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Creates a set of definitions, which are applied to the examination of the relevant Diaspora Jewish literature, inscriptions and papyri, and the NT passage. This examination reveals different attitudes adopted by different Jews towards idolatry, serving as parallels to the three positions in 1 Cor 8.1-11.1, 'the strong', 'the weak', and Paul.

Virtually all scholars agree that apocalyptic and millenarianism formed at least part of the matrix of the culture in first-century Jewish Palestine, but there is a sharp disagreement concerning the extent to which Jesus shared apocalyptic and millenarian beliefs. Although there has been a great deal written defending or opposing an ''apocalyptic Jesus'', almost nothing has been said on the questions of what, from the standpoint of modern historiography of Jesus, is at stake in the issue of whether or not he was an apocalypticist or a millenarian prophet, and what is at stake in arguing that his alleged apocalypticism is a central and defining characteristic, rather than an incidental feature. Much has been said on the kind of Jew Jesus was, but almost nothing is said on why the category of Judaism has become so central to historical Jesus debates. These questions have less to do with the quantity and character of the available ancient evidence than they do with the ways in which the modern critic assembles evidence into a coherent picture, and the ideological and theological subtexts of historical Jesus scholarship. Scholars of Christian origins have been rather slow to inquire into the ideological location of their own work as scholars, but it is this question that is crucial in achieving a critical self-awareness of the larger entailments of historical scholarship on Jesus and the early Jesus movement. This volume begins the inquiry into the ideological location of modern historical Jesus scholarship.JSHJ, JSNTS275

The portrait of the Samaritan mission in Acts 8:4-25 is the climax of various Lukan episodes involving the Samaritans. This work shows that the function of this portrait makes better sense in light of the historical context of the Samaritans up to and including the New Testament period, and of Luke's special interest in the Samaritans.

Matthew's gospel begins and ends with the Jewish-Gentile debate, and at the heart of both the issue and the gospel is the story of the Canaanite woman. It is a story that reveals tension between Jews and proselytes in Matthew's community.

The argument of this book is two-fold: the target of the argument of Colossians is a Judaism dismissive of the Gentile Colossian Christians and the recognition of that fact casts new light on the moral material of the letter and its integration into the argument of the epistle as a whole.

In The Unity of the Corinthian Correspondence, David Hall argues that 1 and 2 Corinthians are closely related. In both letters, Paul faces the same opponents, referring to them in the same disguised, indirect way in both 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians 1-9 before confronting them directly in 2 Corinthians 10-13.

A comparison of the message of Acts transmitted by Codez Bezae with that of the Alexandrian text, represented by Codex Vaticanus. For each section of Acts, this work provides a translation of the Bezan and Alexandrian manuscripts, followed by a critical apparatus and, a commentary that explores the differences in the message of the two texts.

The Acts of the Apostles and Philostratus' "Life of Apollonius", come from different faiths, but show similar cultural scripts at play. Investigating the social interactions in the two narrative worlds shows how legitimate miracle-workers were distinguished from illegitimate magicians.

Aims to re-examine Paul within contemporary Jewish debate on the topic of divine grace and its relation to human agency, attuned to the significant theological issues he raises without imposing upon him the frameworks developed in later Christian thought.

This new collection celebrates the distinguished contribution of William S. Campbell to a renewed understanding of Paul''s theologizing and its influence on the shaping of early Christian identity. The essays are clustered around two closely related topics: Paul''s theologizing, and the way it influenced Christian identity within the context of Roman Empire. The essays consider the continued relevance of previous identities in Christ'', the importance of the context of the Roman Empire, and the significance of the Jewishness of Paul and the Pauline movement in the shaping of identity. The political context is discussed by Neil Elliott, Ekkehard Stegemann, Daniel Patte, and Ian Rock whilst the Jewish roots of Paul and the Christ-movement are addressed in essays by Robert Jewett, Mark Nanos, Calvin Roetzel, and Kathy Ehrensperger. Paul''s specific influence in shaping the identity of the early Christ-movement is the concern of essays by Robert Brawley, Jerry Sumney, Kar Yong Lim, and J. Brian Tucker. Finally, methodological reflection on Paul''s theologizing within Pauline studies is the concern of essays by Terrence Donaldson and Magnus Zetterholm.

In Matthew 5:38-42, Jesus overrides the Old Testament teaching of ''an eye for eye and a tooth for a tooth'' - the Lex Talionis law - and commands his disciples to turn the other cheek. James Davis asks how Jesus'' teaching in this instance relates to the Old Testament talionic commands, how it relates to New Testament era Judaism and what Jesus required from his disciples and the church.Based on the Old Testament texts such as Leviticus 24, Exodus 22 and Deuteronomy 19, a strong case can be made that the Lex Talionis law was understood to have a literal application there are several texts that text of Leviticus 24 provides the strongest case that a literal and judicial application. However, by the second century AD and later, Jewish rabbinic leadership was essentially unified that the OT did not require a literal talion, but that financial penalties could be substituted in court matters. Yet there is evidence from Philo, Rabbi Eliezer and Josephus that in the first century AD the application of literal talion in judicial matters was a major and viable Jewish viewpoint at the time of Jesus. Jesus instruction represents a different perspective from the OT lex talionis texts and also, possibly, from the Judaism of his time. Jesus commands the general principle of not retaliation against the evil person and intended this teaching to be concretely applied, as borne out in his own life. JSNTS

Refutes the argument put forward by some biblical scholars that Paul, in his sexual ethics, is in partial agreement with a thought in the Graeco-Roman world that condemns sexual desire and advocates the elimination of such desire from marital sex.

Early Christology must focus on not simply 'historical' but also theological ideas found in contemporary Jewish thought and practice. In this book, a range of distinguished contributors considers the context and formation of early Jewish and Christian devotion to God alone - the emergence of 'monotheism'.

Goulder and the Gospels is the first comprehensive response to the radical challenge Michael Goulder has posed for New Testament scholarship. Goulder dispenses with all hypothetical sources-Q, M and L and postulates highly creative evangelists who write in the light of the liturgy. In this penetrating critique, Goodacre provides a critical overview of Goulder''s work, focusing on several key areas, the vocabulary of Q, the language of the Minor Agreements, the creativity of Luke and the lectionary theory. He does not simply assess the plausibility of Goulder''s ideas but also develops new ways to test them. The theories are sometimes found to be wanting, but at the same time Goulder is reaffirmed as one of the most important and stimulating Biblical scholars of this generation.

Presents a different paradigm for understanding the role of history of interpretation in New Testament studies, with a focus on the "Gospel of John". Drawing from the work of Hans Robert Jauss, this work presents history of interpretation as a means to understand both the text and the historical reader.

Siew seeks to examine the events that will unfold within the three and a half years before the dawn of the kingdom of God on earth. He argues that John composed the textual unit of Rev 11:1--14:5 as a coherent and unified literary unit structured in a macro-chiasm. He pays special attention to the fusion of form and content and seeks to elucidate how the concentric and chiastic pattern informs the meaning of the literary units within 11:1--14:5, and proposes that the text of 11:1--14:5 is best analyzed using Hebraic literary conventions, devices, and compositional techniques such as chiasm, parallelism, parataxis, and structural parallelism. The macro-chiastic pattern provides the literary-structural framework for John to portray that the events of the last three and a half years unfold on earth as a result of what transpires in heaven. Specifically, the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon has earthly ramifications. The outcome of the heavenly war where Satan is defeated and thrown out of heaven to earth results in the war on earth between the two beasts of Rev 13 and the two witnesses of Rev 11. The narrative of the war in heaven (12:7-12) is seen as the pivot of the macro-chiastic structure. Siew pays close attention to the time-period of the three-and-a-half years as a temporal and structural marker which functions to unite the various units in 11:1--14:5 into a coherent and integral whole. The events of the last days will be centred in Jerusalem.

Undertaking a sequential reading of the "Prologue of John's Gospel", this book highlights several aspects of the reading process: ambiguity and disambiguation; resemanticization; antilanguage; community development; and intertextuality. It also discusses the role of the reading process in developing a specific community language.

Although its religious heritage was that of a variegated Judaism, the tiny early Christian movement was nevertheless much more complexly and richly linked with the Graeco-Roman world in which it came to birth than is usually allowed for. In particular, ''ordinary'' people were capable of a sophisticated use of words that can be detected also in the New Testament writings. But the use of words in Graeco-Roman times was often very different from what we suppose, and this collection of studies attempts to identify some of the anachronisms that still pervade even the best of modern scholarship.

"[This] is a timely topic, one that has not yet been dealt with. Miller writes clearly and competently. The first chapter sets out her method, which draws from both literary critical and feminist work. She then treats the women of Mark’s Gospel in sequence. Her work will provide a helpful supplement to the standard commentaries. It will also be useful in women’s studies classes, and provides a nice example of a balanced feminist interpretation of the Gospels." -Dr. Alan Culpepper, Mercer University, Atlanta.Miller examines the accounts of women in Mark’s gospel and interprets them in relation to Mark’s definition of discipleship and his understanding of new creation.

The book is, primarily, a linguistic investigation into the possibility that the Johannine farewell discourse is the product of multiple hands. L. Scott Kellum uses the latest linguistic tools and applies them to the very old question of unity. In doing so, he accesses a large portion of Continental scholarship that is currently unavailable to English speakers. He concludes, on linguistic and literary grounds, that John 13:31-16:33 (the so-called farewell discourse) was written by one man at, essentially, one time.

Where and why does Luke include references in Acts to Graeco-Roman gods and religious practices? How do these explicit and implicit mentions relate to other literature, inscriptions and artifacts from the same period? Through a close and informative reading of seven key texts in Acts, Kauppi analyses the appearances of Graeco-Roman.

This book is of particular interest to scholars whose interest is in New Testament, historical Jesus, hermeneutics and historiography study.

The Gospel of Mary, the only known Gospel that is named after a woman, has aroused new interest in the figure of Mary Magdalene and the beginnings of Christianity.

Having presented a brief history of research on 2 Corinthians, Eve-Marie Becker outlines the process of Paul''s communication with the Corinthian community and considers letter-production and letter-reception at the time. She develops a "literary-historical" model for reconstructing the original separate letters (1.1-7.4; 7.5-16; 8--9; 10--13) which were later compiled to form the canonical letter. She defines - by means of linguistics and communication theory - the central theoretical elements for Pauline letter-hermeneutics.There is a thorough exegesis of those parts of 2 Corinthians in which Paul formulates aspects of his hermeneutics, based on the theory of letter-hermeneutics and on the results of the "literary-historical" reconstruction of the original form of 2 Corinthians. There is also an examination of the reception and interpretation of 2 Corinthians in the early church.This is volume 279 in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series.

In his final work Baird offers a critical introduction to the historical paradigm, pointing out its limitations in terms of tracing the paradigm of New Testament formation. Beginning at the start of the Holy Word, he notes its development through context, theological interpretation and application.