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Brill recently released the following two new resources for Dead Sea Scroll studies: Biblical Texts from Qumran and Other Sites (Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance, Volume 3) [caption id=“attachment_4394” align=“alignright” width=“90” caption=“Martin Abegg Jr.”] [/caption] According to the publisher, For decades a concordance of all the Dead Sea Scrolls has been a major desideratum for scholarship. The Dead Sea Scrolls Concordance covers all the Qumran material as published in the Discoveries in the Judaean Desert series, as well as the major texts from caves 1 and 11, which appeared elsewhere. ...

In an essay on “Jesus, John, and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” Craig Evans observes that Jesus’s appointment of the twelve ( Mark 3:14; 6:7) is an extension of John [the Baptist]’s typology. The Jordan River has been crossed, and now representatives of the restored tribes have reentered the promised land, announcing the rule of God. If the nation repents, restoration will take place. It will be a time when the twelve apostles will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, judging not in a condemning sense but in an administrative, even shepherding sense ( Evans 60; emphasis added). ...

In an introductory essay for his edited volume Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context, Phillip Esler observes that All human groups, however diverse, are capable of communicating with one another. Merely to entertain the possibility of one culture seeking to understand or even translate another presupposes the necessary foundations in human nature and human sociality which transcend ethnographic particularity ( Esler 6). ...

John Collins rightly argues that the possibility of a positive answer to this question depends heavily on what one means by משיח (messiah).

The following poem, “Epi-strauss-ium,” by Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861) playfully draws attention to D. F. Strauss’s then recently published Das Leben Jesu, kritisch bearbeitet ( Life of Jesus Critically Examined; NAEL 2:1452 n. 1). Matthew and Mark and Luke and holy John Evanished all and gone! Yea, he that erst, his dusky curtains quitting, Through Eastern pictured panes his level beams transmitting, With gorgeous portraits blent, On them his glories intercepted spent, Southwestering now, through windows plainly glassed, On the inside face his radiance keen hath cast, And in the luster lost, invisible, and gone, Are, say you, Matthew, Mark, and Luke and holy John? Lost, is it? lost, to be recovered never? However, The place of worship the meantime with light Is, if less richly, more sincerely bright, And in blue skies the Orb is manifest to sight. ...

While normal science does not necessarily require a full set of rules to function ( Kuhn 44), normal scientific investigation can continue without rules “only so long as the relevant scientific community accepts without question the particular problem-solutions already achieved. Rules . . . therefore become important and the characteristic unconcern about them . . . vanish[es] whenever paradigms or models are felt to be insecure” ( Kuhn 47). Debates about rules frequently occur in the pre-paradigm period, but they also typically recur when reigning paradigms come under attack from suggested inadequacies and proposed changes ( Kuhn 47–48). When a paradigm reigns unchallenged, however, the scientific community that it constitutes need not attempt to rationalize the paradigm ( Kuhn 49). Moreover, any apparent difficulties with the paradigm that cannot be resolved are typically held to result from the inadequacy of the research conducted rather than the inadequacy of the paradigm that suggests the difficulties ( Kuhn 80). ...

With the Biblioblog Top 50 moving to a semi-annual cycle, Joseph Kelly over at כל־האדם has independently compiled a chart of December’s individual Alexa rankings to finish out 2009. Jim West (a.k.a. Zwinglius Redivivus) continues to fill the top slot, and the big movers among the top 50 this month include John Hobbins ( Ancient Hebrew Poetry, up 15 spaces to number 16); Jason ( εις δοξαν, up 18 spaces to number 40); Michael Barber, Brant Pitre, and John Bergsma ( The Sacred Page, up 25 spaces to number 48); and Joel Hoffman ( God Didn’t Say That: Bible Translations and Mistranslations, up 33 spaces to number 49). New Testament Interpretation stands this month at number 213. ...

Assuming a paradigm’s community desires consistency, their general paradigm will dictate specific rules for the community’s research (i.e., means for investigation and standards for evaluation; Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 43, 48, 94; cf. Achinstein 413; Thiselton 711). Yet, these rules do not themselves provide coherence to a given tradition of normal science ( Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 44). Rather, these rules are interpretations of an antecedent paradigm that causes a given, normal-scientific tradition to cohere ( Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 43–44, 46). 1 ...

Within a given, normal-scientific tradition, the reigning paradigm directs research by suggesting which experiments and data are relevant to resolving a given problem and which are irrelevant ( Kuhn 18, 24, 34). The paradigm also guides new and more specific theory articulation, and the paradigm permits practitioners in a given field to dispense with rearticulating the field’s foundations in each new work they produce ( Kuhn 18–20, 23, 34). Thus, a paradigm entails promises about problems that it will resolve and new achievements that it will enable, and normal science, the process in which most scientists work for most of their careers, demonstrates how these promises actually operate ( Kuhn 23–24, 30, 35–42). In all cases, however, the paradigm of a given, normal-scientific tradition definitively determines the research that is performed within that paradigm—“to desert the paradigm is to cease practicing the science it defines” ( Kuhn 34, 46). Yet, a paradigm is susceptible to various articulations as long as these diversions self-confessedly work from and toward what the paradigm’s community considers to be sufficient common ground ( Kuhn 46–47, 73; cf. Hung 62–70; see also Carson 88–89). ...

Craig Keener has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Heavenly Mindedness and Earthly Good: Contemplating Matters Above in Colossians 3.1–2.” This article traces in turn ancient philosophy’s contemplation of heavenly matters; evocations of such language in other early Jewish and Christian sources; the significance of our author’s christocentric [ sic] focus in his adaptation of the language in 3.1; the behavioral implications the author draws from this christocentric [ sic] focus; the intelligibility of those implications in light of ancient philosophy; and how the immediate context shapes eschatological implications in the author’s evocation of heaven. [The] focus and primary contribution [is] elaborating how ancient hearers would have received the passage, especially in view of ancient philosophy. [That is, f]or philosophers, the pure and heavenly deity was abstract and transcendent; for Colossians, the heavenly focus is Christ, fitting the christocentric [ sic] emphasis of this letter. For Colossians, contemplating Christ also leads naturally to Christlike character, in contrast to the pursuit of earthly passions (175, 190). ...

The Theological Writing Handout has been updated. For the minor changes since the previously announced update, please see the 0.8.1 to 0.8.2, 0.8.2 to 0.8.3, and 0.8.3 to 0.8.4 change logs. The current version can be viewed and downloaded below or from Scribd. ...

At the Friday night meeting of the Institute for Biblical Research, there is traditionally a book giveaway of some kind. At my first IBR last year, attendees received M. Daniel Carroll R.’s Christians at the Border and either Theological Interpretation of the New Testament (ed. Kevin Vanhoozer, Daniel Treier, and N. T. Wright) or Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament (ed. Kevin Vanhoozer, Craig Bartholomew, and Daniel Treier). ...

Clayboy has this month’s Biblical Studies Carnival organized mostly into straight, topical lists and hopes to provide subsequently some additional reflections “on whither the [ballooning] Carnival might go in future years.”

Despite a self-enforced blogging hiatus to complete an ETS paper that was almost itself three things that were never satisfied and four that never said enough (cf. Prov 30:15b), New Testament Interpretation rose 17 spaces in November to slot 134 from the drop to 151 that it had seen the previous month at the front of the hiatus. Thanks to everyone for their interest even during the break. I trust this post will constitute a return to a more active NTI. ...

Subheadings have now come to the bookshelf. Some of the lists of works under main headings had become quite long and unwieldy, but the subheadings should help minimize the length of the individual lists. While additional subsections will certainly be required as the bookshelf grows, the sections presently large enough to demand subheadings include Gospels ( Jesus, parables) and hermeneutics ( biblical interpretation, general hermeneutics, methodology). ...

As young scientists routinely obtain, through education, their introduction into mature, scientific communities, young scientific communities may require some time to mature and develop their communities’ paradigms ( Kuhn 11). During this early phase, nascent scientific communities typically involve different schools of thought that seek “relevant” facts somewhat individualistically according to whatever paradigms they find most influential from other areas of thought ( Kuhn 15–17). Typically, one of these “pre-paradigm schools” will triumph over the others at some point and usher in a community’s paradigmatic period ( Kuhn 17–18). The precise point of transition from nascent to mature scientific community is seldom easily identifiable, but neither is this transition completely obscured because of the notable advances achieved in the move from the pre-paradigm period into the paradigm period. Instead, a general, historical period can typically be identified in which this transition occurred for any given, mature field (cf. Kuhn 21–22). ...

The Facebook group “Don’t Shut down Biblical Studies at Sheffield” has reported to its 1100+ members that “[t]he Biblical Studies Department is essentially back from the dead.” Jim West has the university’s memo to this effect posted on his blog.

Biblical studies students at Sheffield apparently now have some good news. According to Christianity Today, Following student protests, the University of Sheffield in England decided to not close the department of biblical studies. A review by the pro-vice-chancellor had recommended shutting down the department down after current and 2009-2010 students completed their degrees, citing the loss of staff and declining student demand. At 8 a.m. today, 1,064 members had joined the Facebook group “Don’t shut down Biblical Studies at Sheffield” and a website was created to send the vice chancellor petition letters, several of which were posted on the website. . . . “The number of [student] entries last year were capped at eight, but this year’s graduates and level three students represent all-time high figures,” Hurrell said in an e-mail. “While five senior lecturers have left over the last 2 years, the university has not allowed the department permanent staff to replace them for a variety of reasons.” The university senate was supposed to vote on the department’s future on October 7, but after students heard through the students’ union and protested, the decision was postponed. . . . Taylor said that the the faculty will draw up plans for the department, including new staff appointments. ...

In working through some bibliography recently for a conference paper proposal about מורה הצדק ( the teacher of righteousness), I came across the following: Der Lehrer [der Gerechtigkeit] ist von Gott autorisiert, die Geheimnisse der Prophetenworte zu enträtseln, denn die Worte der Propheten sind Geheimnisse (רזים [pHab] 7,5), die man ohne Auslegung des Lehrers nicht verstehen kann. Der Lehrer tritt also mit seiner Verkündigung nicht neben die Schrift, sondern er basiert auf der Schrift. Er allein hat von Gott das rechte Verständnis offenbart bekommen. Darum kann er und mit ihm seine Gemeinde nach dem Willen Gottes leben ( Jeremias 141). ...

Concerning interpreters’ obligation to look beyond themselves, Hans-Georg Gadamer observes the following: We are always affected, in hope and fear, by what is nearest to us, and hence we approach the testimony of the past under its influence. Thus it is constantly necessary to guard against overhastily assimilating the past to our own expectations of meaning. Only then can we listen to tradition in a way that permits it to make its own meaning heard ( Gadamer 304). ...

In Thomas Kuhn’s analysis, new paradigms attract adherents from older alternatives by producing sufficiently unprecedented achievements, but these new paradigms still leave work to be done because of the new problems that they create or the new issues they suggest ( Kuhn 10, 17–18, 80). Yet, the community that accepts a given paradigm implicitly judges the problems that the paradigm introduces to be less severe than those that it resolves ( Kuhn 23). ...

Biblical Studies students at the University of Sheffield have a new website with a list of ways that others can show support for the Biblical Studies Department there as it faces the possibility of closure. HT: Mark Goodacre, Jim West ...

Thomas Kuhn acknowledges that Sir Karl Popper’s work earlier in the twentieth century somewhat anticipated his own view of science (Kuhn, Essential Tension 267). Nevertheless, Kuhn also identifies two meaningful distinctions that his work has vis-à-vis Popper’s ( Worrall 66–71). First, Kuhn perceives favorably deep commitments to normal scientific traditions because these traditions (1) encourage substantive study of very specific issues and (2) prepare the way for scientific revolutions (Kuhn, Essential Tension 268; cf. Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 28, 65). Second, Kuhn prefers to consider paradigmatic revolutions in terms of a process of competition rather than falsification as the newly accepted paradigm may itself also eventually be replaced (Kuhn, Essential Tension 268; Kuhn, Scientific Revolutions 2, 8, 12, 151–52). ...

The following two reference works are recently published or forthcoming from Oxford University Press, albeit with rather hefty, retail price tags: [caption id=“attachment_3613” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Roger Bagnall”] [/caption]Publisher’s Summary: Thousands of texts, written over a period of three thousand years on papyri and potsherds, in Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Persian, and other languages, have transformed our knowledge of many aspects of life in the ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology provides an introduction to the world of these ancient documents and literary texts, ranging from the raw materials of writing to the languages used, from the history of papyrology to its future, and from practical help in reading papyri to frank opinions about the nature of the work of papyrologists. This volume, the first major reference work on papyrology written in English, takes account of the important changes experienced by the discipline within especially the last thirty years. Including new work by twenty-seven international experts and more than one hundred illustrations, The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology will serve as an invaluable guide to the subject.[caption id=“attachment_3612” align=“alignleft” width=“90” caption=“Michael Gagarin”] [/caption]Publisher’s Summary: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome is the clearest and most accessible guide to the world of classical antiquity ever produced. This multivolume reference work is a comprehensive overview of the major cultures of the classical Mediterranean world—Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman—from the Bronze Age to the fifth century CE. It also covers the legacy of the classical world and its interpretation and influence in subsequent centuries. The Encyclopedia brings the work of the best classical scholars, archaeologists, and historians together in an easy-to-use format. The articles, written by leading scholars in the field, seek to convey the significance of the people, places, and historical events of classical antiquity, together with its intellectual and material culture. Broad overviews of literature, history, archaeology, art, philosophy, science, and religion are complimented by articles on authors and their works, literary genres and periods, historical figures and events, archaeologists and archaeological sites, artists and artistic themes and materials, philosophers and philosophical schools, scientists and scientific areas, gods, heroes, and myths. ...

Per the Biblioblog Top 50, New Testament Interpretation actually rose 74 spaces in August to 104. Thanks very much to everyone for their interest last month.

The second issue of Ecclesia Reformanda is almost finished. This issue includes: "‘And Their Children After Them’: A Response to Reformed Baptist Readings of Jeremiah’s New Covenant Promises," by Neil G. T. Jeffers Journal’s Abstract: The promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a key text in the infant baptism debate. For Baptists, it describes the discontinuity between Old and New Covenants, highlighting in particular the individual, unbreakable, more subjective nature of the new. While paedobaptists often respond defensively, Jeremiah 32:37-41, where this promise is echoed with the important addition ‘for their own good and the good of their children after them’, suggests the Old Covenant principle of family solidarity may remain in place. This article re-examines the Baptist argument, and suggests closer exegesis shows that even Jeremiah 31 still includes children in the New Covenant. ...

In his Four Gospels, Burnett Streeter articulates his view of the sources of Luke and proto-Luke as follows: The hypothesis I propose in no way conflicts with the generally accepted view that Matthew and Luke are ultimately dependent not only on Mark but on Q—meaning by Q a single written source. Most, if not all, of the agreements of Matthew and Luke, where Mark is absent, are, I think, to be referred to Q; but I desire to interpolate a stage between Q and the editor of the Third Gospel. I conceive that what this editor had before him was, not Q in its original form—which, I hold, included hardly any narrative and no account of the Passion—but Q+L, that is, Q embodied in a larger document, a kind of “Gospel” in fact, which I will call Proto-Luke. This Proto-Luke would have been slightly longer than Mark, and about one-third of its total contents consisted of materials derived from Q (Streeter 208). ...

Three recent, Brill publications on the intersections between the New Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls include: [caption id=“attachment_3522” align=“alignleft” width=“80” caption=“Florentino García Martínez”] [/caption] Publisher’s Summary: In spite of the amount of literature on the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, no consensus among the scholars has emerged as yet on how to explain both the similarities and the differences among the two corpora of religious writings. This volume contains a revised form of the contributions to an “experts meeting” held at the Catholic University of Leuven on December 2007 dedicated to explore the relationship among the two corpora and to understand both the commonalities and the differences between the two corpora from the perspective of the common ground from which both corpora have developed: the Hebrew Bible. ...

In the later half of the twentieth-century, Thomas Kuhn reappropriated and significantly adapted Immanuel Kant’s qualifications of empirical science (Kuhn, Essential Tension 336–37; Kuhn, Since Structure 103–104, 264). First published in 1962, Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolutions replaced Kant’s transcendental truths of reason with theoretical ‘paradigms’ (cf. Kuhn, Since Structure 264). This understanding puts Kuhn in an interesting position from which to shed light on the hermeneutical dimensions of biblical studies. Naturally, there have been some recent qualifications and objections to this application that deserve attention. ...

Earlier this week, my wife, Carrie, started blogging at Stark Savings with some of the mass of the great deals that she finds and assorted other money-saving tips. The shopping results in her post from Tuesday about her most recent trip to Harris Teeter are pretty typical. Somehow, I doubt that Stark Savings will come up in the list of biblioblogs and related blogs any time soon, but it could work: getting better deals > spending less money > having more money > buying more books about biblical studies. Or, maybe not ;-). In any case, particularly any biblical studies students or their family members who read this blog may also want to check out Stark Savings. ...