Palestinian Archaeology and the New Testament

A review article on J. Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament, Princeton, 1969 (pp. 273, figs. 296; preface, indices, chronological guides)     

Tensions,Dilemmas and Possibilities for Understanding Women's Sexuality

No abstract available for this article.     

Illness theodicies in the New Testament

The New Testament writers advocate or at least mention six different religious explanations for the origin of sickness. First, Satan may thus victimize the innocent. Second, God may send sickness as a punishment for the sufferer's sins. Third, God may send sickness to punish one's parents' sins. Fourth, God may so punish one's own sins committed in a previous life. Fifth, God may inflict illness in order to show his power by subsequent healing. Sixth, God may inflict illness in order to show his power by sustaining the sufferer through the illness instead of healing it.     

Traces of the Trinity in the Old Testament: From Individual Texts to the Nature of Revelation

This article uncovers traces of the Trinity in the Old Testament. Different from traditional exegesis, it is argued that alleged allusions to God's plurality in specific texts, and examples of personified agents such as the Angel of the Lord, are less important and often inconclusive. The nature of Old Testament ‘monotheism’, however, supports trinitarian logic, and important traces of the Trinity are demonstrated in in‐depth structures of Old Testament theology: the anthropomorphic character of revelation, the second commandment, God's name as narrative self‐identification and the tendency of God's coming to his people.     

New Testament studies in the 20th century

Considered diachronically, NT studies in the twentieth century is a story of vigorous scholarship. Especially after World War II, there is increasing diversification in approach and in the makeup of scholars, with a noticeable shift of centre to English-speaking settings (especially North America), and greater involvement of Roman Catholic, Evangelical, and Jewish scholars, a growing prominence of women, and a proliferation of approaches.     

Salvation: Its Forms and Dynamics in the New Testament

Abstract : Salvation takes several forms in the New Testament, including earthly‐historical saving acts by the earthly Jesus and eschatological salvation by God's saving work in Christ. The dynamics of salvation can be considered from both anthropocentric and theocentric approaches. In the former salvation is by works, faith, or grace, but issues can be raised about each. In the latter salvation is spoken of as the act of God in Christ (a theopractic approach) or by the act of Christ on God's behalf (a Christopractic approach). Issues arise concerning canonical contexts, whether something happened at the cross effective for humanity and the cosmos, and the scope of redemption.     

The Politics and Ethics of Introductions to the New Testament

Book reviewed in this essay: Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, (ed.) Teaching Asian America: Diversity and the Problem of Community Ellen T. Charry, By the Renewing of Your Minds: The Pastoral Function of Christian Doctrine Lynne Celli Sarasin, Learning Style Perspectives: Impact in the Classroom     

Effects of Personal Epistemology on the Understanding of Multiple Texts

We examined whether the text understanding of students holding naïve and sophisticated epistemological beliefs was differentially affected by text format, also controlling for effects of gender, word decoding, and prior knowledge on understanding. The participants were 39 Norwegian first-year teacher students, and the topic of reading was attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It was found that only readers holding sophisticated epistemological beliefs displayed adequate understanding when reading multiple, partly conflicting, texts about ADHD, whereas students holding naïve epistemological beliefs gained better understanding when reading a single textbook-like source with identical content. This finding, however, depended on the level of understanding being measured by the criterial task, with only the task measuring deeper situational text understanding showing an interaction between epistemological beliefs and text format. This study provides evidence that not only knowledge itself, but also personal beliefs about knowledge, may enhance or constrain deeper understanding of multiple texts.