Thomas Tops | Universität Regensburg (original) (raw)

Papers by Thomas Tops

The article examines the meaning of the words Ναζαρέτ and ναζωραῖος in the Fourth Gospel. It argu... more The article examines the meaning of the words Ναζαρέτ and ναζωραῖος in the Fourth Gospel. It argues that the first word plays an important role in the incar national logic of the Gospel, while the second word is significant for John's Christol ogy. Through the literary device of reader entrapment, John corrects the reader's initial misjudgement that ὁ ναζωραῖος in John 18,5.7; 19,19 depicts Jesus as coming from Nazareth. To explain the Christological significance of this phrase, the article evaluates the thesis that ναζωραῖος characterises Jesus as a Nazirite. For instance, it compares the literary characterisation of the Johannine Jesus to the Nazirite rule in Num 6,1-21 and its reception in late Second Temple sources. Zusammenfassung: Der Artikel untersucht die Bedeutung der Wörter Ναζαρέτ und ναζωραῖος im Johannesevangelium. Dabei wird die These vertreten, dass das erste Wort bedeutsam für die Logik der Inkarnation ist, während das zweite Wort für die johanneische Christologie eine wichtige Rolle einnimmt. Anhand des literarischen Mittels des "Reader entrapment" korrigiert Johannes die anfängliche Fehleinschät zung des Lesers bzw. der Leserin, dass ὁ ναζωραῖος in Joh 18,5.7; 19,19 Jesus als "aus Nazareth kommend" beschreibt. Um die christologische Bedeutung dieses Ausdrucks zu erklären, wird in diesem Artikel die These vertreten, dass Jesus mit ναζωραῖος als Nasiräer charakterisiert wird. Dazu wird bspw. die literarische Cha rakterisierung des johanneischen Jesus mit dem Nasiräereid in Num 6,1-21 und dessen Rezeption in Quellen aus der Spätzeit des Zweiten Tempels verglichen.

Biblica, 2022

Prior scholars paid almost no attention to the rhetoric of questions in the New Testament. The ra... more Prior scholars paid almost no attention to the rhetoric of questions in the New Testament. The rare studies on this topic draw primarily from modern theories on questions. The article provides the first historical-rhetorical analysis of the question-and-answer exchanges in John 2,18-22; 8,46-59; 10,30-36. First, it identifies the ancient theoretical underpinnings of these exchanges in Aristotle’s views on dialectical interrogation. Second, it argues that these Johannine exchanges follow the conventions, the rules, and the logic of ancient dialectical interrogation to pursue the rhetorical aim of persuading the readers to believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20,31).

Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2023

The article studies and compares how Philo authorizes παρρησία in Quis rerum divinarum heres sit ... more The article studies and compares how Philo authorizes παρρησία in Quis rerum divinarum heres sit and Quod omnis probus liber sit. After critically evaluating the scholarly literature on παρρησία in Philo, I go beyond the limitations of this literature by situating Philo's views on παρρησία within the context of the ancient conventions of παρρησία, as well as in the changing socio-historical context of Philo's writings. I argue that Philo creatively adapts the conventions of παρρησία to authorize that the Jews can have παρρησία towards God, as well as towards human beings within the Roman Empire. Their παρρησία is not authorized by citizenship, nobility of birth, good family reputation, and wealth, but by their conscience of having said and done everything to the benefit of God and their virtuous behavior according to Mosaic law.

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek l... more Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available at http://dnb.dnb.de.

Novum Testamentum, 2022

This study provides a philological analysis of all the occurrences of personal pronouns with refl... more This study provides a philological analysis of all the occurrences of personal pronouns with reflexive-possessive meaning in the Gospel of John. Here, the author argues that the Gospel highly conforms to the rule of Classical Greek that the deictic force of the article suffices to identify the possessor when it is clear in the literary context who the possessor is. This high conformity enables the author to specify in which cases personal pronouns are strictly necessary to indicate the possessor and where they are redundant. Exegetical case studies (e.g., John 6:52) illustrate the implications of this study for the interpretation of the Gospel.

New Testament Studies, 2020

Past scholarly literature has interpreted the orientation of the teaching of the Paraclete in the... more Past scholarly literature has interpreted the orientation of the teaching of the Paraclete in the Fourth Gospel as either retrospective or prospective. First, I will argue that it is prospective, but that this does not imply that the Paraclete teaches things that have not yet been taught by Jesus. The Gospel text challenges us to conceive the teaching of the Paraclete as prospective, but also as repeating Jesus’ teaching. A synthesis of the retrospective and prospective interpretation is thus required. Second, I will argue that this paradoxical synthesis can be obtained on the basis of Kierkegaard's category of repetition.

Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2019

Summary The present study analyses recent criticisms against the use of modern-historical methodo... more Summary The present study analyses recent criticisms against the use of modern-historical methodologies in Biblical Studies. These methodologies abstract from the historical horizon of the researcher. In order to relate properly to the historicality of the researcher, historical objectivism needs to be transformed into historical hermeneutics. Recent developments in the historical methodology of biblical scholars are unable to reckon with the historicality of the researcher due to the partial or incorrect implementation of Gadamer’s views on reception history. I analyse the views of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Gadamer on historicality and contend that the study of reception history is a necessary condition for conducting historical study from within the limits of our historicality. Reception history should not be a distinct methodological step to study the “Nachleben” of biblical texts, but needs to clarify how the understanding of these texts is already effected by their history of...

The article examines the meaning of the words Ναζαρέτ and ναζωραῖος in the Fourth Gospel. It argu... more The article examines the meaning of the words Ναζαρέτ and ναζωραῖος in the Fourth Gospel. It argues that the first word plays an important role in the incar national logic of the Gospel, while the second word is significant for John's Christol ogy. Through the literary device of reader entrapment, John corrects the reader's initial misjudgement that ὁ ναζωραῖος in John 18,5.7; 19,19 depicts Jesus as coming from Nazareth. To explain the Christological significance of this phrase, the article evaluates the thesis that ναζωραῖος characterises Jesus as a Nazirite. For instance, it compares the literary characterisation of the Johannine Jesus to the Nazirite rule in Num 6,1-21 and its reception in late Second Temple sources. Zusammenfassung: Der Artikel untersucht die Bedeutung der Wörter Ναζαρέτ und ναζωραῖος im Johannesevangelium. Dabei wird die These vertreten, dass das erste Wort bedeutsam für die Logik der Inkarnation ist, während das zweite Wort für die johanneische Christologie eine wichtige Rolle einnimmt. Anhand des literarischen Mittels des "Reader entrapment" korrigiert Johannes die anfängliche Fehleinschät zung des Lesers bzw. der Leserin, dass ὁ ναζωραῖος in Joh 18,5.7; 19,19 Jesus als "aus Nazareth kommend" beschreibt. Um die christologische Bedeutung dieses Ausdrucks zu erklären, wird in diesem Artikel die These vertreten, dass Jesus mit ναζωραῖος als Nasiräer charakterisiert wird. Dazu wird bspw. die literarische Cha rakterisierung des johanneischen Jesus mit dem Nasiräereid in Num 6,1-21 und dessen Rezeption in Quellen aus der Spätzeit des Zweiten Tempels verglichen.

Biblica, 2022

Prior scholars paid almost no attention to the rhetoric of questions in the New Testament. The ra... more Prior scholars paid almost no attention to the rhetoric of questions in the New Testament. The rare studies on this topic draw primarily from modern theories on questions. The article provides the first historical-rhetorical analysis of the question-and-answer exchanges in John 2,18-22; 8,46-59; 10,30-36. First, it identifies the ancient theoretical underpinnings of these exchanges in Aristotle’s views on dialectical interrogation. Second, it argues that these Johannine exchanges follow the conventions, the rules, and the logic of ancient dialectical interrogation to pursue the rhetorical aim of persuading the readers to believe that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20,31).

Journal for the Study of Judaism, 2023

The article studies and compares how Philo authorizes παρρησία in Quis rerum divinarum heres sit ... more The article studies and compares how Philo authorizes παρρησία in Quis rerum divinarum heres sit and Quod omnis probus liber sit. After critically evaluating the scholarly literature on παρρησία in Philo, I go beyond the limitations of this literature by situating Philo's views on παρρησία within the context of the ancient conventions of παρρησία, as well as in the changing socio-historical context of Philo's writings. I argue that Philo creatively adapts the conventions of παρρησία to authorize that the Jews can have παρρησία towards God, as well as towards human beings within the Roman Empire. Their παρρησία is not authorized by citizenship, nobility of birth, good family reputation, and wealth, but by their conscience of having said and done everything to the benefit of God and their virtuous behavior according to Mosaic law.

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek l... more Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliographie; detailed bibliographic data are available at http://dnb.dnb.de.

Novum Testamentum, 2022

This study provides a philological analysis of all the occurrences of personal pronouns with refl... more This study provides a philological analysis of all the occurrences of personal pronouns with reflexive-possessive meaning in the Gospel of John. Here, the author argues that the Gospel highly conforms to the rule of Classical Greek that the deictic force of the article suffices to identify the possessor when it is clear in the literary context who the possessor is. This high conformity enables the author to specify in which cases personal pronouns are strictly necessary to indicate the possessor and where they are redundant. Exegetical case studies (e.g., John 6:52) illustrate the implications of this study for the interpretation of the Gospel.

New Testament Studies, 2020

Past scholarly literature has interpreted the orientation of the teaching of the Paraclete in the... more Past scholarly literature has interpreted the orientation of the teaching of the Paraclete in the Fourth Gospel as either retrospective or prospective. First, I will argue that it is prospective, but that this does not imply that the Paraclete teaches things that have not yet been taught by Jesus. The Gospel text challenges us to conceive the teaching of the Paraclete as prospective, but also as repeating Jesus’ teaching. A synthesis of the retrospective and prospective interpretation is thus required. Second, I will argue that this paradoxical synthesis can be obtained on the basis of Kierkegaard's category of repetition.

Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, 2019

Summary The present study analyses recent criticisms against the use of modern-historical methodo... more Summary The present study analyses recent criticisms against the use of modern-historical methodologies in Biblical Studies. These methodologies abstract from the historical horizon of the researcher. In order to relate properly to the historicality of the researcher, historical objectivism needs to be transformed into historical hermeneutics. Recent developments in the historical methodology of biblical scholars are unable to reckon with the historicality of the researcher due to the partial or incorrect implementation of Gadamer’s views on reception history. I analyse the views of Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and Gadamer on historicality and contend that the study of reception history is a necessary condition for conducting historical study from within the limits of our historicality. Reception history should not be a distinct methodological step to study the “Nachleben” of biblical texts, but needs to clarify how the understanding of these texts is already effected by their history of...