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Religions
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New Testament Studies - Current Trends and Criticisms
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New Testament Studies - Current Trends and Criticisms

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2024) | Viewed by 3841

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Susanne Luther

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Guest Editor
Department of New Testament Studies, Theological Faculty, Göttingen University, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Interests: hermeneutics; dis/ability; intertextuality; spatial turn
Dr. Birke Siggelkow-Berner

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Guest Editor
Department of New Testament Studies, Theological Faculty, Göttingen University, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Interests: ancient Judaism; John within Judaism; intertextuality
Dr. Clarissa Breu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of New Testament Studies, Theological Faculty, Göttingen University, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
Interests: postcolonial theory; queer hermeneutics; reception

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

All of you dedicate your work to situate the research area of New Testament studies within current challenges and debates using a wide range of theoretical approaches to ancient texts. Thus, our discipline is multifaceted and a relevant participator in a changing society.

In this Special Issue, scholars provide a wide range of approaches to New Testament texts to assess in what ways these texts are relevant in current debates. Different hermeneutical lenses are applied and evaluated to question an alleged divide between historically and theoretically oriented methods. It is shown that current trends such as disability studies, ecological hermeneutics, affect theory, intersectionality and others do not bypass history and can connect the past to the present in methodologically reflected ways.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute original research articles to this Special Issue of Religions, which shows the relevance of our research area and offers easily accessible explanations and applications of new theories that also point to the actuality of New Testament texts. The aim of this Special Issue is to present a variety of articles that introduce a broad spectrum of current theoretical approaches to New Testament texts, apply them to (a) certain NT passage(s) and end with a conclusion on the question of how historical context and current theory can interact fruitfully.

The approaches reflected in this Special Issue relate to the scope of Religions in that they are essentially based on interdisciplinary research and focus on hermeneutics and a critical engagement with New Testament texts and the scholarly debate around them.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Susanne Luther
Dr. Birke Siggelkow-Berner
Dr. Clarissa Breu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • New Testament
  • theories
  • history
  • present
  • methods

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1423 KiB  
Article
Epigraphy and New Testament Exegesis
by Deborah Hill and Markus Oehler
Religions 2024, 15(10), 1175; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101175 - 27 Sep 2024
Viewed by 632
Abstract
Within the diverse paths of New Testament exegesis, a new approach is presented here, namely, interpretation against the background of epigraphic sources. Although this approach has a prehistory in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is only now being taken up again with [...] Read more.
Within the diverse paths of New Testament exegesis, a new approach is presented here, namely, interpretation against the background of epigraphic sources. Although this approach has a prehistory in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is only now being taken up again with the project of an Epigraphical Commentary on the New Testament (ECNT). The article briefly describes the more precise procedure for compiling such a commentary and presents three examples from different areas of the New Testament to illustrate the types of insights that can be gained from inscriptions: on κατάκριμα (Rom 5:15, 18; 8:1); on the statement that someone is bound or in bonds (Phlm); and on the meaning of δικαιοσύνη as a virtuous quality in inscriptions, which influences interpretation of 1Tim, Mt, and Luke-Acts. The authors argue for recognizing the critically important role inscriptions in particular can play in illuminating the language and culture of the Mediterranean in the first century, and thus also of early Christian texts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Testament Studies - Current Trends and Criticisms)
13 pages, 1243 KiB  
Article
The Samaritan Woman as a Quick-Witted Border Crosser in John 4
by Hanna-Maria Mehring
Religions 2024, 15(8), 924; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080924 - 30 Jul 2024
Viewed by 689
Abstract
The aim of this article is to provide a description of the intersectionality approach and to offer an overview of the transformation and appropriation processes within the context of the transatlantic journey of this approach. Additionally, the current state of the discussion within [...] Read more.
The aim of this article is to provide a description of the intersectionality approach and to offer an overview of the transformation and appropriation processes within the context of the transatlantic journey of this approach. Additionally, the current state of the discussion within the context of biblical studies will be outlined. An application of an intersectional analysis to a New Testament text example will be conducted based on the dialog at Jacob’s well between the Samaritan woman and Jesus in John 4. When applying the intersectionality approach, an attempt will be made to critically examine power and oppression structures on all three levels: the world of the text, the context of the New Testament, and the world of interpretation and interpretation history. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Testament Studies - Current Trends and Criticisms)
24 pages, 516 KiB  
Article
Biblical Hermeneutics without Interpretation? After Affect, beyond Representation, and Other Minor Apocalypses
by Stephen D. Moore
Religions 2024, 15(7), 755; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15070755 - 21 Jun 2024
Viewed by 881
Abstract
Affect theory, non-representational theory, and assemblage theory have been among the most impactful developments in the theoretical humanities in the wake of, and in reaction to, poststructuralism. These interlocking bodies of theory and critical practice call into question two concepts foundational for biblical [...] Read more.
Affect theory, non-representational theory, and assemblage theory have been among the most impactful developments in the theoretical humanities in the wake of, and in reaction to, poststructuralism. These interlocking bodies of theory and critical practice call into question two concepts foundational for biblical hermeneutics, namely, interpretation and representation. In literary studies, the poststructuralist “death of the author” has been succeeded by a post-poststructuralist “death of the interpreter”. How might biblical exegesis be reimagined on the far side of this double demise? Non-representational theory, meanwhile, in tandem with affect theory, has dismantled traditional understandings of representation; this article argues that traditional biblical scholarship, epitomized by biblical commentary, is driven by a representation compulsion. Assemblage theory, for its part, more than any other body of thought, reveals the immense complexity of the act of reading, not least biblical reading—after which even explicit evocations of contemporary contexts in contextual biblical hermeneutics amount to skeletally thin descriptions. These and other related lines of inquiry impel the rethinking of academic biblical reading attempted in this article. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Testament Studies - Current Trends and Criticisms)
12 pages, 800 KiB  
Article
Thinking about Feelings: The Study of Emotions in the New Testament Writings
by Nils Neumann
Religions 2024, 15(6), 752; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15060752 - 20 Jun 2024
Viewed by 923
Abstract
Growing attention has been directed towards affects and emotions in the New Testament texts within recent scholarship over the course of the past two decades. Although biblical exegesis of the 20th century suspected psychological interpretations of New Testament texts of being highly subjective [...] Read more.
Growing attention has been directed towards affects and emotions in the New Testament texts within recent scholarship over the course of the past two decades. Although biblical exegesis of the 20th century suspected psychological interpretations of New Testament texts of being highly subjective and hence frail, recent research has developed a number of approaches that allow for addressing the subject in a methodologically controlled way. The aim of the present article is to review important monographs from the field of New Testament emotion research with special attention to their particular focuses and research methods. Despite some degree of overlap between these perspectives, six major areas of scholarly work can be identified: (1) “text psychology” that explains New Testament findings against the backdrop of modern psychological theories; (2) historical psychology that explores ancient notions of the affects; (3) narratology that observes recurring a narrative pattern in ancient descriptions of the affects; (4) rhetorical criticism that traces the rhetorical presentation of affects as well as the capability of rhetorical language to evoke affects in the addressees; (5) philosophy of the body that examines the bodily aspects of psychological dynamics; and finally (6) social history that identifies social functions of collective affects, e.g., in the formation and stabilization of social groups. After introducing each of these approaches briefly, the affect of desire (gr. ἐπιθυμία) will serve as a test case to demonstrate the possibilities and usefulness that the different perspectives offer. This way, it becomes clear that affects are by no means a by-product of theological teaching in the New Testament, but in fact indicators of true relevance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Testament Studies - Current Trends and Criticisms)
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