Peter Oakes

Re-mapping the Universe: Paul and the Emperor in 1 Thessalonians and Philippians

This article considers three texts that are frequently cited in relation to Rome: 1 Thess. 4.15-17; 1 Thess. 5.3; Phil. 2.9-11. Four options for the apparent parallels between Christian and Roman terminology are considered: (1) independent use of common sources, (2) Christian imitation of elements of Roman discourse or practice, (3) Christian writing in reaction to conflict stemming from Rome and (4) Christian writing that conflicts with Roman discourse or practice. The article concludes that 1 Thess. 5.3 and Phil. 2.9-11 conflict with Roman ideology. However, in neither case is Paul either writing polemic against Rome or specifically arguing against participation in the imperial cult. Instead, he is re-drawing the map of the universe in order to encourage Christians who are suffering under pressure from Graeco-Roman society.

Pistis as Relational Way of Life in Galatians

Using the Septuagint as an example, this article supports Teresa Morgan’s recent contention that πίστις is essentially relational. On the basis of the prevalence of relationality, the article offers a critique of readings of Galatians that privilege other concepts, such as Benjamin Schliesser’s emphasis on spatiality. The study then argues that, instead of Morgan’s ‘pistis is a relationship’, it would be more accurate and exegetically useful to bring out the action-reference of πίστις with an expression such as ‘πίστις is a relational way of life’. The article will argue that the most likely relational reading of πίστις in Galatians is one in which πίστις primarily represents trust, loyalty and/or trustworthiness in the relationship between the current Christ and people. This raises questions over the focus of πίστις on past events in the work of scholars such as Richard Hays and John Barclay. If πίστις Χριστοῦ is to be read as involving an ‘objective genitive’ it probably denotes people’s trust in and loyalty to Christ and also possibly to God through Christ. If it is to be read as a ‘subjective genitive’, it would probably primarily denote Christ’s current reliability and loyalty in his relationship to people, and conceivably also to God. Various directions of πίστις between people, Christ and God are possible in Galatians but the one most often clearly evidenced is between people and Christ.

13. Ephesians, Colossians & PhilemonColossiansFosterPaul BNTC; London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016, 978-1-62356-579-4, £26.99, xiii + 506 pb

In the preface to this recent addition to the series of Black’s New Testament Commentaries, Foster expresses the hope that readers will find a balanced discussion, which provides new ideas and perspectives not found in existing commentaries. This study admirably fulfils this aim. Foster engages in courteous dialogue with previous commentators (principally Dunn, Harris and Sumney), and there is enough new insight here to warrant the purchase of (yet another) commentary on Colossians. The introduction runs to 121 pages and begins by challenging the consensus that Colossae was left abandoned and uninhabited after the earthquake that struck the city in 63 bce. Pointing to the lack of evidence for Jewish habitation of the city, Foster doubts whether a Judaizing influence lies behind the Colossian problem. The analysis of the letter’s theology contains an insightful consideration of the lack of references to the Holy Spirit and the OT in Colossians. With an appropriate degree of hesitation, Foster suggests the letter may have been penned by one of Paul’s followers, in response to a problem of syncretistic religious pluralism in the church. The commentary itself offers a clear and lucid discussion of the text, with careful consideration of textual variants in the Greek manuscript tradition. Consequently, and in contrast to many Black’s Commentaries, this book is really targeted at those who have both an understanding of and access to a Greek NT. However, readers who lack these resources will still find much here that is of great value and importance.

12. GalatiansGalatiansDasA. AndrewSaint Louis, MO: Concordia, 2014, 978-0-7586-1552-7,

Lutheran scholars of Galatians might feel themselves ‘under the curse of the Law’, because their stance is sometimes treated as something from which Pauline scholarship must be redeemed. Few Lutheran commentators would utterly dismiss critique of Luther’s methodological presumptions, especially the use of Paul to reconstruct ancient Judaism; yet, as Das intimates in his preface, Luther’s scholarly descendants can be pigeon-holed as stalwarts, stubbornly and uncritically defending Luther’s draconian presuppositions. This commentary skilfully counters such prejudice. Unsurprisingly, Das is sceptical of ‘New Perspective’ scholarship. Dunn’s influential position that Torah’s principal constraint is its congenital marginalization of Gentiles is given short shrift for failing to adequately explicate ‘righteousness’ in Galatians. For Das, it is not that the Law limits righteousness to Jews, but that it simply cannot convey righteousness (p. 275); furthermore, the ‘curse’ language of 3.10 is unrelated to the ethnic aspects of the Law (p. 313). Das argues that the implied premise of Law’s curse is humanity’s inability to keep the Law faultlessly. Positively, Das’s commentary gives welcome attention to complex quandaries in Galatians, like the Spirit–promise relationship (pp. 332-36) or love fulfilling Torah (pp. 548-55), routinely quieted by more publicized debates (though laypersons may find the meticulous detail intimidating). Das’s commitment to offering a breadth of hermeneutic possibilities based on linguistic nuances will be particularly useful to scholars doing more extensive Galatians research. Occasionally, his appeals to ancient secular literature in support of minority readings of texts feel somewhat labyrinthine. Nonetheless, Das’s commentary will prove an invaluable scholarly resource for studying Galatians.

49.99, lxix + 738 hb

With this volume Marguerat completes the first Francophone commentaire scientifique since 1926–27. These final stages, Acts 13.1–15.35; 15.36–21.14; 21.15–28.31, continue the reading he introduced in 2007 (reviewed in JSNT [2008] 30.3, pp. 375-77). Covering Paul’s mission in Acts, Marguerat’s sections attend both to historical-critical issues and to Luke’s narrative, reading Luke’s literary diptych as exegesis of a theological triptych— scripture, the gospel and Acts. Responding to critics of the first volume, his Preface (pp. 7-8) implicitly clarifies why Marguerat’s work is user-friendly: he knows that readers are likely to consult the volume for specific issues, so its footnotes contain repetition; that readers are unlikely to have reference libraries to hand, so he offers extensive quotations; that they turn to his volumes to hear his reading of a passage, consequently, while his text carries no ongoing debates with others, he offers access to alternative readings. I worked with his volume alongside reading the Westar Institute’s 2013 report of its Acts Seminar. Marguerat, author of The First Christian Historian (SNTSMS 121), does not directly address their conclusions, but his radically different account of Luke’s work poses serious questions for theirs: see, for example, his boxed note, Has Luke read Paul’s letters? (pp. 51-52). Two of his sections particularly claimed my probing. First, Marguerat’s sensitivity to the importance for Luke’s narrative of Paul’s Antioch sermon (13.16-41) has produced a readable, balanced assessment of that narrative (pp. 34-57: translation, analysis, explanation, theological perspectives). Dissenting from his reading of Ps. 2.7, I respect his treatment of this crux. Second, his explication of Paul’s final interview in Rome (28.23-28) repays careful reading, especially its boxed note on Acts’ enigmatic ending, Why does not Luke narrate Paul’s end? (pp. 388-89). This commentary truly is vintage Marguerat. Its two volumes should be on every serious library’s shelves, available to all students of Acts; and at around £60 (

7. Luke–Acts

100) they will surely be in many scholars’ personal collections. We must hope that a good English translation will soon make this world-class scholarship more widely accessible.

16. Non-Pauline Letters

Williams’s revised dissertation focuses on 1 Peter’s teaching about salvation, seeking to overcome the divide between biblical and theological by his distinctive method— theological-critical exegesis. Borrowing Caird’s conference table approach to NT theology, Williams additionally invites systematic theologians, so that he, as chairman, might facilitate a dialogue that gives rise to their consensual wisdom. The volume’s three parts treat (a) discussion of his method, (b) an exploration of this letter’s literal sense, (c) an ‘intercatholic’ conversation around a second table. The second part offers five chapters towards a detailed study of the letter’s understanding of ‘salvation’. They deal with election, the provision of salvation (the atonement), new birth, salvation as a future event, salvation as future victory and vindication. This is a welcome contribution to the series, not least because it invites response at many levels—method, choice of (Reformed) theologians invited to the dialogue, balance of evidence. It proved a readable, detailed and thorough study, particularly in relation to the key areas of 1 Pet. 1.18-19, 2.21-25 and 3.18. Unsurprisingly, Williams’s conclusions appear to be embedded in his method, particularly his discussion of atonement (p. 277), where six metaphors carry the death of Christ into a doctrinal summary. Despite his recognition that Peter summarizes Jesus’ death and resurrection as the fulfilment of scriptural prophecy (p. 185), Williams appears to find more scriptural stress on ‘death’ than on ‘resurrection’; perhaps we may look for a companion volume. The guild will be enriched by Williams’s work; it will surely feature in future discussion of 1 Peter. This is a ‘musthave’ for serious theological libraries.

20. Early Christianity

This is a valuable and wide-ranging collection of ancient literary sources concerning the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul. The editor notes how most scholars who have written about the death of either Peter or Paul restrict themselves mainly or exclusively to the accounts found in the Acts of Peter and in the Acts of Paul. The result, he suggests, is that ‘our picture of the early church’s reception and conceptualization of the apostles has been hampered by a kind of myopia that focuses primarily on two texts and interprets them as exemplary for Christian antiquity, to the exclusion of other, sometimes variant voices, especially if those voices are not in Latin or Greek’. This book is his response: it includes a wide range of martyrdom texts written in Greek, Latin or Syriac, each with a facing English translation, a helpful introduction, and a short select bibliography. Each excerpt is long enough to allow the reader to have some appreciation of its literary context, for which the editor is especially to be commended. Also included is the editor’s selection of texts and translations of more than 40 references to the apostles’ deaths found in other texts (written in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Coptic, with some use made of Ethiopic witnesses to the Ascension of Isaiah) dating from 1 Clement through to Gregory of Tours. The book is a very useful resource for further research and brings with it the promise of more good things to come: Eastman states that his next monograph will be dedicated to a detailed analysis of the texts that he makes easily accessible to others in this very useful book.

2. New Testament Topics

This collection of essays, as a whole, wrestles with the question of how the biblical texts can be illuminated when they are approached from socio-scientific perspectives. Social, political, economic and cultural factors of the ancient world that these texts came from have been taken into exegetical consideration by scholarship for decades. This volume presents some of the discussions on this subject that took place in 2009 in Tutzing Evangelical Academy, Germany. The volume contains 17 essays by some leading scholars from Europe, Canada, USA and Brazil. They are very diverse in their thematic and socio-scientific approaches. In this brief review I will give only a few examples. Gary Stansell applies different social models while examining the concept of friendship between David and Jonathan in 1 and 2 Kings. John Elliott explores the expressions and connotations of ‘the evil eye’ in antiquity including Jewish writings and its usage by Jesus and Paul. He suggests that the idea of the evil eye points to the presence of an evil disposition in the form of jealousy, greed and avidity in the personal and communal life and thus serves as a tool to urge generosity, communal good and cooperation with one another for God’s sake. He insists on the importance of the phrase ‘the evil eye’ in the Bible and suggests a more explicit usage and explanation of this phrase in modern translations of scripture. Gerd Theissen utilizes cognitive theories in his attempt to offer an explanation of why Christianity spread widely in the early centuries. This collection will be of great interest for those who want to read scripture afresh in the light of socio-scientific approaches or to learn more about these different approaches.

22. Textual Criticism

The published version of Niccum’s dissertation offers a critical text of the Ethiopic version of the book of Acts. The earliest manuscript written in Ge’ez comes from the fourteenth century, and as such there does not seem to be a strong case to study this version with a view to what it can tell us about the state of the underlying Greek text. Regardless of such ‘colonial’ disrespect for the value of the Ethiopic tradition in and of itself, Niccum argues that the original translation of Acts goes back to possibly as early as the late fourth century. Arguments for such an early date are clear interaction with Greek, which stopped by the seventh century, and influence from Sahidic, which must have taken place before the eleventh century. The oldest type of text has undergone some editorial activity but, according to Niccum, is closest to the Greek text as found in Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, P74 and that underlying the Latin Vulgate. In order to establish this, the author takes the long route of applying the ‘Comprehensive Profile Method’ to the textual evidence, which is based on the now very much disputed notion of ‘text-types’. Still, the result stands in relation to the individual witnesses. The bulk of the book provides the critical text of Acts with apparatus. This work constitutes an enormous step forward in our knowledge of Ethiopic Acts, and one would wish that each published PhD brought the state of knowledge as much forward as this one.