1.1 | Ancient Jewish Bibliomancy Pieter W. Van der Horst University of Utrecht, The Netherlands The increasing centrality of the Torah in Judaism in the post-exilic period
led to a heightened sense of holiness of the Torah. In the Hebrew Bible, the Torah
itself is not yet adorned with the epithet 'holy'. One sees this starting to happen
only in the Hellenistic period. Not surprisingly, inspiration theories on the
genesis of this Holy Scripture soon begin to make their appearance. And it is in
exactly the same period that we also see the beginnings of the use of the Torah for
bibliomantic purposes. Bibliomancy is the practice of using the Bible in order to
get to know what God has in store for individuals or groups, not by reading the
biblical text but by using it as a lot oracle. |
1.2 | A New Testimony to the Letter to the Hebrews Amphilochios Papathomas Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna The papyrus fragment P.Vindob. G 42417 offers a new testimony to the New
Testament Letter to the Hebrews. The fragment measures 3.3 x 5.2 cm.; its margins
are no longer extant; there are parts of Heb. 2.9-11 on its recto and Heb. 3.3-6 on
its verso. The script runs along the fibres on the recto, and across the fibres on
the verso. With plates. |
1.3 | Dionysios Halikarnasseus, the Art of Composition and the Apostle Paul Chrys C. Caragounis Lund University, Sweden Dionysios Halikarnasseus was one of the most important literary critics of a
generation or two before Paul, and who may rightly be taken as a representative of
Greek literary tastes in general. Paul not infrequently exhibits elements that were
deemed by Dionysios necessary to good composition, but seldom made a conscious
effort to adhere to literary rules for elegance in style. Thus, his more felicitous
choices of words and compositions seem most of the time to be the result of
instinctive feeling and natural taste. Content was more important to Paul than form.
But being a great and original thinker, a versatile writer with a fair grasp of the
Greek language, and believing himself to have been entrusted with a message and a
mission of momentous importance, it was inevitable that he would give expression to
such spontaneous dynamism, and by it lay a claim for a place in Greek literature. |
1.4 | False Prophets (4Q339), Netinim (4Q340), and Hellenism at Qumran Shaye J.D. Cohen Brown University, Providence, RI The creation of thematic lists based on data from a closed 'canon' of
authoritative texts is an expression of Hellenistic textual scholarship. Ever since
the nineteenth century, scholars have postulated the influence of Hellenistic
scholarship on the textual scholarship of the Jews, especially the rabbis. The
Qumran list of false prophets (4Q339) and perhaps also the list of netinim (4Q340)
provide our earliest evidence for the penetration of this type of scholarship into
Jewish circles, both those that wrote in Hebrew and those that wrote in Aramaic. |
1.5 | Mark's Incipit and the Priene Calendar Inscription: From Jewish Gospel to
Greco-Roman Gospel Craig A. Evans Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, Canada It was against the setting of Roman cynicism that the Markan evangelist dared
to put forward the Christian gospel and declare that the true son of God was Jesus,
the Messiah of Israel and 'king of the Jews'-not some would-be Roman emperor.
Despite rejection at the hands of his own people (and the most important people, as
importance would have been measured at that time), and a shameful death at the hands
of the most powerful people, Jesus was indeed the son of God, humanity's true Savior
and Lord. Mark's purpose is to narrate the story of Jesus in such a way that such a
confession will appear compelling and plausible to Jews and Romans alike. |
1.6 | Why the Split? Christians and Jews by the Fourth Century Stanley E. Porter and Brook W.R. Pearson University of Surrey Roehampton, London, England There has been much recent discussion of the split between Judaism and
Christianity. Much of the discussion has been concerned with modern categories, and
fails to place the separation within the larger context of the ancient world. This
is especially true with regard to its bearing upon developments in the ancient
world, including the growth of Christianity, up to the fourth century or Late
Antique period. However, it seems that there are several pertinent questions about
the development of this split between Judaism and early Christianity that have a
direct bearing on several important elements within this period. Perhaps the most
obvious question (and the one to which many have tried to provide an answer) relates
to the defining characteristics of the split. |
1.7 | Particularistic Judaism and Universalistic Christianity? Some Critical Remarks on
Terminology and Theology Anders Runesson University of Lund, Sweden 'Universalism' and 'particularism' are terms that mislead some into making
historical statements that are untenable upon closer examination, and therefore are
not useful terms for the study of ancient Judaism and Christianity. They simply
cannot define the aspects of religion which they are supposed to define, and are
unable to distinguish differences or show similarities between religions. Therefore,
new terms are suggested that are adapted to the present state of research, with its
emphasis on the diversity evident within these religions in ancient times. In this
way, it is hoped that they will facilitate a search for new answers, as well as lead
to a presentation of these results in more exact language. Finally, examples are
offered of how the new terms can be applied to a selection of texts. |
1.8 | A Semantic Study of αὐθέντης
and its Derivatives Al Wolters Redeemer University College, Ontario, Canada The word αὐθέντης and its
derivatives have occasioned a great deal of scholarly discussion. The difficulty is
that αὐθέντης appears to have
three distinct senses in ancient Greek ('murderer', 'master', and 'doer'), and it is
a matter of dispute both how these senses are related among themselves, and how they
influence the meaning of the derivatives of
αὐθέντης. For New Testament
scholars, the issue is whether
αὐθεντέω in 1 Tim. 2.12 is
based on the meaning 'master', thus yielding the traditional rendering 'have
authority over' (possibly with the pejorative connotation of 'domineering'), or
whether it is semantically indebted to one or both of the other two senses of
αὐθέντης. The present
article, without focusing specifically on the one occurrence of
αὐθεντέω in the New
Testament, sketches the semantic contours of this word family from its earliest
attestation in Attic drama to late antiquity. |
1.9 | 'Wide is the Gate and Spacious the Road that Leads to Destruction': Matthew 7.13
in Light of Archaeological Evidence Michael Knowles McMaster Divinity College, Ontario, Canada This study reviews Matthean redaction of 7.13-14, examines archaeological
evidence concerning gates and roads in early Roman Palestine, and seeks to locate
7.13-14 thematically within the wider context of Matthew's Gospel, in order to
demonstrate that the references to 'wide' gates and 'spacious' roads convey
specifically Roman (or more properly, anti-Roman) overtones. |