The New Testament and Hellenistic Judaism

294 Pages·1997·10.37 MB·English

by  Peder Borgen

THE NEW
TESTAMENT
AND
HELLENISTIC
JUDAISM
Dedicated to Nils Alstrup Dahl
Jakob Jónsson †
Aimo Nikolainen
Bent Noack
Harald Riesenfeld
THE NEW
TESTAMENT
AND
HELLENISTIC
JUDAISM
P E D ER B O R G EN
SØR EN G I V E R S EN
E D I T O RS
HENDRICKSON
Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.
P O. Box 3473
Peabody, Massachusetts 01961-3473
ISBN: 1-56563-261-3
THE NEW TESTAMENT AND HELLENISTIC JUDAISM, edited by Peder Borgen
and S0ren Giversen © Aarhus University Press, 1995. Hendrickson Publishers'
edition reprinted by arrangement with:
Aarhus University Press
Building 170
University of Aarhus
DK-8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
Fax [phone]
For the Hendrickson edition, Nikolaus Walter's article "Hellenistische
Diaspora-Juden an der Wiege des Urchristentums" was translated into English by
Doris Glenn Wagner.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond what
is permitted by copyright law) without the original publisher's permission. This
applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms, and storage and
processing in electronic systems.
First printing — February 1997
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The New Testament and Hellenistic Judaism / edited by Peder Borgen and
Soren Giversen.
Papers read at a conference at the Faculty of Theology, University of
Aarhus, Feb. 8-10, 1992.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN 1-56563-261-3 (pbk.)
1. Bible. N.T.—Criticism, interpretation, etc.—Congresses. 2. Judaism—
History—Post-exilic period, 586 B.C.-210 A.D.—Congresses. 3. Judaism—
Relations—Christianity—Congresses. 4. Christianity and other religions—
Judaism—Congresses. 5. Church history—Primitive and early church,
ca. 30-600—Congresses. I. Borgen, Peder. II. Giversen, S0ren.
BS2351.2.N46—1997
225.67—dc21 96-52508
CIP
Preface
"The New Testament and Hellenistic Judaism" was the subject of a conference
at the Faculty of Theology in the University of Aarhus from February 8-10,
1992, as one in a series of conferences held to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary
of the establishment Theology as an independent Faculty.
Some of the conferences were arranged on a local basis, others as meetings
of international academic societies. This conference was arranged by a group
of New Testament scholars from the universities in Trondheim, Uppsala, Abo
and Aarhus, in cooperation with the Institute of New Testament at the
University of Aarhus (now part of the Institute of Old and New Testament).
This institute had the privilege of serving as the organizer and host of the
conference.
The conference was made possible thanks to grants from different
foundations. A very substantial grant from NOS-H, offered by the Nordic
group of scholars mentioned above, was matched by the same amount from the
Faculty of Theology in Aarhus; grants were also provided by the Aarhus
University Research Foundation and the Danish Research Council for the
humanities. We would like to express a warm thanks for this financial support,
which made the conference possible.
The papers which follow were read at the conference. The editorial work
has been financed by additional funding from NOS-H. The publication has
been made possible by grants from the Danish Research Council for the
Humanities, the Aarhus University Research Foundation and the Faculty of
Theology. The editors, Professor Peder Borgen and myself, are very grateful for
this support.
The conference papers were prepared for publication thanks to the efforts
of my co-editor Professor Peder Borgen, who — when, I was hindered in this
task by the serious illness of my wife, Inge Giversen, and her death on April
25th 1993 — took nearly all the burden upon himself. I wish to thank Professor
Peder Borgen for this, just as I wish to thank Professor Borgen and the other
members of the Nordic group: Professor Lars Hartman (Uppsala), Professor
Karl-Gustav Sandelin (Abo) and research fellow Per Jarle Bekken (Trondheim),
both for their contributions to the conference as well as for the pleasant days
when I took part in some of their annual meetings in Uppsala.
Aarhus, May 1994 S0ren Giversen

Contents
Peder Borgen
Introduction 9
Soren Giversen
The Covenant — theirs or ours? 14
Lars Hartman
"Guiding the Knowing Vessel of your Heart" 19
Nikolaus Walter
Hellenistic Jews of the Diaspora at the Cradle of Primitive Christianity 37
Marinus de Jonge
The so-called Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
and Early Christianity. 59
James H. Charlesworth
The Son of David: Solomon and Jesus 72
Adela Yarbro Collins
Apotheosis and Resurrection 88
Aage Pilgaard
The Hellenistic Theios Aner — A Model for Early Christian Christology? 101
Johannes Nissen
The Distinctive Character of the New Testament Love Command in
Relation to Hellenistic Judaism 123
Peder Borgen
Some Hebrew and Pagan Features in Philo's and Paul's Interpretation
of Hagar and Ishmael 151
Karl Gustav Sandelin
Does Paul Argue Against Sacramentalism and Over-Confidence
in 1 Cor 10.1-14? 165
Per Jarle Bekken
Paul's Use of Deut 30.12-14 in Jewish Context 183
Niels Hyldahl
Paul and Hellenistic Judaism in Corinth 204
Niels Willert
The Catalogues of Hardships in the Pauline Correspondence:
Background and Function 217
Ole Davidsen
The Structural Typology of Adam and Christ. Some Modal-Semiotic
Comments on the Basic Narrative of the Letter to the Romans 244
Abbreviations 263
Index of Names 265
Index Locorum 273
Introduction
Peder Borgen
I
In his opening study Seven Giversen outlines the background and goals of this
collection of essays on the theme "The New Testament and Hellenistic Juda­
ism". An important aspect of the background is the fact that a substantial part
of the New Testament is either written in the Jewish Diaspora or to members
of the Diaspora — or written because of a relationship to the Jewish Diaspora.
In the relationship between Early Christianity and its Jewish context a central
issue was the different views on the covenant. How did the Christians in the
first two centuries AD understand the covenant? Also sources outside of the
New Testament throw light upon this question, as for example the Epistle of
Barnabas. Here the issue is sharply formulated: "But let us see whether this
people (= the Christians) or the former people (= the Jews) is the heir, and if
the covenant is for us or for them". The answer of the writer of the Epistle is
that the covenant, the testament, of Jesus is the fulfilment of the Bible. In
various ways the contributions in this volume illuminate this and related
issues.
II
Thus, Hellenistic Judaism is primarily the Judaism of the Diaspora, in the
Roman Empire outside of Palestine. Here, the most extensive collection of
sources is found in the Jewish community of Alexandria. From these numerous
texts, it is evident that there had been Jewish school activity in Alexandria at
least two centuries before Philo's time. Therefore, Philo represents a long
scholastic tradition. It is thus appropriate, at the beginning of this volume, to
depict the religious life that is reflected in such Alexandrian Jewish texts as The
Epistle of Aristeas, Aristobulus, Artapanus, Demetrius the Chronographer,
Ezekiel the Tragedian, The Sibylline Oracles 3, The Book of Wisdom, and other
sources. This is done by Lars Hartman, who examines how Bible study formed
frames of references for the Jews and provided them with roles with which
they could identify themselves in times of political or social pressures as well
as in everyday life. Scripture formed people's way of looking at the world. This
attitude towards Scripture was something which the Church later learned from
Judaism.