Tag: Acts

Daily Gleanings: Bezae (25 December 2019)

In TC 24, Pasi Hyytiäinen discusses the “Evolving Gamaliel Tradition in Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis, Acts 5:38–39.” Hyytiäinen relies on the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) to

challenge[] the common scholarly conviction that Acts in Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis (D05) represents a single cohesive textual tradition [and to] argu[e] instead that D05 should be understood as an evolving text, consisting of multiple textual layers without any trace of unified editorial activity.

For the full article, see TC 24’s webpage.

Daily Gleanings: Resurrection (13 September 2019)

Forthcoming from Baker Academic in February 2020 is Brandon Crowe’s Hope of Israel: The Resurrection of Christ in the Acts of the Apostles. According to the publisher, the volume

highlights the sustained focus in Acts on the resurrection of Christ, bringing clarity to the theology of Acts and its purpose. Brandon Crowe explores the historical, theological, and canonical implications of Jesus’s resurrection in early Christianity and helps readers more clearly understand the purpose of Acts in the context of the New Testament canon. He also shows how the resurrection is the fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.

The first half of the book demonstrates the centrality of the resurrection in Acts. The second half teases out its implications in more detail, including how the resurrection is the turning point of redemptive history, how it relates to early Christian readings of the Old Testament, and how the resurrection emphasis of Acts coheres in the New Testament canon. This first major book-length study on the theological significance of Jesus’s resurrection in Acts will appeal to professors, students, and scholars of the New Testament.

Daily Gleanings: Craig Keener Lectures (28 May 2019)

Craig Keener gave two of the plenary lectures at this year’s Stone-Campbell Journal Conference.

The first lecture addressed Acts and especially the rhetoric involved in Paul’s speeches as reported there. The introduction and lecture begin around the 10:40 mark.

The second lecture addressed Romans. The introduction and lecture begin around the 12:00 mark.

Special kudos are due to Craig not only for his fine scholarship but also for his several custom and quite humorous illustrations that appear in the course of the lectures.

For the other two very fine plenary lectures from this year’s conference, see “Daily Gleanings: SCJ Plenaries (15 April 2019).”

Daily Gleanings: SCJ Plenaries (15 April 2019)

On 5–6 April, I attended the annual Stone-Campbell Journal Conference. One of the most fascinating papers was that by David Fiensy.

The paper was rather innocuously titled “Interpreting Acts: The Value of Archaeology.” But David delivered a fascinating, eye-opening discussion of disease in the ancient Mediterranean.

David’s primary evidence is archaeologically preserved in bones and (yes) fecal deposits. This may make some of the content a bit awkward. But David’s research helpfully clarifies (and likely corrects) to how we should imagine the authors and audiences of the NT.

Another very interesting paper was by Jerry Sumney on Paul’s use of pre-formed material in 1 Corinthians. Jerry’s argument leads him to paint a picture of Paul in 1 Corinthians as less antagonistic to existing leadership and tradition.

This is ultimately more consistent with the portrayal of Paul in Acts. Jerry then understands Paul’s criticisms in Galatians to derive from the very particular context that letter addresses.

Also included at the beginning of this recording is a short reflection on Christian education that I was privileged to give when the scheduled speaker wasn’t able to attend.

The Major Critical Edition Data for Acts Is Online

At the 2017 SBL, Holger Strutwolf made the Editio Critica Maior data for Acts freely available online. According to Peter Gurry’s report:

There are features in the interface for commenting on the variant unit and a link that will take you to the local stemma and coherence modules for said variant unit. There is also an option to see the unedited collation data, a list of patristic citations (fuller than in the print edition as I understand it), the Vetus Latina collations, and a nice feature which tells you how many conjectures have been offered for the variant unit and a link that will take you to the data in the Amsterdam Database of New Testament Conjectural Emendation.

To access the text, see INTF’s virtual manuscript room. Although ECM is itself available also for the synoptics’ parallel passages and the catholic letters, the online version currently includes only the Acts material.

For additional discussion and a short video clip from the occasion, see Peter Gurry’s original post.

Dawson on Acts and Jubilees

In the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism, Zachary Dawson discusses “The Books of Acts and Jubilees in Dialogue: A Literary-Intertextual Analysis of the Noahide Laws in Acts 15 and 21.” As Dawson summarizes,

This study has … identified two main elements of the theme that is symbolically articulated by the Noahide laws. First, the purpose of the Noahide laws in Acts is to oppose a contemporary Jewish isolationism that is rationalized by the Noahide laws, and more generally in their contexts of the rewritten, conditional Noahic covenant. Instead, the precepts in Acts ally with the purpose Cohen identifies in the later rabbinic literature, a means to recognize the legitimacy of different cultures and to facilitate their integration. Second, the Noahide laws in Acts carry the message that Gentiles are to honor certain Jewish customs so that Jews will not be forced out of believing communities.

For Dawson’s full essay, see the JGRChJ website.