Memory, Tradition and Text: Uses of the Past in Early Christianity - Edited By Alan Kirk and Tom Thatcher [Review of the book \u3cem\u3eMemory, Tradition and Text: Uses of the Past in Early Christianity\u3c/em\u3e, by A. Kirk & T. Thatcher, Ed.]

The aim of this collection of essays is, at least in part, to remedy the lack of attention that studies of early Christianity have paid to recent developments, in the fields of sociology and anthropology, in the study of memory. An excellent introductory survey by Alan Kirk of recent developments in memory studies is followed by eleven essays applying some aspect of the approach to various texts or problems in the study of early Christianity, and then by responses by Werner Kelber and Barry Schwartz. While the various contributions interact in different ways with the relevant theories and models, all share an understanding of memory as a complex interaction between knowledge of the past and its appropriation in the present. Although the collection as a whole is strong, a few essays stand out: Richard Horsley’s “Prominent Patterns in the Social Memory of Jesus and Friends,” in which he locates possible continuity between Jesus and later literary traditions such as Q and Mark in general patterns of Israelite social memory; and Phillip Esler’s reading of the Israelite heroes presented in Heb 11. The insights generated by the application of memory studies to the study of early Christianity are welcome, and, as the editors suggest, long overdue

Cuatro Viajes en la Literatura del Antiguo Egypto [Review of the book \u3cem\u3eCuatro Viajes en la Literatura del Antiguo Egipto\u3c/em\u3e, by J. M. Galán]

In Cuatro Viajes en la Literatura del Antigua Egypto José M. Galán brings together four stories from Egyptian literature united by the motif of the journey into unknown or enemy land. The stories grouped in this volume are The Shipwrecked Sailor, The Tale of Sinuhe, The Doomed Prince and Report of Wenamun

Writing and Imitation: Greek Education in the Greco-Roman World

The imitation of a handful of accepted literary models lies at the core of the Greco-Roman educational process throughout all of its stages. While at the more advanced levels the relationship to models became more nuanced, the underlying principle remained the imitation of those authors who had achieved greatness. Quintilian explains the rationale as follows: For there can be no doubt that in art no small portion of our task lies in imitation, since although invention came first and is all-important, it is expedient to imitate whatever has been invented with success. And it is a universal rule of life that we should wish to copy what we approve in others. It is for this reason that boys copy the shapes of letters that they may learn to write, and that musicians take the voices of their teachers, painters the works of their predecessors, and peasants the principles of agriculture which have been proved in practice, as models for their imitation. (Inst. or. 10.2.1-2) The emphasis on the imitation of models does not stop with a student\u27s education. The primary and secondary stages of education were specifically designed to lay the groundwork for rhetorical training, where a would-be rhetor or writer would learn the subtle art of imitation more fully. Students approached what is essentially the same set of texts at all stages of their education, but in increasingly complex and nuanced ways. The end result was what might be thought of as a mimetic compositional ethos. As rhetors and writers began to practice their craft, the years of training and preparation created, as Ruth Webb puts it, certain modes of thinking about language, about the classical texts which served as models and about the relation to language in general. These modes of thinking are evident in the widespread imitation of literary models in the literature of the Hellenistic and Roman periods

[Review of the book \u3cem\u3eIntroduction to the New Testament, Vol. 2: History and Literature of Early Christianity\u3c/em\u3e, by H. Koester]

The publication of this book completes the second edition of Helmut Koester’s important two-volume introduction to early Christian literature and history, published originally in 1982. Like the second edition of the first volume, which appeared in 1995, this edition seeks to make current the now classic and well-known introductory volume, while maintaining its structure and organization. After covering the formation of the canon, text critical issues and an all too brief introduction to methods—only source, form, tradition, narrative and rhetorical criticism are discussed, the latter two being new to this edition—texts are discussed in chronological and geographical sequence, beginning with traditions about John the Baptist, Jesus and Paul, then covering Palestine and Syria (where he locates both the Gospels of Mark, Matthew and John), and Asia, Macedonia, Greece and Rome. The book is less an introduction to New Testament writings than it is an attempt to paint a comprehensive picture of the development of early Christianity, creating a map of the relationships between the various texts, both canonical and non- canonical. Although one can disagree with the shape of the map and where some of the texts are placed in relation to others, it is extraordinarily useful as a place to start or a point of reference

[Review of the book \u3cem\u3eThe Reception of Luke and Acts in the Period Before Irenaeus: Looking for Luke in the Second Century\u3c/em\u3e, by A. Gregory]

In this book, a revision of the author\u27s 2001 Oxford dissertation, Andrew Gregory has set for himself the daunting task of determining when we can definitively say that the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles are being used by later Christian authors. The greatest contribution of this book is that it treats in one study a broad range of texts and scholarly discussion on this question–according to the author, the first time this has been done

Bold Speech, Opposition, and Philosophical Imagery in the Acts of the Apostles

This chapter focuses on three related aspects of the function of the term parrēsia in the characterization of the philosopher that stand out and will be useful for the subsequent assessment of the function of the term in Acts; they are: (a) the association of parrēsia and conflict with ruling authorities; (b) divine commission as the source of parrēsia; and (c) the significance of Socrates as the model for later philosophers

Translating the Bible Into Pictures

I became interested in the intersection of comic books and Bibles for children as a part of my attempt to make some sense out of the Brick Testament, a web-design project illustrating scenes from biblical stories entirely in the medium of Lego blocks. Despite the ostensibly child-friendly nature of the images—Legos are, after all, a children\u27s toy—the project has a sharp critical edge to it. We catch a glimpse of it in the index, which has content ratings alerting viewers to which scenes contain Nudity, Sexual activity, Violence and Cursing. Indeed, what Smith chooses to illustrate from the Bible emphasizes its adult-themed content by highlighting the violence, sexuality, and oddity of its content. Much of the material typically omitted or cleaned up for children\u27s editions of the Bible is not only present in the Brick Testament, but is illustrated in great detail. One finds, for example, scenes illustrating the rape of Dinah (from Gen 34:1-34), Noah\u27s drunkenness (9:18-29), and the beheading of John the Baptist, including an image of John the Baptist\u27s recently severed head on a platter (Mark 6:20-29; Luke 3:19-20). Thus, given Smith\u27s illustration choices, it is hard to see the Brick Testament as a children\u27s Bible. That said, in my judgment the Brick Testament is not unrelated to the tradition of illustrated Bibles. Because many if not most of the illustrated Bibles produced in the twentieth century are meant for children, the Brick Testament can be read as a critique of or reaction against ways in which the Bible is presented to children

The Summaries of Acts 2, 4, and 5 and Plato\u27s Republic

In earlier critical interpretation, the descriptions of the early Christian community of goods in the longer summaries of Acts 2:42–47 and 4:32–35, along with the related summary in Acts 5:12–16, often played a starring role in the quest for the sources underlying the narrative of Acts. In more recent interpretation, especially since the work of Martin Dibelius and Henry Cadbury, the summaries, or at least parts of them, are generally attributed to the author of Acts. Three other points also elicit general agreement. First, the summaries are commonly understood to be generalizations based on more specific traditions, such as the gifts of Barnabas and Ananias and Sapphira (4:36–5:11). Second, the summaries are inseparable from the surrounding events on both narrative and linguistic grounds. And third, some of the characterizations in the summaries are understood to indicate some degree of idealization in light of Hellenistic utopian ideals. Most interesting in this regard is the description of the early Christian community in Jerusalem as having “all things in common [ἄπαvτα κοιvὰ]” (Acts 2:44, 4:32), and being of “one heart and soul [καρδία ψυχὴ μία]” (4:32)

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew [Review of the book \u3cem\u3eLost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew\u3c/em\u3e by B. D. Ehrman]

This book is an introduction to the basic content of non-canonical early Christian texts, exploring them both as evidence for the diversity of early Christianity and for what they can say about the formation of the New Testament canon. It is divided into three sections. The first uses the concept of forgery to introduce a number of important extra-canonical texts (including Gospel of Peter, the Acts of Paul and Thecla, the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, and the Secret Gospel of Mark). The second section takes a closer look at some of the different forms of Christianity attested by non-canonical literature, specifically discussing groups he labels Marcionites, Jewish-Christians, Gnostics, and proto-orthodox. The last section discusses the sometimes-nasty discourse surrounding the politics of canon in the first four centuries CE, resulting in the ascendancy of proto-orthodox forms of Christianity and the exclusion and suppression of alternatives. Written at a time of great interest and even anxiety over issues of canon, orthodoxy, and heresy, Ehrman’s accessible and nuanced introduction to what is a complex and difficult subject is timely. A companion book, Lost Scriptures (Oxford, 2003) makes readily available selections of many of the primary texts Ehrman discusses in this book

Review of Adele Reinhartz, \u3cem\u3eJesus of Hollywood\u3c/em\u3e [Review of the book \u3cem\u3eJesus of Hollywood\u3c/em\u3e, by A. Reinhartz]

Since the advent of the modern film in the late nineteenth century over one hundred films on Jesus have been made. They tend to come in spurts. About a half-dozen major silent films were produced in the 1920s and 1930s, the most famous of which is Cecil B. DeMille\u27s The King of Kings (1927). After over three decades in which no Jesus film appeared—thanks in part to the Production Code adopted by Hollywood and promoted by the Catholic Legion of Decency—several rmajor films on Jesus were released in the 1960s, and several more in the 1970s, including two musicals. The late 1980s saw the appearance of two somewhat iconoclastic films, Martin Scorsese\u27s The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Denys Arcand\u27s Jesus of Montreal (1989). Two more have appeared very recently, the relatively unnoticed The Gospel of John (2003) by Philip Savile, and Mel Gibson\u27s controversial The Passion of the Christ (2004)