With one possible exception Richard Bauckham is, in my opinion, the most fascinating New Testament scholar writing today. Clarity of writing, sobriety of judgment, persuasiveness of argument, originality of proposals, mastery of the literature, and--O rarest of gems among
neutestamentlers--theological sanity. Here's a statement on Psalm 110:1 ("The L
ORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand . . .'"), cited all through the NT (Bauckham suspects Hebrews is itself a sustained exposition of this single text) but completely ignored in Second Temple Jewish literature.
Early Christian theology developed mainly through the exegesis of the Scriptures, which was both traditional in method, pursued with the exegetical expertise of Jewish learned exegesis, and frequently novel in its results, since it was deployed to interpret events, understood as decisive eschatological acts of the God of Israel, which did not neatly conform to any existing Jewish expectation. One remarkable datum in the exegetical development of early Christology is that verse 1 of Psalm 110 is the verse of the Hebrew Scriptures to which christological allusion is most often made in early Christian literature. . . .
Psalm 110:1, perhaps the most foundational text for the whole configuration [of key OT texts drawn upon in the NT christologically], was a novel choice. . . . The explanation of its role in early Christology, contrasted with its absence from Second Temple Jewish literature, is that, for early Christians, it said about Jesus what no other Jews had wished to say about the Messiah or any other figure: that he had been exalted by God to participate now in the cosmic sovereignty unique to the divine identity.
--
Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament's Christology of Divine Identity (Eerdmans, 2008), 173, 175
With one possible exception Richard Bauckham is, in my opinion, the most fascinating New Testament scholar writing today. Clarity of writing, sobriety of judgment, persuasiveness of argument, originality of proposals, mastery of the literature, and--O rarest of gems among neutestamentlers--theological sanity. Here's a statement on Psalm 110:1 ("The LORD said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right hand . . .'"), cited all through the NT (Bauckham suspects Hebrews is itself a sustained exposition of this single text) but completely ignored in Second Temple Jewish literature.
7 comments:
Do we get to hear who the exception is?
Or shall we guess? I'm going with Beale.
Thanks Dane, this is great. Would this book be the best starting place for reading Bauckhaum? I've hardly read him at all, but I know I need to.
Great question Jeremy ... I too would like to know the answer tot hat question.
Thanks for the comments guys. Yep, I think this would be the book to begin with, because the first 60 pp are his 1999 bk God Crucified (originally delivered orally), which is outstanding, short, clear, fascinating, classic Bauckham--Bauckham is right now working on a huge tome that will cover that ground with long technical arguments and textual corroboration.
Two other bks of his to mention are, one, The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple, which is essays on John and is fascinating (he argues for example that instead of John being the most theological and therefore least historical of the Gospels, John's very theology has a built-in respect for history; thus John is actually the most historically sensitive of the 4 Gospels) and, two, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, which is long but fascinating (and almost single-handedly demolishing the basic assumptions of the form critics of a generation ago).
But first: God crucified. So eye-opening to what's happening when the NT applies texts like Isa 53 and Ps 110 and Ps 2 to Jesus. Wow.
Drew, bingo.
Totally agreed on Bauckham (great quote btw). My main hangup with him is his assertion that 2 Peter is pseudepigraphal.
I agree Ryan. Especially in light of the eyewitness claim in 2 Pet 1! (we were eyewitnesses of his majesty, etc, referring to transfiguration)
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