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The international conference held in Limerick, Ireland, in May 2005
produced far more than the usual collection of loosely related
papers. Rather, this volume from the 17 contributors demarcates and
organizes a whole field, serving as an indispensable introduction
to intertextuality in general, and as an original examination of
the topic in relation to the New Testament epistles. CONTENTS
Thomas L. Brodie, Dennis R. MacDonald and Stanley E. Porter
Introduction: Tracing the Development of the Epistles: The
Potential and the Problem PART I. ASPECTS OF THEORY, PRACTICE AND
RELATED RESEARCH Susanne Gillmayr-Bucher Intertextuality: Between
Literary Theory and Text Analysis Steve Moyise Intertextuality,
Historical Criticism and Deconstruction Peter Phillips Biblical
Studies and Intertextuality: Should the Work of Genette and Eco
Broaden our Horizons? Erkki Koskenniemi Josephus and Greek Poets
Jon Paulien Elusive Allusions in the Apocalypse: Two Decades of
Research into John's Use of the Old Testament PART II. FROM THE OT
TO THE EPISTLES Thomas L. Brodie The Triple Intertextuality of the
Epistles. Introduction Lukas Bormann Triple Intertextuality in
Philippians Stanley E. Porter Further Comments on the Use of the
Old Testament in the New Testament PART III. FROM EPISTLE TO
EPISTLE Annette Merz The Fictitious Self-Exposition of Paul: How
Might Intertextual Theory Suggest a Reformulation of the
Hermeneutics of Pseudepigraphy? Hanna Roose 2 Thessalonians as
Pseudepigraphic Reading Instruction for 1 Thessalonians:
Methodological Implications and Exemplary Illustration of an
Intertextual Concept J. Michael Gilchrist Intertextuality and the
Pseudonymity of 2 Thessalonians Outi Leppa 2 Thessalonians among
the Pauline Letters: Tracing the Literary Links between 2
Thessalonians and Other Pauline Epistles David J. Clark Structural
Similarities in 1 and 2 Thessalonians: Comparative Discourse
Anatomy IV. FROM EPISTLE TO NARRATIVE (GOSPEL/ACTS) Dennis R.
MacDonald A Categorization of Antetextuality in the Gospels and
Acts: A Case For Luke's Imitation of Plato and Xenophon to Depict
Paul as a Christian Socrates Paul Elbert Possible Literary Links
between Luke-Acts and Pauline Letters Regarding Spirit-Language
Heikki Leppa Reading Galatians with and without the Book of Acts
Mike Sommer A Better Class of Enemy: Opposition and Dependence in
the Johannine Writings Thomas L. Brodie, Dennis R. MacDonald,
Stanley E. Porter Problems Of Method: Suggested Guidelines
Recent years have seen a remarkable surge in interest in the book of Genesis - the first book of the Bible - and a foundational text of Western culture. In this new commentary, Thomas Brodie offers a complete and accessible overview of Genesis from literary, theological, and historical standpoints. Brodie's work is organized around three main ideas: the first is that the primary subject of Genesis is human existence - while full of historical echoes, it is primarily a sophisticated portrayal of the progress and pitfalls of human life. His second thesis is that Genesis' basic organizational unity is binary, or diptych: building on older insights that Genesis is somehow dialogical, he argues that the entire book is composed of diptychs - accounts which, like some paintings, consist of two parts or panels. Finally, Brodie contends that many of Genesis' sources still exist, and can be identified and verified.
In the past forty years, while historical-critical studies were
seeking with renewed intensity to reconstruct events behind the
biblical texts, not least the life of Jesus, two branches of
literary studies were finally reaching maturity. First, researchers
were recognizing that many biblical texts are rewritings or
transformations of older texts that still exist, thus giving a
clearer sense of where the biblical texts came from; and second,
studies in the ancient art of composition clarified the biblical
texts' unity and purpose, that is to say, where biblical texts were
headed. The work of tracing literary indebtedness and art is far
from finished but it is already possible and necessary to draw a
conclusion: it is that, bluntly, Jesus did not exist as a
historical individual. This is not as negative as may at first
appear. In a deeply personal coda, Brodie begins to develop a new
vision of Jesus as an icon of God's presence in the world and in
human history.
Many are saying that the prevailing paradigm of New Testament
origins is going nowhere. In its place, Brodie's stunning book
invites us to suspend all 'knowledge' we already have about the
history of the New Testament's development, and to be willing to
entertain the following thesis. Everything hinges on Proto-Luke, a
history of Jesus using the Elijah-Elisha narrative as its model,
which survives in 10 chapters of Luke and 15 of Acts. Mark then
uses Proto-Luke, transposing its Acts material back into the life
of Jesus. Matthew deuteronomizes Mark, John improves on the
discourses of Matthew. Luke-Acts spells out the story at length.
Add the Pauline corpus, the descendant of Deuteronomy via the
Matthean logia, and the New Testament is virtually complete. This
is a totalizing theory, an explanation of everything, and its
critics will be numerous. But even they will be hugely intrigued,
and have to admit that Brodie's myriads of challenging observations
about literary affinities demand an answer.
The Elijah-Elisha narrative (1 Kgs 16:29-2 Kgs 13) is the most
underestimated text in the Bible. Far from being a disparate
collection, it is actually a carefully crafted double drama that
both mirrors life and synthesizes systematically the entire Primary
History (Genesis-Kings). In a bold hermeneutical move it transforms
the language of historiography-of patriarchs and kings-into the
language of prophetic biography. This prophetic biography, rooted
in historiography, later becomes the evangelists' primary literary
model. The Elijah-Elisha narrative is the crucial bridge between
the foundational narratives of Judaism and Christianity. Since the
1970s there has been increasing evidence that Scripture texts that
at first sight appear fragmented are in fact unified. Judges is a
striking example of this. Because of the earlier exegetical models
used, Judges was often regarded as a collection of rugged
traditions that were independent of one another. Now, however,
these apparently disconnected stories are intimately
interconnected. Brodie explains that, as with earlier research on
Judges, the quest for history-for underlying traditions-has tended
to obscure the existing narrative account. In particular, the
Elijah-Elisha narrative has often been read as consisting largely
of two independent units, two cycles of traditions. The
Elijah-Elisha narrative is indeed twofold-it clearly highlights two
main prophets-but it is also a careful unity, as closely knit as
Judges is now seen to be. Chapters are "The Unity of the Narrative
(1 Kings 16:29-2 Kings 13)," "A Synthesis of the Primary History:
Initial Comparison Quantity Analysis," "A Synthesis of the Primary
History: A More Detailed Comparison," "A Reinterpretation of the
Leading Scriptures," and "A Literary Model for the Gospels." Thomas
L. Brodie, OP, has taught Hebrew Scriptures and New Testament in
various institutions across the U.S. and in South Africa and is now
teaching in his native Ireland. He is the author of several books
and numerous articles on the Scriptures. "
While synthesizing well-established commentators as diverse as Bultmann and Brown, Brodie expands Johannine studies in two directions. First, by drawing on the techniques of contemporary literary studies, he shows that John's Gospel, far from being poorly edited, is a carefully-wrought unity. Second, he shows that the final basis of this unity lies not in history or theology but, as ancient tradition suggested, in spirituality. Brodie also includes his own innovative translation of John. The result is a new type of commentary that is thoroughly contemporary in style, perspective, and method.
A controversial thesis concerning the composition of the Gospel According to JohnMost New Testament scholars believe that John was independent of the other three (Synoptic) Gospels, leading many to attempt to reconstruct the history of the community within which and for which John must have written. Brodie argues, however, that until the source question is settled, the historical question remains fruitless. What has been missing from Johannine scholarship, he says, is an accurate sense of the way in which writers of the ancient world set about composing their works. Given this literary context, it can be argued that John knew and used not only all of the Synoptic Gospels, but Acts, Ephesians, and the Pentateuch as well. Finally Brodie concludes that `John' was the individual John and not the mouthpiece of a putative `Johannine Community'. The Gospel should thus be read as a unified work, and not as the product of an aggregation of different sources or different dates of redaction.
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