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Johannine Ethics

In Christopher Skinner, Ethics, Fortress Press, Gospel of John, Johannine Epistles, John, Matt N. Williams, NT Ethics, Sherri Brown on July 13, 2018 at 1:34 am

97814514964683

2018.07.10 | Christopher Skinner and Sherri Brown (eds). Johannine Ethics: The Moral World of the Gospel and Epistles of John. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2017. 319 pp.

Reviewed by Matt N. Williams, Durham University.

This volume sees Fortress Press enter the debate surrounding Johannine ethics, a debate that has been increasingly active since the 2012 German publication of Rethinking the Ethics of John. As the editors, Christopher Skinner and Sherri Brown, make clear in their introduction and conclusion, the whole question of John’s ethics is turning out to be far more fertile ground for research than traditionally assumed. This corresponds to Alan Culpepper’s analysis of the situation two decades ago, which perceived this as a general shift of focus in John scholarship. The early preoccupation with theological matters was overtaken by historical matters and now ethical ones in response to society-wide moral concerns regarding pluralism and ‘the Jews’ especially. Read the rest of this entry »


Review Article: F.W. Horn and R. Zimmermann, Jenseits von Indikativ und Imperativ

In Friedrich Wilhelm HORN, Mohr Siebeck, New Testament, NT Ethics, Paul, Ruben ZIMMERMANN, Samuli Siikavirta on January 19, 2011 at 7:28 pm

2011.01.03 | F.W. Horn and R. Zimmermann, eds. Jenseits von Indikativ und Imperativ: Kontexte und Normen neutestamentlicher Ethik / Contexts and Norms of New Testament Ethics, vol. 1, (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 238), Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009. ISBN 978-3-16-149997-5. Cloth.

Review article by Samuli Siikavirta, University of Cambridge.

We extend our thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing us with a review copy.

It is only in the recent years that some scholars have begun to criticise the indicative/imperative division of New Testament ethics that was first presented by P. Wernle in 1897 and popularised by R. Bultmann in his 1924 essay.Truthfully to its name, Jenseits von Indikativ und Imperativ [Beyond the Indicative and Imperative] delves into the recent criticism via 17 articles (two of which are in English) that present ways of going beyond the indicative and imperative. The book is the result of a round-table discussion on the foundations of New Testament ethics that took place in Germany in 2007. Read the rest of this entry »


Author’s Response to RBECS’ review on Solidarity and Difference: A Contemporary Reading of Paul’s Ethics

In Bloomsbury, David G. HORRELL, NT Ethics, Paul, Samuli Siikavirta on November 2, 2010 at 5:43 pm

2010.11.06 | David G. Horrell, Solidarity and Difference: A Contemporary Reading of Paul’s Ethics. London: T&T Clark, 2005. 360 pp. ISBN 0567083349. Hardback.

The RBECS review is available here.

I am grateful to Samuli Siikavirta for taking the time to engage at length with Solidarity and Difference and I hope that these few brief remarks by way of response may help not only to clarify issues but also, perhaps, to take discussion beyond where the book leaves off. Read the rest of this entry »


Solidarity and Difference: A Contemporary Reading of Paul’s Ethics

In Bloomsbury, David G. HORRELL, NT Ethics, Paul, Samuli Siikavirta on October 26, 2010 at 2:55 pm

2010.10.05 | David G. Horrell, Solidarity and Difference: A Contemporary Reading of Paul’s Ethics. London: T&T Clark, 2005. 360 pp. ISBN 0567083349. Hardback.

Reviewed by Samuli Siikavirta, University of Cambridge.

You can find the author’s response to this review here.

Horrell concludes with three alternative ways of appropriating Pauline ethics to contemporary situations and dilemmas. As the first alternative, Horrell presents thinking ‘with’ Paul along the lines of Hauerwas’s ecclesial ethics, secondly, ‘beyond’ Paul to offer a mediating position between communitarian and liberal ethics, and thirdly, ‘against’ Paul due to the sheer differences between our plural society and the Pauline communitarian context.

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