David G. Horrell

The social ethos of the Corinthian correspondence : interests and ideology from 1 Corinthians to 1 Clement

An exemplary study, focussing on the Corinthian correspondence, of the social ethos of early Christian teaching and its development.

Engaging the Bible in GCSE and A level Religious Studies: environmental stewardship as a test case

This article explores the potential for critical and informed engagement with biblical texts to form a key element of the study of Christian perspectives on ethical issues at GCSE and A level. Given the current dominance of philosophical and ethical topics, and weaknesses in the engagement with biblical texts within existing curriculum materials, the article appeals to recent developments in approaches to biblical scholarship, in particular a focus on the history of interpretation and influence, as a means by which the Bible may be fruitfully and critically engaged in modules focused on contemporary religious ethics. The article then presents the topic of environmental stewardship as a test case for the practical application of such a method, outlining two examples – the stewardship of creation (Genesis 1 and 2) and the future of the earth (2 Peter 3) – to demonstrate how a more sophisticated treatment of the Bible as part of ethical enquiry might be achieved.

The Product of a Petrine Circle? A Reassessment of the Origin and Character of 1 Peter

Recent studies of 1 Peter, especially by John Elliott, have sought to rescue the letter from its assimilation to the Pauline tradition and to establish the view, now widely held, that 1 Peter is the distinctive product of a Petrine circle. After examining the traditions in 1 Peter, both Pauline and non-Pauline, and the names in the letter (Silvanus, Mark and Peter), this essay argues that there is no substantial evidence, either inside or outside the letter, to support the view of 1 Peter as originating from a specifically Petrine group. It is much more plausibly seen as re‘ ecting the consolidation of early Christian traditions in Roman Christianity. Despite the scholarly majority currently in its favour, the view of 1 Peter as the distinctive product of a Petrine tradition from a Petrine circle should therefore be rejected.

The Green Bible: A Timely Idea Deeply Flawed

This article offers a critical review of the recently published Green Bible (HarperCollins, 2008), a ‘green-letter edition’ intended to enable readers to discover the Bible’s message concerning humanity’s duty to care for creation. Despite the often valuable and stimulating essays and study materials that surround the ‘green-letter edition’ of the biblical text, the idea at the heart of the project is deeply flawed. It fails to do justice to the fact that the biblical material is, as on other ethical issues, profoundly ambivalent, requiring careful and constructive interpretation which is, in turn, open to debate and contestation. Concepts such as stewardship, which are presented here as simply what the Bible teaches, are interpretative constructions whose hermeneutical and ethical value may be questioned. A coherent ‘green’ message cannot come simply from lining up supposedly relevant biblical texts but only from creative and constructive interpretation of the Bible.

The Ecological Challenge to Biblical Studies

The increasing prominence of environmental issues, together with the suspicion that the Bible, both through its creation stories and its eschatological expectations, may discourage a sense of Christian environmental responsibility, raise a challenge to which biblical scholars have responded in various ways. Some attempt to recover a positive ecological message from the Bible, while others read the Bible critically through the framework of a set of ecojustice principles. This essay reviews some of these contributions and argues for a theological approach to interpretation which avoids some of the weaknesses of either of these two alternatives.

A New Perspective on Paul? Rereading Paul in a Time of Ecological Crisis

Contemporary contexts, crises, and moral values shape the interpretation of Paul, even in rigorously ‘historical’ scholarship, and the new perspective on Paul well illustrates this point. Our current ecological crisis provides a new and urgent context for interpretation, yet one that has scarcely yet registered on the agenda of recent Pauline studies. Beginning with the obvious eco-texts (Rom. 8.19-23; Col. 1.15-20), but insisting on the need to move beyond these, this essay explores the potential for a broader ecological engagement with Paul, arguing that Paul offers resources for an ecological theology and ethics at the heart of which stands the vision of God’s incorporative transformation of the whole creation in Christ and the associated imperative to embody that transformation in human action shaped by the paradigm of Christ’s self-giving for others.

The Themes of 1 Peter: Insights from the Earliest Manuscripts (the Crosby-Schøyen Codex ms 193 and the Bodmer Miscellaneous Codex containing P 72 ) *

Recent developments in textual criticism have encouraged NT scholars to regard the various NTmanuscripts not merely as sources of variant readings to enable a reconstruction of the original text but as interpretative renderings with their own intrinsic interest and as important material evidence for early Christianity. Taking up this cue, this paper examines what the two (probably) earliest manuscripts of  Peter indicate about the status of this writing, and what early readers took to be its key themes, given the other texts with which it is bound. In both cases, and with some striking overlaps,  Peter is regarded as a text focused on the Easter themes of the suffering, martyrdom and vindication of Christ, and the related suffering and hope of his faithful people in a hostile world. These two manuscripts also call for some reconsideration of older scholarship, now widely rejected, which saw  Peter as a baptismal homily or paschal liturgy. While these remain unconvincing views of  Peter’s origins, they do rightly identify themes and connections which the earliest editors and readers evidently also perceived.

Familiar Friend or Alien Stranger? On Translating the Bible

Looking especially at the NRSV and NIV, and interacting with the recent comments of Earle Ellis in this journal, this essay argues that translations of the Bible should do more justice to aspects of the text that make it less comfortable to pious modern ears: its rootedness in ancient culture, its sometimes awkward style, its patriarchal assumptions, and its occasional vulgarity.

‘The Lord Commanded…but i Have not Used…’ Exegetical and Hermeneutical Reflections on 1 cor 9.14–15

The main focus of this paper is upon just two short verses. They are verses which are interesting, however, partly because they raise questions and relate to debates which are much wider than such a restricted focus might suggest. Like a stone dropped into a pond creating ripples in concentric circles, the exegesis of these two verses is, for me, located within the context of wider debates which, for the sake of openness of method and intention, should briefly be outlined.

Ethnicisation, Marriage and Early Christian Identity: Critical Reflections on 1 Corinthians 7, 1 Peter 3 and Modern New Testament Scholarship

This is the authors accepted manuscript which has been accepted for publication in New Testament Studies. The definitive version will be published on the publisher website at: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=NTS