I am very pleased that I am able to use a photograph that I took when I visited ancient Corinth in 2015 for the cover.
Special thanks to Brian Tucker, Kathy Ehrensperger, and Bill Campbell for the blurbs.
The cover design for my upcoming publication has been finalised by the publisher, Pickwick Publications. The book, Metaphors and Social Identity Formation in Paul’s Letters to the Corinthians, is due to be published in the middle of the year. I will provide further details of the book in the weeks to come.
I am very pleased that I am able to use a photograph that I took when I visited ancient Corinth in 2015 for the cover. Special thanks to Brian Tucker, Kathy Ehrensperger, and Bill Campbell for the blurbs.
0 Comments
The European Research Council announces the opening of the website for the project "Re-thinking Judaism’s Encounter with the Roman Empire: Rome’s Political and Religious Challenge to Israel and its Impact on Judaism (2nd century BCE – 4th century CE" (short title: "Judaism and Rome"). The website can be assessed by clicking here. The website states that one may "find useful resources for studying Roman imperial ideology, or Roman imperial discourses, artefacts and performances, displayed in literary records, epigraphy, numismatics, as well as through monuments, statues and other material artefacts." The website aims to:
I am sure this website is another important resource for those who are interested in the history of primitive Christ-movement.
Have you ever wondered what are the Dead Sea Scrolls? Why is it that the Dead Sea Scrolls caused a stir in biblical scholarship? Why is the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls important and significant?
We are pleased to announce that the Centre for Theological Education by Extension and Centre for Bible Engagement, Seminari Theolohi Malaysia will be organising a special 3-day course on “Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible” to be taught by Dr Benjamin Wold, Assistant Professor in New Testament, from Trinity College Dublin.
This is indeed a very rare opportunity where courses related to the Dead Sea Scrolls are hardly offered in this region. Date: 9-11 February, 2017 (Thursday - Saturday) Time: 10am-6pm Venue: STM campus (see map below).
Topics to be covered:
· Introduction to the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls · The Archaeology of Qumran · The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the study of Old Testament and New Testament · The development of Jewish groups from the second cent. BCE to second cent. CE · Messianic Ideas in the Dead SeaScrolls · Biblical interpretation in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Students may elect to take this course for credits (elective) or audit. Limited basic dormitory accommodation is available at STM campus on a first-come-first-served basis.
We welcome donations to cover the cost of organising the course. Please enquire with us. Contact details can be found in the registration form below. Registration for the course closes on 3 February 2017. Please note that prior registration is required to attend the course. You may register for the course by filling up the registration form below
The flyer for the course may be viewed by clicking here while the course outline is reproduced as follows:
In the latest issue of Evangelical Review of Theology (Jan 2017, Vol 41/1) with a special theme on Economy and Marketplace, I contribute an essay on "Paul the Economist? Economic Principles in Pauline Literature with the Jerusalem Collection as a Test Case." This piece is an extension of my earlier essay, "Generosity from a Pauline Perspective," published in the same journal in the Jan 2013 Vol 31/1 issue. In this article, I examine why the Apostle Paul was deeply concerned with the inequality of income distribution in the Roman Empire and how this propelled him to care for the poor. By taking a closer look at Paul’s collection for the Jerusalem poor, there are a number of economic principles that guided him in his quest for remembering the poor: the principle of grace and generosity, the principle of equality, and the principle of sharing recourses as a family. All these principles were revolutionary in nature as they were against the prevailing social conventions of the Greco-Roman world. Paul used these principles to construct a new economic structure to achieve an equality of possessions through voluntary redistribution of wealth between persons of different classes – rich and poor; different geographical locations – Judea and the Mediterranean world; and of different ethnic groups – Jews and Gentiles. The rest of the essays in this issue include the following: Theology of Jubilee: Biblical, Social and Ethical Perspectives by Chris Wright I am very pleased to know that John Jefferson Davis, my former theology professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary also has an article in this issue. Apart from Davis, this issue also includes contribution from authors who originate from Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe, apart from those who are from the developed nations - a truly global contribution indeed.
The 2017 Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) International Meeting's call for papers is now open until 22nd February. Next year's meeting will be held in Berlin from 7th to 11th August 2017. As co-chair of the Paul and Pauline Literature Programme Unit, we welcome papers proposal to be submitted to us. The unit provides a forum for presentation and discussion of original scholarly research on all facets of the interpretation of the Pauline Corpus in the New Testament. This includes consideration of exegetical, socio-historical, history of religions, theological, literary, history of interpretation, and methodological questions. Papers that focus on how the cultural experiences of present-day readers contribute to a fuller understanding of texts are also encouraged. There will also be a special session focussing on the city of Philippi with contributions from archaeologists and epigraphers. This session promises to be interesting to those who are keen on the pagan cults of Philippi, Christian inscriptions, and Roman urbanism and architecture. Scholars and students from the majority world enjoys a special rate to join SBL via the International Cooperation initiative. Please visit SBL's website for further information. From August to November, over a period of 10 weeks, I taught an evening course on Romans for the Bible College of Malaysia, a pentecostal college established by the Assemblies of God, Malaysia. We ended our final class last night with a little celebration where everyone brought a dish so we could have some table fellowship. It was fitting to end the class by considering Paul's final exhortation to the Roman Christ-followers in Romans 14-15. We lived up Romans 14:2-4 literally. We did not fight over food. But we fought for food!
I wish those in the Romans class all the best for their final exams. Theological Research Scheme (TRS) aims to assist Malaysian scholars by providing modest research grants towards their research and publication. In September this year, I signed a publishing contract with Wipf & Stock Publishers where I will be contributing an essay, “The Fellowship of Christ’s Suffering: Suffering and Identity Formation in Philippians,” to be included in a volume titled Suffering in Paul edited by Siu Fung Wu, an Australian New Testament scholar. Our theological institutions have somewhat limited resources where many specialised academic books are not available. These books are expensive (no thanks to the unfavourable exchange rate) and our financial resources are limited. Subscribing to digital access is beyond the means of our institutions. This means that our research may, at times, be frustrated because of limited access to books that are needed, unless we travel overseas to visit some of the better theological libraries. This is where TRS comes into the picture by providing the much needed research grants for scholars like us. The trustees of TRS approved my application for a grant to purchase a total of ten monographs on Philippians as seen in the photo above that are currently not available in our library. Upon the completion of my essay, all these books will be donated to the library of Seminari Theoloji Malaysia where I teach with the hope that these resources will be made available for other students, researchers, and the wider community. This is where TRS not only serves to help local scholars in their research and publication but also contributes to building up the modest resources we currently have.
Our long year-end vacation has just started. Until the next academic year begins in January, I will busy working on my essay for the next couple of months, and I hope to have a rough draft ready by the end of the year. Many thanks to TRS for their contribution, and to all the donors who have contributed to this scheme that makes my research possible. For more information on TRS, please visit their website by clicking here. The long awaited commentary by Richard Longenecker on Romans under the NIGTC series is now finally published by Eerdmans. Longenecker earlier on in 2011 published a 500-page volume just on the introductory issues to Romans, and this has certainly heightened the expectation of the full commentary. I must say this is one commentary on Romans that is high on my anticipation list after learning much from Robert Jewett's massive commentary of the same book in the Hermeneia series. I will be making my order for the commentary soon and will be looking forward to interacting with Longenecker and also benefitting from his wisdom and insights on Romans. I am certain Longenecker's exegesis will challenge some of my own understanding and interpretation of Romans. Much of what I will learn from this commentary will certainly make its way to the course on Romans I will be offering at the Bible College of Malaysia later this year and at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia next year. As a teaser, Eerdmans publishes Longenecker's 6 major theses for Romans, and I have taken the liberty to reproduce the summary here below: Thesis 1 I think the 6 theses are enough to whet my appetite for now until I hold the commentary in my hands. I hope Amazon will not disappoint in the speed of delivery!
A couple of days ago, I received an email from the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) of which I am a member and also a co-chair of the Paul and Pauline Literature Programme Unit for the International Meeting. The email announces that the Review of Biblical Literature (RBL) would no longer be a free, open access platform, but move to a site behind a paywall. This move has been implemented almost immediately, and now requires mandatory login with an SBL member ID in order to access the excellent reviews in the website of RBL. In other words, this effectively means that one must now pay to be a member in order to read the invaluable and critical reviews of the most up-to-date scholarly publications in the field of biblical studies. Current subscribers to the RBL newsletter are given a login ID that is valid until 31 March, after which, they must sign up as SBL member in order to enjoy the privilege of accessing the reviews.
I am very disappointed and upset with the move taken by SBL. I am not sure if any consultation has been carried to seek the opinions of members, particularly members from the Majority World. Neither am I sure who are the committee members that made this decision. The strange thing is that there is hardly any valid justification mentioned in the email as to why this move is necessary. This ill-conceived decision comes at a time when we are seeking to make our knowledge widely available to the public. Most distressing of all for me is that I find this decision completely ignores the needs of biblical scholars like me in the Majority World. Many of us are operating within a very limited budget when it comes to book acquisition for the library, and reading the reviews in RBL helps us in making wise decision as we attempt to be good stewards in managing our limited resources. Moreover, many of the academic books are priced beyond the means of many institutions and individuals in the Majority World. By limiting RBL to a member-only access, SBL is essentially cutting off a very important source of information for scholars like me in the Majority World that helps us keep ourselves updated in biblical scholarship. Many of us are also unable to attend any of the annual meetings (which I have not been to one as the cost has been very prohibitive and our institutions simply do not have grants or funding for conferences, not to mention the tedious and costly process of applying for a US visa) and international meetings. I am also thinking of many church leaders/pastors who find RBL to be an excellent source of information but are now deprived of any futureaccess. One may argue that there is reduced membership rate for scholars from the Majority World at US$15 per annum. While this initiative is greatly appreciated, we need to bear in mind that for some parts of the world, US$15 is tantamount to several days of wages. Furthermore, many scholars simply do not have credit cards or banking facilities to make payment for the membership. This is to highlight that the move to restrict access to RBL to members only further causes difficulties and inconveniences to scholars from the Majority World. In the final analysis, those of us who are in the Majority World have now been cut off from a very valuable and important source of scholarly information. How will this move help SBL achieve its mission of fostering biblical scholarship particularly for scholars in the Majority World? Perhaps one way forward is to allow free access to RBL for scholars from the Majority World, not unlike what has already been practised for the online books currently available under the ICI initiative. I urge all scholars in the Majority World to make your voice count now, and appeal to SBL to reverse this unwise move. A marble block has been recently unearthed in the ancient city of Laodicea, Turkey. This block shows that the use of water in this city was highly regulated with severe penalty imposed on those who violated the law. This interesting discovery of the "water law" marble block, dated to 114CE, demonstrates that water was a precious commodity.
Biblical reference: Revelation 3:14-22. Click here to read the rest of the discovery of this "water law". |
AuthorLecturer in New Testament Studies at Seminari Theoloji Malaysia. You can find out more about me by clicking here. BlogMy engagement in conversation with issues, reflections, and concerns related to my vocation as a seminary lecturer and theological education in general. Opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my personal views and do not represent the official position of the seminary Categories
All
Archives
November 2023
|