1998 Study Groups
Christian Doctrine
June 29 - July 1
New Testament
July 6 - July 8
Old Testament
July 8 - July 10
Biblical Theology
July 1 - July 3
Philosophy of Religion
July 22 - July 24
Religion, Culture and Communication
June 24 - June 25
Associates
July 3 - July 4
During these Study Groups, the following 1998 Tyndale Lecturers will be presented:
New Testament: Dr Andrew Clarke (Aberdeen)
'"Imitate us": Paul's model of leadership'
Old Testament: Revd Dr Paul Barker (Australia)
'The Theology of Deuteronomy 27'
Biblical Theology: Dr Desmond Alexander (Belfast)
'Royal Expectations in the Books of Genesis to Kings'
Christian Doctrine: Dr Kevin Vanhoozer (Edinburgh)
'Effectual Call or Causal Effect? Summons, Sovereignty and Supervenient Grace'
Archaeology: Revd Dr Bruce Winter (Cambridge)
'The Imperial Gods and the First Christians'
Philosopy; Revd Dr Craig Bartholomew (Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education)
Derrida and Babel: the Challenge of Deconstruction for Biblical Interpretation.
Study Group Seminars 1998
The Philosophy of Religion Study Group
Seminar Papers:
Jeffrey Privette "The Layers of Conception in the experience of God"
Puran Agrawal "A Critique of C.S.Lewis' Apologetic"
Daniel Hill "Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom"
Myron Penner "Kierkegaard and Exclusivism"
Neil MacDonald "Barth's 'Measure of Faith' versus Kant's 'Measure of the Divine'"
Chris Firestone "An Abductive Argument against the Conventional
Allen Baird "The Problem of Evil"
Abstracts of papers
The Religion, Culture and Communication Study Group
Theme: Religious Fundamentalism
Papers will cover topics on Islamic fundamentalism and Hamas, and Sikh and Hindu fundamentalism.
For further details contact Dr Christopher Partridge, tel:01244 372275(o); 01244 340825 (h).
Contact Dr Chris Partridge (University College Chester) for further details.
The Christian Doctrine Study Group
Theme: Christology in Perspective
Seminar Papers:
Tim Bradshaw (Regent's Park, Oxford): 'Pannenberg's Christology'
Trevor Hart (St Andrew's): 'P T Forsyth's Christology'
Tony Lane (London Bible College): 'Cyril's Anathema's: An Exercise in Theological Moderation'
Graham MacFarlance (London Bible College): 'Edward Irving's Christology'
David Wright (New College, Edinburgh): 'The Christology of the Reformers'.
Abstracts of papers
The Biblical Theology Study Group
Seminar Papers:
Dr Kevin Ellis (Open Theological College): 'The Importance of Apocalyptic for Biblical Theology'.
Dr Robert L Hubbard (North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago): 'Rescue the Perishing: The Biblical Theology of Redemption'.
Dr Philip Johnstone (Oxford): 'Towards a Biblical Theology of Death and Resurrection'.
Revd David Searle (Rutherford House): 'Worship in Exodus and its Implications for Today'.
Revd Gordon Thomas (The Nazarene Theological College): 'Towards a Biblical Theology of Sin'.
Revd Paul Williamson (Irish Baptist College): 'Abraham, Israel & the Nations: the Promise of Multitudinous 'Seed' and Its fulfilment in the Church'.
The New Testament Study Group
Theme: New Testament Ethics
Seminar Papers:
Eddie Adams (King's College, London and London Bible College): 'Creation and New Creation and Paul's Ethics'
Tom Coleman (Cambridge): 'Pauline Ethics as Obligation: Romans 1215 as a Test Case'
Terry Griffith (Bexleyheath): 'A Non-polemical Reading of 1 John'
Jey Kanagaraj (Union Biblical Seminary, India): 'Ethics in the Gospel of John with special reference to Sanctification'
Howard Marshall (Aberdeen): '1 Timothy 2:9-15 Then and Now'.
Brian Rosner (Aberdeen): 'Greed, a forgotten sin'
Abstracts of papers
The Old Testament Study Group
Theme: Histories of Israel
Seminar Papers: (include)
Jens Bruun Kofoed (Copenhagen): 'The methodology of the Copenhagen School'
Ken Kitchen (Liverpool): 'The role of external criteria in assessing the historiography of the Israelite monarchy'
Alan Millard (Liverpool): 'Kings of Assyria in Story and History'
Pete Williams (Cambridge): 'Israel outside the land: the Transjordanian tribes in 1 Chronicles 5'
Nicolai Winther-Nielsen (Copenhagen): 'Fact or Fiction? The pragmatic evidence from Judges'
David Tsumura (Tokyo): A paper proposing an interpretation of the literary crux in 1 Samuel 10:8 and 13:8
Brian Kelly (Canterbury): 'The Reign of Manasseh in Chronicles and in Kings'
Abstracts
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Abstract of Tyndale Lecture:
'The Theology of Deuteronomy 27'
Revd Dr Paul Barker (Australia)
This lecture discusses the theology of Deuteronomy 27 under two headings. Firstly, Israel under curse. Deuteronomy 27 portrays Israel as standing under curse. Blessings and curses are not two equally possible options. No blessings are listed, despite their announcement; the inscribed stones stand as witness against Israel in a similar way to the written law in chapeter 31; the stones are to stand on Mt Ebal the mountain of curse, suggesting that Israel will fail to obey the law; and the final curse in verse 26 demonstrates an expectation of failure. This theology is consistent with what is found elsewhere in Deuteronomy.
However curse is not the last word. Israel also stands under grace. Though the law exposes Israel's failure and leads to curse, the provisions of the ceremony in chapter 27 also involve altar and sacrifices, also on Mt Ebal. Yahweh provides the means for a sinful people to continue in covenant relationship. Moreover there are recollections of Exodus 19 where, as an act of grace and before obedience is commanded, Israel is declared to be Yahweh's people. The location of the ceremony, namely Shechem, sets Deuteronomy 27 in the context of fulfilment of Abrahamic promises.
Finally a canonical view of the shaping fo the Pentateuch shows the strategic placing of both curses and grace, supporting these two theological themes.
Revd Dr Paul Barker
106 Cghurch Road
Doncaster
Victoria
Australia
Tel. (03) 9840 2577
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Abstract of Tyndale Lecture:
`Royal Expectations in the Books of Genesis to Kings'
T. Desmond Alexander
This lecture will address two central issues in the area of Biblical Theology: (a) the relationship between the testaments; (b) the NT belief that Jesus Christ fulfils OT expectations regarding a divinely appointed royal-saviour or messiah. These related topics will be considered from the perspective of the books of Genesis to Kings which, as a continuous narrative, form the backbone of the OT. Most contemporary writers tend to view these books as providing an account of Israel's history - the reality of which is debated. A careful reading, however, reveals that they are equally interested, if not more so, in the fulfilment of various divine promises centred on a future royal saviour through whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. According to the NT, the realisation of these promises, which are only partially fulfilled by the end of the Genesis-Kings narrative, comes in Jesus Christ.
Dr T.D. Alexander School of Greek, Roman and Semitic Studies
The Queen's University of Belfast
Belfast
BT7 1NN
N. Ireland
Tel. 01232 273444
Fax. 01232 315325
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Abstract of Tyndale Lecture:
Derrida and Babel: the Challenge of Deconstruction for Biblical Interpretation.
Revd Dr Craig Bartholomew
The one biblical narrative Derrida has written about is the Tower of Babel story. I will use his discussions of the story as an entree into the way Derrida reads texts and the implications of his approach for biblical interpretation. This will be contextualised within the broader postmodern debate and the current crisis in biblical interpretation. Reexamination of the Babel story will provide a basis for suggesting a biblical [Christian] response to deconstruction and identifying areas that Evangelicals need to attend to.
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Abstract of Tyndale Lecture:
'Effectual Call or Causal Effect? Summons, Sovereignty and Supervenient Grace'
Dr Kevin Vanhoozer (Edinburgh)
This lecture attempts to rethink the doctrine of the effectual call in other than causal terms. The privileged place of the concept of causality in Reformed systematics will lead me to inquire into the nature of Christian doctrine. What is at stake in this particular doctrine, of course, is an understanding of divine sovereignty. My proposal will be to find a way between divine causality (classical theism) and divine cajolery (process theism). I hope to explore two alternatives to the causal mode of effectual call: the communicative (e.g., summons) and the supervenient, the latter drawing upon some recent developments in the natural sciences.
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Abstracts of Philosophy of Religion Seminars:
Barth's 'Measure of Faith' versus Kant's 'Measure of the Divine'
Neil MacDonald
The epistemological problem with which Barth's position on epistemology in the Church Dogmatics is concerned above all else is the Enlightenment's conception of the problem of God as exemplified in Kant's Religion Within the Limits of Reason Alone. According to Barth, Kant argues that we "have to be in a position to measure the God who is, perhaps, proclaimed to him, or who, perhaps, even reveals himself to him, against an ideal conception of God which he has set up for himself in order (it is surely only thus that it is possible!) to recognise the former as God." Against this Barth argues that Kant's condition breaks down when confronted with an event whose only means of measurement is it itself.
'Kierkegaardian Subjectivity And Religious Exclusivism: An Analytic Defense'
Myron B. Penner (New College, Edinburgh)
Søren Kierkegaard's claim, 'Truth is subjectivity,' is advancing a theory of regulating our beliefs which emphasizes the subjective concerns of putative knowers. The best way of reading Kierkegaard's claim is to see it as a type of fallibilist epistemology with many characteristics of what is being called 'virtue epistemology,' where ethical norms are privileged in the regulation of our beliefs. After considering an objection to this, an argument is advanced that this type of normativity for belief is sufficient to maintain, with all the epistemic appropriateness available, an exclusivist position with respect to the truth of one's (Christian) religious beliefs.
'The Layers of Conception in Experience of God'
Jeffrey Privette
We propose here to defend one sober claim: constructivism and realism, properly understood, are not incompatible. We argue that no experience of God is ever unconceived (if it is human experience it is conceived experience); on this score we are constructivist. We also argue that something of God and reality can be experienced by human beings; on this score we are realist. The objective of this paper, then, is to fashion a way between the extremes of radical constructivism and uncritical realism by proposing a way of thinking about experience that accounts for human categorial involvement without losing God and world in the process.
'Omniscience And Freedom'
Daniel Hill (King's College, London)
Aim of paper: to show that reports of the inconsistency of foreknowledge and freedom are greatly exaggerated
Method:
(i) I attempt briefly to show why the theist should affirm divine foreknowledge
(ii) I very briefly set out two models of foreknowledge
(iii) I present an argument from Professor Helm, designed to show the inconsistency of freedom and foreknowledge
(iv) I devise a principle - Power Entailment Principle - which, although very dubious, has not, I think been refuted. I argue that this principle entails the collapse of theological determinism into fatalism.
(v) I present seven responses to the argument from PEP
(vi) I show that backwards causation and atemporalism are the only appropriate options for the theist. I show that backwards causation is the only way to preserve the consistency of freedom and foreknowledge.
(vii) I present some reasons to espouse backwards causation
(viii) I defend backwards causation against some criticisms, and argue that it has not been shown to be impossible.
(ix) I point out some of the consequences of backwards causation for the theist.
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Abstracts of Christian Doctrine Seminars:
The Christology Of Wolfhart Pannenberg
Tim Bradshaw
Introduction: Pannenberg's dissatisfaction with both wings of his German theological heritage, liberalism fails to integrate God into the history of the world and Barth's tradition likewise seems unable to produce a genuinely historical Jesus. Pannenberg finds both dualistic in different modes.
The world and Barth's tradition likewise seems unable to produce a genuinely historical Jesus. Pannenberg finds both dualistic in different modes. Bultmannian dualism with its leap of faith excludes reason from faith.
Pannenberg's core argument: revelation must be seen in terms of the meaning of the whole of history, and only at the end of history will this be clear, as at the end of a novel. The fact of our puzzlement now about the path of history and the existence of God arises from the ambiguity of history. But the event of Jesus, when studied with rigour and interpreted aright, discloses the truth of the resurrection that Jesus is the end time come in advance, hence the revelation of the God of the open future.
Particular points to examine: Jesus' filial dependence on God as his Father during his life; the self differentiation by Jesus of himself from God, self abasement which is therefore part of the being of God. The identity of Jesus, who he is, derived from his place in history, his meaning - arguably the core of Pannenberg's Christology. What do we mean by 'meaning' as constituting being?
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Abstracts of NT Seminars:
'1 Timothy 2:9-15 Then and Now'
Howard Marshall (Aberdeen)
1 TImothy 2:11-15 continues to stimulate discussion, especially as regards its relevance to the place of women in the home and in teaching situations in the contemporary church. The paper will discuss the exegesis of the passage in the belief that sound exegesis must be the basis for application by preesent-day readers. The questions of whether the discussion is related to a sepcific church situation and how the appeal to the creation and fall is handled are clearly of importance in determining whether the teaching is universalisable, and, if so, in what particular way it is applicable today.
'A Non-polemical Reading of 1 John: Sin, Ethics and the Limits of the Johannine Community'
Terry Griffith (Bexleyheath)
This paper suggests a new paradigm for understanding the treatment of the theme of sin in 1 John that does not require gnosticizing or docetic-type opponents to account for its contours. The debate about what sin is (1 John 1.6-2.2; 3.4-10; 5.16-18) reflects intra-mural concerns about defining and maintaining community identity. The dual command (3.23) to believe in Jesus, as God's Messiah (2.22; 4.2-3,15; 5.1,5-6); and to love one another (4.7-21), plays a central role in this debate.
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Abstracts of OT Seminars:
Jens Bruun Kofoed (Copenhagen):
'The methodology of the Copenhagen School'
In the early 1960s a growing number of OT scholars began to question the methodological assumptions underlying the Alt-Noth and Albright schools' reconstructions of Israel's history. N.P.Lemche and T.L.Thompson have established the 'Copenhagen School'. Both drew conclusions from the methodological collapse of the older schools (a 'deconstructive phase') and have reconstructed Israel's history using so called 'hard data' and 'material remains' as corrective to textual evidence.The paper argues that the school does not use artifactual and textual evidence fairly.
Ken Kitchen (Liverpool):
'The role of external criteria in assessing the historiography of the Israelite monarchy'
Recent devaluation of the historicity of David and Solomon and the scope of the Divided Monarchy stems from lack of knowledge of relevant data and of their significance; this paper exemplifies from positive data the ground rules for use of evidence in the biblical world, including data practically unknown to Old Testament 'scholars'.
Alan Millard (Liverpool):
'Kings of Assyria in Story and History'
Pete Williams (Cambridge):
'Israel outside the land: the Transjordanian tribes in 1 Chronicles 5'
1 Chr 5 can be shown to be an integral part of the Chronicler's work on linguistic, thematic and theological grounds. Since the overwhelming majority of the material is exclusive to the Chronicler, the chapter may be used to test his accuracy when no source is extant. By a comparison of the information he gives with that of the rest of the OT and with the Mesha Stone it becomes plausible that the Chronicler had access to reliable historical information from the early united monarchy.
Nicolai Winther-Nielsen (Copenhagen):
'Fact or Fiction? The pragmatic evidence from Judges'
Challenged by the view of Baruch Halpern, The First Historians (1988), that a text-centred interpretation of Judges is meaningless, the paper explores the potential of a three-pronged literary, historical and theological approach. However, it will be argued that a pragmatic approach, i.e. a functional and communication-oriented discourse grammar, may offer important linguistic contributions on issues like intention, reference and coherence. This has bearing on the alleged choice between historical fact and literary fiction.
David Tsumura (Tokyo)
A paper proposing an interpretation of the literary crux in 1 Samuel 10:8 and 13:8, Samuel's charge to Saul to go to Gilgal to wait for him for offer sacrifice.
Brian Kelly (Canterbury):
'The Reign of Manasseh in Chronicles and in Kings'
Chronicles' account of Manasseh's reign divereges significantly from that in Kings. Has the Chonicler composed a fictitious narrative (motivated by homiletic or ideological considerations) or did he possess traditions not available to (or not used by) the author of Kings?