Under the presidency of Prof. Joseph Verheyden (Belgium, 2023–2024), the seventy-seventh General Meeting of Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas took place on 25–28 July 2023 in Vienna, Austria. The University of Vienna hosted the Society, with Prof. Markus Öhler serving as chair of the Local Organising Committee. Prof. Öhler was ably assisted by a talented team of colleagues, including Prof. Markus Tiwald and Prof. Martin Stowasser.
There were 401 registered participants at the meeting, including 229 members. Outgoing President John M.G. Barclay (UK, 2022–2023) opened the meeting on Tuesday, July 25. Having welcomed all who were present at the First Business Meeting, he declared the seventy-seventh General Meeting to be officially opened with the striking of the presidential gavel.
The Academic Programme
President Verheyden delivered his Presidential Address entitled ‘Musings on How to Write a History of New Testament Interpretation’ at the first plenary session of the meeting. Main Papers were presented by Shelly Matthews (USA), ‘Reading the Resurrection of the Holy Ones (Mt 27:51b-54) within Judaism, through a Feminist Lens’; Paul-Hubert Poirier (Canada), ‘D’Édesse à Antioche en passant par Jérusalem et Alexandrie. Où situer l’Évangile selon Thomas? Quelques considérations critiques’; Korinna Zamfir (Romania), ‘Suing for Peace at Any Cost? Reading the Parable of The Two Kings (Luke 14:31–32) at Times of War’; Francis Watson (UK), ‘Eusebius and the Biographical Logic of the New Testament Canon’; Sandra Huebenthal (Germany), ‘Gedächtnis trifft Einleitung: Ein neuer Blick auf alte Fragen’; and Tat-siong Benny Liew (USA), ‘Criticism, Crisis, and Krisis: Reading Questions for New Testament Critics Today’.
Additionally, short papers—twenty-six in number—were presented by David G. Horrell (UK), ‘Decolonising New Testament Studies’; Clare K. Rothschild (USA), ‘De Stella Magorum: The Night of the Comet and the Births of John and Jesus Revisited’; J. Enrique Aguilar (USA), ‘The Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Mark’; Bernardo Estrada (Columbia), ‘Luke and Ancient History: The Beginning of the Gospel’; Paul N. Anderson (USA), ‘The Christ-Hymn of John 1: From Confessional Response to Transformative Prologue’; Juan Chapa (Spain), ‘A New “Dialogue Gospel” Fragment’; Eyal Regev (Israel), ‘Paul's Heavenly Jerusalem and Earthly Jerusalem Politics’; Justin Strong and Ruben Zimmermann (Germany), ‘On Puffed-up Toads and Corinthians: Insights into a Pauline Metaphor from the Animal World (Babrius, Fab. 28, Phaedrus, Fab. 1.24)’; J. Albert Harrill (USA), ‘To Play the Solider: Self-Apostrophe and Self-Command in Ephesians; Bradley H. McLean (Canada), ‘Human Bodies and the Power of Nonsense in the Greek Magical Papyri’; Robert E. Moses (USA), ‘Made of Money: Currency in Matthew's Gospel and the Community's Socio-Economic Status’; Charles A. Bobertz (USA), ‘Who Is “I”? Christology on the Sea in Mark's Gospel’; Albert Hogeterp (South Africa), ‘Jesus as Poet and Prophet: Prophetic Poetry and Jesus’ Sayings about War and Peace in Luke 12:49–53’; Athanasios Despotis (Germany), ‘Fresh Perspectives on Jesus' Speech to the Greeks in John 12:23–36’; James H. Charlesworth (USA), ‘Where Did Jesus Meet Mary Magdalene?’; Florian Wilk (Germany), ‘Ja und Nein? Ja und Amen! Zur Wahrnehmung des paulinischen Apostolats nach 2Kor 1,15-2,2’; Sigurd Grindheim (Norway), ‘Faithfulness or Trust: The Meaning of πίστις in Hebrews’; Peter Gräbe (USA), ‘The Lasting Significance of the Hermeneutical Theory of Hans-Georg Gadamer for the Interpretation of the New Testament’; J.R.C. Cousland (Canada), ‘The Chimerical “Jerusalem” in the Gospel of Matthew’; Llewellyn Howes (South Africa), ‘The Historical Jesus and the Harvest Logion in Matthew 9:37–38 and Luke (Q) 10:2’; Bartosz Adamczewski (Poland), ‘Sequentially Organized Allusions to Paul's Letters in Acts’; Alexey B. Somov (Russia), ‘An Allusion to John 19:33–36 in the Apocryphal Stories about the Resurrected Calf’; Ilaria L.E. Ramelli (USA), ‘Jesus, Tiberius, Tertullian, Porphyry, and the Acts of Apollonius: Scholarly Controversies on a Senatusconsultum’; Ruben A. Bühner (Switzerland), ‘With Whom Is Peter Eating in Antioch? How Widespread Prejudice Shapes Our Understanding of Peter's Commensality with τὰ ἔθνη in Gal 2:12’; Roger David Aus (Germany), ‘Political and Theological Implications of Paul's Fivefold Flogging in 2 Cor 11:24’; and Cornelis Bennema (UK), ‘The Concept of Moral Responsibility in the Johannine Writings: An Aristotelian Reading’.
Furthermore, fifteen seminars met three times each during the General Meeting:
1. Constructions of the Histories of Early Christianity (conveners: Cilliers Breytenbach and Clare Rothschild): (a) Matt Calhoun (USA), ‘Metalepsis in Narrative Charms and Miracle Stories’; Respondent: Bärbel Bosenius (Germany); (b) Ferdinand Prostmeier (Germany), ‘Das Christentum in der Weltgeschichte des Theophilos von Antiochia’; Respondent: Clare Rothschild (USA); (c) Cavin Concannon (USA), ‘Networks and Early Christian Memory: Notes on Social Network Analysis and the Historiography of Early Christianity’; Respondent: Mark Grundeken (Germany).
2. Mapping ‘New Testament Studies’: History, Status, and Prospects (conveners: Eve-Marie Becker, Michael Cover, and Francis Watson): (a) Oda Wischmeyer (Germany), ‘Aufgaben und Herausforderungen des Fachs Neues Testament’; (b) Régis Burnet (Belgium), ‘La Bible grandit-elle avec ses lecteurs? Entre lecture infinie et Sache der Texte, quelle herméneutique choisir?’; (c) Michael B. Cover (USA), ‘Surveying the “Immediately Outlying Buildings”: The Place of the Apostolic Fathers in New Testament Studies, with a Focus on the Letters of Ignatius’.
3. Inhalte und Probleme einer neutestamentlichen Theologie (conveners: Christof Landmesser and Mark Seifrid): (a) Christof Landmesser (Germany) and Mark Seifrid (USA): ‘Aufgabe und Ziele Neutestamentlicher Theologie’; (b) Markus Bockmuehl (UK), ‘The New Testament on the Presence of the Exalted Jesus’; (c) Reinhard Feldmeier (Germany), ‘Historie und Mysterienspiel: Biblische Theologie am Beispiel des lukanischen Doppelwerks’.
4. The Johannine Writings (conveners: Jörg Frey, Christina Hoegen-Rohls, and Catrin Williams): (a) Anni Hentschel (Germany), ‘Der Anonymus in Joh 13 und seine Bedeutung für die Nachfolgegemeinschaft’; Respondent: Zacharias Shoukry (Germany, guest); (b) Kasper Bro Larsen (Denmark), ‘The Meaning of Death: Tradition and Innovation in the Johannine Farewell Discourse’; Respondent: Nadine Ueberschaer (Germany, guest); (c) David Pastorelli (France), ‘Contribution à l'histoire du texte de Jn 13–17’; Respondent: Ulrich Schmid (Germany).
5. God in the New Testament (conveners: Steve Walton and Christiane Zimmermann): (a) Madison Pierce (USA, guest), ‘God in Hebrews’; Respondent: Martin Karrer (Germany); (b) Konrad Huber (Germany), ‘Suchbewegungen im Feld von Hermeneutik und Methodologie im Zusammenhang mit der Frage nach Gott im Neuen Testament’; Respondent: Karl-Heinz Ostmeyer (Germany); (c) Sydney Tooth (UK, guest), ‘God in 1 and 2 Thessalonians’; Respondent: Todd D. Still (USA) (met jointly with Reading Paul's Letters in Context Seminar).
6. Reading Galatians in New Perspectives: Methods and Approaches (conveners: Martin Meiser, Dieter Sänger, and Korinna Zamfir): (a) Dieter Sänger (Germany), ‘“Bleibt, was ihr seid!” Zur anamnetischen Funktion der beiden Rahmenstücke (1,1–5; 6,11–18) des Galaterbriefs’; (b) Peter Arzt-Grabner (Austria): ‘Galatians as a Letter’ (met jointly with Papyrology, Epigraphy, and the New Testament Seminar); (c) Thomas Schumacher (Switzerland, guest), ‘Die Fremdmissionare. Probleme einer religionsgeschichtlich plausiblen Rekonstruktion’.
7. Hebrews (conveners: Christian Eberhart and Wolfgang Kraus): met jointly with New Testament Textual Criticism Seminar.
8. Social History and the New Testament (conveners: Hermut Löhr, Markus Öhler, and Anders Runesson): (a) Markus Öhler (Austria), ‘“The end is now”: Burial in Ancient Associations and Early Christianity’; Respondent: Harry O. Maier (Canada); (b) Hermut Löhr (Germany), ‘Death and Prayer in Early Christianity’; Respondent: Marianne Bjelland Kartzow (Norway); (c) Anders Runesson (Norway), ‘Resurrecting the Historical Jesus: The Importance of a Body to Locate a Soul’; Respondent: Sarah E. Rollens (USA).
9. The Historical Jesus: Methodology and Historiography (conveners: David de Toit and Helen Bond): (a) David du Toit (Germany), ‘Historical Axioms, Religious Imagination, and Memory: Rethinking Method in Determining the Date of Jesus’ Crucifixion’; (b) James Crossley (Norway), ‘The Next Quest for the Historical Jesus?’; Respondents: Sarah Rollens (USA) and Helen K. Bond (UK); (c) James McGrath (USA), ‘“The Son of Man Who Is to Come”: The Shared Expectations of John and Jesus’.
10. Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: Reassessment and Roads Forward (conveners: Simon Butticaz, Jens Schröter, and Janet Spittler): (a) Outi Lehtipuu (Finland), ‘“You, Too, Must Wake up and Open Your Soul!” The Physical and the Spiritual Resurrection in the Acts of John and Other Apocryphal Acts’; (b) Rémi Gounelle (France, guest), ‘A propos de quelques questions scientifiques soulevées par l'étude actuelle des Actes apocryphes des Apôtres’; (c) Annette Merz (Germany), ‘The Acts of Paul and Thecla in Intertextual Perspective: Methodological Considerations and Case Studies’.
11. Papyrology, Epigraphy, and the New Testament (conveners: Peter Arzt-Grabner and James R. Harrison): (a) Christina M. Kreinecker (Belgium) and John S. Kloppenborg (Canada): ‘Introducing the New Series “Papyri and the New Testament”’; (b) Peter Arzt-Grabner (Austria): ‘Galatians as a Letter’ (met jointly with Reading Galatians in New Perspectives Seminar); (c) Alan Cadwallader (Australia): ‘Romanization at Colossae’.
12. Reading Paul's Letters in Context: Theological and Social-Scientific Approaches (conveners: William S. Campbell and Judith Gundry): (a) Matthew Novenson (UK), ‘God, Cosmos, and Creation in the Letters of Paul’; (b) Gudrun Holtz (Germany), ‘The Early Jewish Abraham Tradition as Main Source of Paul's Theocentric Universalism in Romans’; (c) Sydney Tooth (UK, guest), ‘God in 1 and 2 Thessalonians’; Respondent: Todd D. Still (USA) (met jointly with God in the New Testament Seminar).
13. New Testament Textual Criticism (conveners: Claire Clivaz, Hugh Houghton, and Tommy Wasserman): (a) Claire Clivaz (Switzerland), ‘Heb 2:9 with Mk 15:34 and Ps 22 LXX’; Respondent: Harold Attridge (USA); (b) Martin Karrer (Germany) and Darius Müller (Germany, guest), ‘Text, Interpunktion, Paratexte – Perspektiven für eine künftige Edition des Hebräerbriefs’; Respondent: Ekaterini Tsalampouni (Greece, guest); (c) Gert Steyn (South Africa), ‘The Assumed Vorlage of Scriptural Citations in Hebrews’; Respondent: Annette Hüffmeier (Germany, guest).
14. Philo and Early Christianity (conveners: Per Jarle Bekken and Gregory E. Sterling): (a) Katell Berthelot (France, guest), ‘Abraham, War, and Peace: The Roman Background of Philo's Rewriting of Genesis 14 in De Abrahamo’; (b) Maren Niehoff (Israel), ‘“God is my ruler, but no mortal” (Sophocles, frag. 755): Philo of Alexandria, Paul, and Seneca on the Paradox of Freedom’; (c) Gregory E. Sterling (USA), ‘Natural Law and Civic Codes: Cicero and Philo on the Law of Nature’.
15. Acta Politica: The Book of Acts and the Political Culture of the Roman Empire (conveners: Knut Backhaus, Carl Holladay, and Daniel Marguerat): (a) Knut Backhaus (Germany), ‘Elitising the Margins: The Ennoblement of “Christianity” in the Book of Acts’; Respondent: Dennis R. MacDonald (USA); (b) Torsten Jantsch (Germany): ‘Jerusalem bei Lukas und bei zeitgenössischen römischen Autoren im Vergleich’; Respondent: Carolin Ziethe (Germany, guest); (c) Simon Butticaz (Switzerland), ‘Le rapport de l'Église à Israël: un enjeu politique pour Luc?’; Respondent: Bart J. Koet (Netherlands).
The Business Meetings
At the two business meetings of the Society, members formally elected Prof. Angela Standhartinger (Germany) to the post of President for the 78th General Meeting in Melbourne, Australia in 2024 (until which time she assumes the office of President-Elect). Additionally, the Committee nominated Prof. Cilliers Breytenbach (Germany) to serve as President at the 79th General Meeting in Regensburg, Germany in 2025. He is Presidential Nominee until the 2024 General Meeting in Melbourne, when his nomination will be put to the vote by the Society.
Profs. Régis Burnet (Belgium) and François Tolmie (South Africa), who retired from the Committee at the conclusion of the General Meeting, were thanked for their service to the Society. Prof. Simon Butticaz (Switzerland) and Dr Vicky Balabanski (Australia) were elected as their replacements and will serve on the Committee for a period of three years.
The Society received with regret news of the deaths of the following members: Georgios Galitis (Greece, July 2022); E.P. Sanders (USA, November 2022); Donald Senior (USA, November 2022); Wayne A. Meeks (Past President, USA, January 2023); Michael Lattke (Germany and Australia, February 2023); Anthony C. Thiselton (UK, February 2023); Jan Lambrecht (Belgium, March 2023); Peder Borgen (Past President, Norway, April 2023); Ioannis Karavidopoulos (Greece, April 2023); Martin Rese (Germany, July 2023); Wolfgang Stegemann (Germany, July 2023); and Heinz-Wolfgang Kuhn (Germany, July 2023). Members observed a minute's silence in memory of these colleagues.
Forty-four New Testament scholars were elected as members to the Society at the 2023 General Meeting: Olegs Andrejevs (USA); Henk A. Bakker (Netherlands); Max Botner (USA); Andrew Bowden (Germany); Timothy Brookins (USA); David Clint Burnett (USA); Wally V. Cirafesi (Sweden); Colleen M. Conway (USA); Jeremiah Coogan (USA); Robert Allen Derrenbacker, Jr. (Australia); Jan Dochhorn (UK); John Anthony Dunne (USA); David Eastman (USA); Rebekah Eklund (USA); Georg Gäbel (Germany); Desta Heliso Anshebo (UK); Jill Hicks-Keeton (USA); Jacqueline M. Hidalgo (USA); Elijah Hixson (USA); Lynn R. Huber (USA); Michael Jost (Switzerland); Lyn Kidson (Australia); Roy D. Kotansky (USA); Max J. Lee (USA); Jonathon Lookadoo (South Korea); Hugo Lundhaug (Norway); Susanne Luther (Germany); Katie Marcar (New Zealand); Joseph A. Marchal (USA); John W. Martens (Canada); Hugo Mendez (USA); David M. Moffitt (UK); Nicholas Moore (UK); Gudrun Nassauer (Switzerland); Julien Ogereau (Austria); Osvaldo Padilla (USA); Sarah Parkhouse (UK); Gregory S. Paulson (Germany); Matthew Pawlak (Luxembourg); Stefano Romanello (Italy); Daniel Schumann (Germany); Mothy Varkey (India); Kayle B. de Waal (Australia); and Heidi Wendt (Canada).
An additional nine Associate Members were also elected into SNTS membership: Laura J. Hunt (UK); Alex Ip (China); Maria B. Lang (Germany); Jonathan W. Lo (Canada); Anna Persig (Belgium); Christopher A. Porter (Australia); Alexandra Robinson (Australia); Masashi Sawamura (Japan); and Nathanael Xue-sheng Wang (Taiwan).
Subsequent to the election of these new members, Assistant Secretary, Prof. Christina M. Kreinecker, invited full members to nominate new members (up to two in each category) and reminded the membership of the possibility of nominating guests to participate at General Meetings. Further information on procedures may be found on the Society's website at https://snts.online/membership.
The Treasurer, Prof. Paul Foster (UK), spoke to his circulated report and the statement of accounts for the year ending on 31 May 2023. The members present at the business meeting received his report. With Prof. Foster's first term as Treasurer set to expire at the end of 2023, the Committee recommended to the membership that he be re-elected for a second term as Treasurer, beginning in January 2024. The members approved this recommendation.
The Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives, Prof. William Loader, spoke to his circulated report and highlighted various aspects therein. He reminded the membership that reports from Liaison Committees and their activities can be found online on the Society's website (https://snts.online/about-international-initiatives). He also invited members to lend support to regional initiatives. With Prof. Loader's second and final term as Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives concluding at the end of 2023, the President and the Society thanked Prof. Loader for a decade of dedicated and energetic service in the role. Relatedly, the Committee recommended that Prof. Gerbern Oegema (Canada) be named to serve as Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives for a five-year term beginning January 2024. The members affirmed this recommendation.
The Editor of New Testament Studies, Prof. Simon Gathercole (UK), offered a summary of a circulated report regarding the activity of the journal over the course of the past year. He highlighted various aspects of the report, including the current acceptance rate of approx. 25%. He also noted an increase in the publication of German and French articles in the journal as well as in submissions by female scholars. With submissions to the journal from twenty-four different countries, articles had been published from fourteen different countries. With Prof. Gathercole completing his term as Editor of the Journal and Secretary of the Editorial Board in December 2023, the Committee moved that Prof. Teresa Morgan (USA) be named Editor of the Journal and Secretary of the Editorial Board beginning January 2024. The Committee also recommended the appointment of Prof. Matthew Novenson (UK) as Associate Editor of the journal. Members approved both of these recommendations.
Prof. Catrin Williams (UK), Editor of the Monograph Series, offered a summary of a circulated report regarding the activity of the series over the course of the past year. In terms of new publications, she noted that one volume had been published, two volumes were in production, and two more were scheduled to appear later in the year. All five of these volumes, she reported, are authored by male scholars, and of the current twenty-four submissions to the series, only two were from female scholars. The Editor reported that goals for the series in the future include encouraging more female scholars to submit book manuscripts and reducing the turn-around time for submissions, which is currently six months. Additionally, with respect to the monograph series, the Committee recommended and members approved that Profs. Brittany Wilson (USA) and Matthew Thiessen (Canada) be appointed Associate Editors.
At the First Business Meeting, President Barclay reminded the Society that at last year's meeting in Leuven the membership voted by an overwhelming majority (89%) to affirm a Statement of Professional Conduct (see https://snts.online/additional-documents) for the Society. Relatedly, the President placed the following text before the members for consideration and conversation:
At the last Business Meeting (Leuven), the SNTS Statement of Professional Conduct was approved by a very large majority, and it has since been posted on the website, together with French and German translations. The Committee is working to draw up a procedure to handle reported breaches of professional conduct at SNTS meetings, which it will present to members for discussion and approval in due course. What is being proposed at this meeting is that, in future, all who register to attend an SNTS Conference be asked, at registration, to indicate: I have read and agree to abide by the SNTS Statement of Professional Conduct (with a hyperlink to the text of the Statement). This proposal will be open to discussion at the First Business Meeting, with a view to voting at the Second Business Meeting.
President Barclay led a discussion on the text cited above and asked members to bring forward any comments so that a vote could be taken at the second meeting. At the Second Business Meeting, members approved the following statement: ‘In the future, all who register to attend an SNTS Conference be asked, at registration, to indicate: “I have read and agree to abide by the SNTS Statement of Professional Conduct” (with a hyperlink to the text of the Statement).’
Near the close of the Second Business Meeting, Dr Ben Edsall (Australia), on behalf of the Local Organising Committee, made a presentation and extended an invitation to the Society to hold its 2024 General Meeting in Melbourne. The Society responded favourably to this kind offer.
As President Verheyden concluded the Second Business Meeting, he thanked all of those who had presented Main Papers, Short Papers, and Seminar Papers, as well as the conveners of the Seminars. He also expressed appreciation, on behalf of the Society, to the Committee, the Officers, and the Editors of the Society. Gratitude was also expressed to the local conference organisers, stewards, and volunteers for a very successful seventy-seventh General Meeting in Vienna, even as gifts were given to them as a token of the Society's appreciation.
Social Events
On Tuesday evening July 25, an opening reception and dinner were held in the arcaded courtyard of the main building of the University of Vienna. The Formal Conference Dinner took place on Wednesday, July 26 at the Rathauskeller. Additionally, on Thursday, July 27, there was a concert at the Audimax and a dinner at the Heuriger Schübel-Auer. Members and guests also participated in post-meeting excursions to the Wachau and to Carnuntum/Castle Schlosshof on Saturday, July 29.
Additional Meetings
On Tuesday, July 25, a welcome session was held in the Small Ceremonial Hall for new members and for members attending a meeting in person for the first time. After a short welcome by the President, the President-Elect, the Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, and Committee Members also offered a word of welcome to those in attendance. Those words of welcome were followed by individual introductions of new members and collegial exchange.
Additionally, as in recent years, female delegates convened in a special session in the course of the General Meeting. This year's gathering, which was held during lunch on Thursday, July 27, was organised and led by Profs. Judith Lieu (UK), Margaret M. Mitchell (USA), and Christina M. Kreinecker (Belgium).
Future General Meetings
The Society will meet in Melbourne, Australia, 23–27 July 2024 and in Regensburg, Germany, 5–8 August 2025.
SNTS Website
For matters and news pertaining to the Society, see https://snts.online.
