Different portrayals of visions from the Apocalypse exhibit particular ‘readings’ of the text and reflect some of the contrasting exegetical approaches familiar to biblical exegetes. The article surveys the various ways in which artists have sought to enter into, and re-express, the content and character of the visions of John, offers synchronic interpretations of the Apocalypse, gives varying interpretations of the four horsemen, explores the dialectic between heaven and earth in ecclesial and eschatological readings, and engages in political interpretations of the Apocalypse. Historical analogies are offered in order to compare the exercise of imagination in art with other examples of visualizing biblical texts.

The parable core of the widow and the judge (Luke 18.2–5) is frequently considered so weak that it requires its commentaries for any meaningful message. The idea of a judge finally giving in to a pestering widow is hardly profound. Recent scholarly research, however, overturns that judgment when it becomes clear that women were not to frequent the male world of the courts. Thus the widow's frequent visits together with her brief and abrupt command to the judge combine to convey the image of a feisty widow rather than the conventionally meek and subservient role assumed for her. As a result, a long-standing discomfort over how to render the Greek in the judge's stated reasons for granting her justice (v. 5) has its grounds for struggle removed. The climax of the parable makes Luke 18.2–5 one of the most socially critical of the parable collection.

This paper seeks first to refute the recent thesis of J. R. Edwards that the Gospel of the Ebionites may be identified as a source of Luke. It then discusses the importance of the Gospel of the Ebionites as a potential witness to two variant readings in the synoptic tradition, and argues that its evidence deserves a place in the apparatus to Luke 3.22 in hand editions of the Greek NT.

The role of the mother of Jesus is explored in view of ancient constructions of paternity especially as expressed in the Aristotelian theory of epigenesis. It concludes that beyond framing Jesus' life in the flesh, she is present under the cross as his kin in a group uniquely composed of family and friends together. As Jesus entrusts her and the beloved disciple to each other, a process is begun whereby a familia dei comes into being – in which the matter provided by the mother is superfluous. These children are begotten/born from above ‘not of blood(s) or of the will of flesh or of the will of man but of God’ – alone.

This paper focuses on the didactic function of the interpretation of Jesus' death in each of the Gospels as it is conveyed through the narrative's implicit commentary. It suggests that the evangelists tied the developing self-understanding of the emerging Christian communities to the death of Jesus. Mark interprets the church as a new ‘temple not made with hands’. Matthew relates the death of Jesus to the signs of the end-time and the hope of resurrection. Luke provides ethical instruction for the church, interpreting Jesus' martyrdom as a noble death, and John develops a rich portrait by which the church could define itself through the themes, images, and allusions of the Johannine passion narrative.

Die lukanische Darstellung der Jerusalemer Gemeinde ist von vielerlei Einflüssen geprägt. Unbeachtet blieben bisher Elemente, die sich auch und vor allem im antiken Vereinswesen finden: familienähnliche Beziehungen, das Freundschaftsideal, die Gütergemeinschaft als Wohltäterschaft einzelner, die zentrale Bedeutung von Mahlfeiern, die Versammlung in Privaträumen, die hierarchische Struktur sowie eine grundsätzliche egalitäre Ausrichtung. Diese Parallelen, aber auch die Differenzen im Blick etwa auf die Bedeutung von Status und den uneingeschränkten Zugang zur christlichen Gemeinde, lassen das Profil der lukanischen Darstellung geschärft hervortreten: Lukas wollte eine neue Form von Gemeinschaft, die antike Ideale verwirklicht und übersteigt.

The unresolved difficulty of Acts 18.12–17 involves finding an adequate explanation for the (seemingly) unprovoked hostile reaction of the crowd toward Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue in Corinth. This investigation places this incident within the larger social context of urban uprisings and mob violence in the Roman world in order to highlight the socio-economic factors (poverty, overcrowding, etc.) that inevitably gave rise to such frequent outbursts of urban aggression during this period. As such, this study illumines not only Acts 18, but other passages in Acts where mob violence plays a leading role.

Whenever a blast of turbulence falls upon the assembly … we find jibes and brawling and laughter.

Dio Chrysostom

This article explores dimensions of the pre-Christian religious beliefs of Paul's converts in Galatia to gain a better understanding of the contextual setting of his letter. The research draws on a corpus of inscriptions that have come to be known as the ‘Lydian-Phrygian confessional inscriptions’, as well as inscriptions from the cult of Hosios and Dikaios (‘Holy’ and ‘Just’). The author concludes that the obligation to fulfill cultic requirements and perform good works to maintain a favorable standing with the local deities in their pre-Christian religious experience would have made the Galatian Christians susceptible to the message of Paul's opponents.

In 1997 T. C. Skeat, at 90 years of age, published an important article entitled ‘The Oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels?’ in New Testament Studies.T. C. Skeat, ‘The Oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels?’, NTS 43 (1997) 1–34. This article has recently been reprinted in J. K. Elliott (ed.), The Collected Biblical Writings of T. C. Skeat (NovTSup 113; Leiden: Brill, 2004) 158–92. Skeat was born on 15 Feb 1907, so I suppose there is a chance that the first issue of the year may have been published when he was but 89. He died on 25 June 2003. For an obituary by J. K. Elliott (reprinted from The Independent of 8 July 2003), see TC 8 (2003): http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol08/Skeat2003obit.html. In this article Skeat put forward a number of important arguments concerning the papyrus fragments P64 and P67 (which have long been recognised as fragments of Matthew's Gospel from the same original manuscript) and P4 (which comprises material from Luke's Gospel). Skeat argued that all these fragments came from the same original manuscript – a position already advocated by some other scholars; he went further, to argue that this original manuscript was a single-quire codex containing Matthew, John, Luke and Mark (probably in that order, although this is not a central feature of the argument) dating from late in the second century, and thus indeed was ‘The Oldest Manuscript of the Four Gospels’.