Crispin Fletcher-Louis | University of Gloucestershire (original) (raw)

Current Activity by Crispin Fletcher-Louis

11th Enoch Seminar: Apocalypticism: History, Method, and Reception, , 2021

The Aramaic chapters (2–7) of Daniel comprise its conceptual, generic and traditiona-historical c... more The Aramaic chapters (2–7) of Daniel comprise its conceptual, generic and traditiona-historical core. This paper presents a fresh interpretation of their two parts (chs. 2–6 + 7) with a view to confirmation of a working hypothesis for a new approach to the genre apocalypse. The earliest exemplars of the genre articulate and promulgate a particular epistemology, grounded in two phenomena: firstly, the belief that God created humanity to be his ṣelem and demut (Gen 1:26–28, cf. 2:7–25) and, secondly, Israel’s covenant institutions, especially its temple, personnel and liturgy that provide, in representative miniature, a chaos-free and perfected heaven and earth. These two—a personal ontology and cultic cosmology—grant to individuals (qua ṣelem ʾelōhim) direct and intimate contact with divine and heavenly realities, in a way both comparable to but different from pagan attempts to secure divine presence and revelation.
In Daniel 2–7 a major theme is the nature of divine presence that makes genuine revelation possible. This is first signalled in 2:11 when the Chaldean diviners’ words of protestation condemn their own claims to be able to access divine knowledge. The stories that follow claim that two kinds of divine “dwelling with flesh” are possible for God’s people. In chapters 2–6 God dwells with covenant faithful Israelites, exemplified by Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel is filled with the divine spirit (cf. Gen 2:7) and his friends’ covenant faithful character exemplifies a fulfilment of the original intention for humanity set out in Gen 1:26–28. Three aspects of that passage are explored in the stories of Dan 2–6, in ways that anticipate the characterization of the “one like a son of man” and “the holy ones” in 7:13–27. In chapters 2, 4 and 6 there is royal rule (cf. Dan 7:14). There is worship of Daniel (2:46) and of the man figure (7:14) that makes best sense as narrative exegesis of what it means that humanity was created to be God’s living image idol (Gen 1:26–28). And thirdly, in the exaltation of Daniel and his friends, there is a democratization of kingship, as in Genesis (cf. 7:27). This thoroughgoing debt to Gen 1–3 explains the feature of Dan 2–7 that sets it apart generically. Spirit-filled Israelites have direct access to the kind of divine revelation which pagans sought, unsuccessfully, through divination because the function, in effect, as God’s living cult statues.
All this prepares for the climactic chapter, where God comes to dwell, on earth, in the Jerusalem temple (7:9–27, cf. 2:11). The chapter assumes a familiar (non-dualistic) Israelite and ancient Near Eastern temple cosmology. None of the standard explanations of the “one like a son of man” figure (Dan 7:13–14) is without serious problems. Those problems are avoided and all that can be said about the “one like a son of man” is best explained if he is a new high priest coming to God in clouds of (heavenly) incense (cf. Lev 16). He sums up, in his representative office, what has been said about the Israelites in chs. 2–6 (cf. 7:27). His divine, human and royal (and angelic?) character fits what we now know of contemporary beliefs about Israel’s high priestly office (cf. esp. Ben Sira 50). The holy ones (vv. 18, 22 …) are priests (and Levites?) and there are striking linguistic connections between 7:14–27 and portions of the Aramaic Levi Document. The primary burden of Daniel 7 is a particular (messianic) political theology, not a transcendent eschatology.
Read this way, Daniel 2–7 promulgates a particular way of knowing and acting, grounded in Israel’s scriptures’ distinctive experience of, or vision for, what it means to be human. That vision was nurtured by temple liturgy and cosmology.

An annotated translation of Hebrew Ben Sira 49:16–50:21: The most important ancient Jewish text n... more An annotated translation of Hebrew Ben Sira 49:16–50:21: The most important ancient Jewish text not included in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.

Details available here: https://jesusmonotheism.com/collectedworks1/

Books by Crispin Fletcher-Louis

The Divine Heartset: Paul’s Philippians Christ Hymn, Metaphysical Affections, and Civic Virtues, 2023

Summary of contents, digital edition and accompanying resources at www.divineheartset.com

Volume 1 of Jesus Monotheism was published in 2015. Volumes 2–4 are forthcoming. This publication... more Volume 1 of Jesus Monotheism was published in 2015. Volumes 2–4 are forthcoming. This publication summarises the argument of all four volumes and currently available with a purchase of the digital version of Jesus Monotheism Volume 1 at www.JesusMonotheism.com

A digital copy is available at www.JesusMonotheism.com

Papers by Crispin Fletcher-Louis

Antiochus’ Confession in 2 Maccabees 9:12, 2022

The original text of 2 Macc 9:12 had ἰσόθεα φρονεῖν not ὑπερήφανα φρονεῖν (as some mss have it) a... more The original text of 2 Macc 9:12 had ἰσόθεα φρονεῖν not ὑπερήφανα φρονεῖν (as some mss have it) and ἰσόθεα is best treated as an adverbial form of the common compound ἰσόθεος. Antiochus recognizes that, whilst he has, according to the preceding narrative (2 Macc 9:4–11), conducted himself, in thought and deed, in a god-equal manner, it is right that human beings, like himself, should “not, being mortal, think in a god-equal manner”. Although the adverbial expression ἰσόθεα φρονεῖν is unusual, it is carefully chosen for the context. And though the syntax is rare, it is not without parallel, especially for “divine” rulers. It is likely formed with a conscious allusion to an episode in
Diomedes’ aristeia (Iliad 5). Other features of 2 Macc 9:4–12 suggest the author of 2 Maccabees interprets Antiochus’ blasphemous attack on Jerusalem and the Judaeans as a case of theomachy (see 7:19), that recalls Diomedes’ fighting with the gods.

The New Testament and Rabbinic Literature, 2009

Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 9–11 January, 2005, 2010

Journal for the Study of the Historical …, 2007

Recent study of the priesthood in Second Temple life and thought invites a reconsideration of Jes... more Recent study of the priesthood in Second Temple life and thought invites a reconsideration of Jesus’ self- understanding. The appeal to Psalm 110 and Dan. 7.13 indicates that Jesus thought that, although not of priestly lineage, nevertheless he would ultimately be the nation’s king and priest after the order of Melchizedek. Mark 1-6 contains a programmatic statement of Jesus’ claim to a high priestly identity as the ‘holy one of God’ (1.24), with a high priestly contagious holiness (1.40-45; 5.25-34; 5.35-43), freedom to forgive sins (2.1-12) and the embodiment of divine presence in a Galilean cornfield (2.23-28). As true high priest he makes divine presence ‘draw near’ to God’s people (1.15), where before they had to ‘draw near’ to the Jerusalem temple. The hypothesis that Jesus thought he was Israel’s long awaited eschatological high priest resolves otherwise intractable problems in historical Jesus scholarship. This is Part 2 of a two-part essay.

Dead Sea Discoveries, 1996

Journal of Theological Studies, 2020

The article challenges the consensus that τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ (Phil. 2:6c) means ‘equality with ... more The article challenges the consensus that τὸ εἶναι ἴσα θεῷ (Phil. 2:6c) means ‘equality with God’ and denotes a status. Linguistic analysis, contextual considerations and a thorough investigation of an inventory of one hundred and forty-two extant Greek references to divine equality (ἴσος /ἴσα + θεός) all show that Phil. 2:6c means ‘being (that is) in a manner equal with God’. Although it evokes well known language for the status of rulers who received ‘honours equal to the gods’, it has a distinct, rarely attested, but Homeric, syntax (cf. Iliad 5:441–2; 21:315), for which the closest parallel is Homeric Hymns 5, line 214. As such, it denotes a dynamic ontology, a mode of being expressed, or actualised, in Christ’s incarnational self-transformation (vv. 7–8). The words also serve a creative affirmation and subversion of the middle Platonic distinction between ‘being’ and ‘becoming’ (as that was expressed in Plutarch and Philo): Christ exists and acts from ‘being’ (ὑπάρχων ... τὸ εἶναι v. 6) and is misperceived in the realm of ‘becoming’ (γενόμενος ... γενόμενος vv. 7–8). But, against the Platonists, he has a divine ‘being’ that ‘becomes’.

Atonement: Jewish and Christian Origins (ed. Max Botner Justin Duff and Simon Dürr), 2020

This article argues that in Ben Sira 50 the high priest is a representative office, not a person.... more This article argues that in Ben Sira 50 the high priest is a representative office, not a person. That office sums up and binds together in worshipful unity (at-one-ment), through liturgical and civil duties, multiple identities: those of Adam, Israel, Lady Wisdom, God the Creator and the whole cosmos. The high priest is a multiple personality order. Chapter 50 is the literary and theological climax of the work. And the text is a vital witness to the shape of Israel's Temple theology in the Hellenistic and Persian periods, and to the way the Pentateuch was read and interpreted.

The Christology of John 5:19–30 is not adequately explained by the category of divine agency. Nei... more The Christology of John 5:19–30 is not adequately explained by the category of divine agency. Neither is verse 27 plausibly read as a claim that the son has the divine prerogative of judgement because he is a special kind of man, as some have claimed. Verse 27 cites Dan 7:13–14 and verses 22–30 have multiple allusions to Dan 7–12, as Jörg Frey, Benjamin Reynolds and Stefanos Mihalios have shown. John 5:22–30 knows Daniel in the form attested in the Old Greek translation of Daniel, which is a valuable witness to an apocalyptic Son of Man tradition. It is also likely that John 5:22–27 has some connection to the Similitudes of Enoch and its portrayal of the Son of Man messiah, especially in view of the striking similarities between John 5:22, 27 and 1 En. 69:27. However, the nature of the relationship between John 5:22–27 and 1 En. 37–71 is complicated by recent proposals for the tradition history of the Similitudes in relation to the Book of Watchers and the Similitudes’ distinctive political theology. All studies of the Christology of John 5:19–20 should now start from a recognition that in this passage Jesus relies on an apocalyptic Son of Man tradition.

One God, One People, One Future: Essays in honour of N. T. Wright, 2018

N. T. Wright has argued that Pauline theology is indebted to a Jewish and biblical notion that th... more N. T. Wright has argued that Pauline theology is indebted to a Jewish and biblical notion that the king is a representative, incorporative figure. This paper offers fresh evidence from the portrayal of Solomon in 1 Kings to support this understanding of the ideal Israelite king. In recent publications P. Leithart, G. Beale and John Davies have pointed to ways in which Solomon is portrayed as the image of God; as a new Adam. Additional observations, arising from a reading of 1 Kings 3–11 in relation to Genesis 1–3 and traditional language for Yahweh in other parts of the Hebrew Bible, confirm this approach to the account of Solomon's early years. Equally, through a subtle use of poetry and prose, the narrative claims that one reason for Solomon's early success as a king was the way in which he represented or summed up the whole nation, in a quasi-priestly fashion.

Prof. Larry Hurtado’s three-volume work on christological origins has advanced understanding in s... more Prof. Larry Hurtado’s three-volume work on christological origins has advanced understanding in several key respects and his account is simpler than that of his predecessors. However, it remains an evolutionary, multi-stage model and it is historically problematic. He overstates the case for Jewish opposition to Christ-devotion, minimises the ethical particularity of earliest Christianity and the model suffers some serious internal tensions. His claim that religious experiences gave the decisive impetus to Christ-devotion does not reckon adequately with the implications of social-science study, is not supported by the primary texts and conflicts with the important evidence that visionary and mystical practices were frowned upon in some early Christian quarters. Hurtado presents his work as theologically disinterested. However, he endorses Lessing’s radical separation of theology and history and this theologically loaded judgement seems to be reflected in the non-incarnational character of the Christology Hurtado describes.

11th Enoch Seminar: Apocalypticism: History, Method, and Reception, , 2021

Details available here: https://jesusmonotheism.com/collectedworks1/

The Divine Heartset: Paul’s Philippians Christ Hymn, Metaphysical Affections, and Civic Virtues, 2023

Summary of contents, digital edition and accompanying resources at www.divineheartset.com

A digital copy is available at www.JesusMonotheism.com

Antiochus’ Confession in 2 Maccabees 9:12, 2022

The New Testament and Rabbinic Literature, 2009

Proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium of the Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, 9–11 January, 2005, 2010

Journal for the Study of the Historical …, 2007

Dead Sea Discoveries, 1996

Journal of Theological Studies, 2020

Atonement: Jewish and Christian Origins (ed. Max Botner Justin Duff and Simon Dürr), 2020

One God, One People, One Future: Essays in honour of N. T. Wright, 2018

Paper delivered at Cambridge NT Seminar, Nov 2017

As many have now seen, Phil 2:6–11 (along with 3:20–11) is a traditional hymnic piece that uses G... more As many have now seen, Phil 2:6–11 (along with 3:20–11) is a traditional hymnic piece that uses Greco-Roman language for divine rulers to express a kind of “imperial Christology.” Whilst the second half (vv. 9–11) cites biblical prophecy (Isa 45:23), the first half lacks scriptural language. Instead it employs Greco-Roman language, especially the conventional terminology for the gods’ self-transformations; stories of gods taking on a new "form (μορφή)" to visit human communities in disguise. Besides the shared language that has been noted especially by German scholars (D. Zeller, U. B. Müller and S. Vollenweider, cf. A. Y. Collins), there are other ways in which verses 7–8 employ the distinctive terminology of divine self-transformations that have hitherto escaped commentators' notice. Together, Phil 2:6–11 and 3:20–11 also echo distinctive themes of those stories, for example in the combination of divine self-transformation (2:6–8) and the gods' transformation of human beings (3:21). Christ is a divine ruler who comes to earth in a way that is comparable to the poetic vision of Octavian as a self-transforming God who comes to earth as Rome’s saviour in Horace Odes 1:2 (lines 42ff). However, in other ways Christ’s divine self-transformation is like no other: he empties himself and lives a whole human life, dying on a cross (see vv. 7a, 8a–c), things that the pagan gods never do.

All this points to a fresh approach to the much-discussed problem of the harpagmos clause in Phil 2:6. The use of the rare word ἁρπαγμός is not satisfactorily explained by the theory of Roy Hoover that, in this context (ἡγέομαι + a double accusative), it means “something to take advantage of”. Also, v. 6c means “being in a manner equal (ἴσα) with God”. It does not mean “equality with God”. Following David Fredrickson's recent and stimulating discussion of the language of desire in Philippians Eros and the Christ: Longing and Envy in Paul's Christology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013[/easyazon_link]), I present a three-layered interpretation of 2:6ff that takes seriously the consistent lexicographical evidence (of Plutarch On the Education of Children 15; Vettius Valens Anthology 2.38 and Ms Va of Pausanias Description of Greece 1.20.3) that ἁρπαγμός means “abduction for marriage”. First, Christ reckons that the divine identity is not constituted by the kind of aggressive and deceptive erotic pursuits ascribed to Zeus and the other gods. Secondly, he reckons that “being in a manner equal with God” does not mean, as Caligula (and perhaps other kings and emperors) claimed (Cassius Dio Roman History 59.26.5), that as a divine ruler one is entitled to imitate the immortal gods by seizing and raping whoever turns you on. Thirdly, by this contrast with the gods and with soidisant divine rulers, the hymn sets forth the life of Christ as a revelation of the true character of God’s desire (ἐπιπόθησις—cf. Phil 1:8; 2:26; 4:1) for humanity; a desire focused on humanity’s, not Christ’s, interests (cf. 1:4).

This article builds on an earlier publication in which I argued that the Similitudes’ messianism ... more This article builds on an earlier publication in which I argued that the Similitudes’ messianism is a response to aspects of the Greco-Roman ruler cult and emperor worship (at the end of the C1st B.C.E. or the early decades of the C1st C.E.). Here I argue that it is also indebted to an older and well-established, biblically-based, distinction between the priestly office and the person of the king. Unlike kings, the high priest is an office not a person. The office transcends the identities of those who hold it. The way that works for the high priest is especially clear in the description of the high priest as a divine figure in Ben Sira 50. The office pre-exists the personality of each incumbent and it will continue to exist after their death. The Similitudes, I contend, projects that distinction on to a mythological, eschatological, horizon. The Son of Man-Messiah in 1 En. 37–71 is almost wholly devoid of personhood, as has sometimes been observed. He is simply the one-God-made-manifest, with no separate, individual, identity or personality that would threaten the identity of the one God. He is to the eschatological scenario what the high priestly office is within the real-time liturgical context of the temple-as-microcosm.

The essay concludes with some reasons to think that the study of the Similitudes is no threat to Christian theology. Indeed, if the main points of my explanation of the Similitudes’ distinctive “divine” messianism are on the mark, then this remarkable text may lead us to conclude that the so-called dirty great ditch between the Christ of Faith and the Jesus of Faith is not as wide and deep as many have supposed.

This paper (recently given at the Biblical Research Seminar at the University of St Andrews) prop... more This paper (recently given at the Biblical Research Seminar at the University of St Andrews) proposes a new approach to the problem of the identity of the name God gives to the exalted Christ in Phil 2:9. All the currently advocated options ("Lord," "LORD," and "Jesus") are examined and shown to be problematic. Taking a cue from recent articles that have argued for a two-name name (one by Samuel Vollenweider and the other by Michael Martin and Bryan Nash) I propose a new solution. The name is a three-part name-title, "Lord Jesus" Christ. This name contains the name of Israel's one God and sums up Christ's identity—described in the preceding encomiastic biography—as a uniquely complex and representative divine person.

This paper re-examines the near-consensus view that in Phil 2:6 Christ regards equality with God ... more This paper re-examines the near-consensus view that in Phil 2:6 Christ regards equality with God a thing not to be taken advantage of (so R. Hoover and N. T. Wright). It is argued that, on the contrary and especially in view of the polemic against the pagan ruler cult that runs through 2:6–11, it must be that verse 6 says that Christ discerned rightly that equality with God is not to be aggressively seized. However, it is also argued that verse 6 does not express a res rapienda view of divine equality. Recent work on first century Roman religious and political culture opens up a new way of reading the hymn and its profound poetic ambiguities. Insofar as “equality with God” is a matter of a unique divine identity, it is something Christ has in pre-existence. Insofar as “equality with God” is a status (and therefore something that is dependent on public recognition) it is something that Christ only receives at his exaltation (vv. 9–11). As a result of his resurrection and exaltation Christ becomes in the public sphere, what he always was in heavenly pre-existence. So the hymn is a direct challenge to the pagan assumption that “being is being seen” (cf. Barton, Roman Honor). It celebrates a new revelation, in Christ, of divine (and human) ontology; of identity.

Gottesdienst und Engel im antiken Judentum und frühen Christentum, 2017

In this article I revisit the argument for a new reading of the DSS liturgy the Songs of the Sabb... more In this article I revisit the argument for a new reading of the DSS liturgy the Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice that I made in my book All the Glory of Adam (2002). I review various arguments against my interpretation and explain why I remain convinced of the essential points made in All the Glory. I also offer fresh observations on the likely relationship between the Sabbath Songs, Ben Sira 50 and the later Synagogue liturgy, especially the Yom Kippur Avodah.

See further: https://jesusmonotheism.com/on-angels-men-an…ublished-article/

The Similitudes of Enoch illustrates and confirms the shape of the New Perspective on Apocalyptic... more The Similitudes of Enoch illustrates and confirms the shape of the New Perspective on Apocalyptic (that builds on the pioneering work on Jewish apocalyptic by Christopher Rowland). Proposal 1. Internal and external evidence suggests that a now lost ending of the Book of Watchers contained material and themes taken up, expanded and modified in the Similitudes. This means that themes in the Similitudes such as the enthronement of the Son of Man-Messiah, the worship of him and his divine glory may reflect features of an original Aramaic version of the Book of Watchers. Proposal 2. The text’s messianism may be deliberately shaped to critique the pretensions of pagan rulers who claim a divine identity by virtue of their deeds and aggressive power. As a response to a late first century B.C. incursion of the Roman ruler cult in Palestine, the Similitudes puts forward a divinely appointed ruler who does not need to earn or prove himself by deeds. Proposal 3. There are nine reasons for thinking that, in addition to a debt to royal messianic traditions, the Similitudes is partially indebted to a high priestly messianism.

This paper sketches the conceptual framework for a new approach to the study of the historical Je... more This paper sketches the conceptual framework for a new approach to the study of the historical Jesus; specifically Jesus’ own contribution to the origins of the early Church’s so-called “Christological monotheism” and Christ devotion. The paper will summarise the relevant sections of the volumes 2 and 3 of my forthcoming book (Jesus Monotheism: A New Paradigm for the Shape and Origins of the Earliest Christology), in which I argue that, taken together, the OT and the NT—along with the historical evidence for Second Temple life and thought—all point to Jesus’ own self-consciousness as a heaven-sent, and uniquely “divine”, priest-king of a new eschatological order (or covenant) as a decisive, determining, factor in Christological origins.

The Reader Must Understand": Eschatology and the …