Since a number of scholars at the Pontifical Biblical Institute have made important contributions to the study of the New Testament in the context of the Greco-Roman world, it seemed appropriate to devote this volume commemorating the centennial of the Biblicum (1909-2009) to that subject. This book contains nine essays by scholars from Europe, the United States, Australia and Jerusalem, each exploring the ways in which aspects of the New Testament can be illuminated by recourse to Greco-Roman texts.

In The Fourth Gospel and the Scriptures, new insights from 4QXII manuscripts and the Minor Prophets Scroll help unlock the mystery of John's unique form of scriptural citation. Focusing on 19:37, Bynum argues convincingly that John's citation from Zechariah is both accurate and historically reliable. Carefully considering the biblical textual milieu of the era brings to light John's concern for fidelity to the prominent Hebrew text of his day, and for the correctness of the Septuagint form of the citation. From this analysis new light is shed on the critical role the citation plays in the...

In Persecution in 1 Peter, Travis B. Williams offers a comprehensive and detailed socio-historical investigation into the nature of suffering in 1 Peter. While interpreters commonly portray the conflict situation addressed by the epistle as "unofficial" persecution consisting of discrimination and verbal abuse, Williams demonstrates the inadequacy of this modern consensus by situating the letter against the backdrop of conflict management in first-century CE Asia Minor. Drawing on a wide range of historical evidence and on modern social-psychological perspectives, this work...

In a collection of essays spanning some 35 years, Luke Timothy Johnson takes on some of the most contested issues in the study of Christian Origins and the New Testament --- from the historical Jesus and the Jesus of the Gospels, through exegetical studies of Luke-Acts and Paul, to questions pertaining to the development of early Christian history, relations with Judaism, the uses of polemic, sexuality, and law. Johnson's work is characterized by close attention to texts and a concern for methodological rigor. Far from representing scholarly consensus, these essays consistently display...

In Moral Education for Women in the Pastoral and Pythagorean Letters: Philosophers of the Household, Annette Bourland Huizenga examines the Greco-Roman moral-philosophical "curriculum" for women by comparing these two pseudepigraphic epistolary collections. The analysis is organized around four elements: textual resources, teachers and learners, instructional strategies, and subject matter. Huizenga shows that the author of the Pastorals has adopted nearly all of the "pagan" aspects of this curriculum, but has supplemented these with theological justifications drawn from Pauline...

In God, Grace, and Righteousness in Wisdom of Solomon and Paul's Letter to the Romans, Jonathan A. Linebaugh places the Wisdom of Solomon and the Letter to the Romans in conversation. Both texts discuss the relationship of Jew and Gentile, the meaning of God's grace and righteousness, and offer readings of Israel's scripture. These shared themes provide talking-points, initiating a dialogue on anthropology, soteriology, and hermeneutics. By listening in on this conversation, Linebaugh demonstrates that while these texts have much in common, the theologies they articulate are ultimately...

The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition is a collection of studies in honour of Professor Maarten J.J. Menken (Tilburg/Utrecht) and illustrates the rich diversity of approaches to biblical interpretation at the beginning of the Common Era. An international team of specialists share their insights on such topics as the availability of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts, Jewish and Christian hermeneutics, notions of authority and inspiration and even a study of inscriptions. Each in its own way demonstrates that the relationship between text and tradition, culture and...

In Corinth in Contrast, archaeologists, historians, art historians, classicists, and New Testament scholars examine the stratified nature of socio-economic, political, and religious interactions in the city from the Hellenistic period to Late Antiquity. The volume challenges standard social histories of Corinth by focusing on the unequal distribution of material, cultural, and spiritual resources. Specialists investigate specific aspects of cultural and material stratification such as commerce, slavery, religion, marriage and family, gender, and art, analyzing both the ruling elite of...

Rather than viewing the Graeco-Roman world as the "background" against which early Christian texts should be read, Abraham J. Malherbe saw the ancient Mediterranean world as a rich ecology of diverse intellectual traditions that interacted within specific social contexts. These essays, spanning over fifty years, illustrate Malherbe's appreciation of the complexities of this ecology and what is required to explore philological and conceptual connections between early Christian writers, especially Paul and Athenagoras, and their literary counterparts who participated in the religious and...

This study presents a coherent interpretation of the Malta episode by arguing that Acts 28:1-10 narrates a theoxeny, that is, an account of unknowing hospitality to a god which results in the establishment of a fictive kinship relationship between the Maltese barbarians and Paul and his God. In light of the connection between hospitality and piety to the gods in the ancient Mediterranean, Luke ends his second volume in this manner to portray Gentile hospitality as the appropriate response to Paul's message of God's salvation -- a response that portrays them as hospitable exemplars within the...