Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Resources: Biblical Studies Bulletin 11

Vol 11: Mar 1999

Review: The Gospels for All Christians

The Gospels for all Christians rethinking the Gospel audiences. Ed. R. Bauckham, T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1998. 220 pp., pb. £13.95.

These essays challenge the assumption in gospel studies that each gospel was written in and for a specific Christian community, whose narrow interests shaped its contents and theology. Richard Bauckham initially examines the 'gospel community' theory; it has never been argued, but has developed based on the assumptions of an earlier generation of scholars. Writers today often focus narrowly on the supposed community of each gospel writer, and try to create a sociological profile of it from the contents of its gospel. Bauckham points out trenchantly that Christian writings in the first and second centuries portray a church which maintained a rapid exchange of information and ideas. In another chapter he examines the relationship between Mark and John, suggesting that John is a conscious complement to Mark intended to fill in the gaps, rather than a correction or something written in ignorance of Mark. Thus the hypothesis of an isolated Johannine community becomes as unnecessary as it is difficult to locate in space or time.

Michael Thompson (of whom readers may have heard!) details the communication systems available to the first century Church, using New Testament and classical sources to draw theologians' attention to the relative rapidity of communication which characterised the Roman Empire. Loveday Alexander complements this with a study of contemporary publication technologies, again drawing from classical as well as early Christian sources. Both demonstrate that the hypotheses of sluggish communication and geographical isolation need revision.

Richard Burridge uses his knowledge of classical bioiLives, but not as we know themto discuss how a first century author would approach his audience and subject, and concludes that the gospels are what the first century treated as biography, and were therefore written for a wide readership.

Stephen Barton asks some pointed questions about the sociological naiveté of attempts to read the social patterns of early Christian communities by decrypting the codes imagined in gospel narratives, criticising work on each gospel by some of the main proponents of this endeavour.

Finally, Francis Watson challenges the assumption that events and stories in the gospels are allegorisations of the experience of a Christian group, rather than reports of historical incidents in the life of Jesus. Far from being a scientifically neutral social study, this method is heavily loaded theologically, and is logically circular, assuming its conclusions in order to discuss them in detail.

So are they right? My own reading of classical sources, and study of the networks of friendship in the New Testament, suggests that the gospel writers would have struggled to find isolated communities to live in, and probably bumped into each other in person frequentlyunless Paul's letters and Acts are not only fiction, but implausible fiction. Indeed, this book is like the lad who blew the gaff on the Emperor's new clothes! At last someone has called the bluff.

But does that mean that the tools of redaction criticism are wasted? Though Bauckham is careful to encourage the use of all we know of the NT background to interpret the text, his case risks overstatement. There is a place for 'Communities of Interest' which shaped the recollection of Jesus' story. Matthew's reporting of Jesus' teaching on divorce shows greater interest in the debate between Shammai and Hillel than does Mark's; it makes sense to see Matthew working with readers for whom this Jewish question was a live issue, while knowing that others would look over their shoulder.

And there are the authors' own assumptions. They seem to accept that the gospels date from the end of the first century. But their book has done much to undermine this conventional late dating. No longer (for instance) do we need a long period for Mark's gospel to reach churches other than his own. Yet they do not explore this implicationperhaps one revolution at a time is enough.

Revd Greg Forster

[The above review came to BSB out of the blue, although Greg has been paid six hundred times the normal amount we give to reviewers. By the way, not all contributors to Bauckham's book would date the Gospels late...]

Comments on Commentaries

An assessment of commentaries on a book of the Old & New Testament to keep you up to date with what will help in preaching and teaching in the local church.

OT: Genesis

Genesis is not only one of the Old Testament books most quoted in the New Testament, it is also one most frequently commented on in modern times, so the reader is blessed for choice.

J. Calvin (1563; reprinted Banner of Truth, 1965), F. Delitzsch (1887; reprinted Klock and Klock, 1978) and C.F. Keil (reprinted Eerdmans) are not so out-of-date as their age might suggest. Calvin's commentary in particular has an almost modern feel as he probes the motives of the characters and connections between the stories. Modern literary critics may find his approach a little subjective, but he asks the same questions as they do. For more than a century commentators on Genesis have failed to see the book as a whole, much to the detriment of the understanding of its message.

There are two reasons for this. First, Christians tend to focus on the opening chapters 1-11 and not see that the stories of the patriarchs make up the bulk of the book. Second, critical scholars divide up Genesis according to its putative sources J, E, and P, and so in effect write commentaries on J's version of Genesis and P's version of Genesis rather than on the canonical Genesis. This is not to say that there are not many useful insights in the great critical commentaries of S.R. Driver (1904), H. Gunkel (1910), J. Skinner (1930; ICC), E.A. Speiser (1969; Anchor Bible), B. Vawter (1977) and C. Westermann (1984-86), but they are better at describing elements within Genesis rather than the whole book. Of the main-line critical commentaries G. von Rad (1972; OT Library) shows the most theological insight. For straightforward historical exegesis, the Jewish commentators B. Jacob (1934), U. Cassuto (1961, 1964) and N.M. Sarna (1989) are of great value, though they offer less theologically. In most recent times commentators have been coming to the conclusion that the primary focus for their attention must be the existing canonical text of Genesis. This has led to a convergence of approach between the Jewish scholars just mentioned and both liberal and conservative Christian writers.

Both W. Brueggemann (1982; Interpretation) and T.E. Fretheim (1994; New Interpreter's) from the liberal direction and D. Kidner (1967; Tyndale), A.P. Ross (1988; Baker), G.J. Wenham (1987, 1994; Word) and V.P. Hamilton (1990, 1995; NICOT) from a conservative direction all attempt holistic readings of Genesis. Whose commentary you will find most helpful will probably depend in some measure on your own standpoint. Perhaps the best course would be to use one you identify with theologically and one you disagree with!

Gordon Wenham
Professor of Old Testament, Cheltenham and Gloucester College

NT: The Gospel of John

There are so many! And of such variety that it should be possible to find one that suits your need. But the price can be very sobering. This brief survey starts with the cheapest and works upward.

Head of the list is Ian Barclay's Crossway Bible Guide at £4.99. Designed for use with groups, it contains some pointed background information and is well worth the money. Next up is Lesslie Newbigin's The Light Has Come (Handsel Press, £6.75). It is a beautifully written cross between commentary and theological reflection. Then comes J. Ramsay Michaels, the New International Biblical Commentary at £6.99 from Paternoster. This is my hot recommendation for the best short commentaryfully indexed, a nice combination of detailed and more general comment, arising from a lifetime of teaching, excellent value for nearly 400 pages.

Two commentaries fall into the £7 range. Kenneth Grayston's Epworth Commentary (£7.50) has some useful inserted Notes on relevant topics but overall is old-fashioned and dull, and shoots itself in the foot by basing itself on the Revised English Bible. The Proclamation Commentary (Fortress, £7.99) by D. Moody Smith is not a commentary at all but a series of (quite good) essays from one of the gospel's more liberal scholars.

The Tyndale commentary by R.V.G. Tasker will cost you £8.99 and is not worth it. It is unrevised since 1960 and was weak even then. A far better rival is F.F. Bruce's commentary from Pickering & Inglis (£8.95). One of his later products (1983), it is based on his own translation, and is an old-style verse-by-verse work which pays lots of attention to details of the text, bringing to bear Bruce's massive learning. Great value for over 400 pages.

There are four more to mention before you begin to think about bigger money. Bruce Milne's contribution to the Bible Speaks Today series (IVP, £9.99) is greatsound commenting and sensitive application. Sanders & Mastin (Black's, £10.99) is scholarly and good but now a bit out of date. Mark Stibbe's Readings commentary (Sheffield Academic Press, £11.99) is a fascinating application of 'literary' approaches to Johnunusual, well worth reading. Charles Talbert's Reading John (SPCK, £15) seeks to combine literary and historical approachesgood, but idiosyncratic in places.

Gerard Sloyan's Interpretation commentary (Westminster/John Knox, £17.95) is meant to support teaching and preaching, but it isn't a patch on D.A. Carson's IVP commentary (£26.99). This is undoubtedly the best buy for ministers wanting a basic resourcefull, clear, stimulating, reliable, and certainly to be preferred to Leon Morris' New International Commentary (Eerdmans, £29.99).

The really big money? You can go for C.K. Barrett (SPCK, £45), probably the best commentary based on the Greek, the Anchor Bible in two volumes (£35 each, Geoffrey Chapman) by R.E. Brown, or the three-volume commentary by Rudolph Schnackenburg (Burns & Oates, £100). These are all terrific, in different ways, and vital resources for all serious students.

Steve Motyer, London Bible College

Humour: In the Style of Leviticus Pt 2

Household Principles for ChildrenLamentations of the Father by Ian Frazier
Laws Pertaining to Dessert

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert.

But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, I will know, and you shall have no dessert.

On Screaming

Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault.

Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die.

Concerning Face and Hands

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.

Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of the bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, not against any building; nor eat sand.

Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not the humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.

Computer Corner

• The text of the helpful 'Offline' column found in issues of Religious Studies News can be found online at http://shemesh.scholar.emory.edu/scripts/offline.html
   
• The Greek text of Josephus and other ancient writers can be found at the excellent Perseus Project site: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Texts/chunk_TOC.grk.html
   
• Summaries of articles in the last ten years of the journal Biblica are online at http://www.bsw.org/project/biblica/index.htm
   
• Dr Justin Meggitt's excellent website for biblical resources is now easier to find, at http://www.christianorigins.org
   
• The Web address given in our last issue for London Bible College's website was mistaken (as was our attribution of C.F.D. Moule's Forgiveness and Reconciliation to CUP instead of SPCK; within the vast staff of BSB heads will roll). Instead go to:
• http://www.lst.ac.uk/
   
• The text of the Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (Baker) is now available at: http://sda.goshen.net/cgi-bin/redirect.cgi?AD=edbt3

Grove Biblical Series: Future Titles

This month's booklet is New Heavens, New Earth by Tom Wright. Tom gives us a fine study of the concept of heaven in the NT, and the consequences for the nature of the Christian hope of life beyond death in the renewed creation of the eschaton.

Richard Bauckham returns to our series to write the June book (B12) on Scripture and Authority. In the autumn we look forward to publishing Jesus at 2000, by Howard Marshall. This will survey what we can confidently say about the historical Jesus; judging by Howard's other fine works, it will be very useful. Following that, Philip Jenson will help us make sense of the Book of Jonah. During 2000, we hope to offer an exploration of the Easter story along the lines of John Proctor's encouraging study of The Christmas Stories in Faith and Preaching (B9). Let us know what sorts of books you'd like to see in the future!