Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Resources: Biblical Studies Bulletin 14

Vol 14: Dec 1999

News Report: 'The Real Reason'

Over five weeks from November 3rd until December 5th something special was happening at St Mark's Church, Cambridge. Through eleven dramatic performances, virtually the entire text of the New Testament was presented to sellout audiences, as each night a different director helped to communicate the biblical account of the Real Reason for celebrating the Millennium.

Rex and Wendy Walford, parishioners of St Mark's and founders of the Cameo Theatre Company, coordinated the project which was over a year in the planning. The series comprised very diverse productions, each of which sought to convey a portion of the text of the New Testament. For some of the participants in the drama groups it was their first close encounter with the bible and a church.

Each night was unique, as the eleven directors selected various translations as their base texts and chose to present their material in very different ways. Music, mime, dance, sound effects and projected images helped to illustrate the texts.

A group of Cambridge biblical scholars wrote the programme notes for each evening's performance. These 1000-word introductions have been collected, edited by Markus Bockmuehl, and published by Grove Books in a special twenty-four page supplemental volume to the Biblical Series. Introducing the New Testament: The Real Reason for the Year 2000 comprises ten chapters, featuring Graham Stanton on Matthew, Morna Hooker on Mark, Markus Bockmuehl on Luke and John, Bruce Winter on Acts, Bruce Longenecker (now in Scotland at St Andrews) on Romans, myself on the letters to the Corinthians, John Proctor on Paul's other letters, Arnold Browne on the general epistles, and John Sweet on Revelation. The booklet offers an orientation to the New Testament, and concludes with a brief bibliography for further study. Copies can be ordered from the Grove Books office at the usual price of £2.25 postpaid.

The size of casts for the evenings varied from one person (the deaconess Phoebe delivering Romans) to over forty (Acts 13-28). On the first night, the gospel of Matthew was communicated in flashback fashion through the setting of Jesus' trial before Caiaphas. On another night, within the framework of the AV, a first-rate choral group sang texts from Luke's gospel set to music by composers as diverse as Handel and Tavener. A group of personalities including David Elleray (world class football referee), Christopher South (radio broadcaster), Hugh Dennis (actor and comedian) and Anne Atkins (controversial agony aunt) read shorter letters of Paul.

After the series ended, directors, cast members and audiences were invited to an evening meeting in the parish hall at St Mark's to discuss issues arising from the performances. Predictably, different approaches to dramatizing the NT writings appealed to different people. All agreed that a major long-term benefit was getting people to work together.

The series was a salutary reminder that the New Testament documents were written to be delivered orally. The effect of hearing the writings uttered in their entirety was unforgettable. It has made us all reflect, and has motivated many to go back to the text to have a closer look!

Rex Walford has kindly said that he will be happy to discuss any aspect of the project with interested parties. He may be reached by telephone (01223-323519) or at his email address (raw1000@hermes.cam.ac.uk). Several of the productions (including a five-person dramatization of Mark's gospel) have now taken on lives of their own, being performed at other local churches. We hope that others will be encouraged through this experience to try something similar, albeit perhaps on a smaller scale.

Book Reviews: Three Books of Interest

Marguerat, D and Y Bourquin, How to Read Bible Stories: An Introduction to Narrative Criticism (London: SCM, 1999). Original French 1998.

Ryken, L, J C Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman III, ed, Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Leicester: IVP, 1998).

These two outstanding books in the field of the literary study of the Bible were published last year, but I doubt if they have had the sales they deserve. Marguerat and Bourquin introduce the basics of how stories (both OT and NT) may be read and appreciated. Complex concepts and a sophisticated vocabulary of analysis are introduced, but their value is readily illustrated by discussion of a wide range of texts. These include discussion of the theological implications of the assorted literary techniques. As a bonus, the points are illustrated through delightfully witty and apt illustration by Florence Clerc. Test questions (with answers at the back) would make it a challenging but potentially revolutionary study book for an intelligent lay group. This is by far the best introduction to the subject I have come across.

Complementing this ideal introduction comes a fine reference book. Dictionaries, theological wordbooks and commentaries all contain extensive discussion of critical matters that are simply inappropriate for the normal sermon. The IVP Dictionary of Biblical Imagery ignores all such matters and concentrates on the interesting bits, an 'encyclopedic exploration of the images, symbols, motifs, metaphors, figures of speech and literary patterns of the Bible'. It includes judicious surveys of significant theological concepts, as well as all the books of the Bible. Because so much work has gone into integrating and editing the articles, individual authors are not named. This is a precious resource for those who wish to help readers and hearers enter imaginatively into the world of the scriptures. Highly recommended.

Revd Dr Philip Jenson (Lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity College, Bristol)

McKelvey, R T, The Millennium and the Book of Revelation (London: Lutterworth, 1999).

This is an excellent introductory book for students and interested church folk. It begins with a survey of how the millennium has inspired (for good and bad) movements down the centuries, including missionary organisations. He then moves on to the book of Revelation, discussing it in ten short chapters: Understanding Revelation; Christ and the churches; Worship God and the Lamb; Maintaining the testimony of Jesus; The Beast versus the Lamb; The End of Babylon; Christ comes with the armies of Heaven; The Millennium; The New Jerusalem; and Conclusion.

Of particular interest is his conclusion that the victory of the rider on the white horse in Rev 19 is not John's version of the second coming but one of many ways that John describes the defeat of evil. The question of whether the second coming is before or after the millennium, which has perplexed interpreters down the ages, does not arise.

A Letter to the Editor

Can I comment on what is said by Thorsten Moritz about Martin Kitchen's commentary on Ephesians? I do not know whether calling it 'an exploration as the object of biblical criticism' is helpful either positively or negatively; in fact I do not really know what it means. Perhaps it would have been more relevant to point out the distinctive nature of the reading, identifying the text as a liturgical letter and making connections with modern liturgical practice.

Thanks for your clarifying comment. Unfortunately the last issue was so rushed that I spent most of my time trying to prune form instead of contentto which regular readers will no doubt wonder, So what else is new?!

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: Amos

At present, Amos does not appear to be among the most popular books in British OT circles (there hasn't been a major Amos commentary by a British scholar for some time). However, across the Atlantic the situation is different, so on the whole, there is no shortage of commentaries. The following is a selective assortment.

The 'heavyweights': WR Harper's ICC volume, Amos and Hosea (T&T Clark, 1905), although rather dated (e.g. in its attempt to trace, with the help of questionable poetic criteria, the voice of the 'authentic' Amos), is still in print. HW Wolff's magisterial Joel and Amos (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1977) is well-known for its author's proposal (no longer universally accepted) that the book consists of six redactional strata. Yet Wolff is well worth consulting, not only because he was an excellent exegete but also for the gems of theological insight dispersed throughout the work. The Anchor Bible contribution by FI Anderson and DN Freedman (Doubleday, 1989) is not for the fainthearted. A tome of more than a thousand pages, it must surely be the most extensive commentary ever written on Amos. It focuses on the final form of the text and is particularly strong on structural issues, but due to its inordinate length, it is not very user-friendly. SM Paul (Hermeneia; Fortress, 1991), who attributes the entire book to the prophet Amos, is excellent on general exegetical issues but weak on the theology of the book (which isn't really discussed).

'Serious middle-length' commentaries: Writing from a mainstream critical perspective, JL Mays (OTL; Westminster, 1969) follows in the footsteps of Wolff and shares his theological sensitivity. JA Soggin (SCM, 1987) belongs to roughly the same tradition, as does J Jeremias (OTL; Westminster John Knox, 1998), who represents the current style of German redaction criticism. A more conservative stance is found in JH Hayes (Abingdon, 1988), who says interesting things about the integrity of the text (even though some of his text-critical decisions are rather off the mark); D Stuart, Hosea-Jonah (WBC; Word, 1987), whose work is known for its focus on the covenantal curses and blessings; TJ Finley, Joel, Amos, Obadiah (Moody, 1990), who offers a useful all-round treatment; and GV Smith (Zondervan, 1989), whose work features good exegesis, competent discussions of the literary structure and the theological message. Smith is the best evangelical commentary on Amos. Belonging to the same tradition and providing another covenantal reading, J Niehaus in TE McComiskey, The Minor Prophets, Vol 1 (Baker, 1992) is strong on the ancient Near Eastern background.

Shorter treatments: More conservative are DA Hubbard, Joel and Amos (TOTC; IVP, 1989) whose volume, though brief, is exegetically and theologically very useful, BK Smith (NAC; Broadman & Holman, 1995), JA Motyer (BST; IVP, 1974), whose treatment is perhaps the most applied of the lot, and PC Craigie, The Twelve Prophets, Vol 1 (DSB; St Andrew, 1984), which is very brief but insightful. Less conservative but commendable for use in Bible study groups is B Thorogood's small volume (TEF; SPCK, 1971)strong on exposition and including helpful study suggestions and discussions of central themes. Also good on exposition and social application are R Martin-Achard in idem and SP Re'emi, Amos and Lamentations (ITC; Handsel, 1984), and BC Birch, Hosea, Joel, and Amos (Westminster John Knox, 1997), who is known for his interest in ethical issues. E Achtemeier, Minor Prophets I (NIBC; Hendrickson, 1996) and DE Gowan's contribution to the New Interpreter's Bible (Abingdon, 1996) reflect the current tendency to focus on the book as it has come down to us rather than on speculative redactional layers.

Study guides: GF Hasel, Understanding the Book of Amos (Baker, 1991) and AG Auld (OT Guides; Sheffield Academic Press, 1986) are useful guides to relatively recent studies of Amos. PJ King's Amos, Hosea, Micah (Westminster, 1988) is an 'archaeological commentary' focusing on the historical and geographical setting and on issues such as architecture, warfare, the cult, and agriculture.

Best picks: If pressed, I would probably go for Wolff, Paul and GV Smith, and if it has to be a short one, then Gowan and Hubbard would be my top contenders.

NT: Update on Revelation

Two substantial works have recently been published which no serious student of Revelation can ignore. David Aune's long-awaited commentary in the Word series ended up as three volumes totalling nearly 1400 pages of text, plus 510 pages of introduction. Greg Beale's contribution to the NIGTC series stretched to a more modest 1300 pages, but in a single volume.

As would be expected for a commentary of its size, Aune's work includes an exhaustive list of sources and secondary material. To this extent, it will no doubt become an indispensable reference work. But its usefulness will not be as widely appreciated as had been hoped.

The main questions concerning Aune's commentary are his use of the Word format, his theory of 'diachronic composition criticism', and the relation of the detail to the overall picture of the text. The 'Explanation' section, so helpful in other volumes to gain a sense of the text's relevance without being encumbered with technicalities, here simply summarizes the 'Comments'. Aune's theory of composition appears to suffer most of the weaknesses of earlier source theoriesinconsistency, circularity and the failure to engage with literary questions. Large parts of the comments appear to have no relevance for the final exegetical conclusion (see, for instance, the parallels with Lactantius in the comment on Rev 11).

Beale's commentary is, by contrast, much more theological, and will be of use to preachers who are willing to tackle its size. The heart of Beale's approach is to read Revelation alongside the OT texts that it alludes to. How convincing his approach will be at a critical level remains to be seen. His comment on metaphor in the introduction is unusually thin, and his own understanding both of the problems of deciding which OT texts are relevant, and the significance of so-called 'intertextuality' appears relatively undeveloped. This is surprising considering that there is so much debate about these issues, both within Revelation scholarship and more widely amongst scholars of the NT.

If anyone has used these commentaries in study or preaching, I would be interested to hear your views.

Computer Corner

• If you are looking for a web site that pulls together links and biblical material from a wide variety of backgrounds, Mark Goodacre offers a superb collection at his New Testament Gateway (http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/goodacre/links.htm) There you'll find access to large collections of bible translations, maps, art & images (which can be used to create visuals for teaching), and links on specific topics such as women & gender, Jesus in film, and the usual scholarly resources.
• Dr David Brewer has provided details of free Greek and Hebrew fonts and utilities ( http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/tyndale/Fonts.htm ). He writes, 'I have put together an easy-to-use kit with clear instructions. The kit includes the Scholars Press fonts (both Mac and PC), which can be freely used and sent with your work to publishers or editors. It also includes the Keyboard program "RTL". I have created keyboard files for this program which make it easy to write accented Greek and pointed Hebrew, and macros to make it easy to switch between Greek, Hebrew and English in Word. These are all packaged together with instructions'. To download the kit, go to http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Download/Font_Kit.exe

Grove Biblical Series

Revd Dr Philip Jenson has written this month's booklet, Reading Jonah, which helps us to hear afresh the purpose and message of Jonah, with suggestions for preaching.