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Archive for the ‘NT Theology’ Category


Pauline Theology and the Problem of Death

In Death, Isaac T. Soon, Joseph Longarino, Mohr Siebeck, NT Theology, Paul, Sin on November 21, 2022 at 3:00 pm
Cover of book

2022.11.10 | Joseph Longarino, Pauline Theology and the Problem of Death. WUNT II/558 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021).

Review by Isaac T. Soon, Crandall University.

This book is a revised version of the author’s dissertation, completed at Duke University under the supervision of Douglas Campbell in 2019. Longarino’s study focuses on a truly disregarded problem in Pauline theology: given the death-defying work of Jesus of Nazareth, how is it that his followers are still subject to death? Put another way—from the eschatological vantage point of resurrection—to what extent (if at all) is resurrection somehow a part of the present existence of Christ-followers?

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Jesus Becoming Jesus

In Catholic University of America Press, Gospels, Nathan Charles Ridlehoover, NT Theology, Synoptic Gospels, theological Interpretation of Scripture, Thomas G. Weinandy on April 16, 2020 at 1:00 pm

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2020.04.07 | Thomas G. Weinandy, Jesus Becoming Jesus: Theological Interpretation of the Synoptic Gospels. Washington: CUA, 2018. 

Review by Charles Nathan Ridlehoover, Columbia International Seminary.

Thomas G. Weinandy is an author of more than fifteen books and recently completed his appointment with the Vatican International Theological Commission. The following volume initially started as Weinandy’s attempt at a one-volume systematics text suggested through the gentle nudges of John Webster. Weinandy worried that starting in the Synoptics would obscure his plan to stress God’s saving activity but felt it was extremely important to begin with the first recordings of the incarnation/infancy narratives. As Weinandy admits, what initially was perceived as a problem became an opportunity to write a thorough theological and doctrinal interpretation of the New Testament. Read the rest of this entry »


Pioneer and Perfecter of Faith

In Christology, Christopher A. RICHARDSON, Hebrews, Mohr Siebeck, Nicholas J. Moore, NT Theology, Paul, Pistis Christou on June 21, 2013 at 11:20 am

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2013.06.11 | Christopher A. Richardson. Pioneer and Perfecter of Faith: Jesus’ Faith as the Climax of Israel’s History in the Epistle to the Hebrews. WUNT II/338. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012. XI, 280 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978 3 16 150397 9.

Review by Nicholas J. Moore, Keble College, University of Oxford.

The debate over pistis Christou – whether this phrase refers to faith in Christ or the faith(fulness) of Christ – has generated a large literature focussing mostly on a few verses in Paul. Christopher Richardson’s monograph argues that the concept of Jesus’ faithfulness is clearly present in the New Testament, but in a place that few engaged in the pistis Christou debate have thought to look for it: the Letter to the Hebrews. Richardson’s study (a revision of his doctoral thesis completed under Francis Watson at Aberdeen in 2009) traces references to Jesus’ faithfulness throughout Hebrews in order to demonstrate that this is a recurring and important theme. Read the rest of this entry »


Romans (Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament)

In Baker Academic, Frank J. MATERA, NT Theology, Paul, Romans, Samuli Siikavirta on December 13, 2012 at 9:09 am

Romans

2012.12.17 | Frank J. Matera, Romans. Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010. 416 pages. (PB) $29.99. ISBN 9780801031892.

Review by Samuli Siikavirta, University of Cambridge.

Many thanks to Baker Academic for kindly providing us with a review copy.

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Frank J. Matera’s Romans commentary is meant for “students at the master’s level” (4) and, despite fulfilling this purpose well, it gives some food for thought to more advanced scholars alike. The Paideia series as a whole, in which Matera’s commentary stands, is student-friendly in its threefold exegetical subdivisions: “Introductory Issues” for the background, “Tracing the Train of Thought” for a focus on the rhetorical flow of the text and “Theological Issues” for the significance of the text for Pauline and, indeed, Christian theology from Antiquity through key points along the text’s history of interpretation to the present.

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Scott Hafemann, “Fellow participants of the ‘Divine Nature’ (theia fusis): 2 Peter 1:4 within its ‘Philosophical’ and Eschatological Context”

In 2 Peter, Apotheosis, Edinburgh, Eschatology, Kerry Lee, New Testament, NT Theology, Philo, Scott HAFEMANN, SEMINAR REPORTS on February 19, 2012 at 1:32 pm

A report on a paper given by Dr. Scott Hafemann (Reader in New Testament, University of St. Andrews) at the New College Biblical Studies Research Seminar, 17 February 2012, University of Edinburgh.

The list of forthcoming papers in the Biblical Studies Seminars at Edinburgh can be downloaded from here. RBECS is also on facebook, here.

Dr. Hafemann’s paper argued for a new reading of 2 Peter 1:4’s famous ινα δια τουτων γενησθε θειας κοινωνοι φυσεως, which has served as a prooftext for the concept of apotheosis in Christian theology since the time of the Church Fathers. Through a close reading of the text and a study of the classical use of the word φυσις, Hafemann argued against the typical understanding of this phrase as communicating a concept of an altered ontology, though what he wants to replace it with is not entirely clear.

Following the lead of ancient Christian theologians, modern commentators and translations of the New Testament encourage an understanding of φυσις which is essentially synonymous with ουσια, that is, a static non-physical quality or being. Read the rest of this entry »


Richard Hays, “Retrospective Reading: The Challenges of Gospel-Shaped Hermeneutics”

In Edinburgh, Gospel of Mark, Gospels, Gunning Lectures, HB/OT, Hermeneutics, Intertextuality, John, Kerry Lee, Luke-Acts, Matthew, New Testament, NT Theology, Richard HAYS, Scripture on February 8, 2012 at 10:41 am

A report on a paper given by Richard Hays (Dean and George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament at Duke University in Durham, NC), 26 January 2012. Professor Hays is delivering this year’s Gunning Lectures at New College, University of Edinburgh, on the topic “Israel’s Scripture Through the Eyes of the Gospel Writers.” I should note that Professor Hays has let me know that he is preparing a book for publication based upon these Gunning lectures.

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The last of Richard Hays’ lectures in the 2012 Gunning series was part overview of the previous four lectures and part return to and exploration of the somewhat troubling assertion he made in his first lecture that modern hermeneutics (speaking, for the most part, in terms of the Christian church’s life and teaching) could and perhaps should imitate that of the Gospel writers. This assertion he expounded through nine proposals.

Rather than reporting on all of the first half of Hays’ lecture, let me refer the reader to the reports already posted on Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. However, there were a few comments in this half of the lecture which were new and noteworthy. Read the rest of this entry »


Richard Hays, “The One Who Redeems Israel: Reading Scripture with Luke”

In Edinburgh, Gospels, Gunning Lectures, HB/OT, Intertextuality, Kerry Lee, Luke-Acts, New Testament, NT Theology, Richard HAYS, Scripture, Septuagint on January 26, 2012 at 5:40 pm

A report on a paper given by Richard Hays (Dean and George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament at Duke University in Durham, NC), 23 January 2012. Professor Hays is delivering this year’s Gunning Lectures at New College, University of Edinburgh, on the topic “Israel’s Scripture Through the Eyes of the Gospel Writers.” I should note that Professor Hays has let me know that he is preparing a book for publication based upon these Gunning lectures.

RBECS is also on facebook, here.

Continuing in his investigation of the ways the Gospels use the Old Testament, Professor Hays turned, in his fourth Gunning lecture, to the Gospel of Luke. The launching point for Hays’ discussion was Jesus’ post-resurrection interaction with the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35. Focusing on the disciples’ ironic statement “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” as a hermeneutical key to the narrator’s understanding of Jesus’ significance, and on Jesus response which took them through “Moses and all the Prophets” explicating himself, Hays identifies redemption as a recurrent theme in Luke and asks what is it in “Moses and all the Prophets” that points to Jesus as that redeemer. Read the rest of this entry »


Richard Hays, “Torah Reconfigured: Reading Scripture with Matthew”

In Edinburgh, Gospels, Gunning Lectures, HB/OT, Hermeneutics, Intertextuality, Kerry Lee, Matthew, New Testament, NT Theology, Richard HAYS, Scripture, SEMINAR REPORTS, Septuagint on January 25, 2012 at 8:29 am

A report on a paper given by Richard Hays (Dean and George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament at Duke University in Durham, NC), 19 January 2012. Professor Hays is delivering this year’s Gunning Lectures at New College, University of Edinburgh, on the topic “Israel’s Scripture Through the Eyes of the Gospel Writers.”

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Professor Hays’ third lecture in the 2012 Gunning series focused on the Gospel of Matthew, whose use of the Old Testament has become a central feature of the scholarly characterisation of the New Testament’s overall appropriation of the Old Testament. Very often, the Gospel writers’ use of the Old Testament is understood as a series of proof-texts which show no concern for the meaning or context of the cited or alluded Old Testament reference. Professor Hays’ aim in these lectures, and especially in this one, is to challenge this view by closely reading the Gospels with special sensitivity to the unique narrative strategies of the individual writers.

The intertextual strategy of Matthew in many ways makes a striking contrast with that of Mark. Read the rest of this entry »


N.T. Wright’s Inaugural Lecture as Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of St Andrews, “Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in Early Christianity”

In David J. Larsen, N. T. WRIGHT, New Testament, NT Theology, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on October 27, 2011 at 6:18 pm

Last night I had the opportunity to listen to Professor Tom Wright (a.k.a. N.T. Wright) give his Inaugural Lecture as Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity here at the University of St Andrews. I share here my notes from the lecture. Please be aware that the following is based on rather skimpy hand-written notes, and so does not do justice to Wright’s elegant and precise handling of the English language, but I hope I have preserved the thrust of his arguments.  The speech was entitled:  ”Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in early Christianity.”

Wright begins by outlining how the four Gospels are remarkable documents that are still largely unknown to us. We are failing to understand the thrust of the Gospels. We need to apply our imagination and look beyond the boundaries of the various philosophies that guide our views.

(Wright will present a fresh thesis about the Gospels) Read the rest of this entry »


Ascension Theology

In Ascension, Bloomsbury, Douglas FARROW, Justin A. Mihoc, Luke-Acts, NT reception history, NT Theology, Patristics, Reception history on October 23, 2011 at 9:53 am

2011.10.08 | Douglas Farrow, Ascension Theology, London: T&T Clark, 2011. Pp. xiv + 177. ISBN: 9780567353573 (Paperback), £ 16.99.

Reviewed by Justin A. Mihoc, Durham University.

RBECS would like to thank T&T Clark and Continuum Publishing for kindly providing us with a review copy. You can find RBECS on facebook, here.

Those interested in the interpretation of the Ascension of Jesus will certainly be acquainted with Prof Douglas Farrow’s Ascension and Ecclesia, a substantial monograph that attempted to offer an overview of the meaning and implications of the Ascension event and doctrine. Read the rest of this entry »