- New Testament, Early Christianity, Ancient History, Early Christian Apocryphal Literature, Ancient Religion, Coptic Studies, and 26 moreThe Apocalypse of John, Gospel of John, Synoptic Gospels, Gospel of Thomas, Acts of the Apostles, History, Ephesos, Apocalypse of John, Roman imperial cult, Roman History, Numismatics, Ritual, Nag Hammadi, Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha, New Testament Studies, Book of Revelation, New Testament and Christian Origins, Gospels, Asia Minor, Ionia, Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, Ancient Christian Literature, Gnosticism, John the Apostle, Cultural Memory, and Acts of Johnedit
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The Gospel of Thomas (GThom) is a collection of sayings, most of which come with the stereotypical introduction ‘Jesus said: …’ The GThom thus looks like a loose collection of disparate material. However, several sayings in the collection... more
The Gospel of Thomas (GThom) is a collection of sayings, most of which come with the stereotypical introduction ‘Jesus said: …’ The GThom thus looks like a loose collection of disparate material. However, several sayings in the collection are introduced by ‘He said: …’, thus omitting explicit reference to Jesus as the speaker. This points to greater (narrative) coherence: when the speaker's name is missing in a logion, the logion depends on the surrounding context and ceases to be a self-contained unit. This article views the GThom as a sayings collection on the way to becoming a literary composition titled ‘The Gospel according to Thomas’.
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God hardly appears as an acting literary character in the Apocalypse of John, yet is very present in the background of this revelatory narrative. Especially the throne room vision of chapter 4 is an excellent example of rhetorical art... more
God hardly appears as an acting literary character in the Apocalypse of John, yet is very present in the background of this revelatory narrative. Especially the throne room vision of chapter 4 is an excellent example of rhetorical art that paints an appealing picture of heaven with God at the centre of cultic celebration, while falling short of any concrete description of "the one sitting on the throne". Thus, Revelation 4 is much more reserved than its literary predecessors in the Old Testament, Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1. Unlike those texts ,John does not even attempt to depict God, but God is made present in cultic praise.
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Research Interests: Iconography, New Testament, Early Christianity, New Testament and Christian Origins, Apostle Paul and the Pauline Letters, and 10 moreReception History, Christian Iconography, Colossians, New Testament Studies, Philippians, Philemon, Pastoral Epistles, Ephesians, History of Reception of Biblical Texts, and Pauline Letters (Philemon)
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In Rev 16.13–14 we encounter minor characters of the book’s diabolic bestiary,‘three unclean spirits like frogs’ that proceed from the mouths of the Dragon and the two Beasts. This article attempts to understand this detail in relation to... more
In Rev 16.13–14 we encounter minor characters of the book’s diabolic bestiary,‘three unclean spirits like frogs’ that proceed from the mouths of the Dragon and the two Beasts. This article attempts to understand this detail in relation to the metaphorical connotations other ancient Greek and Jewish writers attributed to frogs: they were mostly connected with silliness and loquaciousness. In this con-text, the picturesque detail of frog-like demons belongs to John’s strategy of reassuring his audiences by ridiculing the Dragon and the Beasts and the powers they represent.
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The claim made by Dionysius of Corinth (Euseb., Hist. Eccl. 2.25.8) that both Peter and Paul had founded the Christian community in Corinth is not supported by Paul's statements in 1 Corinthians (esp. 1 Cor. 3:6). On the other hand,... more
The claim made by Dionysius of Corinth (Euseb., Hist. Eccl. 2.25.8) that both Peter and Paul had founded the Christian community in Corinth is not supported by Paul's statements in 1 Corinthians (esp. 1 Cor. 3:6). On the other hand, Paul mentions Peter/Cephas several times in 1 Corinthians (1:12;3:22;9:5;15:5). This has given rise to the question whether Peter might not have come to Corinth at some point during the 'unknown' period of his life in the 50s of the first century. This essay weighs the different interpretations of the evidence that have been brought forward during the last century and concludes that a positive answer to the question is more probable. This allows more nuanced insights into the working of Christian local memory that eventually led to Dionysius' claim.
Luke's account about Paul's stay in Ephesos (Acts 19) is well known for its strong local colour, two elements of which are studied in this contribution: the asiarchs (19,31) and the title veωκopoζ (temple-warden) for Ephesos... more
Luke's account about Paul's stay in Ephesos (Acts 19) is well known for its strong local colour, two elements of which are studied in this contribution: the asiarchs (19,31) and the title veωκopoζ (temple-warden) for Ephesos (19,35). The appearance of asiarchs in Acts questions the view that the asiarchs were the high-priests of the provincial imperial cult. Acts 19,35 contributes to the discussion about city-titles in the 1 st -3 rd centuries CE. In both instances, Acts is a source not so much for the narrated time of Paul, but rather for Luke's own time, and as such of interest for both exegetes and historians.
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The passage of John the Baptist’s question (Matt 11:2-19 par. Luke 7:18-35) is a key text in the double tradition (and, therefore, in “Q”). When it comes to the narrative introduction (Matt 11:2-3 par. Luke 7:18-19), however,... more
The passage of John the Baptist’s question (Matt 11:2-19 par. Luke 7:18-35) is a key text in the double tradition (and, therefore, in “Q”). When it comes to the narrative introduction (Matt 11:2-3 par. Luke 7:18-19), however, reconstructing a common Q text behind the two versions proves difficult, since both Matthew and Luke have reworked the introduction in their respective ways. Recent reconstructions prefer a “minimalist” solution that leaves the setting relatively open, with some narrative gaps. This article attempts to integrate these gaps into a meaningful reading of Q as a narrative. After giving an account of previous work on the reconstruction of this Q passage and discussing its central issues, a narratological approach to Q allows understanding the gaps in this Q passage as indicators of overarching narrative cohesion in Q.
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... Dieser Beitrag basiert auf einem Referat, das ich während des SBL Annual Meeting in ... anthropologische Interpretation des Herrenwortes bedingt sein, wie sie sich auch bei Origenes und Tertullian findet (su) Origenes hat allerdings... more
... Dieser Beitrag basiert auf einem Referat, das ich während des SBL Annual Meeting in ... anthropologische Interpretation des Herrenwortes bedingt sein, wie sie sich auch bei Origenes und Tertullian findet (su) Origenes hat allerdings den spezifischen Titel ȀĮıĮȡ beibehalten. ...
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The exegesis of Paul’s letters is often a tricky matter, not only because of Paul’s profound theological thoughts, but even more because these letters are just (at best) one half of a more complex communication between the apostle and... more
The exegesis of Paul’s letters is often a tricky matter, not only because of Paul’s profound theological thoughts, but even more because these letters are just (at best) one half of a more complex communication between the apostle and “his” communities. Paul often writes about people whom his original addressees could easily identify but whose identity only puzzles modern scholars. One such puzzle is the identity of the adversaries with whom Paul engages in his letters. Another puzzle are those designated “weak” and “strong” in 1 Cor 8:1–11:1 and Rom 14:1–15:13, the subject of Volker Gäckle’s dissertation, which was accepted in 2004/2005 by the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the LudwigMaximilians-Universität in Munich.