The Journal of Theological Studies - current issue

A Newly Identified Old Latin Gospel Manuscript: Wurzburg Universitatsbibliothek M.p.th.f.67

Houghton, H. A. G. — 2009-04-02

Several Latin manuscripts of the Gospels are described as ‘mixed texts’, which combine Old Latin and Vulgate readings. Würzburg Universitätsbibliothek M.p.th.f.67, a ninth-century gospel book possibly of Breton origin, has been called a ‘mixed text’ although it has not hitherto featured in the list of Old Latin manuscripts published by the Institut Vetus Latina. A full collation of the text of John reveals that in two portions (John 1:1 – 5:40 and John 12:34 – 13:10) it may be categorized as Old Latin. Many non-Vulgate readings in these passages are shared with other Old Latin codices (notably Codex Rehdigeranus), while other variants peculiar to this manuscript correspond to citations by Augustine and Jerome. It is also one of the very few Latin witnesses to an additional phrase in John 8:9. Although the Synoptic Gospels have not been collated they too have a partial Old Latin affiliation, which appears to be particularly extensive in Matthew. As a result of this study, the manuscript has now been given the number Vetus Latina 11A.

'Thou Shalt Commit Adultery' (Exod. 20:14, AV 1631): A First Survey of Alteration Involving Negatives in the Transmission of the Greek New Testament and of Early Church Responses to it

North, J. L. — 2009-04-02

Like many words in the New Testament, one-fifth of the 3,542 examples of the negative have suffered alteration, trivial or otherwise, through addition or omission or substitution. But the alteration of negatives is more provocative in that, given their function in logic, it can involve contradiction. The Church Fathers had to face questions where dogma was at stake: did Paul believe that ‘we all shall not sleep’ or ‘we all shall sleep’, ‘we all shall be changed’ or ‘we all shall not be changed’ (1 Cor. 15:51)? Did death reign even over those who had not sinned like Adam (Rom. 5:14)? The unstable negative was also noted in Jewish, classical, and legal circles. Analysis of over 700 examples may prove useful to textual critics, students of scribal habits, and philologists as well as to dogmaticians and historians.

'At the Age of 12': The Boy Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52), The Emperor Augustus, and the Social Setting of the Third Gospel

Billings, B. S. — 2009-04-02

The story of the boy Jesus at the age of 12 in the temple (Luke 2:41–52) is often read and understood in relation to its inherently Jewish narrative setting. The probable recipients of Luke–Acts were, however, almost certainly Gentiles living in the cities of Asia Minor in the late first century ce, removed by at least a generation from the Jewish origins of Christianity. The social setting of the recipients is, then, shaped not by the rituals and symbols of late Second Temple Judaism, but those of imperial Rome and, in particular, the legacy and cult of the first of the imperial princeps, that of Augustus. Writing in this milieu, Luke seeks to present Jesus as a significant figure in history in accordance with the conventions of contemporary Greco-Roman biography, and to transmit through his infancy narrative those traditions about Jesus which assist in presenting him as the ultimate superior and successor to the deified Augustus. The episode in the temple is included by Luke in his infancy narrative because it is consistent with, and contributes to, this broader purpose.

Domus Ecclesiae: Rethinking a Category of Ante-Pacem Christian Space

Sessa, K. — 2009-04-02

Historians of religion, art, and archaeology often invoke the term domus ecclesiae (o$$\stackrel{\frown}{\stackrel{\text{'}}{\iota }}$$o $$\stackrel{\frown}{\eta }$$ ) as a technical category to denote a house or building that had been materially adapted for Christian ritual during the ante-pacem period. Most employ the term in the belief that it is genuinely pre-Constantinian, and that Christians in this period described their cult spaces as renovated houses. This essay demonstrates the inaccuracy of both assumptions, and shows that the first attested literary use of the term dates no earlier than 313 ce, when Eusebius of Caesarea (d. 339) used it in his writings to designate a church building without any indication of its architectural form or history. Following a discussion of the term's modern history and an analysis of the ancient literary evidence, the essay concludes with a brief look at the material evidence for domus ecclesiae, which, with one exception (the complex at Dura-Europos), also dates to the post-Constantinian period.

The Exile and Recalls of Arius

Barnes, T. — 2009-04-02

This article argues that after the Council of Nicaea in 325 Arius was exiled to Illyricum, then summoned to the imperial court in the winter of 327–8 by Constantine, who was however unable to effect his return to Alexandria. Some years later, Arius grew impatient at his continuing exclusion from Alexandria and wrote an injudicious letter to the emperor, who denounced him in a letter read out in Alexandria in the presence of the prefect Paterius. The article defends Eduard Schwartz's dating of this letter to 333 against the attempt of the editors of Athanasius Werke 3.1.3 (2007) to redate it to the 320s by setting out the full evidence for the chronology of the prefecture of Egypt between 324 and 334. It is further shown that Arius was recalled again in 335 and died in 336, not significantly earlier, as argued by the recent editors, and it is also suggested that Constantine issued his edict against Arius in 325 immediately after the Council of Nicaea, not in 333.

English Molinism in the Late 1590S: Richard Hooker on Free Will, Predestination, and Divine Foreknowledge

Voak, N. — 2009-04-02

Set in the context of the Cambridge debates on grace and predestination in the 1590s, and of the wider controversy in the Reformed and Roman Catholic churches from 1580 to 1620, this article examines how Richard Hooker endeavoured to show the compatibility of his radical views on the freedom of the will and the resistibility of grace with his Augustinian doctrine of predestination. Particular attention is paid to Hooker's late manuscript defence, written shortly before his death in 1600, in which he responded to the charge that his views were heterodox and reminiscent of the dangerous opinions recently spread abroad in England by men like Samuel Harsnet and Peter Baro. The precise extent to which Hooker's views on predestination fell within or outside the Reformed tradition is carefully evaluated, especially as regards the order of the divine decrees and the crucial distinction he makes between God's antecedent and consequent will. Key to understanding this question is Hooker's doctrine of divine foreknowledge, a subject which has received no significant scholarly treatment to date; it is argued that (at about the same time as Jacob Arminius) he incorporated the highly controversial Molinist concept of divine ‘middle’ knowledge (scientia media) into his work.

J. N. Sanders's Unpublished Manuscripts on the Fourth Gospel and the Early Church

Mastin, B. A. — 2009-04-02

This note describes three handwritten manuscripts by the late J. N. Sanders which deal with the interpretation of the Fourth Gospel in the early Church. The manuscripts have been deposited in the Ward Library at Peterhouse, Cambridge.

The Death of George of Laodicea

DelCogliano, M. — 2009-04-02

This study demonstrates the fallaciousness of the long-standing historiographical view that George of Laodicea escaped deposition at the Council of Constantinople in January 360 because he deserted the homoiousians for the newly ascendant homoians. It argues that George of Laodicea died in late 359, after the Council of Seleucia but before the Council of Constantinople. This conclusion follows from the demonstration that the ‘George’ of an unnamed see who is mentioned in several sources as collaborating with Acacius of Caesarea in the aftermath of the Council of Constantinople is not to be identified as George of Laodicea (as the older historiographical tradition had assumed), but his Alexandrian namesake.

The Meaning of syriacalaphsyriaclamadhsyriacshin in Theodore of Mopsuestia's Sixteenth Catechetical Lecture and the Silent Recitation of the Eucharistic Prayer

Gelston, A. — 2009-04-02

Georg Kretschmar cited Theodore of Mopsuestia, Catechesis 16 in support of his thesis that part of the eucharistic prayer could be recited silently by the end of the fourth century. This note points out that the use of the Syriac verb , to ‘desist’ or to ‘be silent’, in this text does not support Kretschmar's interpretation.

The Origins of the Anaphoral Benedictus

Day, J. — 2009-04-02

This paper presents evidence for the Benedictus following the Sanctus having been introduced first in Jerusalem in the Liturgy of St James. The structure and variety of the Benedictus are examined, along with theories of Jewish and Antiochene origin in relation to the Apostolic Constitutions. A fifth-century Jerusalem homily provides the first evidence for the Matthean form, subsequently contained in all versions of the Liturgy of St James and which becomes normative for nearly all eucharistic traditions. The conclusion distinguishes between the origins of the idea of the anaphoral Benedictus and the origins of its form. The idea of a ‘blessed be’ acclamation after the Sanctus may well lie in Jewish traditions, but the origins of its form lie in the Palm Sunday acclamation of fourth-century Jerusalem.

Leshono Suryoyo: First Studies in Syriac. By JOHN F. HEALEY.

Law, T. M. — 2009-04-02

The End of Biblical Studies. By HECTOR AVALOS.

Davies, P. — 2009-04-02

The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism. Revised and Expanded Edition. By ADELE BERLIN.

Watson, W. G. E. — 2009-04-02

Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? By LESTER L. GRABBE.

Williamson, H. G. M. — 2009-04-02

Character Ethics and the Old Testament: Moral Dimensions of Scripture. Edited by M. DANIEL CARROLL R. and JACQUELINE E. LAPSLEY.

Lyons, W. L. — 2009-04-02

Righteous Jehu and his Evil Heirs. The Deuteronomist's Negative Perspective on Dynastic Succession. By DAVID T. LAMB.

Auld, G. — 2009-04-02

Perspectives on the Song of Songs (Perspektiven der Hoheliedauslegung). Edited by ANSELM C. HAGEDORN.

Rooke, D. — 2009-04-02

Spirit and Reason: The Embodied Character of Ezekiel's Symbolic Thinking. By DALE F. LAUNDERVILLE.

Patmore, H. M. — 2009-04-02

An Introduction to New Testament Manuscripts and their Texts. By D. C. PARKER.

Elliott, J. K. — 2009-04-02

Recovering Jesus: The Witness of the New Testament. By THOMAS R. YODER NEUFELD.

Marsh, C. — 2009-04-02

Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus. By KLYNE R. SNODGRASS.

Wright, S. I. — 2009-04-02

Jesus of Hollywood. By ADELE REINHARTZ.

Ellis, R. — 2009-04-02

The Mary Magdalene Cover-up: The Sources behind the Myth. By ESTHER DE BOER.

Elliott, J. K. — 2009-04-02

Roman Imperial Ideology and the Gospel of John. By LANCE BYRON RICHEY.

Smalley, S. S. — 2009-04-02

Paul, the Pastoral Epistles and the Early Church. By JAMES W. AAGESON.

Paget, J. C. — 2009-04-02

A Commentary on the Apocalypse of John. By EDMONDO F. LUPIERI.

Boxall, I. — 2009-04-02

The Interpretation of Scripture: In Defense of the Historical-Critical Method. By JOSEPHA. FITZMYER.

Wansbrough, H. — 2009-04-02

Canon and Biblical Interpretation, Volume 7. Edited by CRAIG G. BARTHOLOMEW, SCOTT HAHN, ROBIN PARRY, CHRISTOPHER SEITZ, and AL WOLTERS.

Bokedal, T. — 2009-04-02

"I Sowed Fruits into Hearts" (Odes Sol. 17:13): Festschrift for Professor Michael Lattke. Edited by PAULINE ALLEN, MAJELLA FRANZMANN, and RICK STRELAN.

Brooke, G. J. — 2009-04-02

Thiselton on Hermeneutics: The Collected Works and New Essays of Anthony Thiselton. By ANTHONY C. THISELTON.

Morgan, R. — 2009-04-02

Discerning the Spirits: Theological and Ethical Hermeneutics in Paul. By ANDRE MUNZINGER.

Thiselton, A. C. — 2009-04-02

Christology and Scripture: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Edited by ANDREW T. LINCOLN and ANGUS PADDISON

Houlden, L. — 2009-04-02

The Birth of the Church: From Jesus to Constantine, AD 30-312 and A Public Faith: From Constantine to the Medieval World, AD 312-600. By IVOR J. DAVIDSON.

Ludlow, M. — 2009-04-02

Tertullian's Aduersus Iudaeos: A Rhetorical Analysis. By GEOFFREY D. DUNN.

Hall, S. G. — 2009-04-02

The Apostolic Church Order: The Greek Text with Introduction, Translation and Annotation. By ALISTAIR STEWART-SYKES.

Bradshaw, P. — 2009-04-02

Word and Meaning in Ancient Alexandria: Theories of Language from Philo to Plotinus. By DAVID ROBERTSON.

Edwards, M. J. — 2009-04-02

Predigten des Origenes zum Buch Exodus: Lateinisch-deutsch. Translated by THERESIA HEITHER.

Edwards, M. J. — 2009-04-02

Origene legge Geremia: Analisi, commento e riflessioni di un biblista di oggi. By ESTER ABBATTISTA.

Edwards, M. J. — 2009-04-02

Origen and the History of Justification: The Legacy of Origen's Commentary on Romans. By THOMAS P. SCHECK.

Fink, D. C. — 2009-04-02

Ethnicity and Argument in Eusebius' Praeparatio Evangelica. By AARON P. JOHNSON.

Whealey, A. — 2009-04-02

Les Figures du pauvre dans les sources italiennes de l'antiquite tardive. By CHRISTEL FREU.

Finn, R. — 2009-04-02

Lo Spirito soffia nel deserto: Carismi, discernimento e autorita nel monachesimo egiziano antico. By FABRIZIO VECOLI.

Casiday, A. — 2009-04-02

The Trinitarian Theology of Basil of Caesarea: A Synthesis of Greek Thought and Biblical Truth. By STEPHEN M. HILDEBRAND.

Armstrong, J. J. — 2009-04-02

Gregorii Nysseni Epistula Canonica. Edited by EKKEHARD MuHLENBERG.

Hall, S. G. — 2009-04-02

Access to God in Augustine's Confessions: Books X-XIII. By CARL G. VAUGHT.

Lane, M. — 2009-04-02

Inner Grace: Augustine in the Traditions of Plato and Paul. By PHILLIP CARY.

Lossl, J. — 2009-04-02

The Soteriology of Leo the Great. By BERNARD GREEN.

Keating, D. A. — 2009-04-02

Will, Action and Freedom: Christological Controversies in the Seventh Century. By CYRIL HOVORUN.

Wickham, L. R. — 2009-04-02

Reading John Climacus: Rhetorical Argumentation, Literary Convention and the Tradition of Monastic Formation. By HENRIK RYDELL JOHNSEN.

Louth, A. — 2009-04-02

Infant Baptism in Historical Perspective: Collected Studies. By DAVID F. WRIGHT.

Spinks, B. D. — 2009-04-02

The Easter Computus and the Origins of the Christian Era. By ALDEN A. MOSSHAMMER.

Gould, G. — 2009-04-02

Transitions liturgiques en Gaule carolingienne: Une traduction commentee des deux 'lettres' faussement attribuees a l'eveque Germain de Paris. By PHILIPPE BERNARD.

Stevenson, K. — 2009-04-02

Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: The Apocrypha. Edited by FREDERICK M. BIGGS.

Murdoch, B. — 2009-04-02

Church and Cosmos in Early Ottonian Germany: The View from Cologne. By HENRY MAYR-HARTING.

Ward, B. — 2009-04-02

Anselm on Freedom. By KATHERIN A. ROGERS.

Evans, G. R. — 2009-04-02

Trinitarian Theology in the Medieval West. Edited by PEKKA KARKKAINEN.

Evans, G. R. — 2009-04-02

Philip Melanchthon and the English Reformation. By JOHN SCHOFIELD.

Loewe, A. — 2009-04-02

Religion and Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800. By KASPAR VON GREYERZ. Translated by THOMAS DUNLAP.

Methuen, C. — 2009-04-02

Laudian and Royalist Polemic in Seventeenth-Century England: The Career and Writings of Peter Heylyn. By ANTHONY MILTON.

Ford, A. — 2009-04-02

David Hume: A Dissertation on the Passions. The Natural History of Religion. A Critical Edition. Edited by TOM L. BEAUCHAMP.

Pailin, D. A. — 2009-04-02

Cambridge Theology in the Nineteenth Century: Enquiry, Controversy and Truth. By DAVID M. THOMPSON.

Chapman, M. D. — 2009-04-02

How Christian Is our Present-Day Theology? By FRANZ OVERBECK

Chapman, M. D. — 2009-04-02

The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology. Edited by JOHN WEBSTER, KATHRYN TANNER, and IAIN TORRANCE.

Ticciati, S. — 2009-04-02

God and Grace of Body: Sacrament in Ordinary. By DAVID BROWN.

Chartres, R. — 2009-04-02

God is Not a Story: Realism Revisited. By FRANCESCA ARAN MURPHY.

Marsh, C. — 2009-04-02

Medienerfahrung und Religion: Eine empirisch-qualitative Studie zur Medienreligion. By JORG HERRMANN.

Marsh, C. — 2009-04-02

The Family in Christian Social and Political Thought. By BRENT WATERS.

Gill, R. — 2009-04-02

The Vocation of Business: Social Justice in the Marketplace. By JOHN MEDAILLE.

Cowan, D. — 2009-04-02

Persons: The Difference between 'Someone' and 'Something'. By ROBERT SPAEMANN.

Patterson, S. — 2009-04-02

Problems of Evil and the Power of God. By JAMES A. KELLER.

Sturch, R. — 2009-04-02

Rewired: Exploring Religious Conversion. By PAUL N. MARKHAM.

Collicutt, J. — 2009-04-02

Holiness and Ecclesiology in the New Testament. Edited by KENT E. BROWER and ANDY JOHNSON.

Morgan, R. — 2009-04-02

In der Nachfolge des gekreuzigten Nazareners. By ERNST KASEMANN. Edited by R. LANDAU with W. KRAUS.

Morgan, R. — 2009-04-02

History and Exegesis: New Testament Essays in Honor of Dr. E. Earle Ellis for his 80th Birthday. Edited by SANG-WON (AARON) SON.

Morgan, R. — 2009-04-02

Theodore Abu Qurrah. Translated by JOHN C. LAMOREAUX.

Brock, S. — 2009-04-02

Books Received

2009-04-02