VIDEO: Richard Hays @ Lanier Theological Library

Recently, Professor Richard Hays of Duke Divinity School was involved in a panel discussion on what's called "figural reading" of OT in NT. This recalls his earlier work on Paul as well as the more recently work on the Gospels (Reading Backwards), the latter which is part of a larger ongoing project (likely to be completed sooner with his stepping down as the Dean of the Divinity School).

See the video below:

HT: Crux Sola Blog

RIP: J. Louis Martyn (1925 - June 2015)

I was saddened to hear the passing of one of the great NT scholar/theologians of the current generation, Professor J. Louis Martyn (see a tribute by Prof. Gaventa here). During my first semester at Duke Div, I took a course on Galatians with Dr. Susan Eastman, in which we worked through his wonderful AB commentary on Galatians. Thanks to her friendship with Prof. Martyn, we had the great privilege of having him join our last class session in which we talked about Paul and Galatians for three hours. I still remember his graciousness and humility, and he was very much interested in hearing from all of us as much as we wanted to hear from him. He fully engaged with all of our (and I'm sure in many ways, amateur) questions and it was such a great way to end the seminar. Whatever the various criticisms (or praises) that could be had of his AB commentary, to this day I tell my friends/colleagues that it is one of the most readable and interesting commentaries that I have ever come across. 

RIP Professor, it was truly an honor to have met you.

Professor?

Recently in The New York Times, Mark Bauerlein (who happens to be a professor here at Emory University in the English department) wrote an article titled "What's the Point of a Professor?" As someone who is headed (hopefully!?) to a job in academia, I found this article to be an important (though I suppose as others have argued, subjective) perspective on the current state of the professorial position. 

I'll link the NYT article here and would be interested to hear your thoughts if any.

Bauerlein has also received some criticism (see here), and in response, he was interviewed for some post-article Q&A here.

Candler Centennial (1914–2014/15)

This academic year marked the 100 year anniversary of the founding of Candler School of Theology here at Emory University. In order to mark this significant milestone of Candler, the school ran a year-long program, including a conference during this spring semester (Mar. 18–20). This conference kicked off with a keynote address from my doktorvater, Luke Timothy Johnson, titled "Theological Challenges of the New Century."

I saw that Candler now has uploaded all the videos from this conference to their Vimeo website, and I thought I would share with you Luke's address:

Marcion

It looks like interest in Marcion is picking up as of late with the (soon to be) publication of scholarly works concerning this interesting figure in early Christianity. Harnack had attempted to recover Marcion's text more than a century ago, and as far as I know he still sets much of the agenda on the question of Marcion and his relationship to the NT. Check out these new books in chronological order with their respective descriptions:

Markus Vinzent, Marcion and the Dating of the Synoptic Gospels (Peeters: 2014)

Are the Synoptic Gospels at odds with Early Christian art and archaeology? Art and archaeology cannot provide the material basis 'to secure the irrefutable inner continuity' of the Christian beginnings (Erich Dinkler); can the Synoptic Gospels step in? Their narratives, however, are as absent from the first hundred and fourty years of early Christianity as are their visual imageries. 'Many of the dates confidently assigned by modern experts to the New Testament documents', especially the Gospels, rest 'on presuppositions rather than facts' (J.A.T. Robinson, 1976). The present volume is the first systematic study of all available early evidence that we have about the first witness to our Gospel narratives, Marcion of Sinope. It evaluates our commonly known arguments for dating the Synoptic Gospels, elaborates on Marcion's crucial role in the Gospel making and argues for a re-dating of the Gospels to the years between 138 and 144 AD.

Dieter T. Roth, The Text of Marcion's Gospel (Brill: January 2015)

In The Text of Marcion’s Gospel Dieter T. Roth offers a new, critical reconstruction of Marcion’s Gospel including various levels of certainty for readings in this Gospel text. An extensive history of research, overview of both attested and unattested verses in the various sources, and methodological considerations related, in particular, to understanding the citation customs of the sources set the stage for a comprehensive analysis of all relevant data concerning Marcion’s Gospel. On the basis of this new reconstruction significant issues in the study of early Christianity, including the relationship between Marcion’s Gospel and Luke and the place of Marcion in the history of the canon and the formation of the fourfold Gospel, can be considered anew.

Judith M. Lieu, Marcion and the Making of a Heretic: God and Scripture in the Second Century (forthcoming, Cambridge: April 2015)

A comprehensive and authoritative account of the 'heretic' Marcion, this volume traces the development of the concept and language of heresy in the setting of an exploration of second-century Christian intellectual debate. Judith M. Lieu analyses accounts of Marcion by the major early Christian polemicists who shaped the idea of heresy, including Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Epiphanius of Salamis, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Ephraem Syrus. She examines Marcion's 'Gospel', 'Apostolikon', and 'Antitheses' in detail and compares his principles with those of contemporary Christian and non-Christian thinkers, covering a wide range of controversial issues: the nature of God, the relation of the divine to creation, the person of Jesus, the interpretation of Scripture, the nature of salvation, and the appropriate lifestyle of adherents. In this innovative study, Marcion emerges as a distinctive, creative figure who addressed widespread concerns within second-century Christian diversity.

They all look to be fascinating studies on Marcion and I'm sure many scholars will benefit from these works.

ZNW (Vol. 105, Issue 1)

It was brought to my attention on my social media feed (HT: Brian LePort) that ZNW has a new issue out this year. I'm glad to report that one of my mentors here at Emory, Walter Wilson, has published an article in this issue. See the TOC:

Walter T. Wilson, “Words of Wisdom (Matt 9,9-17; 11,16-19),” 1-20. 

Kylie Crabbe, “Being found fighting against God: Luke’s Gamaliel and Josephus on human responses to divine providence,” 21-39. 

Nils Neumann, “Die πανοπλία Gottes. Eph 6,11–17 als Reflexion der Belagerung einer Stadt,” 40-64. 

Michael Theobald, “Vom Werden des Rechts in der Kirche,” 65-95. 

Ole Jacob Fitvedt and Martil Wessbrandt, “Exploring the High Priesthood of Jesus in Early Christian Sources,” 96-114. 

Gerhard Rignhausen, “Das Rätsel der Ἡρῳδιανοί im Markusevangelium,” 115-125. 

Jason Staples, “Altered Because of Transgressions? The ‘Law of Deeds’ in Gal 3,19a,” 126-35. 

Garrick V. Allen, “Textual Pluriformity and Allusion in the Book of Revelation. The Text of Zechariah 4 in the Apocalypse,” 136-45. 

Walter has been working through the Gospel of Matthew for some time now (see now his recently published book with Fortress Press, Healing in the Gospel of Matthew: Reflections on Method and Ministry) and in the course I am TA-ing for him this semester at Candler School of Theology, students have been given various passages from Matthew, one of which they must choose for their final exegesis papers. If you're at all interested in this gospel, I suggest you take a look at his article then pick up his book.

CNN's Finding Jesus Episode 1

Looks like CNN's Finding Jesus (see my original post here about the miniseries here) had a very strong premier with their first episode this past Sunday, coming it at #1 in cable news during its respective time slot with over 1.1 million viewers. Good to see some familiar faces and no doubt the episodes to follow should continue to draw strong interest.

For the full first episode, go to CNN's website here.