Didache as textual witness

Peter Malik has published on the Didache as a textual witness in the SJNTS (Student Journal for New Testament Studies). It will be interesting to see how this new journal develops and whether the idea of a student journal will prove successful.

James Kelhoffer Proposed Professor in Uppsala

James Kelhoffer, Associate Professor at Saint Louis University, has been officially proposed as Professor and Chair in New Testament Exegesis in Uppsala (job description in English). However, some other candidates for the post have appealed the decision, as often happens, so the formal appointment has been somewhat delayed.

In any case, the chair has been vacant for a very long time, after the predecessor Kari Syreeni left in 2007, so it is indeed very good news for New Testament exegesis in Sweden, and of course particularly in Uppsala, that the chair will soon be occupied again.

Many readers of this blog will know that James Kelhoffer's dissertation subsequently published by Mohr Siebeck is of great interest to text-critics as it examines the Long Ending of Mark:

Miracle and Mission: The Authentication of Missionaries and Their Message in the Longer Ending of Mark (WUNT Reihe 2/112; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000).

James has been to Sweden many times for long and short periods and has had much contact through the years, especially with the Department of Biblical Studies in Uppsala. I know from experience that he already speaks some Swedish (and reads it even better). I have met him on various conferences, including SNTS 63d meeting that took place in Lund 2008 (reported on here).

Last year, in April, he gave an invited lecture on “Suffering as Defense of Paul’s Apostolic Authority in Galatians and 2 Corinthians 11″ in the Advanced Exegetical Seminar in New Testament. This piece was published as an article with the same name in Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok 74 (2009): 127-143.

James has an academic homepage here with CV and publications. His publications, including two full length monographs in the WUNT series, are available for download (sic), but hurry up! I assume these pages (under SLU.EDU) will disappear when Kelhoffer takes up his new post in Uppsala. From these pages you can also find very positive bookreviews by Elliott, Holmes, Hurtado, and others of Kelhoffer's Miracle and Mission.

Update: I just learnt that some candidates have appealed to have the decision changed (which I assume is highly unlikely in this case), so the formal appointment has been delayed. I have updated the original post accordingly.

"A Scribal Solution to a Problematic Measurement in the Apocalypse"

In the recent issue of New Testament Studies Juan Hernandez of Bethel University offers “A Scribal Solution to a Problematic Measurement in the Apocalypse” [Rev 21:17].

Abstract:

Orthographic variation within the manuscripts of the Greek NT is seldom a cause célèbre beyond the ranks of diehard textual critics. Even among these most will concede that orthographic irregularities amount to little more than evidence of scribal incompetency or inconsistency in their spelling practices. To find the same word both spelled correctly and misspelled within a single manuscript by the same scribe is not uncommon. It approaches the norm. The critical editions of our Greek NTs have therefore opted, on good grounds, to exclude textual variants displaying non-standardized spelling. To include them would make it impossible for anyone to use the critical apparatuses in a meaningful way. The deluge of senseless errors would drown out variants of demonstrable textual significance.

This “abstract” that appears online is in reality, however, only the introduction to this short study, and to give you a sense of what Hernandez’ contribution is about, I must cite the next paragraph:

On occasion orthographic variations are more than spelling errors. They are meaningful textual variants. Their appearance in the guise of misspelled words, however, causes them to be overlooked. Their exclusion from the critical apparatus of the Greek NT leads to their exclusion from text-critical discussions and from contributing to the advance of scholarship. The singular reading χιλος, appearing in codex Sinaiticus’ text of Rev 21.17, is one such variant.

Juan is one of our habitual readers – he tells me checking the blog is one of his morning rituals. Last month we featured an interview with him, “How Can You Be a Textual Critic and Not Lose Your Faith?”

"Jesus Did Not Die on Cross Says Scholar"

Gunnar Samuelsson is in the news again. This time in The Telegraph.

Samuelsson has frequently been misunderstood by media as saying that Jesus did not die on the cross (not in The Telegraph though), but that is not what he is saying ... Now, he told me, he only gives live interviews, so he is able to clarify his position to journalists. Hear him out, four example, on DRadio Wissen (German and English).

There is also a brief piece on Samuelsson's thesis in History of the Ancient World.

See earlier reports here and here.

Update: Here also in Croatian news.

Update 2: We are being cited by this Dutch newssite.

Update 3: Samuelsson in Pravda and AOL News.

Deppe on Mark 1.1

Ekaterini G. Tsalampouni reports the contents of the latest issue of Filologia Neotestamentaria including:

Dean B. Deppe, "Markan christology and the omission of hyiu theu in Mark 1:1", FN 21 (2008), 45-64.

I look forward to reading this as soon as I can get my hands on a copy (or find it here).

Previously noted here.

Roman Archaeologists Find Oldest Images of Apostles in a Catacomb

Reuters reports (22 June):

Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ’s Apostles. The images in a branch of the catacombs of St Tecla near St Paul’s Basilica, just outside the walls of ancient Rome, were painted at the end of the 4th century or the start of the 5th century.

Archaeologists believe these images may have been among those that most influenced later artists’ depictions of the faces of Christ’s most important early followers. “These are the first images that we know of the faces of these four Apostles,” said Professor Fabrizio Bisconti, the head of archaeology for Rome’s numerous catacombs, which are owned and maintained by the Vatican.

Images and more here.