ANZABS Conference 2012
This year’s ANZABS Conference was held in conjunction with the STAANZ Conference at Laidlaw College. This meant that somewhere between 50 to 60 people gathered to hear a stimulating collection of papers over the two days of the conference. The slightly greater number were there to attend the ANZABS conference.
The ANZABS Conference programme included twenty-two papers. Some of these were presented in parallel Old Testament and New Testament sessions.
The abstracts appear below…
Old Testament Stream
Caroline Blyth:
“Lisbeth and Leviticus: Biblical Literacy and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.
In his bestselling novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson invites his readers into a complex drama set against a backdrop of sexual violence, family dysfunction, and female disempowerment. In one of the multiple strands of the narrative, protagonists Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander uncover a series of brutal ritualistic murders committed against women that appear to be related thematically to particular laws in the biblical book of Leviticus. I wish to explore the literary function that these allusions to Levitical law are intended to serve within this novel. How are readers being invited to make sense of this biblical material within the wider narrative concerns relating to gendered aggression and, in particular, within the context of the personal and institutionalized sexual aggression and abuse suffered by the character of Lisbeth? Moreover, given its interweaving of biblical traditions within such an explicit context of gender violence, does Larsson’s novel seek to act as a hermeneutical lens on these Levitical laws, inviting a cultural critique from the reader of the seeming endorsement and justification of violence against women that is voiced within these biblical texts?
Sarah Hart
“P” for People and Popular, not Priests and Priestly—the P Writings of the Pentateuch
The so-called priestly writings are the texts of the Priestly source plus many law passages. They are generally considered as compiled by priests for priests, probably in Jerusalem where a temple tradition existed. The word “people” refers to a body of persons that makes up a community. Popular pertains to that which is commonly known or pertains to ordinary people. I propose that the major human focus in the priestly writings is the people not the priests of Israel. The proposal is supported with examples from the biblical evidence.
Jonathan Hoskins
The voice of the text? Literacy, Orality and the Masoretic Accents טעמים
This paper will explore the relationship between literacy and orality as they apply to the transmission of the Biblical text. In particular the intricate system of accents developed by the Masoretes to preserve the texts oral tradition. This will form the foundation by which the basic threefold function of the accents: stress, syntax, and recitation can be re-examined. For it will be shown that the classification of stress and syntax do not adequately represent the accents. It will be suggested that a more fruitful line of inquiry into the function of the accents would focus primarily on the oral presentation of the text.
Yael Klangwisan
Painting Eden: Reflections on the art history of Genesis 3.
This paper explores the process of reading and interpretation of Genesis 3 by exploring the ‘pictorial’ readings by famous painters particularly in the renaissance but also more contemporary painters of the scene. The painters show distinct deviations in reading Genesis, indicating how influential personal-cultural-social context becomes in the reading process.
Don Moffat
Dealing with a Persistent Misreading: Ezra 9:2 and Racism
Ezra 9:2 has frequently been drawn into debates about racial separatism yet there are significant questions about its applicability to such issues. A number of scholars who have written on this issue, such as, Hugh Williamson, Daniel Smith-Christopher, Jon Berquist, Kenneth Hoglund and Tamara Eskenazi, have argued cogently that neither Ezra 9:2 nor the mixed marriage narrative is about racial issues. On the other hand a group of recent monographs on Ezra 9-10 (N. Vaka’uta, W. Johnson, K. Southwood) discuss the text with the presupposition that there is a racial or ethnic issue at the heart of the narrative. Addressing what is at issue in Ezra 9-10 and implications for reading.
Blaženka Scheuer
“Why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways?” (ISA 63:17)
In biblical texts historical reality is often understood theologically. Thus, in Isa 40-66, the Babylonian exile is portrayed as a consequence of a broken relationship between a people and their god, the return from the exile is portrayed as god’s return to and reestablishment of the relationship, while the struggles between different groups after the return are defined in terms of polarization between the “good grapes” and “bad grapes”, pious and impious, servants and idolaters. This relationship theology is in Isaiah 63:15-19a verbalized in a unique manner. This lament seems to be the only instance in the HB where YHWH is accused of causing his people to err, thus prolonging their suffering. The lament calls upon YHWH to repent and put an end to their distress. This paper explores the theological implications of the accusation in Isa 63:15-19a. While the suffering of the people is connected to YHWH’S absence and/or indifference in both pre-exilic temple theology of the individual laments and post-exilic prayers of penitence, the turn against YHWH in Isa 63:15-19a is in analogy with the book of Job. Like Job (Job 19:25-27), so also Isa 63:15-19a demonstrates that only in YHWH is there protection even against YHWH. The question of culpability for the suffering through the exile has in this final part of the book of Isaiah been changed into a kind of theodicy. Among the HB voices on this subject, Isa 63:17-19a is one: if we are to have a chance in this world YHWH must change his ways.
Jekheli Kibami Singh
A contextual reading of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9: [totimi kuchou (true women)].
A contextual reading of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 and the totimi kuchou (true women) concept of womanhood in Sümi Naga tribe of India”.
It is intriguing that in the context of the book of Proverbs, where the wise were held with high esteem, wisdom is personified as a woman. This paper will attempt to look at the elevation of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 as more than a literary construct. It recognises the gendering of the passages, which will be read from a Sümi Naga woman’s perspective. It will also aim to deconstruct totimi kuchou (true woman) concept of womanhood in Sümi tribe of Nagaland, India. Totimi kuchou concept is presumably the elevation of femininity within the patriarchal social construct. It is a tangible concept, it pertains to real women; yet elusive as it is a concept.
Epistles Stream
Erin Bay
Paul’s call and cultic identity (Rom 12:1)
My thesis is that Paul’s call to “offer your bodies (somata) to God as a sacrifice which is living, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom 12:1) creates a cultic identity for his hearers which subverts cultural valuations of human worth. Commentators often give somata the abstract sense of “self”. However, cultural evaluations of human worth were related to concrete bodily characteristics. I propose that Paul’s auditors, being of low-status, would have been degraded as mere bodies – objects – under the power of their superiors. Paul’s characterization of their bodies in sacral terms defies this hierarchical system. His gospel thus opposes the religious, political and social norms of his environment.
Philip Church
“A great high priest who has gone through the heavens”? (Heb 4:16)
The most recent commentary on Hebrews (Cockerill 2012), like nearly all commentaries before it, reads this expression as suggesting that Jesus has “penetrated through whatever levels of heaven there may be into the place where God dwells” and the perfect participle (“has gone through”) as indicating “the continuing validity of Christ’s having entered God’s presence.” Aside from this verse, however, there is no indication in Hebrews that the author conceived of several levels of heaven, and it is questionable whether the perfect participle indicates what Cockerill thinks it does. Rather a perfect participle acts more like an adjective, describing the present state (or activity) of this great high priest. In this paper I examine the references to heaven in Hebrews, the background of this expression in the LXX and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the syntax of the perfect participle to show that a more valid translation is “a great high priest who traverses the heavens.” The text describes Jesus as an exalted high priest functioning in the present in the presence of God.
Jonathan Robinson
Mystic or Sarcastic? Visions and Revelations in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Scholars have generally read 2 Cor 12:1-4 with a straight face, seeking there insights into the mysticism of one of the central figures of early Christianity. Read this way the passage is an unparalleled glimpse into Paul’s spiritual experience. However, taking as sensitising concepts the work of Timothy Carter on irony in Romans 13 and the majority scholarly view of Paul’s use of Corinthian “slogans” in 1 Corinthians this paper will attempt a reading of this paper that sees Paul being not mystical, but sarcastic. It will argue that in this passage’s uncharacteristic terminology, tortured sentence structure and logical inconsistencies Paul is in fact combining rhetorical sarcasm and Corinthian “slogans” to mock his opponents and to expose their vague and incoherent mystical boasting for what it is against his own concrete experience of Christ’s power in his sufferings.
Dillon Thornton
Put Away All Slander: Reassessing the Polemic of the Pastoral Epistles
This paper proposes that Paul employed a Christianized polemic in the Pastoral Epistles. The case is made that the most sensible approach is to study the Pauline writings as letters. Additionally, it is suggested that the gospel Paul sought to communicate in his letters caused him to alter the first-century epistolary conventions, which included the polemical customs. Consequently, the polemic of the Pastorals is not one of sheer slander; rather, there is a degree of accuracy in Paul’s statements about the opponents in Ephesus.
Paul Trebilco
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 and ‘Unbelievers’
In 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 Paul has a short section instructing his readers not to be ‘mismatched with unbelievers’. There has been a strenuous debate about many features of this passage. In this paper it will be argued that the passage is not an interpolation into 2 Corinthians and that what Paul says here about relationships with the wider world is compatible with what he says about the same topic in 1 Corinthians. The implications of what is said in 2 Corinthians for how Paul understands ‘outsiders’ will then be developed.
Gospels Stream
Peter Carrell
Luke’s composition of his Gospel.
There is little dispute that Luke used Mark’s Gospel as a source. Considerable dispute exists about whether Luke used Matthew’s Gospel or another document scholarship has dubbed “Q”. The simplicity of resolving the dispute by proposing that Matthew was a source for Luke’s Gospel is usually undone by the complexity of trying to explain how Luke used Matthew. This paper builds on earlier proposals by the author that Luke selected Matthean material on a thematic basis and complements that with a proposal that the shape of Luke’s Gospel was already determined before Luke read Matthew.
Andy Dickson
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The beliefs behind the question
Twice in Luke’s Gospel (10:25 and 18:18) Jesus is confronted with the question, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ At face value this question appears simple to comprehend. However, as one scratches at the surface it soon becomes apparent that there is more to this question than is first observed. This paper investigates some of the beliefs behind the question, from both Jewish and Greco-Roman perspectives, in order to pain a picture of how Luke’s original audience might have understood the question—an understanding which would affect their interpretation of Jesus’ answers as Luke presents them.
Carlos Olivares
The term ὀλιγόπιστος (little faith) in Matthew: Narrative connections and semantic purpose
The term ὀλιγόπιστος (little faith), which is characteristic to Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8), is mentioned in different contexts. However, despite these differences, it seems that the word displays analogous functions in each one of these occurrences, offering interesting literary insights. It is my intention to engage with such similarities with the objective of seeing narrative connections and semantic purpose. Moreover, I will also discuss whether the Matthean Jesus uses ὀλιγόπιστος (little faith) as a harsh critique or a sympathetic expression of forbearing.
Kathleen Rushton
“Living Waters” in John amidst the Braided Rivers of Canterbury
“Creation is water-drenched. All living beings on Earth are born of water—in oceans or ponds, within eggs, seeds or wombs.” (Linda Gibler) This paper aims to contribute to building a bridge between contemporary cosmological and scientific understandings of water and aspects of water symbolism in the gospel according to John. My hope is to offer a scriptural voice among the many voices raised in my home province of Canterbury where water “rights”, access to water, its use and storage are contested and ever under review.
Derek Tovey
The Foreshore and Seabed Debate and Jesus’ honour (doxa) in John’s Gospel: a perspective from Aotearoa New Zealand.
This paper examines the character and tenor of the Foreshore and Seabed debate in Aotearoa New Zealand through a comparative inter-cultural and contextual analysis of the character, tenor, rhetoric and narrative dynamics of the presentation of Jesus’ honour in John’s Gospel. The Foreshore and Seabed debate, sparked in 2003 by a court ruling in favour of Maori customary land rights in respect of the foreshore and seabed, led to a “backlash” from Pakeha (non-Maori, mainly European New Zealanders) and Government legislation to retain ownership in Crown hands (regarded as “confiscation” of rights by many Maori).
The Maori concept of mana may be understood analogically with the concept of doxa in John’s Gospel. Hence, Maori attitudes to land ownership resonate with the portrayal of Jesus’ doxa. Furthermore, the dynamics by which the concept of doxa informs the presentation of Jesus’ status and honour in the Gospel may illumine Pakeha attitudes and approaches to resolving this issue (at one level, the tenor of the debate bears resemblance to the stand-off between Jesus and “the Jews” over his honour).
The paper will briefly describe the debate, in particular focusing on the attitudes and reactions of many Pakeha, and the perceptions of some Maori of Pakeha reactions. Does the manner in which the honour and status of Jesus in John’s Gospel is portrayed and developed hold any implications for Pakeha relations with Maori in the resolution of issues surrounding this debate? I will suggest that the character and presentation of Jesus’ doxa in the Gospel has implications for the way in which Pakeha should view Maori aspirations, and how Pakeha attitudes may be informed and shaped by an understanding of the nature of Jesus’ doxa. However, the paper will also necessarily explore the appropriateness and pitfalls of such an approach, as well as examine the promise it holds.
Elaine Wainright
Entering an Old Text from a New Critical Direction: Matt 26:6-13
The words of Adrienne Rich, ”Re-vision—the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction” are as applicable today as when she penned them in 1972. Biblical studies has seen such revisions over the subsequent decades. In this paper I will explore in dialogue with other revisionists some of my own revision/s of Matt 26:6-13.
Interdisciplinary/Hermeneutics
John Douglas
Perspective or Position: Biblical hermeneutics of dialogue and definition
ANZ contemporary society continues to challenge Christian engagement with public thinking, questions and questioning. Consequently institutional leadership(s) and faith communities are “asked” to state or define positions; such asking-sources are overt and covert, verbal and perceptual. In matters of public concern ANZ Christianity, especially its conservative and evangelical elements, has generally been disposed to expressing themselves through formed-position statements and definition. Today a holding-and-stating-the-truth-styled-mentality is easily in conflict with the “zeitgeist” not only that of contemporary ANZ society; also that of significant numbers of current participants within Christian faith communities. The life-spirit favours “perspective and dialogue.” This paper will consider possible contributions from Wofgang Iser’s concept of the “wandering viewpoing/wandernde Blickpunkt,” and Wlner Meijer’s applications of his notion into the hermeneutics of textual reading. The presentation’s discussion will seek to draw a contrast between “position and Perspective” by considering that; sharing perspectives enables dialogue; holding identifiable positions necessitates definition.
Jacqui Lloyd
Bethsaida, Galilee and the historical Jesus.
The twentieth century saw significant debate over the nature of Galilee’s population in the early half of the first century CE. Many New Testament scholars conceived of Galilee as having an ethnically mixed population with a significant Gentile presence. This raised questions about the degree to which Jesus was influenced by Graeco-Roman culture. In the past few decades, however, as scholars in historical Jesus research have begun to take more seriously the accumulating data amassed through archaeological excavations, and the interpretations of archaeologists who have “unearthed considerable portions of Galilee’s material culture”, it is no longer possible to argue for a strong Gentile presence in Galilee for the early half of the first century CE. Excavations at Sepphoris, Capernaum, Nazareth, Yodefat and elsewhere, reveal a material culture which corresponds with that of Judea, and a population that seems to be predominantly Jewish. But what of Bethsaida located just 250 metres across the Jordan at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee? This paper will provide a brief introduction to the location, identification, history and material culture of Bethsaida/et-Tell, its contribution to our understanding of the population of Galilee in the first century, and implications of this for historical Jesus research.
Tim Meadowcroft
Theological Interpretation of the Bible
There is a growing corpus of material that seeks consciously to do and/or to think about doing theological interpretation of the Bible. It is a field in which a clear consensus or set of literary or methodological characteristics has not yet emerged. In this paper I first survey what is happening under the rubric of “theological interpretation”. I then propose an interpretive conversation. I suggest that the necessary conditions for good theological interpretation of the Bible are most likely to be set in place when a conversation is maintained between (1) christological/trinitarian approaches and (2) the ‘rule of faith’ and/or a more general notion of tradition; when this is moderated by (3) a theology of Scripture as the viva vox Dei, the living voice of God; and when (4) a strong backdrop of methodological reflection is sustained. All of this is based on the assumption that the voice of God may be encountered in the reading of Scripture.
Kevin Waldie
Jesus or Snow White? The Gospel in the 21st Century
The recent cinematic retelling of the Snow White story (in “Snow White and the Huntsman” 2012) is an interesting take on the tale we have all heard as children. For those who are alert spectators this particular version bears the distinctive marks of scripted adaptation. On closer examination of its script, imagery and action sequences, “Snow White and the Huntsman” conjures up many Jesus associations, knowingly drawn from the New Testament writing traditions. The fact of deliberate adaptation choices gives the Grimm Brothers’ fairy story a new purpose. This film therefore can be an unexpected gospel experience for a generation in need of evangelisation.
The ANZABS Conference programme included twenty-two papers. Some of these were presented in parallel Old Testament and New Testament sessions.
The abstracts appear below…
Old Testament Stream
Caroline Blyth:
“Lisbeth and Leviticus: Biblical Literacy and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.
In his bestselling novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson invites his readers into a complex drama set against a backdrop of sexual violence, family dysfunction, and female disempowerment. In one of the multiple strands of the narrative, protagonists Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander uncover a series of brutal ritualistic murders committed against women that appear to be related thematically to particular laws in the biblical book of Leviticus. I wish to explore the literary function that these allusions to Levitical law are intended to serve within this novel. How are readers being invited to make sense of this biblical material within the wider narrative concerns relating to gendered aggression and, in particular, within the context of the personal and institutionalized sexual aggression and abuse suffered by the character of Lisbeth? Moreover, given its interweaving of biblical traditions within such an explicit context of gender violence, does Larsson’s novel seek to act as a hermeneutical lens on these Levitical laws, inviting a cultural critique from the reader of the seeming endorsement and justification of violence against women that is voiced within these biblical texts?
Sarah Hart
“P” for People and Popular, not Priests and Priestly—the P Writings of the Pentateuch
The so-called priestly writings are the texts of the Priestly source plus many law passages. They are generally considered as compiled by priests for priests, probably in Jerusalem where a temple tradition existed. The word “people” refers to a body of persons that makes up a community. Popular pertains to that which is commonly known or pertains to ordinary people. I propose that the major human focus in the priestly writings is the people not the priests of Israel. The proposal is supported with examples from the biblical evidence.
Jonathan Hoskins
The voice of the text? Literacy, Orality and the Masoretic Accents טעמים
This paper will explore the relationship between literacy and orality as they apply to the transmission of the Biblical text. In particular the intricate system of accents developed by the Masoretes to preserve the texts oral tradition. This will form the foundation by which the basic threefold function of the accents: stress, syntax, and recitation can be re-examined. For it will be shown that the classification of stress and syntax do not adequately represent the accents. It will be suggested that a more fruitful line of inquiry into the function of the accents would focus primarily on the oral presentation of the text.
Yael Klangwisan
Painting Eden: Reflections on the art history of Genesis 3.
This paper explores the process of reading and interpretation of Genesis 3 by exploring the ‘pictorial’ readings by famous painters particularly in the renaissance but also more contemporary painters of the scene. The painters show distinct deviations in reading Genesis, indicating how influential personal-cultural-social context becomes in the reading process.
Don Moffat
Dealing with a Persistent Misreading: Ezra 9:2 and Racism
Ezra 9:2 has frequently been drawn into debates about racial separatism yet there are significant questions about its applicability to such issues. A number of scholars who have written on this issue, such as, Hugh Williamson, Daniel Smith-Christopher, Jon Berquist, Kenneth Hoglund and Tamara Eskenazi, have argued cogently that neither Ezra 9:2 nor the mixed marriage narrative is about racial issues. On the other hand a group of recent monographs on Ezra 9-10 (N. Vaka’uta, W. Johnson, K. Southwood) discuss the text with the presupposition that there is a racial or ethnic issue at the heart of the narrative. Addressing what is at issue in Ezra 9-10 and implications for reading.
Blaženka Scheuer
“Why do you let us wander, O Lord, from your ways?” (ISA 63:17)
In biblical texts historical reality is often understood theologically. Thus, in Isa 40-66, the Babylonian exile is portrayed as a consequence of a broken relationship between a people and their god, the return from the exile is portrayed as god’s return to and reestablishment of the relationship, while the struggles between different groups after the return are defined in terms of polarization between the “good grapes” and “bad grapes”, pious and impious, servants and idolaters. This relationship theology is in Isaiah 63:15-19a verbalized in a unique manner. This lament seems to be the only instance in the HB where YHWH is accused of causing his people to err, thus prolonging their suffering. The lament calls upon YHWH to repent and put an end to their distress. This paper explores the theological implications of the accusation in Isa 63:15-19a. While the suffering of the people is connected to YHWH’S absence and/or indifference in both pre-exilic temple theology of the individual laments and post-exilic prayers of penitence, the turn against YHWH in Isa 63:15-19a is in analogy with the book of Job. Like Job (Job 19:25-27), so also Isa 63:15-19a demonstrates that only in YHWH is there protection even against YHWH. The question of culpability for the suffering through the exile has in this final part of the book of Isaiah been changed into a kind of theodicy. Among the HB voices on this subject, Isa 63:17-19a is one: if we are to have a chance in this world YHWH must change his ways.
Jekheli Kibami Singh
A contextual reading of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9: [totimi kuchou (true women)].
A contextual reading of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 and the totimi kuchou (true women) concept of womanhood in Sümi Naga tribe of India”.
It is intriguing that in the context of the book of Proverbs, where the wise were held with high esteem, wisdom is personified as a woman. This paper will attempt to look at the elevation of Woman Wisdom in Proverbs 1-9 as more than a literary construct. It recognises the gendering of the passages, which will be read from a Sümi Naga woman’s perspective. It will also aim to deconstruct totimi kuchou (true woman) concept of womanhood in Sümi tribe of Nagaland, India. Totimi kuchou concept is presumably the elevation of femininity within the patriarchal social construct. It is a tangible concept, it pertains to real women; yet elusive as it is a concept.
Epistles Stream
Erin Bay
Paul’s call and cultic identity (Rom 12:1)
My thesis is that Paul’s call to “offer your bodies (somata) to God as a sacrifice which is living, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom 12:1) creates a cultic identity for his hearers which subverts cultural valuations of human worth. Commentators often give somata the abstract sense of “self”. However, cultural evaluations of human worth were related to concrete bodily characteristics. I propose that Paul’s auditors, being of low-status, would have been degraded as mere bodies – objects – under the power of their superiors. Paul’s characterization of their bodies in sacral terms defies this hierarchical system. His gospel thus opposes the religious, political and social norms of his environment.
Philip Church
“A great high priest who has gone through the heavens”? (Heb 4:16)
The most recent commentary on Hebrews (Cockerill 2012), like nearly all commentaries before it, reads this expression as suggesting that Jesus has “penetrated through whatever levels of heaven there may be into the place where God dwells” and the perfect participle (“has gone through”) as indicating “the continuing validity of Christ’s having entered God’s presence.” Aside from this verse, however, there is no indication in Hebrews that the author conceived of several levels of heaven, and it is questionable whether the perfect participle indicates what Cockerill thinks it does. Rather a perfect participle acts more like an adjective, describing the present state (or activity) of this great high priest. In this paper I examine the references to heaven in Hebrews, the background of this expression in the LXX and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the syntax of the perfect participle to show that a more valid translation is “a great high priest who traverses the heavens.” The text describes Jesus as an exalted high priest functioning in the present in the presence of God.
Jonathan Robinson
Mystic or Sarcastic? Visions and Revelations in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Scholars have generally read 2 Cor 12:1-4 with a straight face, seeking there insights into the mysticism of one of the central figures of early Christianity. Read this way the passage is an unparalleled glimpse into Paul’s spiritual experience. However, taking as sensitising concepts the work of Timothy Carter on irony in Romans 13 and the majority scholarly view of Paul’s use of Corinthian “slogans” in 1 Corinthians this paper will attempt a reading of this paper that sees Paul being not mystical, but sarcastic. It will argue that in this passage’s uncharacteristic terminology, tortured sentence structure and logical inconsistencies Paul is in fact combining rhetorical sarcasm and Corinthian “slogans” to mock his opponents and to expose their vague and incoherent mystical boasting for what it is against his own concrete experience of Christ’s power in his sufferings.
Dillon Thornton
Put Away All Slander: Reassessing the Polemic of the Pastoral Epistles
This paper proposes that Paul employed a Christianized polemic in the Pastoral Epistles. The case is made that the most sensible approach is to study the Pauline writings as letters. Additionally, it is suggested that the gospel Paul sought to communicate in his letters caused him to alter the first-century epistolary conventions, which included the polemical customs. Consequently, the polemic of the Pastorals is not one of sheer slander; rather, there is a degree of accuracy in Paul’s statements about the opponents in Ephesus.
Paul Trebilco
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 and ‘Unbelievers’
In 2 Cor 6:14-7:1 Paul has a short section instructing his readers not to be ‘mismatched with unbelievers’. There has been a strenuous debate about many features of this passage. In this paper it will be argued that the passage is not an interpolation into 2 Corinthians and that what Paul says here about relationships with the wider world is compatible with what he says about the same topic in 1 Corinthians. The implications of what is said in 2 Corinthians for how Paul understands ‘outsiders’ will then be developed.
Gospels Stream
Peter Carrell
Luke’s composition of his Gospel.
There is little dispute that Luke used Mark’s Gospel as a source. Considerable dispute exists about whether Luke used Matthew’s Gospel or another document scholarship has dubbed “Q”. The simplicity of resolving the dispute by proposing that Matthew was a source for Luke’s Gospel is usually undone by the complexity of trying to explain how Luke used Matthew. This paper builds on earlier proposals by the author that Luke selected Matthean material on a thematic basis and complements that with a proposal that the shape of Luke’s Gospel was already determined before Luke read Matthew.
Andy Dickson
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The beliefs behind the question
Twice in Luke’s Gospel (10:25 and 18:18) Jesus is confronted with the question, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ At face value this question appears simple to comprehend. However, as one scratches at the surface it soon becomes apparent that there is more to this question than is first observed. This paper investigates some of the beliefs behind the question, from both Jewish and Greco-Roman perspectives, in order to pain a picture of how Luke’s original audience might have understood the question—an understanding which would affect their interpretation of Jesus’ answers as Luke presents them.
Carlos Olivares
The term ὀλιγόπιστος (little faith) in Matthew: Narrative connections and semantic purpose
The term ὀλιγόπιστος (little faith), which is characteristic to Matthew’s Gospel (Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8), is mentioned in different contexts. However, despite these differences, it seems that the word displays analogous functions in each one of these occurrences, offering interesting literary insights. It is my intention to engage with such similarities with the objective of seeing narrative connections and semantic purpose. Moreover, I will also discuss whether the Matthean Jesus uses ὀλιγόπιστος (little faith) as a harsh critique or a sympathetic expression of forbearing.
Kathleen Rushton
“Living Waters” in John amidst the Braided Rivers of Canterbury
“Creation is water-drenched. All living beings on Earth are born of water—in oceans or ponds, within eggs, seeds or wombs.” (Linda Gibler) This paper aims to contribute to building a bridge between contemporary cosmological and scientific understandings of water and aspects of water symbolism in the gospel according to John. My hope is to offer a scriptural voice among the many voices raised in my home province of Canterbury where water “rights”, access to water, its use and storage are contested and ever under review.
Derek Tovey
The Foreshore and Seabed Debate and Jesus’ honour (doxa) in John’s Gospel: a perspective from Aotearoa New Zealand.
This paper examines the character and tenor of the Foreshore and Seabed debate in Aotearoa New Zealand through a comparative inter-cultural and contextual analysis of the character, tenor, rhetoric and narrative dynamics of the presentation of Jesus’ honour in John’s Gospel. The Foreshore and Seabed debate, sparked in 2003 by a court ruling in favour of Maori customary land rights in respect of the foreshore and seabed, led to a “backlash” from Pakeha (non-Maori, mainly European New Zealanders) and Government legislation to retain ownership in Crown hands (regarded as “confiscation” of rights by many Maori).
The Maori concept of mana may be understood analogically with the concept of doxa in John’s Gospel. Hence, Maori attitudes to land ownership resonate with the portrayal of Jesus’ doxa. Furthermore, the dynamics by which the concept of doxa informs the presentation of Jesus’ status and honour in the Gospel may illumine Pakeha attitudes and approaches to resolving this issue (at one level, the tenor of the debate bears resemblance to the stand-off between Jesus and “the Jews” over his honour).
The paper will briefly describe the debate, in particular focusing on the attitudes and reactions of many Pakeha, and the perceptions of some Maori of Pakeha reactions. Does the manner in which the honour and status of Jesus in John’s Gospel is portrayed and developed hold any implications for Pakeha relations with Maori in the resolution of issues surrounding this debate? I will suggest that the character and presentation of Jesus’ doxa in the Gospel has implications for the way in which Pakeha should view Maori aspirations, and how Pakeha attitudes may be informed and shaped by an understanding of the nature of Jesus’ doxa. However, the paper will also necessarily explore the appropriateness and pitfalls of such an approach, as well as examine the promise it holds.
Elaine Wainright
Entering an Old Text from a New Critical Direction: Matt 26:6-13
The words of Adrienne Rich, ”Re-vision—the act of looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction” are as applicable today as when she penned them in 1972. Biblical studies has seen such revisions over the subsequent decades. In this paper I will explore in dialogue with other revisionists some of my own revision/s of Matt 26:6-13.
Interdisciplinary/Hermeneutics
John Douglas
Perspective or Position: Biblical hermeneutics of dialogue and definition
ANZ contemporary society continues to challenge Christian engagement with public thinking, questions and questioning. Consequently institutional leadership(s) and faith communities are “asked” to state or define positions; such asking-sources are overt and covert, verbal and perceptual. In matters of public concern ANZ Christianity, especially its conservative and evangelical elements, has generally been disposed to expressing themselves through formed-position statements and definition. Today a holding-and-stating-the-truth-styled-mentality is easily in conflict with the “zeitgeist” not only that of contemporary ANZ society; also that of significant numbers of current participants within Christian faith communities. The life-spirit favours “perspective and dialogue.” This paper will consider possible contributions from Wofgang Iser’s concept of the “wandering viewpoing/wandernde Blickpunkt,” and Wlner Meijer’s applications of his notion into the hermeneutics of textual reading. The presentation’s discussion will seek to draw a contrast between “position and Perspective” by considering that; sharing perspectives enables dialogue; holding identifiable positions necessitates definition.
Jacqui Lloyd
Bethsaida, Galilee and the historical Jesus.
The twentieth century saw significant debate over the nature of Galilee’s population in the early half of the first century CE. Many New Testament scholars conceived of Galilee as having an ethnically mixed population with a significant Gentile presence. This raised questions about the degree to which Jesus was influenced by Graeco-Roman culture. In the past few decades, however, as scholars in historical Jesus research have begun to take more seriously the accumulating data amassed through archaeological excavations, and the interpretations of archaeologists who have “unearthed considerable portions of Galilee’s material culture”, it is no longer possible to argue for a strong Gentile presence in Galilee for the early half of the first century CE. Excavations at Sepphoris, Capernaum, Nazareth, Yodefat and elsewhere, reveal a material culture which corresponds with that of Judea, and a population that seems to be predominantly Jewish. But what of Bethsaida located just 250 metres across the Jordan at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee? This paper will provide a brief introduction to the location, identification, history and material culture of Bethsaida/et-Tell, its contribution to our understanding of the population of Galilee in the first century, and implications of this for historical Jesus research.
Tim Meadowcroft
Theological Interpretation of the Bible
There is a growing corpus of material that seeks consciously to do and/or to think about doing theological interpretation of the Bible. It is a field in which a clear consensus or set of literary or methodological characteristics has not yet emerged. In this paper I first survey what is happening under the rubric of “theological interpretation”. I then propose an interpretive conversation. I suggest that the necessary conditions for good theological interpretation of the Bible are most likely to be set in place when a conversation is maintained between (1) christological/trinitarian approaches and (2) the ‘rule of faith’ and/or a more general notion of tradition; when this is moderated by (3) a theology of Scripture as the viva vox Dei, the living voice of God; and when (4) a strong backdrop of methodological reflection is sustained. All of this is based on the assumption that the voice of God may be encountered in the reading of Scripture.
Kevin Waldie
Jesus or Snow White? The Gospel in the 21st Century
The recent cinematic retelling of the Snow White story (in “Snow White and the Huntsman” 2012) is an interesting take on the tale we have all heard as children. For those who are alert spectators this particular version bears the distinctive marks of scripted adaptation. On closer examination of its script, imagery and action sequences, “Snow White and the Huntsman” conjures up many Jesus associations, knowingly drawn from the New Testament writing traditions. The fact of deliberate adaptation choices gives the Grimm Brothers’ fairy story a new purpose. This film therefore can be an unexpected gospel experience for a generation in need of evangelisation.
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