Thomas Farrar | Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Bellville (original) (raw)

Papers by Thomas Farrar

Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok, 2022

This article interacts with Prof. Rodney Duke's thesis that the "weeping and gnashing of teeth" f... more This article interacts with Prof. Rodney Duke's thesis that the "weeping and gnashing of teeth" formula in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke is an idiom referring to a funerary practice of mourning. The article defends the more common interpretation of the formula as describing the suffering of the condemned in the place of eschatological punishment. In doing so, it offers additional insights into Matthaean and Lucan ideas about eschatological punishment in their Second Temple Jewish context.

Proceedings of the Southern African Transport Conference, 2019

Golden Arrow Bus Services (Pty) Ltd. (GABS) is the largest private bus company in the Western Cap... more Golden Arrow Bus Services (Pty) Ltd. (GABS) is the largest private bus company in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It operates subsidised, scheduled transport services to commuters in Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality under a contract with the Western Cape Department of Transport. To independently assess service quality, the company has commissioned the Cape Peninsula University of Technology to undertake biennial customer satisfaction surveys. The survey’s 2018 iteration was conducted during the week of 10 to 14 September 2018 with a sample of n=2677 quasi-randomly selected customers interviewed during morning and afternoon peak hours at six bus termini. The main section of the questionnaire measured satisfaction using a perceived service quality (PSQ) scale consisting of 20 individual service quality items. Overall satisfaction was measured by aggregating individual item scores into a PSQ index and was also separately measured directly using a ten-point scale. A gap scoring technique was used to measure the relative importance of the service quality items, enabling an importance-performance analysis (IPA) to be conducted (cf. Martilla, 1977). Data was also collected on demographic characteristics and service usage. Self-reported customer satisfaction was reasonably high (a mean of 7.2 on a scale from 1 to 10). Items for which mean customer satisfaction was the highest were “Ease of getting on and off the bus,” “Driving ability of drivers,” and “Reliability of buses not to break down.” Items for which mean customer satisfaction was lowest were “Condition of bus stops and shelters,” “Level of safety from crime,” and “Level of crowding on buses.” The PSQ scale was found to be internally consistent in terms of Cronbach’s Alpha, and the PSQ index was found to correlate strongly with service usage indicators. The PSQ scale is suitable as a tool for measuring customer satisfaction with bus services in a South African context.

Journal for the Study of Religion, 2019

This study analyzes worldviews and religious beliefs and practices in the Cape Flats area of Cape... more This study analyzes worldviews and religious beliefs and practices in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town, South Africa, using a mall intercept survey of n=513 visitors to five shopping centers. Variables considered included demographic characteristics, measures of religiosity and religious pluralism, participation in religious activities, and supernaturalism (both related and unrelated to a traditional Christian-Abrahamic worldview). The majority (69.4%) of respondents identifies as Christian, though denominational affiliation is very diverse. The other two prevalent religious affiliations are the African Traditional Religion (16.4%) and Islam (11.7%). Only 1.6% of the respondents self-identified as non-religious, a smaller percentage than has been found in research on Cape Town as a whole or South Africa nationally. The degree of self-reported religiosity, participation in religious activities, and belief in supernatural phenomena are all high. Associations between demographic characteristics and religion and worldview variables are analyzed in detail.

Annual Proceedings of the South African Statistical Association Conference, 2018

The classical linear regression model is a very well-known and widely used statistical method. On... more The classical linear regression model is a very well-known and widely used statistical method. One of the assumptions on which the model's validity rests is that of constant error variance (homoscedasticity). Thus, heteroscedasticity testing plays an important role in linear regression model diagnostics. This study proposes an omnibus test for heteroscedasticity in the classical linear regression model using the notion of radial stationarity about the centre of the explanatory variable space, combined with the notion of data depth. The test procedure consists of constructing a spatially ordered series of residuals (after removing the deepest observations) that is then tested for weak stationarity. Monte Carlo simulations show that, when the Priestley-Subba Rao method is used as the stationarity test, the resulting 'radial stationarity' test outperforms the Breusch-Pagan Test and White's Test in terms of average excess power over size under a variety of heteroscedastic alternatives, in some cases by a wide margin. The size of the proposed test is not robust under non-normality, however, and two nonparametric stationarity tests performed poorly in the simulations.

This article responds to a previous study in the same journal by Jonathan Burke, who argues “that... more This article responds to a previous study in the same journal by Jonathan Burke, who argues “that certain texts among the Apostolic Fathers corpus exhibit a significant marginalization of Satan and demons.” Burke regards this as evidence for “a first century demythological Christianity which survived well into the second century though only as a minority report.” This marginalising or demythologising phenomenon, he believes, is efficiently explained by “non-belief in Satan and demons” on the part of the authors of these works. This response article contends that Burke’s study is flawed both in its methodology and its exegetical results. Burke’s methodology is shown to rely heavily on false dichotomies and negative evidence. His analysis understates the extent of references to mythological evil in several of the Apostolic Fathers, and his conclusions are thus invalid. A more accurate assessment is that the Apostolic Fathers, like the NT writings, consistently reflect theologies of evil that incorporate both anthropological and cosmological elements. There is diversity between individual writers and documents in the level of emphasis on anthropological and cosmological evil respectively.

Neotestamentica, 2017

Nearly all modern scholars interpret σήμερον in Luke 23:43 as modifying ἔσῃ (“today you will be ... more Nearly all modern scholars interpret σήμερον in Luke 23:43 as modifying ἔσῃ (“today you will be with me in paradise”). The alternative, that σήμερον modifies λέγω (“Truly I say to you today”), is usually dismissed, if mentioned at all. This study argues that the latter reading has prima facie plausibility, since it can be understood—in line with a widely accepted eschatologisation of “today” in Luke (cf. 4:21; 19:9)—as emphasising the immediacy of Jesus’ response in contrast to the temporal vagueness of the penitent thief’s request (“Remember me when . . .”). A thorough investigation of this issue is undertaken, using both a survey of patristic evidence and a methodologically innovative statistical analysis of syntactic patterns in Luke-Acts. The evidence indicates that the conventional paradise-today reading is more likely, albeit not certain; translations and commentaries should at least alert readers to the alternative. The meaning of σήμερον under the paradise-today reading is briefly discussed, arguing that despite a probable eschatological connotation, the literal chronological sense should be retained. Accordingly, the saying is best understood as a pronouncement of clemency with immediate results: the penitent thief is to enter paradise with Jesus that very day.

Journal of Theological Studies, 2019

The challenge of reconceptualising mythological concepts like the Devil in contemporary Christian... more The challenge of reconceptualising mythological concepts like the Devil in contemporary Christian theology is well known, but some interpreters find a demythologised Devil already within the New Testament. To evaluate this approach exegetically, this study attempts to reconstruct the religion-historical setting of New Testament Satanology by exploring leading suprahuman opponents (LSOs) in pre- and non-Christian Second Temple Jewish literature. In contrast to most previous attempts at such a reconstruction, the present study is methodologically conservative, admitting into evidence only texts that can be reliably assigned to a pre-70 C.E. date and non-Christian Jewish provenance. The investigation shows that there was no standard Jewish Satanology during the Second Temple period. Moreover, ‘Satan’ is not clearly attested as a personal name prior to the New Testament and may therefore be a title or Funktionsbezeichnung in most occurrences therein. New Testament Satanology shows significant continuity with earlier and contemporaneous Jewish LSO-concepts but is relatively more homogeneous, suggesting that a consolidation of Satanological terminology and concepts occurred very early in church history. This consistency, together with the abundance of mythological religion-historical parallels to the New Testament Devil, suggest that the early church uniformly understood the Satan as a mythological being—probably an angel.

Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2018

Much scholarship has recently been done on the Satanology (Satan-concept) of New Testament books ... more Much scholarship has recently been done on the Satanology (Satan-concept) of New Testament books or writers. This study attends to the Satanology of early "non-canonical" Christian writings, which have been comparatively under-researched. The literature examined includes the so-called Apostolic Fathers and other texts that can be reliably dated to c. 100-150 C.E., namely Ascension of Isaiah, Apocalypse of Peter, Odes of Solomon, Gospel of Truth, Ptolemy's Letter to Flora and Justin Martyr's writings. Over 160 certain or probable references to Satan, under various designations, are identified. Analysis of this data set proceeds in two directions. The first looks at the concept's explanatory power: for what kinds of evil did Satanology help to account? The discussion traverses various loci of perceived satanic activity, from the human heart to community boundaries to earthly political authorities to a dualistic cosmos to the abstract realm of ideas. The second analytical section explores ways that Christian writers and communities incorporated Satanology into their religious life through liturgical forms, hermeneutics for reading the Jewish Scriptures, and theological debates about the nature of God and evil. Satanology is found to have been a pervasive and distinctive feature of Christianity in the early subapostolic period.

This essay evaluates the place of mortalism within an Evangelical theological paradigm, focusing ... more This essay evaluates the place of mortalism within an Evangelical theological paradigm, focusing predominantly on the biblical witness. After a short treatment of the Old Testament witness and extra-biblical views within Second Temple Judaism, exegesis is offered on a number of New Testament passages which bear on the subject of the state of the blessed dead. These include Luke 9:28-36 par., Luke 16:19-31, Luke 23:42-43, 1 Thess. 4 and 1 Cor. 15, Phil. 1:20-24 and 2 Cor. 5:1-10, Heb. 12:22-23 and Rev. 6:9-11. A brief discussion of the early Christian tradition (focusing on 1 Clement as a case study) ensues, followed by a summary of philosophical arguments for and against anthropological dualism and monism. The conclusion reached is that the dominant Evangelical position of a conscious intermediate state between death and resurrection is more theologically sound than mortalism.

This study investigates Paul's atonement theology in Romans with particular emphasis on Rom. 3:21... more This study investigates Paul's atonement theology in Romans with particular emphasis on Rom. 3:21-26 and concludes that a representative-participatory model best explains Paul's atonement concept. "Representative" denotes Christ's function as the new Adam, the federal head of a new humanity freed from sin. "Participatory" denotes that, just as Christ entered into our humanity and shared in our death, so we must participate in his death if we are to enter into the new humanity founded by his resurrection. Aspects of Rom. 3:21-26 that are analysed include the plight (Rom. 3:23), δικαιο-terminology, the πίστις Χριστοῦ debate, redemption, the meaning of ἱλαστήριον and the πάρεσις of former sins. It is argued that, while Rom. 3:21-26 is concerned more with the "that" of the atonement than the "how," it does offer hints of a representative-participatory model, which are further developed in other texts, especially Rom. 8:3-4, Gal. 3:13 and 2 Cor. 5:21. Paul's interpretation of the atonement was multivalent and it is not claimed that the model offered here exhausts it. However, it is argued that Paul's thought is inconsistent with a penal substitution model of atonement, particularly in its understanding of the relationship between Jesus's death and God's wrath.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2016

This article builds from the count of NT Satan references produced in ‘Diabolical Data’: A Critic... more This article builds from the count of NT Satan references produced in ‘Diabolical Data’: A Critical Inventory of New Testament Satanology’ (JSNT 39.1). Linguistic-statistical tools unveil the literary distribution of Satan language across NT writings, showing Satan to be ‘topical’ in 14/27 NT books and following a fairly even distribution, correlated to word count. Satan is a consistent feature within NT discourse, characterized by very rich language but also a consolidation of that language through the use of synonyms. The coherence of the NT portrait of Satan stands out from the inconstant and loosely connected Satan language of Second Temple Judaism, suggesting a new departure in early Christianity. The implications of this ‘Satanology’ are considered for wider projects in NT studies, for the history of religions and hermeneutics. The problem this study sets for future interpreters is that of exploring and explaining the distinctive nature of NT Satanology both in its context and for today’s readers.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2016

This study counts references to Satan in the NT, by any designation. First, all candidate texts a... more This study counts references to Satan in the NT, by any designation. First, all candidate texts are surveyed. These include occurrences of the words σατανᾶς and διάβολος (with and without the article) and 30 other terms which potentially refer to Satan, descriptively or allegorically. Having laid ground rules for counting potential references in close proximity, candidate texts in which the referent is uncertain are analysed exegetically to decide whether they do refer to Satan. These include texts in which σατανᾶς or διάβολος occurs without the article and texts in which neither σατανᾶς nor διάβολος occurs. Through exegesis, a final count of 137 references to Satan in the NT is obtained. An alternative, probability-weighted approach estimates the number at 129.2. In either case, the total is strikingly greater than a simple summation of instances of σατανᾶς and διάβολος.

Within the discipline of biblical theology there is a great variety of definitions and methodolog... more Within the discipline of biblical theology there is a great variety of definitions and methodologies. Beginning with a rudimentary working definition and the operative assumption that biblical theology seeks to serve the Church, this study outlines an advocates a doubly canonical approach to biblical theology. Under this approach the biblical theologian presupposes a canon of Scripture and a canon or rule of faith. It is argued that this methodology does justice to the name 'biblical theology' and offers significant insights to the Church. While the approach will be of limited value for scholars who cannot affirm these twin canonical presuppositions, it is concluded that in a postmodern academic milieu this need not hinder constructive dialogue with advocates of other approaches to biblical theology.

Rudolf Bultmann is widely regarded as the greatest New Testament scholar of the twentieth century... more Rudolf Bultmann is widely regarded as the greatest New Testament scholar of the twentieth century, due to the scope of his expertise and his grasp of the contemporary theological problem. This essay aims to critically assess the validity of Bultmann’s hermeneutics, especially his demythologizing or existentialist reading of the New Testament. The essay first describes Bultmann's Sitz im Leben, then outlines his theology and hermeneutic and summarizes criticism of his work by both liberals and conservatives. This author's own evaluation and synthesis follows. I argue that demythologization, as practiced by Bultmann, is not necessary to make the Christian kerygma intelligible to those with a scientific worldview. Indeed, it is concluded that demythologization is antithetical to traditional Christian faith, which is irrevocably mythological.

In the Hebrew Bible, it is generally agreed that haśśāṭān functions as a prosecutor in the heaven... more In the Hebrew Bible, it is generally agreed that haśśāṭān functions as a prosecutor in the heavenly court. A more developed concept of 'Satan' appears in the New Testament and in rabbinic literature. For the Rabbis, Satan's accusing function remained at the forefront, while for the NT writers it had been superseded by seducing and oppressing functions. Indeed, there is evidence that early Christians believed Satan had been disbarred from the heavenly court as a result of Jesus' redemptive work on the cross. There remained then no heavenly prosecutor for Jesus' followers, but only a heavenly paraklētos - Jesus himself!

In this exegetical study of the references to demons and exorcism in the Synoptic Gospels, we aim... more In this exegetical study of the references to demons and exorcism in the Synoptic Gospels, we aim to evaluate the accommodation theory which claims that Jesus and the Synoptic writers did not share the belief in demons which was common among their contemporaries, but accommodated themselves to it. We first define three competing theories. We give a brief history of the accommodation theory and distinguish two sub-theories: benign accommodation and subversive accommodation (the latter of which seems to be restricted to Christadelphians). These are ‘benign accommodation theory’, in which Jesus and the Synoptic writers behaved just as though demons were real, and the ‘subversive accommodation theory’, in which Jesus and the Synoptic writers intended to subvert the popular belief in demons and show indirectly that no such beings exist. A survey of the literature shows that biblical scholars are in wide agreement that Jesus and the Synoptic writers did in fact believe in demons. Exegetical arguments for the accommodation are considered and seen to be mostly arguments from silence with very little merit. Seven exegetical arguments are then raised against the accommodation theory. The conclusion drawn is that the accommodation theory represents revisionist eisegesis of the relevant texts and not sound, grammatical-historical exegesis. Finally, the theological implications of the various theories are explored.

This essay attempts an exegesis of some of the key Christological texts in the Epistle to the Heb... more This essay attempts an exegesis of some of the key Christological texts in the Epistle to the Hebrews in order to sketch the author’s Christology. The challenging introductory questions relating to the Epistle’s composition are largely avoided; the exegetical method instead focuses on context, grammar and syntax, and intertextuality. Competing scholarly viewpoints are presented and weighed. Particular emphasis is placed on the exordium (Hebrews 1:1-4), the catena of scriptural quotations (Hebrews 1:5-14), the discussion of Christ’s humanity (Hebrews 2:6-18), the comparison of Christ with Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6), and the enigmatic comparison of Christ with Melchizedek (Hebrews 7). Other Christologically significant texts discussed more briefly include Hebrews 4:15-16, Hebrews 5:7-9, Hebrews 9:15-16, Hebrews 10:5-10, and Hebrews 13:8. The conclusion drawn from the study is that the author of Hebrews regarded Jesus as the pre-existent, divine Son of God who became incarnate to deal with sin and was exalted by God for his faithfulness unto death. By its dual emphasis on Christ’s divinity and humanity, Hebrews provides the raw materials for later Chalcedonian orthodoxy, although it does not develop these concepts or attempt to resolve the tension between them.

Svensk Exegetisk Årsbok, 2022

Proceedings of the Southern African Transport Conference, 2019

Journal for the Study of Religion, 2019

Annual Proceedings of the South African Statistical Association Conference, 2018

Neotestamentica, 2017

Journal of Theological Studies, 2019

Journal of Early Christian Studies, 2018

Journal for the Study of the New Testament, 2016

Unpublished, 2024

The late Edward W. Fudge's book "The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the D... more The late Edward W. Fudge's book "The Fire That Consumes: A Biblical and Historical Study of the Doctrine of Final Punishment" is arguably the most influential articulation of an annihilationist view of hell. In this detailed review of and response to the book, I take issue with Fudge's exegesis of biblical texts, as well as of non-canonical Second Temple Jewish texts and early Christian texts. My analysis of the New Testament evidence is informed by Alan E. Bernstein's distinction between the positive tradition and the symmetrical tradition in early Christianity. The conclusion that I reach is that the traditional Christian doctrine of hell as a place of unending suffering is more biblically defensible than annihilationism.

The Journal of Theological Studies, 2021

Journal of Theological Studies, 2020