Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology – serie

The plurality of Gospel traditions constituted one of the perplexing phenomena of early Christian history. Little wonder that many attempted to explain the differences away. Gospel Harmonies were meant to demonstrate the factual unity of early Jesus traditions. Tatian has to his name one of the earliest harmonies, probably the most successful example: the so-called Diatessaron. Of this work, only indirect traces remain. This fact has made the reconstruction of Tatian's harmony one of the classic challenges for students of early Christian traditions. The present volume is a collection of studies about the quest for a lost book, a book that has been missing for over 1500 years now. It hasn't vanished, however, without a trace. We do not only know for sure that a Christian convert, called Tatian, wrote a Gospel Harmony in Rome around 172, ample indirect evidence of its existence is still available: a library of Gospel Harmonies, commentaries and translations full of probable or possible vestiges of its structure and contents. We know the title of the book - Diatessaron - and why it was written - to compose one homogeneous Gospel Harmony in the early centuries of Christianity, not only because the idea of one Gospel was attractive to many, but also because it was a quite intelligent composition. One can easily see why the Diatessaron could become a model for other attempts to construct a Gospel Harmony in later days.

Bibelauslegung - das wird von Theologen manchmal vergessen - ist nicht das Privileg von Gelehrten innerhalb der Mauern der Universität oder von Predigern auf der Kanzel, sondern geschieht ebenso am Schreibtisch des Romanschreibers, des Poeten, des Librettisten und Komponisten, im Atelier des bildenden Künstlers und in den Filmstudios von Hollywood. Die Bibelauslegung nahm einst ihren Anfang, aber ist keineswegs an ihr Ende gekommen. Schon bevor die Grenzen der Bibelbücher festgelegt waren, fand Auslegung statt. Sobald die Grenzen der Bücher fixiert waren, wurden sie die Quelle eines immer breiter anschwellenden Stroms der Auslegung in unterschiedlichen Formen, die zusammen eine faszinierende, sich noch immer weiter ausbreitende Welt bilden. Anhand der herausfordernden Erzählungen über den Helden Simson, wie er in den Kapiteln 13-16 im Bibelbuch Richter beschrieben wird, wird der Leser in diesen Studien in die Welt der Interpretation eingeführt und ihm ein Eindruck der vielgestaltigen und reich schattierten Formen der Auslegung vermittelt.

Die Untersuchung entfaltet die jüdische und christliche Auslegungsgeschichte eines in verschiedener Hinsicht provozierenden Kapitels der Bibel von der Antike bis in die Reformationszeit. Die Geschichte von Juda und Tamar in Genesis 38 scheint hierzu besonders geeignet, weil sich unterschiedliche literarisch-kontextuelle, historische, ethische und gesamtbiblische Problemfelder auftun. Die Analyse der Rezeptionsgeschichte erweist, dass die chronologische Einbindung in die Josefgeschichte immer als problematisch betrachtet wurde, wenn Judas Enkel 22 Jahre später bei der Übersiedlung nach Ägypten dabei gewesen sein sollen. In besonderer Weise wird der Frage nachgegangen, warum die Josefgeschichte durch dieses Kapitel unterbrochen wird und welche Funktion es in seinem jetzigen Zusammenhang erfüllt. Wie ist das Verhalten Judas und Tamars ethisch bewertet worden? Welche Rolle hat dabei gespielt, dass Juda und Tamar Vorfahren von David und vom Messias bzw. von Christus sind? Dr. Walter Hilbrands stellt die Unterschiede und Gemeinsamkeiten der doppelten Nachgeschichte von Gen 38 übersichtlich dar. Allen originalsprachlichen Quellen wird eine Übersetzung beigefügt. Besonders die lateinischen Kommentare des Mittelalters werden in diesem Zusammenhang neu erarbeitet und bewertet. Ein Ausblick auf die Exegese der Neuzeit erweist in den genannten Fragenkomplexen eine Verarmung gegenüber der reichen und bis heute ertragreichen jüdisch-christlichen Auslegungstradition.

Understanding the book of Revelation means understanding its imagery. This puzzling book contains a fascinating world of pictures and images ¿ every chapter and every page of it is filled with different kinds of images coming from different traditions and developing different sorts of meaning. The search for the origins of the seer's imagery, its cultural, social-historical, and religious meaning, the problem of Johannine rhetoric, and reader responses to the text are important tasks that merit further discussion. The contributions of this collection explore different aspects of this intriguing field by discussing selected issues of the wide range of materials. The contributors different methodological approaches and apply different tools adopted from a variety of disciplines, such as narrative criticism, intertextuality, social/historical criticism, history of religious comparison, gender studies. The book contains contributions by David Barr, Johannes Beutler, Marco Frenschkowski, Steven Friesen, László Attila Hubbes, Konrad Huber, Michael Labahn, Kirsi Siitonen, Rebecca Skaggs / Thomas Doyle, Hanna Stenström and Robyn J. Whitaker. Most of the articles were presented and discussed at the seminar Early Christianity between Judaism and Hellenism at the international meeting of the SBL/EABS in Vienna, Austria, 2007. This collection of essays brings new impulses and new methodological and hermeneutical approaches into the discussion on how to understand the imagery in Revelation.

Bernhard Lang, bekannter Autor kulturwissenschaftlicher Bücher über Bibel und christliche Religionsgeschichte, bietet im vorliegenden Band eine Auswahl seiner Essays. Leitthemen sind "Krieg" und "Himmel". Folgende biblische Themen werden unter dem Titel Buch der Kriege behandelt: Das Buch der Kriege: Eine kurze Lektüre der Bibel - Von der kriegerischen zur nativistischen Kultur: Das alte Israel im Licht der Kulturanthropologie - Die Leviten, eine kriegerische Priesterzunft - Der Frevel der Väter: Eine Interpretation des Dekalogs - "Du sollst nicht nach der Frau eines anderen verlangen", rechtsgeschichtlich betrachtet - Klugheit als Ethos und Weisheit als Beruf - Das Rätsel der Eucharistie aus religionshistorischer Sicht - Der Orientreisende als Exeget. Die Essays im Buch des Himmels gelten der Kulturgeschichte des Christentums: Was sagen Theologen privat über das ewige Leben? - Wiedersehen im Himmel in John Bunyans "Pilgerreise" und bei William Blake - Leben im Weltall: Fontenelle, Huygens, Swedenborg - Das Jenseits in der katholischen Theologie - Predigt als "intellektuelles Ritual" - Prophet, Priester und Virtuose bei Max Weber - Die Josefserzählung bei Goethe und Voltaire - Latein in der katholischen Kirche - Persönliche Frömmigkeit.

Fokkelman states, “The Bible does not contain one single instance of small talk.” This thesis examines relational dialogue between the Deity and human individuals in Genesis by separating the conversations from narrative through lines that most often inform biblical analysis. I am interested in snapshots of character developed in intimate conversations, when ‘face to face’ dialogue is allowed to take center stage. These conversations then become surprising and unexpected. In them the Deity talks with the first human to commit murder, not his regarded brother; recognizes a foreign slave as a unique and valued individual yet rebukes the chosen matriarch; potential heirs are dismissed and a legitimate successor only promised. All the while humans argue, cry, wrestle, laugh, express a limited worldview, while demanding a response from their Deity. These conversations challenge our opinion of a distant Deity and push the reader to redefine their understanding of the Divine/Human relationship.

Beyond the Breach: An Exegetical Study of John 4:1-42 as a Text of Jewish-Samaritan Reconciliation focuses on the ethical element of loving the enemy in John which challenges the earlier consensus that one cannot find the theme of loving the enemy/neighbor in John’s gospel, be it explicitly or implicitly. This study defends the position that in the gospel of John there are elements of reconciling love, a depiction of loving one’s enemies, and in particular in the Samaritan episode (John 4:1-42). This book critically analyzes existing research on the theme of Jewish-Samaritan relations and ‘the world behind’ John 4:1-42. It makes use of recent methods in biblical studies to interpret the complexity of texts, underlying themes and concerns in the way John 4:1-42 describes the Samaritan mission of the Johannine Jesus.

Several geographical settings are associated with John the Baptist in the first-century texts in which he figures. The wilderness of Judea (Matthew), the environs of the Jordan (Luke), and Bethany beyond the Jordan (John) are some of the places where John is said to have preached and baptized. The Baptist’s execution is associated with Machaerus (Josephus), Galilee (Mark), and – as is argued for in the present work – Judea (Matthew). This study focuses on the significance of these and other geographical settings. In contrast to earlier studies it will do so from a narrative-critical rather than a historical angle. It turns out that although the specifics are unique in each case, a common pattern can be discerned in that the geographical settings in which the Baptist appears contribute to the characterization of the Baptist in relation to the main characters and themes in the narratives in question.

Influential research by authors like Foucault and Arendt revealed the significant role of power in shaping relationships in society and faith communities. This volume contributes to this research trend by analysing the formative role of power in early Christian documents and communities. An introductory essay investigates theoretical approaches to power and the nexus between power and religion. It functions as orientation for the exegetical analyses of individual texts in the rest of the volume. Two contributions analyse power dynamics in the Bible generally and nine others investigate its use in specific early Christian texts. They attend to the vocabulary of power as well as the networks and actors involved in the execution of diverse forms of power. They focus on how these dynamics operate specifically in the Gospels, Pauline texts and traditions and the Apocalypse. They show that power can be abusive and dangerous, but it also is a positive, restraining force.

The essays of this book show that we do not have to choose between Luke as a theologian and Luke as a writer, between a Greek and a Jewish Luke, between a conservative Luke and an innovative and creative one, between the Luke of the Gospel and the Luke of Acts. Luke’s literary qualities are universally recognized, from the sophistication of his composition and writing, to the way he combines allusions to the Scriptures of Israel and to Hellenistic culture. In both his works, Marc Rastoin argues, Luke shows his knowledge of the historiography of his time, all the while never ceasing to be a theologian. Acts, often considered to be simply an interesting account of the early church, has just as much theological value as the Gospel. It was a key ecclesiological, and thus pneumatological, decision for Luke to have written such a narrative in two parts of equal weight.

Employing the traditional tools of historical-critical methodology as well as a selected mix of techniques from newer literary criticism, this book provides a close analysis of the syntactic and semantic content of Phil 3:7-11 in its immediate and broader context, concluding that this passage represents a very high christological statement on the part of Paul, and discusses some of the implications of these findings in regard to the interpretation of Phil 2:5-11, the wisdom ambience of the letters of Paul, and relevance for modern christologies.In Philippians 3:7-11, Paul makes a very strong statement about how much Christ Jesus means to him. This study seeks to demonstrate how the passage within its context gives expression to a high christological statement which is frequently disregarded in treatments of Pauline christology.Chapter One presents a concise summary of the history of exegesis of Phil 3:7-11 and identifies the elements present within that history which indicated the desirability of a more in-depth treatment. Chapter Two focuses on the entire letter to the Philippians as the context of interpretation of Phil 3:7-11, beginning with a discussion of the methodology employed in the remainder of the work.Chapter Three focuses on Phil 3:7-11, first considering the textual variants within these verses, then describing in detail the relation of the complex sentence consisting of vv. 8-11. Chapters Four and Five deal with those issues of semantics in vv. 8-11 which require more extensive treatment. Chapter Six returns to a consideration of the meaning of knowledge of Christ, concluding with a consideration of the results of this study for current discussions of New Testament Christology.