Religion, St. Paul – Page 2 – Corinthian Matters

Corinthiaka, July 31, 2015

by David PettegrewJuly 31, 2015August 3, 2015Leave a comment

Here is this Friday’s dose of Corinthiaka–the ephemeral material, news, and blogs to go online over the last two weeks. Or at least the material that my alerts captured.

Archaeology and Classics:

One of those sweet 3D video fly-overs from Lechaion to Corinth in the Second century. Lots of inaccuracy combined with imaginative reconstruction here, but also some value. I love the view down the road from Lechaion (Georgios Terzis, “History in 3D” @DailyMotion)

Corinth3D_2

Research Gate and Academia continue to be great venues for accessing sometimes hard-to-find scholarship:
- House and Social Space in the Middle to Late Helladic Corinthia (Siennicka)
- Late Byzantine Coins from Corinth (Zervos)
The most interesting find from my scholar feed: Harry Pottery and the Classical World

New Testament:

Paul as a mega-pastor’s exemplar (Jonathan Merritt @Religion News Source)
The Gospel according to 1 Corinthians 13, Part 1 and Part 2 (Fred Clark @Patheos)
“Video Resources on Corinth & Corinthians” (Matthew Malcolm @cryptotheology)
Here’s another one, with a few inaccuracies: “Paul Comes to Corinth (Acts 18:01)” (Scott Brenner, 4 Minute Youtube Video)

Modern Greece:

Wildfire Risk in the Corinthia (To Vima)
Music Videos of Νατάσσα Μποφίλιου from the Loutraki Music Festival (YouTube)

Reading 1 Corinthians with Philosophically Educated Women (Barnes)

by David PettegrewJuly 28, 2015July 28, 2015Leave a comment

The last issue of the Review of Biblical Literature includes a critical review of Nathan Barnes’ book, Reading 1 Corinthians with Philosophically Educated Women, Eugene, OR, 2014: Wipf and Stock Publishers. The book, which revises Barnes’ PhD dissertation on the subject (2012), explores how philosophically educated women in the young Corinthian church would have interacted with concepts such as family, marriage, and patronage. As the publisher page describes the work:

“Women were involved in every popular philosophy in the first century, and the participation of women reaches back to the Greek origins of these schools. Philosophers often taught their daughters, wives, and other friends the basic tenets of their thinking. The Isthmian games and a tolerance for independent thinking made Corinth an attractive place for philosophers to engage in dialogue and debate, further facilitating the philosophical education of women. The activity of philosophically educated women directly informs our understanding of 1 Corinthians when Paul uses concepts that also appear in popular moral philosophy. This book explores how philosophically educated women would interact with three such concepts: marriage and family, patronage, and self-sufficiency.”

With the reviewer, I am skeptical that there were many elite educated women among the first Christian communities in Corinth. Recent scholarship has significantly undermined the older view that elite and well-born individuals factored significantly in the Corinthian ekklesia by calling attention to the poor and their worlds defined by tremendous contrast and inequalities. So, Timothy Brookins concludes in his review of Barnes’ work, “Given that there probably were no “elites” in the Corinthian church, that many elites were not philosophically educated, and that the phenomenon of philosophically educated women was very rare as it was (Barnes’s catalog notwithstanding), it seems difficult to sustain the case, given the evidence provided, that Paul’s church really contained any elite, philosophically educated women.” The debate over rich and poor in early Christian communities is not over, of course, but one must acknowledge that the scholarly pendulum has swung back to the poor.

Still, as Brookin notes in his review, Reading 1 Corinthians with Philosophically Educated Women offers valuable insights into how individuals in these developing communities may have heard Paul’s message and instructions. A couple of excerpts from the review:

In this book Nathan Barnes asks how Paul’s interaction with the ideas of popular contemporary Hellenistic moral philosophy might have been heard by wealthy, “philosophically educated women” within the church at Corinth. We follow the text of 1 Corinthians through the lenses of two, (re)constructed, philosophically educated women—Sophia, a sympathetic listener; and Fortuna, an unsympathetic one—examining how each of these women might have responded to Paul’s discussions of patronage (esp. 1 Cor 1–4), marriage and family (esp. 1 Cor 7), and self-sufficiency (esp. 1 Cor 9)….

Despite these criticisms, the book makes a valuable and much needed contribution to the field. It reminds us of the critical importance of understanding the value systems of the first century to interpretation of the New Testament and, through its unique approach, constrains us to listen to Paul’s interaction with those systems through the ears of “real” (i.e., hypothetically reconstructed) Corinthian church members. Barnes’s choice to follow two listeners separately rather than reading through a homogeneous audience-collectivity helps illustrate the point that not everyone in the ancient world thought in the same way (which those of us who “model” the ancient world can easily forget). At many points the exercise helps raise our awareness to issues that we do not always bear in mind (e.g., To what extent were Paul’s letters constrained by the responses he anticipated from the church’s wealthier patrons?). Attention to more “marginal” members of the ancient community, especially those who have been left to the sidelines in modern scholarship, represents a welcome contribution as well. In that regard, one hopes that this book represents one of many more studies to come.”

Read the rest of the review here.

Wiley Blackwell Companion to Patristics (ed. Parry)

by David PettegrewJuly 27, 2015July 27, 2015Leave a comment

What do Patristic studies have to do with Corinth? Quite a lot. One of the interesting bits of research I completed over the last several years was working through the Roman and late antique references to Corinth, Kenchreai, and the Isthmus in the TLG to study the changing patterns of discourse about the city and region. There are well over a thousand late references to Corinthian matters found in late antique and Byzantine commentaries, homilies, theological reflections, and practical spiritual treatises on the Corinthian correspondence. Most, of course, are reflections on St. Paul’s letters to the Corinthians: John Chrysostom’s homilies on both letters survive completely, and a good selection of other late antique sources have been translated in Gerald Bray’s Commentaries on Romans and 1-2 Corinthians, one volume of the Ancient Christian Texts series (IVP Academic).

The patristic discourse about the city and region may not provide much detail about Corinth’s social and economic life but the patterns are nonetheless interesting. I have noted in The Isthmus of Corinth that the Christianization of the educated classes of the Mediterranean created a new discourse about Corinth and its sites. Men and women were thinking, talking, hearing, and writing about Corinth as much as (if not more than) they had in earlier periods but in fundamentally different ways.

This new Wiley Blackwell Companion to Patristics should be relevant to understanding these late antique and Byzantine interpreters. Here are the details:

Parry, Ken, ed. Wiley Blackwell Companion to Patristics. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

The Publisher Page
Sections available for preview in Google Books

“This comprehensive volume brings together a team of distinguished scholars to create a wide-ranging introduction to patristic authors and their contributions to not only theology and spirituality, but to philosophy, ecclesiology, linguistics, hagiography, liturgics, homiletics, iconology, and other fields.

• Challenges accepted definitions of patristics and the patristic period – in particular questioning the Western framework in which the field has traditionally been constructed
• Includes the work of authors who wrote in languages other than Latin and Greek, including those within the Coptic, Armenian, Syriac, and Arabic Christian traditions
• Examines the reception history of prominent as well as lesser-known figures, debating the role of each, and exploring why many have undergone periods of revived interest
• Offers synthetic accounts of a number of topics central to patristic studies, including scripture, scholasticism, and the Reformation
• Demonstrates the continuing role of these writings in enriching and inspiring our understanding of Christianity”

CONTENTS

Preface x

Notes on Contributors xi

Part I Introduction 1

1 The Nature and Scope of Patristics 3
Ken Parry

Part II Collecting the Fathers 13

2 Byzantine Florilegia 15
Alexander Alexakis

3 Modern Patrologies 51
Angelo Di Berardino

Part III Studies in Reception History I: Individual Fathers 69

4 Irenaeus of Lyons 71
Denis Minns

5 Clement of Alexandria 84
Piotr Ashwin ]Siejkowski

6 Origen of Alexandria 98
Mark Edwards

7 Athanasius of Alexandria 111
David M. Gwynn

8 Ephrem of Nisibis 126
Andrew Palmer

9 John Chrysostom 141
Wendy Mayer

10 Augustine of Hippo 155
Kazuhiko Demura

11 Cyril of Alexandria 170
Hans van Loon

12 Shenoute of Atripe 184
Janet Timbie

13 Nestorius of Constantinople 197
George Bevan

14 Dionysius the Areopagite 211
István Perczel

15 Severus of Antioch 226
Youhanna Nessim Youssef

16 Gregory the Great 238
Bronwen Neil

17 Maximos the Confessor 250
Andrew Louth

18 John of Damascus 264
Vassilis Adrahtas

19 Gregory of Narek 278
Abraham Terian

20 Gregory Palamas 293
Marcus Plested

Part IV Studies in Reception History II: Collective Fathers 307

21 The Cappadocian Fathers 309
H. Ashley Hall

22 The Desert Fathers and Mothers 326
John Chryssavgis

23 The Iconophile Fathers 338
Vladimir Baranov

Part V Studies in the Fathers 353

24 Scripture and the Fathers 355
Paul Blowers

25 Hagiography of the Greek Fathers 370
Stephanos Efthymiadis

26 Liturgies and the Fathers 385
Hugh Wybrew

27 Fathers and the Church Councils 400
Richard Price

28 The Fathers and Scholasticism 414
James R. Ginther

29 The Fathers and the Reformation 428
Irena Backus

30 The Fathers in Arabic 442
Alexander Treiger

31 The Greek of the Fathers 456
Klaas Bentein

32 The Latin of the Fathers 471
Carolinne White

33 Reimagining Patristics: Critical Theory as a Lens 487
Kim Haines ]Eitzen

Index 497

Corinthiaka

by David PettegrewJuly 17, 2015July 16, 2015Leave a comment

I’ve been cleaning my inbox of alerts this week and have a little bundle of mid-summer Corinthiaka to get out. Here’s some of the latest ephemera from the blogosphere:

Archaeology:

AIA Site Preservation Grant to Preserve Mycenaean Chamber Tomb at Aidonia (AIA)
“Corinth Museum Theft 1990” (Trafficking Culture)

New Testament:

“Eschatology in the Corinthian Church: Thiselton” (Cryptotheology)
“Erasmus on the Problems in Corinth” (Cryptotheology)
“Pope Francis on Climate Change: Hearing the Cries of Earth and the Poor (2 Corinthians 8:7-15)” (Huffington Post)
“Pope Francis: The Theology of Poverty” (Vatican Radio)
“What? God Doesn’t Give Us More Than We Can Handle?” (Huffington Post)

Videos:

Another edited video trip through the Corinth canal

The First Urban Churches: Roman Corinth (In the Works)

by David PettegrewFebruary 2, 2015February 2, 2015Leave a comment

A couple of years ago, I had the good fortune of participating in a session at the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) conference on the theme of Polis and Ekklesia: Investigations of Urban Christianity. The paper I delivered outlined new perspectives on the diolkos and the implications of this research for understanding the commercial backdrop of the early Christian communities at Corinth.

The good news is that this session will soon be published by SBL as part of a multi-volume series on Polis and Ekklesia edited by James R Harrison and L.L. Welborn. The first three volumes are either in the works or forthcoming:

The First Urban Churches. Volume 1: Methodology: As the editors

have summarized this volume, “This book, comprising all the invited papers of SBL Consultation Polis and Ekklesia (SanFranciso, 2011) and with the addition of other solicited contributions, concentrates on the responsible use of documentary (papyrological, epigraphic), numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing the historical, social, cultural, and economic life of cities, their inhabitants and neighbours in antiquity. This volume forms a preface to the study of the significant biblical cities in the first-century AD, charted in the subsequent eight volumes of the series.”

The First Urban Churches. Volume 2: Roman Corinth. According to the editors, “This book, comprising all the papers of SBL Consultation Polis and Ekklesia (Chicago, 2012) and with the addition of other solicited contributions, concentrates on the epigraphic, numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing the historical, social, cultural, and economic life of Roman Corinth in the early Christian era.”

The First Urban Churches. Volume 3: Ephesus. According to the editors, “This book, comprising all the papers of SBL Consultation Polis and Ekklesia (Baltimore, 2013) and with the addition of other solicited contributions, concentrates on the epigraphic, numismatic, iconographic, and archaeological evidence in reconstructing the historical, social, cultural, and economic life of Ephesus in the early Christian era.”

Here’s an outline for the second volume on Roman Corinth, which is scheduled for delivery to the press later this year:

1. Laurence L. Welborn, “Polis and Ekklesia: Investigating Roman Corinth in Its Urban Context”

2. Cavan Concannon, “Negotiating Multiple Modes of Religion and Identity at Roman Corinth”

3. Kathy Ehrensperger, “Negotiating Polis and Ekklesia: Challenge and Re-Assurance in 1 Cor 12:1-11”

4. Michael Peppard, “Roman Controversiae about Inheritance Disputes and 1 Corinthians 6”

5. David Pettegrew, “Lost in the Country: Corinthian Territory and the Early Christian Communities of the 1st Century CE”

6. Annette Weisenreider, “Bodies and Space: Sitting or Reclining in 1 Corinthians 14:30”

7. Brad Bitner, “Τὰ γραφέντα PRO ROSTRIS LECTA: Bilingual Inscribing in Roman Corinth”

8. Fredrick J Long, “‘The god of This Age’ (2 Cor 4:4) and Paul’s Empire-Resisting Gospel”

9. Laurence L. Welborn, “Paul, the Politics of ‘Equality’ and the Power Monopoly of the Corinthian Elite”

10. James R Harrison, “The Cursus Honorum in the Roman Colonies of Corinth and Philippi: Consequences for Paul’s Gospel and Rhetoric”

I spent much of January revising my 2012 conference paper and adding substance. My chapter, “Lost in the Country: Corinthian Territory and the Early Christian Communities of the 1st Century CE,” offers case studies in how the countryside / landscape might intersect with the study of the first Christians. In particular, I want to highlight the territory as a fundamental part of the “polis” in Roman times. Here’s the working abstract.

“Corinthian territory has occupied a paradoxical role in the modern scholarship surrounding Paul’s mission to Corinth and the Christian community in conflict. In one respect, the isthmian crossroads has functioned as an essential backdrop to understanding the population’s maritime orientation, commercial proclivities, and general tendencies to immorality and division. The twin harbors of Lechaion and Kenchreai, the pan-Hellenic sanctuary at Isthmia, and the diolkos allegedly made Corinth a city of transients at a great crossroads of the ancient world. In another respect, scholars have regularly disregarded the territory in their discussions of the Corinthian correspondence as though the region beyond the city’s boundaries was of little concern or interest to the earliest Christians. In this paper, I propose a different way of thinking about the intersections of the early Christian community with the countryside. Through a series of case studies on the diolkos, canal, harbors, and agriculture, I highlight the contingent developments of the territory and their effects on the developing ekklesia. The region was not a timeless commercial thoroughfare but developed historically in the course of the first century CE. This paper, then, recommends greater attention to the historical developments of the territory and their influence on the local religious communities.”

I’ll post more as this collection of essays moves toward publication.

2013-2014 Publications in Corinthian Studies: New Testament, Christianity, and Judaism

by David PettegrewJanuary 29, 2015January 29, 2015Leave a comment

This is the fourth and final post in a series of bibliographic releases of new Corinthian scholarship published or digitized in 2013-2014. See this post last last Monday for further information about the sources of this bibliography and instructions for accessing the Zotero database. For earlier releases, see these posts:

Today’s list presents scholarship published or digitized in 2013 and 2014 related in some way to the subjects of Christianity, Judaism, and early Christianity. This includes some scholarship on the Hellenistic and early Roman “backgrounds” of Christianity and Judaism but most of this material focus directly on questions of religion.

I have divided these reports by year to keep them manageable. Download the PDFs by right clicking on these link:

I generated these reports through Zotero tags and searches, and there are undoubtedly missing entries as well as false positives. For best results, visit the Zotero library or download the RIS file into your bibliographic program.

If you see references missing from the list, please send to corinthianmatters@gmail.com

Paul and the Rhetoric of Reversal in 1 Corinthians (Malcolm): A Review

by David PettegrewJanuary 26, 2015January 26, 20151 Comment

As I work to gather the treasure trove of new New Testament scholarship of 2013-2014 into a long PDF report or two, the mid-Atlantic and east coast of the U.S. are gearing up for violent winter storm Juno, which shall just graze us here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but will dump several feet of snow on our neighbors to the northeast. In the meantime, you can feast on this recent review at Themelios of Matthew Malcolm’s recent work, Paul and the Rhetoric of Reversal in 1 Corinthians: The Impact of Paul’s Gospel on His Macro-Rhetoric, Cambridge 2013.

Malcolm is a sometimes blogger here at Corinthian Matters and runs his own blog with plentiful Corinthiaka at Cryptotheology. I saw him deliver a brilliant talk on the subject of his book (“kerygmatic rhetoric”) at the international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature conference in London several years ago. I was not surprised to see this positive review.

Here’s the Abstract: “The first letter to the Corinthians is one of the most discussed biblical books in New Testament scholarship today. Despite this, there has been no consensus on its arrangement and central theme, in particular why the topic of the resurrection was left until the end of the letter, and what its theological significance would have been to the Corinthian church. Matthew R. Malcolm analyses this rhetoric of ‘reversal’, examines the unity of the epistle, and addresses key problems behind particular chapters. He argues that while Jewish and Greco-Roman resources contribute significantly to the overall arrangement of the letter, Paul writes as one whose identity and rhetorical resources of structure and imagery have been transformed by his preaching, or kerygma, of Christ. The study will be of interest to students of New Testament studies, Pauline theology and early Christianity.”

And a taste of Drake’s review at Themelios:

“The letter of 1 Corinthians is greatly discussed within New Testament scholarship. One of the matters that needs resolution is its arrangement and central theme. In other words, is there any particular reason as to why Paul begins with wisdom, proceeds to sexual immorality, then on to weak and strong brothers, the use of spiritual gifts, and then concludes with the resurrection? Is he addressing the greatest needs at Corinth first, or is there some reason as to why he has arranged the letter in this way? Several scholars have seen these issues within 1 Corinthians to be unrelated while others find a continuity of thought. Matthew Malcolm proposes that it is the nature of Paul’s preached message that accounts for the movement from cross and sacrifice to resurrection. He believes that this provides the better explanation over appeals to Greco-Roman rhetoric or Jewish literary methods….

Paul and the Rhetoric of Reversal in 1 Corinthians contributes significant data to the question of the coherence and arrangement of the epistle. It rightly accentuates how Paul’s message of the crucified and risen Messiah provides a key theme for considering the arrangement of the entirety of the letter. It also rightly encourages a theological and pastoral consideration of the letter. It will be of great interest to those working in Pauline theology, Corinthian studies, and rhetorical studies.”

Read the rest of the review here.

New Testament scholarship reports tomorrow or Wednesday, I hope.

Society of Biblical Literature Conference, San Diego, 2014

by David PettegrewNovember 24, 2014November 24, 2014Leave a comment

I have always been impressed with the enormous output of scholarship directed to understanding biblical literature and backgrounds. In past years, I’ve posted paper titles or abstracts for presentations at the annual and international meetings of the Society of Biblical Literature: Baltimore 2013, Chicago 2012, London 2011, and Atlanta 2010.

As Thanksgiving week has just begun in the U.S.A., and the annual Society of Biblical Literature conference is wrapping up in San Diego, it seemed appropriate to see what biblical scholars have harvested this year. The following comes from a keyword search on “Corinth” in the Program Book. Not all of the following papers concern Corinth topics, of course, but all of the following sessions have at least some discussion of Corinth or Paul’s Corinthian correspondence. There are presumably other Corinth papers that this keyword search did not reach, but this provides some cross-section of current discussions among New Testament scholars. To read abstracts, search by the paper title.

Before the list, this word cloud produced in Wordle offers a great way to visualize the content of the paper titles and session abstracts.

And the Papers themselves…

S21-201

Paul and the Apocalyptic Imagination
11/21/2014
12:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Room: 300 A (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)
Across various branches of biblical and theological study, there is a renewed interest in ‘apocalyptic’. This development is seen particularly in the study of Paul’s theology, where it is now widely agreed that Paul pr

omotes an ‘apocalyptic theology’. However, there is little agreement on what this means. Scholars from different perspectives have, as a result, continued to talk past each other. This special session provides an opportunity for leading Pauline scholars from different perspectives to engage in discussion about the meaning of Paul as an apocalyptic thinker. Indeed, one of the strengths and aims of this event is that different and opposing views are set next to each other. The session will hopefully bring greater clarity to the ‘apocalyptic’ reading of Paul by providing much needed definition to central terms and interpretive approaches and by highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses.

Session 1
Jason Maston, Highland Theological College, Presiding
Jason Maston, Highland Theological College, Welcome (5 min)
M. C. de Boer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – VU University Amsterdam
Apocalyptic as Eschatological Activity (25 min)
N.T. Wright, University of St. Andrews
Apocalyptic as Sudden Fulfilment of Divine Promise (25 min)
Loren Stuckenbruck, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Apocalypticism in Second Temple Judaism (25 min)
Philip Ziegler, University of Aberdeen
Apocalypticism in Modern Theology (25 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Break (15 min)
Session 2
Ben Blackwell, Houston Baptist University, Presiding
Michael Gorman, Saint Mary’s Seminary and University
The Apocalyptic New Covenant and the Shape of Life in the Spirit (25 min)
Edith Humphrey, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Apocalypse as Theoria in Paul: A New Perspective on Apocalyptic as Mother of Theology (25 min)
Douglas Campbell, Duke University
Paul’s Apocalyptic Epistemology (25 min)
Beverly Gaventa, Baylor University
Romans 9–11: An Apocalyptic Reading (25 min)
John Barclay, University of Durham
Apocalyptic Investments: First Corinthians 7 and Pauline Ethics (25 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Word of Thanks, Book Promotion, and Adjournment: John Goodrich, Moody Bible Institute

P21-302

Institute for Biblical Research
11/21/2014
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Room: 202 B (Level 2 (Indigo)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Emerging Scholarship on the New Testament
This session showcases emerging New Testament scholars sponsored by Fellows of the Institute of Biblical Research. All are welcome to attend the session. Summaries of the papers will be read at the session leaving opportunity for discussion. Full papers will be available at the Institute of Biblical Research website: http://www.ibr-bbr.org/ (click on Emerging Scholarship on the New Testament Group) no later than October 1, 2014. For information on this session please contact Ruth Anne Reese (ruthanne.reese@asburyseminary.edu).

Ruth Anne Reese, Asbury Theological Seminary, Presiding
Drew Strait, University of Pretoria
Of Gods and Kings: Early Judaism, Ruler Cults, and Paul’s Polemic against Semasmata in Acts 17:23 (10 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Terri Moore, Dallas Theological Seminary
The Mysteries and 1 Cor 15:29: Comparative Methodology and Contextual Exegesis (10 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Luke Tsai, Dallas Theological Seminary
It’s Affordable: The Cost of Civil Litigation in First-Century Roman Corinth (10 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Phillip Strickland, McMaster Divinity College
“Le style, c’est l’homme”: The Use of Literary Stylistics in the Defense of Lukan Authorship of Hebrews—A Critical Assessment (10 min)
Discussion (20 min)

S22-128

Inventing Christianity
11/22/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom P (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Competing Christianities in North Africa

Laurence Welborn, Fordham University, Presiding
Outi Lehtipuu, University of Helsinki
Who Has the Right to Be Called a Christian? The Politics of Inventing Christian Identity in Tertullian’s On the Prescription of Heretics (30 min)
Patout Burns, Vanderbilt University
Self-Identity through Competition: The Development of African Ecclesiology (30 min)
Geoffrey D. Dunn, Australian Catholic University
Disputed Christian Identities in North Africa: A View of the Current Landscape (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S22-132a

Paul and Politics
11/22/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 31 B (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Katherine Shaner, Wake Forest University, Presiding
Ben Dunning, Fordham University
Paul, Bodily Difference, and the Politics of the Universal: Reading Romans 7 with and against Contemporary Philosophers (25 min)
Shelly Matthews, Brite Divinity School (TCU)
‘Who Really Cares That Paul Was Not a Gender Egalitarian after All?’: Thinking through the Question with the Unveiled Corinthian Women Prophets (25 min)
Eric A. Thomas, Drew University
Practicing Porneia: Inappropriating 1 Cor 6:9-20 for Erotic Justice (25 min)
Anna Miller, Xavier University
“All the City Was Shaken”: Women’s Speech and Ancient Political Discourse in the Acts of Paul and Thecla and 1 Corinthians (25 min)
Crystal L. Hall , Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Paul’s Collection and the Body Politics of Empire (25 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S22-133

Pauline Epistles
11/22/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 410 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Paul’s Judaism

R. Barry Matlock, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Presiding
Matthew Novenson, University of Edinburgh
Did Paul Conceive of Such a Thing as Judaism? (25 min)
Matthew Thiessen, Saint Louis University
Christ, the Seed of Abraham (25 min)
William Sanger Campbell, The College of St. Scholastica
Paul’s Judaism and the Jesus Movement (25 min)
Tyler A. Stewart, Marquette University
Fallen Angels, Bastard Spirits, and the Birth of God’s Son: An Enochic Etiology of Evil in Gal 3:19–4:11 (25 min)
James Ware, University of Evansville
The Coherence of Paul’s Theology of the Law in Romans 2–3: A New Proposal (25 min)

S22-142

Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament; Meals in the Greco-Roman World; Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible
Joint Session With: Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament, Meals in the Greco-Roman World
11/22/2014
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Room: Room 17 B (Mezzanine level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Food in Antiquity

Zeba Crook, Carleton University, Presiding
Philip Tite, University of Washington
Roman Diet and Meat Consumption: Reassessing Elite Access to Meat in 1 Corinthians 8 (25 min)
Andrew McGowan, Yale Divinity School
Knowing the Color of One’s Bread: How Forms and Types of Bread Reflected and Created Ancient Social Structures(25 min)
Break (10 min)
Alicia Batten, Conrad Grebel University College
Fish for Thought in the Early Church (25 min)
Michel Desjardins, Wilfrid Laurier University, Respondent (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)

S22-206

Bible and Popular Culture
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 11 A (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Graphic Novels, Punk Rock, and Decolonizing the Bible? Oh My!

Valarie Ziegler, DePauw University, Presiding
Paul Robertson, Colby-Sawyer College
Biblical Myth and “The Encyclopedia of Early Earth” (2013): Modernity and Re-Telling in the Graphic Novel (30 min)
Jacob D. Myers, Emory University
Apocalyptic Power; Dystopian Hope: John of Patmos and Paul the Apostle in Conversation with Young Adult Fiction(30 min)
Elizabeth Rae Coody, University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology
Punk Rock Paul: The Cross as a ‘Dumb’ Symbol in Comics and Paul’s Epistles (30 min)
Heidi Epstein, University of Saskatchewan
My Beloved is a Bass Line: “De-colonial,” Pop Musical Interventions in the Politics of Love as a Cultural Practice (30 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S22-208

Biblical Literature and the Hermeneutics of Trauma
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom A (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Hermeneutics of Trauma in Biblical Studies and Theology
This session includes two theologians and two pastoral theologians presenting on how interpreting biblical texts through the lens of trauma studies benefits theological and pastoral theological work. The session is co-sponsored by the AAR section “Bible, Theology and Post-modernity.”

Christopher Frechette, Boston College, Presiding
Peter Yuichi Clark, UCSF Medical Center & American Baptist Seminary of the West (GTU)
Toward a Pastoral Reading of 2 Corinthians as a Memoir of PTSD and Healing (30 min)
Philip Browning Helsel, Princeton Theological Seminary
Shared Bodily Pleasure as a Treatment for Trauma: Modern Body Therapies and Ecclesiastes’ Injunction to Enjoyment (30 min)
Shelly Rambo, Boston University
Resurrecting Wounds: John 20:24–29, Trauma Theory, and the Doctrine of Resurrection (30 min)
Robert Schreiter, Catholic Theological Union
Reading Biblical Texts through the Lens of Resilience (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S22-212

Development of Early Christian Theology
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 30 B (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: The Spirit in the Early Church: Accounts of the Spirit in the Early Church

Mark Weedman, Johnson University, Presiding
Ben C. Blackwell, Houston Baptist University
Irenaeus on the Deification of Believers and the Divinity of the Spirit (25 min)
Kellen Plaxco, Marquette University
The Place of the Spirit in Origen’s Taxological Grammar of Participation (25 min)
Jonathan Morgan, Toccoa Falls College
Circumcision of the Spirit: Type and Pneumatology in Cyril of Alexandria (25 min)
David Kneip, Abilene Christian University
The Spirit and the Bible in Alexandria: Cyril and Didymus (25 min)
Paul M. Pasquesi, Marquette University
Reclaiming the Divine Feminine: Re-Reception of the Holy Spirit in the Divine Economy (25 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S22-216

Greco-Roman Religions
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 502 B (Level 5 (Cobalt)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: The Cults of Demeter

James Hanges, Miami University, Presiding (5 min)
Teresa Morgan, University of Oxford
Chippings from the Laughterless Rock: Popular Perceptions of Demeter and Her Cult (25 min)
Jill E. Marshall, Emory University
Inscribing Power: Curse Tablets and Temple Building in the Corinthian Sanctuary of Demeter (25 min)
Nancy Evans, Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
Demeter as Focal Point; Eleusis as Mirror (25 min)
Discussion (40 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S22-228

Latter-day Saints and the Bible
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 24 B (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Eric Huntsman, Brigham Young University, Presiding
Avram R. Shannon, Ohio State University
Mormons and Midrash: Narrative Expansion as Interpretation in Mormonism and Early Judaism (20 min)
Tod R. Harris, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
“Taking a Different View of the Translation”: The Illumination of Alternative Meanings in the Bible Translations of Joseph Smith and Meister Eckhart (20 min)
Jared W. Ludlow, Brigham Young University
Joseph Smith as a Narrator in the Joseph Smith Translation (20 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Shon D. Hopkin, Brigham Young University
Deuteronomistic History and the Latter-day Saints (20 min)
Lynne Hilton Wilson, LDS Stanford Institute
The Female Rite of Wearing a Veil in 1 Cor 11:2–13 (20 min)
Robert M. Bowman Jr., Institute for Religious Research
The Temple Setting of the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Mormon: A Hermeneutical Key? (20 min)
Discussion (15 min)

S22-229

LGBT/Queer Hermeneutics
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 400 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Pauline Letters: A Queer Turn

Lynn Huber, Elon University, Presiding (2 min)
Heather White, New College of Florida
Inventing the “Clobber Texts”: Biblical Interpretation and Modern Sexual Identity (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
David Tabb Stewart, California State University – Long Beach
Against Nature (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Kjeld Renato Lings, Other Sheep Europe
Toxic Translations: The Extensive Use of Sexual Anachronisms in 1 Corinthians 6 (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Joseph A. Marchal, Ball State University
“Queer(ing) Children of God: Sideways Angles on a Pauline Metaphor?” (25 min)
Discussion (13 min)
Business Meeting (20 min)

S22-238

Rhetoric and the New Testament
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 501 C (Level 5 (Cobalt)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Greg Carey, Lancaster Theological Seminary, Presiding
Greg Carey, Lancaster Theological Seminary, Introduction (5 min)
Timothy J. Christian, Asbury Theological Seminary
Paul and the Rhetoric of Insinuatio: How Paul Raises the Dead in First Corinthians (25 min)
Isaac Blois, University of St. Andrews
The Power of a Shared Boast: Paul’s Use of kauchema in Philippians as a Motivation for Ethical Conduct (25 min)
Oh-Young Kwon, Whitley College
A Rhetorical Analysis of Paul’s Use of Prolambano and Ekdechomai (1 Cor 11:21, 33) (25 min)
Troy Martin, Saint Xavier University
Legitimating Rhetorical Situations in the Epistles of Acts 15:23-29 and First Peter (25 min)
Todd Penner, Austin College, Respondent (25 min)
Discussion (20 min)

S22-240

Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 400 A (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: 2 Corinthians 8–9

Steven Kraftchick, Emory University, Presiding
Calvin J. Roetzel, Macalester College
Explorations in the Pluri-significance of the Offering in 2 Corinthians 8 and Related Texts (25 min)
Thomas A. Vollmer, Cincinnati Christian University and Emmanuel Nathan, Australian Catholic University
Beyond Expectation (2 Cor 8:5): The Macedonians’ Generosity in light of Paul’s Rhetorical Strategy (25 min)
Paul B. Duff, George Washington University
Second Corinthians 9: The Earliest of the Letters Contained in Canonical 2 Corinthians? (25 min)
Reimund Bieringer, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
The dikaiosynê of God and the dikaiosynê of the Corinthians (2 Cor 9:9-10) (25 min)
Edith Humphrey, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (35 min)

S22-245

Systematic Transformation and Interweaving of Scripture in 1 Corinthians
11/22/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Indigo Ballroom A (Level 2 (Indigo)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Systematic Use of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 1–4

Yongbom Lee, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena), Presiding
Erik Waaler, NLA University College
Paul and the Prophets: Paul’s Use of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 1–4 (30 min)
Christopher Stanley, Saint Bonaventure University, Respondent (20 min)
Discussion (25 min)
Mark Strauss, Bethel Seminary (San Diego, CA), Respondent (20 min)
Discussion (55 min)

S22-313

Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy
11/22/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 307 (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Economic Aspects of Early Christianity

David Hollander, Iowa State University, Presiding
Thomas Schmeller, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
How to Make a Giver Cheerful: Motivating the Corinthian Believers for the Collection (30 min)
Michelle Christian, University of Toronto
Toward an Anthropology of Money in the Gospels (30 min)
Michael Flexsenhar III, The University of Texas at Austin
Tying the Knot: Marriage, Economy, and Survival in Early Christianity (30 min)
Cavan Concannon, Duke University
Islands in the Corrupting Sea: Mapping Second-Century Christianity (30 min)
Jeremiah Bailey, Baylor University
The Occasion of 1 Clement Reconsidered (30 min)

S22-317

Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible
11/22/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 311 B (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Gwynn Kessler, Swarthmore College, Presiding
Geoffrey D. McElroy, University of Texas at Austin
Warrior-Men and City-Women: The Implications of Military Imagery in the Song of Songs (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jared Beverly, Chicago Theological Seminary
Loving Animals: A Queer Zoological Reading of Song of Songs (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Break (5 min)
Midori E. Hartman, Drew University
Animalizing Others in 1 Corinthians 5: Gender, Sexuality, and Racial-Ethnic Terms in Paul’s Logic of Exclusion (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Holly Morse, University of Oxford
A Monster in Paradise (20 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Business Meeting (10 min)

S22-345

Texts and Traditions in the Second Century
11/22/2014
4:00 PM to 6:45 PM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom H (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Christ as Savior in the Second Century

Michael Bird, Ridley Melbourne, Presiding (2 min)
David Downs, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena)
The Pauline Concept of Union with Christ in Ignatius of Antioch (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Joseph Dodson, Ouachita Baptist University
Universalism and Particularism in the Book of Wisdom, the Gospel of Matthew, and the Epistle of Barnabas (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Janelle Peters, Emory University
The Christology of the Phoenix in 1 Clement (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Meghan Henning, University of Dayton
Christ as Savior in the Otherworld: The Harrowing of Hell in the 2nd Century (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Candida R. Moss, University of Notre Dame
Christ as Cosmic Victor and Emetic: Salvation in the Letter of the Churches of Lyon and Vienne (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Discussion (13 min)

S23-104

African Biblical Hermeneutics; Disputed Paulines
Joint Session With: African Biblical Hermeneutics, Disputed Paulines
11/23/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 311 B (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Ephesians from African Perspectives

Funlola Olojede, University of South Africa, Presiding
Daniel K. Darko, Gordon College
What Does It Mean to Be ‘Saved’? An African Reading of Ephesians 2 (30 min)
Jeff Brannon, Belhaven University
Another Look at the Principalities and Powers in Paul (30 min)
Elna Mouton, Stellenbosch University
Ancient Household Codes as Model for Present-day Communities of Character (in Africa)? (30 min)
Shelley Ashdown, Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics
The Armor of God (Eph 6:10-18) in the World View of Ndorobo (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S23-137

Performance Criticism of Biblical and Other Ancient Texts
11/23/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom L (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Orality and Performance of Ancient Texts

Lee Johnson, East Carolina University, Presiding
Kathy R. Maxwell, Palm Beach Atlantic University
At the Intersection of Written Text and Oral Performance: There and Back Again (30 min)
Shem Miller, Florida State University
The Pedagogical Performance of Sapiential Literature in the Ya’ad Movement (30 min)
James Hanson, Saint Olaf College
Becoming Paul: Oral Performance and the “Center” of Paul’s Thought (30 min)
Sherri Brown, Niagara University
What’s in an Ending? John 21 and the Performative Force and an Epilogue (30 min)
Reinhard G. Lehmann, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Form Follows Function: A Calligraphic Approach to Oral Performance in Northwest Semitic Epigraphs (30 min)

S23-141

Ritual in the Biblical World
11/23/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 202 B (Level 2 (Indigo)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Soham Al-Suadi, Universität Bern – Université de Berne, Presiding
Rodney A. Werline, Barton College
Ritual, Order, and the Construction of an Audience in 1 Enoch 1–36 (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jason T. Lamoreaux, Texas A&M University
Ritual, Media, and Conflict in Pauline Communities (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Stephen McBay, University of Manchester
Ephesians, Braided Narrative, and Ritual Pattern (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jade Weimer, University of Toronto
Una Voce Dicentes: The Ritual Significance of Singing with One Voice in Early Christian Assemblies (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Group Discussion
Jonathan Schwiebert, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Respondent (30 min)

S23-145

Social Scientific Criticism of the New Testament
11/23/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 400 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Alicia Batten, Conrad Grebel University College, Presiding (5 min)
Callie Callon, University of Toronto
Humorous Invective as a Component of Persuasion in Early Christianity (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Ryan Olfert, University of Toronto
Trouble Getting In: Third John in light of Greco-Roman Associations (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Seungwoo Shim, Brite Divinity School (TCU)
Evidence of Market Economy and Economic Rationality in the Gospel of Luke: Initial Proposal (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Break (5 min)
Matt O’Reilly, University of Gloucestershire
Resurrection or Destruction? Social Identity and Time in Philippians 3 (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Scott Ryan, Baylor University
Insecurity, Wrath, and the God of Hope: Reading Paul’s Apocalyptic Gospel in the Roman World (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Discussion (15 min)

S23-147

Systematic Transformation and Interweaving of Scripture in 1 Corinthians
11/23/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 310 B (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Paul and the Law in 1 Corinthians

Erik Waaler, NLA University College, Presiding
Brian Rosner, Ridley Melbourne
Paul and the Law in 1 Corinthians (30 min)
Frank Thielman, Beeson Divinity School, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (15 min)
A. Andrew Das, Elmhurst College, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Linda Belleville, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (45 min)

S23-225

Intertextuality in the New Testament
11/23/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 204 A (Level 2 (Indigo)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Varieties of Intertextual Methods

Erik Waaler, NLA University College, Presiding
B. J. Oropeza, Azusa Pacific University
A Covenant Sealed in the Core of Clay Jar: Intertextual Reconfigurations of Jeremiah in 2 Corinthians 1–7 (30 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Liz Myers, Independent Scholar
Assessing the Direction of Intertextual Borrowing between New Testament Books: A New Methodology and Application to 1 Peter and Hebrews (30 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Break (5 min)
Joseph Ryan Kelly, Southern Seminary
A Discipline by Any Other Name? Intertextuality, Inner-Biblical Exegesis, Echoes, and Allusion (30 min)
Discussion (10 min)

S23-236

Pauline Epistles; Paul and Judaism/Paul Within Judaism; Disputed Paulines; Pauline Soteriology; Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making; Systematic Transformation and Interweaving of Script
Joint Session With: Pauline Epistles, Paul and Judaism/Paul Within Judaism, Disputed Paulines, Pauline Soteriology, Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making, Systematic Transformation and Interweaving of Scripture in 1 Corinthians
11/23/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom M (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Chan Sok Park, Harvard University, Presiding
Michael Patrick Barber, John Paul the Great Catholic University and John Kincaid, John Paul the Great Catholic University
Cultic Theosis in Paul and Second Temple Judaism: A Fresh Reading of the Corinthian Correspondence (18 min)
David A. Burnett, Criswell College
“So Shall Your Seed Be”: Paul’s Use of Gen 15:5 in Rom 4:18 in light of Early Jewish Deification Traditions (18 min)
Pamela Eisenbaum, Iliff School of Theology, Respondent (8 min)
Ward Blanton, University of Kent at Canterbury, Respondent (8 min)
N. T. Wright, University of St. Andrews, Respondent (8 min)
Break (5 min)
Matthew E. Gordley, Regent University School of Divinity
Psalms of Solomon and Pauline Studies (18 min)
Hans Svebakken, Loyola University of Chicago
Romans 7:7-25 and a Pauline Allegory of the Soul (18 min)
Pamela Eisenbaum, Iliff School of Theology, Respondent (8 min)
Ward Blanton, University of Kent at Canterbury, Respondent (8 min)
N. T. Wright, University of St. Andrews, Respondent (8 min)
Discussion (25 min)

S23-244

Religious Experience in Antiquity
11/23/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 303 (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Scott Mackie, Independent Scholar, Presiding
Lauren K. McCormick, Syracuse University
Modern Theory, Ancient Statuaries: What Figurine Aesthetics Can Tell Us about Religious Community-Making at Sumer (30 min)
Daniel K. Falk, University of Oregon
Liturgical Progression and the Experience of Transformation in Prayers from Qumran (30 min)
Deborah Forger, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
The Jewish High Priest: Mediator of the Divine (30 min)
Sally Douglas, Melbourne College of Divinity
Why Was Jesus Understood and Proclaimed in the Language and Imagery of Woman Wisdom? An Exploration of the Role of Experience in the Ignition of Wisdom Christology and Wisdom Soteriology in the Early (30 min)
Ross Ponder, University of Texas at Austin
Visions of the End: On Death and Animated Dreams in Tertullian and Perpetua (30 min)

S23-305

Bible and Practical Theology
11/23/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom M (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Intersections of Biblical Interpretation and Practical Theology II

Denise Dombkowski Hopkins, Wesley Theological Seminary, Presiding
Michael Koppel, Wesley Theological Seminary, Presiding
Deborah A. Appler, Moravian College & Theological Seminary and Sharon A. Brown, Moravian College & Theological Seminary
Strangers in a Strange Land: Creating a Heart-Centered Praxis (35 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Aubrey E. Buster, Emory University
Memory and Agent Formation in the Psalms (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Jin Hwang, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena)
Storytelling and Spiritual Formation according to Apostle Paul (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Lance B. Pape, Brite Divinity School (TCU)
Paul and the Lord’s Supper in Corinth: A Paradigm for Practical Theological Method (25 min)
Discussion (10 min)

S23-333

Pauline Epistles
11/23/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Room 33 C (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Revisiting Albert Schweitzer’s Mysticism of the Apostle Paul

Emma Wasserman, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Presiding
Adela Collins, Yale University
The Mysticism of Paul (25 min)
Paula Fredriksen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
It’s the End of the World as We Know It: Apocalyptic Eschatology, The Gentile Mission, and the Mysticism of Schweitzer’s Paul (25 min)
Kathy Ehrensperger, Prifysgol Cymru, Y Drindod Dewi Sant – University of Wales, Trinity Saint David
‘To Those Who Are Sanctified in Christ’ (1 Cor 1:2): A Contribution to the ‘in Christ’ Debate (25 min)
Terence Donaldson, Wycliffe College, Respondent (20 min)
Magnus Zetterholm, Lunds Universitet, Respondent (20 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S23-341

Second Corinthians: Pauline Theology in the Making
11/23/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 400 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Thomas Schmeller, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Presiding
Julien C. H. Smith, Valparaiso University
The Transforming Image of the Ideal King: Paul’s Apostolic Defense (2 Cor 2:14–4:6) in light of Greco-Roman Political Ideology (30 min)
Christopher D. Land, McMaster Divinity College
The Benefits Outweigh the Costs: Human Obedience and Divine Blessing in 2 Cor 6:1–7:2 (30 min)
Steven Kraftchick, Emory University, Respondent (15 min)
Discussion (15 min)
Business Meeting (30 min)

S24-103

African Biblical Hermeneutics
11/24/2014
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Room: 206 (Level 2 (Indigo)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Sexuality, Masculinities, HIV and AIDS, and the Bible in Africa

Dora Mbuwayesango, Hood Theological Seminary, Presiding
Madipoane Masenya (Ngwn’a Mphahlele), University of South Africa and Marthe Maleke Kondemo, University of South Africa
What of the Problematic Norm? Rereading the Book of Ruth within the Mongo Women’s Context (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Alice Yafeh-Deigh, Azusa Pacific University
Rethinking Paul’s Sexual Ethics within the Context of HIV/AIDS: A Postcolonial Afro-Feminist-Womanist Perspective(25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Kuloba W. Robert, Kyambogo University
“Homosexuality is Unafrican and Unbiblical”: Examining the Ideological Motivations to Homophobia in Sub-Saharan Africa—The Case Study of Uganda (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)

S24-110

Children in the Biblical World
11/24/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 311 A (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Childist Interpretation and Children in the New Testament and Its Apocrypha

Sharon Betsworth, Oklahoma City University, Presiding
Julie Faith Parker, Andover Newton Theological School
Click “Add to Dictionary”: Why We Need to Speak of Childist Interpretation (50 min)
Steven Thompson, Avondale College of Higher Education
Jesus and Early Life Stages according to Luke: Expressing Jewish Male Formation and Gendering Using Greco-Roman Human Development Terms (25 min)
Anna Rebecca Solevag, School of Mission & Theology
Listening for the Voices of Two Disabled Girls in Early Christian Texts (25 min)
Carla Swafford Works, Wesley Theological Seminary
“Babes in Christ”: The Vulnerability of Infancy (25 min)
J.R.C. Cousland, University of British Columbia
Born to Be Wild? Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (25 min)

S24-115

Corpus Hellenisticum Novi Testamenti
11/24/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 30 E (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: History of Religions School Today-2
This is the second of two sessions of papers representing new applications of the history-or-religions approach to the study of early Christianity in the broader Hellenistic and early Roman context.

Clare Rothschild, Lewis University, Presiding
David G. Monaco, Pontifical College Josephinum
The Rhetoric of Narrative in Acts 8:26-40: Ramifications of the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch for the Author of Luke-Acts (30 min)
Mark Reasoner, Marian University (Indianapolis)
Paul’s God of Peace in Canonical and Political Perspectives (30 min)
Andrew Langford, University of Chicago and Matthijs den Dulk, University of Chicago
Polycarp and Polemo: Christianity at the Center of the Second Sophistic (30 min)
Jeff Asher, Georgetown College
Missiles, Demagogues, and the Devil: The Rhetoric of Slander in Eph 6:16 (30 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S24-120

Feminist Hermeneutics of the Bible
11/24/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 28 B (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Current Topics in Feminist Hermeneutics

Richard Weis, Lexington Theological Seminary, Presiding
Colleen Conway, Seton Hall University
Riding Feminist Waves: Jael in the 20th and 21st Century (30 min)
Anne Létourneau, Université du Québec à Montréal
Wartime Rape in Judg 5:28-30: Discussing “Women” as a “Seriality” with Jael, Deborah, and Sisera’s Mother (30 min)
Ken Stone, Chicago Theological Seminary
Gender, Animal, Sacrifice: Domestication and the Daughter of Jephthah (30 min)
Ron Serino, Texas Christian University
A Sign in the Dark: Moses’s Cushite Wife and Boundary Setting in the Book of Numbers (30 min)
Jon Mark Reeves, Texas Christian University
Gender, Ethnicity, and Power: Rethinking the Rhetoric of Paul’s Enslavement to All (30 min)

S24-141

Pauline Epistles
11/24/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Room 11 A (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Paul and Embodiment

Caroline Johnson Hodge, College of the Holy Cross, Presiding
Laura Dingeldein, Brown University
No Male and Female…in Virtue? Paul on Women’s Moral Development (25 min)
Diana M. Swancutt, Boston University School of Theology
Veiled Woman in the Rhetoric of Paul (2 Corinthians 3–4): Gender Slander of Judean Superapostles in Corinth (25 min)
Stephen L. Young, Brown University
You Were Effeminate: Paul and the Masculinization of Gentiles in Christ (25 min)
James Unwin, Macquarie University
In Honor and Dishonor: Differing Receptions of Paul’s Spectacle Metaphors in 2 Corinthians 4 and 6 (25 min)
S. Scott Bartchy, University of California-Los Angeles
Paul’s Unacknowledged Opponents (25 min)

S24-207

Book of Acts
11/24/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 1 B (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Empowering, Empir-ing or Engaging? Acts in the Discourses of Politics

Steve Walton, St. Mary’s University, Twickenham, Presiding (5 min)
Matthew L. Skinner, Luther Seminary
Who Speaks for (or Against) Rome? Acts in Relation to Empire (30 min)
Bruce W. Winter, Macquarie University
Paul and Roman Law: The Luck of the Draw (30 min)
Warren Carter, Brite Divinity School (TCU)
Ship Happens: Acts 27 as an Aquatic Display of Navigating the Stormy Roman Imperial World (30 min)
Break (5 min)
Mikeal Parsons, Baylor University, Respondent (10 min)
Barbara Rossing, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Respondent (10 min)
Discussion (30 min)

S24-211

Cognitive Linguistics in Biblical Interpretation
11/24/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Room 7 A (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Bonnie Howe, Dominican University of California, Presiding
Ellen van Wolde, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
The Surplus of a Combination of Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Grammar and Meaning (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Richard A. Rhodes, University of California-Berkeley
Interpreting the Vocabulary of Commands in Koine (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Timothy A. Brookins, Houston Baptist University
“Many Members, One Body”: The Stoic Body Metaphor and Conceptual Blending in Paul (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Discussion (40 min)
Business Meeting (20 min)

S24-212

Contextual Biblical Interpretation
11/24/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: Indigo Ballroom D (Level 2 (Indigo)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Paul’s Letters and Revelation
At the session, papers will be summarized and discussed in roundtable format. Papers will be available online ahead of time at http://www.youaregood.com/2014SBL_CBI.htm

James Grimshaw, Carroll University, Presiding
Paul’s Letters
Elsa Tamez, United Bible Societies
Reading Philippians from the Perspective of a Political Prisoner Waiting for a Sentence to Death (15 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Bernard Ukwuegbu, Seat of Wisdom Seminary
The Legitimating Function of the Sarah/Hagar Allegory in Gal 4:21-30: Insights from Social Identity Theory (15 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Jennifer Houston McNeel, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Paul and the Mommy Wars: Reading Paul’s Maternal Metaphors in Contemporary American Context (15 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Eric Bortey Anum, University of Cape Coast
Collaborative Hermeneutical Reading of 1 Tim 3:1-7 in the Ghanaian Context (15 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Revelation
Lynn Huber, Elon University
John’s Apocalypse and Queer Contextual Interpretation (15 min)
Discussion (10 min)
Gosnell Yorke, Northern Caribbean University
A Novel Take on John’s Apocalypse: A Proposed Movement from an Island-inspired Revelation to an Island-Inspired Reading (15 min)
Discussion (10 min)

S24-242

Rhetoric and the New Testament
11/24/2014
1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Room: 400 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Rhetorics of Vision and Visual Rhetorics: Ekphrasis and Beyond I

Lillian Larsen, University of Redlands, Presiding
Lillian Larsen, University of Redlands, Introduction (5 min)
Rebecca Skaggs, Patten University
The Rhetoric of the Apocalypse of John: Through the Lens of Vision-Reports (25 min)
Michael Kochenash, Claremont School of Theology
Cornelius’ Obeisance to Peter (Acts 10:25-26) and the Judea Capta Coins (25 min)
Robert von Thaden, Jr., Mercyhurst University
The Power of Pictures: The Somatic Power of Temple Images (25 min)
Elizabeth Arnold, Gardner-Webb University
Euripides and Ephesians: Peripeteia and Deus Ex Machina in Eph 2:1-10 (25 min)
Scott D. Mackie, Independent Scholar
Seeing a Way in the Wilderness: Visually Oriented Rhetoric in Hebrews 3–4 (25 min)
Discussion (20 min)

S24-333

Pauline Epistles
11/24/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Room 31 B (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Theme: Paul and the Greco-Roman Context

Caroline Johnson Hodge, College of the Holy Cross, Presiding
Richard Last, Queen’s University
The periergazomenoi of Paul’s Thessalonian Christ-Group (2 Thess 3:6-15) (25 min)
Mitchell Alexander Esswein, Princeton Theological Seminary
The oikos of Christ and the Church at Corinth: Understanding oikonomos and oikonomia in Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians (25 min)
Tobias Hagerland, Lund University
Paul’s Large Letters in the Context of Hellenistic Primary Education (25 min)
Erin Roberts, University of South Carolina
Darkened, Senseless, Foolish Minds (25 min)
Geoffrey Smith, University of Texas at Austin
Contesting the Gift of Gnosis in 1 Corinthians (25 min)

S24-337

Reading, Theory, and the Bible
11/24/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: 400 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Robert Paul Seesengood, Albright College, Presiding
K. Jason Coker, Albertus Magnus College
The Corporation of God: Globalization Studies and God’s Basileia (30 min)
Yvonne Sherwood, University of Kent at Canterbury
The Mestizo Bible of Diego Durán (30 min)
Susanne Scholz, Southern Methodist University
Biblical Studies Is Feminist Biblical Studies, and Vice Versa (30 min)
Lindsey Guy, Drew University
Wasting Apocalyptic Time: Queer Temporality as Resistance in 1 Corinthians (30 min)
Ken Stone, Chicago Theological Seminary
‘The Matter of a Dead Animal’: Derrida, Klawans, and the Chimera of Biblical Sacrifice (30 min)

S24-341

Speech and Talk: Discourses and Social Practices in the Ancient Mediterranean World
11/24/2014
4:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Room: Room 7 A (Upper level) – San Diego Convention Center (CC)

Michal Beth Dinkler, Yale Divinity School, Presiding
Tilde Bak Halvgaard, University of Copenhagen
Language Speculation in the Thunder: Perfect Mind (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Jeremy F. Hultin, Murdoch University
The Sound of His Voice: Jesus’ Voice as Theological Problem (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Daniele Pevarello, Trinity College Dublin
Polylogia in Matt 6:7 within the Framework of Graeco-Roman and Jewish Discussions on Verbosity (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Cian Power, Harvard University
“A Nation from Afar, a Nation Whose Language You Do Not Understand”: The Theme of the Alloglot Invader in Biblical Prophecy (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Sin-pan Daniel Ho, Lutheran Theological Seminary, Hong Kong
Home-building in Christian Worship: A Discourse Analysis of 1 Cor 14:20-25 in light of the Domestic Cultic Practice in Roman Corinth (25 min)
Discussion (5 min)

S25-109

Bible, Myth, and Myth Theory
11/25/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: 410 A (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Robert Kawashima, University of Florida, Presiding
Francis Landy, University of Alberta
The Mythical and the Mystical: Rivers in Psalm 93 (30 min)
Noga Ayali-Darshan, Bar-Ilan University
The Mythologem of the Creation of Mount ?aphon Echoed in Job 26 and Psalm 89 (30 min)
Robert R. Cargill, University of Iowa
Swapping Sex for Drugs: Mandrake Mythology and Fertility Drugs in Gen 30:14-24 (30 min)
Andrew Tobolowsky, Brown University
The Sons of Jacob and the Sons of Herakles (30 min)
Jonathan Redding, Vanderbilt University
Decolonizing Daniel: A Post-Colonial Interpretational Examination (30 min)

S25-110

Children in the Biblical World; Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible
Joint Session With: Children in the Biblical World, Gender, Sexuality, and the Bible
11/25/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: D (Level 3 (Aqua)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Children, Gender, and Sexuality in the Biblical World

Laurel Taylor, Eden Theological Seminary, Presiding
Stephen M. Wilson, Duke University
What Makes a Man? The Construction of Biblical Masculinity in Contrast to Boyhood (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Caryn A. Reeder, Westmont College
Colonized Bodies: The Rape of Children in 4 Ezra, Josephus, and Tacitus (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Break (10 min)
Robert von Thaden, Jr., Mercyhurst University
Temple Children: Children, Sex, and the Rhetoric of Sacred Space (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
John Penniman, Fordham University
“What Flows from the Breast Is Milk, and Milk Is the Food of Babes”: Infancy and Maternity in Gregory of Nyssa’s Homilies on the Song of Songs (20 min)
Discussion (5 min)
Discussion (20 min)
Business Meeting (20 min)

S25-116

Ethiopic Bible and Literature
11/25/2014
9:00 AM to 12:30 PM
Room: 400 B (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Ideology, Sociology, and Literary Formation in the Ethiopic Tradition
The Ethiopic tradition bears as many marks of originality as it does marks of external influence. Influences come from Christian traditions—like the Greek, Syriac, and Armenian—but also from Jews and Muslims in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopian theologians and community leaders developed their own sense of identity and expressed these in their form of the biblical text (unique in form and extent) and in various works of literature. This session invites a vibrant discussion on these themes.

Ralph Lee, Holy Trinity Theological College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Presiding
Steve Delamarter, George Fox University
The Singular, Dual, and Triple Textual Histories of Ethiopic Old Testament Texts (25 min)
Daneil Assefa, Capuchin Friary, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The Traditional Ethiopian Commentary on the Animal Apocalypse of Enoch (25 min)
James Prather, Abilene Christian University
Artificial Intelligence and Data Mining Methods for Ethiopic Textual Criticism (25 min)
Desta Heliso, Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology
Canticles and Christology (25 min)
Yonatan Binyam, Florida State University
The Ethiopian Alexander: Tracing the Roots of Ethiopic Traditions about Alexander the Great in the Zena Ayhud (25 min)
Bruk A. Asale, University of KwaZulu-Natal
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) Canon of Scripture: Neither Open nor Closed (25 min)
Meron Tekleberhan, Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology
The Reception and Adaptation of 1 Cor 7:1-16 in Selected Ethiopic Literature: A Study in Biblical Reception History(25 min)
Alemayehu Gabreil, Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
Genesis 3:5 in the Ethiopic Tradition (25 min)

S25-129a

Paul and Judaism
11/25/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom L (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Re-Imagining Paul’s Assemblies Within Judaism

Magnus Zetterholm, Lund University, Presiding (5 min)
Michael Cover, Valparaiso University
Scripture Speaks: The Personification of Scripture as Interpretive Authority in Paul and the School of Rabbi Ishmael(25 min)
Karin Neutel, University of Groningen
A Cosmopolitan Community: Paul’s Eschatological Ideal in Its Jewish Context (25 min)
Break (5 min)
Genevive Dibley, University of California-Berkeley
Abraham’s Uncircumcised Children: the Enochic Precedent for Paul’s Program of Gentile Reclamation qua Gentiles(25 min)
Benjamin D. Gordon, Duke University
On the Sanctity of Mixtures and Branches: Two Halakhic Sayings in Romans 11 (25 min)
Discussion (25 min)
Business Meeting (15 min)

S25-131

Polis and Ekklesia: Investigations of Urban Christianity
11/25/2014
9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Room: Sapphire Ballroom I (Level 4 (Sapphire)) – Hilton Bayfront (HB)

Theme: Philippi

James Harrison, Sydney College of Divinity, Presiding
Cedric Brelaz, Universite de Strasbourg
First-Century Philippi: The Social and Political Background of Paul’s Visit (25 min)
Richard Ascough, Queen’s University
Associations and the Social Dynamics in the Christ Group at Philippi (25 min)
Peter Oakes, University of Manchester
The Imperial Authorities in Paul’s Letter to Predominately Greek Hearers in a Roman Colony (25 min)
Samuel Vollenweider, Universität Zürich
Rivals, Opponents, and Enemies: Three Kinds of Theological Argumentation in Philippians (25 min)
L. White, University of Texas at Austin, Respondent (25 min)
Discussion (25 min)

Does the Corinthian Correspondence Betray that Paul was Rhetorically Trained?

by Matthew R. MalcolmSeptember 4, 20144 Comments

The two recent reviews of Ryan S. Schellenberg’s Rethinking Paul’s Rhetorical Education: Comparative Rhetoric and 2 Corinthians 10–13, mentioned in the previous post by David, are worth having a look at, for those interested in Paul’s Corinthian correspondence. They take part in a lively ongoing debate about the extent to which the apostle Paul employed, and was trained in, Greco-Roman modes of oral and epistolary rhetoric.

The two reviewers of Schellenberg’s work (Duane Watson and Frederick Long) have both made solid contributions to this debate, arguing that the Corinthian correspondence in particular evidences Paul’s training in formal rhetoric. The book they review suggests otherwise – arguing that the rhetorical features visible in the Corinthian correspondence are sufficiently accounted for by ‘general rhetoric.’

One of the reviews points out that this debate is currently vigorous, with a recent interchange between New Testament scholars Stanley Porter (who argues that Paul’s argumentation exhibits functional correspondence with general persuasive techniques) and Ben Witherington (who argues that Paul knowingly makes use of standard rhetorical conventions of his day – see his book New Testament Rhetoric). Others who have taken part in this debate include Margaret Mitchell, who argues that 1 Corinthians is an elegant example of deliberative rhetoric, employed by a trained rhetorician (see her book Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation), and R Dean Anderson (Ancient Rhetorical Theory and Paul) and Philip Kern (Rhetoric and Galatians: Assessing an Approach) – both of whom argue against Mitchell’s approach. As well as this, there are the volumes co-/edited by Porter (e.g. Rhetoric, Scripture and Theology), and the more recent multi-author work Paul and Rhetoric.

It should be pointed out that approaches to Paul’s use of formal rhetoric have become refined over the last couple of decades, especially due to the work of those above. Duane Watson, for example, has pointed out that it is usually too simplistic to apply a singular rhetorical ‘genre’ to a New Testament letter. His recent account of the ‘rhetoric’ of 1 Peter, for example, makes the point that ‘First Peter does not closely follow the conventions of Greco-Roman rhetoric in its invention and arrangement, but many of those conventions are present’ (52). His resulting analysis is appropriately cautious and nuanced.

My own contribution to this discussion comes in my monograph Paul and the Rhetoric of Reversal in 1 Corinthians: The Impact of Paul’s Gospel on his Macro-Rhetoric. I don’t deal head-on with the issue of Paul’s rhetorical training; but I suggest that whatever rhetorical resources Paul had at his disposal (including those of his Hebrew heritage), they have become subservient to the transforming impact of his kerygma of the crucified-and-risen Christ – which affects his language use at multiple levels.

Rethinking Paul’s Rhetorical Education: Comparative Rhetoric and 2 Corinthians 10–13

by David PettegrewSeptember 3, 2014September 3, 2014Leave a comment

The most recent issue of the Review of Biblical Literature contains two critical reviews of Ryan S. Schellenberg’s Rethinking Paul’s Rhetorical Education: Comparative Rhetoric and 2 Corinthians 10–13, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013 pp. xiv + 406.

Here’s the book description:

Did Paul have formal training in Greco-Roman rhetoric, or did he learn what he knew of persuasion informally, as social practice? Pauline scholars recognize the importance of this question both for determining Paul’s social status and for conceptualizing the nature of his letters, but they have been unable to reach a consensus. Using 2 Corinthians 10–13 as a test case, Ryan Schellenberg undertakes a set of comparisons with non-Western speakers—most compellingly, the Seneca orator Red Jacket—to demonstrate that the rhetorical strategies Paul employs in this text are also attested in speakers known to have had no formal training in Greco-Roman rhetoric. Since there are no specific indicators of formal training in the way Paul uses these strategies, their appearance in his letters does not constitute evidence that Paul received formal rhetorical education.

And links to the reviews: