The Open Mind: Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland

307 Pages·2015·2.125 MB·English

by  Jonathan Knight, Chris Keith

LIBRARY OF NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES

522

Formerly Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series

Editor
Chris Keith

Editorial Board
Dale C. Allison, John M. G. Barclay, Lynn H. Cohick,
R. Alan Culpepper, Craig A. Evans, Robert Fowler, Simon J. Gathercole,
John S. Kloppenborg, Michael Labahn, Love L. Sechrest
Robert Wall, Steve Walton, Robert L. Webb, Catrin H. Williams
ii
THE OPEN MIND

Essays in Honour of Christopher Rowland

Edited by

Jonathan Knight
and
Kevin Sullivan

LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY
Bloomsbury T&T Clark
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Bloomsbury, T&T Clark and the Diana logo are trademarks
of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published 2015

© Jonathan Knight and Kevin Sullivan, 2015

Jonathan Knight and Kevin Sullivan have asserted their rights under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any
information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the
publishers.

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining
from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury
Academic or the authors.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: HB: 978-0-56765-851-7
ePDF: 978-0-56765-850-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Typeset by Forthcoming Publications Ltd (www.forthpub.com)
CONTENTS

Foreword vii
Abbreviations ix
Contributors xiii

Chapter 1
ESCAPE FROM THE WHEEL OF TIME:
THE COGNITIVE BASIS FOR GNOSTIC ASCENT PRACTICES
April D. DeConick 1

Chapter 2
ON TREES AND VISIONARIES:
THE ROLE OF THE COSMIC TREE AND RELATED MATERIAL
IN BARUCH, DANIEL AND PSEUDO-DANIELIC LITERATURE
Vicente Dobroruka 19

Chapter 3
PERFORMING THE COSMIC MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH
IN THE COMMUNITIES OF THE DIDACHE
Jonathan A. Draper 37

Chapter 4
THE SIMILITUDES OF ENOCH (1 ENOCH 37–71):
THE SON OF MAN, APOCALYPTIC MESSIANISM
AND POLITICAL THEOLOGY
Crispin Fletcher-Louis 58

Chapter 5
THE OPEN HELL:
A STUDY OF THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER
Paul Foster 80

Chapter 6
THE DESCENDING SON OF MAN IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN:
A POLEMIC AGAINST MYSTICAL ASCENT TO SEE GOD
Charles A. Gieschen 105

1
vi Contents
Chapter 7
HEAVENLY MYSTERIES AND EARTHLY RICHES:
AN APOCALYPTIC PERSPECTIVE ON THE PROPER USE
OF WEALTH IN THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE?
Andrew Gregory 130

Chapter 8
THE CHRISTOLOGY OF THE ASCENSION OF ISAIAH:
DOCETIC OR POLYMORPHIC?
Jonathan Knight 144

Chapter 9
BEFORE MARY AND JESUS THERE WAS RAPHAEL:
AN ANTECEDENT TO THE ANGELIC ‘INCARNATIONS’
OF JEWISH CHRISTIANITY AND ITS GOSPELS
Phillip Muñoa 165

Chapter 10
DRINK THE CUP WHICH I PROMISED YOU!’
(APOCALYPSE OF PETER 14.4):
PETER’S DEATH AND THE END OF TIMES
Tobias Nicklas 183

Chapter 11
THE DEMISE OF THE ANTAGONIST IN THE
APOCALYPTIC SCAPEGOAT TRADITION
Andrei A. Orlov 201

Chapter 12
READING LEVITICUS TODAY
J. W. Rogerson 224

Chapter 13
JESUS, ANGELS, AND THE HONEYCOMB IN LUKE 24.42
Kevin Sullivan 240

Bibliography 256
Index of References 275
Index of Authors 286

1
FOREWORD

Christopher Rowland has inspired more affection than almost any other
university teacher of theology in recent memory. Famed for his innova-
tive approaches to matters textual and non-textual, he has produced a
generation of committed students who all wanted to write something in
gratitude for what they have received from him. It is an honour for the
two editors, both former research students, to present this volume of
essays to him upon his retirement from the Dean Ireland’s chair at
Oxford.
We intend that this volume will complement the two other volumes
that have appeared in Chris’s honour: Radical Christian Voices and
Practice, edited by Zoe Bennett and David Gowler (Oxford, 2012), and
also Revealed Wisdom, edited by John Ashton (Brill, 2014). This is not
competition but collaboration. The fact that one man receives three such
volumes speaks volumes in itself. Radical Christian Voices and Practice
celebrates Chris’s contributions to marginalized voices in Christianity,
especially his work on the Anabaptists, Winstanley, the Diggers and
William Blake; while in the Ashton volume, colleagues from around the
world celebrate the numerous contributions he has made to Biblical
Studies with special reference to Apocalypticism and Revelation.
In the present volume, many of Chris’s former students and scholars
from the next generation have joined together to celebrate his outstanding
leadership and to thank him – and also to demonstrate to him, if he needs
such demonstration, the lasting impact that his teaching and scholarship
have exercised no less than globally. Angelology and Christology have
emerged as our central themes. This is not surprising, since The Open
Mind is inspired by The Open Heaven and Chris’s subsequent publica-
tions, which rede(cid:191)ned the concept of apocalypticism and opened new
vistas on the understanding of (cid:191)rst-century Christianity.
We are delighted to include an essay by John Rogerson of Shef(cid:191)eld,
himself an innovative and deeply Christian scholar. We are honoured to
have a contribution from such a distinguished scholar in our book.
We would like to thank Bloomsbury T&T Clark and the former editor
of the LNTS series, Mark Goodacre, for working with us on this volume
and for bringing it to birth.
viii Foreword
Several of Chris’s former students and colleagues were invited and
wanted to contribute, but were unable to do so due to other commit-
ments. We would like to mention Philip Davies, Bill Telford, Robin
Grif(cid:191)th-Jones, Helenann Hartley, John Lewis, and Catherine Playoust
in absentia. Along with them, we present this volume to Chris as token
of our respect, admiration, and appreciation.

Jonathan Knight and Kevin Sullivan
Easter 2014

1
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AB Anchor Bible
ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by D. N. Freedman. 6 vols.
New York, 1992
AGJU Arbeiten zur Geschichte des antiken Judentums und des
Urchristentums
AGSU Arbeiten zur Geschichte
ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers
ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und
Kultur Roms im Spiegel der neueren Forschung. Edited by
H. Temporini and W. Haase. Berlin, 1972–
AOAT Alter Orient und Altes Testament
ArBib The Aramaic Bible
BASP Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists
BDB Brown, F., S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs. A Hebrew and
English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford, 1907
BECNT Baker exegetical commentary on the New Testament
BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium
BIS Biblical Interpretation Series
BJS Brown Judaic Studies
BNTS Black’s New Testament Commentaries
BThSt Biblisch-theologische Studien
CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly
CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series
CCSA Corpus Christianorum. Series Apocryphorum
CNS Cristianesimo Nella Storia
CRINT Compendia rerum iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum
CTQ Concordia Theological Quarterly
DCLY Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Yearbook
DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert
DSAM Dictionnaire de spiritualité: ascétique et mystique, doctrine et
histoire. 17 vols. in 21 tomes. Paris, 1937–95
ECIL Early Christianity and its Literature
ExpTim Expository Times
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen
Testaments
GCS Die griechische christliche Schriftsteller der ersten [drei]
Jahrhunderte