SBL International Meeting Rome

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Thursday, April 16, 2009. 2 Comments:

At April 16, 2009,  ~m said...

congrats!!!

 

At April 16, 2009,  Kevin said...

Thanks! I'm really impressed by how many friends and colleagues from Durham are attending.

 

SBL just announced the tentative program for the international meeting in Rome. The list of abstracts is available here, and the schedule is here.

Here are the abstracts for the Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity session:

BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY
D. Jeffrey Bingham
Description: This program unit explores the interpretative structures, methodologies, and concerns of patristic exegesis and the various assumptions underlying it.


John in the Apostolic Fathers: A Methodological Reappraisal
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Dan Batovici, University of Bucharest
The last (largely) sixty years have witnessed quite different results on the topic of the reception of the Fourth Gospel in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. It is however within grasp to notice that these significantly differing results are indebted to the different methodological approaches assumed by each scholar. The aim of this paper is to reassess methodologically the bibliography on the reception of John – and generally the New Testament – in the second century and question whether and how it would fit best for an inquiry that places John in the center and restrains itself to the Apostolic Fathers. As far as the larger question of the New Testament reception in the second century is concerned it has been previously noticed that Massaux (1950) and Köster (1957) have set respectively maximalist and minimalist criteria for assessing this question. Subsequent scholarship on John in the second century is more or less to be confined to one of the two trends. Recently, however, the possibility itself to determine confident dependence on any New Testament text in the second century has been questioned, since our text editions reconstruct, for the New Testament, the fourth century text of the great uncials. In this perspective a more appropriate inquiry is: what do the recognizable parallels of the New Testament in the Apostolic Fathers tell us about the dynamics of the documents from the two corpora? (Petersen 2005). Therefore, since on the one hand – even though it is artificially constructed – the Apostolic Fathers corpus is a convenient and not all too large group of texts, and, on the other hand, the material resembling to John is rather scarce, a study developed on several levels might be not all out of the question.

Irenaeus and Hebrews
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
D. Jeffrey Bingham, Dallas Theological Seminary

Origen's Sacramental View of Exegesis in Hom. Judic. 8
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Elizabeth Dively Lauro, Los Angeles, CA

Charis, Choris, and a Chorus of Patristic Interpreters of Hebrews 2:9
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Paul A. Hartog, Faith Baptist Theological Seminary
The manuscript tradition of Hebrews 2:9 overwhelmingly supports the reading, “by the grace of God ['chariti theou'], he tasted death for everyone.” Commentators note, however, that multiple church fathers supported a variant: “apart from God ['choris theou'], he tasted death for everyone.” Theodore of Mopsuestia had used the variant to argue that Jesus died “distinct from his deity.” Although Theophylact maintained that “Nestorians” had introduced this alteration for their purposes, several evidences refute his position. First, "choris theou" appears long before the fifth-century Christological controversies. Second, various Patristic authors had accepted the "choris theou" variant, but as a limitation of “cosmic salvation”: Jesus tasted death for everyone [or everything], “except God.” Origen, an early proponent of this “cosmic interpretation,” maintained that Jesus died for all rational beings (humans, angels, and even the stars), “apart from God.” Within a Patristic milieu that emphasized the “cosmic” ramifications of Jesus’ work, such a reading possessed great power. Nevertheless, the word order of Hebrews 2:9 and the overall argument of the passage counter such a death for all beings “except God.” In fact, verse 16 insists that Jesus died for humans and not for angels. One should not assume, however, that Patristic interpreters provide no hermeneutical assistance. Their “cosmic” insights into Hebrews 2 demonstrate that Jesus died as the representative Human in order that humanity might share in his subjugation of “all things” (2:8). In this manner, a “cosmic” outcome retains a secondary yet important role within the passage. This “cosmic” framework solves another interpretive quandary within 2:9. Although many commentators interpret the "huper" construction as denoting “substitution,” the wider context (with its emphasis upon humanity’s rule over the cosmos through Christ) supports a broader sense of "huper." Jesus died “for the benefit of” humans, so that they might participate in his exalted authority.

‘Partakers of the Holy Spirit’: Athanasius’ Pneumatological Exegesis of Hebrews 6:4
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Kevin Hill, Durham University
Both Eastern and Western Christian traditions usually remember Athanasius of Alexandria as an unwavering defender of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God. However, Athanasius was also one of the first writers to argue explicitly for the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In his four Letters to Serapion, Athanasius attempted to present a Scriptural demonstration of the Spirit's divinity. Athanasius' central argument in this enterprise relies on a premise shared with his opponents: the Holy Spirit deifies Christians. Based on this premise, Athanasius argued that the Spirit, by working to deify human beings, must be God—for, Athanasius assumed, only God can deify others. This paper argues that Hebrews 6:4 made three significant contributions to Athanasius' pneumatological arguments in the Letters to Serapion. In Heb 6:4 Athanasius found not only further support for the Spirit's divinity, but also answers to two crucial questions: i) How is it that Christians are deified by the Spirit? ii) How can the Holy Spirit's divinity be distinguished from the 'divinity' of deified Christians? By highlighting the significant role Hebrews 6:4 played in Athanasius' pneumatology, and by observing the concerns and assumptions that Athanasius brought to the text, this paper aims to offer a window into Athanasius' larger exegetical approach, which is an approach that is not uncommon to early Christian interpreters, because it consists of a movement from Christ and the Spirit, to the Scriptures, and then back to Christ and the Spirit. For Athanasius, the Scriptures must be interpreted in light of Christ and the Spirit, yet Christ and the Spirit are also revealed and interpreted by the Scriptures. In this way, the paper shall conclude by highlighting the paradoxical nature of this patristic hermeneutical approach itself.

Reading the Story of David with Jacob of Serugh
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Craig E. Morrison, Pontifical Biblical Institute
In his numerous memre, Jacob of Serugh (d. 521) often focuses on particular biblical stories. This paper considers how Jacob retells two biblical episodes: (1) the contest between David and Goliath (Memra 34) and (2) the story of David and Uriah (Memra 162). Particular attention will be given to how Jacob cites the biblical text and what his citations reveal about his exegetical approach to the Bible. The verbal and nonverbal signs that Jacob employs to signal a biblical reference will be identified and their function discussed. These two memre reveal how the story of David was received in Syriac Christianity.

The Role of Irenaeus in the Canon Debate
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Jonathan Harmon, Brigham Young University
In the overall study of the early Christian church, one of the most vexing, troublesome, and provocative areas, as Hans Lietzmann has stated, is that of the history of its canon. Central in the canon debate and one of the hot-topic issues has to do with the dating of a 'final' canon. Though most scholars agree that the end product took its final form, more or less, during the latter half of the fourth century, there are, however, scholars past and present who either ignore or reject this position. Theodor Zahn advocated that the canon was formed in the first century, certainly the earliest position by any scholar to date. Adolf von Harnack and Hans von Campenhausen both argued that the canon was formed out of a response to external theological challenges issued by Marcion, Gnosticism, and Montanism in the second century. More recently there have been many influential studies that ground the formation of the Christian biblical canon in the fourth century, but a considerable amount of doubt remains. Those who advocate an early dating often look to Irenaeus to provide examples of a fixed New Testament canon. It is true that he firmly holds the traditional four gospels to be authoritative, but to assume that he granted the same authority to the rest of the modern 27-book canon stretches Irenaeus’ witness beyond the evidence. This paper will analyze his use of all early Christian texts in proper context and show that Irenaeus should be seen as providing evidence for a later dating of the canon due to his flexible use of other texts, such as the Shepherd of Hermas, which he called scripture (graphe), the same term used for books of our New Testament. Upon careful analysis, Irenaeus’ writings make significant contributions to the debate over the final dating of the canon of the New Testament.

The Speaking God in Hebrews 1 and Early Christianity
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Stephen O. Presley, University of St. Andrews-Scotland
Hebrews 1:5-14 contains a network of texts brought together to assert the theological argument of Christ’s superiority over the angels. While many have provided exegetical analysis of this string of texts, few have sufficiently examined why the author of Hebrews chose these particular passages. In order to defend his theological agenda, the author of Hebrews appeals to specific Old Testament passages that record the direct speech of God. The unique choice of texts in Heb 1 reveals a strategy of early Christian exegesis that gravitated toward particular Old Testament accounts that record divine speech. This preference for divine speech is also evident in the theological exegesis of the second century fathers including Justin, Irenaeus, and others. This paper will explore this hallmark of early Christian interpretation of the Old Testament evidenced by the author of Hebrews and other early Christian exegetes that appeals to the direct discourse of God in support their theological claims.



Tentative Session Schedules

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Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
7/03/2009 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM Room: Room TBD - Hotel TBD
Theme: Receiving, Dating, and Interpreting the Biblical Canon
D. Jeffrey Bingham, Dallas Theological Seminary, Presiding
Dan Batovici, University of Bucharest
John in the Apostolic Fathers: A Methodological Reappraisal (30 min)
Jonathan Harmon, Brigham Young University and Dave Nielsen, Brigham Young University
The Role of Irenaeus in the Canon Debate (30 min)
Elizabeth Dively Lauro, Los Angeles, CA
Origen's Sacramental View of Exegesis in Hom. Judic. 8 (30 min)
Break (30 min)
Craig E. Morrison, Pontifical Biblical Institute
Reading the Story of David with Jacob of Serugh (30 min)

Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
7/04/2009 8:30 AM to 11:15 AM Room: Room TBD - Hotel TBD
Theme: Hebrews in Early Christian Interpretation
Dan Batovici, University of Bucharest, Presiding (5 min)
Stephen O. Presley, University of St. Andrews-Scotland
The Speaking God in Hebrews 1 and Early Christianity (30 min)
D. Jeffrey Bingham, Dallas Theological Seminary
Irenaeus and Hebrews (30 min)
Kevin Hill, Durham University
'Partakers of the Holy Spirit': Athanasius' Pneumatological Exegesis of Hebrews 6:4 (30 min)
Break (30 min)
Paul A. Hartog, Faith Baptist Theological Seminary
Charis, Choris, and a Chorus of Patristic Interpreters of Hebrews 2:9 (30 min)
Discussion (10 min)



SBL Contributors from Durham

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Righteousness and Glory: New Creation as Immortality in Romans
Program Unit: Paul and Pauline Literature
Ben C. Blackwell, Durham University
In the search for the meaning of righteousness language in Romans, studies rightfully focus upon the relationship of this language to other key concepts in the letter: faith, works, Law, and covenant, to name a few. However, one important terminological companion of righteousness has been neglected--that of glory (d??a and its cognates). Accordingly, this paper, after a brief exploration of the glory motif, will analyze how Paul intertwines these two concepts in the letter. I argue that Paul presents justification as the means to immortal life, signified by glory. My argument consists of three points. First, although Paul uses glory language sociologically in his honour discourse, he frequently uses it ontologically in reference to the experience of immortal life. Thus, when humans lack glory, they experience mortality, and when they later experience glory, they experience the resurrection life of Christ. Second, throughout the letter Paul presents righteousness as the means to new life. Third, Paul similarly presents righteousness as the means to glory. Thus, the righteousness-glory association provides further evidence that Paul understands justification as the means for rectifying human mortality arising from sin. Accordingly, we can conclude that in Romans 1) justification, among other things, is God’s act of new creation and therefore fits within God’s larger plan of cosmic restoration and 2) Paul does not separate participationist and forensic categories but unites them in the act of justification which brings new life.

The Motif of the Eschatological Final Battle in the War Scroll: Sectarianization in Practice
Program Unit: Apocalyptic Literature
Ted M. Erho, Durham University
The eschatological final battle was a well-established tradition in Antiquity with a number of elements, such as the centrality of Jerusalem to the conflict and its encirclement and inviolability, being consistently reproduced in its lengthiest versions found in Ezekiel 38-39, Sib. Or. 3.657-732, 1 En. 56:5-8, Rev 20, and 4 Ezra 13. Moreover, this idea appears to have also piqued the interest of at least some of the Qumran sectarians, resulting in the composition of the War Scroll, which contains virtually all of the fundamental criteria found in its counterparts, albeit dissimilarly interspersed between lengthy blocks of unassociated material. This general compatibility suggests that this composition contains a “Qumranized” variation of this motif based upon a relatively firmly established set of elements. While most of these specific aspects prove only slightly dissimilar in formation, the self-perception of the sect generated notable shifts with regard to the role of the elect in this battle and the precise nature of the role of God in bringing about the successful prosecution of the war on their behalf; these alterations may serve to illuminate and strengthen the current scholarly understanding of some significant theological impetuses of the community.

'Erastus, Quaestor of the City': The Administrative Rank of Ho Oikonomos tes Poleos (Romans 16:23)
Program Unit: Paul and Pauline Literature
John Goodrich, Durham University
Determining the administrative rank of Erastus, ho oikonomos tes poleos (Rom 16.23), has been a pursuit of great scholarly interest for many decades, not least because Erastus’ municipal position holds the potential for unlocking the social and economic status of at least one sector of the earliest urban churches. This seemingly simple lexical exercise has proved very difficult, however, largely because there exist no bilingual text from a Roman colony containing the municipal title and a Latin correlative. Still, several possibilities have been proposed: arcarius (H.J. Cadbury), quaestor (G. Theissen), and aedilis (B.W. Winter). Aedilis is a particularly attractive rendering for many NT scholars, because of the inscription which testifies to an Erastus who in the early empire served as aedilis of the colony of Corinth (Corinth 8.3.232). While this paper does not attempt to affirm or deny the identification of the two Erasti, its goal is to shed light on municipal oikonomoi of Greek and Roman cities through a host of relevant inscriptions. First, it will identify the administrative responsibilities associated with the post, showing oikonomoi to be city treasurers of various social standing who on occasion also participated in certain citywide religious activities. Second, fresh epigraphic evidence will be marshaled from the nearby colony of Patrai. In keeping with the warning of A.D. Clarke, that ‘No clear parallel can be drawn with Corinth unless recognition is given that the city was a colony, with a different administrative organisation than other Greek cities’, this data will demonstrate that in Roman colonies like Corinth the title oikonomos referred to a magistracy (thus ruling out arcarius), yet was not used synonymously with agoranomos (thus ruling out aedilis). Quaestor will then be suggested as the likeliest equivalent, with significant implications for Erastus’ social and economic status.

The Flood: Re-creation or Completion of Creation?
Program Unit: Pentateuch (Torah)
Elizabeth Harper, Durham University
'And God said "I will blot out the adam which I have created"'. Genesis 6:7 is one of the first of many apparent references to the P creation account found in the flood narrative. So frequent are the allusions that they beg for an explanation. The current answer is that the flood is an act of de-creation that returns the world to the watery void of Genesis 1:2, only to be re-created so as to give humanity a new start in a new world. However, a careful study reveals that Genesis 6-9 focuses almost exclusively on Genesis 1:20b-1:31, the sixth day, and ignores most of the rest of the creation account. The story does not then, it seems, portray a systematic de-creation of the world, which might, anyway, be in contradiction to the story's resolution to preserve a remnant of the old creation, despite its evil inclination (8:21). At most, the flood undoes the prolific spread of humanity found in Genesis 4-5 with its concurrent spread of evil and performs a kind of purification of the adamah, although the theme of cleansing is muted. After exploring the links, this paper will demonstrate that the current de-creation interpretations of the flood story all have substantial weaknesses. A possible alternative way forward would be to see the flood narrative, not as uncreation, but as part of the ongoing creation and organisation of the known world, begun, but not completed, in Genesis 1. (A similar suggestion is sometimes made for Atrahasis). Nothing physically new is created but the world is re-ordered (killing is prohibited, meat eating is permitted), fear of curse and punishment is alleviated and covenant, grace and promise are introduced as essential elements for the existence of the world.

‘Partakers of the Holy Spirit’: Athanasius’ Pneumatological Exegesis of Hebrews 6:4
Program Unit: Biblical Interpretation in Early Christianity
Kevin Hill, Durham University
Both Eastern and Western Christian traditions usually remember Athanasius of Alexandria as an unwavering defender of the divinity of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God. However, Athanasius was also one of the first writers to argue explicitly for the divinity of the Holy Spirit. In his four Letters to Serapion, Athanasius attempted to present a Scriptural demonstration of the Spirit's divinity. Athanasius' central argument in this enterprise relies on a premise shared with his opponents: the Holy Spirit deifies Christians. Based on this premise, Athanasius argued that the Spirit, by working to deify human beings, must be God—for, Athanasius assumed, only God can deify others. This paper argues that Hebrews 6:4 made three significant contributions to Athanasius' pneumatological arguments in the Letters to Serapion. In Heb 6:4 Athanasius found not only further support for the Spirit's divinity, but also answers to two crucial questions: i) How is it that Christians are deified by the Spirit? ii) How can the Holy Spirit's divinity be distinguished from the 'divinity' of deified Christians? By highlighting the significant role Hebrews 6:4 played in Athanasius' pneumatology, and by observing the concerns and assumptions that Athanasius brought to the text, this paper aims to offer a window into Athanasius' larger exegetical approach, which is an approach that is not uncommon to early Christian interpreters, because it consists of a movement from Christ and the Spirit, to the Scriptures, and then back to Christ and the Spirit. For Athanasius, the Scriptures must be interpreted in light of Christ and the Spirit, yet Christ and the Spirit are also revealed and interpreted by the Scriptures. In this way, the paper shall conclude by highlighting the paradoxical nature of this patristic hermeneutical approach itself.

Name Calling at Qumran and in the Apocalypse of John: Identifying Phases of Sectarian Development Through Labels and Sobriquets
Program Unit: Apocalyptic Literature
Mark D. Mathews, University of Durham
Name-calling, or labelling, was and is an effective means of creating boundary markers and forming community identity. The sectarian documents found at the Qumran site demonstrate a sustained practice of using associative labels and sobriquets to make distinctions between the faithful community, as they understood it, and their opponents. In addition, some of the non-sectarian documents that were found at the site also demonstrate a similar practice, indicating this was a convention more widely circulating among Second Temple writers. One document in particular that employs significant labels for its enemies is the Epistle of Enoch. Interestingly, this same practice is shared by the author of the Book or Revelation, in particular with regard to his correspondence to the seven churches. Previous studies of this phenomenon have tended to focus on organizational terms that can be traced among the manuscript traditions of sectarian texts that define the leadership roles within the Qumran communities. What has not been discussed is how labels and sobriquets are employed across a variety of texts to discover if it is possible to identify different phases of community development. This essay examines both sectarian and non-sectarian documents from Qumran in order to ascertain the degree to which Second Temple writers demonstrate any coherent use of such devices in their writings. Moreover, attention is given to how these devices function within the development of a community’s identity. Finally, to the extent that the writer of the Book of Revelation shares in the implementation of these rhetorical devices and exhibits a decided concern for sectarian ideas, I compare what we can learn from the Second Temple texts with the Johannine Apocalypse to see if it is possible to surmise if and where the Book of Revelation might fit into the trajectory of sectarian formation.

The Question of Genre Concerning 2 Peter: A Comparison with Jewish and Early Christian Testaments
Program Unit: Pastoral and Catholic Epistles
Mark D. Mathews, University of Durham
Second Peter has been one of the most neglected of the New Testament letters both before and after its acceptance into the NT canon and considering the uniqueness of the book, rightfully so. The epistle is now generally accepted as a pseudo-apostolic letter based on the argument that it belongs to the testament genre. This categorization was first suggested by Reicke and later developed by Bauckham, whose thesis has been widely accepted. This essay seeks to compare the testamentary features of 2 Peter against the testaments from the Hebrew Bible and the Second Temple period as well as later Christian testaments. Recent scholarship has brought into question the provenance and dating of the testaments that are included in the so-called pseudepigrapha. If these documents reflect early Christian influence or even Christian interpolation of earlier Jewish works, this could bring into question whether 2 Peter would have been received as a testament by the early church. A comparison of the literary features of the testament genre and of documents that call themselves testaments is offered to consider whether the present consensus of 2 Peter as a testament is a sustainable argument.

Labels: DurhamU, Patristics

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