Foundations 77 (Autumn 2019)

Issue 77 of Foundations: An International Journal of Evangelical Theology, published by Affinity, is now available (here in its entirety as a pdf), which includes the below essays. The summaries are take from Lee Gatiss’ editorial.

Lee Gatiss

Editorial

Lee Gatiss

Contending in the Perpetual Battle: Jude and the Constant Need to Fight Valiantly Against Heresy

In my article... on the epistle of Jude, I outline what that pithy letter has to say about contending for the faith. He calls us to join the struggle against false teaching in defence of orthodoxy, because there is a perpetual battle raging... Yet Jude’s advice is distinctly different to what many might expect. Just as James warned his readers to avoid bitterly ambitious quarrelsomeness based on wisdom that is ‘earthly, unspiritual, and demonic’ (James 3:15), so contending for the faith, in Jude’s book, is an activity characterised by mercy, and self-awareness.

Tom Woolford

The use of Satire in the Book of Isaiah and in Christian Ministry

There is at least a case for some careful use of satire in Christian communication, as Dr Tom Woolford points out in his article... on the use of that comedic device in the book of Isaiah. After studiously defining what satire is, and its various types, he exegetes certain passages in Isaiah to show how the prophet repeatedly uses not only subtle but also biting satire to make his points. Examining and unpacking the implications of this for us today, he is also wise to note that there are certain controls on the use of satire, which mean that zealous firebrands in social media groups ought to be wary about its use, and cognisant of the usual effects of it before they leap in.

Jake Eggertsen

Is the Filioque Clause Biblical?

One area of theology where there has been sharp debate in the past is over the so-called Filioque clause in the Nicene Creed. Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father alone, or from the Father and the Son? This question divided Eastern and Western Christendom almost a thousand years ago, and it still divides many today. In an exercise in ‘constructive dogmatics’, Jake Eggertsen examines this question... He seeks to engage with Scripture and tradition in dialogue with theologians from the past and the present to help answer this important Trinitarian question, in a way that is irenic and thoughtful.

Tim Dieppe

The Same God: Did Paul Claim the Athenians Worshipped Yahweh?

We return to the Areopagus in Athens to look at what Paul’s address to the Greek philosophers of his day can teach us about the fraught question of whether Christians and Muslims worship ‘the same God’. Does Paul’s speech on Mars’ Hill about an ‘Unknown God’ he was now making known to them justify referring to Allah as the same God as the God of the Bible, as some people think it does? In constructing his case against this recently popularised idea, Tim Dieppe interacts with sources ancient and modern, to help us in our apologetics today.

Donald John MacLean

Knocking on Sinners’ Doors? Revelation 3:20, Ecclesiology and the Gospel Offer in Seventeenth-Century Puritanism

Donald John MacLean looks in depth at the question of whether Jesus standing at the door and knocking in Revelation 3:20 is an evangelistic appeal or not. Many have seen it that way, and preached it that way to great effect, but it is common today for commentators to reject such use in mass evangelism, and many are concerned with the picture often painted of a seemingly impotent Christ yearning for unbelievers to exercise their free will and open the door so he can save them. On the other hand, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many Reformed writers and preachers did actually draw stirring conversionist appeals from the picture of Jesus standing at the door, without theological qualms. As an expert in historical theology, MacLean examines why, and finds that ecclesiology matters far more than we may realise when it comes to our application of the Bible in preaching.

Book Reviews

Tyndale Bulletin 68, 2 (2017)

The latest issue of Tyndale Bulletin has arrived, containing the following collection of articles.

William Ford

The Challenge of the Canaanites

The negative biblical portrayal of the Canaanites appears to contrast sharply with the wider portrayal of YHWH’s relationship with humanity and with Israel in particular, raising a challenge for reading these parts of the Bible as Scripture. This article considers this portrayal by drawing together key biblical references to the Canaanites into two sections: Canaanites as a whole, and as individuals. Four potential images are evaluated as possible summaries of the biblical portrayal of the Canaanites: sinners, danger, warning, and challenge, with the last being the most appropriate. The Canaanites’ proximity to Israel, both geographic and moral, raises both a negative and positive challenge. Israelites can become Canaanites and vice versa, depending on their response to YHWH.

Wen-Pin Leow

Form and Experience Dwelling in Unity: A Cognitive Reading of the Metaphors of Psalm 133

This article uses the cognitive approach to analyse the metaphors of Psalm 133 while concurrently using a study of the remaining Psalms of Ascents to understand the underlying world-view that Psalm 133’s metaphors are based on. Such an approach reveals that the subjects of the metaphors of Psalm 133 are connected at a deeper conceptual level. This conceptual relationship allows the psalmist to both describe the blessings of brotherly unity and to provide a literary parallel of the experience of those blessings through the psalm’s form.

Mark Wreford

Diagnosing Religious Experience in Romans 8

In this article, I consider Paul’s use of adoption language in Romans 8 and argue that religious experience played an important role in its development. By looking closely at what Paul says about adoption and life in the Spirit, I try to identify what kind of experience this language might be articulating. Further, I suggest that it is necessary to consider how biblical scholars can best ensure they take account of religious experience when performing exegesis, offering a heuristic definition of religious experience which moves beyond the language of the NT itself, but is not conceptually anachronistic, to address a lack in the literature.

Kyu Seop Kim

The Meaning of Cheirographon in Colossians 2:14 Revisited

In this article we explore the uses of cheirographon in ancient papyri and ostraca and conclude that cheirographon does not refer to a debt certificate, contrary to scholars’ consensus (except for Peter Arzt-Grabner). Instead, cheirographon was used to express various handwritten declarations including receipts, loans, contracts, and records of oath in ancient Greek papyri. In particular, cheirographon and its cognate words are used in the formula of declaration and with the expression of oath in Colossians 2:14 can be interpreted in this context. Declaration or oath on the observance of religious regulations was significant in ancient paganism and Judaism. Thus, cheirographon tois dogmasin in Colossians 2:14 can be read as the handwritten document which contains the declaration or oath with regard to the observance of religious regulation.

Martin Feltham

1 Timothy 2:5-6 as a Christological Reworking of the Shema

 This article draws upon Richard B. Hays’s observations regarding the way in which an ‘allusive echo’ can signal a broad intertextual interplay with a precursor text. I argue that the affirmation in 1 Timothy 2:5 that ‘there is one God’ is an ‘allusive echo’ of the Shema which points the attentive reader to an extended and carefully crafted intertextual interplay with the Shema and its Deuteronomic setting. I trace the way that 1 Timothy 2:5-6 reworks the Shema in the light of the story of Jesus Christ to affect the christologically driven opening up of God’s people to all nation.

Peter J. Gentry and Andrew M. Fountains

Reassessing Jude’s Use of Enochic Traditions (with Notes on their Later Reception History)

A particular reference in the book of Jude to Enoch is commonly claimed to indicate canonical status for 1 Enoch. The origins and textual transmission of the Enochic traditions are described and reassessed for non-specialists and correlated with claims for inspiration made before, during, and after the period of Second Temple Judaism. The function of Jude's use of Enoch is interpreted within the literary structure of his work and the context of the NT, with implications for the later history of Christianity and Islam.

Eckhard J. Schnabel

Knowing the Divine and Divine Knowledge in Greco-Roman Religion

In his 2007 Tyndale Biblical Theology lecture, Brian Rosner has shown that the notion of being known by God is an important, albeit neglected, theme in the Old and New Testament. He explored the three relation notions of belonging to God, being loved or chosen by God, and being a child or son of God. After a concise survey of relevant biblical data in the Old and New Testament, he described the value of ‘being known by God’ in terms of warning, humility, comfort, and security. The following paper explores Greek and Roman religious texts with a view to establishing whether the notion of ‘being known by God’ surfaces in the context in which the early Christian movement engaged in missionary work, seeking to win polytheists for faith in the one true God and in Jesus Messiah. New Testament scholars do not seem to have explored the subject of the Greek and Roman gods ‘knowing’ human beings. Similar to Rosner’s biblical theological essay, which surveyed texts without in-depth discussion of exegetical details and historical context, the following essay is wide-ranging, considering primary texts written over a large span of time, from Homer’s epics (which continued to be read in the first century), the Homeric Hymns, Xenophanes’ fragments, Callimachus’ Hymn to Demeter, Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus, Hesiod’s Theogony, Cicero’s De natura deorum, and Plutarch’s religious texts to the Greek Hymns in the Furley/Bremer collection and the Lydian confession inscriptions.

Dissertation Summaries

Christopher James Fresch

Discourse Markers in the Septuagint and Early Koine Greek with Special Reference to the Twelve

Discourse markers (e.g. de, alla) comprise a functional category. They narrow or explicate discourse relations, instructing the reader on how to process the discourse and build a mental representation of it. In so doing, they aid the reader in the comprehension task, reducing cognitive effort and facilitating successful communication. Unfortunately, these considerations rarely feature in discussions on Greek discourse markers. Instead, their functions are often conflated with the semantics of their surrounding contexts of use and with the functions of their translational glosses. This often results in less precision in one's comprehension of the flow and structure of the discourse.

Peter J. Gurry

A Critical Examination of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method in the Catholic Epistles

The present research provides the first sustained study of the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM), a computerised tool developed by Gerd Mink which has become an ‘essential tool’ to the editors of the most widely used critical editions of the Greek New Testament (NA28/UBS5). Its main use has been on the Editio Critica Maior (ECM) for the Catholic Epistles, which now forms the basis of the NA and UBS editions. The ECM volume on Acts was published in 2017 and plans are underway to apply the CBGM to the entire New Testament. However, because it was designed to address the problems of textual contamination and coincidental agreement, the CBGM has significance far beyond the confines of biblical studies. The overarching purpose of the method is to improve our understanding of the text’s history and to help reconstruct the text’s starting point, or the ‘initial text’. Both of these goals are subjected to close scrutiny in this thesis.

Southwestern Journal of Theology 58, 1 (2015) on Jude

The latest volume of the Southwestern Journal of Theology contains several essays devoted to the letter of Jude. They contributions flow out of a preaching workshop held in the Spring of 2015 which focused on that book.

Here’s an excerpt from the opening essay:

‘Though by no means the smallest book in the Bible, the Epistle of Jude is an oft-neglected jewel of the New Testament. Its diminutive size is disproportionate to its theological content and pastoral help. Central to its message is the call “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered” ( Jude 4). Jude’s recipients were under attack because enemies of God slipped into their churches leading people astray. This reality of evil interlopers is still true for churches today, and the response to these attacks is the same today as it was for Jude’s readers: contend for the faith.’

The entire issue is available as a pdf here.