Die formgeschichtliche Arbeit an den Evangeien hat zur analytischen Auflösung des Evangelienrahmens und zur Erfassung der dem Evangeium vorgelagerten Überlieferungseinheiten geführt.

Stephen's speech undoubtedly stands apart among the speeches found in the Acts of the Apostles.1 The two main problems which have to be solved are: (i) its meaning and (2) its origin and background.

(i) With regard to its meaning two ideas are to be noticed. Some scholars consider this speech in the first place as an attack on the Jerusalem temple and its cult.2 On the other hand others consider it as an effort to show the Jews that they are always rebelling against God's will.3

Die Perikope von der Ehebrecherin Joh. vii. 53viii. II gehört zwar nicht zum ursprünglichen Bestand des vierten Evangeliums, beruht aber auf alter Überlieferung, so daβ viele Exegeten nicht zögern, sie für geschichtlich glaubwürdig zu halten. Aber selbst wenn die Geschichte erfunden sein sollte, dürfte man auf Grund ihres hohen Alters und ihrer vermutlichen Entstehung in Palästina annehmen, daβ sie in ihren zeitgeschichtlichen Angaben oder Andeutungen die wirklichen Verhältnisse von damals widerspiegelt. Der Abschnitt hat denn auch mehrfach die Aufmerksamkeit derer gefunden, die sich mit den Rechtsverhältnissen Judäas zur Zeit Jesu beschäftigt haben. Über eine der rechtsgeschichtlichen Fragen, die durch die Perikope aufgeworfen werden, sind sich die Ausleger bis heute noch nicht einig: Weiche Strafe war damals auf Ehebruch einer verheirateten Frau gesetzt? Die Frage kann auch so gesteilt werden: Handelt es sich bei der Ehebrecherin unserer Erzählung urn eine Verlobte oder eine Verheiratete? Es scheint, daß das zur Verfügung stehende Quellenmaterial darauf eine hinreichend gesicherte Antwort zu geben erlaubt.

The Qumrân texts have brought to light a feature of Jewish thought about angels which helps us to interpret the meaning of the phrase διά τούς άγγΈλους in I Cor. xi. 10. This phrase has been the subject of many interpretations from the time of Tertullian on. The evidence from Qumrân, however, does not just add another interpretation to the many that have already been given; rather it adds a detail to one interpretation already rather common, thus supporting it and rendering the other interpretations less probable. It is our purpose in this study to indicate the bearing of the new evidence from Qumrân on this Pauline expression.

The purpose of this note is to suggest that a consideration too often forgotten in discussions of the post-resurrection appearances is that of the normal movements of pilgrims to and from the Jerusalem festivals. It is sometimes assumed that the tradition of the disciples' return to Galilee. requires explanation, either in terms of their cowardice (a suggestion justly dismissed as a mere legend of the critics) or in the light of a dominical command. Or again, if the tradition of a journey to Galilee (however explained) is accepted as substantially right, then, by the same token, some special explanation is sought for the Lucan description of the corporate life of the Church as begining in Jerusalem.

I have elsewhere discussed the relations of Photius' gospel citations with the Greek manuscript tradition and the evidence of the versions.2 The conclusion of that discussion is that Photius' text of the Fourth Gospel is closely akin to the group of manuscripts headed by Codex Nanianus (U) and the minuscule 213 (von Soden's Io Group) and to the old Georgian version.

As is well known the punctuation of the saying of Jesus contained in these two verses presents some difficulty. The alternatives are as follows:

(1) A full stop is placed after πιντω. This punctuation is adopted by A.V. and R.V. and is presupposed by Origen, Cyril ofJerusalem, Basil, and Athanasius. The recently published Pap. Bodmer II of the early third century, which exhibits a text of the ‘Neutral’ type and which presumably originated in Egypt, also supports this punctuation.

The vigorous discussion to which the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has given rise has usually proceeded on the assumption that documents such as the Manual of Discipline and the War Scroll represent specific nd distinctive teachings of the Qumrân Community. If this is so, we are in possession of an important witness to the life and thought of one relatively small segment of first-century Judaism. But is the horizon of the scrolls necessarily so limited? There are at least two alternatives. (a) Assuming that the Qumrân Community were Essenes, Essenism may still be regarded, even after Qumrân, as a widespread phenomenon with many varied modes of expression, of which the Community at Qumrân was but one. Its library then lets us look at an Essenism which did not come into existence when the buildings at Qumrân were erected, nor perish with their destruction. (b) Even though the documents themselves are sectarian and Essene, many of the ideas contained in them may well have been the objects of common belief outside the sect and outside the wider areas of Essenism. If the type of thought which the Dead Sea Scrolls represent was widely diffused among the general population, we have in these parchments an entry, not into the mind of a small company of recluses alone, but into an important phase of religious thought in the Judaism of the Graeco-Roman period. Should this prove to be true, we shall be able with more confidence to get behind the transforming effect of two unsuccessful revolts against Roman rule, and to see more clearly the true features of popular religion before the wars.