiah and Exaltation: Jewish Messianic and Visionary Traditions and New Testament Christology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5919
Reviewed by Martin Karrer

Zeba A. Crook
Reconceptualising Conversion: Patronage, Loyalty, and Conversion in the Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6452
Reviewed by Dietmar Neufeld

A. Andrew Das
Solving the Romans Debate
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5772
Reviewed by Don Garlington

Max Küchler and Karl Matthias Schmidt, eds.
Texte-Fakten-Artefakte: Beiträge zur Bedeutung der Archäologie für die neutestamentliche Forschung
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5965
Reviewed by Gabriele Faßbeck

Tremper Longman III
Proverbs
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5585
Reviewed by Timothy J. Sandoval

Edward P. Meadors
Idolatry and the Hardening of the Heart: A Study in Biblical Theology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6077
Reviewed by Thomas J. Kraus

By reading 1 Peter, trying to work out its view on mission, I was struck by its emphasis on what one might call praeparatio ad Martyrium, and the lack of studies dealing with this aspect.

But then I discovered, there is in fact a major study published that deals exactly with this aspekt:

Reichert, Angelika, Eine urchristliche praeparatio ad martyrium

Studien zur Komposition, Traditionsgeschichte und Theologie des 1. Petrusbriefes

Beiträge zur biblischen Exegese und Theologie 22
Frankfurt/M., Bern, New York, Paris, 1989. 624 S.

Abstract
“Der in der Struktur des 1Petr auffallende und oft als crux interpretum empfundene Abschnitt 3,13-4,6 zeigt sich auf synchroner Ebene in thematischer und funktionaler Hinsicht als die eigentliche Mitte des Schreibens: Themen, die den ganzen 1Petr bestimmen (Eschatologie, Weltverhältnis, Leiden), werden hier aufeinander bezogen und in der Funktion einer praeparatio ad martyrium zum Ausdruck gebracht. Zugleich zwingt die synchrone Analyse zur diachronen Rückfrage. Diese führt zu der für das «Paulinismus»-Problem relevanten Hypothese: Die Traditionsverarbeitung spiegelt die kritische Auseinandersetzung des Verfassers des 1Petr mit einem bestimmten Zweig der nachpaulinischen Entwicklung.”

The text of 1 Pet 3:19ff is still attracting interest and studies. Here is one more, available on the Internet as a .pdf file:

Paul-Gerhard Klumbies,
Die Verkündigung unter Geistern und Toten
nach 1Petr 3,19f und 4,6
(=ZNW 92 [2001] 207-22

The article is also available here.

For all of the students that can read German, there is a nice Repetitorium available in the web pages made and kept by prof. dr. Peter Pilhover; Neutestamentliche Repetitorium.

The Repetitorium is not yet complete, but it already covers most of the New testament; you can see the Table of Contents here. The various sections are avaiable as .pdf files. I have not checked all, but made a brief reading of his pages on 1 Peter. Here he advocates a date for this letter later than what I would argue ( go here);accordingly he does not suppport the authorship of Peter either. But all in all, the pages are nicely set up, and easy to read.

A search made me aware of some more recent articles related to Philo, his works and conceptual world. They might be worthy of a closer study; hence here are the references:

Kovelman, Arkady,
‘Jeremiah 9:22-23 in Philo and Paul,’

Review of Rabbinic Judaism, Volume 10, Number 2, 2007 , pp. 162-175.

Geljon, A.C.
Philonic Elements in Didymus the Blind’s Exegesis of the Story of Cain and Abel
Vigiliae Christianae, Volume 61, Number 3, 2007 , pp. 282-312
Abstract:
“This article focuses on Philo’s influence on the interpretation of Cain and Abel given by Didymus the Blind in his Commentary on Genesis. Didymus refers a few times to Philo by name but more places can be detected in which Didymus makes use of Philo. Both Philo and Didymus see in Cain and Abel two different worldviews, which are opposed to each other. Cain is the wicked man, who does not respect God, whereas Abel is the virtuous man, who loves God. Philo bases his interpretation on the translation of Cain as possession and of Abel as referring to God. These translations are absent in Didymus. Philonic elements can be seen, for instance, in Abel as shepherding the senses and in Cain presented as a sophist. It is remarkable that Didymus does not interpret Abel as a type of Christ, as other church fathers do.”

Louth, Andrew
II. Philo”
The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition” January 2007 , pp. 17-35

Abstract:
“Philo was a devout Jew who defended the traditional customs of his faith. The bulk of his writings consist of commentaries on parts of the Pentateuch in the Septuagint version. He is important for two reasons. First, as a representative of Middle Platonism — the Stoicized form Platonism had taken from the beginning of the first century BC — which provides the intellectual background of many of the Fathers, and is the form in which the idea of the soul’s ascent to God is understood. Secondly, Philo is important in himself, for there is no doubt that his writings had a very considerable influence on the Alexandrian tradition in Greek patristic theology.”

Feldman, Louis H.
Moses the General and the Battle against Midian in Philo”
Jewish Studies Quarterly, Volume 14, Number 1, March 2007 , pp. 1-17

A recent study dealing with the soteriology of Paul, argues its way by help of Philo:

Frick, Peter,
‘The Means and Mode of Salvation: A Hermeneutical Proposal for Clarifying Pauline Soteriology,’
Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 29, Number 2, 2007 , pp. 203-222.
Abstract:“The objective of this study is to answer the question “What is the cause of salvation?” according to Paul. The argument is that just as Philo understood cause in an Aristotelian sense of the multiplicity of causes (formal, material, efficient and final) as constituting one overarching cause—what is here called the “means” of salvation—so, too, Paul implicitly assumes that the one cause or “means” of salvation consists in various causes. A second step shows how the “means” of salvation corresponds to faith as the “mode” of salvation. In nuce, the “means” of salvation is the initiative of God and the “mode” of salvation is the human response to that divine initiative.”

There is a new study dealing with the works of Philo in the most recent issue of Journal for the Study of Judaism:

Muehlberger, Ellen,
The Representation of Theatricality in Philo’s Embassy to Gaius
Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume 39, Number 1, 2008 , pp. 46-67.

The study is presented thus: “In this paper I argue that Philo’s Embassy to Gaius makes use of the literary paradigm of theatricality, a strategy of representation marked by the portrayal of multiple and competing discourses amongst those in unequal relations of power, as well as an emphasis on the arts of acting and discernment. The Embassy marks an appearance of the theatrical paradigm which is earlier than its use by Tacitus, whose portrayal of Nero in the Annals Shadi Bartsch has seen as the harbinger of this theme in Roman historiography.”

Lund University, Sweeden, is now launching the popular course “Christianity” as a worldwide internet course.

The course “Christianity” (TEO D01, 30 ECTS credits) explores the origins and varieties of Christianity throughout the world today. It traces Christianity’s development from a local group of Jesus followers to a worldwide movement of faith communities, the formation of Christian doctrines and identities and the emergence and reception of the Bible as Christian Scriptures.

The course is offered entirely through internet communication technology, providing maximal accessibility and independence of location so that whoever wishes can enroll from anywhere on the globe.
The Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CTR) at Lund University is committed to the highest standards of academic excellence; its faculty is completely independent of confessional or religious affiliations. Whoever is looking for an approach to the subject that is non-confessional yet sympathetic, that combines a Religious Studies perspective with a familiarity with faith contexts, may find this to be an interesting course.
The website of the course is: http://www.teol.lu.se/teod01/.

The School of Mission & Theology is now to be accredited as “vitenskapelig Høgskole”, that is, it is accredited as being on university level, with university rights within its fields of studies. The accredition process is to be finalized by the government, but that is rather formalistic procedure as the investigating NOKUT has approved of such an accredtition.

Professors Jey J. Kanagaraj (Hindustan Bible Institute & College, India), Stelian Tofana (Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Babes-Bolyai University, Romania) and Jostein Ådna (School of Mission and Theology, Norway) coordinate the seminar “History and Theology of Mission in the New Testament: Global Challenges and Opportunities” in Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS). The seminar started its work during the 62nd General Meeting of SNTS in Sibiu, Romania, in 2007 and plans to continue for the next four annual General Meetings, i.e. Lund, Sweden, in 2008; Vienna, Austria, in 2009; Berlin, Germany, in 2010; and Annandale-on-Hudson, USA, in 2011.

The rationale of the seminar is to contribute to the ongoing scholarly discussion and exchange on the issue of mission – both historically, exegetically and hermeneutically. The seminar coordinators have the ambition that new insights regarding the early history of mission (New Testament and Early Patristics) and the interpretation of pertinent New Testament texts will be gained. Current global challenges and opportunities in the contemporary world add immensely to the agenda of the seminar. The seminar will hopefully also be an arena for participants helping each other to understand the centrality of God’s mission and the way in which theologians, New Testament scholars in particular, may be involved in mission in the pluralistic and cross-cultural set up of today’s world.