HTS Volume 58, Number 2 (2002)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/11832

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We and they in Romans
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Malina, Bruce John
According to cultural anthropologists ingroup/outgroup divisions are fundamental to Mediterranean views of the world. This essay considers Paul’s in-group/outgroup, or “we/they” perceptions. The ethnocentrism revealed in this dichotomy indicates that Paul, like other Mediterraneans of his time, showed little interest in the outgroup. Not surprisingly, neither was the God of Israel. Non-Israelites simply did not fit into the divine plan of things until non-Israelites, some centuries later, began to identify with Paul’s “we” – something Paul did not foresee.
Methods and models in the quest for the historical Jesus : historical criticism and/or social scientific criticism
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Van Aarde, A.G. (Andries G.)
In this article a distinction is made between social scientific criticism and historiography. Historiography describes what is unrepeatable, specific and particular. Social scientific criticism is to some extent a phenomenological approach. On a high level of abstraction, it focuses on ideal types. The historiographical quest for Jesus is about the plausibility of a continuity or a discontinuity existing between the Jesus of history and the Jesus of faith. This approach has been broadened by the interdisciplinary application of the results of archaeological, sociohistorical, and cultural anthropological studies of the world of the historical Jesus. But it does not mean that historical-critical research as such is now dismissed. The aim of the article is to argue that social scientific criticism can complement a historical-critical analysis.
Who persecuted the Thessalonian Christians?
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Taylor, N.H.
This article argues that the recent scholarly consensus of an essentially gentile Thessalonian church being persecuted by its gentile neighbours is founded on unsound premises. The Jewish community in Thessalonica would have had good reason to oppose Paul and the congregation he formed. The exegesis of key texts in 1 Thessalonians does not support the reconstruction of the church as composed of gentiles unconnected with the synagogue, and the ethnic background of the persecutors cannot be ascertained on the basis of the letter. The dismissal of Acts as a source of historical information is unwarranted.
To know what is before one’s face : group-specific metaphors and the composition of the Gospel of Thomas
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Liebenberg, J.
This article uses the insights of second-generation cognitive linguistics to interpret some of the metaphoric sayings in the Gospel of Thomas. It is an attempt to show how the identification and use of conventional metaphors influence the understanding of poetic language. Group-specific metaphors, as a manifestation of basic conventional metaphors, are identified, providing a conceptual framework against which some Thomas sayings are interpreted. These basic metaphors then provide cohesion for the interpretation of some apparently disparate sayings in the Gospel of Thomas.
Historical-anthropological Jesus research : the status of authentic pictures beyond authentic material
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Craffert, P.F. (Pieter Francois)
A historical-anthropological approach to the study of the historical Jesus sets its own research agenda, starting with the research problem: to establish Jesus' identity as a historical figure. The interpretive style used to deal with such a figure is a cable-like process which accepts that the social type he belongend to, the stories about him, the setting within which he operated and his personal profile are configurations of each another. For example, when trying to understand the sources, the dynamics of the social type within a specific setting has to be taken into account. It is argued that identifying a social type is a matter of social analysis and not of merely labelling pre-established "authentic" parts of the tradition. If a social type is identified about whom stories such as those about Jesus are told, it is highly likely that Jesus could have been such a figure. This approach is used as a yardstick to evaluate the effectiveness of historical critical apporaches (the Jesus Seminar and the third quest) in dealing with a figure from a distant historical cultural setting. It is shown that neither of these approaches with their rationalist presuppositions and interpretive styles is very useful in understanding across cultural barriers.
Matthew’s anti-Paulinism : a neglected feature of Matthean studies
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Sim, David C.
Half a century ago, S G F Brandon argued that the Gospel of Matthew was an anti-Pauline text. Brandon’s case was not especially convincing and his hypothesis was quickly consigned to the scholarly scrap heap. But in recent times Matthean scholarship has been moving towards a position whereby Brandon’s basic insights can and should be resurrected. This study argues that the view that Matthew was an anti-Pauline text is completely in line with current understandings of this Gospel and its underlying community, and can be restated in a more detailed and much more convincing fashion.
Semiotic behavior in Luke and John
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Rohrbaugh, Richard L., 1936-
As socio-linguists have demonstrated, communication is a behavior that follows socially generated and commonly understood rules for how messages are to be produced and received. Moreover, this semiotic process constitutes a complex and pervasive mechanism of social control – even if it is not often recognized as such. It is thus possible to ask how meaning is actually created and acknowledged in a given society. Who determines the rules? How are rules maintained, modified or subverted? Such questions focus our attention on who is producing and receiving what types of meaning and whose interests are being served by the way the process itself is constructed. As a case in point, we shall compare the semiotic process in the Lukan and Johannine presentations of Jesus in order to ask what these processes imply for social relations in the communities that produced them.
Reflections on Jesus’ parables as metaphorical stories past and present
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Reinstorf, Dieter Heinrich; Van Aarde, A.G. (Andries G.)
During the past decades scholars have endeavoured to read Jesus’ parables as metaphorical stories. This article provides a theoretical overview of the ongoing debate, reflecting both on past claims and present criticism. The assertion is made that the use of the metaphor as a model to read and study the parables of Jesus, remains valid and should be expanded to include the parables in their particular Gospel settings.
A social scientific study of the significance of the jubilee in the New Testament
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Volschenk, G.J. (Gert Jacobus); Van Aarde, A.G. (Andries G.)
This social scientific study of the Biblical jubilee focuses primarily on the jubilee as a metaphor within the framework of engaged hermeneutics. The jubilee was a symbol of transformation and emancipation. The article shows the significance of the jubilee in the New Testament as interpreted within the context of the reign of God and salvation in Jesus Christ. The liberation from enslavement pertains to all levels of human existence, including socio-economic and political interrelation-ships. The study demonstrates conflicting perceptions of land tenancy in an ancient economy that resulted in the exploitation and enslavement of peasants and their families. The constructs of the advanced agrarian society and the pre-industrial city are used as heuristic models for the interpretation of data.
Paul’s ecstatic trance experience near Damascus in Acts of the Apostles
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Pilch, John J.
Luke reports more than twenty altered states of consciousness experiences in Acts of the Apostles. These are common and normal human experiences in approximately ninety percent of contemporary cultures. In the ancient Circum-Mediterranean world, it seems to have been common and normal in about eighty percent of those cultures. Insights from psychological anthropology, cultural anthropology and cognitive neuroscience contribute to an improved understanding and interpretation of these experiences in the Bible, particularly the call of Paul as reported in Acts 9; 22; 26.
Matthew as marginal scribe in an advanced agrarian society
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Duling, Dennis C.
Analysis of 22 references to scribes in the Gospel of Matthew shows that a few of them are positive comments and that the author himself was a scribe. What type of scribe was he and how can we clarify his social context? By means of the models of Lenski and Kautsky, by recent research about scribes, literacy, and power, and by new marginality theory, this article extensively refines Saldarini’s hypothesis that the scribes were “retainers”. The thesis is that in “Matthew’s” Christ-believing group, his scribal profession and literacy meant power and socio-religious status. Yet, his voluntary association with Christ believers (“ideological marginality”), many of whom could not participate in social roles expected of them (“structural marginality”), led to his living between two historical traditions, languages, political loyalties, moral codes, social rankings, and ideological-religious sympathies (“cultural marginality”). The Matthean author’s cultural marginality will help to clarify certain well-known literary tensions in the Gospel of Matthew.
"Love-patriarchalism" in the New Testament in light of ethnography
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Dreyer, Yolanda
In this article the context of the first century Mediterranean social world will be discussed in order to explore the nature of the prevailing hierarchical system. This society was agrarian and patriarchal. Patriarchy presupposes a hierarchical societal structure. During the period of the early church a cultural shift from a simple to an advanced agrarian society, had already taken place. This influenced the nature of the hierarchical system. The article argues that the context of an advanced agrarian society should be taken into account when the ethic of the earliest Jesus movements is explained. This context is described from an ethnographical perspective. The article concludes with a reflection on Gerd Theissen's concept of "love-patriarchalism' in the context of the shift from a simple to an advanced agrarian society.
When the dead are alive! The influence of the living dead in the letter of Jude
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Joubert, Stephan Jacobus, 1958-
This essay investigates the impact of the deceased on the audience to which the letter of Jude was originally addressed. A construct of the influence of the “living dead” in ancient Babylon, Israel, the Graeco-Roman world and in African tradition serves as a basic cognitive map to come to terms with Jude’s views on the dead. It is argued that, since the wicked dead, who are being physically punished in the underworld, are kept alive in the collective memory of Jude’s community and since their deeds are re-enacted in the sinful behavior of intruders in their midst, their lives are influenced by the “presence” of these living dead. On the other hand and, although Jude does not deal with the physical whereabouts of the righteous death, he and his readers know that their postmortem honour is still intact. The righteous in this community is assured that God protects the integrity of the faithful dead.
Between family and temple : Jesus and sacrifices
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Destro, Adriana; Pesce, Mauro
Sacrifice generally aims at obtaining from and by supernatural force the right to exercise control over life. As far as Jewish sacrifices are concerned, according to Leviticus, victims’ blood serves to purify the holy places of the temple and no sacrifices can expiate voluntary sins. In Mt 6:12 God’s forgiveness is obtained through a trilateral relationship between the sinner, the “debtor”, and God, without any expiatory sacrificial act being required. Jesus did not, however, reject the sacrificial rituals of the temple, those rituals that did not serve to expiate voluntary sins. In Jesus’ proposal, the forgiveness by one individual of another implies a social conception, which includes the absence of debt, reconciliation, justice and equality. Jesus transforms and relocates two aspects of the religion of the Second Temple. In his conception, the forgiveness of sins and a new beginning of people’s lives brought about by the Jubilee can happen anywhere (not only in the temple) and at any time (not only once a year for Yom ha-kippurim).
Sumptuous clothing and ornamentation in the Apocalypse
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Neufeld, Dietmar
Using different categories of social psychology on body decoration and dress, this article examines the author’s course of shifting political, moral, religious and eschatological values as reflected in the clothing and ornamentation motifs deployed in the narrative of the Apocalypse. The article focuses on questions such as the eschatological values betrayed by the author’s deployment of clothing and ornamentation themes, the meaning adduced from the passages in the Apocalypse where body surface is taken seriously, ancients’ connection of clothing and body decoration with the person and society, and the social values reflected by dress and ornamentation, such as honour/shame, status, boundaries, and identity personally and collectively.
Spaced out : “Territoriality” in the Fourth Gospel
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Neyrey, Jerome H., 1940-
The Fourth Gospel is inordinately involved with places and spaces, valuing some, but dis-valuing others. The task of interpreting all such references is greatly aided by the use of the anthropological model of “territoriality” which shows how all peoples 1) classify space, 2) communicate this and 3) control access to or exit from this territory. The classifications might be: public-private, sacred/profane, honorable/shameful, clean/unclean, fixed/fluid, center/periphery and the like. Where appropriate, these classifications are used to interpret the Johannine data on spaces and places, particularly 1) Galilee/Judean, 2) public/in secret, 3) not on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, 4) whence/whither, 5) in my Father’s house there are many rooms, 6) “in-dwelling” and “being-in” another; and 7) two different worlds.
The meaning of the word gamw~ in Lk 14:20 ; 17:27 ; Mk 12:25 and in a number of early Jewish and Christian authors
(Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, 2002) Van Tilborg, Sjef; Tilborg, Sjef van
In modern Greek the word gamw~ means exclusively “to have sexual contact”, and not “to marry”. In his work Opera Minora Selecta: Epigraphie et antiquité grecques (Amsterdam, 1989, V, 417-421) the epigraphist Louis Robert shows that this special meaning of the word has to be assumed in a number of classical texts. On the basis of Robert’s study, this article discusses whether this meaning is also possible in the case of a number of New Testament texts (Lk 14:20; 17:27; Mk 12:25) and texts from Enoch, Philo, Athenagoras and especially Clement.

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