Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Resources: Biblical Studies Bulletin 22

Issue 22: Dec 2001

News Flash

Some of you asked for it. One of you begged for it. Most of you had better things to do, and will wonder what the fuss is about. In any case, after wrestling with HTML, attempted PDFs, GIFs and UFOs on my computer I have managed to begin to put back issues of BSB onto the Web. So now, if you aren't one of the cognoscendi who have been with us from the start, you can browse old reviews, old news, old humour (some of it extremely old), but useful Comments on Commentaries surveys and computer links that may still be of value.

To find these rough gems, you must embark on a treasure hunt through the newly revised Ridley Hall webpages, starting from the first page ( http://www.ridley.cam.ac.uk ). Those who persevere will find a link there to another page containing links to Biblical Studies Bulletin back issues. I could give you the direct route outright, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

Yes, you are right. This is a not-so-hidden ploy to advertise the good things that have been happening here at Ridley (including our new Principal, Revd Dr Christopher Cocksworth, and our new lecturer in Old Testament, Revd Dr Jo Bailey Wells). But free advertising is one of the few perks of editing BSB. Thanks for bearing with me.

Special Report

The 19th Annual British New Testament Conference

The British New Testament Society's conference took place from 6-8 September this year at the University of Manchester. One of the largest crowds I can remember attended, well over one hundred and twenty lecturers, research students and other worthies.

The main speakers included Francis Watson on 'Not the New Perspective' (a critique of the Sanders/Dunn revolution taking place in Pauline studies), Troels Engberg-Pedersen on 'Body Language in Paul', and Catrin Williams on 'The Reception of Isaiah in the Fourth Gospel'. I sneaked away from the Paul seminar group to attend the Social World of the New Testament group, which was looking at the theme of Christ and the Imperial Cult. We heard several fascinating and informative papers reminding us of the importance of emperor worship as a background to the NT.

More details are available from the British New Testament Society's website ( http://ntgateway.com/bnts/ ). Next year's conference will be held in Cambridge from 5-7 September.

Books in Brief

The Oxford Bible Commentary (John Barton and John Muddiman, eds; OUP; ISBN 0-19-875500-7; £40). This is a superb book for people who want to know how front-rank modern scholars from a wide variety of backgrounds are reading the Bible today. In addition to James Dunn, Graham Stanton and a host of UK luminaries, the contributors include fine Roman Catholic scholars such as Jerome Murphy-O'Connor. The inclusion of the Apocrypha makes the volume all the more valuable and catholic in its appeal.

Evangelicals will certainly not agree with everything they read here, but on the whole the contributions appear more sensible, sympathetic to the text and even-handed than some older one-volume works. Eccentric speculation is kept to a minimum. Each commentary section includes an introduction and is followed by a bibliography (of varying length, but many of which will be helpful to students). This resource represents excellent value for money. The volume comes with a free sampler of the CD version available for PC users.

Mark for Everyone and Luke for Everyone (Tom Wright; SPCK, 2001; ISBN: 0-281-05299-9 for Mark and 0-281-05300-6 for Luke; £8.99 and £9.99 respectively). Tom Wright has a gift. There is no doubt about it. He is, arguably, the brightest star in the firmament of NT scholars today, and he can write in a style that is immediately accessible and attractive to people who are strangers to the Bible. He's done it again.

These two books are the first in a new series of guides that Tom expects to write for the entire NT. Each of the short chapters covering five to twenty verses at a time features a fresh translation (of a style somewhere between the New Living Translation and Eugene Peterson's The Message), followed by a discussion about its meaning and relevance peppered with illustrations and anecdotes that make the books incredibly easy to read. Tom's experience as a teacher shows in the helpful glossary that appears in the back pages, explaining significant words that appear in bold throughout the book.

Those familiar with Tom's theology will know that he writes from a perspective of strong faith and a deep commitment to the authority of Scripture. Not everyone will be persuaded by his interpretation of texts traditionally thought to refer to the return of Christ (Tom sees them referring to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD), but his theology is orthodox. Readers are in 'safe' hands here.

Preachers and teachers will find sparkling ideas for illustrations and ways into texts in these books, but their primary value will be as a way into the Bible for inquirers and newcomers to the faith. They could be used very profitably both by individuals and by home study groups. SPCK are onto a winner.

This is not the first ambitious project Tom has undertaken, and despite my jealousy I hope it's not the last. May he live long and prosper.

Letters to the Editor

In the last issue of BSB, Ian Paul wrote an open letter concerning Richard Brigg's Grove Booklet, Gender and the New Testament, raising three points in the process. In this issue, Richard responds:

Dear Ian,

I enjoyed your response to my booklet. Here are some thoughts on your specific points:

1. Exegesis and Interpretation. Whenever I read 1 Corinthians 11 I do admit to throwing up my hands in post-exegetical wonder, perhaps as Paul himself did by v. 16, and hoping that at the very least my raised hands are holy, as 1 Tim 2.8 would want (or wish; or require; boulomai), but I agree entirely that my overall argument should not make us take exegesis any less seriously. Exegesis remains important, but I want to insist that it operates within limits, and that these limits are significant; we work with probabilities rather than certainties, and we work especially to be alert to our own distorting biases, always engaged in 'the quest of the historical bias' - the one which will do least damage to the texture of the text. To me the value of operating with a working distinction between exegesis and interpretation is not that it is a 'correct' theoretical model (because it certainly isn't) but because it frees us to pursue the text on terms which are not necessarily congenial to ourselves. I have found that the distinction refreshes immensely my ability to see what the text says, and has gone a long way in practice towards letting me see things there which I find personally problematic.
2. Divergence and Disagreement. I suppose it is potentially reductionist to say, as I did, that there is a factor 'X' through which we filter the biblical text, but on the whole I have found that this has a beneficial practical value. I have lost count of the number of sermons I have heard which work faithfully with the text but which then attempt to drop moral and behavioural points across the 2000 year divide and send me away better informed about how to be a good person. If only some attention to God or the shape of the gospel would hijack this moralising trajectory then I think it would be all to the good. I was greatly encouraged by reading recently Mark Allan Powell's Chasing the Eastern Star: Adventures in Reader-Response Criticism (Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), and he argues specifically that some kind of systematic-theological grid is the only way that the multi-faceted and multi-directional biblical text can be harnessed to constructive Christian concerns. He also has a brilliant chapter including the results of a survey of both clergy and laity about a couple of biblical passages. This would be practical food for thought on the question of what widely divergent real people do in fact think about Scripture.
3. Interpretation and the People of God. One of my formative influences was combining part-time theological study with a pastoral role in my local and supporting church, some 10 years ago. It was startling to me then how seldom I could transfer lecture notes to the pulpit or sermon preparation into essays. What is perhaps even more striking now is to realise just how much the whole process of theological education and reflection transformed me as an individual, and the way I work with Scripture. It is perhaps because of this that I see hermeneutics as a distinct discipline from 'biblical interpretation'; there is no necessary pay-off between better theoretical thinking and 'better interpretations'. The pay-off comes in the formation of wiser interpreters -perhaps those with a role (a specific gifting?) of discerning the Word of God in the wider body of their local church. It is at least worth pondering whether the natural environment for the phrase 'Word of God', its 'home language game' as people like me want to say, was in a pre-literate age where most believers encountered the Bible as spoken and interpreted message. In such a context, the 'word of God' is indeed living and active, judging and liberating, and so forth. Is it worth suggesting that people do not need to be experts in the Bible, but they do need to hear the Word of God? I'm sure the implied opposition needs more careful handling, but it does at least trouble me that biblical scholarship seems to raise this (hermeneutical!) question relatively rarely.

Ed: This may not be the end of the discussion...

Humour

My mother-in-law sent me the following, which 'actually appeared' in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands.

The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water'. The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus'.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing 'Break Forth into Joy.'

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say 'hell' to someone who doesn't care much about you.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Eight new choir robes are currently needed, due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person(s) you want remembered.

The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 P.M..--prayer and medication to follow.

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door.

The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The Congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.

Comments on Commentaries

An assessment of commentaries and other works on books of the Bible to keep you up to date with what will help in preaching and teaching in the local church.

OT: The Song of Songs

A veritable cataract of commentaries on the Song of Songs cascades through the centuries. However, in more recent times there have been an increasing number which have responsibly and creatively grappled with the text and given attention to its canonical significance. I shall mention a number I have found especially useful.

R E Murphy (Hermeneia, 1990) is learned, well written and open-minded. He works hard to give help on the flow of the text, and his introduction gives a concise history of interpretation. O Keel (Fortress, 1994) has excellent literary sense and usefully draws on copies of relevant Near Eastern art. T Longman III (NICOT, 2001) has just appeared and looks to be an interesting exegesis, but I have not yet had time to study it. M H Pope (Anchor, 1977) is a large commentary (over 750 pages), absolutely packed with linguistic, literary and historical information. If you want to hear about Egyptian fertility rites, this is the book for you. It is indispensible for reference, but difficult to use as a guide to the text.

T Gledhill (IVP, 1994) is well written and easy to read. R Gordis (New York, 1974) gives an example of Jewish exegesis. R Davidson (DSB, 1986) is a useful introduction to the book and has an effective discussion of its imagery. G L Carr (Tyndale OTC, 1984) is good on individual verses but lacks imagination and verve. W J Fuerst (Cambridge, 1975) is brief but has some useful ideas. R Murphy & E Huwiler (NIBC, 1999) is elegantly written and has a most useful introduction.

Most of the above commentaries set their face sternly against 'allegorical' interpretations and thus sometimes miss the Song's canonical similarity to books such as Hosea with their intertwining of divine and human love. I am writing a short commentary on the Song (to appear probably in 2003) which attempts to close with this issue.

A number of useful studies can be mentioned. A Brenner (Sheffield OT Guides, 1989) is a helpful introduction as is her Feminist Companion to the Song of Songs (Sheffield, 1993). E H Peterson's Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work (Eerdmans, 1992) is a fine and pointed application of the Song to relationships. B G Webb (IVP, 2000) is a sensitive and imaginative exposition. Both of theselike some of the shorter commentariesdeal with all of the five scrolls.

Revd Bob Fyall, Cranmer Hall, St John's College, Durham

Computer Corner

The best argument for buying an Apple Macintosh computer groweth even stronger. Roy and Helen Brown have announced new modules for Accordance, the finest software there is for scholars and those who want to dig deep into the background of the Bible. New modules available include the Apostolic Fathers in grammatically-tagged Greek (as well as Latin and English), the Pseudepigrapha (R H Charles version), Stevens Greek Grammar, the Koehler & Baumgartner Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the OT, and the New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. Holiday discounts are on offer until 31st December. There's never been a better time to make the change from Windoze to Apple! (Now that should evoke some responses...)