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The latest, New Year’s Eve, reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Fields

• Christopher A. Beetham, Echoes of Scripture in the Letter of Paul to the Colossians, reviewed by Maarten J. J. Menken
• Craig L. Blomberg and Mariam J. Kamell, James, reviewed by Wesley Wachob
• Renate Banschbach Eggen, Gleichnis, Allegorie, Metapher: Zur Theorie und Praxis der Gleichnisauslegung, reviewed by John S. Kloppenborg
• Gabriella Gelardini, “Verhärtet eure Herzen nicht”: Der Hebräer, eine Synagogenhomilie zu Tischa be-Aw, reviewed by Carl Mosser
• François Genuyt, L’Épître aux Romains: L’instauration du sujet-Lecture sémiotique, reviewed by Jean-Paul Michaud
• Christopher Gilbert, A Complete Introduction to the Bible, reviewed by Dirk G. van der Merwe
• Judith Hartenstein, Charakterisierung im Dialog: Maria Magdalena, Petrus, Thomas und die Mutter Jesu im Johannesevangelium im Kontext anderer frühchristlicher Darstellungen, reviewed by Ismo Dunderberg
• Adam Kamesar, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Philo, reviewed by Gregory Sterling
• Patricia Walters, The Assumed Authorial Unity of Luke and Acts: A Reassessment of the Evidence, reviewed by Joel B. Green and Richard I. Pervo

Hermeneutics and Translation

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.

Lois Dow has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Understanding κλῆσις in the New Testament.” In this article, Dow argues that:

First, the meaning position or condition in the sense of life situation or occupation for κλῆσις in the New Testament is unwarranted. Secondly, the meaning often includes the result of the call as well as the action of calling. It can mean a status of being a called person, with its concomitant responsibilities, privileges and expectations. In this use it is linked through passages about being called (named) by new appellations or designations to the idea of having a new identity or name (198; italics original).

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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).

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The latest, Christmas Eve, reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

• Margaret P. Aymer, First Pure, Then Peaceable: Frederick Douglass Reads James, reviewed by Wesley Wachob
• Michael F. Bird and James G. Crossley, How Did Christianity Begin? A Believer and Non-believer Examine the Evidence, reviewed by Leif Vaage
• John Byron, Recent Research on Paul and Slavery, reviewed by Lars Kierspel
• Carl P. Cosaert, The Text of the Gospels in Clement of Alexandria, reviewed by Michael Bird
• Jesús Luzarraga, El Evangelio de Juan en las versiones siríacas, reviewed by Ilaria L. E. Ramelli
• James F. McGrath, The Only True God: Early Christian Monotheism in Its Jewish Context, reviewed by Lori Baron

Hermeneutics and Cognate Fields

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.

A few weeks ago, I received confirmation that my paper, “‫ מורה הצדק‬ as a Hermeneutical Functionary in the Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts,” has been accepted for presentation at the 2010 meeting of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion. Here is a brief abstract:

Although a good deal of work has been done on the hermeneutical method(s) found at Qumran, to date, insufficient attention has been given to the presuppositional matrix that allowed these methods to function at Qumran as they did. For, after all, considered in themselves, theses and interpretations appear valid not primarily because of the method by which they were derived but because of the perceived fit between a given thesis and an accepted worldview paradigm. Therefore, this paper will seek to show: (1) that ‫מורה הצדק‬ ( the teacher of righteousness) himself definitively determined the Qumran community’s hermeneutical matrix in certain, specific respects and (2) that these specific determinations helped the Qumran community understand their scriptures in conjunction with what they knew to be their own, special position in ‫’יהוה‬s plan for Israel.

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Greg Goswell has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “Early Readers of the Gospels: The Kephalaia and Titloi of Codex Alexandrinus.” Goswell observes that “there is substantial variation among the codices [Vaticanus, Alexandrinus, and Sinaiticus] with regard to where [chapter] divisions are placed” (135) and argues that

A survey of the kephalaia in the four Gospels [of Alexandrinus] indicates that their placement is not haphazard but reflects an evaluation of the flow of the narratives and shows insight into the meaning of the story. Some breaks are close together, but others are widely separated. There are considerable differences in the length of the sections, reflecting a perception of the nature of the text by those responsible for the sectioning. Even a glance at the headings assigned to the kephalaia reveal the large element of commonality between the four Gospels (e.g. the headings of Mt. A6, Mk A4 and Lk. A12 that all read ‘Concerning the leper’), but they also bring to light, at times, what is distinctive about particular Gospels (e.g. the differing themes of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke). . . . The function of a textual break in separating or joining material has at times provided . . . exegetical insights. One clear trend within all four Gospels is the highlighting of the element of the miraculous in the ministry of Jesus and (the reverse side of this) the downplaying of his teaching. The headings usually focus on the fact of controversy between Jesus and the religious leaders rather than what issues were controverted. The lack of attention given to dominical passion predictions and the paucity of divisions within the passion narrative itself suggest that there is little focus upon the suffering and atoning death of Jesus. Instead the divisions in the passion narratives reflect a homiletical tradition (or liturgical usage) in which there is a moralistic focus on positive and negative ethical examples (172–74).

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The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

• Susan R. Garrett, No Ordinary Angel: Celestial Spirits and Christian Claims about Jesus, reviewed by Tobias Nicklas
• Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Our Mother Saint Paul, reviewed by Pamela Eisenbaum
• James M. Howard, Paul, the Community, and Progressive Sanctification: An Exploration into Community-Based Transformation within Pauline Theology, reviewed by Ron Clark
• Jeremy F. Hultin, The Ethics of Obscene Speech in Early Christianity and Its Environment, reviewed by Stephan Witetschek
• Christine E. Joynes, ed., Perspectives on the Passion: Encountering the Bible through the Arts, reviewed by Christopher Rowland
• Steve Mason, Josephus, Judea, and Christian Origins: Methods and Categories, reviewed by Sean Freyne
• Tim Newton, The Forgotten Gospels: Life and Teachings of Jesus Supplementary to the New Testament: A New Translation, reviewed by Thomas Bergholz
• Maria-Zoe Petropoulou, Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200, reviewed by Adele Reinhartz
• John F. A. Sawyer, A Concise Dictionary of the Bible and Its Reception, reviewed by C. L. Seow
• Gerhard H. Visscher, Romans 4 and the New Perspective on Paul: Faith Embraces the Promise, reviewed by Don Garlington
• Dawn Ottoni Wilhelm, Preaching the Gospel of Mark: Proclaiming the Power of God, reviewed by Antipas L. Harris

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Studies

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.”

Over at Per Caritatem, Cynthia Nielsen has begun an introduction to the work of Hans-Georg Gadamer. For as many as I have read, Cynthia’s posts are perennially interesting and clearly conceived. Not surprisingly, this series’ beginning very much continues that pattern, and I am sure this series’ future posts will also be quite worthwhile reading.

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).

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

• Brevard Childs, The Church’s Guide for Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus, reviewed by Paul E. Trainor
• Desta Heliso, Pistis and the Righteous One: A Study of Romans 1:17 against the Background of Scripture and Second Temple Jewish Literature, reviewed by Lars Kierspel
• Martin Mosse, The Three Gospels: New Testament History Introduced by the Synoptic Problem, reviewed by Pheme Perkins
• Charles Puskas, The Conclusion of Luke-Acts: The Significance of Acts 28:16–31, reviewed by Deborah Thompson Prince
• Huub van de Sandt and Jürgen Zangenberg, eds., Matthew, James, and Didache: Three Related Documents in Their Jewish and Christian Settings, reviewed by William Varner
• Robert Stein, Mark, reviewed by Joel F. Williams
• Alan Thompson, One Lord, One People: The Unity of the Church in Acts in Its Literary Setting, reviewed by Bobby Kelly

Jewish Scripture and Cognate Studies

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.

The fall issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society arrived in the mail yesterday and includes the following:

New Testament

• Kevin W. McFadden, “The Fulfillment of the Law’s Dikaiōma: Another Look at Romans 8:1–4,” pgs. 483–97

Jewish Scriptures

• Greg Goswell, “The Order of the Books in the Greek Old Testament,” pgs. 449–66
• Chee-Chiew Lee, “גים in Genesis 35:11 and the Abrahamic Promise of Blessings for the Nations,” pgs. 467–82
• Andrew S. Malone, “God the Illeist: Third-Person Self-References and Trinitarian Hints in the Old Testament,” pgs. 499–518

Systematic Theology

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.

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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).

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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).

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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

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include the following:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

• Lars Aejmelaeus and Antti Mustakallio, eds., The Nordic Paul: Finnish Approaches to Pauline Theology, reviewed by Erik Heen
• Dietrich-Alex Koch, Hellenistisches Christentum: Schriftverständnis-Ekklesiologie-Geschichte, reviewed by Friedrich Reiterer
• M. Sydney Park, Submission within the Godhead and the Church in the Epistle to the Philippians: An Exegetical and Theological Examination of the Concept of Submission in Philippians 2 and 3, reviewed by Mark A. Jennings
• Jonathan T. Pennington and Sean M. McDonough, Cosmology and New Testament Theology, reviewed by Michael J. Lakey
• Enno Edzard Popkes, Die Theologie der Liebe Gottes in den johanneischen Schriften: Zur Semantik der Liebe und zum Motivkreis des Dualismus, reviewed by Jan G. van der Watt
• Jens Schröter, Von Jesus zum Neuen Testament: Studien zur urchristlichen Theologiegeschichte und zur Entstehung des neutestamentlichen Kanons, reviewed by Nils Neumann
• David Sim and Boris Repschinski, eds., Matthew and His Christian Contemporaries, reviewed by Glenna Jackson
• Lawrence M. Wills, Not God’s People: Insiders and Outsiders in the Biblical World, reviewed by Lara van der Zee-Hanssen

Other Fields

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.