SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: We have attempted to indicate that the ask-logion of Matthew 7. 7a, 8a is an independent saying (probably of Jesus himself) which originally called for or described a response within the context of the earliest, eschatological preaching of the Kingdom of God. The uncontrolled and volatile possibilities inherent in this independent saying led the church to begin a process of ‘definition’ of the saying. In this process the context in which the saying is found changes and often its form undergoes changes in order to bring the saying within the church's understanding of what was possible and permissible. The pressures of the ecclesiastical and the eschatological ethical traditions are both present in the Matthean version. A very sketchy suggestion (arising from our study) for the plotting of this development is offered in the accompanying diagram.

In ancient apologetic and polemic and in modern scholarship the cult of Christ and the cult of the saints in the early church have both been derived from Greek and Roman veneration of divinities, heroes, and rulers (see section I). Here it is argued that a case for a Jewish factor in the origins of the cult of saints can be made on lines slightly different from those most generally followed, beginning from rich NT material (section II). Ancient Jewish commemoration of biblical and post-biblical saints is discussed, and its potential is underlined by instances of invocation; background conceptions of an assembly of saints are illustrated, and their appearance in legend and vision is noted (section III). The cult of Christ can then be perceived as interconnected with the cult of saints, which provided a favourable setting for its development; both were rooted in the Judaism of the Greek and Roman world (section IV).

It is one of the more surprising facts of academic life that no one has as yet attempted a detailed literary analysis of John 11.1–44. This narrative text, perhaps more than any other in the New Testament, calls out for sustained aesthetic appreciation. In many ways, John's story of the raising of Lazarus represents the pinnacle of the New Testament literature. It is a tale artfully structured, with colourful characters, timeless appeal, a sense of progression and suspense, subtle use of focus and no little sense of drama. Yet, even in the context of the well-documented paradigm shift from historical to text-immanent approaches to the Gospels, I know of no article or book which has exposed this story to a synchronic and aesthetic interpretation. This article is therefore a long overdue contribution to Fourth Gospel research. In it, I shall be examining John 11.1–44 from the following, recognizably literary, angles: context, genre, form, plot, narrator and point of view, structure, characterization, themes, implicit commentary, and reader response. My hope is that this article helps readers not only to appreciate the riches of John's storytelling, but also demonstrates in accessible terms how to approach the New Testament narrative literature.

This article, originally presented as the Presidential Address at the 2022 SNTS Meeting in Leuven, explores the ways in which Paul configures giving and ‘wealth’, both in relation to the Macedonians and Corinthians (as contributors to the Jerusalem collection) and in relation to Christ. Drawing on the dream-interpretations of Artemidorus, it illustrates how ‘wealth’ could be understood in antiquity as performance rather than possession: one is wealthy in giving and not (or not only) in having. In this light, Paul offers a striking image of the Macedonians who in their poverty were ‘rich’ in their unreserved commitment to the collection, fulfilling the dream of the poor by acquiring the dignity of giving. The Christological statement of 2 Cor 8.9 can also be understood (and integrated) in a new way: it was in his wealth (of self-sharing) that Christ became poor (in the weakness of the cross), so that the Corinthians, participating in this momentum, might become ‘rich’ in the same self-giving of Christ. Although grace and money are not identical, neither are they unrelated ‘economies’: the grace of the Christ-event transforms its beneficiaries into givers, rich in multiple forms of generosity, including material gift. The text thus evidences principles of a non-competitive mode of social relations operative in the material sphere, with the capacity to stimulate a theological challenge to dehumanising forms of capitalism.

On the basis of the semantics of ἀνίστημι and ἐγείρω and the nature of resurrected bodies in ancient Judaism and ancient paganism, one can conclude that Paul could not have conceived of a resurrection of Jesus unless he believed the tomb was empty.

Numerous scholars have argued that in Luke-Acts the location of sacred space or divine presence passes from the Jerusalem temple to Jesus, Christian believers, or both; in Acts, this transfer is understood as integral to the universal mission. The present article argues that such studies overlook the important motif of heaven as temple, which plays a role in Jesus’ trial and crucifixion and the Stephen and Cornelius episodes. Using Edward Soja's spatial theory, previous studies’ binary categorisation of temple space is critiqued. The heavenly temple disrupts and reconstitutes understandings of sacred space, and thus undergirds the universal spread of the Way.

Bei der sprachlichen Darstellung eschatologischer Themen scheinen Metaphern, die auf räumlichen Kategorien aufruhen, eine bevorzugte Rolle zu spielen. Das wird in vier Schritten an ausgewählten Texten aus Antike und frühem Christentum, die es in irgendeiner Weise mit der ‘Behausung’ zu tun haben, gezeigt. In der Alkestis des Euripides spiegelt die Anlage des Hades den Lebensraum der Oberwelt wieder. Platon schafft im Phaidon einen eigenen Weltenraum, um seine These von der Unsterblichkeit der Seele zu illustrieren. In Joh 14 bedarf unter anderem das Verhältnis der ‘vielen Bleiben’ in 14.2 zum ‘Bleibe Nehmen’ von Vater und Sohn beim Glaubenden in 14.23 einer Erklärung. Als platonisierende Fortschreibung des Modells aus Joh 14 erweist sich die Erzählung vom himmlischen Palast in der 2. Praxis der Thomasakten. Als ein gemeinsamer Fluchtpunkt wird abschließend der Raum der Erinnerung thematisiert.

This essay offers a reading of 2 Cor 12.7–9 in light of a rabbinic story of Moses' ascent to heaven (b. Šabb. 88b-89a). After an exploration of Moses in 2 Corinthians the author argues that vv. 7–9, like vv. 2–4, constitute an ascent report (vv. 2–4). This ascent report, it is maintained, is structurally parallel to Moses' heavenly ascent in b. Šabb. 88b-89a. Early traditions of Moses' ascent to heaven and dominance over angels suggest that Paul knew a form of the Mosaic ascent, and parodied it to highlight his weakness and paradoxical authority in vv. 7–9.

Jacob's blessing of his youngest son Benjamin (Gen 49.27) was widely understood in the early Church as a prophecy of that most (in)famous Benjaminite, the apostle Paul. This exegesis enjoyed enduring popularity and can be traced to every corner of the Roman world. It is also early: it was already well established by the time of its earliest surviving witnesses at the end of the second century. But if it predates the late second century, when did it originate? While we can only speculate, this paper offers reasons for supposing that this exegesis may reach back into the first century.

This article argues that the Wisdom of Solomon complicates Martinus C. de Boer's typology of two ‘tracks’ of Jewish apocalyptic eschatology (‘forensic apocalyptic eschatology’ and ‘cosmological apocalyptic eschatology’). Wisdom, which entails both ‘forensic’ depictions of an eschatological courtroom (5.1–14) and ‘cosmological’ depictions of cosmic war (5.15–23), offers a cosmology fundamentally incompatible with the cosmology presumed in de Boer's ‘cosmological apocalyptic eschatology’. Instead of envisioning eschatological justice as the result of a divine invasion, Wisdom envisions it as the result of divine pervasion. That is, cosmological eschatology in Wisdom entails a fully functioning, divinely pervaded cosmos operating as it was intended to operate. Wisdom innovates within Jewish apocalyptic tradition by employing the mythological idiom of apocalypticism to defend the philosophical claim that the cosmos is just and facilitates life for those who are likewise just.

It is generally agreed among contemporary scholars that the modern critique of the authorship claim of the New Testament letters addressed to Timothy and Titus originated in early nineteenth-century Germany with the studies of Schmidt and Schleiermacher on 1 Timothy. However, a late eighteenth-century study by the British clergyman Edward Evanson challenges this consensus as it proves Titus to have been suspect of pseudonymity before. This ‘new’ perspective found in Evanson's neglected source also nuances the common assumption that from its very beginnings the critical campaign against the letters' authenticity was mainly driven by linguistic considerations.

These three short papers were delivered in the ‘Quaestiones disputatae’ session at the 71st General Meeting of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, held at McGill University, Montreal, on 3 August 2016. The session was chaired by Professor Carl Holladay, President of the Society.

The idea of δοξα is a crucial theme of the Fourth Gospel and a test case for scholarly approaches. Starting from two recent monographs, the article develops the central issues to be discussed. In debate with the approaches of Bultmann, Käsemann, and Bornkamm, it is shown that the Johannine narrative is focussed on the act of ‘glorification’ in Jesus' hour, which the author considers foretold in Isaiah and in which the universal salvation is rooted. The Johannine image of Christ as revealing his glory during his earthly ministry is, therefore, a retrojection from the post-Easter perspective. Even more is the notion of his preexistent glory a final consequence rooted in the view of the glorification of the crucified one in his ‘hour’.

The angels still do not know how to sing during Christmas night. Some have three lines in Luke 2.14, others only two. Some have good liturgical hymns in their textbooks, others must use bad prose versions. This article reconstructs a Hebrew version with its focus on the righteous remnant of Israel, the Anawim in Jerusalem who saw Jesus as the beginning of the restoration of Israel, and goes on to analyse the original and the liturgical versions in Greek, different Latin translations and renderings into Syriac and Coptic. Finally it gives some later interpretations of the canticle in literature, art and music. There are good reasons to include much more of reception history into the NT discipline.

A close analysis of the report of 2 Pet 3.4, paying attention to its precise wording, and a careful reading of the author's response to it in the verses that follow show that the prevailing interpretation of the scoffers' eschatological mockery is unsound. The target of the scoffers' criticism was not so much the parousia of Jesus as the OT promise of a final, eschatological irruption underlying it. Their scepticism was founded neither on the failure of Jesus to come back within a generation, nor on a denial of divine intervention. Rather, it was based on the long period of time that had elapsed since the promise was originally made and the assumption that the eschatological promise involved the prospect of cosmic destruction, which the scoffers rejected on philosophical grounds.

The polarity between ‘hierarchical’ and ‘egalitarian’ perspectives on the relationship of male and female is not the best way to approach this passage (1 Cor 11.2–16), which interprets this relationship as one of interdependence. This interdependence is expressed in the shared practices of prophecy and prayer, in which the dialogue between God and the congregation is articulated. In Paul's proposed modification to these practices, female head-covering – probably a veil – serves as a symbol of women's freedom from an erotic basis for the relationship of male and female derived from creation.

Many current Matthean scholars argue that Matthew employs the phrase ‘kingdom of heaven’ as a circumlocution for the divine name. However, by analysing the author's rhetorical and sociological strategies one finds that ‘kingdom of heaven’ combines with other ‘heavenly’ language (especially ‘Father in heaven’) to reaffirm the readers' identity as the true people of God. This language defends Jesus as a Davidic messiah, showing that he came to establish a heavenly, not earthly, kingdom. Furthermore, the ‘heavenly’ language reinforces the disciples' commitment to Jesus in the midst of persecution, reminding them that their identity, affirmation, and goal are in heaven.

One of the more neglected pericopes in the Fourth Gospel is the so-called ‘Walking on the Water’(John 6. 16–21). Scholars have discussed the passage largely in the context of the debate concerning John's sign source or his dependence on the Synoptics, notably Mark, and have done so with an eye not so much to the substance of John's account as to its importance in the sequence of events in John 6.1 Treatment of the passage in itself has occurred almost exclusively in commentaries.2 The miraculous crossing of the lake has regularly been judged to be merely ‘a miracle within a miracle’, so that the main point of the passage remains Jesus' walking on the water3 or his epiphanic self-manifestation (έγώ είμι).4

New Testament manuscripts have been grouped by scholars into ‘Texts’ like Hort's Neutral, Western, Alexandrian, and Syrian. They have been grouped in ‘Families’ like Family I and Family Π, and into ‘Text-types’ and subgroups of types—as in the work of von Soden. The question as to the significance of these groupings of New Testament manuscripts can be answered by taking either of two sharply opposed positions. The first regards these groupings as of paramount importance; the second sees no importance in them. Both these positions have been taken by a number of scholars in modern study of New Testament manuscripts. A third mediating position is possible, and it is the purpose of this paper to urge that it be taken and to point out its implications for specific procedures in future study of New Testament manuscripts.