Ridley Hall, Cambridge

Resources: Biblical Studies Bulletin 5

Vol 5: Sept 1997

Special Report: The British New Testament Conference

Just over a week ago, about 150 New Testament scholars met in Leeds to share ideas, to sharpen each other and to find out what's new. Nearly half of the participants were young research students completing their doctoral studies; many of them are evangelicals. Among all the papers and presentations, two items in particular were interesting.

Dr Keith Elliott of Leeds University led us in an illustrated exploration of how early Christian apocryphal writings influenced subsequent traditions, and art in particular. For example, depictions of the holy family in a cave and accompanied by cattle derive not from the NT, but from the Protoevangelium of James, a late 2nd century work. Dr Elliott is the editor of a standard edition of the New Testament Apocrypha (Oxford, 1993).

The last lecture of the conference by Dr Stephen Barton of Durham University was the most provocative. Speaking on 'The New Testament as Performance', he likened proper interpretation of the NT to the performance of a Beethoven score or Shakespearean tragedyin short, creative fidelity is required. Drawing on recent articles by Nicholas Lash, Rowan Williams and Frances Young, he reminded us that the idea of detached and 'objective' interpretation is unrealistic and inappropriate; proper interpretation is informed by a legitimate 'prejudice' for truth and good in community. In essence, he called biblical scholars not to shortchange their Christian commitment and allegiance to the church when going about the task of NT exegesis.

Although not all participants at the conference were Christians, the discussion that followed was fair and good-tempered. It made me thankful again that the guild of NT scholars in this country have not caved in to a politically-correct agenda that pretends it is intellectually, spiritually and morally 'neutral'. It is useful to be reminded that everyone writes and acts from faith; the question is, what, or better, Whom do we put our faith in?

With a growing number of evangelical scholars present, this ostensibly academic conference is taking the faith community more seriously into account year by year. This augurs well for the future of biblical theology.

News in Brief

New Project for the Bible Society

The British and Foreign Bible Society have begun the 'Open Book' project, the aim of which is to bring the Bible to our modern culture and our culture to the Bible. Revd Dr Colin Greene, formerly a lecturer at Trinity College, Bristol and currently a theological consultant for the Bible Society, spoke to the British NT conference about different facets of the project. After consultations with a number of Christian leaders and scholars the Society has identified five key biblical 'stories' which reflect (at least) five important themes that speak to life today.

Creation - Identity
Exodus - Freedom
Exile & Return - Justice
Nativity - Hope
Cross & Resurrection - Forgiveness/Reconciliation.

A resource pack is being developed to help people better communicate these stories.

Part of the project's brief is to help fund new initiatives, and one such is the new Theology Through the Arts programme at Cambridge directed by Revd Dr Jeremy Begbie of Ridley Hall. The programme aims to re-fresh Christian theology by means of the arts, to bring Christian thinking alive in fresh ways in order that the gospel can be more effectively communicated in the next millennium. Theology Through the Arts is organizing conferences, publications, courses and performances.

Dr Greene is keen to consult with anyone who has ideas about how to increase biblical literacy. At the conference, I told him off the top of my head that among other things people need (1) a set of good OHP transparencies and slides of maps and illustrations to help bring the Bible to life when we teach it and (2) a storytelling initiative that helps families learn the joy of turning off the TV and imaginatively retelling Bible stories (perhaps through family camps in the summer?). If you have other ideas, Colin can be contacted at tel/fax 01666-825836 or via email: greenec@bfbs.org.uk.

Forthcoming books

Among the new volumes announced by publishers at the British NT conference were the following:

The Gospels for All Christians, edited by Richard Bauckham (T & T Clark; £12.50; November), challenges the current scholarly consensus that the gospels were each written for a specific, limited community. It makes the case that they were intended for general circulation and produced for all Christians. The book includes a chapter by yours truly entitled 'The Holy Internet: Communication Between Churches in the First Christian Generation'. [Sometimes, if rarely, it pays to be an editor]

The Theology of Paul the Apostle by James D. G. Dunn (T & T Clark, £29.95; November) is a 768 page blockbuster that will probably become a standard reference work and a burden to bookshelves.

Dictionary of the later New Testament & its Developments, edited by R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids (IVP, £29.99), is coming in January. Judging by the first two IVP dictionaries in this series on Jesus and the Gospels and Paul and his letters, this should be very useful.

John's Gospel: Good News for Today by David Wenham (Religious & Theological Students Fellowship, only £1!) is a 53 page booklet providing an even-handed introduction to questions about the fourth gospel's theology, historicity and relationships with the Synoptics.

The Editor

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: Daniel

Commentaries on Daniel can get bogged down on polemics over matters historical-critical and/or eschatological. Disagreements over date or authorship seem to have less effect on the theological understanding of the book than disagreements over eschatology.

Despite its date J A Montgomery (ICC, 1927) is still valuable on textual and philological issues. However, most people can go straight to J E Goldingay (Word, 1989) and J J Collins (Hermeneia, 1993), who draw on his work and provide the most comprehensive recent commentaries. Collins is a leading scholar in the field of apocalyptic literature in general and Daniel in particular. He and Goldingay have a good understanding of the nature of apocalyptic literature and how to handle it. Whether or not you agree with their historical- and literary-critical positions much can be gained from these commentaries. Both are scholarly works which require effort from the reader if full benefit is to be got from them. Goldingay's is the more theologically insightful.

The commentary by N Porteus (SCM, revised ed 1979) is a short but good theological exposition, whereas L F Hartman & A A Di Lella (Anchor, 1978) is just unhelpfully short. A Lacocque (SPCK, 1979) combines good exegesis and theological exposition with an eye for contemporary relevance. W S Towner (Interpretation, 1984) concentrates on the theology of the book. He provides a combination of insight and idiosyncrasy.

J G Baldwin (TOTC, 1978) provides the best of the more conservative commentaries, while R S Wallace has written a good expository commentary (The Lord is King, BST 1979) from the same stance. There is an interesting commentary from a conservative, Mennonite perspective by P M Lederach (Herald Press, 1994). It is strong on biblical theology and current application, though he overdoes the promotion of pacifism from time to time.

There are some stimulating theological/expository studies of Daniel. J E Goldingay complements his commentary with a volume on Daniel in the Word Biblical Themes series (Word, 1989). This traces the themes of God's faithfulness, sovereignty and insight through the book. D S Russell, a long-standing expert on apocalyptic, has surpassed his good Daily Study Bible volume on Daniel (St Andrew's, 1981), with a briefer exposition Daniel: An Active Volcano (St Andrew's, 1989). The volume by J G Gammie on Daniel in the Knox Preaching Guides (JKP, 1983) is disappointing because the preaching ideas seem forced on the text. A Fernando, Spiritual Living in a Secular World (Zondervan, 1993) brings the perspectives of a non-western youth evangelist to bear on Daniel. The result is mixed. Sometimes it is insightful in a fresh way, sometimes the application is superficial. It is always a very 'Christian' reading. This is an unreflective kind of 'reader response' approach. D N Fewell (Circle of Sovereignty, Abingdon, 1991) concentrates on the theme of God's sovereignty as part of the general question, 'Who rules?', with which she approaches the book in a deliberate exercise of moderate 'reader response/deconstruction' theory. The result is sometimes debatable but often illuminating and helpful.

Ernest Lucas, Tutor in Biblical Studies, Bristol Baptist College

NT: Philippians

Not long ago, there were few substantial commentaries in English on Philippians. The standard International Critical Commentary by M R Vincent and J B Lightfoot's fine study both date from the 19th century. More modern contributors were F W Beare (Black's commentary, 1959) and Ralph Martin (Tyndale New Testament Commentary, 1959; New Century Bible, 1980). Now all has changed. Commentaries of every possible weight are in good supply and more are in the pipeline.

Peter O'Brien's magisterial New International Greek Text Commentary (Paternoster, 1991) is a heavyweight. With eighty-six pages on 2.5-11 alone, O'Brien has space to give every side to every argument. As well as seeing O'Brien's very judicious resolution of the issues, you are given plenty of data to help you make up your own mind. Unfortunately, the proliferation of detail sometimes makes it hard to see the wood for the trees and you need Greek to get the most out of this one.

Gordon Fee keeps the wood very clearly in view (New International Commentary on the New Testament; Eerdmans, 1995). His vision of Philippians as a 'hortatory letter of friendship' written to a suffering Christian community is well judged and clearly communicated. But with this clarity of vision you do not get as good a view of all the other sides of each issue. Next down in weight is Gerald Hawthorne's Word Biblical Commentary (Word, 1983). For Hawthorne, Philippians is a fairly unstructured letter covering quite a range of topics. This was the pace-setting scholarly commentary before O'Brien and still gives a very valuable discussion.

Moises Silva (Baker, 1992) brings a thorough knowledge of linguistics to bear on the letter in a very friendly and clear way. This is a refreshing and thoughtful commentary, although with the occasional eccentricity; Silva argues that the Philippians asked Paul to send them Timothy and offered Epaphroditus in exchange.

Ralph Martin's contribution to the study of the letter has been substantial and sustained. Both his New Century Bible Commentary (Marshalls) and his revised Tyndale Commentary (IVP) are still on sale and offer a sane, balanced approach to Philippians. His particular interest is in Phil 2.6-11 as a hymn with a pre-Pauline base. Both these ideas have now been questioned (see O'Brien and particularly Fee). It will be interesting to see if a consensus emerges. F W Beare's commentary is also still worth using (A & C Black). It espouses a view that none of these other commentaries do, namely that Philippians is a composite work, put together from several letters. This view was once very widespread and is still standard in most (but not all) German work. However, current NT study in general tends to interpret 'jumps' in a text, which were once seen as evidence of several sources, as being evidence of literary or rhetorical design.

Finally, Howard Marshall's affordable Epworth Commentary (Epworth, 1991) offers very good value. Although he does not cite many scholars in the text, he reponds to recent scholarship (for example, on rhetoric) and his exegetical judgements are helpful. A particular feature of this commentary are one-page essays on points of pastoral or preaching interest.

For detailed study O'Brien is the key one, probably backed up by Fee. At a more general level, Marshall looks particularly good. And happily the excellent Lightfoot is in print again (Crossway Classic Commentary).

Peter Oakes, Northern College, Manchester

[Ed: Watch for Markus Bockmuehl's Philippians commentary in the Black's NT series (replacing Beare), forthcoming in 1998. We expect it to be very finewise, affordable, accessible and written from a deep concern for relevance to life today].

Humour: Out of Context

The humour (?) in BSB3 provoked the following from Canon Michael Botting.

(over a dentist's chair):
'Open wide your mouth and I will fill it' (Psalm 81.10b)

[Reminded of another one? Dare notoriety in print by sending us your latest]

Computer Corner

Dr Jack Hoad writes from Bromley to commend the American monthly magazine Christian Computing, which offers reviews of software for Christian ministry with advertisements of discounted products (e.g. BibleWorks for less than £125) in every issue. For details contact the magazine direct at PO Box 198, 309 South Washington, Raymore, MO 64083-0198 USA; tel 816-3313881; fax 816-3315510 (email the editor Steve Hewitt at Steve@ccmag.com), or its distributor: Christian Resources Corp., PO Box 200544, Arlington TX 76006 USA; tel. 817-2779479; fax 817-2770868; email 72425.1007@compuserve.com. Surface mail subscription (11 issues): US $33.

Grove Biblical Series

This month's booklet is The Meaning of the Millennium by Revd Michael Gilbertson. Michael has just submitted his PhD on space and time in Revelation and in modern eschatology, so he is well-placed to write on this subject. In the booklet he looks at the various ways that the millennium in Rev 20 has been understood, and at the 'pro's and 'con's of each of these approaches, before drawing out the theological significance of the millennium and relating it to themes from the rest of Revelation something that is often overlooked. The result is not a definitive reading of Rev 20, but a rehabilitation of the millennium for preaching and teaching in the local church.

And finally

Following on Ian Paul's article on Potty Hermeneutics in the last issue, The Bible Code has gone into the top 10 non-fiction books (or should that be 'fiction'?). Any promotions needed? Contact BSB!