‘The Gospel According to St Justin the New: Justin Popovic on Scripture’, in: Matthew Baker and Mark Mourachian (eds.), What is the Bible? The Patristic Doctrine of Scripture, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016, 137-166. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Jan Dušek - Jan Roskovec (eds.), The process of authority: the dynamics in transmission and reception of canonical texts. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016, p. 165-178. , 2016
The outstanding apologist of the Christian Faith, Justin Martyr, is a unique witness to the transmission of Biblical tradition in the mid-second century. In his time, the canon of Christian writings today known as the New Testament emerged as a counterpart to 'Scripture' (the Law and Prophets of the Hebrew Bible). The chapter in the collective monograph Process of authority deals with the reception of the Hebrew Bible, as reflected in Justin's work, in particular in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. Justin uses many quotations from Scripture, which are interpreted as prophecies fulfilled in Christ. As a correlate to the individual verses of the Scripture and source of information on Jesus'life and suffering, he refers in this work 13 times to the 'Memoirs of the apostles'. What, then, is their content and status?
As It Is Written: Studying Paul's Use of Scripture
It is widely recognized that the way that Paul uses Scripture plays a vital role in his theology and the expression of his writing. There is, however, quite a bit of disagreement as to how to make sense of the presence and function of Scripture within his letters. Oftentimes scholars do not engage each other due to their presuppositions. The aim of this book is to examine the reasons behind scholarly differences and thus move a fragmented discussion forward. It also hopes to advance discussion in this discipline by applying the methods of deconstruction, postcolonial theory, and feminist criticism to the study of Paul's use of Scripture. To these ends Stanley E. Porter and Christopher D. Stanley have assembled thirteen essays that represent the first three years of the SBL Seminar on Paul and Scripture.
The Gospels' use of the Old Testament is a fruitful area of study. Especially in the last thirty years, there has been an abundance of studies analyzing the many quotations and allusions to Scripture found in the four gospels. Most of these studies try to do what is most important: discover how the particular OT references and their contexts shed light on the evangelists' meaning. What I would like to do in this study is to ask a slightly different question, one that builds on the detailed exegetical studies that are already available. 1 How does Scripture function in the narrative of each Gospel? If we apply literary skills to the evangelists' use of Scripture, what does it tell us about how Scripture contributes to each narrative? And then what does such a literary analysis suggest about the evangelists' theology, especially their views on Jesus and the Scripture?
Paul and Scripture: Extending the Conversation
The presence and function of Scripture within Paul's letters has been a long-standing debate. Those who are familiar with the discussion will know that questions range as to what type of scriptural presence Paul employs: citation, allusion, echo, or theme. Does Paul use Scripture within context or apart from it? Which is more significant for understanding the function of Scripture in Paul's letters-the reader or the author? Did Paul interact with other Jewish understandings of scriptural ideas? If he did, then in what way did he engage with early Judaism? Did he also employ Scripture in relation to Greco-Roman culture? Should new types of hermeneutical methods be employed for understanding Paul's use of Scripture?
Why The Bible Matters: A Pauline View
Paul's understanding of the 'condemning word' (law of Moses) and 'reconciling word' (gospel of Jesus Christ), to which scripture witnesses, is related to the 'reconciling act' of the sacrifice of Christ. Conclusions are drawn regarding 'existential displacement' and 'participation in Christ' as well as how Paul's use of the bible can be a model for our own use.