The identity of the κατάλυμα in Luke 2.7 has been debated among Western scholars for over five hundred years. Proposals have ranged from an inn to a guest room. This article argues that the term κατάλυμα has a generic sense of ‘place to stay’ and that the final clause of Luke 2.7 should be rendered ‘because they had no space in their place to stay’. Moreover, three clues in the context—Joseph's compliance with the census order, the betrothal of Mary, and the manger—suggest that the accommodations presupposed by Luke are a marital chamber too small for giving birth.

This article explores the interconnection between intellection and life in ancient theology and philosophy by means of a reexamination of Paul's famous Areopagus discourse. Instead of reading the speech as an attempt at theological rapprochement, this essay interprets the speech as a place where fundamentally different grammars for the whole of life come into conflict.

Building on the research done by E. J. Epp, B. D. Ehrman situates the origin of the ancestor of the text of Codex Bezae in an anti-Semitic milieu, which would explain the anti-Judaic tendencies of that text. This localisation of the ideological discourse in a specific milieu characterized by a negative stance toward the Jewish people on ethnic grounds seems to rest on the assumption that the text was produced by a non-Jewish Christian. The goal of the present contribution is to test this assumption as it relates to the text of the Acts of the Apostles in the Codex Bezae. With the aid of the concept of ethnicity, and especially the idea of common ancestry, we aim to discover how this text, compared to the text of Codex Vaticanus, depicts the relation of ethnic identity with the Jewish people. Contrary to what might be expected from Ehrman's suggestion, the text of Acts in Codex Bezae emphasizes the indicators of Jewish ethnic identity.

Engeance pacifique, les spécialistes du Nouveau Testament et des origines chrétiennes sont souvent irrités par le grand retentissement que connaissent des théories tapageuses présentées au public par des personnes plus ou moins qualifiées. Nous avons quelque peine à admettre que des travaux aussi contestables monopolisent l'attention d'un grand nombre de lecteurs et leur dissimulent les recherches scientifiques sérieuses dont les auteurs ne visent ni au scandale ni à un succès facile. Toutefois, il est relativement aisé de traiter ces phénomènes déplaisants par l'indifférence ou, le cas échéant, par l'ironie.

Luke's account of the anointing of Jesus (Luke 7. 36–50) seems to be one of the gospel stories which critics have examined somewhat in isolation from the context of the surrounding material. One reason for this may be that Luke has told his story almost too well, if that is possible, so that the account of the woman's act of overflowing love and its contrast with the Pharisee's lack of care for his invited guest can easily be read as a self-contained unit. It has certainly provided useful ammunition for those who have sought to denigrate the Pharisaic outlook by comparing it with Christian love; moreover, as Dibelius recognised, the woman's action and Luke's six-fold repetition which emphasises forgiveness would have made the story very valuable for illustrating sermons.

3. Neue Fragmente zu75

Im letzten Bericht (N.T.S. xx (1974), 357–81) wurden ‘Neue Fragmente zu 66’ veröffentlicht (S. 376–81). Es handelte sich dabei um sechs der ‘Fragments non placés’ der Ausgabe. Sie waren von den Herausgebern trotz aller aufgewandten Mühe als unidentifizierbar aufgegeben worden, mit Hilfe des Münsteraner ‘Fragment-Identifizierungsprogramms’ gelang es, den Textzusammenhang einwandfrei festzustellen, in den sie gehören. Wie dieses Identifizierungsprogramm arbeitet, das auf der Einschaltung des Computers basiert, ist im vorigen Bericht kurz dargestellt und wird in einem Aufsatz: ‘Über die Möglichkeit der Identifikation kleiner Fragmente neutestamentlicher Handschriften mit Hilfe des Computers’, der demnächst erscheint, ausführlich dargelegt werden. Damals war bereits auf die Existenz von bisher unidentifizierten Fragmenten zu 75 hingewiesen worden. Ihre Zahl hat sich inzwischen dank der Anwendung des ‘Fragment-Identifizierungsprogramms’ in Münster von früher vier auf elf erhöht, so scheint es an der Zeit, sie der Öffentlichkeit bekannt zu machen.

The Epistle of James is not commonly seen in relation to early Christian common meals. At the same time, the work is preoccupied with the common life of an early Christian community, which in turn was, generally speaking, closely related to the way in which it celebrated its meals. In other words, ethics, ecclesiology, and etiquette were closely related. Based on this consideration, this essay attempts to relate aspects of the epistle to symposiastic conventions as they were known in the first-century Mediterranean world.

Bittgebete gehören zu den besonderen Ausdrucksformen religiöser Überzeugungen. Schon in der Antike lassen sich Beziehungen zwischen Bitten, die an Menschen adressiert sind, und Bitten, die an Gott bzw. Götter gerichtet werden, ausmachen, Für einen Vergleich mit Ermutigungen zum Bittgebet im Matthäusevangelium werden Beispiele aus den Epigrammen Martials vorgestellt. Der Bittsteller, der bei Martial vor allem materielle Güter anstrebt, scheut sich beim Bitten nicht, den Kaiser mit Jupiter zu parallelisieren. Doch prägt ihn die Unsicherheit, ob die ausgesprochenen Bitten Gewährung finden. Von ‘Erhörungsgewißheit’, wie sie für die verglichenen Texte im Matthäusevangelium kennzeichnend ist, kann nicht gesprochen werden. In den Epigrammen Martials wird vor allem um die Steigerung persönlicher Lebensqualität gebeten. Demgegenüber begegnen bei Matthäus Gemeinschaftsbitten, die nicht nur persönliche Interessen im Auge haben. Nicht die bloße materielle Existenzsicherung oder persönliche Bedürfnisbefriedigung ist hier das Thema, sondern die Herrschaft Gottes.

In view of some ‘Pauline’ sounding phrases, Eph 2.8-9 is held to be one of the most adequate receptions of the theologoumenon of justification by faith, not works. So could the text be an indicator in the discussion about the right ‘Perspective on Paul’? This paper argues instead that we should read Eph 2.8-9 in its own context and that means first of all that we should follow the flow of the dominant metaphor of ‘dead and alive’. While some phrases might be a Pauline reminiscence, the text as a whole deals with the grace of God in order to substantiate the demand for a life lived according to God's will, as described in greater detail in Ephesians 4–6. Nevertheless Eph 2.1-10 is broadly coherent with Paul's theology.

The recent history of the modern Chabad (Lubavitcher) movement of Hasidic Judaism provides insight into the development of early Christianity. In both movements successful eschatological prophecies have increased belief in the leader's authority, and there is a mixture of ‘already’ and ‘not yet’ elements. Similar genres of literature are used to spread the good news (e.g. miracle catenae and collections of originally independent sayings). Both leaders tacitly accepted the messianic faith of their followers but were reticent about acclaiming their messiahship directly. The cataclysm of the Messiah's death has led to belief in his continued existence and even resurrection.

It is generally agreed among contemporary scholars that the modern critique of the authorship claim of the New Testament letters addressed to Timothy and Titus originated in early nineteenth-century Germany with the studies of Schmidt and Schleiermacher on 1 Timothy. However, a late eighteenth-century study by the British clergyman Edward Evanson challenges this consensus as it proves Titus to have been suspect of pseudonymity before. This ‘new’ perspective found in Evanson's neglected source also nuances the common assumption that from its very beginnings the critical campaign against the letters' authenticity was mainly driven by linguistic considerations.

The conclusion to the parable of the tenants in Mark (12.1b–9) involves the vineyard owner killing the refractory tenants and re-letting his vineyard to others. In legal terms the man employs ‘self-help’ – the satisfaction of a real or pretended claim without the permission of the defendant or the intervention of a court. Most advocates of a metaphorical approach to the parable (Pesch, Snodgrass, Evans, Hultgren), and some who argue that Jesus spoke in realistic fiction, have argued or assumed that Mark 12.9 is an original part of the parable, believing it to be a ‘realistic’ element of Mark's story. But an examination of Greek, Roman, Graeco-Egyptian, and biblical legal rulings indicates that resorts to self-help were discouraged and even criminalized in this period. Mark 12.9 is not a realistic component of the parable, but is part of its secondary allegorization.

Le texte d'Habacuc (ii. 4.): ó δίκαιος έκ πίστεως ήσεται semble avoir joué un grand role dans la réflexion théologique de saint Paul: it apparaît d'abord en Gal. iii. 11, puis en Rom. i. 17; et les deux fois comme une sorte de résumé de la doctrine paulinienne sur la foi. C'est à déterminer son importance pour l'intelligence de Rom. i-viii qu'est consacrée la présente monographie.

In John 2. 4 there is a peculiar Greek idiom which has not only given almost every translator difficulty, but which is, in the opinion of the writer, both a key to the way in which the author of the Fourth Gospel used his sources, and to his interpretation of Jesus. The verse reads ‘And Jesus said to her: τί έμοί καί σοί; woman, my hour has not yet come.’