ETS Paper

The ETS national meeting programs are now online. I am giving a paper on Friday morning (see pg. 30). Somehow, however, my title got changed in the program. The paper proposal title was 'The Voice from Sinai and the Voice from Zion: Reassessing Gal 3.19-20.' It is listed in the program as 'Paul’s Enigmatic Statement in Galatians 3:20 Points Forward to the Later Salvation-Historical Contrast of Sinai and Zion in 4.21ff.' I guess the first title wasn't descriptive enough.

Contours of Christology 3: Christological Materials in Early Christian Communities

Richard N. Longenecker, "Christological Materials in Early Christian Communities"
In this third essay in Contours of Christology, Longenecker provides a general survey of the Christological source materials used by the writers of the NT and the early Christian community.
In brief, Longenecker deals with four types of source material. First, in addition to describing the events surrounding Jesus' death and resurrection, passion narratives also served as apologetic against those who were put off by the fact and manner of Jesus' death. Second, Longenecker points to common eschatological among the earliest Christians--especially the Olivet Discourse. He argues that some form of the Olivet Discourse and/or its general teaching was likely circulated among early Christians. Third, Longenecker favors the existence of a Logia/sayings collection (i.e., Q). Interestingly, he argues that Papias' famous reference to Matthew compiling the "Logia" in Hebrew likely refers to Q. Regardless of one's position on the synoptic problem, it is likely that some body of teachings from Jesus circulated among in the early church (cf. Paul's references to sayings from the Lord, etc.). Finally, Longenecker notes the various Christocentric hymns, confessions, creeds, etc. in the NT and argues that they were likely used in corporate worship.
Longenecker's essay provides a helpful introduction to the Christological source materials in the NT and can be a helpful orientation to any, especially conservative evangelicals, who may be unfamiliar or suspicious of source materials in the Bible.

Contours of Christology 2: Jesus as the Alpha and Omega of NT Thought

Ben Witherington III, "Jesus as the Alpha and Omega of New Testament Thought"
Witherington's essay is rather straightforward. He argues that Jesus is both the basis and focus of NT thought. He illustrates these themes by examing the shape of Paul's christology.
He begins with the narrative structure of Pauline christology. For Paul, (1) the story of Christ himself, (2) the story of Israel, (3) the story of a world gone wrong, and (4) the story of God all find their basis and focus in Christ. The first obviously so, and the latter three informed by the first.
Witherington next examines the theme of Christ as God in Paul's letters. Not only does Rom 9.5 seem to explicitly affirm that Christ is God, but also Paul's "wisdom christology" and the close relationship between Christ and the Spirit further substantiate Jesus' divinity. In addition to the divinity of Christ, Paul also emphasizes the humanity of Christ. Witherington points to both the particular Jewishness of Jesus' humanity and the more universal theme of Christ's humanity in relation to his role as the Last Adam. Witherington finally emphasizes that Christ is the center of Paul's thought; his eschatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, and theology proper are all profoundly effected and shaped by Christ.
Therefore, Witherington closes his essay by noting that Christ's centrality in NT thought was not primarily based on an intellectual revolution; rather, "what we are dealing with here is a group of people who had had profound religious experiences that they interpreted as encounters with the living Lord-that is, with Jesus the Christ." Christ is not simply the intellectual center of the NT; he is the heart and soul of NT worship. This must always be in the front of our minds as we examine NT christology.

"Music meme"

David Griffiths tagged me a while back; since I said I was trying to blog more, and this silly PhD program seems to be getting in the way of that, at least this will count for a post.

1. You would be surprised that I listen to __________.
Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. I like old school country every now and again.

2. You probably have never heard of __________.
A band called Sleeping at Last who is based here in Wheaton. You may have heard of them, but I didn't before a few months ago. Great sound and lyrics. Check them out here.

3. I hope nobody sees this amidst my collection: ___________.
Eminem. Can you say cultural exegesis?

Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32

Well, at least they won't get my hopes up this year.

Contours of Christology 1: Jewish Messianism and Early Christology

William Horbury, "Jewish Messianism and Early Christology" (p. 2-23)

Horbury sets out to investigate the question: “Was a messianic hope, in the sense of the expectation of a coming kind or ruler, a significant element in Judaism at the time of Christian origins—and did it have any importance for the origins of New Testament Christology?” (4). He begins by noting the argument of Bruno Bauer, who claimed that pre-Christian Jewish messianism was virtually non-existent. With the gradual discovery, publication, and analysis of many ancient Jewish documents, however, Bauer’s theory has become untenable. Therefore, “now it is possible to trace a continuous line in the attestation of Jewish messianic hope from the Septuagint Pentateuch onward. It begins in the third century BCE, not long after Alexander the Great—and not so long after the probably fifth- or early-fourth-century date of the biblical books of Chronicles. In the second and early first centuries BCE it is represented especially by Jubilees, the Damascus Document, and many of the Qumran texts. From the mid-first century, after 63 BCE and toward the end of the Hasmonean period [167-40], come the Psalms of Solomon. The Herodian age is represented by the ‘Parables of Enoch,’ which were composed probably in the late first century BCE, and by 2 Esdras, 2 Baruch, and Book 5 of the Sibylline Oracles, which all seem to have been written sometime about 100 CE, when the Herodian age came to an end with the death of King Agrippa II. The Eighteen Benedictions likewise reproduce prayer themes of the late Herodian Age; while the Targums and rabbinic literature reflect later Jewish messianic expectations, mainly from the second century CE onward.” (13).
This tradition, Horbury continues, certainly had its share of diversity, but it was coherent enough, especially with respect to its emphasis on key biblical texts, to be designated a single tradition.
Finally, Horbury closely ties together Jewish spiritual and angelic messianism with early Christology. That is, “early Christian conceptions of a crucified but spiritual and glorious Messiah are best interpreted by Jewish representations of the Messiah as a glorious king embodying a superhuman spirit.” (23). Thus, Horbury argues against Bauckham’s presentation of Jewish monotheism (cf. God Crucified). Rather, he favors the development of superhuman, mediatorial messianic figures in early Judaism.

Contours of Christology

I have started a book of essays about current trends in Christology: Contours of Christology in the New Testament. Edited by Richard Longenecker. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005).

This book was born from a NT colloquium at McMaster Divinity College in June 2001. It was published, however, in 2005, so most of the material is fairly up-to-date. In the introduction, Longenecker sets forward the approach of the book: “The endeavor of the present volume is to treat New Testament christology in a ‘biblical theology’ fashion”(xii). He defines this approach in four ways: 1) sensitivity to the circumstances of NT writers; 2) the use of ‘the best critical-historical-literary-exegetical tools’ 3) allowing each author’s voice to emerge clearly; and 4) an acknowledgement of both the ‘contingencies and the coherence’ of the NT documents. By this last point, Longenecker means that, with respect to Jesus, there is both a ‘sense of center’ and particularly emphases to be found in each NT book.
In the coming days, I hope to read through these 13 essays and, as I complete them, post a short summary of each.

Baptism and church membership

I know this is a hot topic right now, but since only ten people read this blog, I don’t think that I am going to solve any problems or change anyone’s mind. But I do want to set out my position as it stands right now, if for no other reason than to help to clarify my own thinking on this issue.
Before I begin, I should say that my mind has changed several times on this issue. I have had the unique privilege of spending a couple of years with some wise and godly men who are on both sides of this issue.
During my two years in Minneapolis at Bethlehem, I leaned towards Piper’s view (open membership). Then, when I moved to Louisville, although I initially held Piper’s position pretty strongly, I changed my view to a certain degree after listening to the arguments of my professors and pastors at Southern Seminary and Clifton Baptist. And to be honest, I still go back-and-forth on this issue.
If I were forced to articulate a position, I would advocate something of a conditional open membership view. What do I mean by this? First of all, I am a pretty committed credobaptist. I will not take time here to rehearse the arguments for this position, but it does lead me to say that in order to be biblically baptized, one must be baptized after conversion. This, and this alone, is proper baptism.
For better or for worse, most of us in the West live in places where we can find a church that will agree with our position on baptism. Therefore, we cannot honestly say that we are excluding a brother or sister from membership if they do not accept our understanding, because they probably could find a good Presbyterian or non-denominational church in the area. So, if I were a member of a church that was proposing a shift to open membership, but knew of a good Presbyterian church down the street, I would probably vote against it.
Having said that, I do concede the point that there are places all over the world that do not have both good credobaptists and good paedobaptists within a reasonable distance of each other. In such circumstances, I concede that since our paedobaptist brothers and sisters practice a form of defective obedience, their obedience, while defective, is nonetheless a real form of obedience. In these circumstances, I would not raise an objection to open membership.
Am I talking out of both sides of my mouth? I am being—gasp—pragmatic? Probably. But we must always be aware of our circumstances and strive to make wise, Scripturally informed choices in light of these circumstances. In this case, I admit the importance of believer’s baptism and will defend it. But I also believe there may be some circumstances when other factors trump this understanding of baptism.

German by Candlelight?

After nearly 24 hours without it, we just got our power back. The whole Chicagoland area got hit pretty hard with storms last night, and we didn't have electricity from 3 pm yesterday until this afternoon sometime. That, coupled with a German exam this morning, made for a pretty intense 24 hours. But, praise God, the power is back on, the German test is over, and I am ready to officially start my Ph.D. program next week.
This semester I will be taking a doctoral seminar called Theological Interpretation of Scripture, an intro to doctoral research course, and will begin research for my dissertation. I also plan to sit in on a Deuteronomy exegesis course with Daniel Block. (Also, depending on how my test went this morning, I may be in a German reading course).
So these things will probably flavor what I write about on this blog the next couple months. Hopefully lots of thought about Deuteronomy and the Shema, along with some ideas on how to theologically interpret those Scriptures.