“Before Abraham was, I am”; and before John was the Apocalypse of Abraham

Jesus says in John 8:58: “Before Abraham was, I am.” Raymond Brown says that ‘No clearer implication of divinity is found in the Gospel tradition.’ This has been much debated, and I’m not here especially interested in the immediate christological meaning. It’s the background to the statement that “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day” that I want to look at and what this might tell us about John’s reasons for putting these words into Jesus’ mouth.

Read time: 9 minutes

A “manifesto for theological interpretation” and the problem of history

In their “manifesto for theological interpretation,” Craig Bartholomew and Heath Thomas assert the priority of theological interpretation over historical-critical interpretation. History must be understood theologically as the arena in which the painful and hopeful redemptive narrative of the Bible is fought out. Because history is a web of particularities and contingencies, because it’s messy, historical-criticism is an unavoidable part of the process of interpretation, but it cannot be allowed to exclude divine agency.

So they ask the question: “How are we in history to apprehend the God who is at work in history?” (8). Historical criticism cannot help us here because, more often than not, it contradicts “the plain intent of Scripture’s authors to testify to God’s involvement in the world.”

Read time: 5 minutes

The “den of robbers” and the revolt against Rome

In the previous post on the parable of the good Samaritan, I noted that “robbers” (lēistai) is likely to have had political overtones and suggested that, particularly given the remarkable parallel with 2 Chronicles 28:8-15, the parable could be read as an indictment of the miserable state of Israel in the build up to the war against Rome. This is a brief footnote to that observation.

Read time: 4 minutes

Did Paul proclaim an imminent “final cosmic judgment”?

I won’t have time to write anything else this week, so here I’ve written up what started as a response to some further comments made by Edward Babinski regarding Paul’s supposed belief in an imminent “final cosmic judgment.”

Babinski argues that the belief was prevalent in second temple Judaism (Daniel, the War Scroll, Testament of Moses, 2 Esdras) and is to be found in the earliest New Testament writings, notably in 1 Corinthians. And they all got it badly wrong.

Read time: 8 minutes

Article published: “The Subjection of the Creature to the Futility of Idolatry: The Scope and Application of Romans 8:19–22”

The latest issue of The Bulletin for Biblical Research (33.3, 2023) has my article on the subjection of the creature or created material to the futility of idolatry. It’s an argument that I made here in outline a few years ago.

Read time: 3 minutes