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Books by Joshua Paul Smith
In this volume Joshua Paul Smith challenges the long-held assumption that Luke and Acts were writ... more In this volume Joshua Paul Smith challenges the long-held assumption that Luke and Acts were written by a gentile, arguing instead that the author of these texts was educated and enculturated within a Second-Temple Jewish context. Advancing from a consciously interdisciplinary perspective, Smith considers the question of Lukan authorship from multiple fronts, including reception history and social memory theory, literary criticism, and the emerging discipline of cognitive sociolinguistics. The result is an alternative portrait of Luke the Evangelist, one who sees the mission to the gentiles not as a supersession of Jewish law and tradition, but rather as a fulfillment and expansion of Israel’s own salvation history.
Peer-Reviewed Articles by Joshua Paul Smith
Biblical Theology Bulletin, 2022
In this essay, I argue that Jesus's mastery of the use of questions as a method of public argumen... more In this essay, I argue that Jesus's mastery of the use of questions as a method of public argumentation is a key component of his characterization in the Gospel of Luke. As Douglas Estes has argued convincingly, a bias against questions exists within the Western intellectual tradition, which tends to favor declarative propositions for the negotiation of truth claims. This bias has resulted in the general neglect of the logical, rhetorical, literary, and philosophical role that interrogatives play in agonistic discourse (Estes, 2-9). Reading the questions of Jesus in Luke through a socio-rhetorical lens, I argue that a proper understanding of the social function of questions in the first century reveals a key insight underlying Luke's theology of the crucifixion, suffering, and death of Jesus that has until recently gone unnoticed: namely, that within an honor/shame social matrix, Jesus's failure to respond to the questions of his interrogators constitutes a willful submission to the violent principalities and powers of this world.
Recipient of the Albert Clark Award for Best Graduate Student Paper, The Journal of Theta Alpha K... more Recipient of the Albert Clark Award for Best Graduate Student Paper,
The Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa (forthcoming in 2020).
Invited / Popular Articles by Joshua Paul Smith
The final version of this article may be found in Review & Expositor 116, no. 3 (2019), 332–344. ... more The final version of this article may be found in Review & Expositor 116, no. 3 (2019), 332–344.
Anthropogenic climate change poses the greatest existential threat humans have ever faced as a species. It is imperative that churches find creative ways to confront this frightening new reality, but how are we to do so faithfully? In the first half of this article, I suggest that a harmful modern worldview of "disenchantment" is partly to blame for our current environmental crisis, and that this perspective fails to account adequately for God's real presence "in, with, and under" creation. I then offer a short theological "sketch" that considers how a more robust sacramental imagination might challenge pastors and congregations to think differently about the interlocking relationships between God, humanity, and creation. Finally, in the second half of the article I recommend three small, practical steps that serve as the "living signs" of this sacramental creation theology when put into practice by local churches-beginning with our dinner tables.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 2 (2014), 1–3. A brief editorial on the response of American conserv... more Review & Expositor 111, no. 2 (2014), 1–3.
A brief editorial on the response of American conservative political pundits to Pope Francis's 2013 apostolic exhortation, "Evangelii Gaudium."
Reviews (Select) by Joshua Paul Smith
Reviews in Religion and Theology 25, no. 2 (2018), 389–392.
Reading Religion, October 13, 2017. http://readingreligion.org/books/scripture-real-presence
Review & Expositor 114, no. 4 (2017), 615–616.
Review & Expositor 114, no. 4 (2017), 605–606.
Review & Expositor 113, no. 1 (2016), 124–125.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 4 (2014), 420–421.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 4 (2014), 427–428.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 2 (2014), 204–205.
Conference Presentations by Joshua Paul Smith
This paper argues that Luke’s use of τὰ ἔθνη as a descriptor for non-Jews — taken together with o... more This paper argues that Luke’s use of τὰ ἔθνη as a descriptor for non-Jews — taken together with other linguistic evidence in Luke-Acts — suggests that he was very likely enculturated within a Jewish social context.
In this volume Joshua Paul Smith challenges the long-held assumption that Luke and Acts were writ... more In this volume Joshua Paul Smith challenges the long-held assumption that Luke and Acts were written by a gentile, arguing instead that the author of these texts was educated and enculturated within a Second-Temple Jewish context. Advancing from a consciously interdisciplinary perspective, Smith considers the question of Lukan authorship from multiple fronts, including reception history and social memory theory, literary criticism, and the emerging discipline of cognitive sociolinguistics. The result is an alternative portrait of Luke the Evangelist, one who sees the mission to the gentiles not as a supersession of Jewish law and tradition, but rather as a fulfillment and expansion of Israel’s own salvation history.
Biblical Theology Bulletin, 2022
In this essay, I argue that Jesus's mastery of the use of questions as a method of public argumen... more In this essay, I argue that Jesus's mastery of the use of questions as a method of public argumentation is a key component of his characterization in the Gospel of Luke. As Douglas Estes has argued convincingly, a bias against questions exists within the Western intellectual tradition, which tends to favor declarative propositions for the negotiation of truth claims. This bias has resulted in the general neglect of the logical, rhetorical, literary, and philosophical role that interrogatives play in agonistic discourse (Estes, 2-9). Reading the questions of Jesus in Luke through a socio-rhetorical lens, I argue that a proper understanding of the social function of questions in the first century reveals a key insight underlying Luke's theology of the crucifixion, suffering, and death of Jesus that has until recently gone unnoticed: namely, that within an honor/shame social matrix, Jesus's failure to respond to the questions of his interrogators constitutes a willful submission to the violent principalities and powers of this world.
Recipient of the Albert Clark Award for Best Graduate Student Paper, The Journal of Theta Alpha K... more Recipient of the Albert Clark Award for Best Graduate Student Paper,
The Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa (forthcoming in 2020).
The final version of this article may be found in Review & Expositor 116, no. 3 (2019), 332–344. ... more The final version of this article may be found in Review & Expositor 116, no. 3 (2019), 332–344.
Anthropogenic climate change poses the greatest existential threat humans have ever faced as a species. It is imperative that churches find creative ways to confront this frightening new reality, but how are we to do so faithfully? In the first half of this article, I suggest that a harmful modern worldview of "disenchantment" is partly to blame for our current environmental crisis, and that this perspective fails to account adequately for God's real presence "in, with, and under" creation. I then offer a short theological "sketch" that considers how a more robust sacramental imagination might challenge pastors and congregations to think differently about the interlocking relationships between God, humanity, and creation. Finally, in the second half of the article I recommend three small, practical steps that serve as the "living signs" of this sacramental creation theology when put into practice by local churches-beginning with our dinner tables.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 2 (2014), 1–3. A brief editorial on the response of American conserv... more Review & Expositor 111, no. 2 (2014), 1–3.
A brief editorial on the response of American conservative political pundits to Pope Francis's 2013 apostolic exhortation, "Evangelii Gaudium."
Reviews in Religion and Theology 25, no. 2 (2018), 389–392.
Reading Religion, October 13, 2017. http://readingreligion.org/books/scripture-real-presence
Review & Expositor 114, no. 4 (2017), 615–616.
Review & Expositor 114, no. 4 (2017), 605–606.
Review & Expositor 113, no. 1 (2016), 124–125.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 4 (2014), 420–421.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 4 (2014), 427–428.
Review & Expositor 111, no. 2 (2014), 204–205.
This paper argues that Luke’s use of τὰ ἔθνη as a descriptor for non-Jews — taken together with o... more This paper argues that Luke’s use of τὰ ἔθνη as a descriptor for non-Jews — taken together with other linguistic evidence in Luke-Acts — suggests that he was very likely enculturated within a Jewish social context.