2015.06.14 |Stephen C. Carlson. The Text of Galatians and Its History. WUNT II/385; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015. Pp. xiv + 308. ISBN 978-3-16-153323-5.

Review by Jordan Almanzar, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

Carlson’s study represents the first attempt to implement means and methods drawn from computational biology in reconstructing a critical text of the book of Galatians. To that end he collates and analyzes 92 witnesses and writes his own software that is able to analyze and interpret 1624 variation units in Galatians. Furthermore, his software was designed to account for significant levels of contamination in the manuscript tradition—something that has never before been done. But his study is not purely mechanical. Carlson is well aware of Zuntz’s warning about the pitfalls of purely statistical reconstructions of New Testament stemmata. Continue reading →

2015.01.02 | AnneMarie Luijendijk. Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary(Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 89). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

Reviewed by Sarah Parkhouse, Durham University.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

Several years ago, AnneMarie Luijendijk was presented with a tiny, leather-bound codex, which read ‘The Gospel of the Lots of Mary’ (henceforth, GLM). The 2014-published paperback Forbidden Oracles is the first critical edition and translation of the text it contained. But Forbidden Oracles is so much more than that: it is a journey into magic and mystery, slaves and women, reviled practices, temples, travellers, codicology and bibliomancy, and even cites a classic Lennon McCartney number ‘There will be an answer, let it be’ (p.13).

GLM is a fifth- or sixth-century Coptic book of oracular answers. A client would ask a diviner a question; the book would provide the answer. The full incipit reads ‘The Gospel of the lots of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she to whom Gabriel the archangel brought the good news. He who will go forward (or: will seek) with his whole heart will obtain what he seeks. Only do not be of two minds’. Continue reading →

2014.11.19 | Chrys C. Caragounis. New Testament Language and Exegesis: A Diachronic Approach (WUNT I/323). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014. pp. xiii + 409. Cloth. ISBN: 9783161527647

Reviewed by Emanuel Conțac, Theological Pentecostal Institute of Bucharest.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

Readers familiar with Chrys Caragounis’ landmark book The Development of Greek and the New Testament will find new and engaging contributions in the latest volume published by the Lund-based NT scholar. Caragounis, arguably the most energetic advocate of diachrony applied to the study of what is conventionally called “NT Greek”, presents new evidence in defense of the basic tenet that the Greek of the NT should not be studied in isolation from the later Greek, because the history of the language is more organic and interconnected than is usually believed.

The book is divided into two large sections, the first of which (“The Scope and Importance of Diachrony”) contains five chapters, tackling various aspects of morphology and syntax.

Continue reading →

Review article by Josaphat Tam,University of Edinburgh.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

This is a “grand gathering” of Johannine characters (and scholars). The present work is by far the most complete edited volume on Johannine characters studies. The aim is clearly stated, “to offer a comprehensive narrative-critical study of nearly every character Jesus… encounters in the narrative world of the Fourth Gospel” (xi).

Roughly seventy characters are included in the present volume. Almost every character you can think of in John can be found there. Being so exhaustive, there is surprisingly no treatment of “Jesus,” the very key character in John. Continue reading →

2013.09.18 | Richard Ounsworth. Joshua Typology in the New Testament .WUNT II/328. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.XI + 214 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978 3 16 151932 1.

Review by Nicholas J. Moore, Keble College, University of Oxford.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’ What’s in a name? Well, pace the love-struck Juliet, quite possibly a great deal if your name happens to be identical with that of the Messiah. It is this possibility that Richard Ounsworth seeks to render plausible or even probable with regard to the presence in Hebrews 4.8 of the name Ἰησοῦς. In context this clearly refers to Joshua son of Nun, who brought the Israelites into Canaan but failed to give them (true) rest. Continue reading →

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2015.06.14 |Stephen C. Carlson. The Text of Galatians and Its History. WUNT II/385; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015. Pp. xiv + 308. ISBN 978-3-16-153323-5.

Review by Jordan Almanzar, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

Carlson’s study represents the first attempt to implement means and methods drawn from computational biology in reconstructing a critical text of the book of Galatians. To that end he collates and analyzes 92 witnesses and writes his own software that is able to analyze and interpret 1624 variation units in Galatians. Furthermore, his software was designed to account for significant levels of contamination in the manuscript tradition—something that has never before been done. But his study is not purely mechanical. Carlson is well aware of Zuntz’s warning about the pitfalls of purely statistical reconstructions of New Testament stemmata. Continue reading →

2015.01.02 | AnneMarie Luijendijk. Forbidden Oracles? The Gospel of the Lots of Mary(Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum 89). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

Reviewed by Sarah Parkhouse, Durham University.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

Several years ago, AnneMarie Luijendijk was presented with a tiny, leather-bound codex, which read ‘The Gospel of the Lots of Mary’ (henceforth, GLM). The 2014-published paperback Forbidden Oracles is the first critical edition and translation of the text it contained. But Forbidden Oracles is so much more than that: it is a journey into magic and mystery, slaves and women, reviled practices, temples, travellers, codicology and bibliomancy, and even cites a classic Lennon McCartney number ‘There will be an answer, let it be’ (p.13).

GLM is a fifth- or sixth-century Coptic book of oracular answers. A client would ask a diviner a question; the book would provide the answer. The full incipit reads ‘The Gospel of the lots of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she to whom Gabriel the archangel brought the good news. He who will go forward (or: will seek) with his whole heart will obtain what he seeks. Only do not be of two minds’. Continue reading →

2014.11.19 | Chrys C. Caragounis. New Testament Language and Exegesis: A Diachronic Approach (WUNT I/323). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014. pp. xiii + 409. Cloth. ISBN: 9783161527647

Reviewed by Emanuel Conțac, Theological Pentecostal Institute of Bucharest.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

Readers familiar with Chrys Caragounis’ landmark book The Development of Greek and the New Testament will find new and engaging contributions in the latest volume published by the Lund-based NT scholar. Caragounis, arguably the most energetic advocate of diachrony applied to the study of what is conventionally called “NT Greek”, presents new evidence in defense of the basic tenet that the Greek of the NT should not be studied in isolation from the later Greek, because the history of the language is more organic and interconnected than is usually believed.

The book is divided into two large sections, the first of which (“The Scope and Importance of Diachrony”) contains five chapters, tackling various aspects of morphology and syntax. Continue reading →

Review article by Josaphat Tam,University of Edinburgh.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

This is a “grand gathering” of Johannine characters (and scholars). The present work is by far the most complete edited volume on Johannine characters studies. The aim is clearly stated, “to offer a comprehensive narrative-critical study of nearly every character Jesus… encounters in the narrative world of the Fourth Gospel” (xi).

Roughly seventy characters are included in the present volume. Almost every character you can think of in John can be found there. Being so exhaustive, there is surprisingly no treatment of “Jesus,” the very key character in John. Continue reading →

2013.09.18 | Richard Ounsworth. Joshua Typology in the New Testament .WUNT II/328. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.XI + 214 pp. Paperback. ISBN 978 3 16 151932 1.

Review by Nicholas J. Moore, Keble College, University of Oxford.

Many thanks to Mohr Siebeck for providing a review copy.

‘That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.’ What’s in a name? Well, pace the love-struck Juliet, quite possibly a great deal if your name happens to be identical with that of the Messiah. It is this possibility that Richard Ounsworth seeks to render plausible or even probable with regard to the presence in Hebrews 4.8 of the name Ἰησοῦς. In context this clearly refers to Joshua son of Nun, who brought the Israelites into Canaan but failed to give them (true) rest. Continue reading →

Post navigation