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Tyndale Bulletin |
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Summary
2 Kings 2-8, containing most of the narratives of the
prophet Elisha, are generally held to be somewhat incoherent. Many of
Elisha's miracles, in particular, seem both trivial and ill-related to
their context. This article argues that the key to 2 Kings 2-8 is provided
by the portrayal of Elisha as a 'second Joshua' in ch. 2. In a logical
outworking of this chapter, the subsequent narratives set over against
each other Elisha's followers and the Northern Kingdom, raising the hope
that Elisha's followers will 'conquer' the land, bringing the North back
to YHWH. This hope is ultimately not realised. The miracle accounts find
their place in this interpretation.
Summary
Paul uses the comparative adverb wsautws in Romans
8:26 to compare the Spirit's ministry of helping Christians in their
weakness to something he had written previously. Interpreters of this
text, however, have not been able to reach a consensus in their attempts
to identify the antecedent subject of the comparison. This article
proposes a fresh consideration of the view that Paul is comparing the
Spirit's ministry in 8:26 to the Spirit's ministry in 8:16.
Summary
The New Testament discussions of divorce, both in Matthew 19
and elsewhere, are dominated by a distinction between Permission and
Obligation. It is generally assumed that the debate arises from a
'presupposition' of divorce in Deuteronomy 24. An improved syntactic
analysis of the Old Testament text shows Moses to have in fact issued a
specific directive on divorce, but in such a way that it was open to the
kind of misunderstanding that we see corrected by Jesus. This analysis is
supported by all the New Testament texts. By applying the categories of
linguistic modality to main-clause verbs, verbs of reporting, verbs of
divorcing and conditional clauses, it is possible to shed more light on
how Jesus and the Pharisees dealt with the Old Testament text, and to show
just what was wrong with the Pharisees' understanding of Hebrew
grammar.
Summary
'Who can refute a sneer?' is a famous quotation from William
Paley. It was his reaction to Edward Gibbon's massive The Decline and Fall
of the Roman Empire with its oblique, ironically delivered critique of
Christianity. This article places the quotation in its context in Paley's
works and seeks to show how he addressed the sneer in his A View of the
Evidences of Christianity in more than one place. In particular, Paley's
argument for the candour of the New Testament writers as evidence of their
integrity (contra Gibbon) is examined and likewise his argument against
the view that the rise of Islam is more impressive in some ways than that
of Christianity (contra Gibbon). Paley's response to David Hume's writings
has received some scholarly attention, but his response to Gibbon has been
hardly explored. This article seeks to fill that lacuna.
Summary
The word uperakmos has a male as opposed to female
referent and should be translated 'full of sexual passion'. It is based on
a survey of this term in ancient literature and the verb aschmonew
(to behave unseemly) in the preceding clause. It is further re-enforced by
the grammatical constructions following the particles ei and
ean (if), the role of kai outws (and thus it is bound
to happen) in the following statement, the meanings of thelhma
(sexual desire) and anagkh (sexual necessity) in verse 37 and the
Greek word for 'past one's prime', i.e., parakmh.
Summary
This article explores the impact of postmodernism on Old
Testament studies by looking at the recent proposals of Rendtorff,
Brueggemann and Clines. Rendtorff discerns a crisis in Old Testament
studies with the demise of the Wellhausenian paradigm. He argues for a
methodological pluralism in the present. Brueggemann stresses the
epistemological shift that postmodernism entails and argues for a
hermeneutic that funds postmodern imagination. Clines welcomes the
pluralism of postmodernism and articulates a consumer hermeneutic while
favouring ideological critique of the Bible. This article argues that some
form of metanarrative shaping one's hermeneutic is inevitable and that at
its best postmodernism re-opens the debate about a religiously shaped
hermeneutic.
Summary
In Romans 1-2, Paul argues the justice of divine wrath upon
idolatry and upon the one who judges another. Jews and Gentiles enter his
argument only as individuals, not as ethnic groups. Only in Romans 3 does
Paul bring the charge that all human beings are idolaters. In establishing
the justice of God's wrath, Paul claims that even Gentiles without the Law
fully possess the knowledge of God's will, through their participation in
the created order. Consequently, the advantage of the Jew lies in the
possession of the oracles of God, which make known divine judgement and
salvation. Correspondingly, a distinctive function of the Law emerges in
Romans 3:19-20, namely, the outward and objective establishing of human
guilt. It is this aspect of the Law which sets it apart from natural law,
and which makes it a witness to the righteousness of God given in
Christ.
Summary
This is the second part of a two-part study of Nietzsche and
Christianity (TynB 48 [1997] 219-43). Nietzsche's phrase 'Dionysus against
the Crucified' is used as a kind of text for the articles. 'Dionysus' is
the principle of life: raw, tragic, joyful, but real, subject to no
extraneous principle. 'The Crucified' is the principle of death:
anti-natural, symbolising consciousness of sin and foreboding authority of
God, imposing a morbid principle on life. This second part is an analytic
response to Nietzsche from a Christian point of view. While the course of
Dionysus by-passes the reality of human suffering (since attending to it
introduces compassion and wrecks joy), the strength of the crucified one
lies in his embrace of what is darkest and deepest in reality.
First paragraph:
After explicitly naming every other New Testament book but the
Apocalypse, St. Gregory Nazianzen closes his poetical list of 'the genuine
books of the inspired scripture' with the statement, 'You have all. And if
there be any outside these, it is not among the genuine books' (Pavsa"
e[cei". ei[ ti de; touvtwn ejktov", oujk ejn gnhsivai"). Studies of the
New Testament canon commonly understand the omission of any clear
reference to the Apocalypse in the list and these definitive closing
statements to mean that Gregory did not view the Apocalypse as canonical.
If so, then Gregory, whose list comes from sometime in the 380s, did not
agree with Athanasius' judgement in his famous Easter letter of 367 but
took the position of many in the fourth-century eastern church that the
Apocalypse stands among the excluded books. Three pieces of evidence,
however, should caution against coming to this conclusion too
hastily.
Summary
Despite the criticisms of some, the concept of solidarity is
an important one in the Old Testament. It is seen in kinship, marriage,
common residence and occupations, covenants and, more subjectively, in
affection. It applies to Yahweh's relationship with Israel in terms of
covenant and representation and has many-sided consequences and
implications. In the New Testament it is particularly important for
Hebrews, which applies it in its inaugurated eschatology. Christ's oneness
with his people as the true human being, high priest and sacrifice are
central to the author's thought, and the people of Christ are shown to be
one with each other as members of the city of God.
First paragraph:
This thesis is an inquiry into the potential impact
of Mark's Gospel upon its early Greco-Roman readers. The Gospel of Mark's
powerful drama and impact is often acknowledged, but not enough has yet
been done concerning the nature of this impact and the means by which it
is achieved. In order to examine Mark's 'narrative impact', this thesis is
an exercise in literary reception. The last decades have seen a spate of
studies which seek to apply literary tools to the understanding of Mark's
narrative. Many such studies stop short of the problematic interface
between 'text' and 'world' and are often sceptical about whether this
divide can or should be crossed. If questions of textual impact on real
readers are broached, it is usually modern rather than ancient readers who
are in view. This thesis seeks to move beyond the literary study of Mark
to its reception in the real world of first-century Greco-Roman
society.
First paragraph:
This thesis investigates the conflict which existed
in Corinth around the mid-first century C.E. concerning Christian
involvement in cultic meals. Scholarly attention has focused either on
detailed exegesis of Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 8-10 or on
Greco-Oriental cultic meal evidence from Classical and Hellenistic times.
Little attention has been paid to the nature and dynamics of the
sacrificial food issue itself, or to the available evidence of Imperial
Cult which so dominated Roman Corinth in the early Christian era.
Scholarship has paid insufficient attention to the conflicting viewpoints
of the Corinthians themselves concerning food offered to idols.
First paragraph:
The Peshitta (Syriac version) of the book of 1
Kings has until recently suffered neglect. The only monograph examining it
to date was published in 1897. This thesis uses the corpus of 1 Kings as a
basis for what is only the second detailed study of the syntax of the
Peshitta of the Old Testament. It seeks to examine both those
constructions in Syriac that contrast in form with their Hebrew
Vorlage, and those constructions that contain variations within the
Syriac language as yet unexplained by researchers. For each construction
the contribution of previous studies such as those by Nöldeke, Duval,
Avinery, Muraoka, and Joosten is summarised.