Das politische Potential neutestamentlicher Raumentwürfe

The following article is part of an essay trilogy dwelling on space and spatial concepts in New Testament scriptures. In the course of this, space thematic approaches are consequently utilized as an interface for political, socio-historical and theological- christological issues. The focal point of this article is an application of this space orientated approach concerning 1 Peter and Revelation.

„Ich bringe euch in die Wüste der Völker“ (Ez 20,35)

Among many other peculiarities of the Book of Ezekiel, the numerous movements and spatial terms mentioned in it stand out. Using the cultural-anthropological concept that underlies rites of passage and related transitional phenomena (A. van Gennep, V. Turner) some of them can be taken as elements of a transitional process. Therefore, the spatial structure in Ezek. 20 and in the overall layout of the Book of Ezekiel is used to illustrate that the Babylonian exile is a necessary liminal phase of the transition from Israel’s status as an apostate people to a new status given by JHWH.

Elimelech or Abimelech? A Study on the Textual Variant of the Name of Noemin’s Husband in LXX-Ruth

This paper analyses the textual variant of the name of Noemin’s husband in the book of Ruth: Elimelech according to the Masoretic Text and Abimelech according to the Septuagint. It investigates if this textual variant is linked to a different Hebrew Vorlage, whether it is carried out during the process of translation of the text in its Greek form, or whether it is due to its transmission in its Greek form. Finally, this study analyses the literary criticism of this variant by showing how a coherent character is created by name and through actions and how, in this way, God’s presence is accentuated in the narrative.

Überlegungen zu ausgewählten Aspekten der Behandlung des Jeremiabuchs in der Monographie von Benjamin Ziemer „Kritik des Wachstumsmodells“ (2020)

In a massive study, Benjamin Ziemer has launched a scathing stricture of redaction criticism in Old Testament studies. Based on comparative material from an impressive range of Ancient Near Eastern, biblical, early Jewish and early Christian literature, he maintains that diachronic research is unable to deliver meaningful reconstructions that reach more than one stage of textual development behind the present biblical text. Moving beyond that boundary would amount to unfettered speculation. While his appraisal is overwhelmingly negative, there is one biblical book on which he endeavors to devise a redaction-critical hypothesis of his own: the book of Jeremiah. The article evaluates Ziemer’s theory on Jeremiah and draws some general conclusions regarding the validity of his verdict on traditional redaction-critical research.

Unearthing Text-Critical Possibilities through Lexical-Syntactic Analysis: A Case Study from Judg 15:3

In the discipline of text criticism of the Hebrew Bible, one is usually alerted to the possibility of textual corruption either by a reading that poses significant logical or syntactic difficulties in its immediate context, or by the presence of significant variants in ancient manuscripts and translations of that text. In this article, however, it will be argued that occasionally, even when a reading seems to enjoy unanimous support from ancient manuscripts and versions and poses no significant difficulty in context, there remains the possibility of textual corruption. Using Judg 15:3 as a test case, this article will show that when even seemingly trivial lexical-syntactic irregularities such as the use of the notoriously fluid מן preposition in conjunction with נקה are noted and carefully analysed, new text-critical possibilities that would otherwise be overlooked may come to light.

Jerusalem in Lukasevangelium und Apostelgeschichte

Undoubtedly the city Jerusalem (with its temple) is accentuated in Luke-Acts. This is indicated by the high frequency of the name(s) (Luke-Acts presents ca. 65% of the NT-instances!) Ἰερουσαλήμ and Ἱεροσόλυμα and also by the important role of the town within the structure, i.e. within the composition of the two books (cf. only Lk 1–2; 9:51; Acts 1:8; 19:21). But what does this emphasis mean? Differences in the understanding of the relevant data are obvious (and this matter resembles [not without cause] the intense discussions in the area of Pauline studies during the last decades). Older perspectives (advocated amongst others by F. C. Overbeck, E. Haenchen and H. Conzelmann) try to conceive for instance the Stephanus episode (Acts 6–7) and the last scene of Acts in an „anti-Judaic“ manner. But Acts 7:55–56 (cf. Lk 1:11) could hint at the celestial sanctuary, and Acts 28:20 (cf. v. 26–27, esp. v. 27b) names the „hope of Israel“. So a „New(er) Perspective“ could or should be preferable, paying attention to certain features of Luke-Acts, which possibly point to salvation-historical aims of the author.