The Academic Programme

The President delivered her Presidential Address entitled ‘Letters and the Topography of Early Christianity’ at the opening plenary session of the Society. Main Papers in plenary sessions were presented by J.-D. Dubois (France), ‘Vous avez dit docétisme? Les christologies gnostiques revisitées’; D. G. Horrell (UK), ‘Ethnicisation, Marriage, and Early Christian Identity (1 Cor 7; 1 Pet 3)’; and A.-J. Levine (USA), ‘The Gospel and the Land Revisited: Exegesis, Hermeneutics, and Politics’.

In a plenary Quaestiones Disputatae session chaired by the President, the question ‘Are John's Ethics Apolitical?’ was explored by three disputants: Profs. H. Attridge (USA), W. Carter (USA) and J. van der Watt (The Netherlands).

Eighteen short papers were presented in three sessions of simultaneous papers. First session: C. Bennema (UK), ‘Mimetic Ethics in the Johannine Literature’; K. Ehrensperger (UK), ‘Peculiarities of Cultural Translation: The Holiness 1.3 Discourse and the Absence of Eusebeia in Paul’; J. Ekem (Ghana), ‘Teaching New Testament Studies in Ghanaian Tertiary Institutions: Challenges and Prospects’; C. Focant (Belgium), ‘La portée de la formule τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ en Philippians 2.6’; P. Harland (Canada), ‘“Stand by me”: Mutual Aid, Loans, and Burial in the Associations (200 bce–150 ce)’; M. Winger (USA), ‘What Led to the Creation of Gospels?’ Second session: L. Devillers (Switzerland), ‘À propos d'Emmaüs et des disciples qui s'y rendent (Luc 24,13–35): Une nouvelle approche pour une solution ancienne’; E. W. Güting (Germany), ‘Print Editions and Online Editions of the Novum Testamentum Graece Facing New Challenges’; J. Kelhoffer (Sweden), ‘2 Clement and Gnosticism: The Status Quaestionis’; J.-C. Loba-Mkole (South Africa), ‘New Testament Canons: Views from Intercultural Mediations’; I. Ramelli (Italy), ‘Paul's Use of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 15.24–8’; J. Sumney (USA), ‘An Exploration of Paul's Place in the Development of the First-Century Church's Christology’. Third session: H. Bond (UK), ‘Paragon of Discipleship or Parody of Kingship? Simon of Cyrene in Mark's Gospel’; J. A. Harrill (USA), ‘Ephesians as an Epistolary Threshold to Paul’; S. Hultgren (Australia), ‘ἱλαστήριον in Romans 3.25: The Convergence of Cultic and Martyr Theologies’; M. Öhler (Austria), ‘Der Beitrag der “Kleinasiatischen Beichtinschriften” zum Verständnis des 1. Johannesbriefs’; M. Wojciechowski (Poland), ‘The Difference between Healing Stories from Epidaurus and from the Gospels’; E. Wong (Hong Kong), ‘Opening the Greek World to All: Creating a Chinese–Greek Lexical Database of the New Testament’.

Sixteen seminars, with the following topics and presenters, met three times each during the General Meeting:

1. 1. Apostolic Fathers, Apologists and the History of Early Christianity (convenors: C. Breytenbach, C. K. Rothschild). (a) J. Carleton Paget (UK), ‘1 Clement, Judaism, and a Covenant’; respondent: J. Thom (South Africa); (b) L. Welborn (USA), ‘“The Young against the Old”: Inter-generational Conflict in First Clement’; respondent: J. Thom (South Africa); (c) C. K. Rothschild (USA), ‘1 Clement and the Legacy of Paul’; respondent: J. Thom (South Africa).

2. 2. The Greek of the New Testament (convenors: J. W. Voelz, J. Peláez, P. Danove). (a) G. Van Belle (Belgium), ‘Repetitions, Variations and Amplifications: John's Art of Writing and the Literary Unity of the Fourth Gospel’; (b) C. Caragounis (Sweden), ‘The Use of the Term “Greco-Roman” in Biblical Scholarship’; (c) P. L. Danove (USA), ‘The Conceptualisations of Transference Grammaticalised by New Testament Verbs’.

3. 3. Inhalte und Probleme einer neutestamentlichen Theologie (convenors: C. Landmesser, M. Seifrid). (a) A. Despotis (Germany; guest), ‘Das Ethos der Liebe und das Zum-Glauben-Kommen bei Paulus/The Ethic of Love and “Coming to Faith” in Paul’; (b) J. Frey (Switzerland), ‘Glaube und Liebe im Johannesevangelium’; (c) C. Hoegen-Rohls (Germany), ‘Ist Gott Liebe? Das johanneische Liebeskonzept im Vergleich mit Paulus’.

4. 4. The Johannine Writings (convenors: M. Gruber, C. Karakolis). (a) D. MacDonald (USA), ‘Semeia-Narratives without a Semeia Source’; respondent: M. Labahn (Germany); (b) U. Poplutz (Germany), ‘Die johanneischen Semeia in literarischer und narratologischer Lesart’; respondent: G. Nassauer (Germany; guest); (c) M. Gruber (Germany), ‘Was hat der Lieblingsjünger in Kana zu suchen? Eine intratextuelle Lektüre des ersten Semeions Joh 2,1–11’; respondent: M. de Lang (The Netherlands; guest).

5. 5. The Rise and Development of Jesus Traditions (convenors: T. Holmén, S. E. Porter). (a) F. Watson (UK), ‘Social Memory and Writing in the Early Jesus Tradition’; (b) C. Keith (UK), ‘The Kerygmatic Narratives of the Gospels and the Historical Jesus: The Criteria Approach and the Memory Approach’; (c) C. Jacobi (Germany; guest), ‘Memory and Discourse: What Has Paul to Contribute to the Debate about Jesus and Memory?’

6. 6. The Mission and Expansion of Earliest Christianity (convenors: E. Eung-Chun Park, P. Trebilco, G. Yorke). (a) P.-B. Smit (The Netherlands), ‘Mistakes and Mission: The Dynamics of Intercultural Encounter and Ritual Failure in Early Christian Mission’; (b) V. Wittkowsky (Germany; guest), ‘Mission of the Seventy-Two (Luke 10.1–24): History of Interpretation’; respondent: E. Eung-Chun Park (USA); (c) P. Trebilco (New Zealand), ‘Contrasting Constructions of Outsiders in the New Testament’; respondent: G. Yorke (Jamaica).

7. 7. Christian Apocryphal Literature (convenors: T. Nicklas, C. M. Tuckett, J. Verheyden). (a) G. Wurst (Germany), ‘Towards a New Critical Edition of Codex Tchacos’; (b) E. E. Popkes (Germany), ‘Glaube und Erkenntnis: die Soteriologie des Johannesevangeliums und des Thomasevangeliums als Kontrast- und Konkurrenzkonzepte’; (c) P. Augustin (Germany; guest), ‘Die Juden im Petrusevangelium’.

8. 8. Social History and the New Testament (convenors: H. Löhr, M. Öhler, A. Runesson). (a) P. Oakes (UK), ‘Roman Housing and Religion’; respondent: M. Zetterholm (Sweden); (b) F. Prostmeier (Germany), ‘Early Christian House Religion’; respondent: W. Pratscher (Austria); (c) G. Fassbeck (USA; guest), ‘Being Jewish at Home: A Glance at Interpretations of Ancient Palestine's Material Record’; respondent: A. Runesson (Norway).

9. 9. Early Jewish Theologies and the New Testament (convenors: J. Herzer, G. Oegema). (a) K.-W. Niebuhr (Germany), ‘Die Sapientia Salomonis im Kontext hellenistisch-römischer Philosophie’; (b) G. Sterling (USA), ‘“A Law to Themselves”: Universalism in Philo and Paul’; (c) T. Tobin (USA), ‘Reconfiguring Apocalyptic Imagery: The Examples of Philo of Alexandria and Paul’.

10. 10. Reconsidering Literarkritik of the Pauline Letters and its Impact on their Interpretation (convenors: E.-M. Becker, R. Bieringer). (a) M. Vogel (Germany), ‘Der Papyrologische Kommentar zum 2. Korintherbrief von Peter Arzt-Grabner: Literarkritische Einsichten’; (b) L. Aejmelaeus (Finland), ‘The Making of 2 Corinthians: The Consequences of the Main Solutions’; (c) T. Schmeller (Germany), ‘“Sail on Silver Girl”: Zum Aufbau des zweiten Korintherbriefs’.

11. 11. Matthew in Context: an Exploration of Matthew in Relation to the Judaism and Christianity of its Time (convenors: M. Konradt, W. Kraus, W. Loader). (a) P. Foster (UK), ‘What Light Might James Throw on the Issue of Matthew's Context?’; respondents: R. Deines (UK) and David Sim (Australia); (b) L. Doering (Germany), ‘What Light Might 1 Peter Throw on the Issue of Matthew's Context?’; respondent: B. Estrada (Italy); (c) H. van de Sandt (The Netherlands), ‘What Light Might Didache Throw on the Issue of Matthew's Context?’; respondent: J. Draper (South Africa).

12. 12. Papyrology, Epigraphy and the New Testament (convenors: P. Arzt-Grabner, J. S. Kloppenborg). (a) J. K. Dru (USA; guest), ‘The Comparative Significance of Radiocarbon Results for Nine Internally Dated Documentary Papyri and P39’; respondent: K. Wachtel (Germany); (b) AM. Luijendijk (USA), ‘A Transitional Period: Religious Experts at Oxyrhynchus from Decius to Theodosius’; respondent: G. Bazzana (USA); (c) C. Böttrich (Germany), ‘Codex Sinaticus and the Use of Manuscripts in the Early Church’; respondent: C. M. Kreinecker (Austria).

13. 13. Reading Paul's Letters in Context: Theological and Social-Scientific Approaches (convenors: W. Campbell, M. Bachmann). (a) E. Adams (UK), ‘The Social Formation of the Pauline Church: Questioning the Household Theory’; respondent: J. Sumney (USA); (b) L. Bormann (USA), ‘Elite oder Nicht-Elite? Die autobiographischen Aussagen des Paulus als Schlüssel zu seiner sozialen Stellung im Judentum’; respondent: R. Brawley (USA); (c) T. Still (USA), ‘The Coming of the Gospel and of the Lord Jesus as Epiphanic Phenomena in 1 (and 2) Thessalonians’; respondent: K. Ehrensperger (UK).

14. 14. New Testament Textual Criticism (convenors: C. Clivaz, U. Schmid, T. Wasserman). (a) J. Chapa (Spain), ‘Book Format and Patterns of Reading: The Impact of the Codex’; respondent: C. Clivaz (Switzerland); (b) J. Krans (The Netherlands; guest), ‘“Harmonisation as Enemy of Textual Criticism”: Harmonisation in Scribal and Critical Practice’; respondent: J. Knust (USA; guest); (c) this session met jointly with Seminar 12.

15. 15. Memory, Narrative and Christology in the Synoptic Gospels (convenors: S. Byrskog, J. Schröter, S. Hultgren). This seminar met jointly with Seminar 5.

16. 16. The Book of Revelation (convenors: D. Aune, D. Hellholm, T. Witulski). (a) K. Huber (Germany) and J. H. Ulrichsen (Norway), ‘Review and Discussion of Kaiserkult in Kleinasien: Die Entwicklung der kultisch-religiösen Kaiserverehrung in der römischen Provinz Asia von Augustus bis Antoninus Pius’; respondent: T. Witulski (Germany); (b) H. Ulfgard (Sweden), ‘Sharing with the Divine in the Apocalypse: Meals as Metaphors – Concepts and Contexts; (c) D. Hellholm (Norway), ‘Aliments of Immortality in the Afterlife: Apocalyptic and Eschatological Notions of Eternal Life’.

The Business Meetings

At the two Business Meetings of the Society, members formally elected Prof. Carl Holladay (USA) to the post of President for the 71st General Meeting in Montreal, Canada in 2016 (until which time he assumes the office of President-Elect). The Committee intimated the nomination of Prof. Michael Wolter (Germany) to the post of President at the 72nd General Meeting in Pretoria, South Africa in 2017. As nominee, he becomes Deputy President-Elect until the 2016 General Meeting in Montreal, when his nomination will be voted on by the Society.

Profs. Clare Rothschild (USA) and Jens Schröter (Germany) retired from the Committee at the conclusion of the General Meeting in Amsterdam. Profs. Judith Gundry (USA) and Tobias Nicklas (Germany) were elected to replace them and will serve on the Committee for a period of three years.

The Society received the Treasurer's Report and formally accepted the statement of accounts as presented by the Treasurer, Dr Kathy Ehrensperger (UK). Members were reminded that the collection of membership fees was now being processed electronically by CUP. Members were encouraged to register and make payments online.

The Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives, Prof. William R. G. Loader (Australia), reported on the work of the various liaison committees (of which there are four: the Eastern European Liaison Committee, the African Liaison Committee, the Asian/Pacific Liaison Committee and the Latin America/Caribbean Liaison Committee), and the SNTS Electronic Library. The main goals of the international initiatives of the Society remain to promote the scholarly study of the New Testament in all parts of the world, to expand the Society's footprint internationally, and to increase its membership in regions where it is underrepresented.

The Editor of New Testament Studies, Prof. Francis Watson (UK), reported that 135 articles had been submitted to the Journal over the past year; thirty were accepted for publication. J. Carleton Paget (UK), J. Chapa (Spain), T. Nicklas (Germany), K. Rowe (USA), B. Standaert (Belgium) and A. Yarbro Collins (USA) were due to retire from the Board at the end of 2015. To replace these members, the Editorial Board nominated, and the Society elected, pending appointment by the Press, the following members to serve in their place, during the period January 2016–December 2018: L. Alexander (UK), L. Doering (Germany), B. Estrada (Italy), S. Hafemann (UK), J. Hartenstein (Germany), B. Longenecker (USA), P.-B. Smit (The Netherlands).

The Editor of the Monograph Series, Prof. Paul Trebilco (New Zealand), reported that five monographs have been published since the previous General Meeting, three volumes were in production, and one further project had been contracted.

The Society received with regret news of the deaths of the following: Profs. Ellen Aitken, former president François Bovon, Maurice Casey, Giuseppe Ferraro, R. T. France, former president Sean Freyne, former president Birger Gerhardsson, Hans Kvalbein, Robert Kysar, Kikuo Matsunaga, Paul W. Meyer, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, Charles Perrot, Dieter Zeller. Members observed a minute's silence in memory of these scholars.

The following New Testament scholars were elected to the Society: Prof. Ayodeji Adewuya (Professor of Greek and New Testament, Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Cleveland, TN, USA); Prof. Per Jarle Bekken (Professor at Faculty of Professional Studies, University of Nordland, Bodø, Norway); Prof. Martina Böhm (Universitätsprofessorin für Biblische Exegese und antikes Judentum am Fachbereich Evangelische Theologie der Universität Hamburg, Germany); Prof. Régis Burnet (Professeur de Nouveau Testament, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium); Prof. Santiago Guijarro (Professor of New Testament Studies, Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain); Dr Hugh Houghton (Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director of the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing, University of Birmingham, UK); Dr Sandra Hübenthal (Teaching Fellow, University of St Andrews, UK); Prof. Alan Kirk (Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, USA); Prof. Delano Palmer (Deputy President and Associate Professor of New Testament, Jamaica Theological Seminary, West Indies); Dr David Trobisch (Director of the Collection of the Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC, and the Green Collection, Oklahoma City, USA); Dr Christina Tuor-Kurth (PD für Neues Testament, Universität Basel, Switzerland); Dr Annette Weissenrieder (Assistant Professor of New Testament, San Francisco Theological Seminary, USA); Prof. Jason Whitlark (Associate Professor of New Testament, Baylor University, USA); Prof. Karin Zetterholm (Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Linnaeus University, Sweden).

Social Events

Social events at the General Meeting included a boat tour of Amsterdam, a gala dinner and Musical Programme at De Nieuwe Poort Restaurant at the Zuidas, and an Organ Recital. There were optional excursions on the Saturday to Hoorn and the Westfriesch Museum; the Kröller-Müller Museum and Van Gogh Exhibition; and The Delta Works: ‘The Eighth Wonder of the World’.

Future General Meetings

The Society will hold its annual General Meeting in Montreal, Canada in 2016, in Pretoria, South Africa in 2017, in Athens, Greece in 2018, and in Marburg, Germany in 2019.

1.1.2016