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Articles by Joel Estes

Horizons in Biblical Theology

Genesis 2 has been interpreted from many angles, but rarely through the lens of disability studie... more Genesis 2 has been interpreted from many angles, but rarely through the lens of disability studies. Such a reading, however, provides a necessary corrective to interpretations that subconsciously import into the text idealistic notions of bodily perfection and thereby inadvertently disenfranchise those with disabilities. By attending to the range of bodily experiences and the fluidity of embodied existence, this article seeks to shed new light on Genesis 2 and on the wider task of theological anthropology. More specifically, reading Genesis 2 with and for those with disabilities lifts up four essential themes in the text, which all express human limitation as an aspect of God’s good creation: embodiment, imperfection, relationship, and vocation.

Themelios

In Rom 10:13, to “call on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλέω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου) involves more than sim... more In Rom 10:13, to “call on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλέω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου) involves more than simply invoking the Lord, but expresses a prayer for deliverance with cultic connotations, that is “to worship Jesus as Lord.” Paul’s use of ἐπικαλέω in Rom 10:13 resonates with strong liturgical overtones, draws on a long OT tradition of employing such language in cultic settings, parallels closely other NT texts that are cultic in orientation, and coheres with our earliest evidence about the worship practices of the early church. These observations, in turn, suggest a tighter thematic relationship between Rom 10 and Paul’s description of humanity’s fundamental predicament as false worship in ch. 1, his exhortation for renewed spiritual worship in ch. 12, and his vision for unified Jew/Gentile worship in ch. 15.

New Testament Studies

This study examines every reference to πνεῦμα in NT Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty II / P. Mich. I... more This study examines every reference to πνεῦμα in NT Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty II / P. Mich. Inv. 6238) and whether or not it is contracted as a nomen sacrum. Against expectations, the scribe does not always use nomina sacra to designate the divine Spirit, nor are other kinds of spirits always written out in full. This discovery destabilizes the assumption that we can access the scribe’s understanding of πνεῦμα simply by identifying where nomina sacra do and do not occur. At the same time, such scribal irregularity itself may illustrate wider theological ambiguities among some early Christian communities concerning the status and role of the Holy Spirit.

Biblische Notizen

The positive portrayal of the nations praising Israel’s God in Tobit 14:6-7 stands in tension wit... more The positive portrayal of the nations praising Israel’s God in Tobit 14:6-7 stands in tension with more negative depictions of Gentiles elsewhere in the book. This essay explores the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and the role of Jewish witness in the book of Tobit, arguing that Tobit is not primarily concerned with Israel’s openness or inclusive attitude toward Gentiles but with God’s sovereignty and Israel’s superiority over the nations. Thus, witness is conceived not as active witness to the nations but as the natural overflow of Israel’s acknowledgment of God before the nations.

Wenn der Gott Israels in Tobit 14,6-7 von den Völkern gelobt wird, steht diese Darstellung im Gegensatz zu den eher negativen Beschreibungen Nichtjüdischer, die sonst im Buch zu finden sind. Dieser Aufsatz soll sowohl die Beziehung zwischen Juden und Nichtjuden im Buch Tobit untersuchen, als auch die Rolle vom jüdischen Zeugnis. Dabei wird die Auslegung vertreten, Tobit beschäftigt sich nicht in erster Linie mit der Offenheit der Juden gegenüber Nichtjuden, sondern mit der Souveränität Gottes und der Überlegenheit Israels gegenüber anderen Völkern. In diesem Sinne wird “Zeugnis” nicht als aktives Zeugnis an die Völker aufgefasst, sondern als das natürliche Ergebnis von Israels Anerkennung der Macht Gottes vor den Völkern.

The Princeton Theological Review, 2010

Presentations by Joel Estes

Disability is a reality that touches all of our lives, whether in our personal experience, or in ... more Disability is a reality that touches all of our lives, whether in our personal experience, or in the experiences of our family and friends. How do we make theological sense of a world that includes disabilities? This four-part lecture series (held Aug. 2-5, 2015) aimed to offer resources for thinking biblically about disabilities, while allowing the experience of disabilities to shape our thinking about the Bible, theology, and the mission of the church.

New Testament scholarship has increasingly recognized the value of studying ancient texts as phys... more New Testament scholarship has increasingly recognized the value of studying ancient texts as physical artifacts. One of the most widely discussed features of early Christian manuscripts is their distinctive use of nomina sacra. Recent work has tended to focus on the four earliest examples of this phenomenon - Jesus, Christ, Lord, and God - with comparatively little attention devoted to the term “spirit” (pneuma), even though it is also attested as a nomen sacrum in some of our earliest manuscripts. This paper seeks to extend the conversation by examining how pneuma is written in NT Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty II / P. Mich. Inv. 6238). Close analysis of every reference to pneuma in P46 reveals considerable irregularity, both in form and meaning. Against expectations, at several points pneuma is written out in full to signify the divine Spirit, and in numerous places nomen sacrum forms of pneuma clearly reference something other than the divine Spirit. This discovery destabilizes the assumption that we can access the scribe’s interpretive decisions about the meaning of pneuma merely by identifying where nomina sacra do and do not occur. It also bears implications for how we might conceptualize the activity, function, and sociological context of early Christian scribes and readers. Moreover, since scribal practices are inextricably linked to larger socio-cultural realities, the idiosyncratic treatment of pneuma in P46 may illustrate a wider ambiguity in early Christian communities about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Book Reviews by Joel Estes

This short book, by Yale historian and classicist Ramsay MacMullen, aims to paint a broad picture... more This short book, by Yale historian and classicist Ramsay MacMullen, aims to paint a broad picture of Roman social relations in the period between 50 B.C. and A.D. 284. Excluding family relations and race relations, MacMullen focuses on the character of and connections between rural and urban societies, highlighting their respective attitudes, economies, class structures, property distribution, and group dynamics. It is a sweeping study, and in less capable hands it would surely constitute egregious overreaching. Yet, having explored these subjects in great detail over the span of his career, MacMullen is a sure guide whose broad expertise allows him to paint broad strokes without obscuring the facts. The picture that emerges is fascinating and illuminating -even entertaining -an adjective that is rarely apropos in the field of ancient history.

Horizons in Biblical Theology

Genesis 2 has been interpreted from many angles, but rarely through the lens of disability studie... more Genesis 2 has been interpreted from many angles, but rarely through the lens of disability studies. Such a reading, however, provides a necessary corrective to interpretations that subconsciously import into the text idealistic notions of bodily perfection and thereby inadvertently disenfranchise those with disabilities. By attending to the range of bodily experiences and the fluidity of embodied existence, this article seeks to shed new light on Genesis 2 and on the wider task of theological anthropology. More specifically, reading Genesis 2 with and for those with disabilities lifts up four essential themes in the text, which all express human limitation as an aspect of God’s good creation: embodiment, imperfection, relationship, and vocation.

Themelios

In Rom 10:13, to “call on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλέω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου) involves more than sim... more In Rom 10:13, to “call on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλέω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου) involves more than simply invoking the Lord, but expresses a prayer for deliverance with cultic connotations, that is “to worship Jesus as Lord.” Paul’s use of ἐπικαλέω in Rom 10:13 resonates with strong liturgical overtones, draws on a long OT tradition of employing such language in cultic settings, parallels closely other NT texts that are cultic in orientation, and coheres with our earliest evidence about the worship practices of the early church. These observations, in turn, suggest a tighter thematic relationship between Rom 10 and Paul’s description of humanity’s fundamental predicament as false worship in ch. 1, his exhortation for renewed spiritual worship in ch. 12, and his vision for unified Jew/Gentile worship in ch. 15.

New Testament Studies

This study examines every reference to πνεῦμα in NT Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty II / P. Mich. I... more This study examines every reference to πνεῦμα in NT Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty II / P. Mich. Inv. 6238) and whether or not it is contracted as a nomen sacrum. Against expectations, the scribe does not always use nomina sacra to designate the divine Spirit, nor are other kinds of spirits always written out in full. This discovery destabilizes the assumption that we can access the scribe’s understanding of πνεῦμα simply by identifying where nomina sacra do and do not occur. At the same time, such scribal irregularity itself may illustrate wider theological ambiguities among some early Christian communities concerning the status and role of the Holy Spirit.

Biblische Notizen

The positive portrayal of the nations praising Israel’s God in Tobit 14:6-7 stands in tension wit... more The positive portrayal of the nations praising Israel’s God in Tobit 14:6-7 stands in tension with more negative depictions of Gentiles elsewhere in the book. This essay explores the relationship between Jews and Gentiles and the role of Jewish witness in the book of Tobit, arguing that Tobit is not primarily concerned with Israel’s openness or inclusive attitude toward Gentiles but with God’s sovereignty and Israel’s superiority over the nations. Thus, witness is conceived not as active witness to the nations but as the natural overflow of Israel’s acknowledgment of God before the nations.

Wenn der Gott Israels in Tobit 14,6-7 von den Völkern gelobt wird, steht diese Darstellung im Gegensatz zu den eher negativen Beschreibungen Nichtjüdischer, die sonst im Buch zu finden sind. Dieser Aufsatz soll sowohl die Beziehung zwischen Juden und Nichtjuden im Buch Tobit untersuchen, als auch die Rolle vom jüdischen Zeugnis. Dabei wird die Auslegung vertreten, Tobit beschäftigt sich nicht in erster Linie mit der Offenheit der Juden gegenüber Nichtjuden, sondern mit der Souveränität Gottes und der Überlegenheit Israels gegenüber anderen Völkern. In diesem Sinne wird “Zeugnis” nicht als aktives Zeugnis an die Völker aufgefasst, sondern als das natürliche Ergebnis von Israels Anerkennung der Macht Gottes vor den Völkern.

The Princeton Theological Review, 2010

Disability is a reality that touches all of our lives, whether in our personal experience, or in ... more Disability is a reality that touches all of our lives, whether in our personal experience, or in the experiences of our family and friends. How do we make theological sense of a world that includes disabilities? This four-part lecture series (held Aug. 2-5, 2015) aimed to offer resources for thinking biblically about disabilities, while allowing the experience of disabilities to shape our thinking about the Bible, theology, and the mission of the church.

New Testament scholarship has increasingly recognized the value of studying ancient texts as phys... more New Testament scholarship has increasingly recognized the value of studying ancient texts as physical artifacts. One of the most widely discussed features of early Christian manuscripts is their distinctive use of nomina sacra. Recent work has tended to focus on the four earliest examples of this phenomenon - Jesus, Christ, Lord, and God - with comparatively little attention devoted to the term “spirit” (pneuma), even though it is also attested as a nomen sacrum in some of our earliest manuscripts. This paper seeks to extend the conversation by examining how pneuma is written in NT Papyrus 46 (P. Chester Beatty II / P. Mich. Inv. 6238). Close analysis of every reference to pneuma in P46 reveals considerable irregularity, both in form and meaning. Against expectations, at several points pneuma is written out in full to signify the divine Spirit, and in numerous places nomen sacrum forms of pneuma clearly reference something other than the divine Spirit. This discovery destabilizes the assumption that we can access the scribe’s interpretive decisions about the meaning of pneuma merely by identifying where nomina sacra do and do not occur. It also bears implications for how we might conceptualize the activity, function, and sociological context of early Christian scribes and readers. Moreover, since scribal practices are inextricably linked to larger socio-cultural realities, the idiosyncratic treatment of pneuma in P46 may illustrate a wider ambiguity in early Christian communities about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

This short book, by Yale historian and classicist Ramsay MacMullen, aims to paint a broad picture... more This short book, by Yale historian and classicist Ramsay MacMullen, aims to paint a broad picture of Roman social relations in the period between 50 B.C. and A.D. 284. Excluding family relations and race relations, MacMullen focuses on the character of and connections between rural and urban societies, highlighting their respective attitudes, economies, class structures, property distribution, and group dynamics. It is a sweeping study, and in less capable hands it would surely constitute egregious overreaching. Yet, having explored these subjects in great detail over the span of his career, MacMullen is a sure guide whose broad expertise allows him to paint broad strokes without obscuring the facts. The picture that emerges is fascinating and illuminating -even entertaining -an adjective that is rarely apropos in the field of ancient history.