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Posts Tagged ‘St Andrews Seminar report’


N.T. Wright, “Apocalyptic and Mysticism in the New Testament”

In Apocalyptic, David J. Larsen, Mysticism, N. T. WRIGHT, New Testament, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on February 9, 2012 at 4:30 pm

This is a report on the University of St Andrews New Testament Research Seminar (N. T. Wright chair), 7 February 2012.

Professor N. Thomas Wright commenced this semester’s New Testament research seminar on Apocalyptic and Mysticism with some introductory remarks regarding these categories and what they mean for the academic study of the New Testament.

Prior to Wright’s remarks, Dr. Scott Hafemann announced that Professor Wright had recently been awarded the Mark O. Hatfield award for excellence in leadership in the field of Christian higher education by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities in Washington D.C.

Wright began by commenting on the rather bumpy road that has been traveled in the history of the academic study of Apocalyptic Literature and Mysticism. Some parties, both in the German and then the American academies, have historically been very wary of venturing into these subjects and have long resisted and pushed to the sidelines the study of related texts. They have often not found a place for these categories in the study of the New Testament, arguing against the historical Jesus’ involvement in anything “mystical” and asserting that Paul wouldn’t have dabbled in it. The academy has long privileged matters of the mind over those of the heart. Read the rest of this entry »


Mark W. Elliott, “The promise and threat of Reception, with reference to patristic interpretation of texts in Hebrews and Ephesians”

In Ephesians, Hebrews, Justin A. Mihoc, Mark W. ELLIOTT, New Testament, Patristics, Reception history, St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies on January 22, 2012 at 5:28 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Dr Mark Elliott as a keynote address at the 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies, 16th June 2011. The conference theme was “Authoritative Texts and Reception History”. The programme of the conference is available here. The conference facebook page can be found here.

Dr Elliott’s engaging paper offered a fresh and clear account of patristic reception analysis, by looking at two key New Testament texts and their interpretation over the first Christian centuries. In his view, the empirical application, rather than a purely linguistic-critical interpretation, does justice to the initial intention of the biblical authors.

He began by assessing the importance of the historical-critical studies of the Bible, as they can provide a fresh interpretation. Read the rest of this entry »


Arie van der Kooij, “The Translators of the Pentateuch in Greek”

In Arie van der KOOIJ, David J. Larsen, HB/OT, Pentateuch, SEMINAR REPORTS, Septuagint, St Andrews on December 7, 2011 at 8:28 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Prof Arie van der Kooij (Emeritus), Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen, Universiteit Leiden, at the Biblical Studies Research Seminar at St Andrews, 1 December 2011. The list of forthcoming papers in this seminar at St Andrews is available here.

RBECS is on Facebook too, here.

Professor van der Kooij, of Leiden University, gave a fascinating paper at the University of St Andrews’  Biblical Studies Research Seminar.  His topic was one that has not been discussed in detail at the seminar in recent years, which made his paper even more intriguing.  Professor van der Kooij’s thesis was that, contrary to other current theories, when evaluating the character of the translators of the Pentateuch into Greek we should take the perspective of the ancient Letter of Aristeus — that they were learned, noble persons working under the direction of the High Priest from Jerusalem. 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 »


N. T. Wright, “Scripture and God’s Authority: Case Studies and Further Questions”

In N. T. WRIGHT, Rebekah Devine, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews, St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies on September 28, 2011 at 9:54 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Prof N. T. Wright as a keynote address at the 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies, 15 June 2011. The conference theme was “Authoritative Texts and Reception History”. The programme of the conference is available here.

The conference facebook page is here. This blog’s facebook page is here.

Wright’s paper addresses what he views as the most contested and problematic moment in reception history:  “The moment when those first-century Jews who believed that Jesus of Nazareth was Israel’s Messiah and the world’s Lord began to re-read their scriptures with this belief as the controlling filter.”  The paper is a re-presentation of the main issues examined in Wright’s book, Scripture and God’s Authority.  As is suggested by the title, Wright emphasizes that the authority of scripture is not in the text itself; rather, the authority of God is somehow mediated through the text.  Read the rest of this entry »


The 1st St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies: Authoritative Texts and Reception History

In SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on May 17, 2011 at 5:37 pm

With an emphasis on textual reception history, the first St Andrews Graduate Conference for Biblical and Early Christian Studies is aimed at graduate students and early career scholars.

Some details are offered here. The initial CfP is available here.

Authoritative Texts and Reception History

Aspects and Approaches. 15-16 June 2011

St Mary’s College, School of Divinity, University of St Andrews

Wednesday 15th June

9.00 am: Kristin de Troyer, On Reconstructing the History of the Biblical Text Read the rest of this entry »


Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, “The Geographical and Theological Location of Isaiah 40-55”

In David J. Larsen, HB/OT, Lena-Sofia TIEMEYER, Scripture, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on March 24, 2011 at 12:55 pm

This is a report on a seminar paper presented by Dr Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, Lecturer in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, King’s College, University of Aberdeen, in the Biblical Studies Seminar at the School of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, on 14 Oct 2010. This paper represents themes/material taken from Dr Tiemeyer’s recent major publication on Deutero-Isaiah entitled For the Comfort of Zion: The Geographical and Theological Location of Isaiah 40-55 (Vetus Testamentum Supplement 139, Leiden, Brill, 2011).

Dr Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, in this seminar paper, challenged the academic status quo regarding the understanding of the location for the writing of the section of the Book of Isaiah known as 2nd or Deutero-Isaiah (Isa 40-55).  Read the rest of this entry »


Markus Bockmuehl, “Jewish and Christian Origins of Creatio ex Nihilo”

In Dan Batovici, DSS, Genesis, Markus BOCKMUEHL, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on December 19, 2010 at 10:23 pm

This is a report on a paper presented by Markus Bockmuehl, Professor of Biblical and Early Christian Studies and Fellow in Theology at Keble College, Oxford, in the Theology Research Seminar at the School of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, 15 December 2010.

The full list of this term’s papers in this seminar is available here.

The article coming out of this paper has now been published. See here.

The starting point of this paper is that it does not hold the idea of creation as a self-evident truth: the notion that all that exists was created by a supreme God constitutes a great intellectual device; obvious to some, but obvious nonsense for others.

As opposed to the Greek philosophy, the Jews and later the Christians were convinced that believers in the God of Israel and readers of the Scriptures do not have the luxury of evacuating the divinity or God from the creation. Read the rest of this entry »


Richard Bauckham, “The ‘Individualism’ of the Gospel of John”

In John, Richard BAUCKHAM, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on November 4, 2010 at 7:09 pm

The paper in the title of this post was presented by Richard Bauckham, Professor Emeritus, University of St Andrews, in the Biblical Studies Seminar at the School of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, 4th of November 2010.

The full list of this term’s papers in this particular seminar is available here.

A report on the same paper, previously red at this year’s British New Testament Conference in a main plenary session, is offered on the Postmodern Bible blog, and can be read here.

A schedule of papers offered by Richard Bauckham is available here.

Yep, and R. Bauckham’s books The MacBears of Bearloch and The MacBears and the Bishbirds are available here.

DB


Andrew T. Lincoln, “Contested Paternity and Contested Readings: Jesus’ Conception in Matthew 1:18-25”

In Andrew T. LINCOLN, Dan Batovici, Matthew, SEMINAR REPORTS, St Andrews on October 30, 2010 at 1:22 am

This is a report on a paper presented by Andrew T. Lincoln, Portland Chair in New Testament Studies, University of Gloucestershire, in the Biblical Studies Seminar at the School of Divinity, St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews, 28 Oct 2010.

The article is now published in JSNT, here.

Andrew T. Lincoln’s paper revisited the arguments of two opposing readings of Matthew’s account of the conception of Jesus. The traditional view (exemplified in the paper by Brown, Davies/Allison, Luz) is to read in Mt 1:18-28 that Jesus’ conception is a virginal one, while the “revised” reading (Schaberg, Catchpole, Miller) sets out to argue that, at least in Matthew, a virginal conception is not necessarily implied.

Three indicators were presented in support of the traditional reading of the conception in Matthew: the conception by Holly Spirit in 1:18 and 20, the citation from LXX Isa. 7:14 in 1:23 where the παρθένος is mentioned, and, in 1:25, the lack of marital relations before Jesus’ birth. Jesus is then the “adopted” son of Joseph, and was conceived through the agency of the Holy Spirit. This happened not in a sexual manner, detail confirmed in 1:25 – no marital relations before the birth. Read the rest of this entry »