The T & T Clark Blog

Author Interview: Nicholas Elder on The Media Matrix of Early Jewish and Christian Narrative

 

 

 

Professor Nicholas Elder explains his research into media and modes of composition in antiquity, found in The Media Matrix of Early Jewish and Christian Narrative, one of the latest publications in The Library of New Testament Studies.

1. How do you think your book could be described – in just one sentence?

This book is a comparison of two narratives, the Gospel of Mark and Joseph and Aseneth, that are dissimilar by many counts but, as I argue, were of a similar antique media form.

2. What drew you to researching early Jewish and Christian Narrative?

I was drawn in by the rhetorical power that narrative generally, and early Jewish and Christian narrative particularly, possesses. As humans we think narratively. There is nothing like a good story, and both the Gospel of Mark and Joseph and Aseneth are great stories.

Author Interview - Tucker Ferda on Jesus, the Gospels, and the Galilean Crisis

Dr. Tucker Ferda takes us through the discoveries he made during the creation of one of our most recently published Library of New Testament Studies works: Jesus, The Gospels and the Galilean Crisis.

 

1. How would you describe this book in one sentence?

This book explores how Jesus, his early followers, and later interpreters, made sense of the rejection of the Gospel, and it suggests that contemporary scholarship continues to repeat the conclusions of 19^th-century and earlier research in important and overlooked ways.

2. What drew you to this subject?

I am fascinated by both the reception history of the Gospels and the attempt to reconstruct Jesus as a figure in history. I am firmly convinced that these two projects go hand in hand such that, as Ricoeur once said, we cannot talk about the past until we talk about ourselves as beings shaped by the past. I also have interests in how Christian theology works in the valleys of disappointment, despair, and trauma. So I guess this book was a melding of all these things.

35% off Book of the Month: A Journey Round John

The skies are turning gloomy, but we have an excellent way to cheer you up with the return to term time. September's book of the month is A Journey Round John, by Wendy E.S. North.

North considers a range of themes relevant to the interpretation of the Fourth Gospel. Drawn together from a series of ground-breaking studies from over thirty years of work on the Fourth Gospel, North presents a clear development of thought on John with insights to intrigue, pique and challenge every scholar of John. Published in June this year, we are here offering you the chance to buy it with a 35% discount, which is valid across all of our sites, so no matter where you are in the world you should be able to get it. But hurry, because the code is only valid until 30th September! So how does it work?

1. Go to the book's webpage

2. Add a copy of the hardback/PDF e-book to your 'basket/cart'

3. When checking out put the code JOHN35 into the discount code box

4. Follow check out steps

Stay tuned for future 'books of the month'.

Enjoy!

New in Paperback Editions from T&T Clark this August 2015

Just in time for the bank holiday weekend, here's a quick round up of the new monographs now available in paperback for the first time:

Text, Context and the Johannine Community

By David. A. Lamb

This is a lucid examination of the social contexts of the Gospel and Epistles of John. Given our lack of reliable external information about the origin of the Johannine writings, Lamb shows why a more fruitful approach may be to examine their lexico-grammatical and discourse features to determine what these imply about interpersonal relationships.

The Body as Property

Physical disfigurement functioned in biblical law to verify legal property acquisition, when changes in the status of dependents were formalized. Jacobs shows how legitimate property acquisition was important in biblical law, substantiated in the accounts of prescriptive disfigurements: namely circumcision and the piercing of a slave's ear.

Was Noah Good

By Carol M. Kaminski

Using Noah as a focal point, Kaminski controversially argues against the commonly held view that Noah finds favour because he is righteous, positing instead that divine favour is unmerited in accordance with the theme of grace in the primaeval history and in Genesis as a whole.

You Are My Son

By Amy L. B. Peeler

Peeler recognizes the inherent connection between the paternal identity of God, the filial identity of the Son, and the filial identity of the audience. The recurrence of the father-ship theme coalesces into a powerful ontological reality for the audience: because God is the Father of Jesus Christ, they too are the sons of God. But even more than the model of son-ship, Jesus' relationship with his Father ensures that the children of God will endure the race of faith. A powerful re-analysis of the traditional filial dynamic.

Mockery and Secretism in the Social World of Mark's Gospel

By Dietmar Neufeld

 

There was a culture of mockery and shame in Ancient Mediterranean cultures. Mark presents us with a Jesus who has both a sense of shame and honour. Neufeld considers the social functions of ridicule, and investigates the author's concern with secrecy, revealing it to be deployed for very specific and strategic reasons.

Theological Interpretation and Isaiah 53

By Charles Shepherd

Shepherd brings together the hermeneutical approaches of three Old Testament scholars, specifically as they pertain to the interpretation of Isaiah 52.13-53.12 in the framework of Christian theology.

The Dialectics of Creation

By Martin Poulsom

Poulsom's interpretation of Schillebeeckx enriches current approaches to this thinker and offers a significant contribution to thinking on the doctrine of Creation and issues surrounding the 'ontological distinction' which is of major concern in philosophical theology today.

A Celebration of Living Theology

Eds Justin A. Mihoc and Leonard Aldea

By drawing together scholars from the three main branches of Christianity and from around the world, this volume helps to increase knowledge and exposure between the different spheres. Comprised of articles on Patristics, Byzantine Fathers, Latin Fathers, Modern Christianity, Theology as Life and the reception of Louth’s work outside the English-speaking world, the papers are written by the leading scholars, such as Lewis Ayres, John Milbank, Kallistos Ware and Thomas Graumann.

New releases in Biblical Studies this May

Last week we had a round-up of some of great titles now available on the Theology list at Bloomsbury T&T Clark. This week follows with the same from the Biblical Studies list. 

First up, we have our new addition to our Approaches series with the new offering from Michael A. Lyons, An Introduction to the Study of Ezekiel. After explaining how the message of the prophet was relevant to the exilic situation in which he lived, this thorough guide shows how later generations shaped, transmitted, and used Ezekiel in their own communities. The book summarizes the literary shape and contents of Ezekiel, then examines the theories and methodologies used in current scholarship that explain the formation of Ezekiel. 

Next up we have Reception History and Biblical Studies, edited by John William Lyons and Emma England, released into our (relatively) new Scriptural Traces series. This new addition to a series which focuses on Reception History of the Bible begins to chart the near-infinite series of events that have been generated by the journey of the biblical texts down through the centuries. The chapters consider aspects as diverse as political and economic factors, cultural location, the discipline of Biblical Studies itself, and the impact of preconceptions upon reception history. Articles are contributed by Susan Gillingham, James Crossley, Roland Boer and Helen Jacobus, amongst others.

Next up, there is Going Up and Going Down published into our Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies series, by Yitzhak Itzik Pelag. Pelag argues that Jacob's dream should be understood as a symbolic dream function to explain its meaning. Thus, the vision, and the movement of the angels is not embellishment or scenic background, but rather symbolizes the path taken by the Patriarchs to and from the Promised Land.  

Finally, we have Written to Serve, published into our Library of New Testament Studies series by Benjamin Sargent. Benjamin Sargent offers an up to date and comprehensive analysis of how 1 Pet 1.10-12 offers a 'hermeneutic,' providing an insight into how Scripture is interpreted in the letter. He argues that the primary importance of 1.10-12 is its orientation of the prophetic witness towards the eschatological community as an act of service, and that it can be seen to suggest a narrative of profound discontinuity.

Find them all here: http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/

Author blog from Sharon Betsworth: Children in Early Christian Narratives

This is a guest blog post from Sharon Betsworth (Wimblerly School of Religion, Oklahoma City University). Sharon's first book The Reign of God is Such as These was published in our Library of New Testament Studies in 2010, as was reviewed by JSNT as '... and excellent, enjoyably, and important study'.

We are delighted to have Sharon's new book Children in Early Christian Narratives also within LNTS, and freshly published. See below for Sharon's thoughts on writing and researching the book, and her future research.

'I had a great time writing Children in Early Christian Narratives. The book examines the role of children in the New Testament Gospels and two non-canonical works, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and Protevangelium of James. The idea for Children in Early Christian Narratives came out of the process of turning my dissertation into my first book, The Reign of God is Such as These: A Socio-Literary Analysis of Daughters in the Gospel of Mark (T&T Clark, 2010). I thought of that book as an extension of my interest in women in the Gospels, but before it was even published, I realized I was working in the nascent field of children in the biblical world. I also realized that just as the women’s stories in the Gospels have often been the lesser known stories, so too do few readers “see” the children in the Gospels. For my first book, I did a good deal of research into the lives of adolescent girls in the ancient world. I began focusing on children more specifically in 2009, when I prepared a paper for the Contextual Biblical Interpretation section of the Society of Biblical Literature on “The Child in Matthew 2.”

As I have researched the stories of children in the Gospels, I have become very interested in the lives children in the ancient world. Often times, the view that children were “nobodies” in the ancient world is the primary perspective from which scholars interpret the narratives containing children in the Gospels. But the status of children in the ancient world is more complex than this position suggests. In my book, I discuss the ideology of the paterfamilias and various child-rearing practices that lead some modern people to the conclusion that children were not valued in the ancient world. I also examine the views of elite male writers who often contrast the man they desired to be with the child who they do not want to be. These views of children in the ancient world are countered by evidence that exists demonstrating that children were valued by their families. While I was doing my research, I found it especially interesting to note how similar childhood in the ancient world is to childhood in the 21^st century; at the same time children’s lives today are very different from the lives of ancient youngsters.

I especially enjoyed researching and writing the chapters on the two non-canonical Gospels, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) and Protevangelium of James (Pros. Jas). I had not previously worked with either text. IGT contains stories of Jesus’ childhood, while Pros. Jas tellsabout the conception and birth of his mother, Mary, and her childhood through the time she gives birth to Jesus. While a fair amount of scholarly work has been done on the IGT and most recently on children and childhood in IGT, there is less scholarship on the Prot. Jas. There is very little scholarship on either Gospel from a feminist perspective, which is a perspective that I utilize throughout my book.

I would especially like readers of my book to understand how integral children are to each Gospel’s narrative. The children’s stories are easy to overlook; it is easy to not see the children. Yet in the canonical Gospels, children’s interactions with Jesus contribute significantly to each Gospel’s overall themes and portrayal of Jesus. The non-canonical Gospels demonstrate how important the early church understood the childhood of Jesus and of Mary to be.

As I continue working in the field of children in the Gospels, I plan on editing a volume on children in the biblical world more broadly. I hope to collect papers which reflect a variety of methodologies for examining children throughout the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Deuterocanonical books, New Testament and Christian Apocrypha. Of course, I will continue research and write on passages related to children in the New Testament. I had barely finished the book before I found more angles from which to explore a number of Gospel texts!'

Round up of publications from March 2015

Easter is nearly upon us, and to celebrate the revitalisation of life, we thought it would be a good idea to do a round up of all of the exciting new publications from T&T Clark this March.

First up, we have Fully Alive by Jason A. Fout. Fout examines the work of Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar and illustrates how each theologian reveals God's glory to the human perspective.

'Fout is profoundly perceptive in his appreciative and critical account of Barth and Von Balthasar. Yet he is also a considerable thinker in his own right, and his lively, attractive account of the glory of God culminates in a gripping final chapter'

-David Ford, University of Cambridge, UK

'Well researched and carefully written, Fout’s book charts a way through the perennial question of the relation of divine and human freedom.'

-Ellen Wondra, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, USA

'Jason Fout beautifully describes the way that God’s glory not only invites, engages, and transforms us but also generates and enriches human relationships.'

-Craig Hovey, Ashland University, USA

Next up we have Theology and Literature after Postmodernity, edited by Zoë Lehmann Imfeld, Peter Hampson and Alison Milbank. This edited collection analyses how theology can remain alert and responsive to the challenges posed to it in postmodernism and postmodern literary criticism, through an examination of various literary texts, from Shakespeare and Wordsworth through to Graham Greene and Lionel Shriver.

'This fine collection features some of the liveliest minds at work in Anglophone literary and theological study.'

-Ralph C. Wood, Baylor University, USA

'An intelligently provocative set of essays'

-Alan Jacobs, Wheaton College, USA

'We receive a banquet here: a rich variety of remarkably thought-provoking essays, with something for every taste.'

- Gregory Seach, University of Cambridge, UK

On to the Biblical Studies side of Bloomsbury T&T Clark, we have Josephus' Interpretation of the Books of Samuel by Michael Avioz, published into the Library of Second Temple Studies Series. Avioz analyses Josephus' methodology in rewriting the books of Samuel as part of his Judean antiquities. This is the definitive exploration of the encounter between the ancient texts.

 

Finally, in the Library of New Testament Studies series there is Crucifixion and New Creation by Jeff Hubing. Hubing looks at the epistolary form and function of Galatians 6.11-17 and reveals the theme of persecution to be of utmost importance in establishing a bond between all parties, both those addressed and he who addresses. Hubing goes on to investigate the implications of the message of Christ on the issue of persecution.

 

To buy any of these excellent books, or for more information on them, click here. And a very happy Easter to you all! God bless.

Round up of new T&T Clark New in Paperback editions

We are pleased to give you details of some of our most recent New in Paperbacks from T&T Clark, published in September 2014.

The first up is Women in the Greetings of Romans 16.1-16 by Susan Mathew, which is part of our Library of New Testament Studies series.

Susan Mathew examines the structures of mutuality in Romans, to shed light on the issue of women's leadership in Pauline theology. Mathew begins by analyzing the general form of greetings in the Pauline letters, to illuminate the specific form of the greetings in Rom 16.1-16. Mathew couples this with analysis of the leadership of women in the Greco-Roman world, showing that women's leadership roles in the Pauline churches were part of this wider culture. Developing a model of mutuality, Mathew draws together the strands of the Pauline ethos of mutuality, and argues that the leadership roles of women are encouraged in the greetings at the end of Romans . 

 

Next up is No Longer Living as the Gentiles: Differentiation and Shared Ethical Values in Ephesians 4: 17-6:9 by Daniel K. Darko 

Daniel K. Darko argues that Ephesians 4.17-6.9 exhibits a consistent strategy of promoting group distinctiveness, while utilizing Greco-Roman ethical values and traditions to promote internal cohesion among the readers. Readers are encouraged neither to separate from society nor to integrate further into it, but to live and function within society as members of the ‘household of God' in one accord.

And on the LHBOTs side we have:

Crossing the Jordan: Diachrony Versus Synchrony in the Book of Joshua

By Eun Woo-Lee

Lee introduces the synchronic readings of Polzin, Hawk and Winther-Nielsen, as well as their attempts to uncover the problems in applying their methods to this complicated text.  For the purpose of reading the literary history of Joshua 3-4 in a diachronic way, Lee considers what position this text holds in the setting of the wider context of the ark narratives and water-crossing stories in the Old Testament, e.g. the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 13.17-14.31 and with Elijah and Elisha crossing the river in 2 kings 2. He examines the recent trends in literary criticism and attempts to trace the most probable literary history of Joshua 3-4.

And last but certainly not least:

Reconsidering the Date and Provenance of the Book of Hosea: The Case for Persian-Period Yehud

By James M. Bos

Bos argues that the book of Hosea ought to be understood and read as a text that was composed in Persian-period Yehud rather than in eight-century Israel. The author challenges traditional scholarship and emphasizes that there is the evidence to suggest that the book should be viewed as a Judahite text - a book that was composed in the late sixth or early fifth century B.C.E.

You can buy all of these here: Bloomsbury T&T Clark site

 

Podcast Interview with Chris Keith

Dominic Mattos, Publisher for T&T Clark, recently interviewed Prof. Chris Keith, the brand new series editor of the LNTS series, on the subject of Social Memory Theory and the criteria of authenticity in the study of the historical Jesus. 

Chris Keith is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity and Director of the Centre for the Social-Scientific Study of the Bible at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham, UK. He is the author of Jesus' Literacy (T&T Clark, 2011) and co-editor of Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity (T&T Clark, 2012) with Anthony Le Donne and the upcoming Mark, Manuscripts, and Monotheism (T&T Clark, 20 Nov 2014) with Dieter Roth. He has recently taken up the position of series editor for T&T Clark's The Library of New Testament Studies series.

 

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Summer Conference Round-up

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness feels as if it's well upon us, and those heady days of summer when the year still seemed to be in its prime now register only as dim memories. The jungle-drums of panic are already starting to beat away for SBL/AAR, and I'm considering just not bothering unpacking my last conference bag and hoping that whatever clothing I wore for the last gig will miraculously wash itself and be appropriate for San Diego.

But what a conference season it was for Biblical Studies this year. For me it kicked off with the wonderful Jesus and Brian conference at King's College London, which included the cracking line from John Cleese; 'if someone were to ask me what the most interesting thing to come out of Monty Python was I'd be tempted to say this conference'. I'm thrilled that we'll be publishing the book of the conference in August next year (if everything goes to plan). The Jesus and Brian papers were uniformly excellent. I particularly enjoyed George Brooke's, which included another great line; 'after all the Pythons had done more than most of my students do, they'd actually read the Dead Sea Scrolls'.If you're interested, T&T Clark live-tweeted the conference ---and you should be able to find soundbites on our twitter feed quite easily.

ISBL in Vienna followed shortly after we'd looked on the bright side of life, and I had many profitable meetings in between slabs of sacher torte and Wiener melange. I also shared a 'Viennese Sausage Experience' in what later turned out to be a favourite cafe of Freud's. My dining partner and I decided we wouldn't analyse that one too much. It was particularly great to catch up with series editors, and publishing colleagues and friends from other houses.

Next in line was SOTS - which I didn't attend myself. This was a great sadness as I was looking forward to John Day's presidential conference. I still remember his lectures on Genesis 1-11 from my student days. They were very good - as evidenced by the fact that I actually went to them. We were represented at SOTS by Miriam Cantwell and Matt Porter. I've heard it was a great conference, and that a particular highlight was John J. Collins' paper on 'Torah and Jewish Identity in the Second Temple Period'.

Whilst SOTS was going on I was in Providence, RI, for the meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association. This was great fun, and the Dominicans hosted the event wonderfully. Great to see so many young friars. White habits everywhere. The seafood in Providence was truly excellent as well.

After CBA came SNTS in Szeged, which from Providence was a time-difference I didn't particularly enjoy. This conference was superbly organised, which makes a huge difference for us publishers. I enjoyed Keith Elliot's paper on the historical critical method... which included a cheeky line that went something like this; 'sometimes might it be best to admit that we do not know what the text means?' Lots of thumping great bowls of goulash for all to enjoy at the conference dinners. I also enjoyed eating Magalica pork whilst I was there. This comes from a curly-haired breed of pig, and it is delicious. It is the closest we can get to the now-extinct British breed, the Lincolnshire Curlycoat. The Curlycoat became extinct as a direct result of the 1955 Howitt report, which recommended a simplification of pig breeds. Curlycoats were used to help boost the Mangalica stock in Hungary and Austria in the late 50s so there is at least some genetic crossover. This pig story has absolutely nothing to do with Biblical Studies, but it was a valuable part of the conference experience for me. It also reflects just how much attitudes towards food production have changed in the UK since the 1950s.

The final conference of the season was BNTC (British New Testament) in Manchester. Great papers from Eric Eve and Rafael Rodriguez on Oral Tradition and the NT. Note Rafael's recent book on the subject. Similarly a great plenary from Professor Joan Taylor on Mary Magdaelene --- trying to find the missing Magdala. It was also nice to see James Crossley's Harnessing Chaos, which appears in our new Reception History sub-series (Scriptural Traces), feature as part of a panel review session. All present enjoyed Jorunn Okland's 'method dressing' approach to the session. A hint as to what this involved can be found on the book's truly extraordinary cover!

So a fun summer of conferences. Lots of good conversations. Lots of interesting people. Lots of good food. Now all I have to do is try to sleep, diet, and exercise between now and SBL/AAR... and try to find the will to unpack.