According to Hultgren, theoretical approaches to the development of early Christianity fall into four general categories: truth preceded error, heresy preceded orthodoxy, fixed and flexible elements, and diverse trajectories. Whether we think in terms of a conflict between orthodoxy and heresy (Bauer), Gnosticism and institutional church development (Pagels), prophecy and authority (Nasrallah), or in terms of the development of different theological and ecclesiastical trajectories (Robinson and Koester), the question of authority is a constant feature. The argument in this paper is that the exercise and distribution of authority in early Pauline tradition ought not be understood simply in terms of a conflict model or in terms of the development of competing trajectories. Rather the relationship between the Pastoral Epistles and The Acts of Paul illustrates that a more complex approach to the question of authority in early Pauline tradition is necessary if we are to understand the full dimension of his legitimacy and the exercise of authority in his name.

The apocryphal infancy gospel of Thomas (IGT), which narrates the childhood story of Jesus from the age of five to twelve, is in many ways an enigmatic text. Originating probably in a Greek-speaking context in the second century CE, this gospel proved popular way up in the Middle Ages. Due to the very complicated text and tradition history of the gospel, much effort has been put into analysing its manuscripts and various versions, mostly with the aim of tracing an original text. Far less energy, however, has been spent on the study of its contents. This is partly due to problems with establishing a scholarly responsible text, but also to views about the gospel as theologically aberrant and banal, not least because of its seemingly offensive depiction of Jesus. Scholars have had great problems in coming to terms both with the divine and with the human aspects of IGT’s christology: its Jesus has been variously held to reflect notions of a Gnostic redeemer, a docetic/anti-docetic Christ, a Hellenistic hero or divine man, a Jewish holy man, and an idealised child (a puer senex). Although there are valuable insights in some of these views, none of them can account sufficiently for IGT’s portrayal of Jesus. Instead, I shall on the basis of various materials argue that Jesus in IGT is depicted as a combination of a Johannine Christ and a fairly true-to-life late Antiquity child – i.e. as true God and true child. Although IGT’s Christology has some special features, this is due to the gospel’s background in a non-elite social and theological setting, not to “heretic” roots or the like. The paper will build on the most important investigations of the gospel, particularly those by Hock (1995) and Chartrand-Burke (2001), but also Gero (1971; 1988) and Voicu (1991; 1998).

The Prophets of the Early israelite and judean monarchy play a variety of roles. The prophets are anointing the kings 1Sam 9,1-10,16 and 1Sam 16,1-13 and, also, they announce the rejection of the King (1Sam 15). Besides, in the epoch of the former kings some sort of an "ecstatic" prophecy (nb` hitpael) seems to be known (1Sam 10,5-6.10.13; 1Sam 18,10; 19,20-24). There is every reason to believe, that besides the deuteronomistic episodes and speeches in the first book of Samuel, the other narratives in the books of Samuel do transport certain ideas of the prophetic identity of certain times. Are we able to relate these narratives to other prophetic writings or to prophetic roles reported in other biblical or non-biblical prophetic contexts? In order to do so, a narratological investigation is necessary. Also, the narratives of the epoch of the early kings in the books of Samuel have to be compared to the narratives in the books of kings and their specific setting (e.g. the "classical" confrontation of king and prophet). This leads to questions of the redactional process in the books of Samuel within the Deuteronomistic History.

In discussing Apollonius's "Argonautica," Susan A. Stephens suggests that "epic functions . . . to enhance the significance of the present by endowing it with an epic heroic past." It is through this epic lens that "the meaning of all subsequent events is elevated and against which all subsequent events may be read." [Seeing Double: Intercultural Poetics in Ptolemaic Alexandria (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003) 172]. I propose that the narrative Joseph and Aseneth (hereafter, JA) had a similar function for Egyptian Jewish communities. By retrojecting Joseph into the historic lineage of the Pharaohs and establishing Aseneth's identity as an Egyptian Jew, JA 'enhanced the significance' of the contemporary life of this narrative's initial audiences. Yet JA also offers more than a 'heroic past' to the construction of Jewish identity in Egypt. Respectful relationships are forged between Hebrews and Egyptians, acceptable Jewish marriages are not limited by a person's family of origin, and practical strategies are proposed for confronting vengeful acts both within and from outside the social group. JA prescribes a boundary of Jewish identity that reflects what the anthropologist Fredrik Barth identifies as "a poly-ethnic environment." In particular, JA portrays a poly-ethnic environment that is situated best in Egypt during the Graeco-Roman period.

This essay traces intertextual play between Bill Forsythe's 1983 movie "Local Hero" and various texts from the Bible, including Ecclesiastes 9:14-16, the book of Jonah, texts involving Judas, and the "son of man." What is a "local hero" and what is her relation to the the more universal, mythic (or monomythic) hero? The movie illuminates the biblical texts (and vice versa), and the theme of "local hero" brings together a cluster of texts (biblical and nonbiblical) that illuminate one another. Reference to the work of Barthes and Deleuze, among others.

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Ps.-Gregory of Nyssa’s Testimonies against the Jews is a late fourth-century example of Christian scriptural testimonia collections. The Testimonies consists of Old Testament excerpts, arranged under topical headings, presented as proof–texts for various Christian beliefs. The proof-texts are aimed at persuading a hypothetical Jewish audience to accept Christian beliefs. The Testimonies thus stand within the Christian Adversus Judaeos literature, employing many of the same proof-texts and interpretations found in Jewish-Christian dialogues (e.g., Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho and the Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila) and general testimonia literature (e.g., as employed by Tertullian and Cyprian). Ps.-Gregory’s first chapters are written against a “Sabellian” Christian position that, from the orthodox point of view, did not distinguish adequately between the Father and the Son. I compare Ps.-Gregory with other orthodox Christian authors who also apply the term “Jew” to their Christian opponents, and discuss the extent to which this term applies to a certain type of scriptural interpretation, or is merely employed as a stock term to label any non-orthodox interpretation of scripture. Ps.-Gregory shares standard patristic anti-Jewish arguments: the Jewish sacrificial system is obsolete, the Christian “nation” has replaced the Jews as God’s chosen people, and various texts apply to Jesus as the Messiah and not to other figures such as Jeremiah or David. Yet Ps.-Gregory lacks the unmitigated hostility of many patristic writers towards “the Jews.” For example, he understands circumcision as a means employed by God to keep the Jewish people “pure” from mixing with Gentiles until the Messiah was born, and holds that God instituted the system of sacrifice so that the tribe of Levi could be supported and not have to work outside of their priestly duties.

Amos 6:12 in the Masoretic Text (MT) is a double rhetorical question (RQ), followed by an accusation against the Israelites’ behavior: “Do horses run on the rock(s)? Or does one plow with oxen? Yet you changed justice into poison and the fruits of righteousness into wormwood (v. 12).” However, ancient translations and numerous scholarly textual emendation proposals reflect that the verse is unclear. Moreover, a full understanding of Amos’s specific use of the RQ suggests that the present MT is corrupt. Using a rhetorical device to catch the audience’s attention, Amos presents a more emphatic judgment than if he had merely issued a declarative statement. Since Amos and the audience know the answers about animal behavior, he traps the audience into a deeper understanding of what Amos suggests in his follow-up about their behavior. Amos uses the RQ 18 times for his persuasion, with approximately 14 of these presented in pairs. Amos manipulates a basic pattern for his paired RQs that provides a model for the corrupt 6:12 and its host of proposed solutions. While realizing that Amos does employ variety in his writing, the six paired RQs in the book (not yet including 6:12a) demonstrate a high degree of internal parallelism for the semantic meaning of words used and slightly less so for sentence structure, yet the parallel questions always require the same answer (contrast 6:12a in MT). Understanding Amos’ use of parallelism within paired RQs supplies a set of parallelism and topical guidelines for solutions to 6:12aB. Of the solutions to be examined, the guidelines suggest Alan Cooper’s emendation best fits Amos’s usage of double RQs: “Do horses run on crags? Or does the wild ox plow in the valley (JBL 107 (1988), 727)?”

A workshop on teaching biblical languages points to an interest in getting better results and being more efficient than what is commonly attained with the current systems. The ultimate question is, "What works for learning a language?" One breakthrough has been made by Dr. Randall Buth. He has applied methods of language acquisition known to work in modern languages, to biblical languages, with exciting results. The Total Physical Response method (TPR) of teaching languages was developed by James Asher in the 60's and 70's with continuing worldwide acclaim, and verification of test studies. In TPR, students respond physically to spoken commands in the target language. This method mimics a child’s learning of his/her mother-tongue, bypassing the need for translation. Words learned through TPR are instantly comprehensible, and are retained in long-term memory. Grammar rules and structures are internalized, giving the student a sense of the language. When listening comprehension is solid, speech and reading follow naturally. Finally, grammar can be explained using words already known and understood. After eight years of teaching biblical Hebrew with TPR, I can highly recommend TPR as a near fail-free method. This presentation will briefly outline the theory of TPR and discuss how it is applied to biblical Hebrew, followed by a live demonstration of how it works in the classroom. As the method is teacher intensive, requiring his/her free manipulation of forms and events, some tips are helpful. One innovation is to have two "teachers" (e.g., a head teacher and a student aid) in order to optimize class time and enhance effectiveness. The live demo will include two teachers. TPR has a simple promise for teaching biblical Hebrew: students may obtain better results, more quickly, with less stress, and occasionally with fun and laughter.

In his book, From Sacred Story to Sacred Text (1987), James Sanders suggests that, although the Torah is comprised of both story and law, early Christians stressed primarily the story (narrative). In the contemporary era, biblical scholars who derive ethical principles from the Old Testament also tend to focus on the narrative portions of the Torah. This paper will explore the ways in which the ethical principles often identified become questionable when compared to specific biblical laws. After highlighting the challenges that biblical laws pose to the construction of ethical principles, the analysis will demonstrate why the parameters of ethical inquiry must include a consideration of the very process through which ethical principles themselves are obtained. Finally, alternative ethical principles, reflective of both law and narrative, will be proposed for a Christian context.

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This paper is an analysis of the problem of ‘social engagement’ in the practice of biblical and theological scholarship. In it I argue that the idea of ‘social engagement’ is not politically or ethically neutral so that the mere act of invoking it does not tell us anything about the ‘progressive’ or ‘regressive’ tendencies of a particular practice of scholarship. Since all forms of scholarship are necessarily socially engaged because all forms of scholarship are socially located, it is important to interrogated the normative character of any type of ‘social engagement’ in terms of its utopian presuppositions, its redemptive potential and transformative capabilities. I examine the work of Itumeleng Mosala in order to show how one variety of biblical/theological scholarship raises the problem of the relationship between theory and moral agency as hermeneutical categories that structure a particular mode of ‘social engagement.’ This mode of ‘social engagement’ is largely of an intellectualist sort because it bears no organic connection (other than positing one) to real concrete historical processes. Furthermore, Mosala’s work fails to raise the problem of how utopian claims for freedom and liberation can maintain at least some ethical independence from the totalizing constraints of social context. Thus it ends up advocating an entirely immanentistic ethic which reproduces the bourgeois assumptions which he seeks to dispose of in the first place. The paper suggests some ways of rethinking ‘social engagement’ through notions (borrowed from Michel de Certeau’s work) such as practice, strategy, structure and agency. These notions are already implicit in Mosala’s work and can thus be recouped to provide a basis for a more ethically and politically grounded notion of ‘social engagement’.

Strikingly unique to the Fourth Gospel is the call narrative of 1:35-51 where connections are established between Bethsaida, an enigmatic fishing village, and early followers of Jesus described as having their home there. Also integral to this narrative is the singular portrayal of John the Baptist as the first true witness to Jesus who subsequently is confessed as Messiah by one of John's followers. The threefold purpose of this study is 1) to examine the yet unexplored relationships between the locale of Bethsaida and reminiscences of Jesus' Bethsaida disciples; 2) to rethink the implications of conflict and change in the special relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus and their respective followers; and 3) to explore the type of tradition in which the Johannine call narrative is embedded. Here the aim is to clarify the transition from a substratum of orality to the distinctive final version of the Johannine written text. Independently attested in Q, John, (Mark), Josephus, and Pliny the Elder, Bethsaida is a location pivotal to the ministry of the historical Jesus. Central to this study is the interface between archaeology and text and the new information yielded by fifteen years of excavation at Bethsaida, a site unique for its complete accessibility to first century level investigation. Material finds from the still nascent project will be used to shed light on those formative factors that shaped the community and may help to explain why Bethsaida is given such prominence in the way the ministry of Jesus is remembered. Traces of an early oral tradition may be found in the call narrative with its cluster of Aramaisms and Bethsaida reference where select disciples are remembered in ways unparalleled in other Biblical traditions.

Recent books on Paul typically mention the two main protagonists in the Acts of Paul and Thecla in connection with developing notions of asceticism and celibacy—a trajectory that begins in earlier Greek and Jewish sources. Not as much discussed, however, is the role of Jewish literature on the portrayal of Thecla as a Christian heroine. Karasszon, in his article on “Heroism in the Acts of Paul and in the Bible,” makes some general observations, which he then relates most often to Samson, Elijah and Elisha. I propose to compare and contrast the scenes of Thecla’s ordeals with tales such as Joseph and Potipher’s wife (Gen 39), the three friends in the fiery furnace (Dan 3), Daniel in the lion’s den (Dan 6), The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews, and Susanna. Paul and Thecla are continually coming into conflict with figures holding political power, and Thecla, along with other women, shows strong leadership (Ann Graham Brock). This conflict also supplies the context for the tales mentioned above. To what extent do the settings, narrative plot lines, motifs and vocabulary found in these earlier stories influence the portrayal of Thecla? A close reading of the texts will reveal some striking correspondences, as well as significant variations and differences. The tales connected with Daniel seem especially relevant since the early Christian images we have of Thecla most often depict her in the fire or flanked by beasts (Cartlidge and Elliott). Finally, there has been a growing scholarly effort focused on the portrayal of biblical women in Second Temple literature (Bailey, Amaru, Schuller, Brown, and van der Horst). My investigation will attempt to relate my own literary conclusions to this larger body of ongoing work.

I will argue that Eutychus functioned as a negative example in the book of Acts for Luke’s earliest readers. To make my case, I will first establish that Luke draws attention to Eutychus’s sleep in this chiastic passage by placing two references to his sleep in the middle of the pericope (20:9). Second, I will demonstrate that “sleep” often functioned symbolically as a reference to distraction from important matters like the will of the gods in ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean texts. Here, I will cite relevant examples from texts such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, the Hebrew Bible, Homer’s Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, 1 Thessalonians, and the Acts of Paul. Moreover, I will show that sleep has a similar symbolic role within the Luke/Acts corpus (e.g., Lk 9:28-36, 22:39-46; Acts 20:28, 36). Finally, I will return to Acts 20:7-12 and argue that it would have been natural for Luke’s readers to interpret Eutychus’s sleep in a negative fashion given the role of sleep in the literature of antiquity. Hence, Eutychus serves as an example of what happens when young believers become inattentive to God and fall away from the worshipping community. As a result, Luke is imploring young believers to avoid the spiritual distraction of Eutychus and embrace the spiritual vigilance of Paul.

The theme of God’s presence with God’s people is pervasive in the Bible. The paper briefly examines the way both the Old and New Testaments employ this theme. The idea that God is with God’s people has often been transformed in American experience into “God is on our side.” The paper identifies three emphases common to many African American interpreters that challenge this American self image. First, the emphasis on praxis calls on the interpreter to examine the practical effects of one’s interpretation. The effects of “God is on our side” has often been American imperialism. Second, the identification of many interpreters with the one identified as “other” calls on the interpreter to examine God’s relationship with and care for those we label as “other.” Third, a hermeneutic of suspicion calls into question any interpretation that reinforces existing power relationships and favors the interests of the powerful.

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This paper seeks to assess the landscape of scholarship on wisdom and apocalypticism, in response to and on the basis of the publication of some of the work of this Group over the past ten years.

The rhetoric of war in the hands of the current Administration has made us all Culpabush. Turning the Sermon on the Mount on its head, following the prophet Joel and ignoring the peaceable visions of Isaiah (2:4) and Micah (4:3) , our profiteers preach a winner take all high-octane manifest destiny as the divine mission given to the United States. A powerful charge indeed, one that conflates politics, profits, and propaganda, and calls the result God’s pruning hook. The tool of propaganda is simple to wield: first, lay out the bare bones of an incident or event, such as the connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Ladin or the assurance of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. To this base, add a steady flow of repetition (called staying on message) and within a few media-soaked days, or weeks, the individual finds it difficult to stand back and form an independent judgment. This strategy is often referred to as unifying the country. The public biography of Bush gives extensive information about the faith-alcohol connection, touting the key to giving up alcohol as the new spirituality he had embraced. The perfect standard-bearer for pious politics, a sinner who was redeemed through Christ, Bush drank in the accolades from his supporters. Using the confessional mode became the center of his appeal to the Evangelical Right. From daily dipping in alcoholic spirits, Bush soaked himself in the revivalist spirit of his bottle-fed faith.

This paper introduces two course-embedded assessment techniques (CAT's) related to students’ prior knowledge. It demonstrates how utilizing such surveys can assist liberal arts’ faculty in our endeavor to introduce and meet a number of goals in an introductory Biblical Studies course. *They aid the students’ early articulation of what they understand the Bible to be; *They prompt students to consider the origins of their opinions/ beliefs; *They allow students to imagine and to see the religious diversity in the classroom and beyond; and *They have proven to be effective means of introducing how a course in biblical studies in the context of a liberal arts college classroom is different from a Torah- or Bible-Study. Presentation Style: I will present this paper in the form of a lecture-discussion. I plan to use PowerPoint, as described below, to demonstrate how I have incorporated student responses to the Pre-Course Survey into the lesson plans for the second and third days of class. I will, of course, welcome all input and feedback from the participants.

The final half hour of this session will be devoted to a general discussion of resources and strategies for teaching Biblical Hebrew.

An index often undermines careful reading and with a Bible index/concordance, verse-mining replaces contextual, narrative, or pleasure reading. Prooftexting can impede liturgical, theological, and allegorical reading. Since Bible readers have easy access to concordances, there is in our Bible reading world verse-mining with a vengeance. The Bible proves so many things when a prooftext passage provides evidence. It only takes turning to one concordance page or web site to look up something as mundane as “begat” in the Bible and find 228 listings in 142 verses including three Apocryphal citations. There is a lot of begatting in the Good Book. The longest continuously published index in history is the Bible Concordance, completed by Alexander Cruden, 1738. His compilation of the 773,746 words of the Authorized Bible is still in print and directs considerable Bible reading. It is more than looking at “begats.” Readers easily find often-preconceived correct attitudes toward grace, faith, works, war, killing, or the poor. Since Cruden’s Concordance has influenced Bible readers for centuries, it is helpful to understand his Bible reading. Involuntarily incarcerated for madness on three occasions, he applied for knighthood and stood for parliamentary election; he was frequently in court with lawsuits against tormentors; he aspired to become “corrector of the people,” reproving those who swore or violated the Sabbath. But he is even more interesting as a Bible reader who has set a pattern and provided a tool for prooftext reading that has persisted for over two and a half centuries. This paper relies on Cruden’s pamphlets, papers, and court cases. Using these primary sources, including a first edition concordance, it examines the way he read his Bible and tries to account for the influence of his Bible concordance on modern readers.

In the Apocalypse, chap. 12, John is subverting an Imperial visual representation. Yarbro Collins has shown that the myth in Rev 12 is closely connected with the related myths of Isis bearing Horus who is threatened by Seth and Leto giving birth to Apollo and Aphrodite threatened by Typhon. The paper argues that this myth was visualized in the Temple of Isis, in the market place, and in houses of Pompeii, but most important, in the so-called House of Livia on the Palatine in Rome: it was an imperial conflict myth. The paper draws close connections between the art of Rome/Pompeii and of the Asian Ephesus through the painters Apelles and Nikias, an Ephesian painter who painted the original of the Io/Isis in Livia's house. Cicero demonstrates the wide popularity of this visual Imperial conflict myth, which John is subverting in Rev 12.

It has long been one of the “established facts” of our guild that the bamoth (or “high places”) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible belonged to the spontaneous, “popular” sphere of religious life (“Ortsreligion”/“Lokalkultes” in the terminology used in Matthias Gleis’s 1997 monograph on Die Bamah). This “fact” rests upon three biblical texts: 1 Kgs. 3:2 (a statement that “the people” sacrificed at the bamoth until Solomon’s Temple was built), 1 Kgs. 14:22-24 (a statement that “Judah” built neo-Canaanite bamoth under Rehoboam), and 1 Sam. 9:1-10:13 (the account of the first meeting between Samuel and Saul at the bamah of an unnamed “city,” and the immediate consequences of that meeting). The first and third of these have been universally accepted as reflecting historical reality. Nonetheless, the credibility of these texts cannot be taken for granted for several reasons. Rather than accurately representing pre-Solomonic/early-monarchic realities, they more likely reflect realities of the later monarchy anachronistically applied to the earlier, only dimly remembered era.

This paper will explore different models of theological interpretation of the Old Testament with a view to concrete proposals about a way forward in recovering thick theological interpretation of the Old Testament today. Particular attention will be paid to the role of biblical theology, and the application of the Old Testament to public life. Throughout the paper will be exegetically grounded in Ecclesiastes and Proverbs.

After the Presidential election last year a map circulated on the internet overlaying “red states” and “blue states” on a pre-civil war map of states supporting slavery and those who had abolished it. The overlap was striking. Particular readings of biblical texts were promoted during the campaign. Examining the “biblical” rhetoric of public discourse from a feminist, anti-racist perspective, the paper explores connections between critical awareness of whiteness and various biblical hermeneutics. An alternate mapping of states of reading further includes urban-rural, male-female, as well as richer-poorer divides, raising questions as to the functions and implications of biblical interpretations among various publics.

In ancient Israel, lament was a type of prayer comprising formal elements that often included bitter complaint against God for the misfortune and distress at hand. Such lament occurred in the psalms and other, largely pre-exilic, types of prayer. In the second half of the past century, there arose among scholars the consensus that such lament ceased in Israel as a result of the Babylonian exile and theological developments in the wake of this catastrophe. Scholars today routinely speak of the “loss of lament.” During and after the exile, lament certainly underwent transformation that involved a degree of decline or diminution. Post-exilic developments involving lament, however, are complex and heterogeneous such that they cannot be subsumed under a single concept such as loss. There are alternative ways to document lament in the post-exilic period, and this paper presents one of them: lament as an influence that may be vestigial or proximate. An analysis of Isa 63:7–64:11 demonstrates that lament exerted a certain influence upon those responsible for this poignant prayer of penitence, and that the authors of this text adopted and adapted the classic lament for their composition. In their work, lament has not been lost. This paper questions the notion of lament lost by examining one prayer in which lament has been reconstituted, and in this sense regained.

The Edomites are coming! This Hebrew ostracon, from the Arad fortress, warns of an impending Edomite invasion. Dated from late seventh or early sixth century BCE, this dispatch testifies to the urgent threat Edom posed to Judah from the south. With the findings at Horvat 'Uza, Judah's hatred for Edom seems to come, at least partly, from Edomite presence in the territory of Judah prior to the destruction of the First Temple. Did the Edomites just watch during Judah's destruction by the Babylonians? Did they take advantage of the situation created by the exile of leadership in Jerusalem (Lamentation)? What became of the Edomites in the Second Temple Period? What level of hybridity might have happened prior to the Judaism of the Second Temple between and people of the land and the Edomites? Theologically, the Edomites/Idumeans are a problem for Second Temple Israel. Certainly they take on the role of "most hated" of the "other". But what did they do and can the material culture findings help with the theology of the "other" as these two peoples share space in the Persian period and beyond.

Commentators have noticed clear allusions to Gen. 1:27 in Col. 1:15 and 3:10. A very few commentators have noticed in passing that the language of “bearing fruit and increasing” in Col. 1:6 and 1:10 appear to refer to or echo Gen. 1:28. The problem with seeing a conscious allusion is that Colossians speaks of the “word” or “gospel” “bearing fruit and increasing” (v. 6) or “bearing fruit and increasing in knowledge” (v. 10), while Genesis 1:28 appears to speak differently: bearing fruit and multiplying” with respect to the proliferation of physical progeny. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the following things about Col. 1:6, 10: (1) that Col. 1:6, 10 do, indeed, make conscious allusion to Gen. 1:28; (2) that early Judaism interprets Gen. 1:28 both literally and “spiritually,” the latter in line with Paul’s perspective; (3) that the NT elsewhere and other early Christian texts repeatedly interpret Gen. 1:28 “spiritually;” (4) that the “spiritual” interpretation by Judaism, Paul, and other NT and early Christian passages appears to be rooted in Genesis 1-3 itself and in the use of Gen. 1:28 repeatedly elsewhere in the OT. The last observation would appear to indicate that Paul’s use of Gen. 1:28 is not “wildly spiritual” or “allegorical” but his attempt to express what he believes is the fuller original meaning of Genesis.

Excavators digging in the synagogue at Dura Europos uncovered human finger bones and teeth in cavities constructed under the door sills of each entrance to the building's main hall of assembly. Most historians have ignored the bones in their interpretations of the synagogue remains. Those few who have mentioned them assumed the bones were either a foundation deposit or some sort of reliquary. Both interpretations are used to suggest a degree of permeability in local Jewish practices, and significant influences from the religious practices of the surrounding community. This example highlights problems with using material remains to examine questions of centre and periphery in diaspora Judaism. Each assumes that artefacts and their decorations reveal information about the religious practices and beliefs of their patrons and users. However, architects, builders, and craftspeople also have an equal effect on the design and construction of artefacts, and many aspects which might be thought evidence of "open boundaries" might, instead, be evidence of the influence of non-Jewish builders. This paper will discuss the use of material remains in relation to questions of centre and periphery in diaspora Judaism and will suggest that the bones found at Dura Europos may have been put in the synagogue building without the knowledge of the Jews, perhaps as a curse against those using it.

In modern Jewish literature, the Akedah or "Binding of Isaac" has played an important role as a metaphor for the destructive power of misguided faith in the lives of contemporary Jews (Brown, 2001). In this paper, I shall argue that the theme of child sacrifice (e.g., Jephthah's Daughter, the crucifixion), along with other biblical motifs, plays a leading role in the works of several Canadian women writers as a metaphor for the destructive power of patriarchy in the lives of women and children. Works considered will include Adele Wiseman (The Sacrifice, Crackpot); Joy Kogawa (The Rain Ascends); Anne-Marie MacDonald (Fall on Your Knees, As the Crow Flies); Alyssa York (Mercy) and Edeet Ravel (Ten Thousand Lovers). References: Brown, Michael. "Biblical Myth and Contemporary Experience: The Akedah in Modern Jewish Literature." Judaism (2001) 99-111.

With the advent of computer databases of ancient Greek literary works, papyri and inscriptions, and archaic and classical texts and artifacts, hapax legomenon NT words such as authentein can be determined with greater ease and confidence. The literary database, TLG, has been explored but has failed to shed light on authentein in 1 Timothy 2:12. A search of non-literary databases produces quite different results. While authent-words appear quite regularly in Greek literature from the 6th century B.C. on, they first appear in non-literary materials in the first century B.C. and in such a way as to confirm the Old Latin and Vulgate dominari or "domineer." This combined with recent historical investigations of women in the Asian imperial cult and the cult of Artemis provide helpful insights into what led the author of 1 Timothy to pen chapter 2:11-15. They also provide helpful insights into what prompts modern translators to render authentein "exercise authority over" and "have authority over"--a meaning not attested until well into the A.D. 3rd and 4th centuries.

Tucked into Book IV of the Psalter is Psalm 102 that raises a variety of literary and theological issues. This paper will consier the poem's structure in its context in Book IV and related theological issues. The text explores the place of lament in an exilic context. The poem begins with a prayer characteristic of individual laments in the Psalter (vv. 2-12). The prayer uses intense physical imagery to describe personal suffering, taunting from enemies, and rejection by God. The poem's second movement (vv. 13-23) offers a prophetic vision of God's restoration of Zion. Underlying the poetry is a plea that God bring about the envisioned restoration. This description of the literary structure of verses 2-23 is the majority view of interpreters. The place of verse 12 in the description is, however, ambiguous. Its affirmation of the contrast between human transience and divine kingship may be the conclusion of the first movement of the psalm or it may be the beginning of the second movement and as such continue the plea from verses 2-11 in a heightened poetic voice. The paper will explore the place of poetic ambiguity in readings of the psalm. The concluding movement of the psalm (vv. 24-29) is a brief and muted reprise of the first two movements. The paper will explore how the conclusion of Psalm 102 is mirrored in the sequencing of the psalms in Book IV. Tied to its context in Book IV, one of the psalm's theological affirmations is the kingship of God. The poem offers ways of integrating individual and community and is among the church's seven penitential psalms. The concluding part of the paper will explore these theological issues embedded in the poem.

Through their reading and rereading of prophetic books, the literati, who constituted their primary target readership, developed and shaped images of a past and even past events. The world portrayed in some books, or at least vignettes of that world were unequivocal marked in terms of historical circumstances (e.g., Jer 25:1;26:1; Hag 1:1). But the worlds of the majority of the prophetic books did not present themselves to their intended and primary readerships as anchored in particular historical circumstances or events, except in very general terms (e.g., late monarchic period, the reigns of Jeroboam, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah) or none at all (e.g., Joel). The worlds of these books were construed as loosely marked in temporal terms or atemporal. They do not refer or tend to refer to particular events or historical figures. In fact, these books de-historicize the text and suggest to their target readership that knowledge of precise events and historical figures is of secondary importance, if at all, for understanding the divine messages communicated and shaped by the book.. Although even if still anchored in some conceptual realm associated with agreed memories of the past (e.g., Assyrian period; late monarchic), the worlds of these books edge into the realm of the atemporal or paradigmatic. This essay will examine both this tendency of de-historicizing present in most prophetic books, and the counter tendency present in some prophetic books to explicitly and emphatically narrow the freedom of temporal interpretation/imagination of their intended and primary readers to particular, narrow circumstances, even to the point of marking it to a precise day in their past.

In this paper I wish to reexamine some of the numerous problems facing whoever approaches the astronomical book of 1 Enoch (AB; chs. 72-82) and propose some new solutions. Three main points will be presented: 1. a reaffirmation of Milik's argument that the Ethiopic AB is an abridgement of the Aramaic 'synchronistic calendar' of 4Q208-209. the conceptual method of this abridgement will be studied closely. 2. to demonstrate that in its early stages of transmission, AB circulated not only in textual "copies", but also in reworked, expanded and abridged editions, just like other scripture in Qumran. 3. finally a new proposed thematic structure for the AB will be presented. I maintain Neugebauer's assertion that the Ethiopic AB includes two separate versions of the old composition. I take this line further, showing how each of the two versions contained a comprehensive cosmological treatise, covering the issues of: sun, moon, stars and weather. Several duplicates in AB will be given renewed attention for this purpose.

It is a well-known literary convention in the Hebrew Bible that the behavior of warriors who are about to lose a war can be compared to the behavior of women. During the history of interpretation, it has often been assumed that this comparison was applied to enemy warriors in order to belittle their valor. But why can this comparison also be applied to men belonging to one’s own people? This paper suggests that belittling the enemy was only a minor purpose of the literary convention. The texts that portray warriors as women have to be seen in the context of a larger group of texts that metaphorically compare the behavior of men in a life-threatening crisis to the behavior of women giving birth. As women’s lives are seen to be on the crossroads between life and death when they give birth, so men’s lives are on the crossroads between life and death when they are afflicted by war. This paper will discuss the applicable texts in three different groups: texts that feature the simile “like a woman in labor”, texts that compare warriors to women in general, and texts that only allude to the idea that warriors in severe crisis and women (in labor) can be compared by applying birth-specific vocabulary and imagery. Most texts discussed in this paper will be from the corpus of the Hebrew Bible prophets. It will also refer to a few Ancient Near Eastern texts that compare warriors in life-threatening situations and women giving birth.

In the Lament over Saul and Jonathan (2 Sam 1:19-27), the recurring clause, “`al bamotecha hallal (vv. 19, 25)” is typically translated with language such as “on your heights (or ‘your back’) a corpse.” However, it might also be read as “on your shrines (ie ‘high places’) profaned.” David’s qinnah is, in fact, replete with such cultic imagery. The cumulative effect of this suffusion is a powerful sacral undercurrent in an already evocative elegy. The sacred imagery, which has, for the most part, been overlooked in the scholarship, can be revealed through close attention to instances of polyvalence and paranomasia in the poem. A few examples are the anomalous expression “sde terumot” and the ambiguous verb “nig`al” in verse 21, along with the pairing of “dam” and “cheleb” in 22. The presentation will bring to light to several related themes in the Lament, including “War as Divine Imperative,” “Victory as Cultic Offering,” “Battlefield as Temenos,” “King as Divine Agent” and “Sanctification of Weaponry.” En passant, evidence for a late dating of the composition will be offered.

Considerable attention has been devoted to the technical use of the terms “nistarot” and “niglot“ in early Jewish writings. Deut 28:29, the source for the word pair, establishes a general legal context for their usage. Specific exegesis has developed in two directions, focusing upon either (1) access to esoteric halakhic knowledge or (2) legal culpability. In both Qumran literature and rabbinic writings, the word pair may distinguish between privileged recipients of special revelation, and those “have-nots” with more limited access to divine law. Both corpora also use the word pair in a more legalistic manner: to distinguish between deliberate and inadvertent sin at Qumran, and between overt and covert transgressions in rabbinic writings. Although Deut 28:29 is not explicitly cited in the book of Jubilees, it lies at the heart of Jubilees’ concern with extra-Sinaitic revelation of divine law, and the roots of both of the above interpretations can be found in this work. For example the problem of individual culpability is bound up with the issue of unfolding revelation in Jubilees’ sympathetic treatment of Judah and Reuben. The issue is particularly illuminated by an examination of the significance of karet in our sources. At Qumran, one is liable to be "cut off" from the Community for deliberate transgressions. The rabbis associate the punishment of karet with covert transgressions. In Jubilees, early figures are liable to be "cut off" in various ways for violation of known laws, but have allowances made for violations of hidden law. There is a distinct correlation between laws subject to "karet" and a heavenly depository of legal knowledge. Lastly, there is assurance that secret transgressors will be subject to divine retribution.

Are the commonly accepted ad sensum translations of the text “wove coverings for the Asherah” (II Kings 23:7 JPS) preferable to an ad verbum translation of the Masoretic text? This paper investigates the connection between Asherah and cult dwellings made of reeds. Utilizing Mesopotamian and Levantine iconographic and textual evidence, this study expounds on the connections between the Sumerian goddess Inanna, and the Levantine goddess Asherah. The evidence results in new proposals regarding the iconography of the Taanach stand and provides a practical framework for understanding the term battim as a reference to cultic dwellings.

George Kennedy’s rhetorical criticism has yielded, to date, an equivocal influence on interpretation of the Gospels. This paper will offer an examination and diagnosis.

Next to Jesus, Peter appears more often than any other narrated individual in the gospel of Matthew. His character has both been understood as a symbol of Christian leadership and as symbol of the Christian disciple. This all means that Peter’s subplot within the gospel of Matthew is important in determining the first evangelist’s message. Traditional interpretation has affirmed Peter's rehabilitation after his denial in this Gospel. This interpretation has come under fire by some recent commentators (namely Robert H. Gundrey and, Arlo J. Nau), who argue that Peter, at the end of the first gospel, has been either demoted (Nau) from his primary position or has turned from the faith altogether (Gundrey). If either of these readings were accepted, the implications for Matthew’s overall story are significant. This paper will argue that although there are some compelling elements in Gundrey and Nau’s argument, a traditional interpretation that rehabilitates Peter is more in keeping with the evidence found in Matthew. Nevertheless, a traditional interpretation will have to be nuanced somewhat to account for issues raised by Gundry and Nau.

What if David wrote the psalms tradition ascribes to him? What if each prayer could be connected with a moment or period of his life? Would that change our perception of his heart, mind and soul? For adults in a congregational setting, I designed a course integrating Psalms which tradition attributed to David with the narrative about him in 1 Sam 16 through 1 Kings 2. A variety of insights emerged from this hypothetical construction. This paper focuses on one example, what I call “descent into the valley of dark shadows.” Utterly alone, David hid in a cave at Adullam. A series of prayers reveal a downward spiral from desperation through suffering, illness, and hopelessness. After acknowledging human frailty David began to rise, asserting confidence in his own righteousness. He emerged with strengthened trust in YHWH and renewed belief he would become king. Modern notions of depression and hypergraphia (ala A. W. Flaherty) provide insight into this extraordinary biblical personality.

The point of departure of this presentation is an astonishing choice of words in Ezekiel’s Exodus tragedy Exagoge: In the beginning of the second fragment, Moses tells the audience that before his mother brought him back to the Egyptian princess, she „recounted everything and told me all about my ancestors and the gifts of God“ (verses 34-35). Remarkably, the word Ezekiel uses for „recounted“ is the verb mutheúein, which is used by Jewish (in particular Philo and Flavius Josephus) as well as Gentile authors (such as Euripides and Strabo) almost exclusively to describe the telling of fables and imagined stories or to delineate the plot of a myth. How can we understand Ezekiel’s surprising word choice, in particular given the context of Moses being instructed in the history of Judaism? This presentation will examine several examples of mutheúein in Greek literature in order to arrive at a fuller understanding of the Ezekiel passage. It will be shown that Ezekiel’s language usage situates itself within the tradition of Hellenistic tragedy, most closely aligned with the language of Euripides. The position occupied by the Moses story in the Exagoge is, in other words, similar to the position of a recounted myth in Greek tragedies. Moses’ mother tells her son - and Moses in turn tells the audience - the myth (or the fabula in an Aristotelian sense) of the Jewish people. At the same time, the Jewish tradition is never actually questioned: at least in the prologue Ezekiel adheres very closely to the text of the Septuagint and in the end, even the Egyptians are made to realize that they are helpless in front of the God of the Jews. Almost certainly staged in Alexandria, Ezekiel’s Exodus tragedy is a wonderful example of the negotiation of ethnic boundaries through a tactics of cultural convergence.

Recent work on the Book of the Twelve has consistently identified various sections of Haggai-Malachi as a corpus that existed prior to its incorporation into the Book of the Twelve. Many see Haggai/Zechariah 1-8 as an initial collection to which later (prior to inclusion and/or after inclusion in the Book of the Twelve) was added Malachi and Zechariah 9-14. This paper will investigate this corpus by interacting with past research and the text of these prophetic sections to argue that although each section in the corpus (Haggai, Zech 1-8, Zech 9-14, Malachi) displays an integrity of its own, the corpus as a whole is witness to a developing tradition, the resulting literature of which has been unified through a "messenger" leitmotif. This leitmotif, however, rather than signaling the end of prophecy (as argued by some) identifies the importance of prophetic, priestly and royal streams to the emerging hope for a heavenly visitation.

In The Dialogic Imagination, Mikail Bakhtin articulates his theory of pseudo-objective motivation by drawing on, among other works, Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens. This short paper has two parts. First, I will briefly survey Bakhtin’s theory of pseudo-objective motivation and his discussion of Little Dorrit. Second, I will then suggest that the notion of pseudo-objective motivation may illuminate certain aspects of 2 Samuel 3, an episode that features the assassination of Abner (commander-in-chief of Israel’s “northern alliance”) and King David’s apparent innocence. I will suggest that that key lines in this episode are 2 Samuel 3:36-37, where the crowd’s response to David’s elaborate mourning and funeral lament for Abner is given: “And all the people noticed, and it was good in their eyes; indeed, everything the king did was good in the eyes of the people. Thus all the people knew, even all Israel, on that day that it was not from the king to cause the death of Abner son of Ner.” My thesis is that not only does consideration of pseudo-objective motivation serve to illustrate the versatility of Bakhtin’s theory, but also has useful application in the analysis of this important stretch of biblical narrative.

Information visualization is an established computer technique for providing rich, typically interactive, visual presentations of complex multivariate data. In this paper we present several visualizations of the Gospels texts, focusing on the length and overlap (or lack thereof) of their various accounts. The fundamental data comes from Composite Gospel Index (http://www.semanticbible.org/cgi/cgi-overview.html), a unified index and alignment of the pericopes in the four canonical Gospels, expressed in the Resource Description Framework (RDF), an XML-based language for representing meta-data. The Composite Gospel Index as the underlying data source will be briefly introduced, followed by several live visualization examples based primarily on treemaps, a "space-filling visualization" that uses size and color to effectively show complex relationships, developed by Ben Shneiderman of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory at the University of Maryland. Our claim is that treemaps are a novel and useful tool for investigating textual overlap within the Gospels.

In "Luke-Acts: The Whole Story" (soon released by Eerdmans), I argue that witnesses in Acts neither add nor subtract a thing from the Way of salvation taught by Jesus, as represented in Luke's gospel. The narrator provides four hinge points ("hearing clues") in early Acts: (1) a paralleled preface, with an echo of "instruction"; (2) prefatory instruction regarding "the kingdom" (Acts) has been summarized in the most crucial of all hinge-points, the paralleled last-words speeches which challenge witnesses to teach "these things": (summarized by summary-word, "repentance") and the divine imprimatur (summary-word, "resurrection") on God's Chosen, Messiah, and on his teaching of the Word (resurrection); and the Holy Spirit, whose coming is critical for salvation, for empowerment to do the heard word (Lk 24:45-49; Lk 11:13, anticipatory for Holy Spirit). (3) The paralleled departure scenes-end of Luke's gospel, beginning of Acts-emphasizes a role of the witnesses that parallels that of their Lord: they are empowered by the descent of the Holy Spirit as was Jesus. Departure makes possible descent, and carrying on. (4) The narrator's insistence on beginning Acts with concern for the twelfth apostle reiterates from the gospel the key role of Israel, saved Israel, "servant Israel" (Lk 1:54) in bringing the blessing of salvation to all peoples (Acts 3:25). Luke's gospel and Acts might be "a single continuous work" (Henry Cadbury); what my formalist reading/hearing provides is pattern recognition, the extent to which Acts depends on Luke's gospel for its meaning--correcting reductionist views of Acts: as a "history of the church" (Talbert); a playing-out of "divine necessity" (Mark Reasoner); an interpretation of the cross and salvation that goes beyond the so-called "ethics" of the teaching of Jesus (C.K. Barrett). Formalist viewing patterns: I conclude with speeches of Peter (7) and Paul (7) for "these things": "repentance," "resurrection."

In the recent past this story has been examined from a variety of feminist perspectives that assign patriarchal power to Elisha and female subversiveness to the Shunamite, finally put in its place by the prophet. My examination of the narrative calls into question an understanding of Elisha as the representative of patriarchal power by destabilizing his character and by raising the possibility of at least an initial absence of resources and by a recognition of need on the part of the "man of God." This absence and lack compare to a presence of resources on the part of the Shunamite, including the right to exercise "sexual hospitality." The narrator chose not to openly discuss the nature of the relationship between the main actors in the story but left behind a number of clues about its true character through phrasing and use of symbol. By following these clues one may arrive at a more complex interpretation of both Elisha and the Shunamite than otherwise possible.

The issue of quality is rooted at the heart of Bible translation practice, but the author shows that definitions of quality are extremely diverse and continuing to emerge. The author interacts with the commonly accepted tenets of accuracy, clarity, and naturalness, commenting particularly on how perceived inaccuracy can sabotage public reception of a translation. Reflections on the phenomenal reception and sales of The Message cause us to consider the place of quality (and resulting acceptability and usability) vis-à-vis a pragmatically expressive translation. Moving from theory to practice, the author outlines curent trends in promoting good quality translations, noting training materials for mother tongue translators which are under development and tools for accessing contextual information. The paper concludes with a brief summary of key points made on this overall theme at the Bible Translation 2005 conference, held in Dallas in October. The author particularly notes issues related to the impact of quality upon on-going work in lesser-spoken languages of the world.

The History of Melchizedek in the Slavonic Tradition

While engaged in my current research on byzantine hagiographical documents related to Stephen, the first Christian martyr, I discovered in a menologion a Greek fragment of six pages with the title “[Extracted] from the Acts of the saint apostle Peter.” It narrates the story of a confrontation of Peter, on his way to Azot, with seven demons and the apostle’s victory over them in which he forces his opponents to manifest their demonic identity that is hidden by an angelic appearance. The goal of my paper will be to present the fragment, to analyze its content, to evaluate the possibility of it being a section of the lost first part of the Acts of Peter and finally to compare it with a similar episode preserved in Arabic and in Ethiopic.

The opening chapters of Hosea, positionally and rhetorically, set a tone and a rhythm for the whole Book of the Twelve, especially if the final editor of the BT strategically ordered the prophetic books that follow Hosea around a cluster of key terms that are based in Hos 1-3. Thus, a reading strategy emerges, which when discerned clarifies the rhetorical function of the Hosea prologue as a guide for reading the book of the Minor Prophets together. Incorporating recent work by Odil Hannes Steck, emphasizing the intrinsic “reading directions and reading paths” supplied by the BT itself, and by William Schniedewind regarding the most plausible periods for the formation of biblical textuality, literacy, and preservation, this paper argues for a simpler model of composition, redaction, and editing for the BT compliant with internal rhetorical clues within the BT itself and with external evidence for the development of writing and reading within the social history of ancient Israel.

The Book of Joel offers an excellent example of a text with a major focus on Earth Community. Joel 1-2 contains not only some of the clearest articulations in biblical literature of the voice of non-human creation, but it also issues a call for humans to identify with the rest of Earth Community. Nevertheless, most studies on Joel center on the common anthropocentric questions, e.g.: What is the historical crisis at hand bearing upon the human community? Why are humans being punished by the demise of their land, cattle and crops? While the book does indeed address the human community, a careful reading of Joel 1-2 reveals that the non-human community plays a major role here. Nature is presented as a model of the proper response to Earth Community's crisis at the hands of God. Joel admonishes humans because they have failed to identify and join with the mourning chorus of the rest of Creation. This lack of human identification and response seems to jeopardize the entire Earth Community. When humans finally do join with the rest of the mourning Creation, the entire Earth Community will be responding properly. God, in turn, will then act on behalf of this Earth Community – land, plants, animals, and humans. The current study will show how this human identification with mourning nature is found elsewhere in the Bible and in literature from Israel’s neighbors. It will also demonstrate that humans sometimes engaged in this mourning in imitation of nature without knowing the reasons behind the demise of Earth Community — as is apparent in Joel.

Some commentators say the Book of Job, part of the biblical genre called Wisdom Literature, presents a biblical perspective on suffering. Others see it as an internal biblical correction to retribution theology. Some argue that the righteous suffer without an adequate explanation from God. Wisdom Literature, however, looks at life from a long-term perspective. It bases success on right speaking, right relationships, and right actions. These principles hold true in Job. Wisdom Literature shows how to achieve a stable and successful life. Its keynote principles include the following: *Wisdom is a teachable, acquired skill *Wisdom's pursuit must be ongoing throughout life *Someone of Greater import teaches someone of lesser standing *The fear of the Lord enlarges one's understanding of God and life When God starts speaking to his servant Job in Chapter 38, God follows his own agenda. For example, God takes delight in outlining details of his creation. By sharing his thoughts with Job, he invites this righteous sufferer also to enjoy creation's wonders. Via his monologue, God puts in perspective Job's difficulties and hardships. God teaches Job. Significantly, God's agenda serves as an answer that satisfies Job. Throughout the book, Job grows as a character. He increases in wisdom. Arguably, he experiences joy in repentance (42:3, 6) and obedience (42:8, 10). Blessings and restoration come only after his wisdom lesson. He expresses awe and worship, clearly goals of Wisdom Literature. For Job, knowing God more deeply and hearing his voice bring this upright man joy. Amazingly, there is much space for joy in Job.

I show a relationship between identity and ethics in Galatians by appropriating (1) philosophical approaches to identity of Charles Taylor, Paul Ricoeur, and Immanuel Levinas, (2) feminist perspectives on identity of Mary McClintock Fulkerson, Iris Marion Young, and Manuela Kalsky, and (2) social identity theory. Paul invests in building up the identity of the Galatians. At the heart of this identity is a relationship with God expressed by the verb dikaioo in 2:16 and by the fictive kinship of parent and child, the latter in relationship both to Abraham and God and to each other (offspring and siblings). In 2:16 Paul is concerned with how human beings stand in a relationship with God. One basic meta-ethical question is how ethical judgments can be justified. For Paul, the issue is more radical: How can a human being be justified? Justification is not dependent on ethical action but on a relationship with God. That is, Paul enters the discussion about justification at a meta-ethical level. Justification is the presupposition, source, conviction, and power for ethics. This plays out in two ways. (1) Paul judges that the behavior of Cephas, Barnabas, and other Judeans who withdrew from eating with Gentiles in Antioch is condemnable (2:11-14) on the basis of the way human beings are justified (2:16). (2) Paul moves from the way human beings are justified (2:16) to persuade the Galatians of their identity as God’s offspring and Abraham’s heirs. This identity includes being empowered by a dynamic relationship with the Spirit in 3:5 and a dynamic relationship with God in 5:16 expressed as living by the Spirit. This dynamic relationship with God is the source for the behavior of the Galatians (5:22-23).

This paper argues for understanding the Psalms of Lament as performance: linguistic acts able to put into force a state of affairs that did not exist before their ritualized utterance. A "ritual sampler" comparing funerary rites described in Genesis 50 ("the days of weeping" over the death of Jacob) and that of the Dagara Tribe (Burkina Faso) will underscore the performative power of ritualized communal lament. Far from being "magical," such use of the Lament Psalms suggests a certain healing power made available through the social constellation between readers and the text, between the Divine and the text, between people and the Divine. Special attention will be given to particular Psalms that speak of the borderland between life and death (e.g., Ps. 88).

Ancient Near Eastern lament texts such as the Laments for Damu and the Lament for the city of Ur contain the element of cursing the day that also appears in Job 3. Together with other patterns of resemblance between biblical and non-biblical laments, this element suggests the presence of widely-shared literary and perhaps cultural conventions for curses and laments over death and defeat. The question addressed in this paper is how to understand the relationship between cursing the day in the pre-biblical lament texts and in Job 3. By cursing the day of his birth, Job challenges core biblical values of procreation and divine creation. It has even been argued that Job 3 follows a step-by-step curse on the creation story of Genesis 1. Other commentators have observed how Job 3 strains against literary conventions by merging genres and issuing surprises. Through analysis of the literary elements of Job 3 in canonical context, I will show how Job 3 shapes and mixes elements of curse and lament tradition. This paper will thus argue that literary innovation in Job 3 turns the curse of the day into a reflexive model of tradition that includes but does not reduce to the powerful speech of lament and cursing.

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Using a social-spatial mode of analysis based on the theoretical work of Robert D. Sack, this study will describe and defend a fresh classification of the ancient public-private spectrum. This classification draws upon a wide survey of extant literary material with special focus on Plutarch's "Precepts of Statescraft" and book IV of the "Life of Apollonius" by Philostratus. It will also be grounded in excavated archaeological realia from Pompeii, Palestine, and Ephesus. This study demonstrates that Luke 18:35-19:48 functions as a microcosm of the preceding material in the gospel and a transition into the passion narrative. In addition, this section of Luke's gospel contains 4 representative scenes that make it ripe for social-spatial analysis: Jesus performing a miracle on a road, Jesus encountering welcome and opposition in a city, Jesus teaching in a house, and Jesus travelling with his disciples. The proposed classification of public and private space in the Greco-Roman world will be applied in the exegesis of this representative section of Luke's gospel in order to show how the author has emphasized the unofficial public sphere and local politics in his particular portrayal of Jesus.

The surviving fragments of Clement of Alexandria's Hypotyposeis reflect the theology and practices of the "elders" – Jewish Christian teachers of earlier generations, among which an important place is held by Pantaenus. Underlying all of Clement's theology (doctrine of God, theory of prophetic inspiration, ecclesiology, ascetic theory) we find in these works a strictly hierarchical cosmology, featuring, in descending order, the Face, the seven first created angels, the archangels, finally the angels. This type of hierarchical cosmos is widely disseminated in Jewish and Jewish-Christian texts such as the 2 Enoch, Ascension of Isaiah, or the Epistula Apostolorum. Yet, Clement's account is problematic in that it seems to incorporate a contradiction. One set of texts (Excerpta 10, 11, 27) presents a cosmic hierarchy having at its top the seven protoctists, endowed with an eternal perfection "from the moment of their creation," who function as "high priests" of the archangels, just as the archangels are "high priests" to the angels, and so forth (Excerpta 27:2). In a second set of texts (Eclogae Propheticae 56-58), Clement interprets this process of initiation as a continuous ascent on the cosmic ladder, marked by a millennial "upgrading" from archangels to angels of the face, from angels to archangels, and from humans to angels. My paper will be setting out the principles governing Clement's hierarchical cosmos, and will propose a solution to the apparent contradiction between the two accounts. In essence, Clement of Alexandria internalizes the cosmic ladder and the associated experience of ascent and transformation, offering an early example of what scholars have termed "interiorized apocalyptic."

The paper focuses on the differences in the manuscript traditions of Ezek 28:12. In 1954 G. R. Driver concluded in a major article that the LXX version is the product of a misreading of toknit, perfection, as tabnit, pattern. Driver’s arguments have since been followed by subsequent analyses of Ezek 28:12. The primary purpose of the present paper is to evaluate critically Driver’s findings. What Driver did not address is the meaning and the viability of the LXX “misreading.” Did anything in the ideological context of LXX probably even influence and solicit this interpretation? Moreover, if such incubative ideological context for the LXX version did exist in the first half of the Second Temple period, can it not be traced back to the time of Ezekiel? Could it not very well be that it is not the eyes of the translator to blame for the LXX version, but rather the eyes of the author himself? Ultimately Driver’s arguments do not prove the priority of the MT version over the LXX, but rather clarifies the connection between them, which is either way a misreading, subconsciously inoculated and innocuous ideologically or not. An analysis of early post-exilic ideologies will evince a shift from the preexilic theology surrounding the cult statue of YHWH in the First Temple. With the First Temple and its statue no longer extant, the presence of YHWH in the sacred space had to be reinterpreted. In a profoundly liturgical mentality the statue of YHWH is replaced in functions, namely in its value as physical presence and iconic representation of YHWH, by a new theophoric concept, kabod, and a new theomorphism, Adam. The present paper argues that the LXX version of Ezek 28:12 reflects, concomitantly or not, synchronically or diachronically, this early post-exilic shift in Israelite ideology.

The current study aims to identify the determining factors in the formation of social boundaries between Jewish groups in Judaea following the quelling of the Judaean revolt in 70 C.E. Conventional historiography of this period has yielded a scenario wherein the sectarian composition of pre-70 Jewish society ceded to a program of homogeneous reorganization, reevaluating prior secatian ideologies for the benefit of a Jewish people whose former social fragmentation had recently played a role in the deleterious campaign against Rome. While the failure of the revolt provided adequate grounds for a general reevaluation of the notion of religious and political factionalism, it is the position of the author that the disaster likely did not radically alter the social behavior of the individual sectarians. Those sectarians who had been active participants in the broad social canvas of pre-70 Judaea would have had little trouble integrating with the homogeneous provincial society of post-70 Judaea. However, the Essenes, who had famously removed themselves from the broader Jewish populace during the late Second Temple era, would have encountered manifold difficulties in the process of social integration. Whereas Pharisees and Sadducees would have had to make significant ideological concessions to social homogeneity, Essenes would have had to undertake a far more radical program involving behavioral reform as well. Such concession would have included migration to urban environments, adoption of new modes of diet and dress, and neglect of their idiosyncratic standards of ritual purity and communal organization. Factors such as these likely discouraged many Essenes from complete integration with the homogeneous post-70 Jewish society known to the rabbis, thus providing a formidable demographic basis for the continued occurrence of post-70 Jewish groups noted for operating outside of the bounds of perceived normative Jewish society.

This paper will address the usefulness of the category of “the family” from the perspective of the study of early Christian asceticism and of the general ascetic tendency of early Christianity itself. Erotic and pedagogical cultures, for example, had arguably always existed in some tension with “family values” in many periods and parts of ancient Mediterranean society. Ascetic practice may be seen to have participated in and intensified cultural ambivalence toward the familial, even as it also not infrequently presented itself as a revision (rather than simply a repudiation) of the familial, with particularly significant implications for reconfigurations of gender and sexuality. Of interest here, then, are the ways that Christian ascetic practices and social formations, especially in their erotic and pedagogical dimensions, interact with and complicate models of “family,” both ancient and contemporary.

The demonic Legion possessing the man who lives among the tombs in Mark 5:1-20 seems to be a transparent allegory of resistance to Roman imperialism. Jesus' expulsion and destruction of Legion would place him in opposition to Roman imperial power (i.e., the Roman "legions"), which Mark's story literally demonizes by portraying as a horde of devils. Yet this pericope's representation of Rome is actually far more ambivalent than that. The pronouns with which Legion refers to itself are unstable: they shift ungrammatically from singular to plural throughout the story (see 5:10, 11, etc.), drawing attention to the fact that Rome, like the demoniac Legion here representing it, was, to use a Bakhtinian category, polyphonic, speaking with different voices. While some voices were undoubtedly cacophonous, others were appealing indeed, as imperial ideological literature and propaganda of the period amply demonstrate. Since the demoniac Legion, like the Rome it represented, was not monolithic, Jesus' attitude toward Legion cannot be straightforward. Therefore, while Jesus does cast the spirit(s) out, he also mercifully grants their final request not to expel them from the country they occupy, but rather to allow them to enter a nearby herd of swine (5:10-13). Jesus' action can be variously interpreted, but at one level at least it demonstrates his compassion for Legion. Jesus' ambivalent response to Legion, which involves condemnation in dialogue with sympathy, emblematizes Mark's dialogic representation of Roman imperial power throughout the gospel, especially in Jesus' trial and crucifixion (ch. 15) and in the controversy about paying taxes to Caesar (12:13-17), both of which I shall also discuss.

The terms Topic and Focus refer to linguistic features of discourse that encode instructions for the reader-listener to facilitate the effective communication of the intended message. While the precise semantics and pragmatics continue to be debated within linguistics, their affect on the syntax of languages, like Biblical Hebrew, is easier to identify: they often result in the 'fronting' of the constituents which carry the Topic or Focus. However, discerning whether a given constituent at the front of a BH clause has been fronted because it presents a Topic or Focus presents challenges for a reader. In addition, questions may arrive as to whether every fronted constituent is marked and representing a pragmatic function, how to distinguish them, and the scope or functions of Topics and/or explicit Subjects within a larger discourse..These two papers will use the text of Ruth and Jonah [also Judges 6 and 13] to present contrasting analyses, Randall Buth (VSO) and Robert Holmstedt (SVO), in order to illustrate best the implications of each position for the analysis of BH discourse-pragmatics and syntax.

The study of Israelite religious discourse as manifested in biblical literature is properly undertaken as part of the larger question of religious discourse as a human phenomenon. Central to the discussion is the question of myth, which has been fiercely debated and vigorously reexamined by scholars across a wide range of disciplines for well over a century. Much of the recent discussion of myth within biblical studies has proceeded along lines of investigation which construe myth as genre-an approach driven largely by the positive results of anthropological and folklorist research. This paper endeavors to continue the re-examination of the term "myth" and its use as a conceptual tool for the study of Israelite religion and thought. It will do so both by pointing out limitations of the genre-based approach and by invoking judicious appeal to the "necessary fiction" approach, which frames "myth" with respect to the fictive aspect of all mental activity. Toward this end, this paper will focus upon Genesis 18-a passage in the patriarchal narratives, often treated as saga-and its seemingly deliberate ambiguity in depicting the divine presence encountered by Abraham. Insofar as recent discussion of the patriarchal narratives typifies the state of the question in biblical studies, the text provides a useful focal point for reflection on the question for biblical studies and for the broader debate. The paper will argue that the employment of ambiguity in this setting is instructive with regard to certain intellectual contours of the question. Further, it will argue that an examination of the language of this particular account might fruitfully be incorporated into the broader effort to clarify the terminological issues of the debate and to advance the prospects for a new phase of resolution.

The iconic song of the 1960s – "The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music" – conveys an insight that is affirmed both by numerous texts of the Hebrew Scriptures and by contemporary scientific theories. Moving beyond the human self as the centre of existence (Bede Griffiths) to recognise that "in creation all things are related" (Bruce Birch) assists our identification with Earth and all of her creatures. No longer can humans stand over against Earth as if their actions had no impact upon her. Nor can Earth any longer be regarded as an inert object impervious to violence, whether inflicted by God or by humankind. Every human activity makes an impact on the environment, and ethics for sustainable existence need urgently to be clarified. This paper will consider what can be learnt from the identification of Earth as Mother by the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa-New Zealand and their genealogies which link humankind with all aspects of creation. Among some Maori lethal combat was abolished and an egalitarian social structure reflected harmonious adaptation to their environment. There are important implications for our reading of the biblical text.

The Moralized Bibles prepared for the French royal family in the 13th century contrasted visual images and texts from scripture with “moralizations” from contemporary life. This paper indicates that the choice of biblical narratives and the invention of the moralizations demonstrate an agenda on the part of the makers that may be characterized by the philosophical mode of paraenesis, an exhortation to engage in or refrain from a particular behavior. Textual and visual evidence suggests an origin for these bibles at the Augustinian foundation of Saint-Victoire, home to a number of celebrated monks/schoolmen including Hugh, Richard, and Andrew. Their program in the Bibles includes both the promotion of moral action by their monarchs and the encouragement of royal protection for philosophy, embodied by an extensive visual narrative of the Levite’s Concubine (Judges 19), at a time when Parisian philosophers were suspected of heresy by the University.

This paper explores how biblical texts use various concepts of a "married female self" to develop constructs of "faithful people" and "faithful selves" (or their unfaithful counterparts). The distinctive aspects of these biblical portrayals are highlighted by comparing and contrasting them with other constructions of women as "lover" and/or "wife" in the Semitic and Greco-Roman worlds. Such diversity is found within the Bible itself, e.g. the picture of a woman as unmarried lover advanced in the Song of Songs, in contrast to the focus on married women, prostitutes, and other female roles elsewhere. This latter construction of the woman as "lover" has much in common with "sacred marriage" and related non-biblical texts, while the biblical constructions of woman-people as "wife" have much in common with treaty rhetoric where vassals were called upon to assume a female-like role vis-a-vis their imperial ruler. As we move to the New Testament, the inter-texts for constructions of the religious people or individual as female shift. In the Roman world, legal constructs of "married women" tended to focus on the virginal purity of a prospective bride (and protection of the virtue of the married woman). Philosophical constructs varied between Stoic idealizations of (pseudo-)companionate marriage as a foundation of the ordered society and Cynic critiques of male marital attachments as distractions from the pursuit of philosophy. These cultural streams may provide an important context for emphases in the New Testament on the church as the virginal bride of Christ and the arguments, particularly in Paul, for the implications of this conceptuality for the bodily sexuality of female and male believers.

This paper examines the literary function of references to Egypt in the book of Ezekiel in light of the relationships between Egypt, Judah, and Babylon at the time of the text's production. This paper will be available on line prior to the meeting, and will only be summarized at the meeting.

The early twelfth-century porch, or galilee, of Burgundy's Mâcon cathedral enshrines a Last Judgment sculpture based only in part on the Gospel of Matthew and Revelation. Close-up photographs reveal narrative details not present in the texts, remarkably enough equating the cathedral with Heaven, its clergy with the Electors, and its adherents with the eternally Blessed. Reflexive imagery is unusual in Romanesque art, signaling an urgent local need to change people's perceptions of reality. Mâcon's cathedral clergy needed to reclaim social and spiritual authority lost to the increasingly prominent abbey of Cluny. To better understand how their visual exegesis of the Last Judgment helped satisfy the need to redefine spiritual leadership for the diocese, I employ principles of Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. The reflexive visual details mentioned above, and others, draw the viewer's attention to the "otherness" of the galilee's central message. Roman-like architectural forms introduced at Mâcon echoed Christ's own physical surroundings, "fusing the horizons" of medieval and Early Christian worship. The continuing meaning of the Mâcon Last Judgment lies not only in its testimony to the lability of ecclesiastical hierarchy in the High Middle Ages, but in its compelling statement of spiritual and social self-determination.

Scholarship has long held that there is no polemic against El in the Old Testament, and for all purposes that is practically true. In this paper I will propose however that the book of Hosea is one of the few places in the Old Testament where evidence for this transition from El to Yhwh worship can be found. In much of chapter 2, Hosea is intent on showing unfaithful Israel that they suffer from a case of mistaken identity: it is not Baal who provides fertility, but it has been Yhwh all along who has provided the grain, the wine, and the oil (2:8). This paper will attempt to show that when Hosea turns his attention to the cult at Bethel, he has a similar agenda, namely to proclaim that the God of the ancestor Jacob is not El but is rather Yhwh. This paper focuses primarily on a difficult and long controversial text in Hosea 12:5a: wysr ’l ml’k wykl, normally translated along the lines of “He strove with the angel and prevailed.” An investigation into the history of the text suggests that in all probability ml’k is a later addition to the text and that the MT’s preposition ’l was originally not a preposition at all but the divine name El. I conclude that in vv. 4-5 Hosea is in all probability quoting directly from a “Bethel liturgy” that celebrates Jacob’s meeting with El; my reconstruction of 5a reads wysr ’l wykl, “but El played the prince and prevailed.” But Hosea is intent on teaching Israel the true identity of the God of Jacob: “Yhwh is the God of Hosts, Yhwh is his Name!” (12:6)

This paper considers the relevance of scholarly discussions of the processes of "Romanization" in other parts of the Empire (e.g., Western Europe, the United Kingdom, and North Africa) for the investigation of the Romanization of Palestine. Topics to be addressed include: the different approaches of recent major studies of the Roman East, such as those by Fergus Millar and Warwick Ball; various models used to understand Romanization (accommodation, assimilation, "veneer" or "overlay," etc.); ways in which material culture might reflect local resistance to imperial power; the significance of regional variations; and suggestions of how the insights of these studies might shed light on archaeological evidence from Palestine, especially numismatic images, artistic decoration of lamps, and inscriptions.

A review of some references in the OTP and NT to Jerusalem and an exploration of ways archaeological discoveries over the past 40 years have enriched our understanding not only of pre-70 Jerusalem but also of asides to it that have often been missed by experts on the history of Second Temple Judaism.

Can the nomina sacra in canonical, apocryphal, and unidentified gospel papyri shed any light on the comparativetransmission of Christian gospels in the second century? The nomina sacra system standardised by the second century and found in the earliest papyri may represent a nascent Christian creed with Palestinian Jewish Christian origins. Perhaps the differentiation between secular and sacred terms was too complex to have been rightly used by ordinary scribes without official directive, so writings containing the nomina sacra may have been viewed as authorised and authoritative. Can the papyri support such a contention? If so, there are implications for present trends in text-critical scholarship

Does a study of the two women as Canaanites have anything to offer an analysis of Matt 15:21-28? Literary analyses have focused on the mother’s persistence and self-denigration. These analyses have at times contrasted her responses to Jesus to those of the Roman centurion (8:5-13). Still others have noted that the Canaanite mother marks the peak of increased involvement of women in Matthew’s narrative, even though the silence of women during the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000 is overlooked. In most of these studies, her conversation with Jesus marks the turning point of Jesus’, or at least the gospel writer’s, admission that the Christian community must include Gentiles, a position up to this point only implied. In addition, analyses have examined the power relations represented in the text to explain the woman’s words as defiance towards Jesus. The mother and her demon-possessed daughter, however, are not mere Gentiles; they are Canaanites, a factor not given much attention in these exegetical studies. As Canaanites they represent the epitome of everything despicable: sodomy, bestiality, idolatry, and especially child sacrifice (Lev 18:21-23, 20:3; Deut 12:31, 18:10-13; 1 Kings 11:7; 2 Kings 16:3, 21:6). Yet, this woman is foremost concerned not about child sacrifice but about ending the suffering and pain of her child through the relinquishment of the demon within her daughter’s body, even if it means that she must experience Jesus’ disinterest and verbal abuse. This paper will explore and examine the images and characteristics of Canaanite religion that could have been familiar to Matthew’s community and the manner in which the author dismisses these features so that the two Canaanite women are helped but nevertheless remain outsiders.

An unnamed river flows from a mountain in Eden to water the Garden (of Eden) in Gen 2:10-14, which becomes four "heads" (i.e., rivers): Pishon, Gihon, Hiddeqel and Euphrates. This paper explores various attempts to identify these rivers, including those based on ancient cosmology and mythology where the rivers are interpreted symbolically. The paper includes a new approach in which the main river is understood as the alphabet and the four river-heads as four different ways the alphabet is used symbolically in the Tanakh. The paper includes a logoprosodic analysis of Genesis 2, which demonstrates that the story of the four rivers is the structural center of that chapter. As time permits, we will also explore the nature of the two special trees in the Garden of Eden, as presented in Genesis 3.

Hagar and Ishmael in the biblical narrative are often ignored by biblical interpreters because they are usually understood as minor characters within the story. However, reading Gen. 21:8-21 and Gen. 22:1-19 in light of each other shows that Hagar and Ishmael are heroic figures, not secondary figures. As the narrator carefully selects the words to draw out the parallels between Gen. 21:8-21 and Gen. 22:1-19, narrative linkage between these accounts encourages the first-time reader to understand the two accounts together rather than as separate unrelated accounts. The purpose of this paper is not merely to investigate the parallel elements between Gen. 21:8-21 and Gen. 22:1-19 but to explain the significance of this narrative linkage between the two accounts in narrative context. Striking narrative connectedness exists between Ishmael and Isaac, between Hagar and Abraham. The narrative linkage between Gen. 21:8-21 and Gen. 22:1-19 clearly indicates that Hagar and Abraham are narratively bound together as parents who have to see the life-threatening trial of their sons. It also shows that Isaac and Ishmael are narratively bound together as treasured sons of Abraham who have to go through the life-threatening ordeal that is caused by Abraham obeying God’s commands. The narrator intentionally portrays Hagar and Ishmael’s suffering in the wilderness as equally significant as Abraham and Isaac’s suffering on the mountain of Moriah. Through many parallels between Gen. 21:8-21 and Gen. 22:1-19, the narrator portrays Abraham not as the father of only Isaac but as the father of both Isaac and Ishmael.

In this paper I wish to take the measure of the position that the Eucharistic prayers of Didache 9 + 10 are based on the Birkat Ha-Mazon, and certain other Jewish prayers. The theory has taken on the status of a consensus. There have been dissenting voices, but authors of the newest commentaries on Didache do not challenge the consensus. Prior to the parallel column examination of the Didache prayers and their reputed Jewish sources, I will examine different methods by which dependency can be asserted or rejected. After demonstrating that the prayers in Didache 9 + 10 do not meet the criteria for dependency on the Jewish prayers usually named, I will suggest alternative sources from the Gospel of Matthew and other Jewish prayers, which come closer to meeting the criteria.

During the Renaissance, the story of Susanna was disseminated through many aesthetic means. One of the most successful ways in which the story was conveyed to the masses was through the small-scale setting of vocal music. The most popular version of a chanson spirituelle with Susanna as its topic was published in 1548. Entitled “Susanne un jour,” with lyrics by Guillaume Guéroult and music by Didier Lupi, this piece soon became the most popular chanson of the mid-16th century. This presentation will examine the view of Susanna found in this piece, and pay specific attention to two of the most famous settings of the poem: the settings of Orlando Lassus and William Byrd. In so doing, I will discuss not only the way in which these songs popularized a certain view of Susanna, but also how that view intersects with other views of Susanna during the Renaissance.

Batterer intervention is the process of confronting abusers who use power to coerce, control, and engender fear in their intimate partners. Faith communities and faith based counselors have been slow to confront and hold batterers accountable. This has enabled abusers, who are most commonly males, to use Biblical texts to support their issues of power and control. Victims of intimate partner violence have been told that these texts support their victimization. Do the Biblical texts actually support male dominance and dominance or are they simply tools in the “wrong hands?” In this session I will explain the dilemma that families in domestic violence, counselors, and spiritual leaders face concerning intimate partner violence and the victimization of women. I will then suggest that male aggression and abuse are contrary to the “new paradigm” suggested in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. This paradigm involves using the Bible to 1) redefine masculinity and 2) call the community to promote accountability, peace, and safety for all humans who are in the image of God.

I am currently writing a book which explores the views of death and afterlife presented by various New Testament authors. All of the teaching about death and afterlife on the part of the authors is aimed at personality development. I propose, then, to present a paper which argues that point. For the New Testament authors, eschatology is anthropology in a way that is often absent from modern psychological categories. Our authors are greatly concerned about “the existential issue of temporality, particularly the future tense” (Lester, Hope). Why do these authors devote such attention to this? I will argue that the answer to that is at least threefold, each of which relates to “personality development.” First, the authors were concerned to inspire clearly delineated ethical behavior. Second, the authors knew the importance of offering encouragement to a minority group that often perceived itself as persecuted. Those who “endured to the end” (language from Mark and Revelation) would be “saved” and those who did not would have an unhappy future. Third, the authors had to assist converts with identity formation. When an individual joined a Christian group, learning to “hate father and mother,” she needed to be assimilated to the new group of “fictive kin,” a group which would surely include people of economic and ethnic backgrounds different from her own. Eschatology aided this process. At the most fundamental level, the person would have to ask, “What makes me a Christian?” “What dispositions do I have and in what ways are they in keeping or not with what it means to be a Christian?” “What are the boundaries?” In sum, I would welcome the opportunity to present this tripartite thesis regarding New Testament death and afterlife views as vehicles for personality development.

This paper will examine the difference that arise in understanding Nyssa's christology based on how one understands the notion of "mingling."

This paper traces depictions of the first woman in Enochic literature. From ‘aged mother’ who eats from the tree of wisdom and is made wise to Eve led astray, we find several profiles of the first woman in the Enochic literature. The author of chapter 32 from the Book of the Watchers seems to know of the first woman’s act of disobedience as described by Genesis 3, but does not accord the event the same significance as the canonical text. Eve, along with Adam, it might be argued, appears rather as a progenitor of wisdom (1 En. 32:6). Likewise, Eve, in the guise of a young heifer in the Book of Dreams’ Animal Apocalypse, plays the role of the devout mother (1 En. 85:3, 6-8). While these Enochic views of Eve seem rooted in certain developments of plot found in Gen 2:4-4:25, the allusions do not dwell on the culpability of the character. Adam also seems to fare better in the Enochic texts than he does in Genesis 3 and in other of its interpretations that pass judgment on the protoplast. Thus, we consider why Enochic texts evaluate differently the first couple and the events in Eden. It is only in the later Similitudes that Eve is referred to by name and is characterized as one deceived, in this context by the angel Gadre'el (1 En. 69:6). Through close analysis of three references to Eve in the Enochic corpus, we explore developments in Enochic Judaism, the community’s strategies for interpreting Scripture and how these strategies affect the depiction of women in the corpus.

There is a contradiction within D at the beginning of Deuteronomy, namely a verse referring to the Israelites staying at Kadesh for 'many days' (Deut 1:46) and another verse with the instruction given to Moses: 'As for you, turn about and March into the wilderness’ (Deut 1:40). The article demonstrates that both concepts are further emphasized in D. This tends to evidence that there are two distinct sites in D: 1) Kadesh-barnea where the spies’ incident took place and where the Israelites had stayed for just a short period of time, and; 2) Kadesh where they have stayed for many days. A Toponym of two words can be shortened into one word when the directional '?' is added. If so, the direction to both Kadesh and Kadesh- barnea will be written – ‘Kadeshah’ (????). If 'Kadeshah' in P (Num 13:26) means 'towards Kadesh-barnea' we get in P the same distinct sites as in D. All the references of Kadesh and Kadesh-barnea may be separated into two well-defined groups: The verses that mention Kadesh-barnea connect it with the spies' incident, the journey of the Israelites, the southern border and with the Paran Desert. No connection is made to the spring incident, the Edomite border, Aaron's burial or the Zin Desert. Contradictorily, Kadesh is connected with the spring incident, and Aaron's death and burial. Geographically, Kadesh is seated in the Zin Desert and is connected to the Edomite border.

The author of the Fourth Gospel generally uses Ioudaioi to describe Jesus’ enemies. In this way, it is a method of identity construction and/or name-calling. This troubles scholars because it is apparently anti-Jewish or, even worse, anti-Semitic. Therefore, scholars have concentrated many hours and written many pages trying to determine the “real” identity of the Ioudaioi. Their identity, nevertheless, has been elusive for these scholars, but recently Daniel Boyarin’s work has been extremely valuable in understanding exactly who the Ioudaioi were. In addition to Boyarin’s work, Tina Pippin raises serious questions about how to translate Ioudaioi in the Fourth Gospel. Since translation is never neutral, Pippin argues, the translation of Ioudaioi has been extremely damaging for Jews throughout history. In another area of scholarship, issues of identity and name-calling have also become extremely important and problematic. This fairly new area of scholarship is what Simon During calls “white studies,” which he defines as “the study of whiteness as a historically constructed ethnic or cultural identity.” During goes on to say that “the field was first defined in left-wing U.S. labor history, for it was in the difficult past of working-class Americans that the contingencies and strategies involved in establishing oneself as white became impossible for American academics to ignore.” White then has less to do with skin pigmentation, than with representation and performance. White as a constructed identity then can exclude people whose skin pigmentation happens to be white. This inside/outside identity language within the larger white community is very similar to the use of Ioudaioi in the Fourth Gospel. In this paper, I will bring these two fields of study into dialogue around the issue of identity construction and name-calling.

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This paper will explore the historical and contextual background of the description of Jesus as the "true vine" in John 15. Against its Jewish backdrop, John 15:1-17 may have emerged to confront the undermining influence of Jewish Messianic hopes at the end of the first century. At the same time, the language and imagery of this passage suggest that there may be another possibility closer to Christian circles, namely the re-emergence of claims about John the Baptizer by disciples of his in the Disaspora. In this case the "vine" statement would make its appeal to those members of the Johannine Community who were once followers of the Baptist and may still be experiencing doubt about the relative status of Jesus and John.

Numerous anomalies in the metaphors of Galatians 3:22-4:9 have prompted scholars either to reject the Greco-Roman context altogether, or to accept the legal tradition of that context while dismissing all peculiarities as hyperbole. This paper proposes that such hyperbole in Galatians 3:22-4:9 is best understood within the context of Roman comedic humor, in particular the plays of Plautus and Terence which remained popular in Paul's time. As Paul parodies the Galatians' acceptance of circumcision, he adopts the characterizations of three primary dramatis personae from Roman comedy: the servus callidus, the adulescens, and the senex. The various slaves, which Paul lists as analogous with the law, function with master-like authority over the metaphorical son, and although they should be responsible for his rectitude, they promote his rebellion instead: paralleling the characterization of the servus callidus. The heir, who Paul insists is not in any way superior to a slave, is destined, like the adulescens, to have his rights restored; it is not the son but the slave who is blamed for the transgression. God, the metaphorical father, stands as the good loving senex who in comedy would be contrasted with an oppressive father, but in Paul's duality of slavery and sonship functions as foil to the tyrannical slaves. Specific examples from the plays of Plautus and Terence are cited in support of each of these parallels. This paper does not propose that Paul had a particular play in mind, but rather that the humor which delighted the audience within the theater would be equally as effective within Paul's epistle. By evoking laughter and amusement at the expense of the "gospel" of his opponents, in which slaves are the masters, and sons are slaves, Paul encourages the rejection of circumcision for Gentile-Christians.

Biblical proverbs are often described as expressing generalized truths that allow for various exceptions (e.g., Prov 10:4 “A slack hand makes one poor, but a diligent hand makes one rich.”). While this approach makes sense in many instances such as this one, other proverbs appear to be less compatible with this approach. These include proverbs that describe actions taken by Yahweh (e.g., Prov 10:3 “Yahweh will not let the life of the righteous go hungry, but the craving of the wicked ones he will thwart.”), exceptions to which raise the issue of theodicy in a particularly pointed fashion, as well as those that make definitional statements (e.g., Prov 10:5 “One who stores up at harvest is a wise son; one who sleeps at harvest is a shameful son.”), which appear to disallow exceptions since the action described is the manifest basis for the defining property. In this paper I first explore the inherent interpretive ambiguity of generic expressions in languages generally, and then examine biblical proverbs against the backdrop of this understanding. In the paper I conclude first, that the interpretive ambiguity of biblical proverbs may be partially systematically accounted for in terms of the contribution of real world knowledge and the type of verb form used in the proverb; and second, that reconciling the ambiguities of individual proverbs is sometimes dependent upon one’s understanding of the tenets of wisdom teaching in Proverbs and/or the Hebrew Bible more generally.

The church responded with fury to Porphyry's attack on the Bible - the Contra Chistianos - which may itself have been written in the service of the Great Persecution of Diocletian. Several later Christian rulers had it burned so that it survives only in fragments. What does remain of Porphyry's work is a remarkable testimony to the way that Biblical texts appeared in the eyes of a gifted Greco-Roman intellectual. Exploring Porphyry's reaction to the Bible is a very different way of doing reader response criticism. It illuminates the ideological and socio-political issues that the Bible created for the "pagans."

Several important contributions to the reconstruction of the social location and situation of the secondary stratum of Q (Q2) have been provided by impressive Q scholars such as John Kloppenborg, Burton Mack, Leif Vaage, Jonathan Reed, Ron Piper, Christopher Tuckett and Richard Horsley. By drawing on the contexts of Q sayings, recreated in various ways, be it, historical realia, philosophical coherence, and political/cultural dynamisms,- a variety of very erudite suggestions have been proposed. But a nagging problem exists as soon as the language of the Q document is set against those backdrops. If Q indeed is a non-translation document, comfortable in Greek, how does that fit with theories of social location among Galilean peasants, or mid-level local scribes defending the rights of the poor to other Jews, or friends of Pharisees hoping to call them into a reconciliation once more? This paper opens out those problems, and then, not to be solely critical, proposes in the light of the evidence, a scenario which would seem to have a better fit.

Academia of the twenty-first century has a plethora of research materials of different formats whether hard copy books and journals, Internet media, or books on a computer. The challenge of teaching students of the twenty-first century often lies in the manner of the presentation of the data that with instruct yet also will be enhanced by sight, sound, and speech. Furthermore, such sophisticated students most of whom do not know what it was like in the days prior to PCs and laptops must challenged to think rather than simply regurgitate facts. To many presentation can be greater than content. The design of this paper is to demonstrate effective ways in which professors and students may integrate technology in the classroom that will stimulate a desire to work with biblical languages long after the student graduates from colleges, universities, and/or seminaries. Methods and resources will be discussed along with a presentation. The desire is to show how computer assisted research and teaching does not simply involve “cut and pasting,” but how such research can enhance processing and evaluating the data under consideration. Illustrations from Philippians (the Greek text) will be made. A conclusion and selected bibliography will close this work.

As with all narrative constellations, the L’Abri family story of fundamentalist piety and overcoming faith offers a retrospective interpretation of a variety of heterogeneous events – some disclosed, others unexpressed, still others only hinted or suggested indirectly – in a mixture of fictional history and actual experience (See P. Ricoeur 1992, Y. Lotman 1992). By examining the inevitable gaps between the multiple narrative and pictorial versions of a triumphant missionary story and the everyday stream of experience they portray, in this cultural semiotic project I display the carefully chosen threads of unity that have come to constitute the providential family status of American missionaries in Switzerland, Francis and Edith Schaeffer. In this poster presentation, I track the semiotic negotiation of meaning across shared cultural codes between missionary storytellers in the Swiss Alps, their particular brand of biblical interpretation, and the global audience to whom they appeal. The L’Abri family story provides a particularly poignant example of signs, signing, and signage that drift toward the self-regulating closure characteristic of all cultural systems. As I will demonstrate through a composited collection of photographs and film across five and a half decades of evangelistic ministry, though unique in its details of separatist fundamentalism in a small alpine village, the Schaeffer’s jubilant narrative configurations of faith and triumph move from a state of unsettling semiotic indeterminacy and potentially implosive family values toward emphatic closure of all other competing signs and conflicting interpretations of the Word of God.

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Freud’s theory of sibling rivalry is cited relatively frequently by both Biblical scholars and psychodynamic theorists as an explanation for Cain’s murder of Abel. But I think this is inadequate to explain fully the dynamics of the story. There seem to be two intergenerational processes at work in Cain’s violence that are often overlooked by Biblical exegetes—maternal anger and paternal shaming. Understanding Cain’s actions as the logical but tragic extension of maternal anger and paternal shaming (based on Nancy McWilliams and David Dutton) sets his violence in a new light. It also opens up the possibility of learning some new lessons from Cain. Yet this still seems too simple. A man—Cain—is so angry that he wants to murder someone. But who does he want to murder: the brother who stole divine favour from him (the displacer)? The biological father whose shame he already carries, so that it erupts when he is shamed again (the depriver)? Or the great Father, the heavenly Lover with the ultimate power to bless or destroy (the despot)? But whoever the object, the ultimate result, as Levinas points out, is that Cain destroys himself in an act of perverse yearning for the object of his desire. My methodology will be Autobiographical Criticism. I am the older of two sons, and my childhood was haunted by a desire to murder my younger brother. As an adult, I can now ask: Was it really my brother I wanted to murder? Or was it perhaps my biological father as an act of unconscious Oedipal jealousy? Or was it God, or at least the God whom I was taught was a constant threat if I relaxed for a moment? Or was it, following Levinas, myself whom I wished to murder?

Among the rich range of paradigms deployed by biblical scholars and theologians currently engaged in the theological interpretation of Christian Scripture, three commend themselves as particularly fruitful: discourse, performance and communion. Scripture is a divinely uttered, dialogical and intertextual Word (discourse); it is to be embodied, enacted, and improvised (performance); and it operates within a redemptive economy whose ultimate end is human participation in the divine life of the triune God (communion). This paper will examine these overlapping paradigms with a series of interrelated interests in view, principally in terms of their capacity to contribute constructively to our understanding of the nature and intent of Scripture in relation to church, academy and the public sphere.

The Pastorals belong to a group of early Christian texts (including Luke-Acts and the Pastorals) that present the first-person voice of an author, elaborate his authoritative persona and construct a conversation between him and his (equally constructed) audience. In each of the Pastorals, that conversation constitutes a highly gendered, man to man talk in which the elder and authoritative "Paul" addresses his son and heir "Timothy" (or Titus), who is younger and less well established. "Paul" establishes his auctoritas by presenting details of his own history, laying special emphasis on his "suffering self" and by a conventionally moralizing set of instructions to Timothy and Titus that undergird their supposed authority. In response to Roman imperial power, the Pastorals (like Hermas and Luke-Acts) engage in a dialectic of resistance and accommodation whose terms are set in part by the desire of Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138) to reassert the “family values” which played a substantial role in Augustus’ consolidation of power.

Today, teachers of biblical Hebrew are discovering creative ways to help students acquire an active knowledge of the language, and subsequently gain access to the text for biblical interpretation. For the most part, these new approaches have been used with students at the introductory level. Teachers of intermediate and advanced levels are now venturing away from the traditional 'inductive/deductive' methods to explore the field of Second Language Acquisition, and apply its techniques to the learning of biblical Hebrew, endeavoring to produce higher levels of proficiency in their students. In this session, the presenter will reflect on some of the realities (strengths, weaknesses, challenges, new programs, assessment tools) of an American graduate program where no student is at the Hebrew Introductory level, where a year-in-Israel immersion program is required of all, where proficiency in classical texts is a goal of the curriculum, and where faculty members are beginning to integrate new learner-centered methods of teaching in the classroom. Presenters will discuss the challenges of the current program and propose new approaches that will enable intermediate and advanced students of biblical Hebrew to reach a higher level of classical Hebrew text proficiency.

A number of items in the commercial vocabulary used by Paul in the NT will be examined.

This study investigates the grammatical phenomenon, levgw melding, which arises in linguistic contexts in which two or three verbs of communication, one of which usually is levgw, govern the same object complement. The study establishes the syntactic, semantic, and lexical requirements of the verbs of communication that participate in levgw melding, develops the distinctive constraints that this phenomenon places on indirect object complements, and considers its implications for interpretation and the formulation of lexicon entries for the Greek words of the Septuagint.

The Nestorian and Pelagian controversies intersected in a group of monks from Scythia who arrived in Constantinople in 519 advocating their Christological formula, “One of the Trinity was crucified in the flesh.” These Scythian monks were concerned to oppose what they saw as a Nestorianizing misinterpretation of the Council of Chalcedon in which Christ’s human nature is considered the subject of his suffering, while his divine nature is considered the subject of his miracles. They drew heavily on Latin translations of Cyril of Alexandria to support their Christological position. At the same time, they drew heavily on Augustine to fashion a case against the Semi-Pelagians. They do not, however, appeal to Cyril in their opposition to the Semi-Pelagians, nor do they appeal to Augustine in their opposition to the Nestorians. This raises the question: is there something “wrong” with Augustine’s Christology? Or more precisely, what is it about Augustine’s Christology that made it less than helpful to the Scythian monks? The answer to this question may help further current attempts to evaluate Augustine’s Christology and to place it historically.

As biblical scholarship learned from Gunkel, ancient literary genres have their own social settings. But these settings provide only the origin of the genre itself, not of every example of it. The rather limited repertoire of literary genres in the ancient Near East could be used in a range of functions, which contribute to the communication of meaning but hardly exhaust it. Furthermore, genres do not necessarily carry their own "world-view," nor are they the exclusive property of particular groups. "Apocalypse" as a literary genre has been quite well investigated, and some of its subgenres (e.g. the "symbolic vision") have been tracked in the prophetic corpus. But relating the genre to social settings is problematic. We have seen a swing in recent decades from marginalized, even sectarian groups, towards displaced elites, and from prophecy to the wise, to priesthood as the typical producers of this genre. The failure to match any single group with the genre, and even more so to define "apocalyptic" as a social or theological category, calls for a different kind of understanding. The so-called "apocalyptic worldview" is not a distinct set of ideas, but a widely-held belief about the relationship between the human and divine world and reflects a culture obsessed with the exploitation of tat relationship: a culture for which the best (though perhaps not a perfect) name is "manticism". This culture is not exclusively Jewish, and though it has distinct social contexts, these include not only the literarily attested court divination but also no doubt other popular forms. The problem with the concept "apocalyptic" is actually how to get rid of it as a barrier to understanding the social background and function of apocalypses.

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This paper will examine the use of religious imagery in the 2004 Presidential Election, particularly in the descriptions of President Bush and Senator Kerry. To varying degrees, both men made campaign statements based upon their religious views. In the case of President Bush, however, a number of his Christian supporters presented him as the "only" choice for "true" Christians. Romans 13.1 argues that "those authorities that exist have been instituted by God." I will analyze the political commentary found in religiously affiliated journals and magazines in order to determine whether and / or how this argument appeared and what purpose it may have served.

This paper focuses on semantic domain theory and its use in biblical lexicography. The first biblical lexicon making use of this theory was Louw and Nida’s Greek - English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, which was first published by the United Bible Societies in 1989. The theoretical framework underlying this lexicon was based on the semantic model that is usually referred to as componential analysis of meaning. Over the past decennia new linguistic insights have seen the light, which may have a large impact on semantic domain theory. This paper looks at semantic domain theory from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and shows how this new approach may serve to improve Louw and Nida’s framework significantly and may make this lexicon an even more useful tool than it already is.

The aim of this paper is the study of parallelism as a strategy in building a text, together with the use of grammatical (especially syntax) and semantic elements. In this paper we will analyse different texts from Isaiah and Minor Prophets (Biblical Hebrew prophetic poetry) which can be considered as textual sections or linguistic units larger than the sentence. The recognition and analysis of such text-linguistic strategy will help to understand the use of parallelism in relation with syntax and semantics in preexilic prophetic poetry, and therefore to achieve a better understanding of the meaning of the texts.

The monastery of Bawit in Middle Egypt is one of the greatest of Egyptian monasteries. At the beginning of the 20th century, French archaeologists found near the village of Bawit a great monastic settlement dedicated to the Apa Apollo. The hundreds of papyri and ostraca of this convent found by the archaeologists and illegal diggers are now spread in many museums through the world. I will present some published and unpublished Greek and Coptic documents which can help us reconstruct the life of this eighth-century monastic settlement. The particular focus of the paper will be the religious practices of the monks and the organization and economy of the monastery.

Many public and private visual arts institutions have collections that are rich in images of biblical subjects and themes. Too often, these resources have gone unused by the educational and religious institutions in those same areas. The purpose of this paper is to show the power of incorporating the visual dimension into the scriptural education of college students, seminary students, and members of religious congregations. Drawing primarily on the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, this paper will offer a demonstration of how visual dialogues among different cultures and periods may be developed for classroom and research purposes regarding subjects and themes that have biblical roots. Properly organized, courses utilizing nearby art collections can create an appreciation for the role of visual art in deepening the faith experience; can provide students with the experience of encountering an actual work of art; and can help develop more discerning eyes in the students that may provide them with an understanding of what different cultures and periods found of particular interest in the Bible by what was represented visually and how it was represented.

The Via Latina catacombs (also known as the Catacombs of Via Dino Compagni) have captivated scholars of art since their discovery in 1956. With their mixture of Christian and non-Christian wall paintings, the Via Latina catacombs house the burials of a cross-section of Roman citizens of the fourth century. This paper will focus on cubicula N and O, arguably the last burial chambers to be constructed. The visual evidence from these chambers suggests that their patron was a wealthy Roman freedwoman well versed in the myth and cult of Ceres in Rome. Furthermore, this paper argues that this patron deliberately commissioned the iconographic program of these two chambers to allude to the complex family relationship and religious adherence of its owners, both Christian and non-Christian.

This paper presents critical texts and preliminary evaluation of seven fragments of a previously unpublished fourth-century papyrus manuscript of Exodus (Exodus 10:3-5, 8-9, 12-15, 17-22, 24-28; 11:2-5; 12:9-12, 15-18; 26:21-25, 30-33; 30:11-15, 18-21; 34:12-15, 20-24; 35:9-17, 22-25). These seven fragments come from a sufficiently early manuscript to show considerable independence of both Alexandrinus and, more surprisingly given its greater antiquity, Vaticanus. The text reveals the absence of any conscious effort to bring the text closer in line with the Hebrew text. When offering a reading attested by another major witness or group of witnesses, it "selects" the reading that shows greater conformity with the MT eight times (the most important of which is the omission in Exod 34:14) but the reading that diverges more widely from the MT at least eighteen times. The text does not follow any significant hexaplaric additions, and shows a great deal of resistence to pre-Origenian recensional work bringing the readings in line with the Hebrew. Although covering a regrettably small percentage of the text of Exodus, this manuscript recommends itself to textual critics on the basis of its antiquity, its independence, its non- revisionist character (in regard to the MT tradition), its tendency to preserve shorter readings rather than to expand the text, and its general avoidance (except for one verse marred by a series of egregious errors) of carelessness in reproducing its exemplar.

In this paper, I examine two Alexandrine authors, one – Philo – a Jew, and the other – Clement – a Christian much influenced by Philo. I focus on two texts: Philo’s Spec.Leg. 3.1-6 and Clement’s Strom. V.4 (ANF 2.449), showing ways in which both authors use the language of mystery religions available through the prevailing culture, to describe the nature of the hermeneutical task as a cultic act related directly to contemplation of the divine. Such description is particularly appropriate in the broader context of Egyptian culture which honored the function of the sacred scribe.

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It is a common assumption that the biblical stance on the use of magic and divination is one of condemnation. The Law Code in Deuteronomy 18 and the Holiness Code in Leviticus 19-20 explicitly forbid a variety of magical and divinatory practices. Yet certain Israelites perform actions that look suspiciously like magic: Jacob manipulates the genetic material of his flocks with some well-placed rods; Moses and Aaron can turn their rods into serpents; and a drink of the bitter-cursing waters, administered by a priest in the Tabernacle, can determine a suspected adulteress’ innocence or guilt. Rather than a unified position against it, source criticism demonstrates that the biblical authors have mixed feelings when it comes to the use of magic and divination. This paper addresses the issue of why the Priestly and Deuteronomic strands condemn magic so strongly while the other authors accept it as part of their worldview.

This paper will explore the structure of the Prologue of Qohelet (1:2-11) in regard to spell 1130 of "The Coffin Texts," and infer from this study pertinent literary and theological lessons for the understanding of the biblical passage. Indeed, parrallels of structure and specific motifs, numerous and significant, not only indicate a definite literary connection between the two documents, but also suggest directions of interpretatikon for the exegesis of Qohelet, namely, beyond its obvious cosmogonic evocation, its anthropocentric, ethical and even eschatological and apologetic "intentions."

The three penitential prayers in Ezra-Nehemiah (Ezra 9:6-15; Neh 1:5-11; 9:6-37), function as keys for interpreting the whole narrative from a theological perspective. While the prayers of Ezra and Nehemiah exhibit greater integration within their respective literary contexts than does the psalm of the Levites, all of them stand in reciprocity with their respective contexts in a manner that contributes substantially to understanding the Ezra-Nehemiah complex. Examination of these prayers within their narrative settings may help explain why the author preferred the comparatively innovative genre of penitential prayer to the more traditional communal lament. Furthermore, this paper will consider recent developments in the study of Hebrew prose, which enhance our understanding of prose prayers.

This paper will examine the ways in which Christians used the language of foreignness, sojourning and outsider status to construct diversified Christian identities in the 2nd century, focusing specifically on the Shepherd of Hermas and the Epistle to Diognetus as test cases. While foregrounding and valorizing the idea of Christian ‘alien’ identity, Diognetus also presents it as the unjust result of Christians living as obedient and even exemplary members of Roman society (Diogn. 5-6). In this way, the text not only argues for a particular construction of Christian identity rooted in alterity, but also positions itself in a larger field of competing philosophical stances and ways of life in the ancient Mediterranean (the project of 2nd century Christian apologetics). Hermas, however, does something quite different with its use of the alien/stranger motif. Instead of emphasizing alterity as the definitive marker of Christian identity, the text uses its construction of Christians as alien as an opportunity to polemicize against everything it opposes, explicitly marking certain kinds of practices, financial assets and business arrangements as outsider and other (Herm. Sim. 1). Hermas then goes on to produce Christian difference (and thus, identity) in another way, through the advancement of a radical economic agenda. Seen together, these two texts highlight different ways in which the language of outsider status could be used to stake distinctive ground in terms of the shape of Christianities of the 2nd century.

Since 2000 the Peshitta Institute Leiden and the Werkgroep Informatica, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, have jointly been developing a database of the Peshitta Kings. One of the products is a translation concordance at word level based on a synopsis of the texts at clause level. The results are useful in showing both the general patterning in renderings of a lexical item and in pointing out glaring exceptions, which are usually of a text-critical nature.

This paper examines the re-adaptation of sacred space, both Christian and pagan, in Philippi in late antiquity. This process is seen in the construction of a late fifth-century octagonal church that lies just to the east of the forum. This church replaced a smaller, fourth-century, Christian basilica dedicated to St. Paul and, in addition, incorporated an adjacent Hellenistic heroon into an enlarged Christian complex. The discussion focuses on architecture and inscriptions as part of a discourse in which the Philippians made claims about their association with the legacy and cult of the apostle and the victory of Christianity over paganism. I will consider, for example, how the ecclesiastical architecture of Philippi functions in both reflecting and creating realities. Theoretical approaches, such as Foucault’s “technology of the self,” and scholarship on comparable material, such as the cult of St.Demetrios in Thessaloniki, are brought to bear in the interpretation of the archaeological record. The image that emerges is that of a late antique city, “renowned for and proud of her apostolic links,” which expressed its sense of identity through the erection of sacred architecture on already “holy ground.”

Data compiled from currently available survey and excavation results that pertain to Persian-era settlement patterns in Yehud can serve as a basis for examining the economic, military, and administrative dimensions of the imperial plan for the region’s expansion and development. Specifically, two strings of forts and relay stations can be identified, as well as a network of new farmsteads established in their vicinities. Together, they demonstrate a concern to bolster food production in the province and a desire to have manpower available, as necessary, for military purposes. The increase in population allowed the crown to stockpile food surpluses in silo facilities along the edge of the coastal route to Egypt, a province that rebelled frequently, while at the same time having paramilitary units available for call-up, as necessary. It can be argued on the basis of the settlement patterns that the newly established farmsteads had a different administrative status carrying different obligations than those that probably had remained occupied from the Neo-Babylonian period into the Persian period. When set beside the biblical traditions, it can be argued that these changes were introduced during the reign of Artaxerxes I.

The Parmenides is not a familiar dialogue to Christians before the Constantinian era. It is not cited in the Praeparatio Evangelica of Eusebius, and even the Alexandrians, Clement and Origen, show little knowledge of it. Apophatic theology of this period looks back to (purportedly) Pythagorean sources, and negation is not followed to its logical conclusion except in certain Gnostic texts. Even after Constantine, traces of the Parmenides are not easy to come by except in Dionysius the Areopagite, and even here Ritter’s parallels with the Phaedrus outnumber those with the Parmenides. The parallels observed by Hadot between the anonymous commentary on the Parmenides and the work of Marius Victorinus do not prove that he had read the dialogue. Of course it is not surprising that the Christians should neglect a difficult work which did not form part of common Hellenic culture as Plato’s more elegant dialogues did; but at the same time, they had better reasons to avoid it, as they did not wish to pursue negative theology in the manner exemplified in the Parmenides or to the same conclusion. They relied for their knowledge of God on revelation, interpreted by philosophy, rather than on speculation from first principles; they continued to combine cataphatic with apophatic theology. In contrast to the Timaeus, which could be adduced in favour of a Christian cosmogony against Platonists of the Roman era, the Parmenides is the work in which the difference between Platonic metaphysics and Christian theism reveals itself with inescapable clarity.

According to Alexandre Ganoczy, John Calvin justified his ministry “by an appeal to the model of the OT prophets.” Given the nature of his invective against abuses in the priestly office, one might expect Calvin to be particularly interested in the anti-cultic rhetoric of classical prophets like Amos or Micah. Instead, Calvin often identifies with the weeping prophet Jeremiah, observing that, as a priest, Jeremiah is specially qualified for the prophetic role since the “priestly order was as it were the nursery of the prophets” (Comm., Jer 1:1). For Calvin, prophet and priest are not mutually exclusive offices, a fact that becomes increasingly clear when considering Calvin’s interpretation of post-exilic prophecy. By reflecting on his readings of three texts from post-exilic prophecy, Haggai 2:11-14, Zechariah 6:11-14, and Malachi 1:6-2:9, this paper explores the relationship between the prophetic and priestly offices in the Reformer’s thought. Each of these texts reflect different perspectives on the role of the priesthood in ancient Yehud, with Haggai and Zechariah describing the diarchic rule of governor and high priest and Malachi issuing a strong challenge to the wider community of priests. Calvin finds in the post-exilic community’s priestly interest an opportunity to discuss the office in his own time, reflecting on abuses of the priestly office in his commentary on Malachi 1:6-2:9 (a favorite text of Eck) and describing the relationship of the priest to governmental and prophetic authority in his commentary on Haggai and Zechariah. Extended reflection on these representative texts yields a more robust picture of Calvin’s social vision and his personal prophetic/priestly vocation.

In the current paper I demonstrate that so-called "reports" of Jews and Christians about encountering roman sculpture at the site of the ruined Jewish Temple in Jerusalem do not stand on their own. Rather, they are part of a long, intricate, and at times elusive tradition about statues that contaminate — but paradoxically also demarcate (through their negative power) — the space of the Jewish Temple. Placed in this context, these texts contemplate and then articulate the meaning, relevance and function of Roman statuary and at the same time partake in a multi-faceted dialogue on the meaning of space, spatial layout and power in the wake of the destruction of the Jewish Temple. Surprisingly, Christian and Jewish authors operated within the contours of the cultural discourse about statues that took place throughout the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean; not as outside observers, fraught with hostility, but rather as integral members of this milieu.

We are indebted to T.H.L. Parker’s "Commentaries on Romans 1532-1542" (T&T Clark, 1986) in which he deals painstakingly with the 11 commentaries written between 1532 and 1542. Parker was prepared to state his opinions: Melanchthon was a giant, Calvin is to be praised for his single-minded objectivity. There is admiration for Bucer even though he is unreadable. Bullinger is great on theory, less so in practice. Yet, Sadoleto (pace Roussel) is quite mediocre; indeed, as a group, the Catholics seemed to find Romans hard going. They did not use rhetorical tools to explain texts. Perhaps they were looking over their shoulders; after all, Sorbonne and Catharinus censured Caietan’s attempts for being interested in Erasmus NT and the OT Hebrew. There are three matters in which there is room for complementing Parker’s work. There seems in Parker a tip-toeing around controversial and polemical theology and no real account of the awareness of other opposed views. Second, in giving us what 11 commentators had to say on Rom 1.18-23; 2.13; 3.20-28, he does not centre on the passage which must have given the sharpest differences of opinion: Romans 7:14-8:4. Third, in limiting himself to a decade the story of Romans in the Reformation lacks its beginning as well as its resolution. Parker’s work is invaluable and is a spur to more research rather than a last word. In this paper, a review of treatments of Rom 7:14-8:4 and their reception will aim to show more clearly what was at issue between the interpreters.

The role of metaphor in political and moral discourse has recently been discussed by linguist George Lakoff, particularly in his work Moral Politics. He proposes that such discourse relies on the root metaphor of family, viewing the nation as a family. The key difference undergirding a frequent experience of mutual unintelligibility of liberal and conservative perspectives in contemporary discourse is the pattern of family relationships each is assuming. These patterns are designated as "Strict Father" and "Nurturant Parent" corresponding to conservative and liberal political and moral perspectives. The family metaphor is also a major element in the success of the Roman imperial cult as a binding force for the early Empire, relying on the form of "Strict Father" family assumed as the norm for the elites. This paper will indicate some of the ways that Paul assumes an alternative metaphorical family in an Empire ruled by Christ and grounds this alternative in a transformed understanding of proximate social relations as “family” in the early Christian communities he founded. Several affinities with Lakoff’s “Nurturant Parent” model will be suggested as a mode of comparison. Special attention will be given to the letter to Philemon.

How should we conceptualize the religious experience that underlies Paul’s claim that non-Jews have access to the thoroughly Jewish Christ faith on completely equal terms with Jews and without following the Jewish law? Paul himself speaks of a ”necessity” that lies upon him (1 Cor 9:16). And he describes this necessity in heavily experiential language (1 Cor 9:15-27 and elsewhere). The paper first discusses the way the notion of experience is being used in Pauline scholarship. Next it provides an analysis of one of the most conspicuous experiential passages in Paul (Phil 3:4-11), aiming to diagnose the way in which Paul here uses the body to construct an experience that will serve his rhetorical purposes in the letter. The claim is that a combination of a rhetorical or literary approach with an approach that draws on French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of the embodied habitus will best capture this heightened expression of Paul’s religious experience.

In this paper I will give a survey of fourteen new fragments found in Qumran, held in private hands. These fragments include both biblical and non-biblical texts.

Isaiah 20 has remarkable similarities with Isaiah 7 that are not often noted. Isaiah 20 is parallel to Isaiah 7 in that it is a rare third person narrative about the prophet. A further parallel between the two passages is the nature of the historical reference with which both chapters begin as the events referred to initially actually take place after the events narrated in the following verses. Another interesting correspondence between these two chapters is the way in which we first find Yahweh’s instructions to Isaiah to do something, followed by direct speech of Yahweh. In Isaiah 7.3-9 we have Yahweh’s instructions to Isaiah, followed by Yahweh’s direct speech (vv. 10-11, 13ff). In Isaiah 20.2 we have Yahweh’s instructions to Isaiah, followed by Yahweh’s direct speech (vv.3ff). Once again, we find style to be a compelling link between these two chapters that is suggestive of common authorship. Furthermore, Isaiah of Jerusalem is not considered to be the author of Isaiah 20, for similar reasons such a judgment should probably be made of Isaiah 7.

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The city of God, as the divine architecture, is at once the object and goal of scripture, and the only provision for the competent interpretation thereof. A contrast will be drawn between patristic and Kantian approaches to biblical interpretation.

This paper examines the placement of the Tamar story in the Joseph cycle and the role of dialogue in the chapter. Using Bakhtin's notions of dialogue and chronotope I will argue that Genesis 38 is not an interruption in the Joseph narrative, but an interpretive lens that provides keys for understanding the larger, surrounding narrative.

In Iamblichus Commentary on the Parmenides Fr. 2 the philosopher adopts an interpretation of the Third Hypothesis which no other Platonic philosopher before or after him had done. According to Iamblichus the Hypothesis concerned not Soul but the so-called "Superior Classes," i.e., angels, daemons, and heroes. As Dillon has suggested, the reason for this unusual interpretation surely has to do with the importance of these intermediary divinities in Iamblichus' religious system. Iamblichus' thoughts on this subject are preserved in two further fragments, 12 and 13. The former fragment merely re-asserts the claim, but the second offers an explanation. The Platonic text (Parm. 155e-156a) indicates that the "one" in question partakes of being at one time but not at another. Damascius, who has preserved Iamblichus' doctrine in this fragment, states that there is some alternation involved, and he relates it to Iamblichus' conception of an ascent and descent experienced by the Superior Classes. But what precisely could Iamblichus thought this ascent and descent was?

The synagogue at Dura Europos, completed in 244/5 CE and destroyed c. 256 CE, is by far the most impressive single monument of ancient Jewish art to have survived from antiquity. This lecture will interpret the Dura Europos synagogue, utilizing all of the architectural, visual and epigraphic discoveries at this site together with parallels with polytheistic and Christian contexts at Dura and Rabbinic sources. The synagogue will be treated as the religious building of a local Jewish community, using methods developed by art historians and liturgists in recent years to interpret religious buildings in a more holistic manner than had been previously attempted. The Dura synagogue will be used to exemplify ways that seemingly disparate forms of evidence may be marshalled for such interpretation.

In this essay I will explore the psychological dynamics of what Robert Jewett and John Lawrence in their book, "Captain America and the Crusade Against Evil" have called "the captain America complex." The Captain America complex is essentially an American monomyth that depicts the super-hero as a selfless soul that transcends the constitutional limits of power in order to save the helpless community from ultimate evil through redemptive violence. The myth is expressed most powerfully in comic strips and motion pictures, but draws on the Hebrew and Christian Scripture as well. Drawing on research in the area of narcissism I will suggest that this myth is an expression of grandiose conceptions of American virtue that preclude the kind of self-critical reflection that would temper aggression toward the "enemy." The counterpart of the American monomyth that fosters the idea of redemptive violence is the voice of prophetic realism that also draws on Scripture and manifests itself as the other side of the American pscyhe. I will suggest that the Gospel of Mark in its depiction of Jesus as engaged in a war of myths with Roman imperial power and Jewish religious power can function as a compensatory image in the current struggle for the American soul.

As an introduction to the new consultation and our topic, religious experience in early Judaism and early Christianity, this brief plenary presentation will review scholarship on the broader topic of Religion and Experience. In this way, we also hope to eliminate the need for each presenter in the sessions to conduct a summary of past scholarship of the same material on Religion and Experience in general, although each is welcome to do so, with varying emphases. Hence, in conjunction with definitions of religion we will mention the work of Rudolph Otto, Mircea Eliade, William James, Gershom Scholem, Steven Wasserstrom, and others, delineating past pitfalls and suggesting avenues for further inquiry that are consonant with the consultation’s long-term goals of rethinking definitions of religion and providing a lens and a language for the concept of religious experience. We will also briefly survey the ways in which the discussion of religious experience stands at the nexus of several fields and methodologies, including but not limited to: classical methods of biblical scholarship such as form criticism, sociology, phenomenology, psychology, neuro-biology, anthropology, postmodernism, and ritual studies. Finally, we will sketch some implications of this renewed field of inquiry in light of the upcoming split between SBL and AAR, particularly with respect to approaching established topics (such as mysticism and ritual) in new ways.

Although our extant copies of the book of Judith are found in Greek, Latin and Syriac the many Hebraisms found in the Greek suggest it was originally written in Hebrew. This paper will focus primarily on Judith's prayer found in chapter 9:1-14, which contains evidences that suggest an original composition in Hebrew poetry. Through a study of the female imagery and references to (as well as use of) lamentation(s) throughout Judith this paper will compare and contrast the laments of the elders and the towns people with the prayer of Judith to discover the book's purported rhetorical means by which God is persuaded to deliver the Jews in Jerusalem from the hand of the enemy. Staying within the spirit of this joint session this paper will focus primarily on evidences of penitential prayer set in comparison to petitionary prayer(s) and the relationship of each to lamentation.

The Mishnah famously draws on a list of named groups of others (Samaritans, Sadduceans, Boethusians) in order to discuss differences of practices and belief amongst different Jewish groups. It further creates a new category towards the same purpose, namely the 'minnim.' While it is not always entirely clear whether and how far beyond the pale of Judaism - rabbinically understood - these categories of practioners are, the fact remains that they are named others. As such they are juxtaposed to the category of Israel, the term for rabbinic Jew and the rabbinic claim to authenticity. This paper will analyze the categories of "others" that are not clearly nameable, and therefore raise a systemic question on the rabbinic efforts of heresiography. In particular, this paper will focus on the mEruv 6:1-2 and the talmudic discussions thereof. The Mishnah here names, next to the Sadducee and the non-Jew the "one who does not agree to the principle of the Eruv," which engenders an extended discussion in the Talmuds about the identity of transgressive Jews who are nonetheless still named Israel. The Eruv, one of the essentially rabbinic innovations vis a vis biblical law, will be dealt with as a paradigmatic case of rabbinic halakhah to disguise its potential heretical nature versus forms of Jewish legal and ritual traditionalism.

We consider five topics from contemporary syntactic theory, investigating how insights gained from their study might enable us to address known deficiencies in traditional lexicons, and extend the coverage and usefulness of future lexicons. With lexicography very much in mind, we will explain and evaluate these five topics: (a) phrase markers (“trees”) of polysemic forms; (b) mixed (“overlapping”) categories; (c) gradient (“squishy”) categories; (d) multipurpose (“metatheoretical”) data structures; and (e) the elaborate (“richly-structured”) lexicon.

In this 125th year of the Society of Biblical Literature, it seems only appropriate to return to the subject of James Muilenburg’s formative presidential address of 1968, rhetorical criticism. This paper uses the type of rhetorical criticism outlined by George Kennedy in his New Testament through Rhetorical Criticism, and adopted by Karl Möller’s study of the book of Amos, A Prophet in Debate, to perform a ‘holistic’ rhetorical analysis of Psalm 96. Thus, this paper investigates the persuasive impact of this psalm using the categories of the rhetorical unit, rhetorical situation, rhetorical genre, rhetorical strategy and style, and the rhetorical effectiveness of the psalm. In the end, such analysis yields an understanding of Psalm 96 as the psalmist’s attempt to persuade the audience that YHWH deserves greater praise than he receives. For the psalmist, this means that the nations must be included in the praise of YHWH, but this will only happen as the people of YHWH proclaim YHWH’s glory, miraculous deeds, and reign among the nations. The result of this type of analysis differs from form-critical investigations in the way it divides the discreet sections of the psalm, emphasizes the foregrounded imperatives as key to the psalm’s presentation of YHWH (rather than a central motif), and views the primary audience as human beings (a proclamation) rather than YHWH (a hymn).

This paper will examine how messianic motifs in Isaiah were used by artists to portray changing understandings of the messiah or messianic days over time. Themes in works of art taken from Isaiah include the annunciation (allusions and direct references to Isaiah 7); the man of sorrows (from Isaiah 52:12-53); the Jesse tree and the peaceable kingdom (Isaiah 11) . Special attention will focus on works from the Philadelphia Museum, including annunciation paintings and Edward Hicks’ "The Peaceable Kingdom." Our focus will be on how the context and historical circumstances of the times influenced changes of emphasis in the paintings, and in the visions of the painters as their views changed. The many renderings of the “peaceable Kingdom” by Hicks, for example, reflect his anguish over the bitter battles within his Quaker community.

Augustine ultimately evolved theological justifications for the use of state coercion against the “enemies of the Church,” condoning Theodosius’ closure of public temples and orchestrating a campaign of muscular pastoral attention toward Donatists. Of Jews he made a principled exception: they alone, Augustine argued, were permitted to be left alone. I propose to lay out the different policies that Augustine articulated against these groups, placing his positions on the use of violence within the various frameworks of Augustine’s theological views on the will, the state, and history, and within the framework of Roman law.

The practice of interpreting Scripture without regard for the evident meaning of the text is common to many religious communities. This paper presents a two-part case study of such reading “against the grain” by analyzing the ways in which different Christian and Islamic communities interpreted scriptural verses regarding the preparation of meat. Christians of the Latin West rejected the New Testament’s prohibition of meat containing blood, preferring, in constrast to their Eastern counterparts, to understand Acts as prohibiting murder. Shi`i Muslims rejected the Qur'an’s permission of meat prepared by Jews and Christians, accepted by Sunnis, and limited the qur'anic permission to “grains and greens.” This paper employs comparatively enriched analysis to examine both the cultural factors that led to divergent interpretations of these scriptural passages and the interpretive techniques used by those who opted for the less natural reading of the sacred text.

Recent studies have concentrated on a variety of different markers (pottery, glass,architecture, etc.) for identifying the ethnicity of the people who occupied an archaeological site in a certain period. These indicators have contributed to our understanding of the ethnicity of the inhabitants of the Bethsaida site in the Greco-Roman period. This study will bring together the different markers and compare and contrast them with pronouncements in literary texts (primarily rabbinic texts) to see if the reasons for these markers are rooted in religion and ritual.

We project into the past and future what we desire. In this way we frame, contain, and contextualize the flow of experience. If we imagine a spatial paradigm, the garden is at the center - a place we may have been expelled from, but to which we can return. Human existence is seen as an odyssey - an exile and a return to the place from which the source of abundance emanates or springs forth. Whereas teachings about the world to come are articulated in postbiblical traditions, my paper will focus primarily on the garden in the Hebrew Bible in its ancient context. I plan to explore elements of garden landscapes in Ancient Near Eastern literature, iconography, and archaeology, and also to bring together garden imagery from a variety of texts within the biblical corpus, in order to elucidate the Gan 'Eden topos.

The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented effort among biblical scholars to reconstruct gynocentric histories and literary traditions in the Hebrew Bible. The claim that women have enjoyed a central role in Israel’s cultic and economic life (at least in pre-monarchic periods) has been made by Carol Meyers, whose work was published in the late 1980s. Following Mieke Bal Ilana Pardes has asserted the role of women’s “counter-traditions” in the Hebrew Bible. Following Jonathan Smith’s theory of comparative religion, Susan Ackerman claimed in the late 1990s a central role for ‘women’s types’ or ‘women’s genres’ with roots in the ancient Near East, as well as a central cultic role during the monarchy. Following Phyllis Trible, Tikva F. Kensky has reclaimed the role of women as pivotal to Israelite history and to the Hebrew Bible as a narrative continuum. The recent literary and historical reconstructions of biblical women suggest that patriarchy is a cultural context, or ‘background,’ an unchangeable given, a ‘fact’ whose construction cannot and does not have to be critically examined, because the object of inquiry, ‘women,’ can be studied independently. What I seek to do in this paper is to return the discussion to the question of gender and textual politics, in light of the essays I published in the early 1980s, and more recently in my book Sexual Politics in the Biblical Narrative (2000). Premised on the proposition that representation is inseparable from history, I suggest that we consider the biblical text as a site of textual and sexual power negotiations. Drawing on Joan W. Scott’s theory of the politics of feminist historiography, I call attention to the ideological position of the historian and the politics of biblical women’s reconstruction.

Most Greek grammars consider it to be the norm that a Genitive Absolute (GA) is "absolute," that is, the noun/pronoun that agrees with the genitive participle does not normally also occur in the main clause. However, over a quarter of the GAs in the NT (and almost half in Matthew and Mark), are not absolute in this sense. The paper looks at the explanations given by scholars so far and deems them inadequate. The GA constuction combines the featurs of an adverbial/circumstantial participle and the adverbial use of the genitive case. It is not really about being absolute, so lack of concord has nothing to do with it. The function of the construction is to draw the reader's attention to certain information in a more detached way than other circumstantial participles do. The most common use of the GA in narrative is to give prominence to a piece of remote background information necessary to properly understand everything else in the sentence or discourse. This is often notice of time or scene change, but can be many other things as well. The principle is illustrated from some of the texts often seen as most problematic to grammarians, such as Matthew 1:18, Acts 22:17-18, and Hebrews 8:9, as well as other biblical and extrabiblical texts. The GA has other less frequent uses too, and different authors use it differently. This makes it useful in discussions on questions of sources, authorship, intended readers, discourse analysis, exegesis and translation. Some examples of these applications are given.

The list of postmonarchic settlements in Nehemiah 11 has drawn much attention in both historical and interpretive studies. The list of settlers and their locations of settlement in Nehemiah 11:25-36 have been examined in light of similar settlement lists in Ezra 2, Nehemiah 7, and Joshua 15. Yet little has been said concerning the differences in length and number of settlements in the MT and LXX texts, specifically with regard to verses 25 through 36. The MT of Nehemiah 11:25-36 is the longer text, listing several towns in the regions of Judah and Benjamin that the people settled in, while the LXX list is much shorter, with far fewer cities listed in Judah and Benjamin. These discrepancies in the settlement of Judeans are important to consider in light of text-critical and historical studies. I will examine the differences between the MT and LXX versions, the geographical implications concerning the size of Yehud presented in the two lists, and discuss what the implications are for future scholarship.

The paper is based on the assumption that Zeph 3:9-10 forms a redactional bridge between the topic of the pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem/Zion as it is reported in Isaiah and in the Book of the Twelve. In order to prove this assumption, the paper argues that the wrath of Yahweh as it is reported in Zeph 3:8 is interpreted in Zeph 3:9 as a judgment of purification of the nations (as opposed to a possible understanding as judgment of destruction). This results from an understanding of the prepositional phrase "'alehem" in Zeph 3:8 as alluding to the nations. Furthermore, it is argued that Zeph 3:9-10 combines three different ideas or traditions of the pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem/Zion: 1. The nations bring a tribute ("minchah") or, more generally spoken, their possessions, as in Isa 18:1-7; Isaiah 60 and Hag 2:6-7. 2. The nations come to worship or seek Yahweh as is mentioned in more detail in Zech 8:20-23 and Micah 4:1-3 (par. Isa 2:2-4). 3. The tribute ("minchah") of the nations actually consists of God's people returning from exile. That is, the nations will bring the dispersed people of God home as is described in Isa 66:20. The semantic background of the pilgrimage of the nations clearly is derived from Isa 18:1-7 and Isa 66:20. However, the combination of the different traditions linked to the pilgrimage of nations in Zeph 3:9-10 evolves equally from the Book of Isaiah and the Book of the Twelve. This leads to the assumption, that Zeph 3:9-10 forms a redactional bridge designed to combine both Isaianac traditions and traditions of the Book of the Twelve. This conclusion is also proved by the peculiar role of Kush in Zeph 2:15; 3:9-10 and Isa 18:1-7.

This hermeneutic will explore the characters and relationships in Ruth from the underside. The marriages of Ruth and Orpah will be examined as examples of rape-marriage characterized by the use of the verb ns’. The seizure and sexual exploitation of women for the purposes of providing Israelite progeny, forcibly when determined necessary, will be explored in the broader literary context of the Hebrew Scriptures. The primary hermeneutic applied to the Book of Ruth consists of comparisons between the characters in Ruth and women in the African diaspora (African slaves in the Americas, contemporary Tutsi and Darfurian women) who have been abducted and sexually assaulted to provide progeny for an alien culture. The conduct and motives of women who facilitate the sexual exploitation of other women will also be considered. Ruth as race-traitor: Ruth’s covenant with Naomi will be explored from the perspective of a non-Israelite, cultural outsider. Ruth’s abandonment of her family, land, ancestors and gods will be analyzed through the lens of the abducted, enslaved and sexually exploited. Orpah as cultural exemplar: Orpah’s return to her family, land, ancestors and gods will be analyzed through the lens of the abducted, enslaved and sexually exploited, and through the perspective of those who escaped a similar fate. Naomi as pimp: Naomi’s conduct in securing a kinsman to provide for her material needs at the cost of Ruth’s and (initially) Orpah’s bodies will be considered from her textual silence at the abduction of Orpah and Ruth to her exploitation of Boaz’s ego and desire, and Ruth’s sexuality. Finally, the literary transformations of Ruth from race-traitor to woman of valor [eshet chayil], Orpah from cultural exemplar to extraneous outsider and Naomi from pimp to messianic maternal surrogate will be considered.

In the summer of 38 CE, after the Prefect Flaccus issued an edict depriving the Alexandrian Jews of their rights of residence, the Jews underwent persecution and were clustered in a small part of the city; if they tried to exit that area, the “the mob,” Philo says, would torture and kill them. This dynamic could not have taken place if the limits of that area were neither marked on the ground, nor known to the Alexandrians. Building upon this consideration, this paper will try to understand what that territorial boundary was about. I will initially argue that that small quarter was the neighborhood where the Jews were first allowed to settle in Alexandria, and that Flaccus’ edict restricted the Jewish rights of residence there. I will then examine some evidence from the time of Tiberius, when a juridical principle was applied according to which rights and privileges not confirmed by Roman officials or not officially published were questioned, sometimes abrogated. When Josephus says that the granting of Jewish rights of residence in the entire city by all of the Ptolemies were not believed because they were not officially published, he confirms that the Alexandrian Jews had to confront this problem. I will then suggest that likely that small quarter was the area where the Augustan stela, with the official recognition of the Jewish rights of residence, stood. I will finally argue that in 37 CE an imperial adjudication (P. Yale II 107) applied the abovementioned principles against the Alexandrian Jews; this legal action will ultimately provide the ground for the expulsion of the Jews from most of the city; and that Flaccus, in his capacity of Prefect, enforced the Roman law abiding by the imperial orders conveyed to him in the summer of 38 through Gaius’ mandata.

This paper focuses on the rabbinic doctrine gleaned from the Torah of Moses of the days of the Messiah distinct from the World-to Come.Perspectives using Rabbinic law and teaching, martyrdom directive,Hebrew and Yiddish poetry, and post-Shoah Israeli Knesset ruling will be presented.

Is Job a patient sufferer who endures the most unimaginable of plights, or is he an indignant sufferer who demands explanation for his torment? It seems as though both alternatives are possible, depending upon which part of the book one chooses to emphasize, and what sort of Job one seeks to find. Those looking for a paradigm of patient endurance will find it in the opening chapters; those on the lookout for affronts to divine justice need look only to Job’s own monologues to prove their case. The role of the reader is crucial in determining the character of Job. This paper examines the different ways in which Jewish and Christian readers of late antiquity understood the character of Job. Through a survey of the relevant Rabbinic and Patristic sources, it shows how distinct trends developed in these interpretive communities. The Rabbis’ interest lies mainly in Job’s identity as a Jew or a Gentile and in the potentially blasphemous remarks made by Job to his companions. The Church Fathers, on the other hand, take Job’s Gentile identity for granted and see in him a type for Christ and a model for patient suffering. Factors accounting for these different interpretive trends are then considered. These include the theological concerns unique to each community, the use of different translations of the Book of Job, and the impact on later readers of prior interpretations, such as "The Testament of Job."

This paper will deal with the similarities and differences in the cult of Israel and Egypt focusing on the daily temple liturgy. The activities, purposes and settings will be compared and contrasted. Finally the issue of the extent to which theological generalizations can be made will be addressed.

Scholars have long conjectured that Israel’s Passover ultimately derives from a springtime shepherding rite. The comments of Roland de Vaux are still representative: “Passover was the springtime sacrifice of a young animal in order to secure fecundity and prosperity for the flock…It was, in a more general way, an offering for the welfare of the flock, like the old Arab feast which fell in the month of Rajab, the first month of the spring” (Ancient Israel [New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965] 2:489). Rather than look outside ancient Israel (e.g. to later Bedouin practices) to find this shepherding ceremony, I would propose that it has been preserved in the biblical text all along. The number of common elements between the Passover, on the one hand, and Israelite sheepshearing celebrations, on the other, make this springtime feast the best candidate for the shepherding rite hypothesized by scholars. Indeed, J. Segal has argued that several features typical of New Year’s celebrations in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean basin can be found in the festivals of Passover and Purim, suggesting to him that these shared features derived from an earlier, perhaps Canaanite, spring New Year’s festival. Segal’s description of the contributions of this festival to the origins of Passover (the slaughter of sheep, the release of slaves, etc.) and Purim (drunkenness, sharing portions of the flock, etc.) fit quite well with the descriptions of Israelite sheepshearing celebrations, where we find the slaughtering of sheep (1 Sam 25:11), the escape of slaves (Gen 31:19-21; 1 Sam 25:10), feasting (1 Sam 25:36; 2 Sam 13:27), the sharing of portions from the flock (Gen 38:20; 1 Sam 25:11) and drunkenness (1 Sam 25:36; 2 Sam 13:28).

Obviously, there is a certain promicue use of the terms "complaint" and "lament" in scholarly debates on the OT psalms. The German word "Klage" for the phenomena of "wailing" and "pleading" does not help to clarify this situation. It is my contention to distinguish "complaint" from "lament" on the basis of ritual practices connected with determined psalm-genres, notwithstanding a degree of cross-fertilization in linguistic patterns and spiritual concepts. "Complaints" are very much tied to petition in a primary group context. "Laments" belong to the larger community voicing despair after catastrophes but also exercising communal persuasion and pressure on the deity to step in with substantial help.

The ways in which biblical scholars and dogmatic theologians approach Scripture can be rather disparate. In today’s theological climate these rather different approaches are in one respect the result of the clash between modernism’s claim of catholic objectivity and the church’s desire to continue to read Scripture as the viva vox Dei. There is a new climate in today’s theological discourse. Catholic objectivity has not lived up to its claims and as a result biblical scholars, of the Christian sort, are calling on theologians to read Scripture. At the same time, theologians are calling on biblical scholars to think carefully about reading Scripture in a particular dogmatic locale. In the midst of these two realms stands one giant who brought the two worlds of biblical exegesis and dogmatic reflection together in a combustive manner, namely, Karl Barth. In line with Brevard Childs’s new book, The Struggle to Understand Isaiah as Christian Scripture, this paper will seek to address the ways in which Barth read Isaiah as Christian Scripture. I will seek to show the dogmatic contexts in which Barth appealed to Isaiah, particularly in CD I.1, I.2 and IV.1, and the ways in which his reading of Scripture differs from biblical scholars addressing the same text. How does Barth address their concerns, if he does so, and how does he move beyond the hegemony of historical criticism in his reading of Isaiah? In the introduction of the paper an overview of the various approaches to Barth’s reading of Scripture will be given (e.g., Bächli, Büttner, Baxter, Burnett and McCormack) with attention turning specifically to Isaiah. This paper will be a first step paper toward a larger project on Barth and Isaiah with specific issues being addressed in Barth’s theological reading of Isaiah.

What do texts of the Priestly Torah claim about the power of sacrificial blood as a purifying agent? This paper offers a critical review of recent scholarly answers to this question. It considers the nature of the biblical textual data identified and interpreted by scholars, the conceptual gaps that must be filled, and the resources used to accomplish this gap-filling. Particular attention is given to clarifying when, if at all, the texts employ the verb kipper to refer to the purifying effect of blood manipulation. Additionally, questions are asked about the use of comparative cross-cultural evidence to explicate the ritual practices represented in Priestly literature. While affirming the basic validity of scholarly identifications of sacrificial blood as a purificant in Priestly ritual, the paper highlights the relative lack of explicit textual data and urges caution in extrapolating a systematic ideology of blood manipulation from this limited data.

There are a number of songs from Ancient Israel that have made their way into prose sections of the Hebrew Bible. Implicit in the definition of a song is the recognition of a performance of some type. Songs are made to be sung and it is in the singing that a performance takes place. Therefore, these songs of Israel provide likely opportunity for the application of Performance Criticism. This paper will examine Deborah’s Song from Judges 5:1-31 by using Performance Critical analysis. The paper has two basic components. First, appropriate dramatic concepts are detailed. This discussion contributes to the growing refinement of the Performance Criticism methodology by considering: the performance, the performed and literary appropriation. The second part of the paper applies these concepts to Deborah’s Song of Judges 5:1-31. The application considers both the pre-Judges 5 version of the “Performed Song” and the changes that took place in the “Literary Poem” that resulted in the current Judges 5:1-31 text. Co-presenter: William Doan, Miami University of Ohio

The purpose of this paper is to test the theory of A. Gelston, “Some Hebrew Misreadings in the Septuagint of Amos” VT 52 (2002) 493-500. In this article, based on observations made during the preparation of the apparatus for Amos in the new edition of Biblia Hebraica (Editio Quinta), Gelston argues that several of the differences between the Septuagint and MT of Amos are caused by the Septuagint translator’s difficulty in deciphering the Hebrew Vorlage. The article contains twenty-three examples of such differences, three of which are discussed more fully. I will test Gelston’s theory on the basis of three criteria: (1) the textual evidence from his twenty-three examples in Amos; (2) the translation technique of the translator of Septuagint Amos; and (3) the translation technique of other translators of the Septuagint. I believe this examination of Gelston’s study will demonstrate that the Septuagint translator of Amos did not have as much difficulty in deciphering the Hebrew Vorlage as Gelston suggests and that several of the differences that Gelston discusses are better attributed to other causes.

The supposed presence of a “doctrine of opposites” in Sirach has dominated much scholarly ?interpretation of the book. The notion that Ben Sira perceived the world through a system of ?polarities, for example, influenced Argall’s interpretation of the creation poem in Sir 42.15-??43.33. Many scholars found their assertion that Ben Sira held to a doctrine of opposites on Sir ??33.7-15. Nonetheless, Ben Sira’s worldview seems to be based not on a system of opposition, ?but rather on the idea of “election.” Ben Sira derives his “doctrine of election” both from ?observation of the cosmos and study of Israel’s national traditions. In Ben Sira’s reappropriation ?of the doctrine of election, the elect are not the opposite of the non-elect. Rather, the elect, while ?set apart from the rest of the nations for a special divine purpose, share fundamental ?characteristics with the non-elect. Ben Sira’s emphasis on election represents a development ?within the Israelite wisdom tradition, and also sets him apart from contemporaneous apocalyptic ?texts, even those such as 4QInstruction, which combine features of traditional and revealed ?wisdom. Moreover, understanding the basic dynamic in Ben Sira’s thinking in terms of election, ?rather than opposition, has implications for the interpretation of individual passages, as well as ?for a proper understanding of Ben Sira’s anthropology and eschatology.?

The Elijah/Elisha Narrative that runs through 1 and 2 Kings is notable for the presence of strong women. The separate stories of two particular women, Jezebel and the Shunnamite, are told in a manner that clearly depicts the Shunnamite as a good woman and Jezebel as a bad woman. Curiously, both the bad woman and the good woman are punished. Building on David Jobling’s work on the Shunammite Woman and using Meike Bal’s narratological tools, I note a similar move made in the characterization of both the Shunnamite and Jezebel. Both women begin as either a strong opponent or a strong helper to a male prophet, but these strong women go too far. Both the Shunammite and Jezebel cross the line into the anti-subject position. Jezebel becomes an anti-subject to YHWH and his people, and the Shunammite becomes an anti-subject to the prophet Elisha. Jezebel is killed and Shunammite is made to beg for her land. Why would both be punished if only one is truly “bad?” Is it possible that the story of the Shunammite marked a transition in the YHWH-alone movement from a grass-roots campaign inclusive of powerful women, to a movement sanctioned by the king and directed by the male prophet? I also consider the possibility that a later writer uses the figure of the Shunammite as model for the character of Jezebel, in order to portray Jezebel as a strong contrast to her weak husband Ahab. Good or bad, the narrative makes it clear: these strong women must be put down.

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It is a commonly held view that Mark’s negative portrait of Peter is overwritten in Matthew, with its positive depiction of Peter as the Rock on which the Church will be built. But the standard view underestimates the extent to which Matthew’s characterization of Peter builds on Mark’s, repeating the pattern of immediate, enthusiastic response followed by falling away. Peter is temporarily successful in walking on the water but then falters (14.30-31); he is commended for his confession of Jesus as Christ but then is rebuked for rejecting Jesus’ suffering (16.13-23); and he promises to stand by Jesus in his Passion but then forsakes him (26.33-35; 69-75). Peter in Matthew behaves like the seed that fell on rocky soil (pet??de?) in the parable of the Sower (Matt. 13.20-21 // Mark 4.16-17). What Mary Ann Tolbert famously observed for Mark turns out to be just as true for Matthew. While a narrative critic might see this pattern, it is often missed by redaction critics placing undue emphasis on Matthew’s difference from Mark, allowing Jesus’ commendation of Peter in 16.17-19 to eclipse everything else. But careful attention to the development of Matthew’s narrative as a whole encourages one to explore his Gospel as a successful reading of Mark. Far from supplanting or vanquishing Mark’s characterization of Peter, Matthew underlines, clarifies and nuances his source. The analysis of this rock on rocky ground sheds light not only on Mark but also on Matthew, his first interpreter.

The use of language evoking biblical ideas associated with creation is a prominent feature in a number of poetic texts at Qumran. This paper surveys the types of creation imagery represented at Qumran and suggests that creation language is deployed in poetic texts for a number of distinct purposes. Specifically, this paper will argue that in the texts that are clearly liturgical in nature (e.g., 4Q503, 4Q504) creation imagery is used in a way that mirrors the use of creation imagery in the canonical Psalms. It will also suggest that in the hymn-like texts that lack indicators of a liturgical function (e.g., Hodayot) creation language goes far beyond that of the canonical Psalms and is used to promote the Qumran community’s distinctive theological outlook.

This paper explores aspects of the christology, ethics, and especially theology (proper) of Phil. 2:6-11 by focusing on the interpretation of 2:6. I argue that both the concessive (“although”) and the causative (“because”) interpretations of the participle hyparchon are correct and theologically significant, the former being the surface structure of the text, the latter its deep structure.

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While “The Bible and Film” courses have become increasingly popular in recent years among students and professors alike, curricular limitations in both seminaries and undergraduate departments of religion often preclude entire courses devoted to the subject. Many more instructors incorporate movies into existing biblical studies courses on an ad hoc basis. This paper draws on collaboration with several dozen professors in the United States, Canada, and Australia and offers a survey of current pedagogical trends in the use of movies in the biblical studies classroom. What specific strategies have proven successful? Which strategies have proven ineffective? What objectives—implicit and explicit—are best suited to the use of film in teaching the Bible? What are the underlying assumptions in various pedagogical approaches to the Bible via the medium of film? If “blockbuster” status were determined by use in the classroom, which movies are among the biggest hits (and why)? By incorporating movies into courses on the Bible, are we simply using different tools to do the same job we were doing before, or have we altered the subject matter in some fundamental sense? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using film to help students overcome preconceived ideas about what the Bible is and how one goes about interpreting it in a critical manner? The presentation concludes with a brief exercise (focusing on a well-known instance of biblical interpretation in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction) and invites audience comment on its utility in achieving desired outcomes in biblical studies courses.

This session will focus on the INTERFACES series of books on biblical characters (Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN). The scope will include explanation of the series, examples from it, and sample syllabi. Posted in advance will be the basic information about the series (volumes, assumptions, implications, and three sample syllabi: to teach/learn the whole NT in a semester; a thematic course organized around a specific topic; a course taught in relation to general humanities material). The actual session will feature a syllabus which does the whole Bible in a semester for undergraduates. The INTERFACES books, assumptions, and implications for teaching will be discussed anecdotally between presenters and dialogically with those in attendance. A new (not-posted) syllabus for teaching the Bible in one semester will be provided as the sample. The expectation is that the discussion will clarify the value of the series for various sorts of classrooms (e.g., denominational, non-religious, introductory, advanced, seminary, general education, and so forth).

A central focus current biblical exegesis is the interpretation of words in semantic structures. The literature witnesses the considerable attention given to lexical semantics in the discipline (Barr, 1961, 1962/1969; Sawyer, 1972; Caird, 1980; Gibson, 1981; Louw, 1982; Silva, 1983/1995; Cotterell and Turner, 1989; Nida and Louw, 1992; Carson, 1996). However, research has not adequately explored the importance of lexical pragmatics which does not stop at the relationship between words and encoded concepts but discusses the way the concepts suggested by a word broaden or narrow in use. Some current discussions of Relevance Theory (RT) forward the notion of ad hoc concept formation, suggesting that words are “pointers to a conceptual space” (Carston, 2002) and that the concepts themselves must be pragmatically inferred in the process of interpretation. This paper will explore this RT approach to lexical pragmatics in relation to biblical interpretation, focusing upon the Pauline use of kurios (Lord) as a title for Christ Jesus.

It is well known that all translations, with the exception of the most literal ones, reflect the environment or context of the translators as well as the text being translated. This is in fact the case for the Old Greek or Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible, which originated in the city of Alexandria during the first half of the third century BCE. Although this Greek text has been analyzed and investigated from a variety of approaches, there has been little extended effort to consider the impact of its urban context on both translators and intended audience. My paper will serve to partially fill this void. Because what we refer to as the Septuagint is not a unified document, but rather a collection of texts from several centuries, this presentation will necessarily be selective. Looking primarily at changes (vis-à-vis the presumed Hebrew Vorlage) in vocabulary, terminology, and proper names, among other elements, we will demonstrate that LXX translators were indeed affected by the city life they experienced. These transformations in turn document a lively exchange between the translators, their Jewish context, and the larger urban communities they inhabited. Among the topics we will explore are (1) changes brought about because of the "urban outlook" of the original intended audience (as, for example, in the change from "tents" to "houses"); (2) modifications due to the location of the translators in a Hellenistic city (as seen in the substitution of "city center" for "city gate," etc.); and (3) specific concerns that arose from the context of Alexandria, Egypt (visible in a number of geographical references, both specific and general).

The issue of the historical Jesus and family remains relatively unexplored despite the numerous weighty volumes on the historical Jesus. In most cases, the topic of “family” commands only a few pages, even in works of substantial length. The literary evidence from Q, Mark, Thomas, Matthew, and Luke is rife with anti-social statements on the topos of family renunciation and alienation, indicating a widespread idea that family renunciation was a key component of discipleship. The question is whether and how far the idea of family division and renunciation was integral to the message and practice of the historical Jesus. This paper investigates the independent attestations of four key family renunciation texts (Q 12:49-53/GThom 16; Q 14:26/GThom 55/GThom101; Mark 3:31-35/GThom 99; and Q9:57-58/GThom 86), hypothesizes a plausible social situation for understanding them, and then seeks to determine which texts likely reflect the situation of the historical Jesus. From these wide-spread and well-attested traditions, I extrapolate a picture of the historical Jesus and his earliest disciples with respect to families and discipleship, challenging two widely argued and diametrically-opposed views about Jesus’ relationship to patriarchy and egalitarianism: Jesus abandoned his familial, social, and economic responsibilities as a first-born son in order to herald the coming kingdom. He then called to himself individuals who were willing to become his disciples and to share in the task of kingdom proclamation. In imitation of their master, the disciples adopted Jesus’ lifestyle, abandoned their own families and responsibilities, and joined a fictive kinship group based on common commitment to the kingdom. Though not egalitarian, the group’s leadership was determined by kingdom commitment rather than social status, accidents of birth, and gender.

It was observed long ago that John’s gospel “functions for its readers in precisely the same way that the epiphany of its hero functions within its narratives and dialogues” (Meeks). But the implications have not been seen. Within the story Jesus riddles, teases and cajoles; he heals, gives sight and brings to new life. What Jesus does among the actors in the gospel, so the gospel does among its recipients. How? Arguably, by taking the individual readers through the riddles and warnings and healings of Jesus which the gospel records – and so by bringing the readers to the new life of which John speaks. The gospel is written not to describe and vindicate the setting of its recipients; but to give those recipients, in and through its reception, new health, new sight and new life. How are we to catch a glimpse of that process, at our great distance from the communal, catechetical and ritual structure within which the process was undergone? We must survey the intellectual, cognitive and emotional responses to which the reception of the gospel might be expected to have given rise. This paper explores the possibility of such a reading, and the questions about the readers’ experience to which it requires an answer:- How was “birth again from above” prepared for and brought about? What was its effect? These questions are integral to the exegesis of John. For the gospel is mystagogic; John writes as the midwife of eternal life.

This paper proposes a new model for understanding the continuity and discontinuity in Paul’s theology. Building on the observation that he describes his calling as patterned after the prophets (Gal 1:15), I suggest that his view of his contemporaries as well as his view of his own past are informed by this self-understanding. As seen through the eyes of the Christ-believing Paul, his unbelieving contemporaries are the spiritual children of those who killed the prophets (1 Thess 2:15), a verdict that is not unusual among various groups of Judaism at the time. For the apostle Paul, his own past also had to be included in this judgment. The merit of this model is its explanatory value. It accounts for all the deep-seated Jewish convictions that continue to characterize Paul. At the same time it explains why Paul can understand his Damascus experience as a complete reversal of his value system (Phil 3:7), not merely as providing a more advanced conclusion to his previously held convictions. Elements of Paul’s theology that have been difficult to explain, such as his pessimistic anthropology and his ambivalent attitude to Israel’s election can be accounted for when Paul is understood as renewing the prophetic critique of Israel found in the Hebrew prophets.

A number of years ago a famous authority on Second Temple Judaism declared at an international conference, "The Book of Daniel is of no great interest to Jews." He added, "Just ask Mayer Gruber." In fact, the Book of Daniel is one of the most frequently quoted texts in the liturgy of the Jewish Day of Atonement. Dan. 12:2 is quoted in the second section of the Amidah three times every day and five times on the Day of Atonement. Daniel 12:3 is quoted in the Memorial Service for the Dead and at virtually every funeral. Dan. 9:18-19 is quoted three or more times in many of the services of the Day of Atonement and in other penitential services throughout the Jewish liturgical year. In addition, quotations from Daniel 6:28; 9:5, 7, and 9 are repeated over and over again in all of these services. If for the author of Ps. 99:6 Moses, Aaron and Samuel were the paradigmatic intercessors, it appears that for the people who put together the traditional services for the Day of Atonement, Daniel was, if not the intercessor par execellence, then at least second only to Moses. The proposed paper will demonstrate the centrality and the ubiquity of the Daniel texts in the Day of Atonement liturgy. In addition, the meaning of these texts in their biblical and prayerbook contexts will be compared and contrasted. Finally, the Sitz im Leben in which Daniel became the exemplary author of pentitential liturgy will be explored.

During the fourth century conflict between the Arian and Catholic factions of Alexandria, Athanasius was accused of many things including sorcery, treason, and murder. Also among these charges was the breaking of a sacred vase in one of the opposition’s churches. In fact, it was this charge that was most vigorously denied by Athanasius and ultimately led to one of the bishop’s depositions from his episcopal see. Similar acts of desecration against religious symbols are plentiful in the literary evidence from this period. This paper explores how this “symbolic” violence which revolves around desecration of sacred objects and sacred spaces is represented in comparison to “real” violence against persons and property.

This paper attempts to contribute to the ongoing discussion of Matthew’s relationship to first-century Judaism by examining his portrayal of the Temple. It employs both redactional and narrative approaches to conclude that Matthew’s portrayal of the Temple, similar to his portrayal of the Law, is entirely positive. Matthew recognizes the temple and its sacrifices as legitimate. This conclusion is then appropriated into the intra muros/extra muros discussion of Matthew’s gospel, where I will discuss whether a positive view of the Temple requires a substantive relationship with Judaism and how it may shed light on this discussion.

The relationship between the present and the material remains of the past is complex during any period in history, and is a well-studied field of research in late antique Rome. One specific aspect of this is the issue of the creation of the ‘ancient’ past by Christians seeking to replicate it, the means by which such illusions were achieved and maintained, and the effect that such efforts had on social perceptions of the Christian past and temporal change. This paper will try to understand how and why the artifice of age was added to religious architecture and Christian material culture, and how this was sustained through the careful curation of ruined structures to preserve their scars of entropy. The paper will examine some of the ways in which an earlier Christianity could be manufactured and then inscribed onto the material present, and the important role that this recreated past had in imagining the fifth and sixth century Christian present.

In the SBL Forum earlier this year, Jan Willem van Henten presented a challenging paper entitled 'Playing God in the Movies: The Proposterous History of Genesis 1.26-27'. The study illustrates how interpreters, both in theology and film, have tended to read this passage by seeking to play/identify with God or some dimension of God. God and humans are understood to have something in common that makes this playing/identification possible, whether it be holiness, reason,a spiritual bond or something else. If, however, we consider the full text and include verse 28, we faced with a dilemma: how do we integrate the subduing/crushing of Earth, a feature that environmentally minded theologians have tended to play down. What happens if we dare to play Earth, to identify with what we are, a species made of Earth? This investigation is designed to explore the principle/process of 'identification', a feature of ecological hermeneutics. At the 2004 Consultation, the three fold process of suspicion, identification and retrieval were introduced as directions for an ecological hermeneutic.

Response to Dever

The current debate on the redactional questions and problems of the Book of the Twelve has sparked new interest in the place and function of the Book of Joel within this larger prophetic corpus. Thus, the book can be described as “Literary Anchor” for the Dodekapropheton (Nogalski). The question for the ‘prophet’ does not feature prominently in this discussion, since the main focus is placed on the ‘rediscovery’ of the prophetic book as a whole. This emphasis is due to the fact that we are forced to rely in our reconstruction of the ‘teaching of the prophet’ and his historical context almost exclusively on the prophetic book itself. Our paper will try to fuse both aspects of research by undertaking a literary critical diachronic study of the Book of Joel, demonstrating how an original ‘liturgy’ remembering the restoration after a locust-plague is transformed into an announcement of an invasion of foreign forces, before being later reshaped into an universal judgment of the nations before becoming a document of a universal (and ethnically diverse) community of Yhwh. During this analysis it will become apparent that many features that are generally used as a structuring principle for Joel and the book of the Twelve as a whole, such as the ‘Day of Yhwh’ cannot be used as an indication for an overall redaction since those passages are employed without any special intentions or purpose. We will demonstrate that the obvious connections to other prophetic books (esp. Amos) were only made at a very late stage in the compilation of the book and the main message of the book is unaffected by the placement of the book in the larger context. Nevertheless the view of the foreign nations presented in Joel can probably serve as a structuring principle for the Dodekapropheton.

The portrayal of the Pharisees in Luke-Acts is complex which has resulted in conflicting views concerning their characterization. Some scholars say that Luke describes the Pharisees as on the whole being friendly to Christians, some say that the Pharisees in Acts are presented as more friendly than the Pharisees in the gospel, and still others claim that the Pharisees are presented consistently in a negative light in Luke-Acts. In this paper, the portrayal of the Pharisees in Acts is approached from a social identity perspective. I suggest that the appearance of “friendly” Pharisees (Acts 5 and 23) makes an important contribution to the validation of the social identity of early Christians. Recent developments in the field of social identity theory suggest that the need for positive social identity does not always result in favoring of ingroup members at the cost of outgroup members. In certain situations, outgroup members who deviate from a negative outgroup prototype are judged more positively than ingroup members who deviate from an ingroup prototype. Outgroup deviants are accepted and ingroup deviants are rejected because they undermine the integrity of their respective groups. This explains why Luke can present non-Christian Pharisees as sympathetic to early Christians whereas Christian Pharisees (Acts 15) represent convictions that are misguided from Luke’s perspective. Rather than affirming theological continuity between Judaism and Christianity, Luke’s “friendly” Pharisees serve the need to categorize early Christians as a group distinct from Judaism. The role of these Pharisees is not necessarily in conflict with critical attacks against the Pharisees in the first part of Luke-Acts; both the criticism of the Pharisees and the appearance of “friendly” Pharisees assist in maximizing the distinctiviness of intergroup boundaries.

Discussion of use of texts and artefacts in the study of the Bible with attention to comparisons with the use of such sources in the study of the Quran.

The texts in question, though lacking a direct genetic connection, share in common several features: heroic quests for conquests of giant(s), deliberation of a group over the proper course of action, interactions with the divine, and one or more rhetors who must persuade an audience of the wisdom of the contemplated action. Moreover, both Deuteronomy and Gilgamesh recount these speeches for their own audiences (not merely the audiences inside the text) for other rhetorical purposes. This paper examines each speech in turn, drawing on contemporary argumentation theory and studies of ancient(especially Aristotelian and Stoic) rhetorical theory to identify ways in which the speeches are designed to persuade imagined ancient audiences. Particular attention will be given to the use of emotional appeals (pathos) in the two speeches, as well as to how aphorisms, appeals to collective memory, and other devices serve argument. As illustrations of ancient Near Eastern speechmaking, these two texts offer resources for future research on the rhetoric of the region. Such research is desirable given the absence of ancient handbooks comparable to those of the Greco-Roman world. Accordingly, the paper will conclude with reflections on future studies of ancient Near Eastern rhetoric.

Claudius' letter was sent to the Alexandrians in response to an embassy the city dispatched to congratulate Claudius on his accession. The embassy asked that the new emperor accept various honors; tried to ascertain which of the privileges that the city had enjoyed under previous Julio-Claudian emperors would again be forthcoming; and presented the city's official explanation for the recent anti-Jewish disturbances. These items were of great concern for the Greek citizens of Alexandria. Yet, as H.I. Bell was well aware when he prepared the editio princeps of the papyrus, the copy we have was found among the papers of the local tax collector in the Fayum village of Philadelphia and was copied on the back of a long record of taxes collected in the last full year of the reign of Gaius. Thus Bell concluded in P.Lond. VI, "The presence of the Claudius letter in a collection of village records whose reference is purely local is at first sight not easy to account for, and may be due to the private interest of the writer." Much more is now known about the man who made the copy of Claudius' letter, Nemesion, son of Zoilus, praktor argyrikon at Philadelphia for some twenty years. This paper will address the question Bell left unanswered: Since this letter was by no means directed toward affairs in a farming village nearly 200 kilometers to the south of Alexandria, what reasons did Nemesion have for copying out this letter?

It has been customary to apply a positive hermeneutic to the opening words of Isaiah 40, reflected in translations such as “speak tenderly to Jerusalem” (Isa 40:2 NRSV) or “siaradwch yn dyner wrth Jerwsalem” (Y Beibl Cymraeg Newydd), and in scholarly elaborations such as “speak to the heart of Jerusalem, meaning, speak words of encouragement and reassurance … since she can look forward to a better future” (Blenkinsopp 2002: 182). This paper balances this trend by reading Isa 40:1-2 from the perspective of a resisting reader, in light of intertexts that share with Isa 40:2 the idiom dbr ‘l lb (Gen 34:3; 50:21; Judg 19:3; 2 Sam 19:8; Hos 2:16; Ruth 2:13). In an important 1989 article, Fokkelien van Dijk-Hemmes noted that three of these texts (Gen 34:3; Judg 19:3; Hos 2:16) relate directly to the perpetration of sexual violence. In light of this, there is a strong case for reading Isa 40:2 as assuming the prophetic metaphor of Israel as wayward bride and Yhwh as violent rejected husband. If so, the text also assumes that the sexual violence with which Yhwh threatened Israel in Hos 2:4-15 has in fact been perpetrated (Lam 1:8; cf. 5:11). Yhwh’s overtures of comfort, redemption, and love in Deutero-Isaiah, which call to mind his love song in Hos 2:16-25, must thus be resisted. The reader who co-operates with these overtures of love also implicitly valorises a metaphor that re-inscribes the most violent and abusive aspects of male power, evident elsewhere in Deutero-Isaiah in the image of the divine warrior, and colludes in the sexual violence perpetrated on Babylon in Isaiah 47, an act threatened in the name of love (Isa 48:14). The only appropriate position for the ethically responsible reader is to resist.

This paper will examine Barth's treatment of Israel in Rom. 9-11.

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Reformed Theological Seminary's Virtual Campus has been offering the biblical languages online for 5½ years. New Testament Greek has been available online since the summer of 1999; online Hebrew since the summer of 2001. More than 530 students have availed themselves of this opportunity, from several locations around the world – including military personnel, foreign nationals and missionaries, as well as students from residential campuses of RTS and from other seminaries. There have even been a few students from undergraduate programs. The online biblical language program at RTS Virtual has been very successful. The dropout rate is around 12%. The average grade in online Greek I is 92 and in Greek II is 89. Some students who have finished RTS Virtual Greek have gone on to exegesis or Greek reading classes at a residential campus. They report feeling that they were at least as well prepared as any others in the class, and that they performed satisfactorily. RTS New Testament professors from several campuses agree that students from RTS Virtual Greek have a good foundation in the basics of Greek grammar and syntax, and that there is no discernable difference between the skill level of Virtual online students and other students. The average grade in online Hebrew I is 93 and in Hebrew II it is 94. Students and professors alike report satisfaction levels similar to those of online Greek. This poster will display the above information, as well as list key issues to be considered when designing and delivering seminary courses online: (1) principles of distance education; (2) principles of adult education; (3) the nature of part-time study; (4) barriers to distance learning for adults; (5) learner-centered instruction; and (6) learning and teaching at a distance.

Scholars have explored the extent to which popular philosophical discussions of pastoral leadership in antiquity informed Paul’s strategies in his house churches. Paul appropriated the philosophical traditions of pastoral care in 1 Thessalonians (A.J. Malherbe), embraced Philodemus’ principle of adaptability in Romans and 1 Corinthians (C.E. Glad), and interacted with Antisthenes’ motif of the ‘enslaved leader’ in portraying Christ and himself to the Corinthians (D.B. Martin). However, scholars have overlooked the possibility that the pastoral role attributed to the gymnasiarchos in the honorific inscriptions constitutes relevant background for Paul’s approach to pastoral formation. The gymnasiarchal inscriptions highlight the commitment of the gymnasiarchs to ancestral honour and high ethical standards and emphasise how these officials fulfilled the obligations of the reciprocity system. There are echoes here of Pauline concerns that warrant further investigation. Moreover, fragmentary inscriptions at Kyzikos and Thera preserve ethical maxims from the Delphic Canon taught to students in the eastern Mediterranean gymnasia. What would have been Paul’s attitude to these lofty ethical ideals? To what extent would Paul have endorsed or critiqued this theology of civic virtue? What do his disagreements with the gymnasium curriculum reveal about the personal and social dynamics of his gospel? The paper argues that Paul’s cruciform gospel sought to transform his house churches in order that believers might act as ambassadors of divine reconciliation within Christ’s body and within the network of client-patron relationships comprising Graeco-Roman society. Paul’s gospel relativised hierarchies of merit and gender; it pinpricked self-sufficiency and fatalism; it redefined the operation of reciprocity — the lubricant of social relations in antiquity — in light of God’s cruciform love. In redefining the curriculum taught to the epheboi and neoi in the gymnasia, Paul endorsed what was compatible with the gospel of grace, but deepened its application and redirected its rationale.

Deuteronomy contains the laws governing early Israelite warfare, including the prohibition to destroy fruit trees to build siege works. This paper will begin with a contextual and linguistic study of Deut 20:15-20. Questions to be addressed include the interpretation of key terms and the syntax of Deut 20:19-20. With A. D. H. Mayes, the paper proceeds with the hypothesis that these siege laws were intended as a polemic against the warfare tactics of surrounding nations. The laws governing the siege of an enemy city will then be compared with contexts of first and second millennium ancient Near Eastern military activity. Special attention is given to the practices of siege warfare through the analysis of Near Eastern textual, pictorial, and archaeological evidence. This in-depth study has notable implications for placing Israel's laws of warfare in their original context.

1 Samuel 13:8-15:35 constitutes a discrete literary unit that elaborates the rejection of Saul through a reconfiguration of metaphorical associations. The unit is bracketed by episodes in which the prophet Samuel rejects Saul for disobedience and sacrificial impropriety (13:8-15a; 15:10-33). The two episodes follow a corresponding pattern, but with different outcomes; the first leads to the rejection of Saul’s dynasty but the second to the rejection of Saul as king. Bridging these episodes is a narrative dense with ritual imagery, during which images of rejection (death, curse, separation) are transferred from Jonathan, the dynastic heir, to the king himself (14:1-46). The narrative, which begins with Jonathan separated from the king and the people, relates the curse that descends on the heir when he transgresses his father’s oath unawares and consumes honey (vv. 1-30). It concludes with Saul bringing a curse on himself; he transgresses his own oath when the people side with Jonathan and “ransom” him (vv. 36-46). At the center stands a terse episode in which group disintegration (symbolized by the people eating meat with the blood) is halted and order restored when Saul orders the construction of an altar and the institution of sacrifice (vv. 31-35). This act of sacrificial propriety counters the bracketing incidents of impropriety and suggests that the account functions as a narrative hinge. The significance of the altar as a site of transformations (e.g. disorder/order, group/individual, guilt/innocence, life/death) renders it an apt metaphor for the end of the deteriorating tribal order and the inauguration of a new order, the dynastic monarchy. Having reconstituted Israel through sacrifice, Saul, the transitional figure between judge and king, is cast aside (14:36-15:33) so that the monarchy can be constructed by one “better” than him.

The prophetic lament in Jer 12:1-6 and the divine lament in Jer 12:7-13 are linked by declarations of the absence of human repentance in contrast to the visible mourning of the earth (Jer 12:2, 4, 11). This paper examines the poetics of interaction among the personae of lament in Jeremiah 12 and related texts from Jeremiah as well as the coordinates and language of lament in these passages. The paper will then consider their possible impact on the summons to public lament and repentance in Joel 1-2.

In 1401, Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, along with five other artists, entered a competition for the commission to sculpt bronze panels for the doors of the Baptistery in Florence. Their "audition" panels depicted Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22), and now hang side-by-side in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. Although based on the same text, Ghiberti's and Brunelleschi's reliefs tell different stories. Their treatments reflect and/or anticipate many issues in the artistic and scholarly interpretations of this perennially fascinating text.

The cell as a sacralized space had a defined purpose; remaining within the space could profoundly affect the individual who was within that space. Abba Silvanus refused to leave his cell after having a vision of monastics being tortured for their association with the world. After vowing to remain in his cell alone, he said, “Why should I seek to see this earthly light, which is of no use?” His reaction to the exterior spaces suggests that his cell was of a different nature from the world outside his dwelling. Abba Isaiah of Scetis agreed with Silvanus’ view and taught his students that one could only flee the world by residing in the cell and diligently maintaining one’s askesis within that sacred space. This paper will examine the evidence for the sacrality of the cell in Egyptian monasticism through a consideration of the literary evidence and the material remains of excavated monastic communities. Together, this evidence affords the opportunity to analyze the discourse of sacrality in light of the actual spaces occupied by the monastic fathers and mothers of the Egyptian deserts. The discussion will highlight how monastics adapted spaces for the spiritual and manual work referenced in the textual sources and to what degree those spaces were indeed viewed as the heavenly spaces that Silvanus and Isaiah preferred to live in.

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The Apologia of Apuleius represents a uniquely articulate, radical and aggressive defense against a charge of magic in the context of North African polytheism. Both the defendant and the rhetorical-religious culture of the second sophistic are artfully set against the historic, provincial backdrop of a “real” lawsuit involving conflicting understandings of polytheist practice and interpretation. This study will examine Apuleius' aggressive defense against the charge of "magic," admitting all the facts -essentially more-or-less deviant ritual practices- alleged against him, but claiming that practices sanctioned by philosphy cannot constitute the capital offense of magic. Apuleius' defense has rich implications for understanding polytheist perceptions of magic, Christianity and theurgy.

The objective of this paper is to address disability issues in the Bible from a gender-related perspective. The topic is largely determined by the impact of the purity laws on any illness or injury in the Old Testament. One consequence of this is a lack of any mention of disablities in women. Disabilities in the Hebrew Bible concern mainly men: the priests in Lev 21, David’s nephew Meribaal in 2 Sam and the “lame and blind” on top of Jerusalem’s wall to defend the city 2 Sam 5,8). Since according to the purity prescriptions in the Holiness Code Lev 13-14, women would spend a large part of their adult life in a state of impurity, an added disability, which certainly existed, was probably deemed irrelevant by the editors of the HB. In the New Testament, the situation has slightly changed, but disabled men are still the norm. The main focus here is on Jesus’ healing practices that openly challenge the traditional views of purity. He approaches and heals disabled and sick people despite their perceived impurity and especially during Sabbath (Lk 5, 12-26; 6, 6-11; 8, 40-56; 13,10-17; Acts 3,1-10). Only when these purity restrictions are being challenged can an independent view of disabled women and men be developed.

The Münster Institut für neutestamentliche Textforschung, Peter Robinson's Scholarly Digital Editions, Leicester, UK, and the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, cooperate in preparing the 28th edition of the Novum Testamentum Graece, known as Nestle-Aland, in digital form (funded in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Bonn.) A prototype of the Digital Nestle-Aland will be presented in this session. The digital edition offers two features not available in the printed book: transcripts of important Greek New Testament manuscripts (Nestle-Aland's 'consistently cited witnesses'), and a complete apparatus based on these transcripts. The comparison of any two or more manuscripts in any given verse has been made effortless. At every point, a careful distinction has been made between real variant readings and mere spelling differences so that the transcripts' apparatus is very easy to read (an original spelling collation is available as well.) At the same time, the digital edition is easier to use than the printed book, particularly for people new to the edition. There is no more any need to flip back and forth between the New Testament text and apparatus on the one hand and the book's introduction and appendices on the other, as the relevant information is made available by means of pop-up messages wherever critical signs, witness symbols, and abbreviations occur.

The church as the “House of God” is one of the major ecclesiological categories in the interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles. The paper asks for the specific profile of this idea as well as its sociological implications and presuppositions. From this perspective, it argues that each of the three letters shows a different social setting. Thus, it proposes a new perspective on the inter-textual relations among these letters.

This study explores the appearance of particular divine names in the Late Bronze Age West Semitic archives as well as extrabiblical sources of the Early Iron Age. The proposal considers the manner in which the occurrences of these divine names in onomastica and elsewhere provides a background for various deities known from the Hebrew Bible. Consideration is given to divine names representing underworld and lunar deities. Proposals regarding the background of Sheol are considered in light of evidence in biblical names. In addition, suggestions regarding the presence of lunar cults in the Huleh basin area and beyond are also looked at in terms of the cuneiform evidence. Conclusions from a variety of sources suggest cautions as well as directions for further research in tracing the background and origins of deities in the biblical world.

Composed probably sometime during the first century CE, IV Maccabees is a treatise whose author invokes the ideals of both Judaism and Greek philosophy in exhorting Jewish readers to stand firm in their beliefs and convictions in the face of pressure from the dominant culture to assimilate. The contention at the heart of this appeal is that devout reason, embodied in the Mosaic Law, controls the human emotions. The martyrdoms of a Jewish priest named Eleazar and of seven brothers and their mother during Antiochus IV's reign of terror (cf. 2 Maccabees 6:18-7:42) exemplify this thesis for the author. But other traditions from Israel's storied past are also employed, including not a few drawn from the Pentateuch. In this paper I propose to discuss the role that IV Maccabees plays in the history of the transmission and interpretation of some of the Pentateuchal traditions to which it refers.

This is a proposal that the story of the Tower of Babel in Gen 11:1-9 is not a story of pride and punishment, as traditionally interpreted, nor a critique of empire, as more recently argued, but an account that deals with the problem of homegeneity and difference after the flood. It does not function in Genesis as the culmination of human corruption in the primeval age, but rather it intends to explain the variety of cultures in the age of the writer that followed the flood.

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Since more than a century ago Baur’s designation of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians as the Hauptbriefe of Paul has been readily accepted by New Testament scholars. Other letters within the canonical New Testament that claim to be by Paul, however, have been a matter of discussion for New Testament scholarship over the last century. In regards to investigations concerning the genuineness of certain letters, there seems to be a different standard used in determining the Pauline authorship of the Hauptbriefe in contrast to the authorship of deutro-Pauline letters. A good test case would be to review the criteria used in deciding the authenticity of the books of Galatians and Ephesians. The reason for such a comparison would be twofold: both claim to be written by Paul and both are approximately the same length. Yet no one really doubts the Pauline authorship of Galatians whereas many would doubt the Pauline authorship of Ephesians. Why is there this disparity? The issue at hand is: are we, as New Testament scholars, using a double standard: one for the Hauptbriefe and another for the deutro-Pauline letters? If this is the case, then, an investigation is warranted.

As institutions become more adaptive to the varying needs of their students who want to study Biblical Hebrew, they are faced with unique opportunities and challenges. Programs for an introductory course can be short as four weeks or run for two semesters. This range of offerings also affects the structure and content of upper level courses. In such a pedagogical climate, the teacher has to be flexible and creative in considering recourses that best suit each circumstance. This talk will address issues of setting goals, establishing priorities, use of mateerials and methodologies, the place of "extras" (such as singing), and computer-based aids in different classroom contexts at both the elementary and more advanced levels.

One of the recurring motifs used by the Chronicler is the actions of royal figures upon their taking power. When they act to remove potential rivals from among their brothers, their actions are presented as an abuse of their newly acquired power, casting the direction their rule will take. Once the pattern of abuse of royal power is established, their continued reign leads to disaster.

Since reading in the Roman imperial world was reading aloud, the New Testament documents were essentially texts for performance within the context of Jesus congregations. In this respect, Shakespeare’s plays offer a striking parallel, specifically as the objects of performance criticism. Like the biblical documents, Shakespeare’s plays are commonly studied as texts rather than as works for performance; the interpretation of both is restricted by traditional ideas of their “correct” meaning; and both are primarily studied as complete texts and actually performed and apprehended in edited, partial forms. Shakespearean performance criticism can therefore provide insights into the reception of the New Testament as texts in performance, the contingency of their meaning for audiences in a given time and place, and whether there is properly such a thing as the text “in itself” as an object suitable for scholarly interpretation.

Burning as a death penalty in the ancient Near East can be found especially in historical inscriptions and legal documents. Burning as an eschatological punishment appears in the post-exilic prophecy and apocalyptic literature of ancient Israel and in Egyptian eschatological texts, as well as in some iconographic materials. However, there are few literary parallels to the story of the fiery furnace in Daniel 3, in which the three young administrators, Daniel’s fellow exiles, are sentenced to death in a furnace but miraculously survive. This paper examines the motif of execution by fire in compositions belonging to the same specific genre as Daniel 3, the court tale. It is especially those tales from Egypt ---such as Meryre and Onchsheshonqy from the Late Period, in which courtiers who displease the king are condemned to the fire--- that provide a broader perspective for examining the use of the motif in the Book of Daniel.

Interested in the question of the permeability of boundaries between early Eastern Christian and Islamic communities and their literatures, this paper studies the Coptic and Copto-Arabic trajectory of the transmission and reception histories of the Protevangelium Jacobi (PJ). A second-century Christian apocryphal text, the PJ tells of Mary’s infancy and youth and ends shortly after the birth of Christ. Stryker, who critically edited the Greek text in 1961, rejected Syria and favored late-second-century Egypt as likely milieu of the text’s origins. Important early Islamic as well as Egyptian Christian traditions from early Islamic centuries witness to a certain familiarity of both with the PJ. Significant details of the portrayal of Mary’s life in the Qur’an signal parallels between the written record of Muhammad’s revelation and this apocryphal work (see, e.g., Mouard 1999). On-going research on Christian women in Copto-Arabic sources points to traces of the usage of PJ at the latest in the 11th-century layer of redaction of the Copto-Arabic History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria (HPA).Thus, on the basis of the transmission history of the Coptic and Arabic versions of the PJ as well as by investigating the reception history of PJ both in Coptic art and in Coptic and Copto-Arabic literature up to and including the work of Mawhub ibn Mansur Mufarrij on the HPA, this paper traces the use of PJ in Christian Egypt. The emerging picture, on the one hand, contributes towards the goal of a systematic study of the spread of the PJ-tradition in the late antique and Byzantine Christian East. On the other hand, the paper contributes towards a better understanding of the quality of the oral, written, and visual milieu in which early Islamic tradition could have encountered apocryphal motives derived from the PJ.

This paper will look closely at the characterisation of Mary, the Mother of Jesus in the 1999 TV biopic of the same name. The film offers what could be loosely termed a 'post feminist' image of Mary for the 'post feminist' faithful. She is, in comparison to early biblical epics, portrayed almost as a biblical Lara Croft figure, She has become a 21st century hero for a 21st century audience. So then why does this image leave such a bitter taste in my mouth? This paper will argue that this film is duplicitous, misleading, two faced even. That far from seeing a hero of the 21st century what we see is still the stereotypical image of a Patriarchal Church, industry and society. One of which has been and continued to be used in order to suppress and repress both men and women.

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The Book of Revelation employs the language of virginity to describe a holy remnant, seemingly all male, who stand in opposition to “the beast,” a metaphorical incarnation of the Roman social-political system (Rev 14). The image of male virgins, men who have not “defiled themselves with women,” strikes many scholars as unusual, since male continence was not a dominant virtue in Roman discourse and since later Christian discussions of virginity typically assume a female audience. A key component of the Roman social discourse introduced by Augustus in the first century B.C.E. and embraced by the Emperor Domitian, during whose reign Revelation was written, was the call for families to be productive. In a context in which legal incentives were offered to women who bore multiple children, continence reflected a decidedly counter-cultural perspective. It is within this context, in which discourse about the family and sexual behavior had a political quality, that the author of Revelation intimated at what he believed to be appropriate and/ or ideal sexual behaviors. In light of this, this paper examines 1) how Revelation constructs the image of male virginity in relation to Roman social discourse and 2) how Revelation’s view of male virginity functions as part of the text’s anti-imperial perspective. The paper will also consider how Revelation's understanding of virginity might relate to other early Christian discussions of sexual practice and continence.

Henri Lefebvre's pioneering work on critical spatial awareness is, in part, informed by psychoanalytic theory. Lefebvre shares with J. Lacan the Freudian view that the human body is a physical nexus motivated by drives that, like a river or electric charge, excite currents within the body. These drives link human beings with primal forces that are repressed by the imposition of conceived space, or “civilising” impulses which alienate the body from desire. The question of how one construes desire impacts the way one positions the body in relation to the symbolic order of social/spatial construction. Lefebvre's spatial appropriation of desire is consistent with assumptions made by D.W.Winnicott: consciousness remains grounded in the bodily, spatial feeling of going on being connection with primal dependence on the facilitating maternal environment. Bodily, spatial awareness facilitates regression back to feelings of dependence. This regressive fusion with the facilitating environment enables renewal of vital connection within one's habitat. Winnicott's perspective is inherently spatial. Yet Lacan challenged it strongly, maintaining that in its tendency toward fusion it lacks otherness. Unlike Lefebvre and Winnicott, Lacan positioned the formation of the human self, not within the body in relationship within the habitat, but within language. Language forms the human subject in abstraction from the body. For Lacan, language emerges not because of the bodily presence of the mother, but as a cry in response to her absence. Thus language, like zero, emerges from nothingness, or empty space. The symbolic order that language constructs is similarly formed to compensate for gaps in relationship, to compensate for absence. Accordingly, it frees the mind from the constraints of the body, eluding the gendered determinisms of “nature.” This paper will attempt to answer Lacan's critique. It will explore a critical spatial response to Lacan's interpretation of the symbolic order.

The Synoptic Gospels depict (1) Jesus demanding that people be silent about his identity, and (2) people disobeying Jesus and spreading the word about him. Since the gospels rarely portray Jesus failing at his intentions, this pattern demands some explanation. Wrede argued that with the motif of the Messianic Secret Mark tried to account for the fact that Jesus had not actually been known as "messiah" or "son of God" during his life. But the references to people disobeying Jesus are singularly ill-suited to address such a discrepancy, since they portray many people proclaiming Jesus' identity—precisely what, ex hypothesi, was not taking place. A satisfactory explanation for the motif of the Messianic Secret must explain both the fact that Jesus tries to silence others and that he fails. The gospel material was taking shape at a time when Jewish rights could be endangered by any hint of Jewish nationalism. Some Jews even turned over potential revolutionaries, lest nationalistic ambitions endanger their communities. A story about a charismatic Galilean who assembled a following and called himself (or even let himself be called) by royal titles would have sounded like a tale of recklessness. To many Jews in Palestine or the Diaspora, it would have appeared that the Jerusalem authorities did precisely the right thing by handing Jesus over before the Romans had to intervene. It was not possible or desirable for Christians to deny altogether that Jesus had been declared Messiah by some. But since this might make Jesus appear reckless, they claimed that he had tried to keep his identity a secret; it was others who spread the word about him. Such a motif—attempted secrecy which fails—absolves Jesus, while acknowledging that during Jesus' lifetime bold claims were in fact made.

During the lifetime still of Professor Johann Jakob Stamm (†1993) who was the leading editor of Koehler–Baumgartner, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament, 3rd ed., Leiden 1967–96 (HALAT), and with his explicit consent, a group of German and Swiss scholars considered an abbreviated, updated and corrected edition. The project is based at the University of Berne, Switzerland, under the direction of Professor Walter Dietrich. The aim is to reduce HALAT (5 vols., 1800 pages) to a single volume of 1000 pages (KAHAL = Kurze Ausgabe des Hebräischen und Aramäischen Lexikons zum Alten Testament). In principle all the lexical entries of HALAT will be adopted but some lemmata will be omitted (e.g., conjectures). Etymologies will be shortened and updated. References will be checked and the many mistakes in HALAT will be corrected. The publication date is foreseen at the latest as 2007.

The Arms Bearer (nose' kelim) is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible seventeen times in seven different contexts, and the position has drawn sporadic exegetical comments in the commentaries; but the role has never been the subject of systematic scholarly inquiry. This paper will examine the various functions performed by characters so designated, emphasizing especially their battlefield task of "finishing off" the wounded.

It is widely recognized that the sixth century B.C.E. marks a significant turning point in the history of Biblical Hebrew. The books written after this point reveal new linguistic features whose appearance reflects far-reahing modificatons in the structure of the language.These "neologisms," attested in grammar, lexicon and syntax, are entirely lacking in Standard Biblical Hebrew but are common in post-Biblical Hebrew sources (Qumran, Ben-Sira, Mishnaic Hebrew) and in the Aramaic dialects of the post-exilic period (Imperial Aramaic, Nabatean, etc.). Consequently, the dominent view prevailing among linguists and philologists speciaizing in the linguistic history of Biblical Hebrew is to classify them as post-classical features. In recent years, however, a dissenting thesis against this diachronic research has been voiced, denying the very existence of a chronological factor in the history of Biblical Hebrew. This paper seeks to examine the validity of the said non-canonical approach.

Studies of early Jewish-Christian relations that focus on the Gospel of John have largely concluded that a negative and even hostile relationship to Judaism existed for the Johannine community. Central to this argument is the assertion that “the Jews” (hoi Ioudaioi) in John respond with hostility to Jesus, which yields a negative impression of Jews as a group. Drawing on the approaches of Baruch Hochman and David Gowler to characterization, this paper challenges the hostile characterization of “the Jews” in two ways. First, I argue for a more complex understanding of “the Jews” as a character. The Jews are characterized not by simple hostility toward Jesus but by their division in response to him. Second, I explore the role of irony in relationship to John’s naming of this character, especially in ch. 8 and in the trial scene. These passages do not simply convey the Jews’ rejection of Jesus; they underscore that the Jews who reject Jesus betray deeply-held commitments of Judaism. In conclusion I discuss how this reading opens up possibilities for a different understanding of John’s relationship to Judaism.

This paper sees the author of the Apocryphon of James as a professional scribe who used his private collection of Jesus sayings, parables and similes for the production of apocrypha in order to contest the apostolic authority of James and Peter. In the Apocryphon of James, Jesus “elects” James and Peter for a special revelation, but has a sudden change of mind and subjects them to a thorough criticism on account of matters of martyrdom and prophecy, as well as so-called esoteric matters, such as “becoming filled,” “discovering the Kingdom,” or “finding life.” This paper shall attempt to examine the role of the woe-sayings in the Apocryphon of James, addressed to James and Peter, within a dialogical rhetorical environment, rather than listen to them as to a vox clamantis in deserto. The endeavor to put flesh back on the bones of the prophetical woes may enable one to reread the woes against James and Peter from within a double, new perspective, rhetorical and sociological, and also to sketch the profile of the author of the Apocryphon of James. According to this paper, this author attempts to isolate and criticizes those Jerusalem parties that derive their legitimacy from James and Peter by employing a long woe-discourse of Jesus against James and Peter.

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The paper explores the function of the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation, in the quest for El Dorado, the legendary city of gold, in the European writing of history and its impact on the interpretation of the Black/African-American Other following the establishment of the Spanish American and other empires following the encounter between European and African civilization in the modern world. The paper argues that following Columbus' "discovery" of the New World, that select passages of Revelation, such as the vision of a new heaven and earth, were used by Columbus, and others, to subvert indigenous, non-European cultures, legitimate conquest, and justify empire. The text was used as a step toward the acceptance of European empire by the Other as the path toward its own enligghtenment and civilization. Columbus' obsessive quest for personal redemption had negative impact on the indigenous peoples of the Americas and cleared the way for the development of African-American New World slavery. In their struggle for emancipation African-Americans had to recover Revelation from imperial control. The paper will illustrate the diverse results of that project in terms of African-American religious traditions, the struggle for Civil Rights, and biblical interpretation. African-American biblical hermeneutics needs to exercize critical responsibility in its appropriation of apocalyptic, especially Revelation, in its attempt to imagine and mediate an alternative vision of humanity for African-Americans.

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The discussion of Paul and Politics has often focused on Paul in his own 1st century environment. In this paper I propose to link up that discussion with another that has been underway for some time in contemporary continental thought that deals with Paul as a political thinker of importance for contemporary radical politics. Building upon reflections on the intersection of Pauline thought with that of Jacques Derrida on the question of justice I will indicate in what way Paul becomes a central figure for the political perspectives of thinkers as diverse as Alain Badiou, Slovoj Zizek and Giorggio Agamben. In Jacob Taubes’ phrase these are not specifically Christian thinkers but they are decidedly paulinists who understand Paul as in one way or another engaged (again to paraphrase Taubes) in a declaration of war, or at least unremitting struggle, against empire, then and now.

The paper will add further evidence that the book of Joel serves, in James Nogalski's description, as the "literary anchor" of the Masoretic text of the Book of the Twelve. The paper will demonstrate that Joel draws together many concepts and phrases from different parts of the Twelve (and other authoritative writings) and assembles them into one coherent scenario of the coming Day of the Lord. This event will bring a full self-disclosure of God's character along the lines of the traditional confession in Exod 34:6-7. It will be argued that a technique of combining citations and allusions is deliberately used to construe Joel as a hermeneutical introduction into a multi-prophet book, with implications for the relative chronology of the Masoretic and Septuagint sequences of prophetic books, and the completion of the final version of the Twelve.

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One the most powerful evangelical Christian sentiments is that one is potentially imbued with the divine mandate and capacity to enact the will of God on earth. Since becoming president in 2000, Bush's sense of calling has encompassed the responsibility of the United States to bestow and/or protect freedom, which he has deemed "God's gift to humanity." However, inasmuch as Bush declares, "Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, are in a permanent state of war," or that America's ideal of freedom is sustained by moral "ideals of justice and conduct that are the same yesterday, today and forever," the freedom to which such a call directs attention and investment is an impossible, static ideal of time wherein nothing happens except the forestalling of its end. With regard to the War on Terror, as with the Cold War, the neo-conservative mythmakers who frame the conflict have a speculative interest in maintaining the conflict: there is always another regime, another threat, etc. With regard to Bush's domestic policy, the economic independence of the proposed "ownership society," and its attendant Social Security and tax code reform, effectively render more people debtors without the recourse of bankruptcy – which, significantly, effectively coincides with the spiritual affirmation of his evangelical constituency's being "poor in spirit." As such, following the philosophical inquiry of Philip Goodchild's Capitalism and Religion, and the political critique of Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception, I will examine the nature of Bush's calling, namely the degree to which it co-opts the precedents of the Abrahamic and Davidic callings in a purely speculative, exceptional maneuver, i.e. unconcerned with the subsistence level of reality, to heighten the creation of political capital.

The poem on time at Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is presented as a riddle game. The poem narrowly delineates a wide range of human activities, and specifically a full spectrum of physical faculties. Key lexical items suggest that this poem is a catalog of all the visibly important parts of the human body. The body parts are encrypted in the acts of which they are distinctively capable, and for which they are necessary. There are over thirty form-function links to be made. Some are obvious and explicit: for instance, the eyes weep. Some are less obvious: the cheeks show the marks of mourning. The passage implicitly gives poetic support to the teleological rationale for the human physique. Once it is seen as the image of a virtual body, this tabulation of healthy human physiology is counterpointed within Qoheleth as a whole by the enigmatic depiction of the decrepitude of the aging body at 12:1-7.

Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians is often characterized as a letter of encouragement to a community in the midst of suffering and much of the exegetical-historical interpretation of the letter focuses on the nature and the extent of the persecution being suffered in Thessalonica. This paper brings a different lens to the representation of suffering in the text. By drawing on the insights of critical geography and examining the letter’s constructions of gender, this paper attends to the way that 1 Thessalonians constructs both Paul’s and the Thessalonian bodies. I argue that the letter creates a mental map that displaces all suffering and active bodies to places spatially or temporally beyond or apart from Thessalonica. The effect of this displacement is to render Thessalonian bodies passive, localize them to smaller spheres of movement and influence, and minimize the associations of the Thessalonian body with suffering or affliction. This active/passive dichotomy corresponds to the gender constructions in the letter. While Paul presents himself as a female nursemaid and the Thessalonians as sexually active men, it is Paul’s gender-bending body that actively provides for the infant community and the Thessalonian male body that must be rendered morally inactive in order to reduce community conflict. Mapping this rhetorical landscape helps us to see how the treatment of suffering in the letter is linked to the socially conservative exhortations, which seek to reduce the suffering or distress of the community rather than encourage them to persevere in spite of it.

After a brief review of previous research on the topic, this paper works out the profile of Marcionism that is combated in the Pseudo-Clementines. It then identifies the source(s) of the information on the Marcionites. The Basic Writer used Hippolytus’s Syntagma and was apparently confronted with at least two identifiable varieties of Marcionism: (1) those who held to traditional Marcionite views and (2) those who followed Apelles’s modification of Marcion’s position.

This paper investigates the possible “nuggets” of the historical life of Jesus that may be embedded in the story of Jesus’ healing of the Royal Official’s Son – John 4:46-54. Practically all agree that John narrates the same incident as is found in Matt 8:5-13 par. Luke 7:1-10. Some scholars rely on what they see as a pre-Johannine tradition, independent of the Synoptic Gospels, as an aid in reconstructing the historical or the literary tradition behind the texts of Mt 8 and Luke 7. Indeed, the Critical Edition of Q and the complementary volume, Documenta Q – Q 7:1-10, reflects something of this approach. Others prefer to regard John 4:46-54 as a post-Synoptic development. Does John offer a glimpse at the historical event that might not be available to us in the Q/Synoptic story? Thus, for example, C. Tuckett: “in some respects FG’s story seems to be more primitive than the Q version”(2001. Was it Q (Tuckett) or Mt/Lk (Catchpole), for instance, who made the official a Gentile centurion, while John preserves the more primitive tradition that the man was Jewish or at least of undetermined ethnicity? I try to frame the question somewhat differently by paying attention to the possibility that John’s version of the story is the end-point on a trajectory from the historical Jesus through Q and the Synoptic Gospels. I recognize fully that the author of John reported this incident of miracle and faith with a peculiar theological nuance and higher Christological signification, in line with the full sweep of the Fourth Gospel. In examining John’s version of the story, however, might it be suggested that this author both preserves some special historicity of the incident and knows the ways in which it has been manipulated and presented by previous authors?

men oun is usually used to introduce a new section of the narrative in the New Testament. Thus, this phrase is not translated in many English versions. Translators appear to assume that it is not necessary for the phrase to be mentioned, since its function is simply to introduce a new section. Some English versions translate the phrase in some cases as conveying the inferential force, 'therefore' or 'so'. The phrase, however, may convey not only the inferential force, 'therefore' (or 'thus') or the transitional one, 'then' (or 'now') but also the adversative one, 'but' or even 'nevertheless'. With the latter force, some verses which include the phrase men oun are to be properly understood. The interpretation of this phrase has implications for the proper understanding of such verses. This paper will investigate all the instances in the NT in which the phrase occurs and suggest where the phrase may mean 'but' or 'nevertheless'. It will be shown that the phrase men oun does not always function as inferential or transitional conjunction; sometimes it functions as adversative (or contrastive) conjunction to suggest a contrastive thought to the idea to which it is connected. The usage of this phrase in the LXX as well as in classicla and Hellenistic Greek literature will be also examined in order to find a possible explanation about the origin of the adversative meaning of the phrase men oun.

In two swift verses (Phil. 4:2-3), the apostle Paul places Euodia and Syntyche at the forefront of the Philippian discord. The literature concerning the existent friction often stops short of identifying the underlying cause. Indeed, Paul leaves minimal concrete details. Through a historical reconstruction based upon the rhetorical structures of the text, I propose a thesis that points to the primary reason for the conflict: In light of Paul’s absence, the Philippian church finds itself in need of a new spiritual leader. The persons supported by the community to fill this role are Euodia and Syntyche.

In recounting or describing the theology that underlies the Tripartite Tractate most scholars state that the divinity is conceived by the author as a trinity consisting of Father, Son, and Church. I believe this is an incorrect assessment of the Tractate. I shall argue that the Tractate reflects a stage of Valentinianism that has replaced the traditional triacontad with a subdued orthodox trinitarianism. This new top theological layer presides over more traditional Valentinian doctrines of emanation, creation, salvation, and so forth. The trio Father, Son, and Church certainly play a central role in the Tractate, but they are the fundamental stages in the process of the universe’s emanation and recapitulation; they are not the prime members of the godhead.

In the ancient world we discover a widespread concept for the relation between society and land: the Native. Humans are often said to spring up from the earth itself (the Autochthon). Such is the unstated premise of Enuma Elish and Atrahasis, according to which humans are created from clay in order to furnish the gods of Mesopotamia with an abundant labor supply. Conversely, the gods themselves may be essentially joined to (inseparable from) a particular locale. Thus, Marduk rules over the cosmos for all eternity from Babylon, Zeus from Olympus, Baal from Zaphon. Deut 32:8-9 likely contains the remnant of an analogous Israelite myth. What is surprising is that other Israelite religious traditions reject the concept of the Native, insisting instead that Israel and its god are alien to Canaan. Yahweh comes from the south: Sinai, Seir, Paran, etc (Deut 33:3, Jud 5:4-5; Hab 3:3,7). Israel descends from "a wandering Aramean" (Deut 26:5); Abraham comes to Canaan from Ur by way of Haran (Gen 11:27-32). Not coincidentally, several of Israel's key theological concepts revolve around this central negation: the covenant of grant, the exodus, Sinai and the wilderness generation, and the conquest. In order to account for this structural transformation, I invoke the distinction between inalienable and alienable possession. The concept of the Native establishes inalienable relations between humanity, divinity, and world — relations that are eternal and therefore cannot conceivably be severed. The biblical rejection of the Native transforms these into alienable relations. If alienable possession leads a more fragile existence — what one acquires in time can also be lost — it also enabled Israel to conceive of and ultimately to accommodate another central idea and reality: the exile.

The Jacobite Abu Ra’itah al-Takriti (d.c. 830) of Iraq is one of the first Christian apologists whose name is known to write in Arabic. His apologetic writings in response to questions posed by Muslims are primarily concerned with showing that Christian doctrine is not inconsistent or irrational. Although he emphasizes a rational approach to the questions in order to circumvent the contention that Christian scripture has been altered (tahrif) and therefore is not reliable, he does not wish to abandon scripture as a source of knowledge about God. This paper will look at the way in which Abu Ra’itah does use scripture in his apologetics, focusing particularly on those verses he believes will be acceptable evidence in his responses to Muslims, and will conclude with some observations on his method.

An analysis of the implications of memory theory for research into the history of the gospel traditions

Ancient Jewish and early Christian commands concerning human emotions—for example, covetousness, anger, jealousy and love—merit study in their ancient contexts, as well as in relation to contemporary approaches to religion and the social sciences. This paper has two main parts: an analysis of anger in the NT letters attributed to Paul and interaction with contemporary theories on the psychology of anger. An underlying question concerns whether the suppression of human anger for the sake of some greater good is a necessary component in the theology of Paul or any of the deutero-Pauline authors. For example, Eph 4:26 warns against sinning when becoming angry and includes the familiar advice not to “let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph 4:26). In the same passage, this (deutero-Pauline) author further commands not to “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” but instead to “put away all bitterness and wrath and anger” (Eph 4:30-31). The implication seems to be that pleasing the Holy Spirit is antithetical to any expression of ‘bitterness, wrath or anger’ (cf. Eph 6:4). Competing theories of the psychology of anger can be brought to bear on these and other Pauline passages. Perhaps Paul or the authors of Colossians and Ephesians assume that the Oedipal repression of anger is necessary for the existence of the Christian community and that only God as ‘Father’ is allowed to become angry. Or do we instead find commands against infantile or narcissistic rage? Moreover, is anger to be sublimated for the sake of some greater good—for example, human charity, the peace of the congregation, or appeasing God’s anger? If suppressing anger is indeed concomitant with fidelity to Pauline Christianity, one can further ask about the potentially deleterious effects of such suppression.

In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind, after his disciples ask if the blind man is being punished for his or his parents' sins. Although it undermines the understanding of “blindness” and its connection to sin, this pericope depends on the ancient assumption that deformities were divine punishment for sin. This paper explores how two later Christians interpret John 9, and how they understand its implications vis-à-vis sinfulness and disability. The PsCl Homilies recounts the Johannine story but alters Jesus’ answer to the disciples as follows: “Neither did he sin at all, nor his parents, but that the power of God might be made manifest through him in healing the sins of ignorance.” Such ignorance means not knowing when to have sexual relations in accordance with purity concerns: those who engage in impure sexual intercourse produce children with birth defects. Peter concludes, “Give me the man who doesn’t sin, and I’ll show you the man who doesn’t suffer.” Because of its purity concerns, the Homilies contravenes the original meaning of John 9.1-3. The PsCl Recognitions does not mention John 9 in its version of the story but retains the notion that congenital deformities result from improper timing of sexual intercourse. According to the Recognitions, these afflictions are caused by demonic infestations and gratification of lustful desires rather than by ignorance or violation of purity regulations. Although these authors have different agendas, they share the belief that bodily deformities result from disobeying religious principles. I will explore how these interpretations reflect the larger concerns of their authors and how they can be understood in relation to prevailing ideas about sinfulness and disability in antiquity.

Against the current flow of scholarship on the book of Isaiah, this paper proposes that the ideological underpinnings of the book of Isaiah sustain a consistent anti-Persian outlook. First, the paper sets forth a discussion of the significance of implication with regard to how texts operate ideologically. Avoiding an overt condemnation of Persian policies, the book of Isaiah participates in a form of protest that effectively depends on the interpreter's capacity to extrapolate social and political implications. Second, the book of Isaiah employs theological symbols that possibly derive from Persian influence. Although this in itself is not a new idea, this paper proposes that the religious symbolism in the book redirects its social impulses toward and in favor of Yahwistic significance. Instead of, for example, Ahura Mazda as the agent of light, the book of Isaiah casts Yahweh as the true bearer of light to humanity. The book of Isaiah attacks the dualism of Persian religion by portraying Yahweh as the only valid claimant for supreme power in the cosmos. Whereas in Persian thought the force of darkness (Angra Manyu) mitigate and balance the force of light (Ahura Mazda), Yahweh mysteriously encompasses both forces. This paper explores the social and political implications of such claims.

This contribution focuses on the analysis of a largely neglected passage of the Didache. After a short overview of some approaches to its interpretation, the paper attempts to shed some more light on the understanding of this section, adapting Milavec’s recent theory about the unity of the Didache and progression of thought within it, while modifying his interpretation of Did 16.2. Based on the analysis of the passage and its context, this study concludes that Did 16.2 gives an admonition to the local community to assemble together in unity. This interpretation is further supported by the analysis of the implied military imagery of Did 16 and correspondences between the passage in question and references to the Eucharist in Did 9-10 and 14. In the presentation it is also pointed out that Did 16.2 is distinct from the other eucharistic passages of the Didache as it contains a reminder of community’s responsibility in view of the coming end and presents the local liturgical congregation as an image of the final gathering of the Church in the eschaton.

This presentation will give reflections on writing a book on ethnicity for biblical peoples. I will include my method and some issues raised in the process.

John’s description of Jesus’ manner of healing the sick and raising Lazarus seems to present Jesus as a shamanic healer of Jewish community, similar to shaman leaders in (de)colonizing contexts. However, the political significance of Jesus’ shamanic activities has been largely neglected. Only a few scholars, observing an ambiguous relationship between shamanism and colonialism, have begun to pay attention to shamanic aspects of Jesus. There has been a tension between shamanic practices and centralized political authority. The experiences of terror unleashed by colonial power have configured the practice of shamans and turned it into a counter-hegemonic force in colonial contexts. The paradoxical power relationship between power/state and subject is not confined to a central place but displays an ambiguity through which the two form a hybrid space where they resemble or depend on each other. This relationship appears in John’s healing stories: the royal officer asks for healing for his son; Jesus heals the paralytic man by sharing a space near a pagan Roman temple, heals the blind man by mimicking Vespasian, and raises Lazarus from his death by appropriating Mithra. Considering that John and his community were living under the harsh Roman Empire, I propose that John’s healing stories present Jesus as a subversive shamanic leader seeking to restore the community that had been terrified by Roman imperial power.

In this paper, I read the poor widow’s offering (Mark 12:41-44) from the perspective of the postcolonial female subjects in general, and the Korean women in particular, who are among the representative postcolonial female subjects that inherited the deeply rooted patriarchal tradition of Confucianism, Japanese colonialism, historical urgency of national unification, and neocolonialism. Generally, women in the Markan community represent the subalterns who are nameless, marginalized, hybrid, ambiguous, outsiders and without a language of their own. They are anonymous and invisible due to the structures of patriarchy and colonialism. Like today’s Two-Thirds World women who suffer under neocolonialism and patriarchy, they are also doubly colonized. These women in Mark are like a reflecting mirror that shows how unstable the system of Empire is and enables us to look at the self as the other, rupturing the fixed identity and culture. Their multiple identities are also threatening the colonizer/patriarchal authority in their mimicking roles, and their hybrid subjects who live in-between the worldly Empire and God’s Empire bring hope to create a new society for liberating one another. The poor widow is a representative of the colonized subalterns in the Markan period. She throws out all the money to reveal how the imperial temple system exploited the poor widows as victims and signals the disruption of the Roman Empire. The poor widow’s action reflects her situation as an imperial victim and the unstable colonial system itself. By exploring the issues of Empire and gender in the Gospel of Mark, this study will reinterpret the poor widow as subversive, hybrid, and threatening subjects in colonial/postcolonial situations, who function as an example of empowerment for contemporary women in the postcolonial world.

The infinitive absolute followed by a finite verb of the same root has usually been rendered in English versions as a variety of adverbs with different levels of grammar: some of these adverbs express speaker’s judgment or conviction about the proposition, while others simply modify or strengthen the semantic meaning of the predicate itself. Most grammars define the function of this infinitive construction with a vague term such as “emphasis,” and include both the predicate level and the proposition level of “emphasis” in their explanations and renderings. This paper, however, shows that the construction is concerned with the focus on the proposition level only, and that the adverbs that modify the verbal idea itself may not be justified as renderings of this construction. Translations that reflect these findings would provide us with a better understanding of certain biblical passages in question, with a closer approximation to the true meaning of this special Hebrew construction.

Contrary to the stereotype that “Gnostics hate the body,” the Apocryphon of John presents names of demons for practices of healing the body. Contrary to the notion that Nag Hammadi texts generally advocate sexual asceticism, it describes the sexual reproduction of Adam and Eve as an act of salvation that works to correct the deficiencies produced by Sophia. Contrary to the remonstrations of Irenaeus, it presents the human body as the site of salvation through bodily acts of moral purification and ritual practice. Contrary to the understanding of Gnostic theology as docetic, it figures the human body as both map and territory of the divine and cosmic realms. The paper will offer an overview of the Apocryphon of John’s complex figuration of the human body, which at once mirrors the gender ambiguities of the divine world above and locates the contest for salvation in the human body, including the proper understanding of sexual productivity.

The 1892 Pledge of Allegiance of the United States of America is a Twentieth Century ritual of engagement that makes an implicit claim for empire as a republic, under God, indivisible, and allegedly with justice for all. Republics or monarchies often come with charismatic leadership, and with that leadership comes intimate relationships. Some of these leaders have explicit, extramarital sexual relationships, sometimes for the sake of political expansion, that causes one to question matters of justice, ethics, and the divine. In the monarchy or empire of ancient Israel this matter arises in the life of David with Bathsheba and the triangle between Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom. Similarly in the republic of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, the author of "all men are created equal," and its third president, was married and had a slave woman, Sally Hennings as a mistress; a woman who bore him six children. What is the connection between hierarchical power, political expediency, and sexuality? This paper explores the dynamics of empire, monarchical texts, and the ethics of sexuality. After exegeting the relationships between David and Bathesheba and Amnon, Tamar, and Absalom, I then: examine the notions of empire in those texts (2 Samuel 11-13) in dialogue with those of colonial US; analyze the role of sex in both political arenas; and compare the Davidian monarchy with that of the Jeffersonian era, noting the plight of African Americans in the colonial U.S.

It has been established that various biases—Christian, Jewish, and other—impact the ways in which scholars study the Pentateuch. The focus of this paper will be on the relationship between methodological choices and ideological stances with regard to the study of priestly rituals in particular. The first part of this paper will review—briefly—a number of open methodological questions facing scholars who wish to understand better biblical purity and sacrificial practices. The second part will illustrate how some methodological choices may reflect or otherwise be influenced by certain ideological stances. This paper will conclude with some preliminary suggestions for avoiding the potential pitfalls in the nexus between ideology and methodology—offered without the suggestion that the presenter is somehow devoid of bias.

The presentation explores possible instances of literary borrowing in Isaiah 60 and 62 from Psalm 97. The introduction distinguishes between the function and purpose of biblical allusion and echo, then proceeds to examine Isaiah 60 and 62 in light of Psalm 97 based on a designated list of evaluative criteria. The paper further implies that Isaiah's appropriation and adaptation of Psalm 97 constitutes but one example of the prophet's dependence on Psalms 96-99.

The special association of covenantal remembrance with P has already been widely recognized. YHWH’s remembrance of covenant (or covenant partner) marks the central focus and turning point of several important pentateuchal narratives. These same narratives also exhibit remarkable resonances with the exilic situation, with a clear emphasis on deliverance. The prominent presence of such distinctive statements of YHWH’s covenantal remembrance at pivotal points in the structure of the Pentateuch, appearing in both non-P and transitional texts (i.e. at the intersection of originally separate sources) that seem to shape the larger narrative significantly, suggests the possibility that the phrase is redactive. In one instance, Propp’s proposal of a parallel text in Ezekiel reflecting a pre-redaction version of P finds this distinctive concept conspicuously absent. This special usage of zkr, showing such clear evidence of redactive purpose, is thus suggested as a potential marker of the redactive layer. A further use of the same distinctive phraseology, found prominently at the end of Leviticus 26 among sermonic exilic additions in conjunction with a notice of exilic fulfillment of sabbatical-year provisions, may serve to tie that redactive layer specifically to a time when the end of the exile was imminent, possibly signaled by the anticipated advent of a Jubilee after 50 years of captivity in the immediate aftermath of the Cyrus Edict.

Whereas it is relatively easy to write a consensus list of demonstrable syntactical, orthographical, and lexicographical differences between, say, the books of Kings and Chronicles, consensus soon comes to an end when these differences are to be explained. Instead of explaining them as a diachronic development within the Hebrew language that, on linguistic grounds, enables us to establish a relative chronology among the texts in which they occur, a growing number of scholars now theorize that such differences are much more likely to be explained along synchronic lines as different dialects, sociolects, and idiolects, thus being of rather limited usefulness in dating the texts. Though there can be no doubt that synchronic hypotheses about linguistic difference may be the best explanation in some cases, it seems unwarranted, however, to postulate such explanations for every case. Applying insights from Old Nordic and Slavic historical linguistic case studies, it is the aim of this paper to argue for a balanced view on the possibility of determining the chronolocial stage of language represented by biblical texts embedded and preserved in late copies from the second century B.C. or later.

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Although the beginning of the "Similitudes" of Enoch promises a "vision of wisdom" and "words of wisdom" mediated by Enoch, the contents of this lengthy and rambling work (1 Enoch 37-71) seldom deliver much "wisdom" beyond the repeated message that praise and devotion to the supreme being is the be all and end all of righteous existence. While there are several detours describing natural and social phenomena, these are largely background to the main theme of judgment on oppressive human powers and on the angelic agents who taught humankind the "secrets" that lead to ruin (notably metallurgy, used in warfare). Even the "visions" and/or "parables" are not easy to follow, and suggest a complex prehistory to the development of much of this material (e.g. both Noah and Enoch are first person participants). "Wisdom" here seems to be adherence to the stubborn promise of vindication for the oppressed, and the main guide is, appropriately, the "angel of peace."

After years of silence the apocryphal texts - above all potential gospels and apocalypses - have received fresh attention recently. However, the focus of studies is still primarily put on the relationship between these texts and those that have become canonical. Only rarely the apocryphal texts are dealt with independently first and then treated in their historical context as witnesses to early Christianity. In a series of articles I have elaborated editions of the Greek manuscripts of the ApocPet (and the Gospel of Peter) and, then, concentrated on specific features of its text (taking the Ethiopic version into account as well). This paper presents a continuation of my work focusing on the role of "idols", "carved images," and those being "mad after idols". What do these mean in their wider context? What is their relation to other concepts (e.g., Plato; Pausanias; canonical writings of the New Testament)? How and in what respect do they oppose the "way of God"?

What is the function of the Greek Scriptures for Early Christianty to obtain an identity of its own, apart from Judaism? This is the question the papers deals with. The test case is Dtn 32. The investigation is concentrated on two verses of Dtn 32, vv. 8 and 43 and the reception history in Early Christianity. Disposition of the paper: 1. Dtn 32 in the Hebrew Bible and in the srolls from Qumran. 2. The Greek text history. 3. Dtn 32 in the letter to the Romans. 4. Dtn 32 in the letter to the Hebrews. 5. Dtn 32 in Apc 15. 6. Dtn 32 in Justins Dialogue with Trypho. 7. Conclusion. The paper tries to show the development of the use of Dtn 32 within the early Christian church from the middle of the first to the middle of the second century (CE), that means from Paul to Justin Martyr.

Although archaeologists can show us a considerable number of artefacts, which they label as “masseboth”, we can by no means be sure, that those artefacts – usually some kind of stelae – really represent, what the biblical texts denoted as “massebah”. But looking at the functions usually connected with biblical masseboth and trying to describe the semantics of the Egyptian funerary stelae in their context of the grave and the objects close to the stelae might help not only to confirm the widely accepted view that the “masseboth” are probably to be understood as stelae, but it can also help us to understand, why the deuteronomists were so eager to eliminate (almost) all the masseboth.

This paper examines the qur’anic appropriation of classical and late antique bee imagery in Surat al-Nahl. Part I explores the role of the bee as the sole non-human recipient of the Lord’s revelation (wa awha rabbuka ila ‘l-nahli). That an insect would receive what is ordinarily reserved for prophets makes sense only when viewed in light of classical antecedents, where bees serve as transmittors of divine communication. Part II examines the drink produced within the bee’s belly, which contains a healing (shifa’) for men. Though absent in the rest of the qur’anic repertoire, this metaphorical link between honey and divine wisdom commonly appears in classical, late antique, and Christian writings. Part III examines Surat al-Nahl’s portrayal of a seamless cosmos where natural and social orders become indistinguishable from the divine, and suggests how this understanding of the cosmos ultimately strips the bee of its classically-determined, privileged metaphorical and revelatory potency.

Over the past five years or so, there has been a concerted effort to study the genre of the “penitential prayer.” Form criticism has gone a long way in clarifying the component parts of these prayers but not how they actually functioned in the religious lives of those who are thought to have recited them. As betrayed by the very name given to this phenomenon, “penitential prayer,” scholars have felt that it suffices to describe the experience behind these prayers as one of repentance: the long verbal component of the experience constitutes the outer garb that gives expression to the inner experience of repentance. While it is not impossible that confessional prayer would accompany repentance, they cannot be simply equated by explaining their relationship as one between an inner experience and external performance. When Daniel is said to recite a long “penitential prayer,” does he do so in order to repent? Daniel is no penitent sinner, abandoning his evil ways and returning to YHWH. In fact, the actual confessional phrase, “I have sinned” (?????) or “we have sinned” (?????), does not literally mean “I am sorry.” It is not an expression of contrition but an admission of guilt. By admitting having sinned, Israel identifies the essential problem of the exile as one of its own making. “We have erred,” not God. Confession thus serves to justify the ways of God; indeed declaring God righteous serves as a secondary confessional formula and appears throughout confessional prayers, as in the following: “With You, O Lord, is the right, and the shame is on us to this very day” (Dan 9:7). The subtle distinction between acceptance of responsibility and expression of contrition and penitence requires further investigation.

Although the various non-canonical infancy narratives refer to the Matthean Magi in more or less abrupt fashion, there has come down to us from antiquity only one substantial narrative composition which is totally devoted to the Magi and their encounter with Christ. In this text, the Syriac "Revelation of the Magi", the Magi are understood as descendents of Seth residing in the extreme eastern portion of the inhabited world, rather than the more common ancient Christian understanding of them as Persian priests. This paper will provide an overview of this little-known apocryphon, discussing the manuscript situation, contents, source-critical problems, and previous scholarship related to the text. The presentation will conclude with a brief outline of the interpretative possibilities for this unusual document.

Research often gives a prominent role to scribes in the canonical history of the Hebrew Bible. But the question in how far wisdom was involved in the canonical history of the Hebrew Bible in general and in the development of canonical lists and standardized texts in particular has been mostly neglected (notable exceptions are the works of G.T. Sheppard and Ph.R. Davies). This is all the more surprising as, for example, Sir 38:34b-39:3 emphasizes greatly how the sage is involved with the literary tradition of ancient Judaism. This lecture will ask in how far the development of paratextual literature, a standardized text of scriptures, and canonical lists are of sapiential origin? Furthermore, it will be discussed in how far paratextual literature, standardized text, and canonical lists have parallels in Ancient Egyptian and Graeco-Roman culture and in how far the international character of Jewish wisdom thought allowed for their inculturation.

Many commentators believe that the conflict between Yahweh and Baal is responsible for the dramatic unity of 1 Kings 17-19. However, Hauser contends that Yahweh's struggle with death is more pervasive and prominent in these chapters than the struggle with Baal. In this paper, I will argue that not only 1 Kings 17-19 but all of the Elijah narratives involve the prophet's personal struggle with death quite apart from the oft-described theomachy. Elijah evades death, he defeats it, he inflicts it, he flees it, he desires it, he forecasts it, and he ultimately escapes it forever. Elijah's relations with death are marked by ambivalence; in a sense, they are more of a _Totentanz_ than a battle. In fact, Elijah hops between two opinions about death within a few verses of one chapter. One reason the Elijah narratives are so unusual is the extent to which the narrator focuses on the ways in which personality and situation affect one another, helping to determine the outcome of important events. Some of the most enigmatic features of Elijah's story become less puzzling when viewed in terms of his specific personality type. These include his wanting God to take his life immediately after fleeing in order to save his life, his misrepresentation of his situation as the only prophet left, his claim that his own people seek to kill him, his God-given ability to bring someone back from death, and his failure to attain the death which he himself had desired.

An unexpected natural catastrophe on 26.12.2004, the Tsunami, caused huge damage. About a quarter of million people from many countries were killed including thousands of European tourists, especially Scandinavians, millions were left without home and large areas were left with destroyed infrastructure. Did media use religious paradigms of God-talk appearing in the Hebrew Bible in this occasion? If yes, how? Media analysis is concentrated on Finnish mainline newspaper (Helsingin Sanomat) and weekly church newspaper (Kotimaa). In the analysis four categories were used to represent existing theological models of the Hebrew Bible. Classification is as follows: the deuteronomistic God-talk (God as the ultimate reason for historical events, national responsibility, cause and effect logic), the God-talk in the book of Job (Job as an innocent, God as accused), the cultic God-talk in the Psalms (lament and mourn in the front of God) and the God-talk of Ecclesiastes (unexplained world to be modestly celebrated if survived). The analysis shows how modern geology and other sciences have changed the God-talk. God is no more the reason of events. However, there is still relevance to talk about God and talk to God using some models of the Hebrew Bible. Major change to ancient usage is that the deuteronomistic God-talk has lost its value and position.

Jethro is a problematic character for ancient Jewish interpreters of the Bible for a few reasons: as priest of Midian, Jethro is the leader of a non-Israelite ethnic and religious community; however, Moses agrees to live with him and marry into his family. In addition, Jethro advises Moses to create a system of courts and judges to handle the problems of the Israelite community, which later develops into a complex system of jurisprudence that is the source of a great deal of positive Jewish self-reflection. [See, for example, Deuteronomy Rabbah 5:7: "The Holy One said: Of all the nations I created, I love only Israel. Of all else I created, I love only justice. So I will give what I love to the nation I love."] In this paper, I will explore how two texts of early midrash, Mekhilta and Sifre, handle Jethro's identity and negotiate his relationship to the historical Jewish community. These texts demonstrate a variety of strategies for interpreting Jethro, including conversion stories, moral evaluations (both positive and negative), and discussions of Jethro's descendants and their place in the nation of Israel. By examining these midrashic texts, we gain an understanding of how the early midrashists viewed the boundaries of the Jewish community (and how fluid those boundaries were), interactions between Jews and 'others', and the nature of Jewish identity.

I will examine several paintings from In a Different Light that interpose on the landscape of Genesis signs of destruction which urge the viewer to re-view the bond between God and his creatures as traditionally described in scripture. Three biblical themes emerge: the creation of Adam and the expulsion from Eden; angelic presence, and the Noah story. The Holocaust imagery in these paintings requires the viewer to adjust to a vision of spiritual reality that fuses threat with promise and thus questions the authority of divine providence in human affairs. The blending of skepticism and faith that inhabits the canvases leads to a re-scrutiny of the original religious implications of the stories, once so full of promise for a people presumably under the guidance and guardianship of God. Instead of simply dismissing the relevance of scriptural authority, Bak raises the issue of how to repair the damage done to a narrative that history has turned awry. “In Need of a Tikkun,” for example, presents angels who were once messengers of God caught in the dilemma of what to do about the rent in the fabric of heaven by smoke pouring from the adjacent crematorium chimney. The angel’s finger points to the tear much as God’s finger pointed at Adam at the moment of infusing life into his new creature; the angel’s other hand tries in vain to stifle the deadly smoke. Robert Alter has stated: the “most metaphorically extended body part in biblical Hebrew is the hand.” But in Bak’s paintings it is not always a sign of fellowship with the human or the divine. Bak’s paintings are visual meditations on how modern history has affected and afflicted ancient traditions of belief.

The response of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:16–18 contains a profound interpretive problem over which translators and commentators disagree. The problem concerns the translation of the protasis of the conditional sentence in verse 17, especially the syntactical function of the Aramaic particle ’yty. This paper will consider the three main interpretive options for the passage by examining how the particle ’yty is used in Daniel, by considering the parallel structure of Daniel 3:17–18 and by discussing the theological and contextual issues of the different views. Based on this analysis, the paper will conclude that the protasis should be translated, “If our God whom we serve is able to save us . . . .”

This paper aims to draw out a relevant message for contemporary marginalized communities by presenting a positioned, ideological reading of John 17. Applying the depth hermeneutics of John B. Thompson and the poststructuralist theory of Michel Foucault, the study argues that the Johannine community is therein presented as a marginalized group pressed down by four violent institutions. In the face of these challenges, the study further argues, the evangelist constructed a set of meanings meant to establish, maintain, and bolster a strategy of inverted domination over their enemies. Thus, the study argues that John 17 is more than a prayer conveying christology, ecclesiology, or soteriology, that it is rather an assurance of the Word for marginalized believers. Applying these findings to the contemporary world, the study contends that John 17 carries strong words of assurance for contemporary marginalized communities: uplifted divine identity; divine protection and well-being; a sanctified mission; and divine unity and love. Through such a positioned, ideological reading of the text, this study seeks to construct an ethically accountable reading of the Fourth Gospel especially to today’s multiethnic and multicultural religious communities.

This paper focuses upon Galen of Pergamon's account of moral transformation, as described in his treatise "De Affectuum Dignotione" ("On the Passions of the Soul"). According to Galen, the most important factor to moral progress is nature (physis) which pre-determines one's ability to experience development in moral character. Only those born with the right kind of human nature (namely kings and philosophers) could benefit from philosophical training, while the rest of humanity possessed a nature that was fixed and enslaved to the irrational movements of the soul. But if one possessed the right pre-disposition towards virtue, philosophical teachings and practice brought about moral progress. Galen also describes the social structures necessary to support moral formation. If the greatest barrier impeding moral progress is the blindness of a person to his/her own passions and errors, then the only way to overcome such blindness is to submit oneself to the guidance of a moral mentor, i.e., a pedagogue, an overseer, or sage. The role of the moral mentor is dual: to point out frankly the vices of his students, and to become a model or paradigm for virtuous character. The last section of this paper investigates possible points of cultural intertexture between Galen's system of moral transformation with the discourses of the Apostle Paul, especially Pauline texts on imitation (1 Cor. 4:16-20; 11:1; Phil. 3:17; 1 Thess. 1:6; 2:15) and on the idea of superimposing one's sinful nature with a new divine one (Rom. 1:20-32; Gal. 5:19-23; 6:7-9).

A cursory examination of nearly every elementary Hebrew textbook reveals a bewildering collection of linguistically sophisticated rules which students must learn, a phenomenon which runs counter to the method and practice used in the teaching of other languages, as well as the sequence of development of language for native speakers. This approach may have made sense at a time when most students of Hebrew arrived with several years of Latin and Greek study already achieved, but it has persisted long after such preparation has ceased to be the norm, with the result that very few seminarians continue to use their Hebrew after passing the required course. This paper will present a collection of simple rules and methods, developed while teaching beginning Hebrew both to undergraduates and to seminarians, which allows them early access to reading the biblical text and which leads to enjoyment and continued study of Hebrew language.

This is an inquiry into the history of scholarship of the Hebrew Bible in Germany in the mid-eighteenth century. Its central concern is the rise of an emancipated, historical, and scientific philology in this period and the extent to which a philology thus oriented toward a critical recovery of the biblical world can retain its relevance—especially when practitioners no longer plead the special status of the Bible. This study examines the work of one scholar, Göttingen professor Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791), widely hailed as a founder of critical study of the Bible. It argues that Michaelis’s strategy for reviving biblical studies was bound up with the larger, contemporaneous attempt to make the study of classical literature a force in cultural transformation. By examining the work of Michaelis in a previously neglected context, neohumanist classical philology at Göttingen, this study explicates what must be seen as its deepest concern: the full-orbed recovery of Hebrew antiquity as a ‘third culture’ after the Greek and the Roman. The rationale for such a recovery, in light of its relation to classical studies, may be described as humanistic. Ultimately, though, Michaelis’s humanistic project succumbed to criticisms that exposed the tension between a critical philology on the one hand, and the attempt to derive contemporary cultural goods from it on the other. Though he revived the study of Hebrew antiquity by importing aspects of critical method from classical philology, the humanistic movement which he sought to inspire was short-lived. Michaelis’s critical legacy thus survived even after its humanistic rationale was discredited. The case of Michaelis thus illumines the intellectual context of biblical criticism in a formative period and the problematic relation between attempts to revive the dead letter and the ends for which it is revived.

The recurrent references to the Exodus event in the text of the Hebrew Bible suggest that the Exodus functioned as a key expression of Israelite self-identification. The narrators of Exodus 1-15 chose to depict Israel as an entity which defined itself by opposition to Egypt—and in particular by opposition to symbols of Egyptian power. One important motif in this wide-ranging dialectic is that of Egyptian chariotry which will be the subject of this presentation.

I am proposing a new study of biblical afterlives: musical settings of biblical narratives. This methodology can be applied to the large repertoire of musical works based on biblical texts. The components of this methodology are: 1. Literary analysis of the biblical text, with particular emphasis on character depiction and gap filling; 2. Search of online databases, or library catalogs, for musical settings of biblical narratives; 3. Study of the librettos and music of the works selected, and comparison of both with the biblical narrative; 4. In-depth analysis of specific sections of a musical work, both of the text and music. This can include comparison between two or more works based on the same narrative. In this paper I will illustrate the above methodology applied to the Scroll of Ruth. In my study of 12 works based on this book, I found that each librettist reflected his own preconceptions and agenda by omitting, expanding, or altering scenes found in the Scroll. Some librettos foreground the Ruth-Boaz relationship; others, the Ruth-Naomi friendship. The composers reinforced these choices with a range of musical techniques. Charts and graphs highlighting particular elements of the re-telling will be included in a PowerPoint presentation. One significant alteration is the addition of a love interest between Ruth and Boaz, represented by a love duet. Using this as a case study, I will describe this gap-filling midrash in the libretto and music in several works. Short musical excerpts will be offered as illustrations. The librettists and composers worked together to create convincing and consistent portraits of the biblical characters, however they may differ from the listener’s preconception The final result-- the transformation of a biblical narrative into a different medium-- will challenge many of our conscious and unconscious presumptions.

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Scholars have consistently noted the attention paid to "the Levite" in the book of Deuteronomy, with suggestions ranging from Levitical authorship of the book to an anti-Levitical polemic woven through its chapters. A careful analysis of the rhetorical strategies involving these "Levite" passages, however, reveals a thorough re-imagining of Levitical figurehood during the reign of Josiah, reflected in the Deuteronomic legislation. This involved the positioning of local Levites in the satellite communities of Judah as administrative agents, judges and curators of official religion emanating from the central Jerusalem establishment. This administrative model draws directly from Neo-Assyrian administrative practices, especially those instituted during the reigns of Esarhaddon (681-669 BCE) and his son Assurbanipal (669-627 BCE). The influence of Assyrian administrative prototypes in the "Levite" passages of Deuteronomy form part of the new ideological matrix that permeated Judean religion in the late 7th century BCE, resulting in a paradigm shift in Israelite understandings of religious and cultic authority. This shift had a dramatic effect upon the concept and function of the Levites in the exilic and post-exilic periods, leading to the characterization of the Levites in Ezra-Nehemiah and 1-2 Chronicles.

Operating within the three interconnected worlds of the text, this paper is a demonstrated example of the function of lament in humanity's reaching out to God. Employing a psychological lens along with historical-critical ones, I shall focus on the psychological implications of the language of protest and of accusation; and the therapeutic function of monologues on the part of the lamenter. Bringing my world in front of the world of the text, I shall further explicate the "empirics" in engaging text--the role that gender-culture-context-situatedness play towards an understanding of this Psalm. It is hoped that through the employment of inter-disciplinary interpretive tools, I shall be able to substantiate the thesis that the function of the practice of lament is "to provide resolution to the troubled and restoration to the sufferer towards a renewed relationship."

The Holiness Code contains a previously unrecognized restrictive reinterpretation of the Covenant Code’s law requiring manumission of the Hebrew slave after six years of service. This case, which involves studied lemmatic citation and reformulation of the earlier law, has important implications for contemporary pentateuchal theory, where the question of the dating of the Holiness Code relative to the other literary sources has been reopened during the last quarter century. The reasons why this case has escaped the attention of scholarship are equally significant. The Septuagint translator failed to recognize the reuse of two technical legal idioms relevant to manumission law and misconstrued the syntax and punctuation of the Hebrew Vorlage of Leviticus 25:44, 46. That ancient misunderstanding has had a lasting impact upon the way this unit has subsequently been understood. Seeing the text in its own light opens up a significant new perspective on the sophistication of the Holiness Code and its literary relation to the other pentateuchal sources. The techniques for legal reinterpretation employed in Leviticus 25 include the use of the Wiederaufnahme and pronominal deixis. These techniques, as well as their larger goal of textual reapplication, reveal an emergent form of the methods that are well attested in the pesher and other more formalized exegetical literature of the later Second Temple period. That they occur here in a text that presents itself as revelatory rather than as exegetical, however, raises a series of fascinating hermeneutical issues.

Using models of ethno-genesis, this paper explores some of the processes that led to the formation of ethnic identity amongst the lowland population of Iron Age (ca. 1200 – 500 BCE) Edom.  Biblical, Egyptian and Mesopotamian texts provide a number of possibilities for identifying changing ethnic groups who inhabited Edom during the Iron Age.  After examining these sources to make an historical survey of these changing social groups, the recent excavations at the Iron Age cemetery of Wadi Fidan 40 in the lowlands of Edom will be used as a test case to explore ethno-genesis during the 11th – 9th centuries BCE in this part of the Biblical world.

The active participle in the Aramaic of the biblical book of Daniel has a wide range of ?functions, ranging from an aspectual progressive to an allegedly aspectless simple past, ?making it one of the most intriguing features of the verbal morphosyntax of this form of ?Aramaic. This paper examines its various functions in the light of cross-linguistic ?diachronic evidence. I conclude that the best way to account for the various functions of ?the active participle is to suggest that it developed from a progressive into an ?imperfective, and is on its way to becoming a present. Furthermore, I also propose a distinction in function between hwh/yty) + participle and ?participle + hwh.?

This paper presents a close contextual reading of two poems by Jewish liturgical poet, Yose ben Yose (4th-5th century CE), who is the earliest named poet of a synagogue. The poems are entitled, "Truly Our Sins are Too Numerous to Reckon" (Amnam Ashameinu) and "Once You Made Us the Head" ("Az Le-Rosh Tatanu"). In addition to examining these works as penitential prayers in their own right, the paper attempts to understand them in the context of other early penitential poetry from the Jewish liturgy, including Ashamnu ("We have sinned") and Al Heyt ("For the sin."). The paper briefly considers points of continuity with later medieval Hebrew poetry as well.

This paper examines often-neglected evidence that Jews saw Moses as priest and as divine emissary (or more daringly, apostle). The main focus lies on the earliest extant reference to the apostleship of Moses, in Hebrews 3, where he receives the title apostolos. In the same period he is probably also called aggelos (tracing back from nuntius in As. Mos. 11:17), in a sense akin to that expressed by apostolos. His apostleship also appears explicitly in other Jewish writings, in colorful statements in rabbinic midrash, piyyutim, and probably the Passover Haggadah as well, where he is sheliah, in the sense of an apostle of God. Prior to the New Testament the simple idea of “sentness” is certainly present in traditions about Moses, though a special title along that line does not seem to appear. Hebrews 3 links the title of apostle with that of high priest, and here as well a significant body of Jewish sources points to a Jewish perspective along that line.

In recent years, issues of the body (both socio-political and biological) have captured major scholarly attention. Paul's "first" letter to the Corinthians readily lends itself to such scholarship given its emphasis on power relations within the Corinthian church body as well as its insistence on the future resurrection of individual human bodies. Biblical scholarship of the last two decades have helped us to learn much about the integrity of the letter's textual body and the economic issues that split the Corinthian social body. I would suggest, however, that we have yet to pay adequate attention to the racial/ethnic and religious difference in this letter. Not only were the Gentile believers in Corinth converting to follow a minority religion (in both racial/ethnic and religious terms), Paul—as their church founder but a (colonized) Jewish person in diaspora—also found himself in a very delicate and controversial position. What this paper addresses is how Paul actually lifted up two rejected Jewish bodies in this letter (his own and that of Jesus) to negotiate these various dynamics.

The Book of the Twelve not only preserves words attributed to God but also presents an institutionally authorized memory of legitimate prophetic figures. Alongside their preserved messages, the figures of the prophets themselves should be recognized as significant subjects for the imagination and edification of the ancient writers and readers and, therefore important topics for interpreters. The collection and its series of individual documents, which locate paradigms, models and prototypes in the past, deserve examination as expressions of mythological thinking. While each installment in the Twelve is unique, the portrayed history becomes a cycle of the prophetic revelations. Each component employs a number of cosmic and theophanic conceptions, and adapts preexisting mythic, legendary or historical traditions in various ways to drive home its religious, political and moral ideals. Although embedding reminiscences of previous divine-human encounters, there are also a number of ideas, including the important theophanic conception of the impending “Day of the Lord”, which give the collection an orientation towards the future, not the past, even as several such “days” may be identified in the collection. As chronologically and sequentially early, however, the portrait of Amos is an important interpretational key to understand the sequence of prophetic encounters. Moreover, Amos’s overwhelming and coercive encounters with God provide one model among many for the collectors and redactors to understand and express their own social role and personal experiences as curators and repeaters of divine speech. Although Amos is set in a particular time and place, reading the book typologically as an example of the “myth of the ancient prophet” raises a new interpretative avenue for exploring its relationship with the Book of the Twelve and other prophetic texts, and understanding its relevance in the post-monarchic period.

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This paper analyses the use of purity language in the Epistle of James as a means to assess the texts’ level of cultural accommodation. Beginning with an analysis of the explicit and implicit allusions to purity and pollution in the text, the notion of purity in James is compared with the dominant understanding of first-century purity scripts. Finding areas of convergence and divergence between these scripts and James it is concluded that purity, functioning as an important conceptual model for ordering the ideological world of the author, is used to label “the world” and its accompanying social values as polluting influences upon the community. In order to understand how this information helps locate the socio-cultural stance of the document, the scales of acculturation and accommodation developed by J. Barclay are used to determine whether the text’s use of purity language indicates cultural integration or antagonism. The information garnered through the analysis of James based on the social model of purity and pollution is used to locate the text’s overall concern for cultural antagonism.

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Roman imperial art communicates messages about power relationships and social structures, reflecting a visual ideology of Roman victory as central to state, and therefore cosmic, order. Roman public art draws upon Hellenistic-era imagery to depict this cosmic order, particularly scenes featuring mythological combat between Greeks/Gods and Amazons, Lapiths, Centaurs, or Giants as well as portrayals of subjugated foes (e.g. the “Dying” Gaul, Amazon, Centaur types) alone without their subjugators. Roman monuments commemorating defeat of non-Roman peoples, when seen in these mythic terms, legitimize imperial conquest and domination. Exemplary images from Aphrodisias and Ephesus in Asia Minor will illustrate this point. Monuments rendering conquered “barbarians” as defeated and deferential to Roman conquerors employ familiar elements such as Amazon costuming and heroic/divine nakedness, thereby collapsing boundaries between history and myth. Much like mythological Amazons, the Romans’ historical enemies represent threatening feminine disorder that must be energetically fought and destroyed by elemental manly normalcy. These battle scenes also constitute a carefully constructed ideology of Roman rule as “patriarchy.” Captured and assimilated ethne/nations are often personified in a woman's racially-stereotyped body while an impenetrably masculine Roman emperor or soldier embodies his superior race. Roman imperial world order, born of celebrating (male) victory over various (female) nations, also creates divisions between them. This visual ideology is a complementary semantic system through which New Testament texts can be interpreted. In light of Roman visual ideology, Paul’s letters suggest a counter-imperial strategy, born of a woman, in which a different victory comes “from below” as transgressive solidarity among defeated nations. Through this lens, Paul’s emphasis on “oneness in (the crucified) Christ” in Galatians is an anti-portrait of Roman imperial power relationships, an image-in-nation on dissident terms. Paul’s oneness culminates in a challenging inheritance: a “new creation” that destabilizes gendered, ethnic, state, and cosmic order.

This paper will contribute to gospel performance criticism in two ways. Firstly the range of performative options for evangelists will be reviewed. In the absence of contemporary models, questions are asked such as: Were the gospels performed in the first centuries in a manner similar to pieces of classical literature? (With any of the variations evidenced by literary and iconographic materials?) Or, were they be rhapsodised like modern epics in Serbo-Croatia? Or, were they like the Kathekali temple performances in the south of India? If there were variations in the performances, what were the limits? More questions arise: What was the role of manuscripts in these performances? How much freedom did performances allow for composition and/or rhythm and rhyme? What range of psychodynamic processes were involved? As second contribution leading to a model for imagining gospel performances, will be the examination of some of the residual textual features, viz., how the texts were shaped by the demands of the oral performance. Such performances apparently were holistic events, which established solidarity between performers and empathetic audiences. Such communications did not only involve verbal actions, but the whole body and other illocutionary aspects of the text. It will be argued that reported bodily movements sometimes served as cues for the performer. It is noteworthy that words for bodily movement are often used with more precision than words for verbal communication.

This paper will examine the issue of female honor in Genesis 16:1-5. The Mediterranean paradigm referred to by cultural anthropologists as “honor and shame” has been used in biblical hermeneutics for more than twenty years now in an attempt to analyze certain attitudes of and behavior by men in biblical texts. The emphasis has been on male “honor” and female “shame.” However, this writer contends that certain aspects of honor and shame among women have been overlooked. This paper will analyze Genesis 16:1-5 using the Mediterranean paradigm of honor and shame, and provide a critique of the model as it pertains to women through a womanist lens.

I propose to present a paper on an unpublished sixth century Coptic manuscript containing Sortes sanctorum. In my lecture I will situate the manuscript in the religious and cultural context of Late Antique Egypt by offering three points: First, I will briefly introduce the genre of Sortes texts. These sortes (Latin for ‘lots’) are book oracles: one asks a question about one’s future and then by throwing die finds a number that corresponds to an answer in the book. They are thus ‘instant oracles.’ As such, the Sortes sanctorum are Christian counterparts of Graeco-Roman book oracles, like the Sortes Astrampsychi. Other early Christian and Jewish writings also help to contextualize this text. Yet church fathers such as Augustine condemned these Christian oracular practices. Second, this codex contains one of the earliest and most complete texts of the Christian sortes. More significantly, this is the earliest manuscript that preserves the text’s title: “The Gospel of the Lots of Mary, the Mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (The title Sortes sanctorum stems from Medieval Latin manuscripts). This original title, I contend, forms an important link in the transmission history and use of this text, since sortes are added in the margins of several gospel manuscripts, most famously in the Codex Bezae. In addition, I will present arguments supporting my hypothesis that the Christian sortes tradition originated in Egypt. Thirdly, I will analyze the socio-religious milieu of this text by discussing the following questions: What do these ready-made answers tell us about religious life in Late Antique Egypt? What were issues the compilers were wrestling with? And hence: What does this practice tell us about the everyday concerns of Christians in late Antique Egypt? As for the Coptic manuscript specifically, what do its content and miniature format indicate about its use?

For some time, scholarship has been privileged to have access to electronic morphological datasets of the New Testament. However, the restrictions of morphological tagging is plain to those who regularly use these databases. While being able to compare forms and repetition across texts, one lacks a means of comparing the force and function of words and clauses. To this end, the present author has begun development of a syntactically annotated database of the New Testament which will be published in the Fairhaven series of Logos Research Systems. This database allows for the searching of words and clause structures by force and function. This paper details the procedure used in developing the dataset and graphically illustrates the end result.

In the MT of Ezekiel, the epilogue of chapter 34 reads: "And you, my flock, the flock of my pasture, you are human, I am your God, says the Lord" (34:31). In the epilogue of chapter 36, on finds similar observations: "I will multiply them as a human flock...so will the ruined citied be filled with a human flock" (36:37-38). In the Old Greek version of chapter 36, best represented by p967, there is no mention of a human flock. Indeed the chapter ends in v. 23ba. As a matter of fact, every ms of LXX 34:31 lacks the phrase "you are human." The present paper first situates the remarks concerning the "human flock" within their context in MT and then analyzes their absence in the Old Greek, likewise within a larger context.

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A recent Semeia volume (86) identified food as an exciting new theme in biblical studies. Accurately determining the Israelite diet is an important preliminary task involving negotiation of text and artifact. This paper will examine the difficulties that attend this task and the dimensions that must be taken into account. The question of whether some recent discussions of Israelite diet are misleading will be addressed.

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The paper addresses gender and space as categories of text analysis in the framework of the seminar’s ongoing discourse on spatial theory. It relates the theoretical work of sociologists and geographers to the feminist discussion on metaphor and body. As a test case for its theoretical approach, the paper interprets passages of the book of Lamentations, in which a female and a male body represent the public humiliation of a city and the citizens’ experience of war.

This paper first analyzes the relationship between traders and their deities and then proceeds to examine YHWH in this context. Our best example from the ancient Near East is Hathor as a protectress of traders and tradespeoples throughout the Levant. Other evidence concerning traders and their gods comes from inscriptions and shrines at known trade centers or stations along trade routes, as well as stories about merchants' travels. Concerning YHWH, the Egyptian mention of "the land of the Shasu Yhw" may be an early indication of such a relationship, since the Shasu were also reported to be traders in unguents. Later, YHWH is invoked in the well-known Kuntillet 'Ajrud inscription--a site that provides strong evidence for trade and travelers' worship in the Iron Age. Biblical texts, while not focused on trade, provide some information about the activity crossing through the biblical kingdoms; the texts describe both favorably and unfavorably the merchants in and passing through Israel. Through this variety of evidence, we have the opportunity to assess the potential role of YHWH as a trader's deity from the perspectives of Israelites as well as foreigners.

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This paper deals with those Masorah parva notes that indicate that a word or a phrase occurs only twice in the Hebrew Bible. Some of these doublets are simply marked by the number two while others are accompanied by brief catchwords directing the reader to the companion text where the second occurrence of the word or phrase is to be found. These catchwords appear on manuscripts but are not included in the Masorah parva printed in BHS nor in the earlier more diplomatic representation of the Masorah in BHK3. Some manuscripts, instead of recording these catchwords in their Masorah parva notes, record them in their Masorah magna notes. It thus seems likely that these brief catchwords are precursors of the more comprehensive Masorah magna notes. This paper explains the function of these catchwords and demonstrates how they can be used for biblical exegesis especially in the area of intertextuality.

In prescribing wedding blessings, the rabbis of late antiquity script a new vision of Jewish weddings and a new place for themselves at these communal feasts. Seth Schwartz recently made the argument that Christianization spurs Judaization, suggesting that late antiquity creates the category of “religion” into which the rabbis must then fit. The case of Jewish wedding blessings provides a fine example of this phenomenon. While earlier rabbis display ambivalence about the weddings that occur in their communities, the amoraim create “rabbinic” weddings. New approaches to ritual allow us to see changes in practice as opposed to the continuity emphasized by earlier models. New features of weddings in late antiquity include the text of blessings (later called “Sheva Brachot”) that appear for the first time in the Babylonian Talmud. In addition, other amoraic sources push for the learning and acceptance of these formulae. In focusing on ritual one finds that in addition to being celebratory, wedding meals could also be charged and dangerous. The nearby bridal chamber exudes sexuality, at first calling forth proscriptions forbidding certain speech and songs at wedding feasts. Nonetheless, scrutiny of this dining context uncovers the potential power of such gatherings as well as their danger. Examination of wedding banquets, together with the text of wedding blessings in the Talmud, reveals that the later rabbis forged a new answer to these challenges. A simultaneous consideration of new Christian involvement with weddings in late antiquity suggests that the dangers and possibilities of these feasts went well beyond internal communal concerns.

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Against the background of recent contributions to understanding of the use of language in the Pastoral Epistles, especially the works of R. Van Neste (Cohesion and Structure in the Pastoral Epistles (London: T & T Clark International, 2004)) on the cohesion of the letters and of R. Fuchs on apparent differences between the letters (Unerwartete Unterschiede: Müssen wir unsere Ansichten über die Pastoralbriefe revidieren? (Wuppertal: Brockhaus, 2003)), the paper will attempt to take further the analysis of the structure of the letters proposed in the author’s commentary (A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1999)).

Recent studies on the Gospel of Mary have focused largely on the figure of Mary Magdalene, and on the portrayal of her in that text as apostle, leader, and visionary. The resultant image is frequently compared with the traditional, but erroneous, Western depiction of Mary drawn from conflated New Testament references, i.e. that of perennially penitent prostitute. Yet the fact that the toll collector Levi also features prominently in the Gospel of Mary seems to have been overlooked by scholars. He has the significant role of supporting Mary Magdalene over against the apostolic heavyweights Peter and Andrew. Though I fully endorse the updated image of the Magdalene, I will argue in this paper that Levi and Mary, as well as being historical figures, function as exemplars of reformed characters, and demonstrate the salvific value of repentance. I will cite on the one hand, some possible grounds for Jesus’ criticism of Pharisees, namely their circumvention of Sabbath regulations and avoidance of legitimate taxes, and on the other hand, his commendation of the regenerate toll collectors for their hospitable practices. The parable of the Pharisee and the Toll Collector will then be considered in relation to these scenarios. In conclusion, I will assert the probable authenticity of Matthew 21:31b, and show how this logion correlates with relevant canonical texts as well as with the portraits of Levi and the Magdalene in the Gospel of Mary.

Older translations of the Bible in English, such as the KJV and the Jerusalem Bible, used to translate 1 Corinthians 7:36-38 as having to do with whether fathers ought to let their daughters be married in light of Paul’s teachings on the eschaton. Every major translation today rejects this reading (RSV, NRSV, NIV, NJB, NAB), interpreting these verses in light of the purported practice of spiritual marriage in Corinth. This is a case of exegetical insights driving translation, for the problems with interpreting the passage in this light leads to numerous problems in dealing with the meaning of the Greek. In addition, it does not pay close attention to the social context of the reception of Christianity or the Greco-Roman understanding of marriage in which daughters, often young, were given to their spouses by their fathers. They did not, as the current translations of this passage suggest, make these bonds with fiancées of their own accord. In this passage we get a sense of the shift in children’s lives, as related to early Christian teaching on marriage and sexuality. Understanding the passage as concerning fathers and daughters allows us to see the social reality of marriage for the first Christians. A father asks, how do these teachings affect my daughter? What if she has reached marriageable age and a contract has previously been made for her marriage when she reaches puberty? Paul offers a response to social realities set in motion by the Christian teaching regarding marriage, celibacy, and sexuality.

God's violence against the earth and its ecosystems in the Book of Revelation remains a major impediment to the rehabilitation of this book as environmentally friendly. This paper proposes a re-reading of the three visions of sevens and a revalorization of "angels" to find an ecological focus consistent with what Barbara Rossing has aruged can be found in the contrast of Babylon and the New Jerusalem. Any reading depends on where one begins reading - the beginning is not always the best place to start a book. In the Apocalypse the starting point matters more than in many books, and it can govern how the rest of the message unfolds. It will be argued that the best starting point is to begin with the two cities. If the anaylsis of their variant economies and ecologies is allowed to frame the preceding visions of sevens, the visions read not as God's negative actions against the earth, but as a portrayal of the natural consequences of Babylon's environmental policies. Help for this new reading will be drawn from Harry Maier's analysis of parody in Revelation's portrayal of divine violence extended to God's violence against the environment. Other hermeneutical perspectives include, the work of Walter Wink (on principalities and powers) and new work in ecosystem dynamics both used to re-read the angels who seem to carry out divine destructive acts against the environment. This allows us to read them as powers from God, intended for the environment's and humanity's good, but when directed by the power dynamics of Babylon they "run amok" bringing a reflexive judgment on humanity and the environment. As a result this apocalyptic text can more fully function in building a positive environmental ethic.

This paper examines the relationship of Philo of Alexandria and the Dead Sea Scrolls on the matter of Divine Sonship.

In Between Worlds Samuel Bak compares himself and his life’s work to the biblical Job: one who perpetually asks questions to a silent deity, and fears never to receive an answer. In this paper I probe Bak’s intuitive connection to Job and explore the subtle and profound links the themes of his work have with those of the biblical book. Broadly, both function as survival testimony, actualizing what Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub describe as the imperative to bear witness to an “impossible” event. Specifically, I examine three broad themes of survival testimony in Bak’s work and the book of Job, each of which foreground the impossibility of survival. First is the impossible as the shattered world, where images of incomprehension, illogicality, and existence as bewilderment predominate. Second is the impossible as the death-tainted life, where the terms of life (vitality, liveliness, connection, and so on) are inseparable from those of death (separation, disintegration, stasis, and so on). Last is the impossible as hope, where hope is expressed as the bricolage: the grafting of incompatible and ill-fitting elements into a gangly and cumbersome, yet working, whole. In fact, for the viewer/reader of Bak’s work and the book of Job, the bricolage becomes the lasting image and represents that paradoxical site of both impossibility and hope. Bak, therefore, connects to the biblical Job not only because he asks questions perpetually to a silent deity (as Bak suggests), but more significantly because he becomes the Modern Job that Maurice Friedman describes: one who confronts the experience of “radical evil” head-on and shapes from it an image of meaningful human existence.

As part of an ongoing exploration of the gospels’ use of narrative time, the examination of Luke’s Gospel presents some particularly interesting issues. This paper will explore Luke’s use of time using categories derived both from Ricoeur’s Time and Narrative and Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope. Paul Ricoeur explores narrative time primarily from the perspective of a binary opposition between historical and fictional time. And within this construct much of Luke must be seen as an attempt at portraying historical time. Certainly the opening chapters, given the synchronization of Jesus’ ministry with the political world of the Herodian and Roman governments, can be seen as an attempt at establishing a sense of historical time. But this careful chronological development gives way in the travel narrative (chaps 9-18) to a more vague story line. Here time markers become less precise and more in the nature of fictional time. In a similar way, Mikhail Bakhtin uses the concept of the chronotope to consider the genre of various kinds of literature as part of his overall exploration of the novel. One particular chronotope is that of “adventure time” which is closely linked to romance novels. The travel narrative in Luke can be understood in terms of this chronotope of “adventure time.” Each approach has some advantages in gaining some purchase on Luke’s purpose and rhetorical effect in his gospel. In addition to exploring the contours of Luke’s narrative use of time, I will attempt to evaluate each theoretical model of time and what each can offer to an understanding of the relationship of narrative time to authorial construction of a narrative.

Three climatically and geographically similar sites are compared, including a paleobotanical analysis of sites in Upper and Lower Galilee, and two modern ecosystems. These analyses broaden our understanding of the hill-country settlements of early Israel. Tribal village small-plot agriculture and herding practices of these semi-arid regions include interstitial areas of open territory that can provide a wide variety of wild grass grains, and other edible plants such as tubers, berries and other fruits, nuts; and also small and large wild animals over an annual cycle. Besides cultivated food sources, the variety of available foods from gathering, hunting or trapping may revise our view of the socioeconomic patterns of ancient Israel and estimates of the population “carrying capacity” of this type of ecology.

The speeches in Acts have long attracted the attention of NT scholars. George Kennedy and others have produced studies of considerable value that examine the Acts speeches in light of the ancient Greco-Roman rhetoric. This study begins with that foundation, but it continues further to consider the purpose of rhetoric in practice. How flexible are the elements of rhetoric? Once a rhetor leaves the declamation schools, in what ways do the skills learned in the classroom grow and change through practice? With these questions in mind, we will examine two speeches in Judith 5 and Acts 24 that stand out because of their “poor” rhetorical construction. I would like to suggest that this “poor” rhetorical construction serves a purpose on the level of text and audience: the speaker deliberately leaves out part of a speech in order to invite and encourage audience participation (for this idea in antiquity see for example Theon, Prog., 106-107 in Pantillon’s translation; and Plutarch, Moralia, “On Listening to Lectures”). If indeed missing speech elements are an invitation for listener participation, the audience may collect information from the surrounding narrative and supply the missing element. Not only does this inform the audience concerning the degree of the speech’s veracity, but finally it also reinforces the inherent point of the speeches. Attentive listeners become active participants in the speeches, creating a connection between the story and the audience. By understanding the way ancient speeches were composed, by noting deviances from these structures, and by drawing conclusions based on observed rhetorical practice, we can hypothesize about the audiences’ reaction to, and indeed participation in, the stories we have examined. In some cases, poor rhetoric may be an intentional device used to invite the audience’s involvement, and therefore investment, in the story.

I will be exploring the novels of Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head, Wole Soyinka vis a vis some of the ideas that are developed in Valentin Mudimbes, Parables and Fables. The aim is to analyze the intriguing interplay of Biblical interpretation and struggle for independence and post-independence critique of corrupt nationalism/s in creative literature. I will analyze how African novelists are engaging the social issues of their day. Perhaps the novelists can offer a more nuanced mode of biblical interpretation in African scholarship than has been hitherto realized.

The paper explores the construct of the biblical femme fatale in three operas based on the story of John the Baptist’s beheading. The manipulation of the biblical data by the librettist/composer are scrutinized; in particular, how the chief female character becomes a complex construct based on themes of desire and death, and sometimes redemption or its failure. The first two operas enact elaborated versions of the biblical story itself – Massenet’s Hérodiade (1880) and Richard Strauss’ Salome (1905). The libretto of the former is based upon a story by Flaubert contained in his Trois Contes (1877); the latter is directly derived from Oscar Wilde’s play (1883). Both radically re-write the biblical story to introduce a powerful erotic element into the relationship between Salome and the Baptist. In Salome this takes the form of Salome’s consuming lust for John; in Massenet’s opera the passion is reciprocal. The link between the bible and the sung text is less direct in the third work, Wagner’s Parsifal (1882), set in the post-biblical world of the legend of the Holy Grail, but in the character of Kundry, Wagner (both librettist and composer) abstracts from the biblical milieu a highly developed image of femme fatale: a wandering Jewess, a mocker of Christ, who was once Herodias. With Kundry the theme of redemption is explored and worked through more fully than in the other operas. The paper will consider the texts in the light of feminist readings of the operas and the biblical data. It will also explore the way in which the musical universe created by each composer develops and intensifies the female constructs found in the libretti, transforming the biblical source texts beyond recognition to construct a vision of woman as, literally, fatale.

Recent studies have drawn attention to this question, but with radically varying conclusions, and with little attention to questions of method or the relevance of perspectives from the social sciences. Whereas John P. Meier’s study suggests that Jesus most likely shared the social status of his family, as a part of the skilled laborer class in his village, Bruce Chilton places Jesus into the category of mamzer, an illegitimate child whose reputation and participation in society would be permanently marred by this fact. Yet both sides appear for the most part to overlook the most historically accessible evidence, namely the implications of his interactions with people of various social classes, as compared with the range of interactions possible to someone whose status was marred by illegitimacy. This paper will begin by reviewing the relevant social-scientific data regarding the situation of illegitimate children in first century Mediterranean and Jewish society. These preliminary investigations will provide a basis for assessing whether Jesus’ social status (as evidenced by accounts of his social interactions) fits with that of an illegitimate child. Attention will be drawn in particular to the discrepancy between the suggestion that Jesus was a mamzer, with the social implications that would have had, and the actual activities of Jesus depicted in our sources that appear to reflect authentic historical information, such as the accounts of Jesus teaching in synagogues, and the consternation that his association with the unclean, tax collectors, and ‘sinners’ apparently caused. In investigating the evidence for Jesus’ social status, attention must be paid to the social realities that are assumed by the historically authentic traditions about Jesus, and not just the explicit claims made therein.

In this paper I offer an overview of the various functions of Greek sanctuaries by concentrating on their location in the religious and secular landscapes of Greece. Drawing on the work of François de Polignac I examine the role of sanctuaries as neutral spaces mediating competition first between aristocrats and later between emerging city states. While this approach has been usefully employed to elucidate a centre-periphery model of official religion in the Greek city-states, less attention has been payed to the border lands, and I will attempt to show that in a variety of ways, ranging from the psychological to the economic, border lands were dangerous areas best assigned to the gods. Accordingly, this paper is not restricted to the panhellenic sanctuaries of Delphi and Olympia but will also examine smaller, local sanctuaries, their land, and their administrative structures.

The paper will challenge the widely held view that the Jewish priesthood, especially the elite high-priestly families, willingly accepted the imposition of Roman rule and that they also eagerly adopted the role of being the local representatives of imperial rule. For much New Testament scholarship the high-priesthood has replaced the Pharisees as the antithesis of everything espoused by people like Jesus, who called for reform and change. It will be argued that elements of the high-priesthood may have tolerated Roman rule but that they also aspired to the removal of Roman rule and took an active role initiating the revolt in 66 CE. There are two main components of the paper. One is a discussion of how Josephus’ narrative should be read as a critique of Rome. The other main component is a discussion of the Jewish coinage produced during the first revolt, especially the silver coins.

An overwhelming consensus accepts as a matter of course that when Jesus expelled demons on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, the subsequent lemming-like behavior of nearby pigs is to be attributed to the malevolent character of the demons. A reanalysis of the distinctive features of this account as it appears in each of the synoptic gospels demonstrates that other presuppositions from overlooked cultural perspectives (both from the Old Testament and the Greco-Roman environment) combine to counter this consensus. These pigs commit suicide. This conclusion has important ramifications for the presentation of Jesus in his role as exorcist and for the function of this story in its present contexts.

"This ideal of America is the hope of all...That hope still lights our way. And the light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it." George W. Bush. The familiar mandate found in Isaiah 42.6 and again in chapter 49.6 identifies the election of 'you' the audience, as "a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth". The universality of this mission to bring divine salvation has carried heavy implications throughout history, as it continues to bear on current biblical/theological and political issues. Such an identification of a universalistic faith meant to offer the sole possibility of salvation necessarily implies that all other religions (or even other versions of the same religion) are false and, therefore, dangerous to the spiritual well-being of the faithful. Also implied is a community sense of moral superiority that begs a closer look at the confluence of ideas of community, religion, and politics. This paper will explore ways in which the readers of this text have negotiated the ideologies of politics and religion, first as separate ideological constructs, but then as a unique ideology that occurs when political and religious ideologies become inseparable through the use of pious rhetoric and especially ideological memory. Or, in other words, the ideological identification of those who have been the elect, those who are the elect, and those who are not will be analyzed. Next, this paper will look at Tom DeLay as an example of "political fundamentalism," defined by as the combination of "theological fundamentalism and the personal commitments of religious adherents to combat worldly vices." Here, too, the religious ideology that becomes inseparable from the political ideology, the identity construction, and finally the sense of moral superiority in connection with an idea of manifest destiny will be considered.

It has often been argued that the function of apocalyptic literature is to answer questions concerning theodicy. The present study proposes to address the question by reframing it as a problem of divine presence and absence and then noting the way in which the problem seeks resolution in Daniel’s graphic depictions of embodied power. The point of departure for this paper is the recognition of a persistent cognitive and experiential dissonance at work in the Book of Daniel. This paper will examine how that dissonance is continually expressed and resolved in the various visions. This study will argue that this dissonance is rooted in the community’s perceived absence (or complicity) of the Most High in the success of Seleucid power. The paper will then argue that chapters 2,7, and 8 use differing models of divine embodiment and disembodiment to resolve the dissonance, often in paradoxical ways.

This paper presents a preview of my project of preparing a critical edition of the book of Leviticus for the Oxford Hebrew Bible project. The purpose of this collaborative project is to produce critical editions for all the books of the Hebrew Bible, taking into account for the first time the full Hebrew manuscript evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Unlike earlier 'diplomatic' editions of the Hebrew Bible, in which a single manuscript is selected as the base text against which textual variants in other manuscripts are mirrored, this 'critical' edition will present a text that is a compilation of the best readings from all the manuscripts available, whether from the Dead Sea Scrolls or from other important ancient textual witnesses. The text-critical study of Leviticus opens up interesting insights into wider questions of the textual development as well. I will examine a few examples of cases (1) how the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts enhance our knowledge of the original text of Leviticus and provide readings superior to the Masoretic text, (2) how the book of Leviticus in the course of its textual development gradually evolved from a handbook of cultic rituals into a book of scripture, (3) how the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts of Leviticus show that the Old Greek text was faithfully translated from an ancient Hebrew text that was simply different from the traditional Masoretic text, and (4) how the text of Leviticus was used in the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period.

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The Book of Job is an artful, complex, polyvalent text, whose meanings have exercised interpreters for millenia. Among the oft-debated hermeneutical issues is the divergence between the perspective found in the poetic dialogues and the prose framework of the book. One egregious divergence between the dialogues and the framework is the tension or contradiction between 1) God's explicit approval of Job's abrasive complaint, in contrast to that of his friends' speech (stated twice in the prose epilogue) and 2) God's implicit rebuke of Job's arrogance at daring to question divine justice, a rebuke that is followed by Job's 'repentance'. Without claiming to provide any definitive resolution of the tension between dialogue and prose framework, this paper will engage in a close reading of God's speeches and Job's response, with a focus on the second speech. My purpose will be to explore the wild possibility that God's intentions in the speeches might actually cohere with the explicit approbation given Job in the prose epilogue. Central to my reading of the second speech will be three questions: First, what is the status of God's appeal to the primordial monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan? Secondly, of what does Job 'repent' in his response to the second speech? And, thirdly, why is there a second speech at all? In answering these questions it will become clear that God greatly values both Job and Leviathan in their untamed wildness.

My paper will formulate a status questiones addressing the current crisis within Didache research. Firstly, I will provide a brief overview of how Adolph Harnack and, after him, how Jean-Paul Audet succeeded in giving a determined direction to Didache research. In so doing, the Didache took on a discernable identity and was perceived to contribute to the pressing academic discussions of the day. Secondly, I will show why scholars during the last twenty years have largely abandoned both Harnack and Audet and left us with no persuasive origination hypothesis or research program to guide our way. The field of Didache scholarship is thus in disarray and unable to substantially contribute to the academic questions of our day. This explains why, during a twenty-year period when the number of participants and the number of papers was increasing three-fold during the annual meetings of the SBL, the number of persons addressing the Didache remained at a low standstill. Finally, therefore, I hope to sketch out a possible future for resolving the current crisis. In so doing, I will name certain practices and lines of inquiry that even now may be preparing for such a resolution. I will close with a visionary hope that the Didache will someday be included within standard editions of the New Testament.

Comparative constructions in Biblical Hebrew encompass a wide range of constructions involving a variety of comparative words (e.g., k-, ken, koh, min). Crucially, many comparative constructions involve ellipsis of varying kinds and to varying degrees. Syntactically, ellipsis may occur at either the phrase or clause level. On the phrase level, an anaphoric pronoun may replace a full noun phrase, as in Num 23:10 ‘and may my end be like his [end]’ (described as “blitz” by M. O’Connor, Hebrew Verse Structure [Winona Lake, Ind: Eisenbrauns, 1980], 122). On the clausal level, comparative constructions may be the result of ellipsis of the verb and sometimes additional constituents, as in Isa 11:7: ‘and the lion will eat straw like the ox [eats straw]’. In some exceptional cases, the comparative clause is severely reduced to such an extent that the original argument structure is obscured, as in Isa 10:14 where the preposition l- has been deleted in the surface structure: ‘My hand found (l-) the wealth of the peoples like [my hand found l-] a nest’. Other kinds of comparative constructions, however, do not rely on syntactic processes. Instead, the interpretation of the sentence depends upon the reader filling in semantic or pragmatic information, as in the common expression k-X k-Y ‘like X like Y’. From a linguistic point of view, comparative constructions also raise a number of issues. Most centrally, linguists have debated whether ellipsis involving comparatives is distinct from other elliptical processes in a language, and whether phrasal and clausal comparative constructions can be understood together.

In his influential 1960 article, “Kelebh ‘Dog’: Its Origin and Some Uses of It in the Old Testament,” D. Winton Thomas argued that the Israelites viewed dogs as vile, contemptible creatures. Many scholars have since followed his lead, but their claims have been built on insufficient evidence. First, while it is true that many OT texts portray canines in a negative light (e.g., David calls himself a “dead dog” in 1 Sam 24:15), not all references to dogs are negative. Some are merely neutral, and a few show that the Israelites valued dogs. Job 30:1 reveals that they were used for herding sheep, and the Book of Tobit presents a dog who serves as a lovable travel companion. Second, Israel’s neighbors all cherished canines, especially the Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks. This was further confirmed by the archaeological discovery of thousands of dog burials at Ashkelon in the mid 1980’s. The dog was greatly appreciated and utilized in the ancient Near East, and it is odd that Israel would be the only group to abhor them. A look at the Book of Tobit as well as archaeological and textual evidence from Israel’s neighboring cultures will demonstrate that the claims of Winton and others are exaggerations. The Israelites often used the word keleb derisively, but their attitude towards dogs was not entirely negative.

Paul’s dream-vision at Troas (Acts 16:6-10) is perhaps the most perplexing visionary encounter in Luke’s narrative. Prevented by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus from proclaiming the word in Phrygia, Galatia, and Bythinia (16:6-7), Paul and his fellow travelers come to Troas where “a vision appears to Paul during the night” (16:9). Whereas other visions in Luke-Acts typically feature some sort of divine agent (e.g., an angel or a voice from heaven), this one depicts a Macedonian man requesting help. Although God is mentioned nowhere in the narration of the event, the characters in the story immediately interpret Paul’s vision as divine direction (16:10). Commentators almost universally accept this conclusion; some even treat the passage as a commission scene, parallel to the Holy Spirit’s commission of Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13:1-4. If Paul’s vision is such a breakthrough moment, however, Paul’s experience in Macedonia is surely an anticlimax. Paul’s reception in Philippi is abysmal, and even the moderate success of the mission in Thessalonica and Beroea pales in comparison to that found in Acts 13-14. It is not until Paul reaches Achaia (as distinct from Macedonia [cf. Acts 18:12, 27; 19:21]) that the mission begins to flourish once again. After discussing the Troas episode within the narrative context of Acts 13-17, the present paper will argue that the characters’ act of interpreting Paul’s vision is crucial for understanding this and other dream-vision stories in Luke-Acts.

Recent scholarship has drawn attention to the role of apocalyptic eschatology in the denigration of the earth by human beings. This paper aims to examine Mark's portrayal of the earth in relation to his understanding of the new creation. In Mark, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God in terms of the miraculous growth of plants and an abundant harvest. At the same time he permits demons to lead a herd of pigs to their deaths in the sea, and he also curses a fig tree because it has failed to produce fruit. Jesus has power to still storms and multiply loaves in the desert but he is condemned to death by his human enemies. At the crucifixion nature responds by covering the earth in darkness for three hours until Jesus dies. He gives his life as a covenant between God and humanity but also with the whole of creation. His death inaugurates the new creation, and the fig tee which has been cursed will flourish again in the new age. In Mark, the abundance of the new creation does not come about through the subduing of the earth by force but by the sacrificial way of the cross.

For most of the past century, the study of genre in biblical scholarship has been the purview (implicit or explicit) of form-criticism. The goal of this paper is two-fold: 1. to detach the study of biblical genres from the exclusive purview of form criticism; while 2. reconceptualizing genre as a site of politics, a politics constructed by the operation of power and eros. “Genre as power” was a part of the efforts in literary criticism of the late 1980s and 1990s to rethink genre theory, and in this paper it is combined with a political conception of eros (as in Plato), in order to understand the motivation of the power operative in genre. Drawing on the work of Foucault, Deleuze, Girard, Bakhtin, and others, I outline what this understanding of genre might imply for biblical texts and biblical studies.

Despite the appearance of reprints and renewed attempts to “update” his work in recent years, F.C. Baur’s reputation in English-language biblical scholarship has remained relatively stable throughout the 20th century. Most scholarly assessments of his work characterize it as overly simplified, and as dependent upon idealized, philosophical abstractions and presuppositions derived from Hegel’s writings. This paper surveys the prevalence of this presentation of Baur among Pauline scholars, and argues that Baur’s understanding of Paul and Gentile Christianity is adequately explained by his view that Paul’s gospel was a universal message that contrasted sharply with his exclusivistic Jewish heritage. Despite the influence of the New Perspective in Pauline studies in the latter years of the 20th century, it is precisely on this point that Baur’s views have the most in common with those of contemporary scholars, even those who consciously present themselves as sharply opposed to his legacy.

In this paper I seek to reframe the debate about the relationship between the Letter of James and Paul, away from the assumption that James must represent a version of "anti-Paulinism" and toward the possibility that James represents an inner-Paulinist response to some of the hermeneutical dilemmas created by Galatians and then exacerbated by its contextual position in the early edition of the corpus Paulinum. If it can be shown that James knows not just Galatians, but also 1 Corinthians, then is it possible that this author is responding to the same perceived difficulty that later patristic authors did: how to reconcile Paul with himself, and Paul with the "pillars" on which the church stands? Other second and third generation texts that are indisputably "Paulinist," such as 1 Clement and the Letter of Polycarp, also amalgamate faith and deeds in justification, but, perhaps because they do not use the rhetorical figure of prosopopoiia (itself a technique favored by Paul!), are never accused of anti-Paulinism. Has the assumption that James is somehow arguing against a monolithic Paul -- identified solely with Gal 2:16 -- blinded us to the Pauline sensibilities so comfortably assumed by this author, who may, like the author of the Pastorals and that of Acts, be seeking to secure his version of Paul's teaching through compromise and attribution to one of the "pillars"?

"If the reader has become part of the action, is caught up by the language, the question of what the passage ‘means’ does not arise. Once the desired effect has been achieved, there is no need, or room, for interpretation." [Jane Tompkins, “The Reader in History: The Changing Shape of Literary Response”]* Contra Tompkins’ observations concerning audience impact in the ancient world, diegetic theory in the Hellenistic period had developed a rather sophisticated system of 'arrangement' (oikonomia) in which an author’s overarching purpose (telos) for the composition is realized through discrete poetic strategies that ensure audience comprehension and approbation of authorial interpretations of events. The Hellenistic composers Polybius of Megalopolis, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Diodorus Siculus, in particular, provide extensive discussions of their main diegetic ‘methods of development’ (exargasia) through which they will ‘manage’ (oikonomeo) their audiences to understandings of events that will conform and build to match the author’s own ideological construals of the larger narrative whole. This paper will present the most significant discussions in Polybius’ Histories, Diodorus’ Library of History, and in Dionysius’ literary treatises On Demosthenes and On Thucydides. It will be argued that by ‘re-visiting’ authorial intent in Hellenistic narrative, contemporary biblical and literary criticisms can carve some new and incisive inroads into evaluating postmodernism’s deconstructions of the authorial-purpose--audience-response nexus. Moreover, the Hellenistic hermeneutic of 'audience management' can shed new light on the Gospel writers’ choices of poetic-rhetorical devices which intend to elicit specific audience comprehensions of both part and whole. In particular, Luke’s Gospel prologue and John 20:31 will be examined within the larger diegetic-rhetorical panoramas of each Gospel. *J. P. TOMPKINS, (ed.), Reader-Response Criticism. From Formalism to Post-Structuralism (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980), p. 203.

The story of the women at the Empty Tomb (Mark 16:1-8; Matthew 28:1-11a and Luke 23:56b-24:12) has been repeatedly discussed in reference to the role of the women as witnesses to the Easter story. However, it is apparent that the various authors and/or editors employed specific type-scenes or narrative patterns from the Hebrew Bible. These type scenes include: the commission story and the annunciation story. The commission story is found in twenty-seven stories in the Hebrew Bible. In all of the stories, the main human character is selected or commissioned, by God, as His agent; further, despite various difficulties or avoidance on the part of the human protagonist, God’s commission is always successful performed. The annunciation story is associated with the prophecy of the birth of a child. The ‘structural’ intertextuality between the Hebrew Bible narrative patterns and the empty tomb stories produces a different reading of the gospel material and a particular understanding of the women at the empty tomb. The women are NOT mere witnesses of the Easter event; they are agents commissioned by God to perform a specific task or they are the vehicles through which the birth of the new good news will be delivered. The intertextuality reconfigures the women from ‘witnesses’ to divinely appointed agents.

This paper uses Jesus’ call to take up his easy yoke in Matt 11:25-30 as a springboard to explore various facets of Matthew’s wisdom Christology. The paper first considers the figure of Lady Wisdom in the OT and various Second Temple Jewish sources in order to help explain the apparent strangeness in characterizing Jesus, a man, with features of Wisdom, traditionally portrayed as a feminine figure. Next, the paper explores some of the allusions to Sirach 24 and 51 in Matt 11:25-30, suggesting that Matthew presents Jesus both as Wisdom incarnate and, therefore, also as Sage par excellence. Given this initial connection between Sirach and Matthew, the paper then suggests some other allusions to Sirach in the Sermon on the Mount, as well as considering some parallels to the Sermon in the DSS to demonstrate some of the wisdom features of the Sermon. In particular, the Sermon is framed at both the beginning and the end by wisdom material, and the equation of Wisdom with Torah in Sirach 24 sheds light on the intermingling of wisdom and Law themes in Matthew 5-7. The paper then proposes a link between the Sermon on the Mount and Matt 11:25-30, namely that the easy yoke to which Jesus refers in the latter text is his teaching in the Sermon. Finally, the paper makes some preliminary steps toward connecting this reading with other aspects of Matthew’s Gospel. In particular, this wisdom Christology dovetails well with one of Matthew’s most prominent christological titles, ‘Son of David.’ As the original anointed son of David was renowned for his wisdom, so now Matthew’s Son of David in a greater way (cf. Matt 12:42) embodies the Wisdom that instructed Solomon.

I Samuel 15 is a pivotal chapter in the Biblical history of Saul's reign, as the king is condemned for his failure to carry out "holy war" against the Amalekites. A curious feature of the narrative, however, is a little-noted allusion in v. 12, to the monarch's having erected a monument (lit. "hand") in Carmel. Although commentators generally regard its mention as a literary and theological device to demonstrate Saul's arrogance, references to such items are fairly limited in the Hebrew Scriptures, and should not be dismissed out of hand. Given the rarity of the practice in the Scriptural record, one wonders why such an object would be linked to this particular king at this particular site. Moreover, the surrounding narrative itself contains some pecularities: not only does it provide us with a detailed account of Israel's razzia against Amalek, but also with Saul's very different view of the practice of herem. Noting these oddities, we would suggest that this royal monument be taken seriously as a possible written source for the Deuteronomistic compiler/editor(s), against which they shaped their theological response to Saul's kingship. As such, it would provide us with a valuable- - - and unprecedented- - - look into royal policy and ideology of the early monarchial period.

“Place” is an important dimension of human identity, but spatial structures have often been overlooked in Gospel studies. This paper suggests that employing place theories developed by Henri Lefbevre (The Production of Space, 1974/1991) and David Harvey (The Condition of Postmodernity, 1989) on the relationship between material space, ideological space and imagined spaces provide help to uncover the social and mental maps of the gospels. Texts about leaving house/ household to follow Jesus provides a case study. House and household were at the centre of the social, ideological and mental map of the 1st century, and I will look especially at the way it determined male roles. In the Gospels it is young men who are called to leave households and to follow Jesus, but this new “place” they are called into and the new kinship groups that are established (Mark 3:31-35 par) are described in various ways in Mark, Matthew and Luke.

During John Chrysostom’s tenure as a preacher in Antioch, he completed several series of exegetical homilies on the works of the New Testament. In the paper I wish to present, I will focus on Homilies 68, 69, and 70 of the series on Matthew, examining the rhetorical models of behavior that Chrysostom presents to his audience. These three homilies are similar in that they begin with an analysis of the New Testament Pharisees who challenge Jesus. Chrysostom concludes that the Jews of the New Testament are ever stubborn and fleshly; this is not a particularly novel tack for a late antique Christian orator to take. Consequently, my attention is directed elsewhere, namely, to where Chrysostom turns after he completes the stock portrayal of Jesus’ adversaries. His emphasis on the “fleshly” almost requires a corresponding “spiritual,” and Chrysostom finds this spiritual quality in a surprising place. It is not Jesus, nor any disciple portrayed in Matthew, nor even the Christians in his audience that Chrysostom praises as “spiritual” in comparison to the “fleshly” Pharisees. Rather, Chrysostom presents the ascetics practicing near Antioch, those who “live in Heaven like the angels” and are “almost bodiless,” as the opposite of the fleshly Jews he sees in the New Testament. Even as Chrysostom exemplifies these “angelic” ascetics, he does not exhort his audience to become like them by adopting their lifestyle, only to go and observe them. Chrysostom’s rhetoric in these homilies, then, positions ascetics as a new “text” for Christians to study: They exist for purposes of instruction, teaching ordinary Christians by their existence how to avoid the problems of the world. The ascetic exemplars who live around Antioch can be understood, in this reckoning, as a new scripture, one that—unlike the Gospel of Matthew itself—remains unassociated with the flesh.

This paper will address the crisis in black leadership in the Black Church in Britain and its wider community by arguing that essential to the development of a transformative black leadership model is a healthy critique of the biblical text that draws upon the experience of the Black British community. The author will illustrate that key to reading the Bible so that leadership becomes central to the black community of faith and an effective communication tool for engaging the wider black urban context is through the use of black vernacular and vernacular hermeneutics for critical dialogue and interpretation of the gospel sources making culture an integral aspect of the interpretative process. A case will be made for the application of Jamaican Patois to the biblical text that opens up the way for serious reflection on issues surrounding discourse and power that give space to unheard voices and the integrity of their experience, while, at the same time, providing a platform to construct their own story within a leadership framework that actively works on behalf of advancing and empowering the Black British collective.

This paper will examine efforts to contextualize the gospel in the South Pacific through visual art during the late 20th century. Contextual hermeneutical methods employed for the production of Christian visual art will be considered. Examples of Christian contextual art produced will be evaluated to discern what aspects of Gospel texts were accentuated to resonate with core Pacific Islander cultural values. Specific attention shall be focused on the Christian art produced by Robert Park for the Anglican Diocese of Polynesia.

A critical look at the development of methodology in the study of Mark’s Gospel reveals that, in spite of the highly sophisticated discussion on various diachronic and synchronic aspects of the text and its prehistory, there is a huge gap in an area that should be of great interest: the oral practice of Mark as part of the process that led to the written gospel. I assume that Mark was practically trained to tell various clusters of Jesus stories, present them in new and different combinations and combine them in a creative way. If this is true, the development of his theological ideas, his interpretation of the historical context of his community and his skill as a storyteller belong inseparably together. I assume that Mark developed the themes and narrative clusters present in the written gospel in the run of his long career as a storyteller. He must have mastered numerous other stories in addition to those that he articulated in his gospel. I suggest that the “redaction” of individual stories started with his oral practice,

Making use of insights from the postcolonial studies, this paper focuses on the ethics of translation, and on the complicated and potentially hierarchical relationship that exists between the translators and the translated – the source text (ST) as well as the target text (TT). While acknowledging that the translation takes place in a particular context and that it ought to be transforming, this paper seeks to show how the biases and agendas of the translators could easily lead to colonization of the text, regardless of the nature of those biases and agendas. It has been assumed that a translation is violent only when it perpetuates systems that sponsor and sustain hegemony. However, even a translation that is prescribed as an antidote to the oppressive structures can be equally violent to the text, if it fails to remain sufficiently faithful to the source text. To illustrate this point, I will highlight examples from different versions of the Telugu Bible. On the one hand, translators need to ensure that the translation is sufficiently faithful to the source text; on the other hand, they ought to be mindful of the need for transforming translations so that the oppressive structures based on race, class, and gender are not transmitted from the source text to the target text or the receiving community. When sandwiched between the two needs, the translators should aim not to choose one or the other, but to achieve a creative and dynamic tension between the two.

Much of the mainline research on 2nd Samuel 18 by north Atlantic scholars during the 20th century is toxic. This paper is intended as a corrective to the racialized assumptions perpetuated by the supposed neutral application of the Historical Critical Method. Representative material from a brief survey of commentaries published between 1899 and 2000 illustrates how the power of the commentator to form the questions of interpretation as detracted from the church’s ability to perceive the true nature and scope of Cushite influences in the ancient Near East, even as they are set for by respected scholars of north African antiquity.

Since Hans Conzelmann’s The Theology of St. Luke scholars have discussed Luke-Acts’ manipulation of geography for ideological-theological purposes. Luke’s narrative arcs from Jerusalem to Rome and symbolically invests countryside and city, mountain and plain, with different meanings. This paper reads Luke’s construction of Paul’s urban travels in light of archaeological evidence of Hadrian’s Panhellenion. This coalition of Aegean cities, founded by the emperor Hadrian in 131, fostered diplomacy among the Greeks and also encouraged various cities’ inventions of complicated genealogies which established their metropoleis as solidly Greek in race. Many of the still extant archaeological remains of the Panhellenion are in Athens, where Hadrian engaged in an active building program, including a sanctuary of the Panhellenion. Other evidence of this remains to us today in fifty-four known inscriptions from other cities involved in this league, including Thessaloniki and Corinth, some of which honor ambassadors to and officials in the Panhellenion. Both Hadrian’s Panhellenion and Acts’ geography and representation of Paul’s travels through cities ringing the Aegean are second-century products of the cultural currents of the Second Sophistic, with its emphasis on Greek paideia and its negotiations of Greek identity under the Roman empire. Both Hadrian’s Panhellenion and Acts’ traveling Paul rhetorically construct cities for their own political purposes. The Panhellenion captivates the (perhaps restive) attention and energies of leading elites in cities and directs their energies towards an Athens controlled and constructed by the Roman empire, while Acts constructs a Paul who especially in Philippi and Thessaloniki is accused of sedition toward the Roman empire, but who is ultimately presented as an ideal citizen of Rome.

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This paper benefits from the lecturer recent reconstructions of the Temple Mount, based mainly on Josephus, the Mishnah and the nature of Herod’s architecture. Careful analysis of the data at hand points to the projection of the Antonia, of ca. 65 m, into the existing platform. (The existing scarp in the rock, towards south, is apparently Umayyad.) Josephus description of the Antonia (which replaced the Hasmonean Birah), resembles the outstanding round structure that crowned Herodium. It probably was a square building, close to 100 X 100 m in size. The limited time at hand, for the construction not only of the new Temple, but also the azarah, offices and gates around it, inspired Herod and his architects to implement a sort of a modular plan. Never the less, the new buildings fulfilled not only the current needs of the Temple but also Herod’s desire for impressive constructions. Once the Antonia and the Temple (with its courts) were accomplished, the enlargement of the Temple Mount got all the attention. A key structure here is the stoa basileia, which was badly needed by the king who, in contrary to his predecessors the Hasmoneans, could not enter the Temple and had no special status there. Although the stoa basileia integrated with the rest of the porticos (around the huge square), it was probably reserved, as well as “Robison Arch”, for the king and his guests during his visits to the holy precinct.

This paper seeks to assess the landscape of scholarship on wisdom and apocalypticism, in response to and on the basis of the publication of some of the work of this Group over the past ten years.

The problem of defining the term "Christian apocrypha" has been discussed for many years - several solutions have been offered (e.g., by Schneemelcher, Junod, and others). A.F.J. Klijn once even stated that a proper solution of this problem is impossible. The proposed paper tries to formulate a definition of "Christian apocrypha" from a reader-oriented perspective by using hermeneutical key issues of Umberto Eco's literary theories.

A combination of reader response criticism, exegetical, tradition historical, historical and theological approaches. What kind of imagination did the addressees of the letter of James develop when they received and read this diaspora letter from Jerusalem? Of course, they shared the convictions of the letter writer about the one God and the Lord Jesus Christ, they accepted the most important commandments of the Law of Moses and they expected a last, eschatological judgment as well. But what was their view about the letter writer? What did they knew about his relationship to his brother Jesus before Jesus’s death and afterwards? And how would they think about their own relationship to this letter writer, to his brother Jesus before and after his death and to other parts of the early Jesus movement?

The idea of "sacred marriage" has been a source of fascination from the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia to Dan Brown's bestseller "The Da Vinci Code." The traditional understanding of the Mesopotamian sacred marriage as a fertility rite with emphasis on a ritual intercourse and reproduction has been strongly challenged in recent research. Instead, it is seen as a royal ritual, the purpose of which is to establish a benevolent relationship between the gods and the king, and through him, the people. Whether understood as a ritual or an element of mythical language or both, the idea can be found in most cultures and traditions of the biblical world, as demnostrated in various articles of a forthcoming book "Sacred Marriages in the Biblical World" (Eisenbrauns), edited by Martti Nissinen and Risto Uro. The purpose of the project behind this volume is to investigate how religious and metaphorical aspects of marriage and sexual union are used in biblical and extra-biblical traditions from Mesopotamia to Nag Hammadi and Early Christianity.

Although many scholars continue to support Martin Noth's general hypothesis of a Deuteronomistic History, there are almost as many versions of the hypothesis as there are adherents of it. This paper suggests that a "Deuteronomistic History" did not exist in ancient times. Deuteronomistic language and theology appear in each book of the Former Prophets, but the pattern of use differs from book to book. When one ignores Noth's paradigm and evaluates the pattern of language and theology in literary context, a new hypothesis suggests itself: Each of the four books -- Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings -- was composed by persons aware of, but not entirely satisfied with, Deuteronomy. Judges and Samuel reject aspects of Deuteronomy. Joshua and Kings express ambivalence or, perhaps, grudging support for Deuteronomy's theological agenda. The Former Prophets are the product of a dialogue among authors with differing viewpoints.

New Testament scholarship has paid scant attention to the origins of the designation, Sea of Galilee, a place name that does not appear in literature of late antiquity outside of Matthew, Mark and John’s Gospels. In this study, we will trace references by Jewish and pagan writers to the Lake of Gennesaret. Particular attention will be given to the application of the Greek terms THALASSA and LIMNH (and their Latin counterparts, Mare and Lacus) to the body of water in non-Christian literature as background to their appearance in the Gospels. Finally, we will investigate the uniquely Christian toponym, “Sea of Galilee.” We suggest that the origins of the Christian place name lay in creative exegesis of Isaiah 8:23 [LXX: 9:1] in early Christian circles to present the locus of Jesus’ ministry as a fulfillment of Scripture.

Ancient exegetes of biblical law occassionally assigns a metaphorical interpretation to a passage so that it integrates topically with laws that precede or follow it. There are four certain instances of the technique in Pseudo-Jonathan. In each case, he provides first a literal and then a metaphorical rendering. A comparison of these four instances to parallel exegeses in targumic and rabbinic literature provides insight into the development of these metaphorical readings. I conclude with two explanations for Pseudo-Jonathan's decision to render the verses as doublets.

Judith and Salome are two biblical women that have played the muse to many artists through the centuries. Interestingly, while one is a righteous widow who saves her people from colonization by the Assyrians and the other is a young princess whose dance moves charm her stepfather, Herod, the two women have been confused. There is a common thread to both narratives, indeed, and in this case it seems to overpower the textual differences and command the hues for the interpretative lens. Judith and Salome are mostly remembered for making men’s heads roll, and many visual representations of the two depict them as femmes fatales par excellence. This paper looks at a number of artistic representations of Judith and Salome—from the Renaissance to the twentieth century—and investigates what gender, psychoanalytical and signification tensions are at play within the process of representation of the two characters.

Setting the book of Obadiah in the context of contemporary investigation of ancient Edom demonstrates the degree to which the book’s depiction of Edom as brother to Judah is an ideological construct. While it alludes to the Jacob/Esau narrative in Genesis and while it may (or may not) bear treaty connotations, the language of brotherhood in Obadiah serves to shape the reader’s valuation of Edom’s political aspirations. Much biblical interpretation treats the brotherhood of Edom as an historical datum rather than the case of Israel/Judah’s own identity-construction; in so doing, it substitutes a “doubling” of the book for an analysis of its rhetorical effects.

The WordNet database, which organizes English vocabulary into sets of synonyms ('synsets') representing lexical concepts, has become a important component in many NLP applications that perform tasks such as word-sense disambiguation, text summarization and information retrieval. Although developed from a different theoretical perspective, the Louw-Nida Semantic Domain Lexicon provides a similar resource for the computational analysis of the Greek New Testament. Words are classified into entities, activities, characteristics and relations, and then into further domains and subdomains within each of these divisions. This paper demonstrates the use of the Louw-Nida lexicon in the computational analysis of the Greek New Testament and considers its wider application to Hellenistic Greek, including the LXX. This paper first demonstrates the use of visualization techniques to display domain patterns across a text, which are of value in discourse analysis and text summarization. The use of lexical statistics and collocational analysis is limited in studies of the GNT because of its small size. The second application in this paper, however, shows how the combination of syntactical annotation and LN domain categories with collocational analysis can contribute to the development of new lexical resources through the 'lexical profile'. A key limitation of the LN domain lexicon for computational applications is the classification of single lexical items to a number of domains without full disambiguation. This paper seeks to address this by drawing on work in Computational Linguistics on word sense classification and disambiguation in developing an algorithm for disambiguating between the possible domains values for a word within discourse. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of how a semantic-tagger might be developed to apply the LN categories to Hellenistic Greek outside the New Testament.

It has been noted that the iconography in the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice is derived from that of Ezekiel's inaugural and temple visions. Less well explained has been the motif of the singing walls, on which are carved figures of "gods" who sing praises to God. This paper argues that Ezekiel 8:7-13 and The Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice derive from a common memory of temple iconography. Where Ezekiel repudiates the iconography by ridiculing it as "creeping things" and "idols of the house of Israel," the Songs preserve its normative function, as a representation of the heavenly hosts.

The offering of votives was one of the more ‘democratic’ religious practices in the ancient world. It could be done by the poorest and the richest people alike, by men and women. The paper will look at some minor objects and possible votive offerings from Corinth, including the amounts of scallop shells in the Roman layers of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore. Taking these as a first point of departure, the paper will explore the threshold where a natural object ceases to be ‘dead nature’ and start to be a readable ‘cultural text’, and then proceed to speculate if this ‘cultural text’ can tell us anything about gender and class. Secondly, for lack of other possibilities readers of ancient remains generally have to take the contexts within which offerings are found as clues about who the donators may have been. On this basis and taking as methodological point of departure Lauren Petersen’s work on female subjectivity on Greek vases, the paper will speculate about the range of possible meanings the objects in question – and their donation - could have had for the donators.

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The aim of this paper is to present the most important Hebrew manuscripts conserved in the libraries of Madrid and El Escorial. The collection of Hebrew manuscripts is especially significant in the National Library of Spain, the Library of the Monastery of El Escorial and the Complutense University Library. Most of the manuscripts are of Spanish (Sephardic) origin. The importance and accuracy of Spanish biblical manuscripts has been recognized since the Middle Ages. Some of them have been used in the editing of such important Polyglote Bibles as the Biblia Poliglota Complutense or the Biblia Poliglota of Antwerp (Biblia Regia). We are working on a new catalogue in order to update old catalogues from the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, and in order to incorporate relevant data for librarians and researchers. Two volumes from the total of three have been already published. Our aim in this occasion is to present the materials catalogued in the National Library of Spain, the National Historical Archives and other libraries and archives. A presentation of the most significant manuscripts and the collections where they belong will be performed, showing new photographs of some of them and pointing out the importance of their authors, content and other relevant issues.

Two late 2nd-century BCE elite Judaean texts, I and II Maccabees, engaged with the historical memory of biblical antecedents within the context of a Hellenistic interpretative environment, reinventing the Judaean community as a legitimate member of the broad constellation of sociopolitical possibilities in the Hellenistic world. Already in the 3rd-century, but especially after defeating the eastern Greeks in the first half of the 2nd-century, Roman elites undertook a similar negotiation of communal identity vis-à-vis Greekness, as reflected in the works of Cato and Polybius. They sought to re-found the Roman body-politic in the value-system bedrock of its simple agrarian past as a means of establishing its natural place within the Hellenistic Oikoumenê, the civilized, non-barbarian, Greek-speaking world. It is the thesis of this paper that Judaean elites pursued their reinvention of communal identity, to a degree, in emulation of the elite-constructed image of the Roman body-politic. Rome offered Judaean elites a tangible, alternative, non-Greek model of communal identity; Roman domination of the Hellenistic world from the cultural periphery excited both self-identification and envy. Judaean emulation of Rome is marked by two interrelated factors: preoccupation with ancestral ethê kai nomoi (customs and laws) and the harmoniously unified politeia (state or body-politic). Both elite groups emphasized these communal qualities as part of their move from the periphery to the core of the Hellenistic World, expedited via the cooption and subversion of Greekness. Judaeans followed the Romans in claiming traditional Greek virtue for themselves while denying it to contemporary Greeks. Scipio and Cato, Judah Maccabee and Dositheus, were the true descendants of Leonidas and Pericles. In sum, the elites of Rome and Judaea sought entry within the Oikoumenê by including Romanitas and Judaïsmos within it, i.e. by creating legitimate cultural space within the Hellenistic World on their own terms.

Recent advances in Second Language Acquisition have uncovered the importance of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This paper provides an overview of CLT theory, then illustrates how selected components of Hebrew grammar may be introduced or reinforced via CLT methodology. The illustration employs a variety of learning experiences, ranging from songs and games to oral composition and interactive computer tutorial.

Investigating the much-debated question of the internal opponents whom Revelation’s author envisions within the ecclesiae of Asia Minor, this paper first explores the view recently reframed by David Frankfurter (HTR 94:4), who argues that the author challenges a constituency within the Jesus movement that invoked Pauline authority, perhaps to persuade what Paul Duff calls the “invisible majority.” Second, the paper notes evidence from other sources, including the letters Ignatius wrote within about a decade to three of the same Asian cities John addressed, which sketch quite different views of church order, and the relationship of the Hebrew Bible to what Ignatius champions as “the gospel,” and aggressively identifies as “Christianity,” by contrast with “Judaism.” The paper closes by considering the suggestion made by Philippa Townsend (2005) concerning the term “Christian” as originally designating Gentile converts.

According to the book of Ezra, Ezra the scribe came from Babylon to teach the Torah to Israel. The content and extent of Ezra’s Torah has received considerable scholarly attention. Many suggestions have been made: Deuteronomy, priestly code, Deuteronomy & parts from the rest of the Pentateuch, final Pentateuch, or a lost version of the Pentateuch. The question is significant for dating the development of the Pentateuch. Most solutions to the question are problematic because they do not distinguish between the different literary layers of the book. It is probable that the authors of different textual layers were referring to different versions of the Pentateuch. It seems that the first authors and editors were using Deuteronomy, whereas the later editors increasingly used also other parts of the Pentateuch. The latest editors are clearly dependent on the priestly texts of the Pentateuch. In other words, the book of Ezra may reveal how the Pentateuch developed in the Persian and Hellenistic periods.

The question of the compositional nature of the Didache is twofold: did the author/editor craft the work out of earlier texts and, if so, was this a singular redactional effort or did the text develop over two or more stages? While the general consensus answers the first in the affirmative, there is much less agreement on a resolution to the second. But is the compositional question even important? Some recent work on the Didache has emphasized a synchronic reading of the text that seems to bypass the problems raised by source and redaction criticism. The purpose of this paper is to pursue the question of the composition of the Didache from the perspective of text-linguistics and to address the issue of the importance of this question for our understanding of the Didache.

This paper will discuss Luke’s household discourse (Lk 15:1-32), which becomes the ground for fruitful examination of ethnic communities and identities under multicultural circumstances. While family continues its usual role, serving as a basis for the overall social and cultural dimensions of life in society, Lukan household as a project of life and for life erects a socio-economic umbrella for the otherwise uprooted, “homeless,” people. I will grapple with Luke’s reconfiguration of kinship in terms of God’s power of life (home) against death (homelessness), asking whether the author is releasing any claim to life or a worth apart from the mutual identification of human existence. By utilizing a critical rhetorical analysis, the research will attempt to reconstruct the voices of the margins who struggle against oppressive regulation, even below the subsistence level. For Asians still experiencing this in the two-thirds world, their inherent hermeneutics may elicit mutual support, liquidating artificial conflicts of values and smoothing jagged edges, where, according to the Tao Te Ching, harmony and unity persist beyond their differences. In this regard, the Lukan text will serve as the context, and the questions will be raised from a view of the margins grounded in the present.

This paper explores how ancient and modern translations of Genesis 3:1-6 are intertwined with their interpretations, creating and bolstering beliefs about women. Early minds of antiquity already proffer influential analyses about the role of the woman in the myth of Adam and Eve, initiating an interpretative trend that continues for over two millennia (and counting). Of particular interest is the translation of Genesis 3:6b. In this verse, the Masoretic text, the Septuagint, the Peshitta, the Samaritan Pentateuch, Targums Onkelos, Neofiti, and Pseudo-Jonathan, as well as the Samaritan Targumim, all translate the undisputed word ‘immah (“with her”), conveying Adam’s presence with Eve at the fateful moment when they partake of the forbidden fruit. The Vulgate, however, chooses not to translate this suffixed preposition, and thereby minimizes Adam’s presence at the moment of culpability. Why did Jerome refrain from (or refuse to) translate ‘immah and what connotations does this choice carry? Why do other translators, through the Revised Standard Version and the JPS Tanakh, follow Jerome’s lead and omit the reminder that Adam is “with her”? This paper considers the ramifications of this translational choice from traditional and feminist perspectives. The larger implications from the discussion of this small word suggest that to translate sacred texts is inherently a theological endeavor.

One of the contributions that Hans Robert Jauss made to Reception Theory that has been overlooked in the theological appropriations of his work has been his concept of the ‘summit-dialogue’ of authors. From the perspective of the researcher, the summit-dialogue is significant for three reasons. The first is obvious, this is the level that often defines the shape of a tradition. It is at this level that an innovative interpretation is publicly acknowledged and is accepted into the canon of exemplary commentators. This leads to the second reason why the summit-dialogue is a significant concept. For various biblical passages, the summit-dialogue presents us with what the accepted questions and answers that served as the boundaries of the hermeneutical playing field for what counted as a valid interpretation at various historical periods. Their work demonstrates the influence and normative function that a particular reading of a text can have through time. And third, a disproportionate percentage of the best textual evidence that has been preserved for how a passage has been interpreted and taught is located at this level. The Wirkungsgeschichte of the parable of the Great Feast (Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24) I believe presents an illuminative case study to explore the value of Jauss’ concept of a summit-dialogue for biblical studies. Because a parable possesses a greater potential for a wider range of interpretations than other biblical genres, hopefully it will demonstrate the usefulness of this aspect of Jauss’ work in a more transparent manner. While the parable of the Great Feast has enjoyed a wide range of readings from the earliest church until the present there is also a clearly discernable trajectory of interpretation that makes this an interesting case study.

The progymnasmata (in particular Theon) highlight the presentation and evaluation of moral character through a variety of rhetorical strategies and exercises (topos, proso/ethopoiea, ecphrasis, narrative, invective/encomium). Similarly, physiognomic handbooks explore moral character of literary (or historical) characters through their physical characteristics (on the assumption that the body reflects the moral character of the soul). The concerns of the progymnasmata and the physiognomic handbooks come together in interesting ways in several Lukan pericopae: the healing of the bent woman (Luke 13), the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19), the lame man (Acts 3-4), and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8). One of the purposes of both the progymnasmata and the handbooks is not only the presentation/evaluation of literary (or historical) characters but the formation of moral character of students, a purpose that may have been shared by Luke. As well, the concern for ethos in both sets of texts comes together in Luke.

This paper emerges from Daniel Patte’s experience of editing the Global Bible Commentary and The Gospel of Matthew: A Contextual Introduction for Group Study, both of which provide a rich and varied experience of “reading with others”. After providing a brief introduction to the concept of “reading with others”, the paper will explore different concepts of mission in Matthew’s gospel which emerge from such a reading and will demonstrate how these deconstruct certain Western understandings of mission.

For some time it has been evident that scholars of early Judaism and early Christianity need better access to the texts of the Pseudepigrapha in their original (or extant) languages and with a critical apparatus. In many cases critical editions are prohibitively expensive or out of print, and scholars without access to a large library have been hard pressed to find them. The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha is intended to address this problem by publishing on-line, free-access critical texts of the Pseudepigrapha which are up-to-date and academically rigorous. This paper presents the issues we encountered in our endeavour to achieve this goal and the steps we have taken to resolve them. It outlines the various considerations for developing policies regarding quality control, copyright, data structure, and user interface, as well as the reasons for our decisions in these matters. Special attention is given to the technical issues of encoding, mark-up, and display of ancient languages. It is hoped that our experiences in mounting these texts with critical apparatus may encourage the development of similar resources for the careful study of primary ancient texts.

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Generally the Greek translator of Exodus is regarded as careful and conservative in his work. However, there are contexts where significant changes are made, primarily through addition of material, but also through translation choices, to guide the reader into a specific understanding of the narrative. This paper will consider the additions made by the Greek translator Exodus 19-20 and argue that these were made for specific hermeneutical reasons and for the most part do not represent a different Hebrew vorlage. As a result of this review we may conclude that the translator was not as conservative with respect to his text as previously proposed. Adjustments made to the text, however, were purposeful, seeking to influence the reader to a certain understanding of the text.

The Book of Jonah is often understood as a satire and the function of non-human characters is sometimes understood simply as contributing to the satirical tone of the narrative. However, the non-human characters clearly have a more important function. Not only do these characters obey God’s command (the winds, the fish, the plant, the worm), but God’s final words in Jonah 4:11 appear to validate their importance.

Ancient historiography provides valuable information about how the evangelists may have understood their task as transmitters of Jesus tradition. The rules of ancient historiography were quite different from that of our time. Most importantly, the very ideal historians strove to achieve was different. The embellishment of sources by invention was an intrinsic part of all historiography. History was supposed to be based on a factual basis. However, the creation of additional information was a merit if it resulted in a more exciting, elegant and edifying book. Demands and promises of sticking to plain truth must not be mistaken for a critical consciousness of history as carefully verified facts. Rather, they refer to the ideal of impartiality. It was legitimate practice to embellish and modify the subject matter as long as the traditional basis was not manipulated of inferior motives. This was a normal way to link up with and to honour one's tradition. As we know, Luke comes in many ways closer to the standards of the historiography of his day than Mark does, and it is commonly accepted that in Acts especially he used their methods, e.g. in the creation of speeches. The way Luke rearranges, alters and decorates some Markan scenes may reflect the invention technique of historiography. It is inspired by a similar understanding of how a good writer relates to tradition. Jesus' visit to Nazareth is taken as an example. From the viewpoint of critical history, it is a drawback, taking us only further of what may actually have happened. Luke's motives are aesthetic and theological, and the latter are best understood in the light of Acts. The outcome is not in line with our ideal of historiography, but is in line with the ancient one.

Eleven years ago I published an article in New Testament Studies, asserting that the phrase in Rom 15.26 rendered as “make a contribution” in most English translations, should better be translated “establish fellowship.” The purpose of this paper is twofold: First, I will rehearse and expand the argument given in 1994. Second, I will assess the responses made to my proposal in recent commentaries and translations.

Usually dated to the first half of the second century, *Second Clement* is extremely important to scholarship as a very early source of recognizable parallels to the New Testament. This paper will present a sampling of the type of readings found in *Second Clement,* and analyze them. What they tell us about the shape of the (proto-) New Testament text, about the canon, and about the manner of "citation" (verbatim, "free," *ad hoc*), is illuminating. The thirty-nine recognizable parallels empirically demonstrate that while parallels found in *both* the OT and the NT (that is, places where the NT cites the OT) are virtually verbatim, the vast majority of NT-only parallels are not. Nevertheless, one must be cautious about characterizing the NT parallels as "free citations" or *ad hoc* adaptations by the author, for the deviating forms found in *Second Clement* often have other second-century Patristic parallels--thus demonstrating that the form of the passage is not due to the free hand of the author of *Second Clement.* Indeed, on the basis of some of these parallels, it is suggested that all extant editions of *Second Clement* are in error at three points, and need correction. These textual affinities also permit one to suggest a provenance for the work.

Religious symbol systems produce and convey images of the world through different forms of communication. Texts, images, rituals, music, buildings etc. can therefore be analysed as different levels of the religious message. The representation of space plays a central role within religious representations of the world, as for instance cosmological concepts demonstrate. The present paper considers a particular aspect of religious representations of space by focussing on descriptions of the netherworld in a selection of Mesopotamian literary and iconographic sources. The comparison between texts and images points out differences in the semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic programs of the selected documents. This approach aims primary to reconstruct the cosmological place of death. Furthermore, it describes the temporal dimension of the netherworld as a reflection upon the transiency of human life. The simultaneous analysis of spatial and temporal aspects links general cosmological models of the world with the reflection on individual, existential experience.

After Jesus was accused of being a drunkard and a glutton (Matt. 11:16-19//Luke 7:31-35), he responded that his opponents were never satisfied. Jesus complained that his audiences had refused to appreciate either John’s asceticism or Jesus’ indulgence. The account closes with the curious remark that “wisdom is justified by her children” or “by all her deeds” (Mt. 11:19//Luke 7:35). The overwhelming consensus of scholarship assumes that this proverb's reference to "wisdom" draws upon the OT tradition of personified wisdom. I believe this consensus is wrong. This "wisdom" reference draws upon a Greco-Roman philosophical tradition found in the common topos “Can the wise man get drunk?” In order to demonstrate this, I will trace the development of this drunkenness/wisdom topos through prominent philosophers, most importantly, Seneca and Philo. In this discourse, the common answer to the question “Can the wise man get drunk?” is: the wise man can drink in moderation, but cannot get drunk. When read in light of this philosophical discourse, the accusation from Jesus’ critics makes perfect sense. By the standards of the day, neither the non-drinking John nor the excessively drinking Jesus were wise. If they were wise, they would drink in moderation, but John abstains and Jesus overindulges. The detractors of John and Jesus assume that the pair’s drinking habits demonstrate their lack of wisdom, because wisdom is always plain to see. After all, “wisdom is justified by her children.” The proper cultural background against which to read this account is the philosophical topos of human wisdom and drunkenness, not the OT tradition of personified wisdom.

Dealing with words and short phrases preserved on small fragments creates a number of challenges, not the least of which is the lack of a context in which to understand the preserved text. Confidently determining whether such fragmentary texts match previously known texts, are variations of known texts, or preserve unique readings is sometimes difficult. Of course, familiarity with biblical texts and the various Judaean Desert documents is essential. But in cases in which the text of a small fragment is not immediately identifiable, the DSSEL has proven to be a valuable tool that cannot be overlooked. The determination of the uniqueness of a phrase on a Qumran fragment or the successful matching of a rare phrase with the vocabulary of another document is facilitated by the Electronic Library. This study examines four fascinating phrases that are preserved on small scroll fragments from Qumran Cave 4. Following the determination of whether the phrases in question are unique or not, each of the phrases examined in this study is discussed in relation to other seemingly similar Qumran texts and relevant non-Qumran texts in an effort to better understand the nature of the documents minimally represented by the short phrases in question. The four phrases dealt with in this presentation are: “a light to/for Jacob,” “before the pillar (of),” “as/for a witness of YHWH,” and “he sends rain, lightening.”

This paper analyzes the usage of the phrase "no dew and no rain" in Ugaritic and Biblical Hebrew, as found, respectively, in the Epic of Aqhat (KTU 1.19 I 44) and in two locations of Sam-Kgs, the famous lament of David for Saul and Jonathan (2Sam 1:21), very possibly an instance of "Archaic Biblical Hebrew" poetry, and the episode of the drought in the Elijah Cycle (1Kgs 17:1). Though, on the surface, the phrase seems to be associated in each case with a different narrative function , the present research will try to delineate some strong relationships -especially between Aqhat and David's dirge- through the application of discourse analysis to the wider textual contexts where the phrase is used. This, in turn, will hopefully raise the question of the function of the formula and the possible changes/creative variations operating upon it through the process of transmission and assimilation of oral literature. Therefore, it can be also considered as a sample case for reflection on the wider problem of transmission and borrowing of literature and literary motifs in the oral/written merism of North Western Semitic testimonia.

In the heavenly ascent that gives the “Ascension of Isaiah” its name, Isaiah travels from the earth up to the seventh heaven before he returns to convey his revelations. Compared with other Jewish and Christian ascent apocalypses, the heavens in this text are remarkably simple and unadorned. This focuses attention on the intensely hierarchical structure of its cosmology, in which status is signified by location and appearance: higher and right are superior to lower and left, and each angel’s status is shown by the degree of its visible glory. The emphasis on vertical and horizontal axes and the attention given to visible glory are carried through even to the highest heaven and the subordinationist “Trinity.” But there is a twist in the symbolism of this cosmos, despite this structural clarity, for there is the possibility of deception. The Beloved (Christ) and Satan can each travel to other levels of the cosmos and can change their form to seem more lowly or more glorious. These insights turn out to be crucial to the text’s soteriology, and they point to the eschatological hope of the early Christians reading this text: although apparently just lowly humans, they will at last change their location and appearance, by ascending to the highest heaven and receiving their robes, crowns, and thrones.

Sociolinguistics studies the interaction between the way language is used in communication, the social conditions surrounding the communication process, and the speakers’ attitude to this process. The group of people that are united by the common networks of communication constitutes a speech community. The sociolinguistic methods and models constitute excellent tools for the characterization of language use in such books as Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles, Esther and others. Many of the distinctive features of the language of these books are best explained in terms of the influence of the scribal language used at the Judahite chancery under Babylonian and especially Persian domination, in which Aramaic served as adminstrative language, according to the massive evidence from Elephantine, Wadi ed-Daliyeh, Jericho and Khirbet-el-Qom. Some distinctive lexemes in these books are clearly related to the field of the administration, in particular terms in the legal or the governmental register, while some distinctive syntactic and stylistic features reflect the stylistic norms of administrative formulation. In other words, the language used in these books reflects the scribal culture of the Judahite chancery that was subservient to the Persian empire. The language of texts situated in the Babylonian exile is also involved. Many syntactic and stylistic features indicate that the scribal culture also is reflected by Deuteronomic literature, as well as prose parts in the book of Jeremiah, and the redaction of Kings, and many texts relating to the cult. This conclusion is buttressed by the convergence of these strata and the Hebrew of the Judahite inscriptions. The remaining question, then, is the characterization of texts in which the scribal culture not reflected at all, or is only marginally alluded to. Can one point to data that allow us to characterize such discourse as based on an oral background?

In many works from the Second Temple period (e.g., Nehemiah, Daniel 1-6) writing is understood as an instance of imperial power. How these texts construct writing ideologically is thus an important datum in discerning their stance vis a vis imperial power. In this paper, I examine the uses of writing in the sectarian works which make up 1 Enoch, looking for ideologies of writing. In the Book of the Watchers, writing is uniformly positive, not far distant from the view taken in Jubilees and the apocalyptic sections of Daniel. For example, Enoch, a “scribe” or “righteous scribe” (12:3-4), writes a memorandum to God for the Watchers (13:4). In the epistle of Enoch, Enoch has access to ancient tablets (93:2), and the deeds of the unrighteous are written down daily in heaven (98:8). Yet the epistle speaks against those – apparently to be understood as opponents of the text’s present – who use writing to alter or annul truth (98:14-99:2; 104:10-13). Writing is acceptable as a practice distant either temporally or spatially, but in the present is dubious. Writing as a powerful act is located in the past, while those who wish power in the present must gain their power from the authoritative text. An imperial mode of power, which the scribes continue to use, is adapted for use in ways that resist the “powerful.” 1 Enoch 69:8-11 moves in a different direction. This text challenges all writing; whatever Enoch does with it is an intervention in a “bad” technology. This position explains why writing is questionable – it takes an Enoch to twist this always-to-be-suspected gift into an appropriate vehicle for divine communication – and thus places scribes in a much more constrained ideological position regarding their own work and that of imperial authorities.

The presenters will share examples and insights from their experience teaching NT Greek online using two different courseware platforms (Blackboard and Moodle) and in two different seminary settings. Topics will include online pedagogy, integrating Greek with other coursework, online group dynamics, managing instructor workload, Greek fonts, student computer support, and using audio recordings. Supporting materials, handouts, and screen prints will be posted on a web page for Workshop participant access.

The Louw-Nida Semantic Domain lexicon represents a significant (perhaps even 'gigantic') advance in Greek lexicography. This achievement has also been recognized outside of biblical studies in the field of general linguistics. This paper considers two main issues in the use and future expansion of the LN lexicon. The first concerns how applicable the LN domain categories are for the extension of the lexicon beyond the Greek of the New Testament. For example, how should the GIGANTES of Gen. 6.5 and other LXX words be classified? The second issue relates to using the lexicon in exegesis and textual analysis. Words are frequently placed within 2 or more major domains and a range of subdomains, but each instance in discourse will belong to just one of these. We present a method for disambiguating words in their contexts, using collocational and syntactical analysis.

Thirteen Greek epitaphs, painted in red on the walls of two caves at the great necropolis at Beth She‘arim, were studied by the author and are now being prepared for publication. These inscriptions had in fact been seen by the original excavators of the site but only two were published. The 13 texts seem to have been written by only four or five different hands, for the most part skilled and confident, with letter forms typical of the third-fourth centuries; one tantalizing text, however, in fact the longest, is unfortunately both written ineptly (regarding both palaeography and orthography) and water-damaged, but individual words and possible names can be made out. All the epitaphs, from both their palaeographical features and content, seem to relate to Jews with a common origin (the Phoenician coast). The inscriptions contain fifteen decipherable names which, although all written in Greek lettering, are a mixture of Greek, Hebrew and Latin names with no discernible generational pattern. They record, among others, an "archisynagogos" and a “rabbi”. Five of the names are hapax legomena in the Jewish onomasticon. A discussion of both palaeography and history.

While the book of Daniel features several poetic passages at significant places, usually toward the end of a vision or an angelic interpretation, the climax of the vision in ch. 8 has not yet been studied in terms of poetry. In this paper I analyze Dan 8:9-14 for poetic features and describe the purpose and function of the poetic style found in verse 11. The poetic analysis shows that Dan 8:11 exhibits a combination of several poetic features and should be interpreted as embedded poetry in the prose narrative of the vision report. Other parts in the passage (vs. 12, 13c, and 14b-c) also show some poetic features and are best placed in the middle of the poetry-prose continuum. A comparison with the other poetic insets in the visions and angelic interpretations of Daniel shows that the poetic inset in 8:11 has a corresponding purpose and function. It marks the climax of the symbolic vision and highlights the climactic act of the horn's presumptuous usurpation of divine power and control. However, since the other poetic insets specifically emphasize the theme of God's control and reign, the poetic style of 8:11 artfully increases by ironic contrast the theological tension already existent in the previous prose. Realizing the poetic-like style of Dan 8:11, one can appreciate the full rhetorical force of this text and at the same time understand some of its intricate syntactic features which so far have escaped a satisfying explanation.

The Bible has generated a significant reception history in the first decade of a democratic, post-Apartheid South Africa. Its reception history testifies to how the Bible was considered important across a wide area of society, contributing also to believers’ lives and sense of self amidst the enormous changes in the country. The recent report of the Dutch Reformed Church, the largest Afrikaans-speaking church in SA, on homosexuality, the subsequent reactions from the Christian gay community and the ensuing debate, all highlight the influence and impact of the use of the Bible today. It shows how the reception history of the Bible concerns both a process of reading and writing, requiring attention for the role of interpretive traditions in the hermeneutical processes, and the social location – in the broad sense of the word – of those who use the Bible in the debate. Beyond its use for reference purposes in broader theological debates and related issues of power, the Bible also impacts on modes of identity, as these documents are found to contribute in different ways to the defense of existing and formation of up new worldviews, the construction of new realities – all of which are of particular importance in marginalised communities, such as the gay community in South Africa.

In the spirit of Graeme Auld's recommendation that the mirror image of the obvious may be more exciting and convincing, this paper argues that the psalm in chapter 2 of Jonah is the seed of the book which also draws on various other canonical sources, notably the brief notice of Jonah in 2 Kings 15, and the book of Nahum. This counter-reading, although intriguing in itself, will be used to raise the wider question as to what Jonah's readers might gain from this or any other literary analysis of the book and what the criteria for 'legitimate' analysis of such a text might be. The title is drawn from a lyric by Paul Simon on his album 'One Trick Pony' and this adds to the complexity of intertexts. Is this just one more reading to add to the cornucopia in Yvonne Sherwood's remarkable study of the book, or is it a better reading? How would we know, and to whom does it matter?

During the past quarter of a century there has been a "consensus" among biblical scholars and archaeologists that the new settlements that sprang up during the beginning of the Early Iron Age in the hills of Ephraim, Manasseh, Judah and Upper Galilee came from the Canaanite occupied areas in the valleys and on the coastal plain. The springboard for that idea was an article and a book by George Mendenhall and a book by Norman Gottwald. J. Callaway got on board with a ceramic argument based on his pottery from et-Tell and Khirbet Raddanah. W. Dever has especially supported the latter's view of the ceramic evidence in favor of a Canaanite origin for the "proto Israelites." Dever also records continuity in Language. Here he is dead wrong. There are several features that make it clear that ancient Hebrew is a Trans-Jordanian language alongside southern Old Aramaic and Moabite.

This paper analyzes the representation of disability in two types of texts from Qumran. The community rules and eschatological documents (1QS, CD, 1QSa, 1QM and 4QM) amplify priestly concerns about purity. CD and 1QSa express practical prohibitions against disabled persons joining the community or holding offices. By contrast, 1QS uses terms of disability to describe the ‘way of darkness,’ very much in the tradition of Isaianic rhetoric. The War Rule, in turn, prohibits disabled persons from participating in the eschatological army. The significance of disability thus ranges across ritual, ethical, and eschatological concerns. These documents yield a consistent picture of the community’s view of disability as a physical instantiation of evil, to be definitively separated from the pure and good in the final conflict. The Hymns, however, throw this neat scheme into question: like the Psalmist, the speaker often uses terms of disability and dismemberment to depict the condition of a good person in the hands of persecutors. It remains a sign of sin, but the sin belongs to evil others who have inflicted disability on the good. This dynamic is at odds with imagery that associates disability with the spiritual status of the disabled person him- or herself. In part, these difficulties are explicable by ambiguities in the biblical traditions that the Qumran community inherited. However, the Qumran Hymns resolve the Psalmist’s language in favor of a dichotomy between good and evil that preserves the speaker’s own integrity. This resolution comes at the cost of strengthening the association between actual disability and impurity/evil. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, we can see one community’s attempt to resolve the tensions in the biblical representation of disability.

Literary criticism used as an independent tool of exegesis is not a sledgehammer to shatter the wholeness, or holiness, of any sûrah but is in harmony with the unique written character of the Qur’ân. Narrative criticism can be an effective exegetical approach for exploring the meaning and message of 'Joseph' (sûrah 12). An analysis of narrative time in the story of 'Joseph' illustrates the meld of literary form and function in the service of the text’s theological message.

This paper brings an Egyptologist's point of view to discussions of early Achaemenid administration in the West. Analysis of historical evidence and new archaeological data from Egypt provides a window on problems of change and continuity.

The importance of Jerusalem for understanding the historical Jesus can hardly be underestimated, and it’s no surprise that illustrations from that city’s excavations litter New Testament text and handbooks. Similarly, New Testament scholars working on Jesus in Jerusalem scan the archaeological record in an attempt to correlate artifact with text. Notably, this “biblical archaeologist” approach has been abandoned for some time in historical Jesus research with regard to the Galilee. There, for example, the importance of sites never mentioned in the New Testament, like Sepphoris, has been considered, and patterns in sites and artifacts never mentioned in the gospels has shaped larger questions like of socio-economics. With regard to Jerusalem, however, New Testament scholarship seems stuck in the mold of biblical archaeology as it looks to “find the spot where” or “find the thing that” can be related to a gospel account. Taking into consideration recent work in classical archaeology on place, power, and image, this paper will present a series of questions that can help understand Jesus in Jerusalem in a broader sense.

Early commentators and traditionists embed and amplify Q 2:102, an enigmatic allusion to angelic complicity in the transmission of esoteric knowledge to humankind, within a rich layer of interpretive lore frequently bearing the rubric ‘Tale of Harut and Marut.’ A close study of this verse alongside its external narrative embellishments uncovers a wealth of structural and contextual motifs that suggestively link the ‘Tale’ with biblical and parascriptural myths about ‘fallen angels’ and their perceived role in the corruption of antediluvian humanity. The present paper catalogs a representative number of these motifs, speculates about their mode of transmission, and offers some guidelines for analyzing the different versions of the ‘Tale’ which surface centuries later in medieval Jewish interpretive and mystical literature.

This paper will provide a survey of the representations of Caiaphas the High Priest in the Jesus film genre, with samplings from the earliest available silent movies to the most recent feature films. Particular attention will be paid to the film's perspective -- critical or sympathetic -- of the High Priest, the portrayal of his relationship to Pilate and the Roman presence in Judea, and the question of anti-Judaism/anti-Semitism.

Abstract of "The Levite’s Concubine: New Light on a Dark Story" Commentators have either had to accept that an adulterous wife dared return to her father’s house and a benign husband sought to retrieve her or had to stipulate a unique meaning for the phrase znh al. By understanding znh al in a sense attested elsewhere in the Bible, this essay both resolves the crux of implausibility and obviates the need for singular translation. The essay also presents a new interpretation of the entire chapter. A close literary reading demonstrates that the theme of Judges 19 is neither hospitality nor the abasement of women but Israel’s Sodom-like abnegation of commitment and compassion down to that last stronghold of security: the family unit. Contrary to previous feminist readings, this feminist interpretation reveals the biblical author’s empathy toward the concubine, his contempt for the guilty, and his imposition of punishment on the wrongdoers.

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The narrative of the gospel of John is filled with passages that violate the reader’s narrative expectations. Scholars have long observed such aporiae, often explaining them as resulting from redaction of sources, multiple editions, or even accidental transpositions. It may be worth asking, though, whether the aporiae have a function in themselves. Perhaps the communication that this text wishes to undertake is not something that can be accomplished within the framework of ordinary narrative logic; the “distortions” in the text may be deliberately intended as part of its communication. In the eastern Christian visual arts, a technique of visual communication was developed that was deliberately non-realistic. John Baggley writes, “[D]eliberate distortions of normal perspective . . . can lead to the recognition that our normal everyday world is also the scene where events of an inner or higher or spiritual world are taking place, a world where our normal values and assumptions are turned upside down” (Doors of Perception: Icons and Their Spiritual Significance). Perhaps some of the aporiae of John work like the technique of the later iconographers, deliberately using unrealistic depictions to present a reality “not of this world.” To test this hypothesis, I will examine difficult passages from John to see whether their dilemmas of narrative logic can be read as pointers toward a reality that also violates logical expectations and turns assumptions upside down—the reality of the Logos made flesh and crucified. I do not claim that there is a direct historical connection between John and the technique of orthodox icon writers. I am simply asking whether the deliberately non-realistic aesthetic of the icons may provide the model for a reading strategy that takes positive account of the aporiae in the Johannine text.

This paper examines the motif of the children of Adam being given feathers to wear in Q 7:26.

Many scholars in recent decades have recognized the complexity of the literary and rhetorical design of Hebrews 1:1–4. The exordium is so intricately organized in form and style that it is probably one of the finest literary works in the whole New Testament. Some even have come to recognize that this passage may have been written with a chiastic structure in mind (Daniel. J. Ebert, “The Chiastic Structure of the Prologue to Hebrews.” Trinity Journal 13 [1992]: 167). Moreover, some scholars have observed that there are correlations between 1:1-4 and 1:5-14. For example, Lane suggests that there exists a synthetic parallelism between the two passages (Lane, Hebrews, 1–8, Word Biblical Commentary, 22). Likewise, J. P. Meier argues that there is a general agreement between 1:1-4 and 1:5-14, even though the symmetry lacks one to one correspondence (John. P. Meier, “Symmetry and Theology in the Old Testament Citations of Heb 1:5–14,” Biblica 66 [1985]: 523). In this paper I will argue that the author of Hebrews may well have intended Heb 1:1-4 and 1:5-14 to be in a perfect symmetry with the idea of different stages of Christ's existence (i.e., exaltation, preexistence, and incarnation). I propose that Heb 1:1–14 is a chiastic structure, which can be displayed as follows: A. Function of the Son (1:1-2a); B. Exaltation of the Son 1:2b); C. Preexistence of the Son (1:2c-3b); D. Incarnation of the Son (1:3c); E. Exaltation of the Son (1:3d-4); E' Exaltation of the Son (1:5); D' Incarnation of the Son (1:6); C' Preexistence of the Son (1:7-12); B' Exaltation of the Son (1:13); A' Function of the angels (1:14). I will demonstrate the validity of this structure by comparing the conceptual and theological relationship in each corresponding section of the chiasm.

Conventional exegesis of Acts 7:44-50 tends to highlight a perceived contrast between the portable tabernacle, used during the wilderness generation, and the later Solomonic temple. In particular, verse 44 is often read to imply that the tabernacle sets a standard for the proper worship of Yhwh, from which the temple in Jerusalem represents a deviation. Such a reading drives a highly tendentious wedge not only between the tabernacle and the temple, but also between the roles of David and Solomon in establishing the latter. Moreover, it rests on a series of arguments that ultimately prove to be circular: (1) that v. 44 is an unqualified endorsement of the tabernacle; (2) that the criticism of v. 48 therefore applies only to the temple; and (3) and that the Greek particle de in v. 47 therefore marks a "strong contrast." Taken within the broader context of the Stephen speech, vv. 44-50 are better read as a deuteronomistic critique of a false trust in the national sanctuary. Notwithstanding the presence of the tabernacle, the wilderness generation is remembered as a time of rebellion (vv. 35-43), not a time when Israel's worship was pristine. Similarly, allusion to the Babylonian exile (v. 43) recalls the tragic fate of the first temple. One may concede that both the tabernacle (v. 44-45) and the temple (vv. 46-47) have honorable origins, but neither served as a guarantee of God's saving presence (vv. 48-50). The real point of the Stephen speech is to warn that those who reject God's messengers are courting divine judgment just like their forebears (vv. 51-53). Such a threat implies that the future of the temple is likewise in jeopardy.

The parallel lists of returnees in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 have inspired many studies on the composition and redactional development of Ezra and Nehemiah. Williamson and Blenkinsopp are representative of the very complex theories of priority and composition for which these lists are the lynchpin. Largely ignored by commentators of this debate, however, is an analysis of these lists in light of the final form unity of Ezra-Nehemiah. Why did the redactor duplicate or preserve the two lists in the final form? Moreover, having duplicated or preserved the lists, why do clear variations remain in the numbers, names, and narrative? Did these variations exist at the time? Is the redactor not aware of the inconsistencies and their potential to undermine the credibility of the entire work? Or, does this reflect compositional techniques common in post-exilic biblical historiography and even wider classical historiography? If so, what purpose does it serve to preserve parallel lists with all their inconsistencies?

Samuel Bak's portraits of String Quartet Players were inspired by the work of French composer Oliver Messaien who wrote "The Quartet For The End of Time" while being detained in a concentration camp in 1941 using only the instruments available to him: a piano without all the strings, a violin, a cello, and a clarinet. As an act of protest against Nazi inhumanities, the "Quartet for the end of time" was first performed by prisoners for prisoners, as reflected in Bak's paintings. Encoding the titles of his quartet from scenes and texts in the book of Revelation, Messaien abandoned all "classical" forms of musical notation, combining atonalities, daring chromaticisms, and a host of other devices, to portray the depths of the human cry petitioning a divine audience to avenge an all consuming evil. Based on Messaien's music, Bak's String Quartet Players portray the human creative enterprise seeking to triumph over the threat of annihilation, even if their best effort produces only a faint sound. I suggest that juxtaposing Bak's Paintings of his Quartet Players against Messaien's music enables us to experience the confluence of cries of dispair and supplications for divine deliverance. Thus we are drawn into the complexities and ambiguities of "crying out to the divine realm", not only as conceived in the Biblical texts of Deuteronomistic historians and Apocalyptic writers, but in all human suffering extending across time, finding an expression in Bak's own "believing atheism". I propose a multi-media presentation consisting of Bak's paintings, Messaien's music, and relevant Biblical texts to allow the power of music, art, and text to work together to "speak" what "cannot be spoken": the crying out to God until the end of time.

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I have just published a small book for the laity entitled The Gospel of Jesus (HarperSanFrancisco). I wrote it off of the top of my head, with no references to scholarly literature or academic debates. But I realize that curious colleagues will look at it anyway, and so I am bold enough to summarize it here and I am very pleased that Prof. Verheyden has agreed to respond to it: The church knows very well the gospel about Jesus, but hardly realizes it is all-too-ignorant of the gospel of Jesus. This is made glaringly obvious in the Apostles' Creed. It begins with what was done for Jesus ("conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary") and skips right to what was done against Jesus ("suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead, and buried"), without saying a word about what was done by Jesus himself! Jesus understood that what he was doing in Galilee as God reigning through him, when he healed the sick and cast out demons. God reigns in providing food and clothing, so one does not need to work any more than do ravens and lilies. Jesus prayed to God to reign by providing a day's ration of food, and trusted God to answer by providing bed and breakfast for himself and his few followers. His gospel: You can trust God as a loving parent to provide for you through what others do for you, and to provide for the needs of others through what he calls on you to do for them. A society of looking out for number one, of retaliation, is being replaced by a society of mutual support, God's kingdom. Of course this calls for a future completion, but Jesus' message was fist of all good news for the here and now.

This paper will assess the early Jesus-tradition in which Jesus, in response to John the Baptist’s disciples, generalises from the healings-traditions to a larger conceptualisation of his activity and the relationship of that activity to that of the Baptist’s (cf. Matt. 11.2-19//Luke [Q] 7.17-35; 16.16). Theorists of social memory have demonstrated many of the discursive practices by which the past is reconstituted in light of the needs and circumstances of the present. In addition, the work of Gary Alan Fine and Barry Schwartz, among others, has put forward the notion of ‘reputation’ as a social handle by which important figures and events can be quickly accessed. Reputations can then also be employed to express social values in the present as well as to assess present needs and circumstances and thereby suggest appropriate courses of behaviour. The consequent images of the past sustained and developed via reputations of key historical figures, whilst not being merely constructions, are inevitably always constructions. The image of Jesus healing people of various ailments, as a subset of the larger image of Jesus proclaiming the kingdom of God, became a key ‘handle’ in the constructions of Jesus’ reputation within the later communities of his followers, including their assessment of what Jesus was doing and what, consequently, they were doing in the decades following Jesus’ death.

During recent years, there has been a substantial amount of discussion about the scribal traditions in Iron Age Israel (based on epigraphic evidence). Within this presentation, various epigraphs from ancient Ammon will be analyzed, focusing especially on the diversity of the epigraphic record (e.g., monumental, royal, administrative, etc.). Ultimately, it will be argued that there was a significant scribal apparatus in the "Kingdom of Ammon."

This paper wants to show that the book of Numbers was created during the Persian period in order to integrate the latest texts of the Torah. The few wilderness narratives in the book of Exodus were originally positive accounts, revealing the same ideology as the allusions to the wilderness in Hosea and Jeremiah. This view is also represented by the priestly document. Post-priestly redactors transformed these positive accounts in Exod. 15-17 into stories of complaint. The invention of a “cycle of rebellion” in the book of Numbers presupposes this transformation and radicalizes the negative view of Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness. This is shown through an analysis of Numb. 11 and 12. Numb. 11 reveals concerns of the post-exilic charismatic prophecy; Moses is presented in a somewhat ambiguous way; and prophecy can exist without his mediation. Numb. 12 presents Moses as the incompatible mediator between Yhwh and Israel to whom the priestly as well as the prophetic functions are clearly subordinated. The author of Numb. 12 tries to correct ideas expressed in Numb. 11, in responding directly to the main assertions of the foregoing chapter. Despite their ideological differences all texts in Numb. 11-20 agree on the idea that Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness was a time of ongoing rebellions.

Critical analysis of a test case: origins and development from Barnabas to Augustine of the teaching that the “Church is Israel.” Introduction: the translatability of the Gospel – the philosophical issue: the relationship between understanding and communicating. The proper use of the translatability of the gospel is contrasted with the abuses which result when either the source culture or the destination culture receive a nearly exclusive emphasis. A TEST CASE: “The Church is Israel” Firstly, the genesis of this idea will be traced from the New Testament period till the triumph of the Church as the Imperial Religion of the fourth century Roman/Byzantine Empire. References to Israel in the Church Fathers are discussed. Secondly, an attempt will be made to assess the factors of contextualization of the Gospel which motivated the development of this idea, esp. the appearance of Christianity as the religion of the empire. Thirdly, the factors uncovered will be evaluated against the biblical foundations upon which they claim to stand. The idea will be located on a scale between Rome and Jerusalem. Conclusion: lessons to be learned about the use and abuse of contextualization.

The synoptic sayings source known as “Q” is widely regarded by most contemporary New Testament scholars as the most important source for first century Galilee. In fact, a sizable majority of scholars studying Early Roman Galilee consider Q a firsthand account of daily life in that region. This view has become so influential in the field that many scholars have started using Q as a filter for interpreting the archaeological data from Galilee. The belief that Q is of Galilean origin has become so widely accepted that much of the recent Q scholarship simply assumes—without argument—a Galilean provenance for Q. While it is true that a tentative case can be made that Q was composed in the Galilee, the evidence is not as conclusive as many New Testament scholars now claim. Since few scholars have mounted serious challenges to the theory that Q is Galilean in origin. This theory, which began as mere speculation about Q’s Sitz im Leben, is now erroneously being treated as fact. Indeed, New Testament scholars are currently publishing myriad books and articles on how much Q can tell modern researchers about first century Galilean society. The current work is an attempt to redirect Q scholarship from its current focus back to more fundamental questions by challenging the assumption that Q was written in Galilee.

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There exists a small number of cuneiform texts that were forged in antiquity. Probably the most famous is the Cruciform Monument of manishtushu, a 6th-century Neo-Babylonian fake that was intended to pass for an original, 23rd century inscription of this Sargonic king. Moreover, earlier texts were sometimes copied and recopied in what eventually became later versions and imitations of the originals. Likewise, a certain antiquarian zeal resulted in some archaizing paleographic features present in a number of 1st-millennium Mesopotamian texts. Some of the late forgeries were probably triggered by utilitarian and chrematistic factors. Nonetheless, both fakes and imitations alike can be placed in a wider intellectual framework of antiquarian concerns in later Mesopotamian culture.

A number of the sayings attributed to Jesus could be described as intriguing and controversial, but few convey such graphic imagery or generate such a disconcerting effect as the “cross saying” (Q 14:27). This saying is not the only instance where a teaching of Jesus associates discipleship with suffering and death, but it is perhaps the most ominous of its kind. Each Synoptic Gospel preserves the cross saying in different forms and contexts, a significant phenomenon in itself for understanding its use by Christians of the first century. In this paper, I will examine what the presence and position of the cross saying in Q tell us about how the saying functioned in early Christianity. This requires a greater focus on the immediate context of Q 14:27 than found in previous work on the saying. It is my contention that prior scholarship on Q 14:27 has tended to use only the presence of the cross saying to bolster positions about the theology of Q or its historical background, rather than examining the more revealing position of the saying in the text of Q, in order to ascertain its specific meaning. The reconstructed text of Q preserves the cross saying embedded within a cluster, necessarily requiring an analysis of the two historical influences likely responsible for this phenomenon: the oral shaping of the tradition for a primarily aural presentation; and the tendency of the wisdom genre to amalgamate similarly themed aphorisms. The results of this analysis will demonstrate that the cross saying in Q functioned in two ways for its composers: impressing upon disciples the requirement to leave family bonds and viewing Jesus’ death as paradigmatic in preparedness for their own martyrdom.

In Christian art in the Middle Ages, the church and the synagogue were often portrayed as distinct and opposite categories, the former depicted as a victorious queen, the latter as a defeated, blind woman, sometimes shown as being stabbed by one of the arms of the “living Cross” on which Jesus hangs crucified. Although the barbarism of such depictions—and their Wirkungsgeschichte—is worthy of separate analysis, what interests us here is the idea of “church” and “synagogue” as separate categories: this idea is so deeply entrenched in modern scholarship on Jewish-Christian relations in antiquity that it has mislead researchers into drawing conclusions regarding the so-called “parting(s) of the ways between Judaism and Christianity” based on anachronistic premises that do not reflect the complexities of the ancient world. Rejecting traditional (often theologically oriented) approaches to and categories used in the analysis of the “Parting(s) of the ways,” the present paper suggests a new procedure for the study of the split between Jews and Christ-believers (whether Jewish or not), introducing a set of categories that allow for a more nuanced assessment. The model, which works with three distinct aspects of the problem: type of religion, ethnic identity, and institutional belonging, aims at facilitating the identification of the nature and cause of separations between groups on local levels. It distinguishes between different types of Yahwistic religions, maps the relationship between ethnic identity and religious type, and studies group dynamics on the basis of a revised understanding of the institution(s) behind ancient synagogue terminology. After a presentation of the model, its implications for the study of Pauline religion and later forms of Christian Judaisms and non-Jewish Christianities will be discussed. Before we can produce answers to the problem of the “parting(s) of the ways” we need to discuss how the question is constructed.

Levinsohn (2003) claimed that the near and far demonstratives (??t?? and ??e???? respectively) can be used non-deictically to encode the relative thematic saliency of discourse referents, with ??t?? being used to mark the more salient constituent. In applying this concept to the Markan explanation of the Parable of the Sower, Levinsohn’s claim would indicate that the descriptions of the three unfruitful scatterings of seed are more salient to the writer than the productive scattering that bears fruit. The other synoptic accounts do not seem to makes such a distinction in salience, using the near demonstrative ??t?? for both the unfruitful and fruitful plantings alike. Are there other means of analysis to either corroborate or overturn the view that the unfruitful plantings are more thematically salient in Mark’s account? This study proposes to apply the cognitive model of Chafe (1976, 1987) and Givo´n (1992), and the information-structure model of Lambrecht (1994) as applied by Levinsohn (2000) to the Markan explanation of the Parable of the Sower (4:14-20). The primary objective is to identify and analyze other linguistic devices, besides demonstratives, which might clarify the apparent prominence given to the unfruitful scatterings in Mark’s account. This study will provide the necessary framework for comparing Mark’s pragmatic weighting of saliency to that found in the other synoptic accounts in order to determine whether Mark’s version is consistent or divergent with the other traditions.

In her recent book Precarious Life, Judith Butler points out that not more than ten days after 9.11, on September 20, 2001, George W. Bush urged the American people to put aside their grief; she suggests that such refusal to mourn leads to a kind of national melancholia. Using psychoanalytic theory on melancholia, I will diagnose causes and effects of this national melancholia by considering how prophetic and apocalyptic texts act as a kind of family history to U.S. disavowal of loss, and resultant guilt and aggression. I will explore the ways in which the latter prophets and their interpreters also exhibit a kind of melancholia, in describing Israel as an unfaithful and wicked woman whose pain should not be mourned. When taken up (consciously and unconsciously) into the discourse of what Robert Bellah calls American civil religion, in which the U.S. is the new Christian Israel, such texts may position the public both to accept the violence of war, and not to mourn it. I suggest that the trope of the unfaithful women and its related apocalyptic manifestations do two things in U.S. culture and politics: they function as symptoms, making visible a certain kind of national melancholic and narcissistic dysfunction in the U.S., and at the same time, they may also help to organize contemporary psychic responses to the war on terror.

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It has long been recognized that doublets characterize the Greek Lucianic text of Samuel. It has also been known for some time that 4QSama has affinities with the Greek Lucianic tradition. With the final editing of 4QSama now complete for publication, this paper examines those places where Greek Lucianic doublets have been identified and 4QSama is extant. The aim is to discover what percentage of the doublets also occur in a Hebrew text close to the Vorlage of the Greek tradition, and what this may imply for understanding the work of Lucian.

There has been a tendency in earlier scholarship to accept without question attributions to Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion (and other anonymous versions) transmitted through marginal annotations and patristic citations, in the absence of conflicting readings or attributions. Similarly, readings transmitted without any attribution at all have often been left unassigned. Based on his wide experience of the Hexaplaric readings, Frederick Field often attempted to fill such gaps, and his judgment was generally sound. With the discovery of much more Hexaplaric and related material, however, it may be necessary to develop a more explicitly scientific approach to the process of assigning attributions to one or other reviser. This paper will discuss some procedures and possible pitfalls.

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This paper will explore the various trajectories and transformations of the penitential prayer tradition within rabbinic Judaism. The use of the penitential idiom in prayer obviously reflects a particular constellation of views about the unworthiness and sinfulness of humans vis a vis God. The paper will focus both on the occasions for use of the penitential idiom in rabbinic prayer and the theologies that deem its use to be appropriate. Some brief attention will be paid, for heuristic purposes, to comparable phenomena in the history of Christianity. Scholars of Jewish liturgy have often remarked on the relative absence of the rhetoric of penitential prayer from the Tefillah/Amidah, the major petitionary rubric of rabbinic statutory prayer (more refined accounts note its presence in an attenuated form). Rather, the full blown rhetoric of penitential prayer is reserved for the liturgy of the High Holy Days, which is viewed as the penitential season of the year par excellence. The rhetoric of penitential prayer also appears in some of the personal prayers of the Rabbis recited at the end of statutory petitionary prayer as recorded in the Babylonian Talmud (b. Berakhot 16b-17a), and in the extended development of this liturgical moment in the so-called Tahanun rubric, the texts of which are first attested in early post-talmudic literature. Various medieval pietist movements (Hasidei Ashkenaz and Lurianic Kabbalah in particular) put a premium on penitential ideology and stance; their liturgical contributions mightily elaborate the penitential prayer tradition in medieval Judaism.

A summary and retrospective overview of the book Crossing Galilee: Architectures of Contact in the Occupied Land of Jesus by Marianne Sawicki.

In the course of the past few years the new reading "hqr hyt lkms" in line 12 of the Mesha Inscription has generally been accepted. The main interest concerns the proposed reading of (h) for the older reading of (r) in the second word of this clause (ryt vs. hyt). Though (hyt) simplifies the interpretaion of the sentence in question it will be demonstrated that a reading of (h) does not seem possible. Recent photographs I have taken of the stele and the original squeeze will help confirm this. After the old reading has been re-established a brief summary of the possible interpretations of the word (ryt) will then be given.

The Wisdom of Solomon is characterised not least by its remarkable concept of the immortality of the soul. This paper explores key texts in Wisdom in order to locate its view of immortality in the intertextuality of the Greek Bible and to see whether and, if so, how it relates to the doctrines of (a Stoicising?) Middle Platonism. The paper tries to explore how our exegesis may provide insights into the social-historical context of the author(s) and the interpretative communities they came from.

The heavenly tabernacle of Hebrews is the third element in a high priestly metaphor that pits Christ as high priest against the entirety of the “old covenant” cultus. In this metaphor, Christ’s ascension and entrance into heaven itself is metaphorically reconceived as the passage of a Melchizedekian high priest through a heavenly tabernacle to offer a one time sacrifice for sins. The “literal” base on which the author builds the tabernacle portion of the metaphor is thus an understanding of heaven itself as the tabernacle. Platonic and apocalyptic approaches to Hebrews’ tabernacle imagery not only fail a close read of the text itself, but they fail to provide an adequate starting point from which to understand all the ways Hebrews’ uses the heavenly tabernacle in its argument. In contrast, once the literal base is correctly identified as heaven itself, we see how the other metaphors are possible. The argument has no place for an outer part of the heavenly tent, for example. The first part of the tabernacle is rather allegorized as the present age (9:9). Hebrews can go even further and speak of the cleansing of the heavenly tent (9:23), something that seems incomprehensible in relation to a literal heavenly structure of any kind. Then Hebrews may even refer to Christ’s flesh as a kind of veil (10:20). These varying images are better explained if the starting point for this tabernacle imagery is metaphorical rather than a literal structure either of a Platonic or apocalyptic variety.

At the intermediate, or second, level of Greek language acquisition, analysis of linguistic features and literary structure can be taught along with grammar and syntax with the use of computer projection. Students in my classes bring their work on passages, what we call “contoured texts” (arranged and color coded), to class with them. Then we project them onto a screen and “play” with them as a class. We can challenge readings, suggest alternative arrangements of the text, make and mark additional observations or correct mistakes on the work in class—in lively, non-threatening and engaging ways. My students find it powerfully affirming to have the class attend to their work this way—and are often competing to present. After a class session, the presenter returns to his or her saved copy of their original work with the version amended by the classroom work and makes the final judgment about which suggestions to accept and which to reject. I propose to present a paper in which I illustrate this teaching procedure using examples of student work and providing a list of tips and suggestions garnered from experience with this method of teaching second level Greek language.

The interpretation of the divine speeches at the end of the book of Job has proved a conundrum for readers of the book from earliest times. As S.B. Freehof writes in his "Book of Job": "Job cries, 'I am innocent.' And God responds, 'You are ignorant.' The answer seems not only irrelevant but even unfeeling and heartless.'" Many scholars have provided insight into how the divine speeches can be said to offer an "answer" to Job's situation. This paper seeks to contribute to that conversation by focusing on two words that occur across genre divisions in the book: suk and sakhaq. The word suk ("to fence in") is used by the three key characters in the story - the Satan, Job, and God - to describe the boundary-making activity of God in creation. The word sakhaq ("to laugh," "to scorn") is used by Eliphaz and Job in the dialogue, but occurs most often in the divine speeches to describe the attitude of the non-human realm to humanity. In each instance, the use of the two words in the divine speeches challenges and corrects assumptions in the earlier parts of the book about creation, the order God places in creation, and the place of humanity therein. While the divine speeches do not directly address Job's situation, therefore, they do address underlying attitudes expressed by other characters in the book.

War crimes, broadly understood, have grabbed public attention in recent years. One thinks of the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, the tens of thousands dead in the Darfur region of Sudan, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, and arguments within the U.S. and elsewhere that torture is an acceptable practice in the war on terror. There is also a heightened awareness about the unprecedented civilian suffering caused by today’s armed conflicts. As Lloyd Axworthy has pointed out, “In the First World War, approximately 10% of casualties of conflict were civilian. Now, 90% of these casualties are civilian.” Across the world, war crimes have given rise to a grave human rights crisis. While awareness of these crimes has increased, knowledge of how the Hebrew Bible relates to this topic has not. During the last twenty years, Amos’ oracle against the nations has received little attention in the academy and faith communities, even though it specifically concerns itself with crimes of war and the treatment of civilians in armed conflicts. This text is particularly relevant to today’s human rights crisis both because of its international concern and because of the vivid connections between the brutality of conflicts in the ancient Near East and the brutality of conflicts throughout the world today. This paper examines these connections, drawing on the work of John Barton and others to demonstrate how Amos’ message provides the underpinnings for an appreciation of international law that deters atrocities in war.

Archaeology contributes to our understanding of family life in ancient Israel primarily through the analysis of domestic architecture. The dimensions and internal layouts of houses excavated at Iron Age sites indicate the size and composition of the families who inhabited them. Similarly, the architectural configurations of adjoining houses reflect the social and economic relationships among neighboring households. These archaeological clues must be interpreted in light of textual evidence, suitable historical analogies, and demographic reconstructions of family size and composition under ancient conditions of mortality and fertility. When this is done, we find confirmation that Israelite towns of the monarchic period were characterized by extended-family households and by enduring kinship ties that organized neighboring households into clan communities.

Previous scholarship has always noted the polymorphic christology of the Acts of John, a second century account of the apostle’s exploits in Asia Minor. Throughout the Johannine acts Christ is identified as the “God of all Ages,” who appears in various human guises but never with an actual human body. One of the more famous episodes of this acts is an account of the calling of James and John (cc. 88-89), in which the two brothers see two evolving pairs of contrasting forms of the Lord. With James always seeing younger forms of the Lord, as compared to those witnessed by John, it is easy to see the two brothers representing two groups of Christians with John representing those who have a maturer christology or spirituality. In the past, scholars have seen the figure of James representing “orthodox” Christians as opposed to the community of the Johannine acts, but this observation actually overlooks the fact that James also sees the Lord in multiple forms, and therefore must represent Christians who have a polymorphic christology but one that is somehow viewed by the community of the Johannine acts as immature. How is that possible? Can we find a community with a polymorphic christology that could have been considered inferior or immature in the eyes of the community of the Johannine acts? This paper will argue that we can find this community behind the Acts of Peter and its polymorphic christology.

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The Septuagint to the book of Genesis attests in many instances an image of women, which is very different from that one can find in the Masoretic text. Generally speaking, women are pictured as more active persons and act more independently from man, according to the Septuagint as compared to the Masoretic text. The aim of the present paper is to describe the evidence, to compare the two different views, and to discuss the origins of these differences.

The application of concepts such as “Orthodoxy” to early rabbinic Judaism is Christianizing and therefore misleading. Rather than engaging in defining correct and incorrect doxa, early rabbinic literature is troubled by the possibility of a fundamental rejection of God (and hence the Jewish community as well), which emanated from the political failure of the Jews and the destruction of the Second Temple. The heretic, for the rabbis of second century CE was one who has questioned God’s sovereignty and power, and left the confines of the Jewish people.

All three synoptic gospels preserve an instance of Jesus traveling through Jericho (Mt 20:29ff; Mk 10:46ff; Lk 18:35ff). The longest account is in the gospel of Luke, for it includes two additional pericopes: the encounter with Zacchaeus and Jesus telling the Parable of the Pounds. A similar version of the parable, that of the Talents, is found in Matthew (25:14-30). It is now widely accepted that these two parables emanated from a single tradition. The common suggestion is that the Lucan version is a rewrite of Matthew’s source, combined with a second teaching, or parable, on the Kingdom of God, utilizing a motif based on the rule of Archelaus (4 BCE – 6 CE). But this view introduces a problem left unanswered: why would a redactor choose the ruthless and murderous Judean Ethnarch as a type of the Messiah, especially so many years after his demise? A re-examination of the Lucan context of this parable suggests that this embarrassing motif may even go back to the time of Jesus’ own ministry.

The University of Michigan excavations at Karanis (Kom Aushim) 70 years ago yielded a considerable number of papyri and ostraca, only a few of which are Christian. One such text is a single page of a papyrus codex, containing remnants of the Greek text of Psalms 32 and 33 (P. Mich. inv. 5475 c). The codex format and the date militate in favor of a Christian rather than Jewish origin, although there may have been some Jews in Karanis at this time. The context in which the text was found can refine its dating in two ways. First, the text of Ps. 32-33 was found together with a number of fragments of Greek literature, all dating to the third century or earlier. Second, documentary finds and coin hoards from the same insula point to a date between 260-300 CE.

Deuteronomy 27-30 is one of the more curious passages in the Torah. One would think it obvious that any form of cursing would be witchcraft and yet here we have curses. Frazer asserted that curses are automatic, so it would seem they were dooming themselves to immediate death and destruction. Equally curious is the self cursing of the adulterous wife in Numbers 5.11-31. By allowing this magical judicial ordeal were not the authorities tempting God? Others in the ancient Near East did the same. The key to understanding such practices is the realization that Frazer was essentially wrong. There is nothing automatic about demonic magic which cannot function without the assistance and cooperation of spirits. Moreover, there were different types of demonic magic, scaled literally to the intelligence level required of the involved spirit. Conditional magic required the assisting spirit (who could be a god and had to be at least reasonably intelligent) to punish a specified person if he did something he was not supposed to do or failed to do something he was. Nothing would actually happen unless the self-curser violated conditions of which he was aware and to which he had agreed. Moreover, obeying Yahweh as required in the Deuteronomic covenant and turning to him for judgement as in the ordeal of the adulterous woman were things which it was good to do. Also, the social usefulness of the mechanism of self cursing not only allowed persons to be trusted to make covenants, treaties and contracts but also to clear themselves of guilt when no other proof of innocence could be found.

One of the questions raised by the non-biblical texts from Qumran is which texts are to be considered of sectarian origin and which are not. Scholars have arrived at a consensus about a corpus of Qumran texts as distinctively sectarian based on several criteria including content, theology, and paleography. One of features of sectarian texts is the occurrence of distinctive terminology. This study, using the DSSEL, will revisit the issue of distinctive terminology in the determination of sectarian origin of texts from Qumran. First, a survey will be made of the corpus of non-biblical texts of the accepted list of distinctive terminology (yhd “rule”; srkh “overseer”; mwrh htsdq “Teacher of Righteousness”; etc.) looking for occurrences and frequency. This will largely confirm scholarly studies already made on the basis of existing concordances. Second, the study will test a number of words found in a “constellation of terms” that often occurs in sectarian texts but are not distinctive of sectarian origin. This search will be conducted searching for patterns of recurring terminology and collocation of vocabulary across a wide range of texts looking for patterns that may have been missed by scholars in previous work. In particular, a search will be made to identify and quantify important vocabulary that occurs in Qumran texts but is not derived from the Bible. Finally, several specific texts that have been argued to be sectarian texts—without the distinctive vocabulary—will be tested to see if a larger study of vocabulary, or the lack thereof, can help to determine sectarian origin.

The correlation between the Jewish mother of Maccabees (traditionally "Hannah") and the Christian slave Blandina from Lyons and Vienne has been noted by Frend and others. In many ways these two women are similar: they are cast as mother figures, they encourage others, are the last to die, and their death's awaken amazement. While there have been studies of gender martryology, particularly of Perpetua and Felicitas (Shaw, Perkins, Burrus, Seesengood, etc.), fewer works have closely examined the gender constructions of Hannah or Blandina. One exception is and Moore ("Taking it Like a Man," 1996) who argue the power exhibited by the martyrs in 4 Maccabees is a masculine power that feminizes the villain Antiochus. Although Hannah is among the "real men" who emerge as the heroes, "masculine" qualities of strength, reason, and endurance are written over her maternal body without challenging Greco-Roman constructions of masculinity and femininity assumed (indeed, exploited by) the text. Hannah and Blandina are masculated by suffering, much as Perpetua. However, a key metaphor for their martyrdom is maternal. Gender transformation is at work in the rhetoric of the texts, but it is not simply women taking on masculine characteristics; their "masculine" strength is still exhibited in a maternal body. Dispensing with an essentialized notion of gender, Hannah and Blandina are not women who ape men; they become a third gender. This third gender is not imposed upon an essentialized body but recreates the very notion of body, particularly as it is employed in martyrologies – texts that focus on the suffering, fragmentation, and death of the body. Our paper will draw upon Butler, Garber, and Hollibaugh to argue Hannah and Blandina are transformed in their deaths into queer mother martyrs.

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The cubiculum is a familiar topos in Biblical and early Christian literature, from the Lord’s chamber in the Song of Songs to the room in which a young and impressionable Thecla first heard Paul’s exhortations to chastity. It also figures prominently in numerous late antique devotional texts written for audiences within the city of Rome, like Jerome’s letter to the Roman virgin Eustochium (Ep. 22) and the anonymous fifth or sixth-century passion of the Roman matrona Caecilia. This paper will explore how the social and spiritual meaning of the cubiculum in these late antique sources refracts pre-Nicene visions of domestic piety. Specifically, it will examine the way in which the bedroom is imagined in these later sources as a gendered place of prayer and penance, and how they draw upon an archaic Christian sensibility about domestic religious practice in order to construct a new model of the late Roman household. In conjunction with a textual analysis, we shall also consider how the differentiated architecture that characterizes the late Roman domus could have catalyzed possible changes in the physical experience of intimacy in late antiquity, and how these changes may have impacted upon the place of the bedroom in monastic practice and thought in the city of Rome between the fourth and sixth centuries.

Salvador Dali’s _Christ of St. John of the Cross_ and the Gospel of Luke share more than their subject matter. For one thing, both have been immensely popular in large part because of their beauty. For another, both use the work of earlier interpreters as negative inspiration for their own. In Dali’s case it was the slumped, lacerated corpus in Grünewald’s Isenheim altarpiece that inspired the antithetically ethereal beauty of the Christ of St. John who floats above the world. In Luke’s case it was the suffering and abandonment of Mark’s passion account that is transformed into acceptance and gracious selflessness. Finally, the creators of the later interpretations, as well as their earlier negative exemplars, were in conversation with the horrors of their own moments in history and reflect aesthetic choices on that basis. This paper ponders the efficacy of beauty as a means of dealing with horror and the pastoral role of art and gospel in the interpretation of history.

In 1977 Bruce Metzger published his influential reference work "The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission and Limitations". While he is obviously deeply indebted to Arthur Vööbus’ 1954 publication "Early Versions of the New Testament: Manuscript Studies" (he cites this work repeatedly), nowhere in his preface does Metzger situate his work in relation to that of Vööbus or explain his reason for writing a new introduction to the early versions of the New Testament given that one already existed. This suggests the possibility that Metzger’s work should be read as an implicit critique of Vööbus, a possibility that is reinforced upon a closer inspection and comparison of the two books. Metzger and Vööbus tell two very different stories about the early versions. For Metzger, most of the early versions were likely translated from Greek and are of important but secondary significance in New Testament textual criticism. For Vööbus, the early Syriac Gospels constitute an eastern textual tradition of great antiquity and influence; one that was in some way a rival of the Greek tradition in the West. Vööbus believed the value of this Syriac tradition for textual criticism had been suppressed in the scholarship of his day. I will argue that despite Metzger’s obvious reliance on Vööbus, he deftly and possibly intentionally avoids giving voice to Vööbus’ main argument about the Syriac tradition. Because of the imposing but well-deserved status that Metzger enjoys in the field of textual criticism, his work has replaced that of Vööbus as the standard reference work on the early versions, effectively silencing Vööbus’ main argument without providing a substantive critique of it. Special attention will be given to the treatment of the Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopic, and Arabic traditions in the works of Metzger and Vööbus.

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Bruno Latour defines ‘iconoclash’ (as distinct from ‘iconoclasm’) as an action that is undecideably destructive and constructive. ‘Iconoclasm’ as pure destruction becomes deeply problematic when we think, for example, of the decapitated pieta of the Museum of Moulins, where Protestant/Vandal vandalism exacerbates the authorised destruction-construction of the broken icon-body of Christ. Focussing on Samuel Bak’s recent works on the akedah—‘Dress Rehearsal’ ‘Isaac’s Dream’, ‘Study for the Akedah’ and ‘After Mantegna’—this paper explores how Bak exacerbates the element of destruction already integral to classic works by Mantegna and Caravaggio, who stress the violence intrinsic to Genesis 22 by freezing the text at the point of Isaac’s scream or Isaac’s head pulled back by his father. Rather than unleashing a new element of destruction as post-Shoah intruder into Genesis 22, Bak amplifies the terrifying almost-destruction intrinsic to the original. The blindfolded, closed or unseeing eyes of his Abrahams and Isaacs extend the curious (an-iconic/iconoclastic?) mutiny against visibility and transparency within this punningly eye-obsessed text. What is radical is the extension of intrinsic breaking to the point where it rips apart the necessary (causative/creative) relationship between destruction and construction by which ‘sacrifice’ distinguishes itself from damage, disaster, and catastrophe (Shoah), and so defines (and purifies) itself. In ‘After Mantegna’, Bak breaks up Mantegna’s solid monumental figures, and turns the (illusion of) solid stone back into the constituent elements of vulnerable pencil, pastel, and paper, as if the violence within the image were setting in train a process of auto-decomposition or auto-ruin. In the cross-shaped prop that holds Abraham together, he raises the question of the relation of the Jewish artist to the icons of Christian art. In these and other ways, his art raises questions of the relation of Torah to icon and iconoclasm, and probes the creative/destructive potential of iconoclash.

Ephesians reflects a complex inter-religious matrix of emerging Christianities at the late first century making reference to relations with Judaism as well as to the surrounding gentile society. The distinctive religious identity involves socio-religious categorisation and naming. Ephesians constructs a twofold comparison which functions to establish similarity and difference, constructing the in-group as well as significant others. This is achieved by naming opposing groups, prototypes and antitypes, which are manipulated to convey central values and behaviours of the community. The first level of comparison is represented by the ‘circumcised – uncircumcised’ division and negotiates continuity with Israel as well as the distinctiveness of the community defined ‘in Christ’. The second comparison contrasts the believers with the surrounding pagan society, represented in the text by naming ‘saints’ and ‘(gentile) sinners’. The religious identity is displayed in the interplay of three groups whose members have been allocated stereotypical roles. The writer uses these categories in resocialising formerly pagan audience to appreciate the Hebrew cultural heritage and embrace its views, while simultaneously distancing them from their primary social group and detested gentile lifestyle. However, the climax of naming conveys the authority and verification of the peculiar views put forth by the pseudonymous author: he represents christianness that assumes election and blessings of Israel for the church and shows intolerance toward both covenantal nomism and gentile lifestyle. This revelation is validated using two Israelite figures with contested reputations, Paul and Jesus. Both figures are less significant in evolving Jewish groups and their positions are manipulated to inaugurate gentile Christianity, which the writer envisions as existing ‘before the foundations of the world’. Christ is portrayed as a mediator in whom a new humanity is created and the social obstacles of Jewish exclusivism and covenantal nomism are abolished.

Although the “Six Books” narrative of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption has long been known from several fifth and sixth-century Syriac manuscripts, a new version of this ancient apocryphon has recently come to light in an important Karshuni manuscript belonging to the Syrian Orthodox Monastery of St. Mark in Jerusalem. This manuscript contains over one-hundred hagiographical narratives, many of which are unique and all of which have been translated from an original Syriac manuscript in Damascus that is presently inaccessible (Dam. Patr. 12/17 & 12/18). The account of Mary’s Dormition in this collection is a version of the Six Books apocryphon that was previously known only from a single fragment in Syriac. For a long time, many experts regarded this fragmentary Syriac version as the earliest exemplar of the “Bethlehem” Dormition narratives. After studying the complete narrative in the Karshuni version, this position no longer seems tenable. There is no indication that the Karshuni narrative is any earlier than the four very closely related versions known from the Syriac manuscripts of the late fifth and sixth centuries. Even if its production somehow antedates these Syriac versions, the Karshuni narrative does not witness to a more primitive stratum of the early Bethlehem traditions. Instead, this recension quite clearly abbreviates a more extensive early tradition that is witnessed more completely in the early Syriac manuscripts, and the variants found in these Syriac versions rule out any possibility that the Karshuni narrative (in a Greek or Syriac version) could somehow be their collective source.

The classical characterization of the Four-Room House as the “Israelite” type of house, though being lately subject to increasing criticism, is well based on the strong correlation between its spread in space and time and the bounds and duration of the Israelite entity. The attempts to explain this house dominance on a purely “functional” basis fail to account for the ethnicity aspect of this phenomenon. We present a novel approach to the problem, based on the fact (showed recently by Faust and Bunimovitz) that the Four-Room House plan exhibits a very shallow “tree shape”, i.e., all the inner rooms are directly accessible from the house’s central space. The most obvious feature of the plan is that it ensures one’s privacy, and thus enables the house members to keep their sexual intimacy. This was a matter of outmost importance in this type of dwelling that usually served extended families, and was therefore home to different sexually-connected couples, the mingling of which would be breaking the severe taboo of incest. Recall that the taboo on incest had, in the Israelite mind, a quintessential ethnic character. In biblical law, for example, all incest prohibitions are described as the “obscenities” of the Canaanites and were the reason for their defeat and expulsion of their land by the Israelites; would the Israelites follow them in violating these prohibitions, they too will be “spilled out” by the land in the very same brutal way. The Israelite society considered, therefore, the observing of the incest taboo as both an ethnic identity feature and an imperative condition to Israel’s holding to his land. The architectural design of the Four-Room house served, therefore, exceptionally well the essential interest of the Israelite society in minimizing the incest danger, becoming thus an ethnic marker for this society.

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This paper explores ecological hermeneutical issues in Job’s angry outburst against God in Job 7:17-18, and in the related text Psalm 8:4-6. A comparison of these texts illustrates the intense anthropomorphic stance and theology of the Joban text with the portrayal of a God who relates to humanity as an overseer. Job’s God raises human beings above all other creatures and yet makes humans subject to God’s constant divine scrutiny. His bitter denunciation of this Deity is an inversion of Psalm 8. Job suggests that God is responsible for order or disorder in the created world, and initially acknowledges non-human creation in relation to humanity, yet moves on to leave non-human creation on the periphery and focuses on the Deity’s relationship with human beings. Further to the syntactical, verbal, and rhetorical features connecting Ps 8:4-6 and Job 7:17-18, this paper, proposes their distinctive divergences highlight the absence of the created world (excepting humanity) from Job 7 until verse 21 when Job mentions the earth. Psalm 8’s rhetorically condensed and balanced proclamation of the exalted status of humanity contrasts sharply with Job’s diatribe against God concluding in a cry of despair asking what humanity amount to before an overwhelmingly powerful God? Evocation of Psalm 8 suggests the inclusion of all creation under this divine scrutiny. Job 7:12 reverses the orderly perspective of Psalm 8 with a rhetorical question highlighting God’s galling attention. Job 7 transposes the royal God of Psalm 8, who sets all creatures under human supremacy, to a God who constantly examines human actions. However, Job’s “I shall lie in the earth” (v.21) suggests that in seeking refuge in the earth he is becoming earth conscious and letting go of his anthropocentricism.

When Paul says in 2 Tim. 4:6, “For me, I am already being poured out as libation, and the time of my departure has come,” one hears echoes of how he describes his possible death in Phil. 2:17. Here, however, death is close at hand, and his apostolic labors are complete, as he describes by way of athletic analogies: “I have fought the good contest; I have finished the race” (4:7). Similar athletic analogies are employed in both letters, but differently. The analogies in Philippians evoke culturally-based ideas of leadership likely known from direct experience of the ancient Greek games. In 2 Timothy, the analogies are used in a manner more similar to commonplace analogies of Hellenistic moralists, particularly Stoics. Although the audience’s firsthand experience of Greek games is assumed (2 Tim, 2:5), the social and cultural intertexture of the analogies is not fundamental to the rhetoric, unlike the athletic analogies Paul develops in the undisputed letters, where Paul speaks with a more richly-textured rhetorical voice. When 2 Timothy is read as a post-Pauline composition, the athletic analogies of the undisputed letters can be seen functioning within the scribal-oral intertexture of the letter, where they are reconfigured in a manner that presents Paul as a general model of Christian perfection.

This paper will discuss possible social, religious and cultural implications of Hebrew and Greek terminology used to designate “piety” in rabbinic epitaphs at Beth Shearim. It will determine the range of meanings for such terms as “kadosh” and “hosios/ hosia” by comparing their usages in contemporaneous literature and epigraphy. For example, the terms “hosios/ hosia” in Jewish burial inscriptions from the Diaspora and the Land of Israel had a variety of meanings which reflected familial piety, public involvement and benefactions, and, sometimes, observance of Jewish law. Depending on the context “hosios/ hosia” could reflect traditional virtues of the contemporaneous Roman society as well as specifically Jewish ideals of piety. In each particular case the precise range of meanings was determined ad hoc by relatives of the deceased and reflected their social, religious, and cultural tastes. The paper will argue that in most cases the precise meaning of “piety” mentioned in rabbinic epitaphs was determined by such ad hoc combinations of cultural and religious views of the immediate family of the deceased. In other words, instead of having a particular “rabbinic” notion of piety expressed in burial inscriptions, we encounter a whole range of potential meanings. Sometimes these meanings might have corresponded to the “rabbinic” ideal of piety but sometimes they did not. The family and intricate cultural allegiances of individual family members played by far the greatest role in what any particular term for “piety” meant in any given rabbinic epitaph. The paper will suggest that in order to fully appreciate the nature and complexity of the rabbinic movement, we have to appreciate the importance of family ties and the possibility of multiple religious and cultural identities within “rabbinic” families.

Using two theoretical insights from the geographer Ed Soja, namely his critique of ‘historicism’ and his concept of ‘thirdspace’, this paper argues that Acts constitutes a salvation-geographical narrative. The ascension account, Acts 1:6-11 is programmatic in this spatiality. The resultant ‘ascension geography’ means that readings of Acts need to take account of the heavenly Christ as formative for spaces and places within the Acts as a whole. Acts therefore establishes Luke as the first Christian geographer, ‘writing the earth’ to influence, interpret and transform his readers’ lived experience of space, with heaven central to this vision.

Paper presents a method for the comparison of Synoptic parallels using linguistic analysis. The model used is drawn from Systemic Functional Linguistics, but modified to be applicable to the Greek of the New Testament. The potential of the method is demonstrated through the analysis of the Parable of the Sower in the Synoptic Gospels.

This paper will explore the canonical context of the book of Acts and how the book's placement within the canon affects its interpretation.

Fourth Maccabees and Galatians present sharply divergent perspectives concerning the value and function of ethnic identity vis-à-vis religious identity. Using a methodological approach derived from the sociology of knowledge, this paper will analyze the way in which these two texts function as reality-maintaining discourse. From this vantage point, 4 Maccabees may be seen to address the threat of Jewish assimilation into Greek culture by suppressing that culture’s competing symbolic universe. Within the functionally restrictive religious framework of 4 Maccabees, ethnic and religious identity are inextricably intertwined. ­Ethnic identity functions as the basis upon which the text urges the audience to adopt a particular vision of religious identity. Likewise, Galatians must address a potent threat to the symbolic universe of its audience. However, Paul is primarily engaged in the creation of a new symbolic universe, rather than the maintenance of one already firmly established. Thus, within this letter’s functionally creative religious framework, the antinomy of Jew and Greek as fundamental elements of the cosmos is abolished. In the emerging symbolic universe of early Christianity, ethnic identity is “unmasked” as a social construct, which may no longer serve as the basis of appeal to religious identity. This analysis supports the claim that in Galatians, Paul is not negating the existence of various types of cultural identity, but rather challenging their normative status vis-à-vis religious identity.

Book review of Did God Have a Wife?

Claudia Camp has already begun the task of deconstructing Prov 9, by showing how the duality of Lady Wisdom and Dame Folly breaks down under closer scrutiny. I plan to finish the job. I will demonstrate that the text folds in on itself in one particular place: verse 17. Using a Derridian form of deconstruction, I will show how Dame Folly’s appeal to young men operates quite strikingly within the expectations of traditional wisdom. In other words, her folly is “wiser,” than Lady Wisdom's. This means that the wisdom/folly dichotomy begins to blur and disintegrate. I will also demonstrate that Lady Wisdom actually needs Dame Folly, actually depends on her in order to function properly and maintain her own identity. Thus, the lines between them begin to blur again. Finally, I will reveal how social class and gender come into play in the attempt to exclude the Other. The essential point of this paper is that no matter how hard the author of chap. 9 might have tried to keep the women distinct and representing separate paths, he could only fail.

The friendship between David and Jonathan has been analyzed from every perspective save one, that of a soldier's friendship. This paper explores the gains modern psychological work with combat veterans (Grossman, Shay) as a hermeneutical tool for understanding the friendship of David and Jonathan.

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For various reasons, contemporary studies in Israelite ethnicity have tended to focus on Israel's identity as understood in the context of its non-Israelite neighbors. This pursuit naturally accentuates the conceptual unity shared by Israel's disparate tribal groups in matters of identity, but it tends to neglect the obvious alterities that divided ancient Israel. In this paper I will explore the variety of Israelite ethnicities as these are expressed or implied in biblical sources from the early Iron period. Some attention will be given to the implications of this inquiry for the use of archaeology to study ethnicity, as well as to important methodological considerations in the study of ethnicity proper.

Lucius or the Ass, an epitome of a lost Greek original most likely composed by Lucian of Samosata, has been interpreted variously as a satire on the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis, on paradoxographers and their superstitious readers, or on a real and known contemporary author. Others have read Lucius or the Ass as a literary parody of the Greek romance novel or of the prefaces to medical-magical handbooks. Still others regard the text as simply a comic tale peppered with the occasional satirical jab. In this paper I will read Lucius or the Ass against the backdrop of a group of texts not yet considered for comparison with it, that is, the literature of the debate over the rationality of animals. While Stoics categorically denied reason to animals, most other philosophical schools of late antiquity disputed this view. A wide range of authors weighed in on the issue, including Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, Philo, Plutarch and Dio Chrysostom, with both Philo and Plutarch dedicating entire treatises to the subject. In these texts, evidence for intelligence, justice, affection, and even piety among animals is typically taken from stock anecdotes describing animal behavior. I will argue that the majority of episodes in Lucius or the Ass are send-ups of these stock anecdotes. Lucian incorporates these stock stories into his narrative, casting Lucius the ass in the animal’s role. When Lucius’ behavior is compared with that of the real animal in the same situation, he consistently fails to measure up. The result is a humorous narrative which satirizes all sides of the debate. The question of whether or not animals have reason is moot when the average man is dumber than an ass.

Recent scholarship has renewed focus upon the relationship of the biblical legal corpora, but the results of such studies have not led to appreciable consensus. With regard to asylum laws, the relationship of Ex. 21:12-14, Dt. 19:1-13, and Num. 35:9-34 remains disputed. To cite the most recent example, Pamela Barmash argues against the older view that the institution of asylum in ancient Israel developed from altar refuge to city refuge. Instead, she suggests that Ex. 21:12-14 does not serve as a source for Dt. 19:1-13 and may even envision city asylum itself. I propose here a different approach to the question of Pentateuchal asylum, asking the question, why does D legislate cities of refuge? Scholars have regularly cited cult centralization as D's motivation; however, this does not explain why D chooses city asylum (as opposed to another form of asylum). Takings its cue from the work of Bernard Levinson and others, this study suggests that Dt. 19:1-13 invents the concept of city refuge based upon its interpretation of mqwm in its source text, Ex. 21:13. Such Deuteronomic interpretation of mqwm as "city" (cf. Dt. 21:19) explains not only the origin of its concept of asylum but also its avoidance of the centralization formula in Dt. 19:1-13: because D has already assigned the technical meaning of "single cultic site" to mqwm, he omits this word as well as any reference to the larger Deuteronomic centralization program from his asylum law. Instead, by means of creative exegesis, the D author masks his legal innovation, stressing the continuity of his asylum law with that in his source text.

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In Isaiah 60-61, a prominent motif is the wealth and riches that shall flow to Jerusalem when foreign nations make pilgrimage or are gathered to Zion. While scholars have long pondered the significance of the “nations’” eschatological pilgrimage to Zion in these chapters and others throughout the book of Isaiah, the function and importance of the “flow of wealth” as an accompanying factor has received much less attention. Indeed, Trito Isaiah has elevated the “wealth” motif to a position of significance, not only by the multiple occurrence of the notion (60:5-13, 16-17; 61:6; 66:12), but also by the contexts in which the motif is found: pilgrimage, gathering, return of the exiles, tribute to temple, nations as slaves, etc. The essay focuses on the literary function of the wealth motif in chapters 60 and 61 and discusses it not only in light of its context in Isaiah 56-66, but also its connection to similar Isaian texts (e.g., 2:2-4; 18:7; 23; 45:14). Finally, the essay explores the connection of the wealth of nations motif in Isaiah 60-61 to Haggai 2:7-8 and Zechariah 14:14.

If one takes Krister Stendahl's pathbreaking article on "The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West" as the beginning of a de-Lutherizing of Paul, the time has come to take a fresh look at Luther's Paulinism. Stendahl has rightly pointed to unbridgeable gaps between Paul and Luther. Among them is not least what Stendahl called the "introspective conscience" and the "individualistic" concept of salvation. But we must ask what Luther was confronting in his own day and whether his position was a kind of Paulinism, despite the fact that it does not accord with the historical conclusions of our exegesis. Worth examining in this respect is the revival of the Greco-Roman concept of self-mastery in 16th-century Humanism. The relationship between Humanism and the Reformation as movements of learned people was a close one, as illustrated by Erasmus and Melanchthon, and especially the Swiss Reformed movement. Yet Luther's dispute with Erasmus on the "liberum arbitrium" discloses a gap between Humanists and Reformers at one decisive point. Erasmus was influenced by the concept of self-mastery, especially that of Epicurus. He held that freedom of the will was a possibility and that one might occupy a moral middle ground guided by reason and law. Luther thought this to be presumptuous: there was no neutral, middle position; sin determines the world and human reality; sin which marks the gap between God and human beings. It is this (anthropological) radicalism of Luther's theology which, in my view, constituted his Paulinism. The paper will seek todemonstrate that Paul himself (esp. in Romans 7:7ff.) held this "tragic" anthropology, although within an apocalyptic world-view, but also in dispute with Greek and Roman concepts of self-mastery.

Naaman’s Israelite servant girl in 1 Kings 5 is a minor character whose limited function in the narrative is telling the Syrian captain about the healing powers of the Israelite prophet Elisha. The girl is not named; she speaks in only one verse (5:3); and she is mentioned in only two others (5:2, 4). She is eclipsed in the story and in biblical scholarship by Elisha and Naaman. As underrepresented as female characters are in biblical narratives, there are many other biblical women who are more developed and who play more significant roles than this girl. However, in American 20th century Lutheran religious education material, this seemingly insignificant character holds a prominent place. Her story is expanded, retold, and placed alongside such well-known characters as Miriam, Ruth, and Hannah. She surprisingly emerges in this literature as one of the few female characters chosen either as an embodiment of moral truth or to be an inspiration to young girls to develop attitudes and behavior deemed appropriate to Christian living. This paper examines the unexpected prominence of Naaman’s Israelite servant girl in 20th century American Lutheran religious education material and explores how the servant girl tradition is reworked in different periods and for various age groups to meet the specific educational needs of the Church. The paper demonstrates that this character’s shifting role in children’s religious education literature reflects shifting religious and cultural values of the 20th century, especially with respect to gender roles. Furthermore, the presentation situates the servant girl’s role in this literature within the broader context of this story’s history of reception.

Most ideas on if and when Jerusalem was resettled during the Persiand Period and how large is was, are based on unpublished material from Kenyon's excavations. This paper will present the evidence from Kenyon's excavations and will try to put Jerusalem in its Judean context.

Roman writers reflected their Greek mythological and philosophical backgrounds regarding the use of divine wrath as a literary interpretive device. In Greek and Roman myth, divine wrath was that irrational, impulsive, unpredictable component of divine relationships that caused havoc on Mount Olympus and chaos among humans. When relating divine wrath to the future, one had no idea where all this was going. In Greek and Roman philosophy, use of divine wrath as an interpretive device for life was downplayed or even satirized; the bottom line for predicting human events was still the same: one still had no idea where all this was going. One distinctive contribution, however, to using the concept of divine wrath as an interpretive literary strategy was among the Roman historians. These historians consistently used divine wrath for historical interpretive purposes in writing the history of Rome. Their interpretive strategy was to link the concept of fatum with the concept of ira deum derived from the ancient Roman cultus. As a result, when reading a Roman historian, one was given a keen idea of exactly where all this was going. Wrath was domesticated into a rational construct interpreting human or state destiny. This distinctive use of divine wrath as an interpretive motif by Roman historians will be used as the basis for a study of the use of divine wrath in the Gospel of Luke. Similarities and distinctions will be drawn on the way toward establishing part of the Gospel writer's literary strategy for interpreting the death of Jesus and the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

The biblical landscape of (dis)ability does not match our twenty-first century and North American categories. Although the morphosemantic nominal form ‘qittel’ in biblical Hebrew denotes physical (dis)abilities, and is a way of implying the larger category ‘(dis)ability’, it is not used consistently. Another evidence set for the emergence of ‘(dis)ability’ as a notion is that of concrete lists (Exod. 4:11; Lev. 21:18-20; 22:22). Such lists are found in several places in the ancient Near East—perhaps the folk-taxonomies of ancient naturalists. Abstract notions of ability and disability then develop through metonymy. That is, one list-member or species comes to substitute for its entire genus. Lev. 19:14 takes this another step: two particular species of disabilities—“blind and deaf”—stand for the abstraction ‘disabilities’ altogether, where each term of the word pair stands in for its genus. What are the two genera? 'Blind' stands for ‘mumim’ (or ‘blemishes’ that disqualify priests), and ‘deaf’ stands for all non-mumim (or non-disqualifying disabilities). What lies behind this structural division in the Priestly Literature [P]? Perhaps it is because some disabilities are “visible” at birth and some are not. But this careful distinction between blemishing and non-blemishing disability is not maintained outside of the Priestly Work, and so appears to be the invention of “P.” Within a broader ancient Near Eastern history-of-ideas, then, do P’s laws of disability represent something progressive?

Judges 1:11-15, though brief, has often captured the attention of feminist biblical scholars due to the assertive actions of its female character, Achsah. Like other interpreters of the passage, feminist scholars necessarily engage obscure, but sometimes humorous, discussions about the nature of Achsah's actions when she arrives on an ass to see her father. My paper takes its point of departure from several such feminist literary analyses (Mieke Bal, Danna Fewell, Tammi Schneider etc.) but moves in the direction of a queer reading of the tale and its reception. Reading partly in dialogue with Judith Butler and Michel Foucault, I reflect on the possibilities for a kind of "cross-gendered" identification with Achsah by gay male readers, who may also be attracted by her assertive riposte to patriarchal gender norms. If reading can be, as Foucault suggested, an occasion for self-formation and transformation, then this sort of queer reading of Achsah may help to undermine the stability of biblical interpretations that presuppose rigid gender constructs with harmful consequences for women, gay men and others.

The final summons of the Psalter has long been viewed as its fitting climax. But to whom, or to what, does “everything that has breath” refer? Several scholars have posited that this phrase includes the nonhuman, animal world. Yet even those who espouse such a view are often at pains to provide evidence supporting such a perspective. Our paper builds upon previous work, which has identified music making and praising in nonhuman communities elsewhere in the Psalms (e.g., Psalms 104, 148), and marshals additional support from ancient Near Eastern iconography and musical artifacts (e.g., zoomorphic musical instruments, representations of animal orchestras, and musicians depicted with animals). This material lends further support to the oft-neglected theme of nonhuman praise in the Hebrew Bible. Psalm 150 – and v. 6 in particular – when seen in the light of this iconographical evidence, clearly supports that theme by means of the psalm’s evocation of creation language and its use of the specific idiom “everything that has breath.” Copresenter: Joel M. LeMon, Emory University

Although added to by later followers, the historical Ezekiel constructed a coherent booklet, or perhaps a "tract," containing oracles against Tyre, which sought to defend the power of YHWH. In this small book, Ezekiel attacked the theological challenge posed by Tyre, a nation that appeared to stand defiantly against YHWH's tool of punishment on Jerusalem, i.e., Babylon. Well aware of the historical connections between the Jerusalem temple and Tyre, as well as common seafaring practices of his day, Ezekiel carefully crafted a tightly knit literary piece in order to defend the royal theology that he was steeped in and which he sought to preserve for a future nation. The result was an unusual piece of ancient literature, mysterious and easily misconstrued, but magnificent in its artistry.

This paper examines Philo's de Gigantibus against the backdrop of apocalyptic traditions preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In particular, the paper inquires into how much themes held in common by Philo and the apocalyptic sources (e.g. biblical characters, human nature, and angelology) are to be understood as independent Jewish reception and integration of classical traditions or as interdependently shaped by debates that were taking place around the turn of the Common Era.

Didache contains some of the earliest clear evidence for worship on the first day of the week (ch. 14). At the same time, its instructions for the Lord’s Supper involve prayers similar to those used by Jews of the time at the weekly Sabbath meal (ch. 9) rather than the words of institution known from Paul and the Synoptics. The combination of express mention of assembling on the Lord’s day (with eucharist), while preserving a vestige of Sabbath celebration, provides a tantalizing glimpse in the early stages of central elements of Christian practice. This makes it a fruitful topic of investigation, both from a theological as well as from a history-of-religions standpoint. I propose to examine what this twin phenomenon can tell us about the cultural, social, and historical context of the Didache communities, as well as the more general question of Christian origins.

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This paper will argue that the categories of Jewish Christianity and Gentile Christianity do not work as categories to describe the opposition between Paul’s churches and those he opposes in his letters. Use of these categories has clouded our vision of the nature of differences within the early church. By looking to the issues Paul raises in Galatians and 2 Corinthians, we will see multiple types of theologies and views of Gentiles among Jews who believe in Christ. These groups among Christ-believing Jews are different enough that they differ about what constitutes their primary religious identity.

The issue of death and the afterlife in Israelite thought is filled with difficulties due to the fact that the sparse references in the Hebrew Bible regarding the matter contain only vague descriptions. However, Job 19:23-27 offers a rare glimpse into the ancient Israelite conception of this topic along with its intricate relationship with funerary rites. The passionate declaration of Job at the end of chapter 19 is in response to his companions’ prediction of the alienation of Job’s patrimony resulting from his death, seen elsewhere in the second cycle of speeches –notably in Bildad’s (Job 18). When understood in such a manner, the passage of Job 19:23-27 can be compared with Hebrew tomb inscriptions as well as funerary customs known from ancient Syro-Palestine. The statement at the end of Job 19 begins with the description of a tomb inscription (vv.23-24) that can be compared with examples from the Iron II period, notably the inscriptions of Royal Steward’s Tomb in Jerusalem and Makkedah / Khirbet el-Qom Tomb 3. Furthermore, the passage continues in vv.26-27 using imagery reflective of secondary burial rites common in the southern Levant, such as those observed at Ketef Hinnom in Jerusalem dating from the late Iron II through early Second Temple Periods. Against the cultural background of ancient Israel / Syro-Palestine, and within the literary structure of the second cycle of speeches, Job 19:23-27 evokes the protagonist’s confidence that his kinsman-redeemer (v.25) will properly bury him in the family tomb, maintaining both Job’s name and patrimony for posterity.

It is a well-known fact that the passion plays staged in 1930 and 1934 in Oberammergau were influenced by the Zeitgeist. Adolf Hitler, who saw both these performances, stated that “never has the menace of Jewry been so convincingly portrayed as in this presentation of what happened in the times of the Romans.” This paper, examining all articles and reviews in the Swedish press of the 1930 and 1934 Oberammergau plays, presents how Swedish media related both to “the New Germany,” to the portrayal of the Gospel characters, and also to the genre of passion plays. Increasingly during the inter-war years, Swedish cultural life and scholarship oriented themselves towards Germany. This presentation is part of a multidisciplinary project, sponsored by the Swedish Research Council, which seeks to delineate to what extent and in what way the intellectual and cultural milieux in Sweden were attracted to the political and theological developments in Germany. The Swedish reception history of the Oberammergau passion play proves to be a microcosm of this phenomenon.

The majority of students in our Introduction to the Hebrew Bible course at Luther College come with some familiarity with the Hebrew Bible. These students usually also enter the course with the idea that the Hebrew Bible is a cohesive story that accurately tells the history of ancient Israel and Judah. In our previous courses, particularly those in which we used an introductory textbook along with the Bible, we would find it difficult to challenge this viewpoint. Many of the textbooks, with a book-by-book treatment of the Hebrew Bible, reinforced either the idea that the Hebrew Bible is a cohesive “story about God” in Israel’s history, or the idea that the Hebrew Bible is a “record” of Israel’s past. Students would appeal to the textbook as authoritative, thereby setting up a dynamic in which Bible AND textbook became one dominant voice. To address this issue, we abandoned the use of textbooks and redesigned our Hebrew Bible introduction around a New Historicist framework. This allows us to emphasize the issues of power in the text. Rather than seeing the Hebrew Bible as if it were simply Israel’s record of her past in which all the books represent aspects of a dominant discourse, we consider the ways the text may have participated in helping to create the history it seeks to represent. This opens up the possibility that some of the books in the Hebrew Bible represent a subversive discourse challenging the version of events found in the dominant discourse. By highlighting the issues of power in the text, the Hebrew Bible becomes for the students a source of real ethical reflection, but not in the way they thought when they entered the class.

Ezekiel's oracle concerning the reunification of Ephraim and Judah, the restoration of the Davidic king, and the role of the Temple in their midst has provoked a great deal of discussion among scholars. Most consider it to be a post-exilic oracle that looks forward to the restoration of Israel following the Babylonian exile, but a few have noted its potential background in relation to King Josiah's program of religious reform and national restoration. The oracle is unique in the book of Ezkiel in that it is the only oracle to refer to a Davidic king (melek) rather than to a Davidic ruler (nasi'). The image of a reunified Ephraim and Judah around a Davidic monarch and the Temple is also striking since these were basic concerns of the Josianic reform. This paper will reexamine Ezekiel 37:15-28 in an effort to determine its settings and concerns. Based on an analysis of its contents and its place within the present form of the book of Ezekiel, this paper argues that the oracle does indeed represent the prophet's reflections on the significance of the Josianic reform and that it therefore stands as a basis for his vision of post-exilic restoration.

The paper is dealing with the authority of Abraham in Midrash Qohelet Rabbah. All the discourses that mention Abraham are treated by applying the following questions: Is Abraham in these drashot 1. less than others; 2. like others; 3. more than others? The summary of this paper states the results obtained by the application of this method.

While all the canonical Gospels present Jesus occasionally as a bridegroom, none of them is explicit in naming the bride. This holds true for John, too, where several threads of nuptial imagery are found. The most pertinent material belongs to the early stratum of the Gospel: the wedding in Cana (2:1-11), John the Baptist's words about the bridegroom (3:29), and the Samaritan woman (ch.4). In this early Johannine tradition Jesus is looking for a bride, however, not to marry her but to find receptive "soil" for the divine seed and God's offspring. In the end, Jesus and his disciples are united, not as bridegroom and bride, but as sower and reaper who "rejoice together" (4:33-38). In the late, passion-oriented stratum the connection between marriage and death has often been assumed, but it is uncertain whether this was intended by the author. Rather, the search for the bride has ceased, and another image for the female mediation in raising God's children is found: the mother (19:26-27). In the Book of Revelation, which is tradition-historically close to some Johannine circles, the two patriarchal archetypes for the good female appear separately: the birthing Mother (Rev 12) and the pure Bride (Rev 19). Their separation is clear enough to avoid the notion of incest, but not quite complete; the archetypal evil, the Whore, is the opposite of both of them. Moreover, the Bride is depicted metaphorically as the holy city with its holy inhabitants, which makes possible a vague inclusion of the effeminate male followers of the lamb (14:4-5) in the bridal symbolism without suggesting a same-sex marriage or a mass wedding.

The near 30-dunam site of Tel Zayit is located in the inner Shephelah region of Israel, in the strategic Beth Guvrin Valley and roughly half way between Lachish and Tell es-Safi. It was first recognized as an ancient tel by Conder and Kitchener during their March 1875 Survey of Western Palestine. More recent survey data have shown that at least three principal north-south and three east-west roadways through the lowlands of Judah converged or ran by this site during various phases of the Iron Age. These roads connected Egypt and the plain of Philistia with Jerusalem and the highland cultures of Judah. Because of its unique and strategic position in the Shephelah or "lowlands" district of ancient Judah (Joshua 15:33-42), the site provides an ideal location to study life in a borderland town that saw frequent opportunities for contact between people of diverse cultures. Besides highlighting the strategic location of Tel Zayit, this lecture will focus on two additional topics: (1) a large, public building (possibly constructed by the Egyptians) that dates to the Late Bronze Age and that lies smothered beneath 2.25 meters of destruction debris; (2) a later destruction level dating from the early Iron Age II and involving another building, which the Aramaeans from Damascus likely destroyed during a ninth century BCE incursion into southern Palestine. The LB II destruction is important not only because of the historical details that it will yield but also because of the sheer magnitude of the devastation. Similarly, the ninth century BCE conflagration has already yielded many pottery forms that scholars have traditionally assigned to tenth century BCE ceramic industries. Exploration of this depositional history, then, relates to current debates over the extent and character of tenth and ninth century remains in Judah and in the country as a whole.