British New Testament Society

Although Pauline interpreters have frequently observed both the number and the progression of items in Philippians 3:5-6, I am not presently aware of a commentary or study that has drawn attention to the fact that this "catalog of boasting" consists of precisely seven items, nor do I know of a work that seeks to explicate these two verses in light of the possible presence and influence of numerical symbolism. This simultaneous short paper offers a fresh reading of Philippians 3:5-6 (and surrounding verses), one that keeps Paul's sevenfold list of his Jewish pedigree and accomplishments clearly in view.

In 2004 Stephen Friesen proposed a seven-point "poverty scale" for the Graeco-Roman population - an abstract model proposed as a starting point for analyses of economic stratification. Friesen's model is to be welcomed, not least in seeking to avoid a binary system in which 1% of the population are said to represent the elite with the other 99% in poverty - the sort of binary modelling that has informed some studies of the Graeco-Roman world in general and the early Christian movement in particular. But Friesen's is little more than a binary model heavily tweaked at the top and bottom, with the elite representing 3% of the population and those at, near or below subsistence equating to 90% of the population. A 7% middling group makes an appearance in Friesen's model. Recent studies in Graeco-Roman economic stratification suggests, however, a much larger presence for a middling group. This paper (1) examines Friesen's model and how he collected his figures, (2) tables more recent evidence for an economic middling group, and (3) constructs an adjusted poverty scale for the Graeco-Roman world, against which profiling of economic stratification with Pauline Christianity might be placed.

In recent years there has been a critical review of the long-standing assumption that Luke drew on two written sources, Mark and Q, for his Gospel. It has been cogently argued that Q is an unnecessary hypothesis as the literary evidence can be adequately explained on the basis that Luke used two extant written sources, Mark and Matthew. The infancy narratives have as yet hardly figured in the discussion and are addressed in this short paper.

In considering Luke's narrative, Raymond Brown has noted that: `There is an enduring suspicion that the biographical information about [Anna] in 2:36-38, lavish for a minor character, has a special significance'. My paper seeks to demonstrate that the purpose of the wealth of biographical information about Anna is to illuminate Luke's description of the annunciation (1:26-38), and that this could explain changes made to the Matthaean source (1:18-25).

Philippians 1.21-26 has been called Paul's 'existential soliloquy', where the Apostle-in-shackles faces an imminent trial and weighs the advantages of life and death from this juncture. Some scholars have pursued the matter of ancient attitudes towards suicide, situating Paul comfortably within a Graeco-Roman society that did not abhor the act, and in some cases found it noble. However, the significance of the Graeco-Roman philosophical context notwithstanding, there is a Jewish tradition that Paul may be drawing upon that illuminates this enigmatic passage further - the honour death plea (See Jon. 4.1-11; 1 Kgs 19.1-4; Num. 11.10-15; Jer. 20.7-18; Tob. 3.6). Viewed within such a context of honour and shame, Paul is re-envisaging the honour death plea tradition in light of the cruciform life in Christ, demonstrating to concerned Philippians that he (and the Gospel itself) do not suffer shame in these present circumstances, but find honour that attends living in the crucified Christ.