John on J. David Stark

Daily Gleanings: Johannine Grammar (25 October 2019)

Fri, 25 Oct 2019 16:00:51 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Edwin Abbott’s “Johannine Grammar.”

Daily Gleanings: Martha (8 October 2019)

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 16:00:27 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Martha as an interpolation in John’s gospel.

Daily Gleanings: New Publications (21 August 2019)

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 16:00:05 +0000

Daily Gleanings about Vanhoozer’s “Hearers and Doers” from Lexham and Jason Ripley’s “Glorious Death, Imperial Rome and the Gospel of John” from JGRChJ.

Stevens, John 9.38–39a

Thu, 12 Nov 2015 18:23:07 +0000

Chris Stevens has the latest article in the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, “John 9.38-39a: A Scribal Interjection for Literary Reinforcement.”

Review of Biblical Literature Newsletter (October 31, 2012)

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 01:54:15 +0000

The latest reviews from the Review of Biblical Literature include:

New Testament and Cognate Studies

Jo-Ann A. Brant, John, reviewed by Matthew Gordley
Bart B. Bruehler, A Public and Political Christ: The Social-Spatial Characteristics of Luke 18:35–19:43 and the Gospel as a Whole in Its Ancient Context, reviewed by John Cowan
Jaime Clark-Soles, Engaging the Word: The New Testament and the Christian Believer, reviewed by Ronald Witherup
Gerald J. Donker, The Text of the Apostolos in Athanasius of Alexandria, reviewed by Justin A. Mihoc
Craig A. Evans, Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence, reviewed by Panayotis Coutsoumpos
Charles W. Hedrick, Unlocking the Secrets of the Gospel according to Thomas: A Radical Faith for a New Age, reviewed by William Arnal
Josep Rius-Camps and Jenny Read-Heimerdinger, The Message of Acts in Codex Bezae: A Comparison with the Alexandrian Tradition, Volume 4: Acts 18.24–28.31: Rome, reviewed by Vaughn CroweTipton
Christopher D. Stanley, ed., The Colonized Apostle: Paul in Postcolonial Eyes, reviewed by Steed Davidson

Second Temple Judaism

Currents in Biblical Research 10, no. 3

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:17:55 +0000

The latest issue of Currents in Biblical Research includes:

J. Kenneth Kuntz, “Continuing the Engagement: Psalms Research Since the Early 1990s”
Joel R. White, “Recent Challenges to the communis opinio on 1 Corinthians 15.29”
Dan Batovici, “The Second-Century Reception of John: A Survey of Methodologies”
Benjamin Edsall, " Kerygma, Catechesis and Other Things We Used to Find: Twentieth-Century Research on Early Christian Teaching since Alfred"
Simon Lasair, “Current Trends in Targum Research”

An Unfriendly Bodyguard

Sun, 17 Jun 2012 15:54:50 +0000

All four Gospels report Peter’s adamant affirmation of fidelity Jesus, no matter what may come ( Matt 26:33–35; Mark 14:29–31; Luke 22:31–34; John 13:36–38). A key feature in the Synoptics’ presentation is Peter’s persistence about remaining with Jesus ( Matt 26:35; Mark 14:31; Luke 22:33). In so presenting his declaration, Matthew and Mark focus exclusively on Peter’s commitment to die with Jesus ( Matt 26:35; Mark 14:31). Beyond this affirmation, Luke also explicitly mentions Peter’s readiness to accept the lesser affliction of imprisonment with Jesus ( Luke 22:33).

Timing Blindness

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:43:09 +0000

Healing of the Man Born Blind

The account of the man who had been born blind ( John 9:1– 10:21) shares some significant features with the story of the woman at the well ( John 4:4–42). In both cases, the individuals’ births place them at or outside societal margins ( John 4:9, 27; 9:2). Yet, in the end, it is such marginal individuals whom the narrative situates as most in step with Jesus’ mission and, therefore, most in step with Yahweh’s purposes for his people ( John 4:23–24, 39–42; 9:35–38), when a different situation would typically have been expected ( John 4:20, 22; 9:13–34, 40–41; 10:19–21).

Finding Faith in Samaria

Sat, 26 May 2012 20:33:47 +0000

John’s narrative about Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman highlights the presence of faith in unexpected places.

Origin, Identity, and Mission

Sat, 19 May 2012 21:29:55 +0000

Jesus and Nicodemus, Crijn Hendricksz, 1616–1645.

John 1:13 describes a group of individuals “who were not born from blood nor from a fleshly will nor from a husband’s will but from God” (οἳ οὐκ ἐξ αἱμάτων οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρὸς ἀλλʼ ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν). For John, being born “from blood” (ἐξ αἱμάτων), “from a fleshly will” (ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός), and “from a husband’s will” (ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός) would all have been perfectly reasonable ways of describing ordinary, human generation. 1 Yet, the individuals John describes as not having been born in these ways but as having been born “from God” (ἐκ θεοῦ) are still very much human beings ( John 1:9–12). John’s point, then, is not to negate the reality of the ordinary, human, physical generation of the individuals he describes but to negate the significance of this origin for determining the identity of the “children of God” ( John 1:12; τέκνα θεοῦ).

On Neighborliness

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:22:44 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignright” width=“200” caption=“Domenico Fetti, “Parable of the Good Samaritan” (c. 1610–1623; photo credit: Wikipedia)”] [/caption]

The parable of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 10:30–35) is unique to Luke and contributes to the third Gospel’s general emphasis on socially marginalized characters and groups. 1 Introducing the parable proper is an exchange between Jesus and a νομικός (lawyer), which the lawyer begins by inquiring τί ποιήσας ζωὴν αἰώνιον κληρονομήσω; ( Luke 10:25b; what shall I do to inherit eternal life?). Both this question and the exchange that follows resemble some later rabbinic texts, not least in the lawyer’s concern to define proper Torah obedience. 2

Mburu, Qumran and the Origins of Johannine Language and Symbolism

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:00:24 +0000

[caption id=“attachment_5648” align=“alignright” width=“80” caption=“Elizabeth Mburu”] [/caption]

Due out in a little less than one month is the revised version Elizabeth Mburu’s PhD thesis, Qumran and the Origins of Johannine Language and Symbolism. In the book, Mburu

sets out to demonstrate that the sectarian Qumran document The Rule of the Community, provides linguistic clues which illuminate our understanding of how the author of the Fourth Gospel used truth terminology and expected it to be understood.

This Year's IBR Giveaway

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:27:02 +0000

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).