Here’s how it began: I was presenting my paper at the “Reversed Thunder” Psalms conference at St Andrews, and one of the people in the audience, known to me only as “Richard”, had a cross expression on his face and his head in his hands.  “Sheesh”, I thought, “He is NOT happy with my work!”  Anyway, I later found out that, like me, he would be attending the British New Testament Conference in Aberdeen.  On the train to Aberdeen I started thinking, “Hmm… that guy looked mighty familiar.  Are there any famous “Richards” in theology at St Andrews?”  Suddenly it hit me: RICHARD BAUCKHAM!

When I got to the BNTC, sure enough, it was him.  I had to find out – what did he think of my paper???  I found myself alongside him and asked him if he would mind giving me any feedback about the paper I’d given on Paul’s reception of the Psalms.  He paused for a moment, and then looked at me: “I think you were right!”  PHEW!  He liked it!  Michael Bird later explained to me that there are three different facial expressions that are easily confused by the casual observer: Consternation, Concentration, and Constipation – the three Cs.  Turned out I’d thought Bauckham was doing number one when in fact he was doing number… the second one.

Anyway, Bauckham and I sat down over dinner at BNTC and kept chatting about my paper and research – and then, lo and behold, Larry Hurtado asked if he could join us.  We spent the next hour or two chatting about 1 Corinthians, the arts, universities, and theology.  I confess I did think at the time that Nick Norelli would be envious!  Both of them were really nice, and didn’t even mind me admitting that the two of them merge in my mind whenever I think of their works.  Bauckham helpfully suggested I could have a general mental image of “Bauck-ardo”.  Good stuff!  Further reports on the conferences will follow, as I think of them…

I heard today that the Society for New Testament Studies is coming to Perth, Western Australia in 2013.  Here’s the deal: If you come along, I’ll show ya round.

One of the most significant churches in the world must surely be the Cathedral in Rome – that is, the church of which the Pope is bishop.  But the curious thing is that, in front of the various little shrines, there are no candles to be seen.  “So,” I hear you demand, “how does one express devotion at the shrines around the edge of the cathedral, if one cannot light a candle?”  Look below, dear reader, and be impressed:

Here is a tomb inscription at a church (“Michaelhouse”) in historic Cambridge, UK:

And where, you ask, is this to be found in this central Cambridge church?

• In the cemetary?
• On the floor of the church?
• Embedded in the wall, underneath a solemn stained-glass window?

No, dear reader.  Here is the view that this tombstone has:

…back to more theological posts soon!

Today I got back from Rome, and early tomorrow morning I head off to Cambridge for the week.  When I get back I plan to do a few posts arising from papers given at SBL, but in the meantime, here is a conversation overheard outside the Pantheon in Rome, involving the young woman in the picture…  I don’t know her name, so refer to her as Athena, the Greek goddess of intelligence:

Companion: [Such and such] occurred in 120BC

Athena: BC????!!!!  [pause]… So how long did BC go for?

Companion: Err… well, you know – forever – up until Jesus was born.

Athena: Oh.   When was Jesus born?

Companion: Well 2009 years ago, because it’s now the year 2009.

Athena [incredulous]: Oh come on!  That’s AD!!

sigh…

Well I’m currently in Rome for the International SBL meeting.  I’m in an internet cafe so no time for a proper post… But here are some things that have happened during my time in Rome (I have been here since Sunday):

• I have been impressed with Italian coffee
• I have presented a paper on 1 Corinthians
• I have heard some very interesting papers on the Greek language
• I have been unwillingly groped by a sleazy Italian man who said I had a cute butt
• I have toured the Vatican
• I have eaten raw meat
• I have met some great people
• I have taken lots of photos of the Roman Forum – the large ancient site

As soon as I get back from Rome I’ll be off to Cambridge for the Tyndale conference, but after that I’ll aim to post a few highlights, complete with photos…

Paul, believe it or not, would agree completely with Plato, when Plato says in Phaedrus 246c:

All together it is called a living being: soul and body together.  It is designated as mortal; it is not for any reason to be considered immortal.

That is, for Paul as for Plato, human beings (including Christians) are emphatically mortal, not immortal.  But whereas Plato thinks that this is the case because the immortal soul has become weighed down by the mortal body, Paul thinks that humans are not immortal because they are not God, and belong to Adam’s fallen race.  This is an important lesson for the Corinthians to learn – given that they seem to assume they have already entered into immortality:

⁵⁰ I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood [elsewhere, Paul's term for "humans"] cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

For Paul, Christians are presently mortal… but when Christ appears and raises the dead, they will share the immortality that is rightly his:

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

    ⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
       Where, O death, is your sting?”

    ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Christians of the early centuries responded to this hope by facing their churches toward the East, where the Lord was expected to return… and they buried their dead in the same way.  Here is a Christian woman, buried in Nemea (near Corinth) in the 6th century.  Her head is raised on a pillow and she is facing the East, awaiting resurrection and immortality when her Lord returns:

⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

This brings our little series on the world of 1 Corinthians to a close.

1 Corinthians 15…

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

“Death” is the one topic in 1 Corinthians 15 that is more prevalent than “resurrection”…  It seems that the Christians in Corinth were “mortiphobic”, acting as though they had already entered into immortality and had no need to bear crosses in the present.  But Paul insists that the one prerequisite for resurrection is death, which casts its shadow over the Christian life in the shape of the cross.

And death in Corinth, as elsewhere, was not an attractive prospect.

Pausanius, 2.2.4: And as one goes up to Corinth, there are tombs along the road.

Heroes reclining at a funeral in Corinth:

“…My blessed wife died the eleventh day before the Kalends of September”:

These touching grave stones from Athens show the utter grief associated with death – Notice the downcast faces, the longing for connection with the living, and the loss of the treasures of this life:

Sirach 41:1-3; Septuagint

O death [ō thanate], how bitter is the thought of you to a person [anthrōpō] living at peace among their possessions, to one who is free of distractions and blessed [euodoumenō] in all things, and still strong [ischuonti] enough to partake in food!

O death, how good your judgement [krima] is to the person who is needy [epideomenō] and who lacks strength; to the one who is in old age, and is beset by all sorts of distractions, and who despairs, and who has lost endurance [hupomonēn].

Do not fear the judgement of death: Remember those who have come before you, and those who will come later: This is the judgement of the Lord on all flesh [pasē sarki].

Tomorrow – Easter Saturday: Silence…

And so, on the eve of Good Friday (on which day this blog turns one year old), we come to the institution of the Lord’s Supper, and the Corinthian failure to understand it:

²⁰ So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord’s Supper you eat, ²¹ for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. ²² Don’t you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not in this matter!

    ²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

How, in Paul’s view, were the Corinthians failing to participate in the Lord’s Supper?  In a way parallel to every other issue in chs.8-14 of 1 Corinthians: They were exercising Christian knowledge/freedom/rights/experiences in a spirit of autonomous rivalry rather than in a spirit of love… they were failing to see that participation in Christ means participation in Christ’s body, the church.

The image of the “body” for a mutually contributing group was not new with Paul – it was used by others, especially as an image of a properly functioning city.  Plato, you’ll recall, parallels a properly functioning person with a properly functioning city, in which each member plays its appropriate role.  Maximus of Tyre, just after the time of Paul, writes:

Oration 15.4-5: But a city is something brought together by the joint work [sunergatōn] of all.  The use of the body [sōmatos] is similar, which itself has many parts [polumerēs] and many requirements [poludeēs], and is preserved [sōzetai] by the joint aim of the parts [merōn] toward the corporation of the whole: Feet carry, hands work, eyes see, ears hear, and so on, lest I speak pedantically.  But if the Phrygian story-maker wanted to compose a myth in which the foot, being fed up with the rest of the body [sōmati], gave up, due to weariness, carrying and lifting such a heavy load, and pursued leisure and rest; or if the molars, because of grinding and producing food for such a crowd, grew angry, and, being asked, refused to give attention to their proper work – if these things happened at once, what other than the destruction of the person would ensue in the myth?  This sort of thing is indeed what happens with regard to the political fellowship [tēn koinōnian tēn politikēn]!

But for Paul, the idea of the “body” is not simply a useful analogy; it’s central to his understanding of what a Christian is – a believer belongs to Christ, and so shares in his body – thus one can’t share in the bread which is his body, while concurrently…

…Cursing other members of the body in the name of Jesus, following the pattern of contemporary curse tablets – many of which have been found in Ancient Corinth:

³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus curse,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

…or placing one’s “spirituality” on display, imitating the individualistic, provocative, and status-based expressions of prayer/ritual/mystical expression common to the surrounding areas:

² For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. ³ But those who prophesy speak to people for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. ⁴ Those who speak in a tongue edify themselves, but those who prophesy edify the church.

Tomorrow – Good Friday: Death in Corinth

The agora of Ancient Corinth had idols and temples all around, from the large Temple of Apollo and the (Roman Imperial cult) Temple of Octavia, down to little shrines and monuments.  None of the shops were far from temples, and the meat-market, which was along the Lechaion Road, would only have stocked meat that had been sacrificed to idols – thus Paul’s recommendation that they eat it without asking questions!

Pausanius 2.2.6: The things worthy of speaking about in the city are still left from ancient times, though many of them come from the latter [i.e. Roman] period of the city’s prime.  On the agora – where many of the temples are found – are Artemis, surnamed Ephesian, and a wooden Dionysus, covered in gold except for their faces.

The temple of Apollos (one of my favourite pics from our time in Corinth):

The agora:

The shops below the Temple of Apollo:

Close up of same shops:

West shops:

Front of Temple of Octavia:

Temple of Octavia from behind:

Tomorrow: Headcoverings and Worship