Showing papers in "Horizons in Biblical Theology in 2019"
TL;DR: The authors examined the story of Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28) in relation to David's judgment concerning Mephibosheth (2 Sam 19:25-31) and in relation with four "resurrection"-type stories in the book of Kings.
Abstract:
This essay examines the story of Solomon and the two prostitutes (1 Kgs 3:16-28) in relation to David’s judgment concerning Mephibosheth (2 Sam 19:25-31) and in relation to four “resurrection”-type stories in the book of Kings. Readers have traditionally interpreted Solomon’s judgment favorably, though recently some have argued that Solomon’s wisdom is ironic. This essay argues that the Solomon of Kings presents as an irreducible paradox, as both an ideal and an anti-ideal. Read in light of 2 Sam 19:25-31, 1 Kgs 3:16-28 suggests that ideal Solomon surpasses his father in judgment through his restoration of a conceptually “dead” child to its mother. When viewed in this way, Solomon’s wisdom can be understood to launch a life-preservation typology central to the book’s theological hope. Reconsideration of Solomon’s character from this vantage point helps to illumine New Testament references to Solomon in both Matthew and Luke.
2 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the underlying problem that needs oracular law in the account of the blasphemer in Lev 24:10-23 is the ambiguity of the criminal's identity, which is employed in the narrative as a literary device by the redactor of the narrative introducing the universal applicability of the blasphemy law that includes both natives and foreigners.
Abstract:
This article argues that, instead of the nature of the crime or its punishment, the underlying problem that needs oracular law in the account of the blasphemer in Lev 24:10-23 is the ambiguity of the criminal’s identity. This ambiguity is employed in the narrative as a literary device by which the redactor of the narrative introduces the universal applicability of the blasphemy law that includes both natives and foreigners. By so doing, the redactor of Lev 24 serves the Holiness Code’s theological agenda, namely, the extension of holiness to all inhabitants of the land since pollution of the land by any of its inhabitants may eventually cause the expulsion of the whole people from the land. To this end, the redactor rewrites the Covenant Code and frames it with the narrative of the mixed-pedigree blasphemer.
1 citations
TL;DR: Barclay as discussed by the authors examines the understandings of grace found in 2 Thessalonians and finds that it does not perfect the incongruity between the worthiness of the recipient and the offer of grace.
Abstract:
Drawing on the aspects of grace that John M. G. Barclay identifies, this essay examines the understandings of grace found in 2 Thessalonians. We find that 2 Thessalonians “perfects” (pushes to the extreme) the superabundance and emphasizes the priority of God’s gift of grace. Unlike what Barclay finds in Romans and Galatians, 2 Thessalonians does not perfect the incongruity of grace. It allows that there is a sense in which God has chosen the appropriate people to give grace. Because it does not perfect the incongruity between the worthiness of the recipient and the offer of grace, its view of grace is similar to that of the Wisdom of Solomon. Seeing that 2 Thessalonians does not perfect incongruity as Paul does in Romans and Galatians may offer a new perspective from which to think about its authorship.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a response to the arguments of Willis, Sumney, and MacDonald highlights and develops their key points, and concludes that the congruity between believers and the Kingdom of God is based on the agency of God and the prior gift of new life.
Abstract: This response to Willis, Sumney, and MacDonald highlights and develops their key points. Reinforcing Willis’ reading of gift-reciprocity in Philippians, seen even in the self-giving (non-“taking”) of Christ (Phil 2.6-11), it is argued that Paul views gifts in Christ as operative simultaneously at two levels—gifts circulate among believers, but also come from God and are offered to God. Sumney’s reading of 2 Thessalonians is nuanced by connecting the language of “worth” to 1 Thess 2.12: the congruity between believers and the Kingdom of God is based on the agency of God and the prior gift of new life. Further reflection is offered on the perfection of “efficacy” and its possible range of meanings. Finally, MacDonald’s reading of Ephesians is affirmed with emphasis on the Christ-gift as the key to the cosmos; the Psalm-interpretation in Ephesians 4.7-10 clarifies how this gift permeates (“fills”) all reality, as manifested first in gifts within Christ’s body.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that Job 29 provides an eudaimonic depiction of human happiness whereby virtue, combined with a number of external goods, is held up as the best possible life for human beings.
Abstract:
In this article, I argue that Job 29 provides an eudaimonic depiction of human happiness whereby virtue, combined with a number of “external goods” is held up as the best possible life for human beings. I compare Job’s vision of the “good life” with an Aristotelian conception of εὐδαιμονία and conclude that there are numerous parallels between Job and Aristotle with respect to their understanding of the “good life.” While the intimate presence of God distinguishes Job’s expectation of happiness with that of Aristotle, Job is unique among other eudaimonic texts in the Hebrew Bible in that expectations of living well are expressed in terms of virtue, rather than Torah piety. In the second portion of the article, I assess Job’s conception of human flourishing from the perspective of the divine speeches, which enlarge Job’s vision of the “good life” by bringing Job face-to-face with the “wild inhabitants” of the cosmos.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the significance of the concept of "gift" in Ephesians is highlighted and the link between ancient ideologies and practices related to gift giving and the delineation of social bonds and communal obligations where the depiction of Christ as the giver of ministerial gifts plays a crucial role.
Abstract:
With a focus on Eph 4:7-16, the article highlights the significance of the concept of “gift” in Ephesians. John Barclay’s work helps to situate the Paul of Ephesians among Jewish theologians of grace, especially the perspective of the Qumran Hodayot with respect to the incongruity of divine mercy. Moreover, the results of recent analyses of Ephesians within the Roman Imperial context, including civic and familial concepts, are pushed to a new level of understanding. The study includes an examination of the link between ancient ideologies and practices related to gift giving and the delineation of social bonds and communal obligations where the depiction of the role of Christ as the giver of ministerial gifts plays a crucial role. Ultimately, the essay goes some way to close the perceived gap between the undisputed letters and Ephesians in term of a theology of grace.
1 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore Paul's ecclesiology of the strong and the weak particularly in 8:1-14:40 by examining his address in each section and demonstrate Paul's theology of weakness as the underpinning theme of the letter.
Abstract:
While partition theorists question the integrity of 1 Corinthians based on the observation that Paul addresses a variety of subjects in distinctive ways through this missive, a consistent theme does unite letter. Paul encourages the strong and privileged to renounce their status, rights, and freedom for the sake of the weak. Thus, this article explores Paul’s ecclesiology of the strong and the weak particularly in 8:1-14:40 by examining his address in each section (8:1-11:1; 11:2-11:16; 11:17-34; 12:1-14:40). In so doing, it seeks to demonstrate Paul’s theology of weakness as the underpinning theme of the letter.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors employ a basic insight from John M. G. Barclay's book, Paul and the Gift, that the word χάρις in first-century Greek very often referred to a gift, especially his "perfection" of the word as "conditional".
Abstract:
This paper employs a basic insight from John M. G. Barclay’s book, Paul and the Gift, that the word χάρις in first-century Greek very often referred to a gift, especially his “perfection” of the word as “conditional.” In Paul’s lifetime the common cultural expectation was that the recipient of a gift accepted that a return gift was normative and expected—whether physical or not. This understanding is thoroughly discussed in Seneca, De Beneficiis which describes how the obligation to reciprocity in giving and receiving is expected of all civil persons, apart from civic position and status. This is because the function of a gift is the building or maintaining of relationships. This purpose is shown to be the case also in Philippians with reference to the passage employing the lexeme (Phil 1:7, 29; 2:6-11) and in 4:10-20 where Paul discusses the gift he received from the Philippian church.
TL;DR: An approach to hermeneutics that takes its cue from broader phenomena of perception, apprehension, and inference can provide a more illuminating theoretical discourse for evaluating contested interpretations and integrate the interpretation of art, music, ethics, and gestural action.
Abstract:
A significant body of literature rests on the premise that the most propitious way of characterizing the way we interpret linguistic signs corresponds to the practices of encoding and decoding. A sender conceives a message, encodes it in linguistic signs, transmits the message (by voice, or in handwriting, or print, or digital media) and the recipient of the message decodes it. This model itself impedes progress in textual interpretation. An approach to hermeneutics that takes its cue from broader phenomena of perception, apprehension, and inference can provide a more illuminating theoretical discourse for evaluating contested interpretations, with the additional benefit that by changing the way that we view linguistic hermeneutics, we stand to integrate our endeavors more fully with the interpretation of art, music, ethics, and gestural action.
TL;DR: The authors provide an overview of the four other articles in this special section on J. M. G. Barclay's, Paul and the Gift (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015).
Abstract:
This orientation essay provides an overview of the four other articles in this special section on J. M. G. Barclay’s, Paul and the Gift (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015). After introducing key ideas from Barclay’s work, which focuses on Paul’s letters to the Galatians and Romans, we summarize three studies in which scholars employ Barclay’s method to examine some of the shorter Pauline letters. Wendell L. Willis discusses Philippians; Jerry L. Sumney discusses 2 Thessalonians; and Margaret Y. MacDonald discusses Ephesians. This special section also includes Barclay’s responses to all three. In addition, we explain how this collection of essays originated in the work of the Disputed Paulines Section of the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature.