NT Gateway Weblog

On Biblical Studies Resources Weblog, Jim West mentions this article from The Guardian:

University bans staff websites after anti-semitism row
Polly Curtis

The gist is that members of staff used to be able to apply for personal web space on a central university server at the "web.bham.ac.uk" address. This has now been stopped. According to the above article, this was because of a row over anti-semitic content on one of the sites, but this was news to me -- I had been told that it was just because the old web server was being wound down and that the new policy was that staff with "personal" web space could transfer any academic materials onto the official university site. But whatever the background, this has not affected me because I keep my official homepage and university related materials on our main Department of Theology web site, for which I have the overall responsibility in any case, and all the rest of my stuff, e.g. the New Testament Gateway and weblog, is based in my own personal space at NTGateway.com. So there's no need to be concerned that any of my material will be disappearing. Having said that, I notice that my colleage Prof. David Parker's web page has disappeared since it was on the web.bham.ac.uk server so I will have a look to see if it can be rescued and put on our official site.

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Thanks to Gail Dawson for the link to this lengthy discussion of The Passion of the Christ from Mahlon Smith of Rutgers University, whom many will know from his fine web resources like the Synoptic Gospels Primer and Into His Own and some of us will know from his enjoyable contributions, once upon a time, to the Xtalk list, now very much missed. Here's the link. I haven't had a chance to read it all myself yet:

GIBSON AGONISTES: Anatomy of a Neo-Manichean Vision of Jesus
Mahlon H Smith
Rutgers University
Ash Wednesday 2004

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Thanks to Andy Goodliff for the reference to Douglas Campbell's faculty page at Duke Divinity School:

Douglas Campbell

Douglas was at Kings College London and I've made the adjustment on the Scholars: C page.

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Thanks to David Mackinder for pointing out that the latest addition to the Scholarly Smackdown featuring John Dominic Crossan and Ben Witherington III is now available at Beliefnet. It's round 5 and it's Crossan's contribution and it features an interesting endorsement of Gerd Theissen's dating of the earliest version of the Passion Narrative, during the reign of Herod Agrippa in 41-44:

Round 5: John Dominic Crossan

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Christianity Today has produced an interesting round-up of reviews and comments on The Passion of the Christ:

Film Forum: Gibson's Passion Outraces Hidalgo at Box Office
By Jeffrey Overstreet

The article also comments on the TVM Judas (see previous blog entry).

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I did not get round to blogging about the Judas TVM airing on ABC in the USA on 8 March, not least because there is no sign of its availability either on TV or video here in the UK so I hardly noticed it. But Christianity Today has usefully gathered together a round-up of reviews here:

Judging Judas: TV Movie Offers 'Trippy' Jesus

IMDb has a page on it here:

Judas

Viewers have given it a pretty low rating, which reflects also the rather negative reviews. I notice from that page that it was filmed in Ouarzazate, Morocco, a favourite location for television biblical films including the CBS Jesus (dir. Roger Young, 1999).

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I mentioned Mark Vitalis Hoffman's homepage earlier this week, then added reference to his Crossmarks Christian Resources. I've now added a link on my page on The Passion of the Christ to the following page:

Resources for Gibson's The Passion of the Christ

This is Mark Hoffman's useful selection of annotated links to material on the film, a regularly updated collection listing background, reviews critical, reviews positive and more.

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This notice forwarded on behalf of Louise Lawrence:

Anthropology and the Old Testament
Research Symposium

CALL FOR PAPERS

Following on from the success of last year’s conference on Anthropology and Biblical Studies [the fruits of which are to be published in Aguilar, M. and Lawrence, L., (eds) Anthropology and Biblical Studies: Avenues of Research, Deo/SCM Press, 2004] another research symposium on Anthropology and the Old Testament has been planned for Friday 27th August, 2004. This will be held in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Glasgow. It is anticipated that papers delivered at this event will also be published in an edited volume.

Offers of papers are welcome from both anthropologists and biblical scholars on any aspect of reading or interpreting the Old Testament in light of anthropological and cross-cultural perspectives. Please send provisional titles and a short abstract to Dr Louise Lawrence (L.Lawrence@arts.gla.ac.uk) by the end of May. Any other queries please do not hesitate to contact Louise or Dr Mario Aguilar (mia2@st-andrews.ac.uk).

We look forward to hearing from you.

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I've adjusted the URL for George Aichele's homepage on Scholars: A. And thanks to Holger Szesnat for the new URLs for Dieter Sänger and Jeffrey Siker now adjusted on Scholars: S.

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In his Bible Software Review Weblog Rubén Gómez speaks of his shock, pain and indignation of the events earlier today (yesterday) in Madrid. My heartfelt sympathies and prayers go to those who have lost friends and family, and shared pain with Spanish friends like Rubén.

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Thanks to Gail Dawson for this interesting link. From the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School, this Sightings piece is written by Margaret M. Mitchell of the University of Chicago Divinity School:

Special Gibson
Margaret M. Mitchell

The article is an interesting read; the "Special Gibson" of the title is a play on "Special Matthew" and "Special Luke" and is Mitchell's means of answering the now familiar question, "Is Mel Gibson's movie, The Passion of the Christ, anti-Semitic?" Mitchell's answer:

If we think of Mel Gibson as a modern-day fifth evangelist, we can ask, is his film "more" or "less" on this same trajectory of increasing blame on Jews for the death of Jesus? The verdict seems to me clearly on the "more," even "abundantly more," both for what Mr. Gibson chooses to include from the existing accounts, and, particularly, the "Special Gibson" (SpGib) material that conditions the interpretation of the traditional sources into which it is stitched.

However, the material Mitchell uses essentially demonstrates that Caiaphas's complicity in Jesus' death is enhanced in the film. Does this place the film on "this same trajectory of increasing blame on Jews"? Perhaps, but I am not so sure. "All the people said, 'His blood be on us and on our children'" (Matt. 27.25) -- this most famous line is a concern precisely because it is focused on "all the people". But in The Passion of the Christ, in so far as one can catch it at all, it is spoken not by "all the people" but by Caiaphas. Likewise, much of what Mitchell finds troubling is the film's depiction of Caiaphas and not of "the people" as a whole or of other representatives of it. I would have thought that there is an argument here that Gibson does not enhance potentially anti-Jewish elements in the Gospels but focuses a good deal on this one character who is admittedly portrayed as a villain. In other words, what Gibson avoids doing is to set up a negative group who through racial stereotyping might be intended to promote negative reactions to Jews and Judaism. Given that there are some Jesus films that could be so accused, especially, as I have mentioned before, Jesus Christ Superstar, I still feel that the debate, as it is often presented at the moment, really needs a little more nuance and careful attention to the film itself.

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Thanks to Andrew Criddle for this one from the Los Angeles Times

For Gibson, Devil Is in the Details
By Charlotte Allen
Charlotte Allen, the author of "The Human Christ: The Search for the Historical Jesus," co-edits the inkWell weblog for the Independent Women's Forum.

This is a really interesting read and I find myself in complete agreement with these sentiments:

I loved "The Passion," but I wanted to love it even more.

Gibson retained the services of Loyola Marymount University priest-scholar William Fulco in preparing his Latin-Aramaic screenplay. But he didn't consult more thoroughly with New Testament scholars who could have helped him craft a movie that would not only be the overwhelming Christian theological experience it is but also a more faithful evocation of Jesus' 1st century world. He might have gotten right such significant details as the languages that Jesus and his contemporaries probably spoke, the clothes they wore and the mechanics of crucifixion.

Interestingly, Allen puts this down not to a failure on the part of Gibson so much as a failure on the part of many (not all) New Testament scholars whose ideological biases give the discipline -- in her opinion -- a bad name. She has it in particularly for John Dominic Crossan and Paula Fredriksen (who themselves, of course, hardly agree with one another) but wishes that Gibson had called on the likes of Luke Johnson, Tom Wright and Ben Witherington. It is an interesting read and though I am not entirely happy with the caricaturing of the views of Fredriksen and Crossan, it is good to see the acknowledgement of the important role that New Testament scholars have to play in the public eye.

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This from David Mackinder who passes it on from the ChristLit list

As you know, the Mel Gibson movie “Passion” has provoked widespread interest. We are an interdisciplinary team of researchers at Spring Arbor University (Michigan) and Regent University (Virginia) interested in obtaining more complete information on the reactions of moviegoers to the film. Would you consider placing a direct link to this web-based survey on your website? Is it also possible to send out the direct link below to one of your listservs/newsletters? Obviously, making it available in both ways would be preferable. If you are not able to help in the ways just described, we'd appreciate any additional contacts you might be able to provide.

Here's the survey link: http://www.edcomresearch.com/passion.html

After collecting and analyzing the data from various websites and listservs, we'll issue a press release to the mainstream media. Additional academic publications are planned as well. The cooperation of your organization will be mentioned in the press release if you request it. We'll provide you with a copy of the press release and a more complete executive summary of the data upon completion of the project.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact me at rwoods@arbor.edu, 517.750.6490

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Thanks to Mark Elliott at Bible and Interpretation for pointing me to this new article on their site:

Some Critical Comments on Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of Christ in the Light of Historical Criticism
In memoriam Paul Winter
By Dr. Gerd Lüdemann
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany
March 2004

It's a typically strident Lüdemann piece on anti-Judaism in the Gospels and would be a useful piece to set students to provoke discussion. Perhaps I'll circulate my own Jesus and the Gospels class to gauge reactions to it. One minor thing struck me. Lüdemann concludes:

a) Jesus’ death came at the hands of the Romans; b) his execution followed upon Roman legal proceedings, however summary; c) Jesus was condemned for a political crime.

I wonder just how strong (b) is given Philo's remarks which are also quoted by Lüdemann:

The Jewish philosopher Philo, an older contemporary of the apostle Paul, quotes from a letter of Agrippa I to the emperor Caligula that Pilate’s administration was characterized by “corruption, acts of violence, robberies, maltreatments, insults, continual executions without trial, endless and intolerable cruelties” (On the Embassy to Gaius 38). [My emphasis]

Without looking at any of the other evidence, and taking only Philo and Josephus into account as Lüdemann wishes to do, we could not be sure that Jesus had had even a summary trial from Pilate, could we?

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One not to miss -- AKMA points to Lawgeek's blog which has some highlights from Steve Martin's Script Notes on the Passion, e.g.

* Also, could he change water into wine in Last Supper scene? Would be a great moment, and it's legit. History compression is a movie tradition and could really brighten up the scene. Great trailer moment, too.

* Possible title change: "Lethal Passion." Kinda works. The more I say it outloud, the more I like it.

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Thanks to Melissa Quero at the BBC for this update on the series Bible Mysteries:

Although the series is interrupted intermittently for sport I'm pleased to tell you another episode - "Herod & the Bethlehem Massacre" will be transmitted on BBC2 this Sunday, 14th March at 12:40.

This is a link to the web site for the programme:

Bible Mysteries

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AKMA's Random Thoughts briefly mention this article from National Review Online:

Princeton’s Passion
A campus event
By Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky

This opinionated column was written by a student from Princeton about a debate held there about The Passion of the Christ. There's a report here on The Daily Princetonion

'Passion' sparks debate on director's role
Renata Stepanov

William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, spoke in favor of Gibson, a personal acquaintance.

"I have never seen a more vicious and unethical assault on a filmmaker than on Mel Gibson in this film," Donohue said. "Gibson doesn't need to vet his movie by any scholars," he added, in reference to a panel of theologians who were disappointed with the film. "He's not an altar boy. It's his movie and his interpretation."

Of course it is not that Gibson needed to "vet" the film but that the use of an advisory committee might have helped him to navigate his way through many of the difficult and sensitive issues that have now arisen.

Ramos-Mrovsky's piece offers further reflections, including this concerning John Gager:

The first speaker, John Gager, an early-church historian, conceded that he had not seen the film. He preferred "to talk around it," but allowed that he might see it "out of a sense of professional responsibility." Gager assured us that "the Gospels do not place great emphasis on the suffering of Jesus," and argued that defenders of Gibson's film against charges of anti-Semitism were "either naïve, or disingenuous, or perhaps even both."

It is difficult to comment on this without some more idea of the context since, after all, it appears as a brief extract in a pretty polemical article, but at face value it seems a very strident thing to say if one has not even seen the film. How could one know whether "defenders of Gibson's film" were naïve and/or disengenuous without first seeing it?

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Thanks to David Mackinder for pointing out to me that the latest addition to the Scholarly Smackdown on The Passion of the Christ between John Dominic Crossan and Ben Witherington III has appeared on beliefnet:

Round 4: Ben Witherington III

. . . . . Bringing in Adolf Hitler, an evil and grossly anti-Semitic person, to the discussion of this movie is way over the top. Mel Gibson is not trying to incite violence against or abuse of Jews with this movie. He is simply trying to show the great cost that Christ paid for the salvation of us all. Gibson shows that it is indeed the sin of us all, even of the disciples, which led to this death. So to accuse Gibson of even depraved indifference, or to draw comparisons with the old anti-Semitic Passion plays, is, frankly, not playing fair at all . . . . .

. . . . . I think that you, too, should be more open-minded about this and stop applying the hermeneutics of extreme fear and suspicion. That only makes your response more visceral, not more scholarly. You are interjecting fear and distortion into the discussion by saying things like "J'accuse." Before you rush to judgment, I suggest that you actually have a conversation with the man himself and see what you think. I try to put the fairest and kindest interpretation I can on another person's work of the heart. I would hope you would do that as well.

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Jim West notes in Biblical Studies Resources this Reuters article on a repeat screening for the CBS Mini Series Jesus (dir. Roger Young, 1999):

CBS to bring "Jesus" mini-series back

In the UK the film only received its network premier recently, just before Christmas last year, but it was stuck in the middle of the day on BBC2 so did not get a big audience. Apparently CBS are planning only to show the second half, which is a shame since the first half has some fine moments, e.g. Jesus' relationship with Mary of Bethany and Jesus' dancing. But they must be encouraged to show the so-called "international" version of this film, which has a different ending from the one which aired previously, the version that is on the video. I've seen both versions, the "CBS" one and the "international" one and the latter is greatly preferable, finishing with Jesus in modern day garb followed by children in the streets of Malta. David Bruce at Hollywood Jesus has a good site on this and some clips:

The differences between the CBS and International Versions

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Thanks to Jim West on Xtalk for this link to Joe Zias's own web page. It follows the trend noted by Stephen Carlson on Hypotyposeis recently which sees scholars setting up web sites with their own names:

JoeZias.com

It is headed "Science and Archaeology Group" (and entitled, presumably by mistake, "Curriculum Vitae") but if you scroll down a bit you come to some reproductions of articles by Zias:

Crucifixion in Antiquity: The Anthropological Evidence

The Cemeteries of Qumran, Celibacy: Confusion Laid to Rest?, Dead Sea Discoveries 7 (2000): 220-253

Health and Healing in the Land of Israel: A Paleopathological Perspective, originally in Mikhmanim (Spring 1999) [No further bibliographical details given]

The first of these also appears elsewhere on the web (Century One Foundation and James Tabor's site), so now three versions of the same piece. But on Zias's own site it comes with a new topical postscript very critical of the way crucifixion is depicted in The Passion of the Christ, something Zias has commented upon in various newspaper articles, especially in the week or so leading up to the American release (see older blog entries for details; search on "Zias"):

Postscript – The Mel Gibson Controversy

There is an element here that was new to me, the source for Mel Gibson's depiction of the crucifixion:

One can perhaps ask, why did he with a film budget of upwards of 30 million dollars, be so mistaken. It was not until 2003 that a colleague asked me to take a look at an article (The Jesus War) in the New Yorker (9/2003) that I realized the problem with the historicity of the whole film process. In the interview Gibson tells the author that his source of information for the crucifixion comes from an article “On the physical death of Jesus Christ” in the Journal of the American Medical Association (1986). Apparently Gibson was totally unaware of the fact that the journal, which goes back to the 19th century, had never received in all its history so many negative responses to any other scientific article. This article, full of errors and suppositions along with what one critic called ‘forensic mythology’ thus became the template on which Gibson’s film and all the gratuitous violence is largely based.

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Thanks to Mike Parsons for this link for those unfamiliar with the Stations of the Cross, clearly so major an element in Mel Gibson's thinking in The Passion of the Christ:

The Via Dolorosa
by James Wicker

While writing the screenplay for The Passion of the Christ , Mel Gibson has said that he took inspiration from a Roman Catholic and Orthodox tradition known as the Stations of the Cross. Since most evangelical Christians are unfamiliar with this tradition, this essay will briefly describe and outline it . . . .

The author, James Wicker, is Associate Professor of New Testament at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Jenee Woodard, of The Text This Week fame, has started her own blog. The Text This Week is essentially a lectionary resource for Christian preachers but it has become much more than that over the years and is useful also to Biblical scholars, students and lay people. It's a resource I often use. The new blog should be worth checking regularly:

Textweek Blog

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On Hypotyposeis, Stephen Carlson notes that the latest issue of the Journal of Theological Studies is now available and features several articles of interest to those in the field:

The Journal of Theological Studies
Volume 55, Issue 1, April 2004

Full text available to those with subsriptions or institutional subscriptions; and this time it is all available straight away rather than with a pause of a few weeks.

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I've added a link on my page on Pasolini's The Gospel According to St Matthew to this recent article by George Aichele:

George Aichele, “Translation as De-canonization: Matthew's Gospel According to Pasolini”, Cross Currents Winter 2002

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The previous blog entry reminds me that I am over a fortnight late on blogging this (blame it on The Passion):

Filología Neotestamentaria Vol. 7 (1994)

There are three articles available on-line from this volume:

WONG, S., "Leftovers of Louw-Nida's Lexicon. Some Considerations Towards "A Greek-Chinese Lexicon"", Vol. 7 (1994): 137-174

SIBINGA, J.S., "Exploring The Composition of Matth. 5-7. The Sermon on The Mount and some of its "Structures"", Vol. 7 (1994): 175-195

MACÍAS, B., "1 Cor 12,13: UNA CONJETURA RENACENTISTA... kai\ pa&ntej ei0j e3n pneu=ma e0poti/sqhmen.", Vol. 7 (1994): 209-214

And:

Filología Neotestamentaria 8 (1995)

All the articles from this volume are available on-line:

Thomas R. Hatina, "The Perfect Tense-Form in Recent Debate: Galatians as a Case Study.", Vol. 8 (1995): 3-22

Gerard Mussies, "Variation in the Book of Acts (Part II).", Vol. 8 (1995): 23-61

Josep Rius-Camps, "Las variantes de la Recensión Occidental de los Hechos de los Apóstoles (V) (Hch 2,14-40).", Vol. 8 (1995): 63-78

J. Duncan M. Derrett, "zo&nnumi, fe/rw, a!lloj: The Fate of Peter (Jn 21:18-19).", Vol. 8 (1995): 79-84

Juan Mateos-Jesús Peláez, "El adverbio a!rti en el Nuevo Testamento." , Vol. 8 (1995): 85-94

Chrys C. Caragounis, "The Error of Erasmus and Un-Greek Pronunciations of Greek.", Vol. 8 (1995): 151-185

Scot Snyder, "Participles and Imperatives in 1 Peter:A Re-Examination in the Light of Recent Scholarly Trends.", Vol. 8 (1995): 187-198

Josep Rius-Camps, "Las variantes de la Recensión Occidental de los Hechos de los Apóstoles (VI) (Hch 2,41-47)." , Vol. 8 (1995): 199-208

Juan Mateos, "u9pakou/w y términos afines en el Nuevo Testamento.", Vol. 8 (1995): 209-226

Note: it's almost midnight and I have not blogged on The Passion of the Christ all day; almost there.

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The on-line edition of Biblica, still free for all to view at the BSW web site, has been announced today:

Biblica 85 (2004) Fasc. 1

An innovation with this new edition is that each article is now also available in PDF -- a welcome development. Articles pertinent to the New Testament are:

Sjef van TILBORG, "The Danger at Midday: Death Threats in the Apocalypse", Vol. 85(2004): 1-23 [HTML] [PDF]

Hansjörg SCHMID, "How to Read the First Epistle of John Non-Polemically", Vol. 85(2004): 24-41 [HTML] [PDF]

Terrance CALLAN, "Use of the Letter of Jude by the Second Letter of Peter", Vol. 85(2004) 42-64 [HTML] [PDF]

Rick STRELAN, "Who Was Bar Jesus (Acts 13,6-12)? ", Vol. 85 (2004) 65-81 [HTML] [PDF]

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I mentioned earlier Mark Vitalis Hoffman's homepage. I have since realised that Mark Hoffman has made further resources available on his own web site:

Crossmarks Christian Resources

One thing of real interest is Hoffman's Yale dissertation (1996) directed by Wayne Meeks and Steven Fraade:

Psalm 22 (LXX 21) and the Crucifixion of Jesus

Hoffman has made abstract, table of contents and some samples available, including Introduction and Conclusion. Here's his abstract:

There are numerous allusions to Psalm 22 in the Gospel Passion narratives, but, lacking any pre-Christian evidence to indicate that this psalm was interpreted messianically, scholars have been unable to agree upon their significance. By illuminating the Scriptural context which shaped the interpretations of Psalm 22, by surveying its ancient textual transmission and translation, by examining how it was used in pre-Christian documents, and by studying the discussions involving it in the writings of the early Church Fathers and in the rabbinic corpus, this dissertation provides a firmer basis for answering the question, "How did the early Christians find Psalm 22 to be meaningful in understanding the crucifixion of Jesus?"

The results of this study provide new insights into the New Testament usage of particular details from Psalm 22 and also yield some cautions about how Psalm 22 is not to be interpreted or construed as having been used by the New Testament authors. Aspects of the psalm which connect it to traditions about a son of God, an heir of David, a servant (of the Lord), a prophet, or a righteous person are highlighted and shown to have provided the potential pathways for Psalm 22 to have become meaningful among early Christians in narrating and understanding the crucifixion of Jesus as Messiah.

While providing a valuable survey of the ancient interpretations of Psalm 22 and observing how Psalm 22 was found useful by early Christians, this dissertation suggests, however, that no unequivocal answer is possible for determining why Psalm 22 in particular became so crucial to them. Ultimately it is concluded that, perhaps because Jesus did indeed recite the opening words of Psalm 22 before he died, the potential ways of understanding Psalm 22 were explored by early Christians in order to claim that this psalm—which rightly could be and was read as being a psalm about a Davidic heir and a son of God—was about the Son of God, the Davidic heir acknowledged to be the Messiah.

What I've read of the thesis looks excellent, and it has enthusiastic endorsements from both Meeks and Fraade, so I am looking forward to reading the rest. Hoffman's dissertation looks pretty congenial to my thesis concerning the scripturalization of the Passion Narrative, viz. the notion that memory and tradition combined with the conviction that events happened "according to the Scriptures" and that this led the early Christians to begin retelling those events in the light of the Scriptures they saw as being fulfilled.

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A couple of people have emailed me to note that some malicious code had found its way onto the late Tony Fisher's popular Greek New Testament site. I often use this site myself but had not spotted the problem because I use the Google pop-up blocker. I got in touch with York University and I am happy to say that the site is now fixed and can be used again without nasty things happening.

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I'm a bit behind on blog entries after the Passion news and reviews whirlwind of the last couple of weeks. So belatedly, the latest from the SBL Review of Biblical Literature:

Heil, Christoph
Lukas und Q: Studien zur lukanischen Redaktion des Spruchevangeliums Q
Reviewed by Marco Frenschkowski

DeConick, April D.
Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature
Reviewed by Susan Ramsey

Kerr, Alan R.
The Temple of Jesus' Body: The Temple Theme in the Gospel of John
Reviewed by James P. Sweeney

Longenecker, Bruce W., ed.
Narrative Dynamics in Paul: A Critical Assessment
Reviewed by Gert J. C. Jordaan

Saunders, Stanley P.
Philippians and Galatians
Reviewed by Robin Gallaher Branch

Stuhlmacher, Peter
Revisiting Paul's Doctrine of Justification: A Challenge to the New Perspective: With an essay by Donald A. Hagner
Reviewed by Matt A. Jackson-McCabe

Glancy, Jennifer
Slavery in Early Christianity
Reviewed by Shelly Matthews

Minear, Paul
The Bible and the Historian: Breaking the Silence about God in Biblical Studies
Reviewed by Bruce A. Power

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A new addition to the Scholars: H page:

Mark Vitalis Hoffman
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, PA, U.S.A.

This page features a link to a larger site under the heading Current Courses, which is full of useful and interesting course materials. See in particular the following course:

The Witness of the Gospels

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This announced by Wieland Willker on b-greek:

The Acts of the Apostles: A Handbook on the Greek Text
by Martin M. Culy, Mikeal Carl Parsons
List Price: $29.95 / Amazon Price: $20.97
Paperback: 580 pages ;
Dimensions (in inches): 1.23 x 7.44 x 6.32
Publisher: Baylor Univ Pr; (February 2004)
ISBN: 0918954908

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Editorial Reviews
A. K. M. Adam, Associate Professor of New Testament, Seabury-Western Theological Seminary "Their work instantly moves to the front rank of necessary reference books for all readers of Acts . . ."

About the Author
MARTIN M. CULY is an associate professor of New Testament at Briercrest Biblical Seminary. Culy earned an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of North Dakota, the M.Div. from Grace Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D from Baylor University. MIKEAL C. PARSONS is a professor of religion at Baylor University. Parsons earned his Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of The Departure of Jesus in Luke-Acts (1987); Rethinking the Unity of Luke and Acts (1993); and, with Heidi J. Hornik, Illuminating Luke: The Infancy Narrative in Italian Renaissance Painting (2003).

Book Description
While the commentary tradition has, with some notable exceptions, shifted away from philology to take up questions of the social values, rhetorical conventions, and narrative strategies, this volume provides the textual, philological, and grammatical essentials to any act of interpretation. By working through this text systematically, readers will not only gain a firmer grasp of the peculiar shape of Acts' grammar, but given Acts' length and complexity, they will also become better equipped to approach the other New Testament documents with increased confidence, particularly other narrative literature.

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Thanks to David Mackinder for the link to this article in the SBL Forum. Author looks familiar:

The Pleasures and Perils of Talking to the Media
Mark Goodacre

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Thanks to Jeff Peterson for the link to this polemical piece from the Washington Post:

Gibson's Blood Libel
By Charles Krauthammer

. . . . His other defense is that he is just telling the Gospel story. Nonsense. There is no single Gospel story of the Passion; there are subtle differences among the four accounts. Moreover, every text lends itself to interpretation. There have been dozens of cinematic renditions of this story, from Griffith to Pasolini to Zeffirelli. Gibson contradicts his own literalist defense when he speaks of his right to present his artistic vision. Artistic vision means personal interpretation.

And Gibson's personal interpretation is spectacularly vicious. Three of the Gospels have but a one-line reference to Jesus's scourging. The fourth has no reference at all. In Gibson's movie this becomes 10 minutes of the most unremitting sadism in the history of film. Why 10? Why not five? Why not two? Why not zero, as in Luke? Gibson chose 10 . . . .

This is actually pretty outrageous -- the author is castigating Gibson for a "literalist defense" but his attempt to establish the claim is based on error. All four Gospels mention flogging or scourging (Matt. 27.26 // Mark 15.15, φραγελλόω; Luke 23.16, παιδεύω; John 19.1, μαστιγόω). There is an important difference between Matthew and Mark on the one hand and Luke and John on the other. The first two Gospels have the scourging after the sentence whereas the latter two have it beforehand. But it is incorrect to say that it is absent in Luke.

Krauthammer goes on:

In none of the Gospels does the high priest Caiaphas stand there with his cruel, impassive fellow priests witnessing the scourging. In Gibson's movie they do. When it comes to the Jews, Gibson deviates from the Gospels -- glorying in his artistic vision -- time and again. He bends, he stretches, he makes stuff up. And these deviations point overwhelmingly in a single direction -- to the villainy and culpability of the Jews.

I am troubled here about the author's use of the word "the Jews". This, as far as I remember, is not a term used by the film in this antagonistic, Johannine-style way, and to use it in this kind of context is to import something into the film that is not there. Don't get me wrong -- I am no apologist for Gibson and I have repeatedly suggested in this blog that Gibson could have avoided many of the problems he has come up against by appointing a Visual Bible Gospel of John - style advisory committee. But it's now pretty clear to me that a lot of the reporting on alleged anti-semitism in this film is simply nowhere near careful enough. If we are to take the question of alleged anti-semitism seriously, it is essential that attention is paid both to the film itself and to the New Testament text. Sloppy reporting only makes the problem worse. This is a serious issue and it needs to be treated seriously and that involves taking real care to avoid misrepresentation. There is another example in the article, now a familiar motif:

Perhaps this should not be surprising, coming from a filmmaker whose public pronouncements on the Holocaust are as chillingly ambiguous and carefully calibrated as that of any sophisticated Holocaust denier.

As I have pointed out before, Gibson's statements in the two relevant interviews (Noonan and Sawyer) are only "chillingly ambiguous" if one ignores "Yes, of course" in the one and "Sure" in the other.

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Blogwatch: on Paleojudaica, Jim Davila has some interesting exchanges on the Aramaic in the film. In AKMA's Random Thoughts there is a post headed "Passion and Postmodernism" which is worth reading but I'd like to comment on when I get a moment.

Helenann Hartley sends me this link from BBC news about the every-increasing success of this film:

Passion film surpasses $200m mark
The film's trailer has been screened in churches in the US
Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ has sailed past the $200m (£108m) mark at the North American box office after two weeks.

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Thanks to Gail Dawson for passing along this sad news from the Washington Post:

Biblical Scholar Lucetta Mowry Dies
By Patricia Sullivan

M. Lucetta Mowry, 91, a biblical scholar, archaeologist and former dean at Wellesley College, died of pneumonia Feb. 23 at Northwest Hospital Center in Randallstown, Md. She lived in Sykesville, Md.

Dr. Mowry was a professor and academic dean at Wellesley for 36 years, retiring in 1981. She was a well-known New Testament scholar and author and taught on Hebrew scripture, Islam, Hinduism, modern Japanese religious sects and Gandhi's theory and practice of nonviolence.

She was part of the interdenominational committee set up by the National Council of Churches to update the Revised Standard Version of the Bible into contemporary but accurate language, a painstaking project that began in 1975 and lasted until the new version was published in 1989. Dr. Mowry's responsibility was translation of the Gospel according to John and the Johannine Epistles, and she was one of two committee members who were chosen to edit the completed translations . . . .

. . . . . As an archaeologist, she took part in two excavations in Jordan and one in Libya, where she dived into a harbor and found a 2nd-century Roman sea wall.

Her publications deal with subjects ranging from music in the Bible and poetry in the New Testament to the worship of the Hindu god Siva, called Saivism, in southern India and analysis of excavations at Herodian Jericho. Best known is her "Dead Sea Scrolls and the Early Church," which the London Times Literary Supplement acclaimed as one of the 13 best books in the field of religion written by American authors in the 1960s.

She held Wellesley's Andrew W. Mellon emeritus professorship in the humanities . . . . .

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In RogueClassicism, David Meadows draws attention to this interesting piece in the Orlando Sentinel on rumours surrounding Mel Gibson's next film:

Gibson's next movie: A look at heroic Jews?
By Mark I. Pinsky

It's all rumour and hearsay and here is the bit of substance:

Alan Nierob, a spokesman for Gibson and his Icon Films, confirmed that the filmmaker has spoken in several interviews, including one with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show, about looking to the Old Testament for stories, but said Gibson has not been specific about which stories.

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On Mystical Politics, Rebecca Lesses offers her thoughts on The Passion of the Christ (linked by Jim Davila on Paleojudaica). Rebecca Lesses found it "a powerful film -- but in a very disturbed and violent way". She writes:

The camera lingered lovingly on every injury that Jesus suffered. I think that this film would have a seriously negative impact upon children who viewed it -- personally, I think it should have gotten an NC-17 rating for violence.

On the second point, as I have commented before, this is not a film that children ought to see. I don't entirely understand the American rating system, but in the UK The Passion of the Christ is an 18 so no one under the age of 18 will be allowed in. On the previous point, I disagree. I did not think that the camera dwelt lovingly on Jesus' injuries and this is one of the reasons I find the pornography charge made by Lesses as well as other reviewers to be misplaced. The camera frequently turns away with the Marys, with the viewer, and does not allow us to see the worst. Like the Marys, we are constantly looking yet not wanting to look. Sometimes we catch the full horror and flinch; sometimes we do not. I think what I would like to hear from those who are using the term pornography in this context is how they are defining it because I find it singularly inappropriate.

Rebecca Lesses also writes:

The priests are dressed up in ridiculous regalia that to my eye did not resemble what Exodus describes as priestly garb (it is described in this week's Torah portion, Tezaveh). The camera lingers on their bearded faces, many with the stereotypical Jewish hooked nose.

I disagree with this too. Because of the pre-publicity about the alleged anti-Semitism, I was conscious of the potential problem of the representation of Jews in the film and one of the things I looked for were choice of actors and what their appearances might be intended to evoke. But I did not see anything that led me to believe that certain actors had been chosen to evoke classic racial stereotypes. And if one really must descend to the business of talking about shapes of noses, Peter -- for example -- does not look different from the priests.

The difficulty about any such discussion is that it can be in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps I am missing things that others are noticing. I think one of the only ways around this problem is to ask the question whether Jewish actors are used to play the Jewish priests and non-Jewish actors to play those sympathetic to Jesus. This, in my opinion, is one of the scandals about Jesus Christ Superstar -- it is clear that many of the priests are played by Jewish actors whereas few if any other parts in the film are played by Jewish actors. Now, in The Passion of the Christ the only actor I know to be Jewish is Maia Morgenstern who plays Mary the mother of Jesus (see blog entry on), the most sympathetic character in the entire film. Likewise, as I have previously pointed out, one of the other most sympathetic characters in the film is Simon of Cyrene, the only person in the entire film characterised with the single word "Jew".

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On Paleojudaica, Jim Davila draws attention to this piece in Archaeology Magazine:

LETTER FROM JERUSALEM: HOLLYWOOD HOLY LAND
Can anyone know the facts about the death of Jesus?
BY SANDRA SCHAM

[Archaeology, Volume 57 Number 2, March/April 2004]

The article features quotations from William Fulco, Paula Fredriksen, Adam Porter, Mark Chancey and others.

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Read AKMA's reflections on The Passion of the Christ on AKMA's Random Thoughts. And thanks to AKMA for pointing out in Comments that "Caiphas" is the Latin version of the name; so it's not a spelling error.

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