British New Testament Society

The old debate principally between Bultmann and Jeremias over the authenticity of the "I have come..." sayings of Jesus has more recently given way to the question of the meaning of such statements. It will be argued in this paper that the discussion has again run aground, however, in its attempt to identify the "office" which the sayings imply: Pesch, L.T. Johnson and Davies & Allison on the one hand argue that the sayings point to the prophetic identity of Jesus; scholars such as Schneider and Bovon by contrast maintain that they imply a claim to messiahship. The present paper aims to criticise this approach: "coming" language per se is not specifically tied to any particular office. At Qumran, for example, such language is predicated of a number of different figures, including false teachers.

On the other hand, it will be argued here that the closest analogy to the ἤλθον sayings of Jesus lies in angelic announcements in early Judaism. This paper will provide an analysis of such announcements (particularly in Daniel, 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch), showing that the "I have come to..." statements there highlight a coming from heaven. The fact that the coming statements here are part of purpose clauses shows the element of a deliberate intention in coming to the human realm. Jesus' own statements fit best into this form. This paper will argue that since the ἤλθον sayings of Jesus similarly feature in purpose clauses, there is a corresponding implication of pre-existence and coming from heaven with a specific purpose. This argument will be conducted through discussion of some of the sayings which most highlight the heavenly identity of Jesus, such as Luke 12.49 ("I have come to cast fire on the earth...") and Luke 12.51//Matt 10.34 in its reference to Jesus bringing a sword/division on the earth.

Matthew 19:12 has traditionally been interpreted as the dominican foundation for the practice of celibacy. Emphasis upon an ideology of heterosexism, grounded in the creation theology of Genesis, informs this reading, whereby the inability to have children has been interpreted as the inability to perform sexual acts, presumed solely to be the heterosexual act of penetration. On this basis, the call to be a "eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" is interpreted as a call to embrace the commitment to avoid sex altogether. The figure of the eunuch is sexless.

Eunuchs, however, were not considered sexless at all in the ancient world. Indeed, the ambivalence with which the ancient Roman world viewed eunuchs was premised upon the fact that they were sexually dangerous: attractive and available to both men and women, eunuchs were viewed as especially promiscuous, though never a threat to masculine
domination.

With this in mind, the question for the interpreter of this verse is: just what did it mean for Jesus to employ this sexually dubious metaphor, if not for celibacy? The answer lies in the context of creation theology and its institutionalization of male/female. The eunuch is neither/nor, both/and. As such, the figure of the eunuch, whose very body is the sign of the "kingdom of heaven", becomes a figure that stands for the rejection of the heterosexist imperative in favour of a "third sex" paradigm of human sexuality.

The implications of this study for issues of human sexual ethics are, as you may well imagine, quite profound.

The presenters are part of a project team working on developing materials to help students who have studied a basic Greek grammar (e.g. Wenham, Macnair, Dobson, Bruce) begin to read the NT for themselves. The project has grown out of discussions among the network of those who teach Greek to students of theology and RS which has developed in the last 3 years under the auspices of the Classics Learning and Teaching Support Network. Funded by the Classics LTSN, the team is working on writing and field-testing material on parts of John's Gospel, a text very widely used at this stage of studying Greek. The presentation will introduce the project's rationale and approach, the materials, will report on the results of the first field trials (held during 2002/03). The presenters will outline work to be done during 2003/04, and planned outputs of the project. The team are actively seeking colleagues willing to field-test revised material during 2003/04. The presentation should be of wide interest, but especially to those who teach Greek to beginners.

The many theological reflections on the events of 9/11 have so far overlooked one important connection between the ancient world and the attack on the twin towers-early Christian martyrdom. Though the actions of the hijackers and the early martyrs look quite distinct in sociological terms, on the level of their constructed realities, important parallels begin to emerge.

The contemporary connection most often drawn with early Christian martyrdom is that of non-violent resistance. This paper, in contrast, seeks to place the early Christians as active participants in cosmic battle, with martyrdom as their most potent weapon against the forces of Satan; nothing short of Holy War.

Martyrdom, they thought, hastened the End, bringing God's eschatological judgement upon their enemies. Contrary to prevailing scholarly opinion, a great many Christians actively sought death, demonstrating what may be deemed a 'lust for death'.

Placing the first and second century Christians within the neglected context of early Christian Holy War, examining how enthusiasm for radical martyrdom could be maintained, and exploring the consequences for the martyr, their enemies, and the cosmos, clear parallels will emerge with the world-view of the Islamicist martyrs, thereby offering an alternative way of reading and understanding their actions.

Recent scholarship has drawn attention to the role of the bible in the denigration of the earth by human beings. This paper aims to examine Mark's gospel from the perspective of the earth. In Mark, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God in terms of the miraculous growth of plants and an abundant harvest. At the same time Jesus permits demons to lead a herd of pigs to their deaths in the sea, and he curses a fig tree because it fails to produce fruit. Jesus has power to still storms and multiply loaves in the desert, but he is condemned to death by his human enemies. At the crucifixion nature responds by covering the earth in darkness for three hours until Jesus dies. He gives his life as the covenant between God and humanity but also the whole of creation, and the fig tree which has been cursed will flourish again as a sign of the new age (13:28). In Mark's gospel the abundance of the new age does not come about through subduing the earth by force but by the sacrificial way of the cross.

John's description in his Prologue of Christ as 'the true light which gives light to everyone' (1.9) has important Greek-philosophical roots. In this paper due attention is given to (a) the background of this notion in Plato's Phaedo and Republic, (b) its subsequent interpretation in Philo and ancient philosophy, and (c) its application in John. Introduced in the Prologue and further elucidated in the discourse with Nicodemus, this notion is fully worked out in the stories of the healing of the blind-born (John 9) and the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11). The latter story reads as a Johannine equivalent of Plato's well-known parable of the cavern in Republic VII. Having emphasized the importance of John's christology of 'the light of the cosmos', the question is raised (d) how this Christ relates to the 'ruler of this cosmos'. Attention is drawn to Porphyry's criticism of John in this respect, and to Origen's reply to a similar critique, issued by Celsus, of the Christian views on Satan. Origen refers to several Greek analogies which help us to understand the idea of a cosmic strife between Christ and the ruler of this cosmos in John.