British New Testament Society

Recently some evangelical contributors to discussions of gender have turned to classical Trinitarian theology as a framework for interpreting 1 Corinthians 11:3, so as to settle the gender debate once and for all. However, far from resolving the disagreement, this attempt to link notions of gendered subordination and Trinitarian subordination together has merely politicised the question of the knowledge of God and raised several questions regarding the precise definition of 'subordinationism'.

This paper proposes that such strategies insufficiently acknowledge the hermeneutical nature of theological knowledge. Any theological hermeneutic entails a pattern of human understanding, i.e. an epistemology, which in turn entails a model of that which understands, i.e. an anthropology. Whereas Paul's epistemology and anthropology in the Corinthian correspondence are commensurate with each other, they are both heavily conditioned by their relationship to the shifting of the ages. For Paul, theological knowledge prior to the eschaton is a partial, fragmentary and somewhat oblique process (cognitively), which militates against the use of Pauline materials for Trinitarian prooftexting. That God is properly speaking a mystery necessitates a hermeneutical ethic of humility. That the mystery may be apprehended in the adoring gaze of the lover offers hope of a different economy of knowledge.

Since the eighteenth century, scholars have found value in comparing Wisdom and Romans. McGlynn, however, recently concluded in her thesis that the "coincidences of topics" between Wisdom and Romans still have not been adequately compared.

One topic, which begs further comparison, is the personification of death as a despot. There has been much debate for many years concerning death in the study of both Wisdom and Romans. Gaventa has compared the rhetoric of death in Wisdom with the same rhetoric in Paul's letters; although valuable, her work omits a comparison between the personifications of death as a power over the ungodly in Wisdom and Romans. Likewise, de Boer only notes similarities between the two works, which he attributes to a shared tradition. A detailed heuristic comparison, then, is long overdue. Why do the authors personify death as a king rather than just referring to the experience? The goal of this paper is to suggest an answer to this question. It shall be argued that both authors employ personification in order to distance God from the entrance of evil into the world and to persuade the godly to avoid an unholy life.

Discussions about intertextuality within the Biblical Guild tend to focus on the oral/scribal nature, on 'citationism', on source or analogue studies. However, the discussions on intertextuality in the work of key theorists such as Genette and Eco focus much more on the role of intertextuality in guiding the reader's interpretation of texts and in the cultural setting of texts. This paper introduces a basic categorisation of intertextuality in relation to the author, the text and the reader, outlines the concepts of centripetal and centrifugal intertextuality, and then explores some of the key aspects of intertextuality in the works of Genette and Eco, applying these to intertextuality in Biblical Studies. The paper argues that centripetal intertextuality provides a way into the centre - a way to explore the central motifs, sources and influences upon a text. However, it proposes that centrifugal intertextuality points to a foundationalism of the text in question. In order to promote this ideology to the reader, centrifugal intertextuality sets up a dialogue between the text and the reader, which encourages the reader to either remember or learn anew the 'classic texts' assumed by the focus text.

What role should imagination play in the church's reading and performance of Scripture? In what ways can imagination aid the church in adopting 'Biblical' behaviour? Mapping out the ways in which imagination can be placed alongside God's revealing activity (an activity into which Scripture is drawn) and building on theo-dramatic doctrines of Scripture recently advocated by Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Michael S. Horton, this paper explores what it is to read the Fourth Gospel's resurrection narratives with lenses of imagination. The crucified and risen Jesus is identified by John 20-21 as the forgiving Lord, a reality made particular in Jesus' dramatic encounters, first with Mary at the tomb and then with Peter around the charcoal fire. Imagining the world imagined by John 20-21 does, however, require the church to be responsible to the particular contexts through which the Spirit might now guide a ministry of forgiveness and reconciliation. In a performative account of Scriptural reading, closely allied to consideration of the Bible's role in ethical formation, a Spirit-led imagination is indispensable.

In this paper I explore elements of characterisation in film theory, and, through a series of case studies in Jesus films, trace the development of the characterisation of Mary Magdalene back through the Gnostic gospels and into the canonical traditions. For this exercise, the different portraits of Mary in The Passion of the Christ, The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus Christ, Superstar will be analysed and explained in terms of the traditions they represent. The characters in The Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Philip will be brought to bear on the popular image of Mary, and trajectories traced back to the different ways in which Mary Magdalene appears in the Four Gospel tradition.