Deryck Sheriffs (London School of Theology)
Summary:
This paper presents a selection of evidence for the importance of a sense of continuity to individuals and their families by drawing on a variety of sources, including story, wisdom reflection, grave marker, inscribed memorial stone with portrait, ghost ritual, adoption document and will. The new covenant demonstrates God's response to this deep-seated human need for continuity.
Divisions Over Leaders And Food Offered To Idols: The Parallel Thematic Structures of 1 Corinthians 4:6-21 and 8:1-11
E. Coye Still, III (North Carolina)
Summary:
How significant is 1 Corinthians 1–4 in the epistle as a whole? Paul approaches specifically the problem of food offered to idols in essentially the same manner as he approaches the problem of divisions over leaders. More precisely, 1 Corinthians 8:1–11:1 appears to follow closely Paul's pattern of argumentation in the climatic 1 Corinthians 4:6-21. In Paul's remarkably similar approaches to different presenting problems do we have a clue that Paul's own apostolic hardships are a cruciform paradigm for the pastoral counsel throughout 1 Corinthians 5-15?
Insights from Cicero on Paul's Reasoning in 1 Corinthians 12-14: Love Sandwich or Five Course Meal?
James Patrick (Jesus College, Cambridge)
Summary:
The 'love chapter' in 1 Corinthians is usually thought to be a digression by Paul from his main argument about spiritual gifts. However, applying the tool of classical rhetoric to the passage reveals a previously unnoticed structure behind our chapter divisions. From the principles of good speech preparation (explained by Cicero inDe Partitione Oratoria) Paul has arranged his discussion of spiritual gifts into the five standard parts: introduction, statement of facts with thesis statement, presentation of positive arguments, refutation of opponents' views and conclusion. In this way one can identify the key summary statements, the skilful argumentation of Paul, the apparent views of his opponents, and the contextual function of chapter thirteen. This paper makes a thorough analysis of these chapters according to the theory in Cicero's handbook, summarised in a chart at the end.
Judgement or Vindication?: Deuteronomy 32 in Hebrews 10:30
John Proctor (Westminster College, Cambridge)
Summary:
There is a case for the translation 'vindicate' rather than 'judge' in Hebrews 10:30, which is itself a biblical quotation from Deuteronomy 32. Four arguments contribute. The first is lexical: the verb krivnw often does mean 'vindicate' in the LXX. The second is intertextual: Hebrews adopts Deuteronomy sensitively, and Deuteronomy has vindication in view. The third is text-critical: an unusual text-form in Hebrews raises the possibility that targumic readings may have insight to give. The fourth is rhetorical: the reading 'vindicate' sharpens our awareness of the author's persuasive strategy in this part of Hebrews
Antithetical Feminine-Urban Imagery and a Tale of Two Women-Cities in the Book of Revelation
Gordon Campbell (Faculté Libre de Théologie Réformée, Aix-en-Provence)
Summary:
A major theme of the Book of Revelation is the woman-city, incorporating various women and cities in the unfolding story. The women are Jezebel, 2:20-23; the woman clothed with the sun, 12:1-6; the whore astride the monster, 17:1-6; and the bride, 19:6-9a, 21:9-10. The cities include seven Church-cities in Roman Asia, 2:1–3:22;Jerusalem, 11:1-13; Babylon, 14:8; 18:1-24; and New Jerusalem, 21–22. Revelation integrates them all into an unprecedented orchestration of a binary motif borrowed from prophetic denunciations of ancient cities – Yahweh's marriage to his beloved people and that people's spiritual adultery. The result is both a complex blending of feminine-urban imagery and a double metaphor whose fullest development is an elaborate literary contrast between two women-cities, Babylon-the-whore and New Jerusalem-the-bride. Sustained antithetical parallelism conditioning theme development makes the woman-city a funda mental ly ambiguous reality and a powerful dramatisation of sinful humanity's fickle response to God. For believing inhabitants of earthly cities, tragic tension between the call to faithful belonging and the lure of idolatrous affiliations is ultimately resolved through doubly faithful divine action which removes the squalid whore-city, Babylon, and establishes the glorious bride-city, New Jerusalem.
Did the Apostolic Church Baptise Babies? A Seismological Approach
Anthony N. S. Lane (London School of Theology)
Summary:
The direct evidence from the first century is insufficient to establish conclusively whether or not the apostolic church baptised babies. An alternative approach is to look at the practice of the post-apostolic church and to ask what must have happened in apostolic times to account for this later development. Unequivocal evidence is not found until the beginning of the third century and for the next two centuries and more we see a variety of practice, with the children of Christian homes being baptised at any and every age. Significantly, no one claimed that anyone else's practice was unapostolic or wrong in principle. Given that oral tradition offered real, though limited, access to the past, the most natural explanation is that this acceptance of a variety of practice goes back to apostolic times.
The Confusion of Epistemology in The West and Christian Mission
J. Andrew Kirk (Lechlade, Gloucestershire)
Summary:
Western culture is facing a major intellectual crisis, because it is confused about the meaning of truth, the relationship between belief and knowledge, and the nature and use of language. This article points out some of the consequences and suggests a new way of meeting contemporary cognitive challenges to communicating Christian faith.
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Dissertation Summaries
Issues in Text and Translation Technique in the Gamma- Gamma Section of 3 Reigns (1 Kings)Andrzej Szymon Turkanik (St Edmund's College, Cambridge)
First paragraph:
This dissertation is a contribution to the study of the transmission history of the Samuel-Kings corpus, examining the translation technique employed by the translator of the gamma-gamma section of 3 Reigns (1 Kgs 2:12–21:43). For the most part the translation follows the Hebrew closely. At points, however, one encounters significant differences. Since the two major witnesses, i.e. the Masoretic Text (MT) and the Old Greek (G), differ, it is only proper to ask what the differences can be attributed to. Following the discovery of the DSS, the majority of modern scholars assert that the variations are due to a different text tradition (Vorlage) rather than intentional or unintentional changes introduced by the translator. Whether this is the case or some other factors have influenced the text of G, has been the subject of investigation.
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