Romans

Although the long-standing debate about the meaning of hilastērion in Rom. 3.25 has led to no consensus, readings are nearly always either (1) metaphorical (hilastērion as place of atonement/expiation) or (2) metonymic (hilastērion as a means of atonement/ expiation). However, in many Second Temple Jewish texts, the word refers to a place of divine revelation. Proposing a fresh semantic typology of the word’s usage, this article argues that there is no unambiguous metonymic usage of the word, and that references to atonement in Lev. 16 are secondary to the revelatory function of the 'mercy seat'. Attending to overlooked intertextual complexities, it suggests that the hilastērion was the site where God promised to reveal the definitive interpretation of his law. The revelatory function of the hilastērion possesses prima facie plausibility as a reading of Rom. 3.21-26, which is driven by the theme of God's self-revelation in Jesus.

What does it mean to “read Romans with Eastern eyes”? Combining research from Asian scholars with his many years of experience living and working in East Asia, Jackson directs our attention to Paul's letter to the Romans. He argues that some traditional East Asian cultural values are closer to those of the first-century biblical world than common Western cultural values.

In addition, he adds his voice to the scholarship engaging the values of honor and shame in particular and their influence on biblical interpretation. As readers, we bring our own cultural fluencies and values to the text. Our biases and backgrounds influence what we observe―and what we overlook. This book helps us consider ways we sometimes miss valuable insights because of widespread cultural blind spots.

In Reading Romans with Eastern Eyes, Jackson demonstrates how paying attention to East Asian culture provides a helpful lens for interpreting Paul's most complex letter. When read this way, we see how honor and shame shape so much of Paul's message and mission.

Addressing the internal conflict between the “weak” and the “strong” affecting the church of Rome, Paul attempts
to provide a solution to the problem that is consistent with “his gospel.” Central to Paul’s argument is his
quotation, in Romans 15:3, of Psalm 69:9 (LXX 68:10), which he interprets and presents here from a Christological
perspective: Jesus appears as the one upon whom fall the offenses and insults addressed by some people to
God. First, Paul reads that text typologically, as referring to Christ, the sin-bearer. Second, but equally important,
Paul reads it as a paradigm of his own experience and as a typos of the experience of the church. The offenses between
Christians are equated with casting blame upon God himself, and the shame associated with this blame is in
turn extended to all those who claim to love and serve God. Paul’s admonition to the “strong”—to endure criticism
and to forego any reactive attempt to vindicate their honor—must have been perceived as unnatural behavior for
those who belonged to a culture permeated with shame and honor values. Nevertheless, Paul encourages his fellow
believers in Rome to accept shame as a sacrifice for the sake of a higher good, i. e., the upbuilding and edification
of the Christian community.

2020, seria "Perspektywy Ponowoczesności", tom 10: "Topografie podróży" pod red. Anity Całek

The paper titled 'Outlander. The journey through time, the journey through space' by Barbara Szymczak-Maciejczyk is centered on the leitmotiv of time-traveling. A popular tv series about the love of a twentieth-century nurse Claire Randall and Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser from the eighteen century is considered as a pop-cultural phenomenon that influenced film tourism and in-depth research on Scottish old and contemporary culture.

Douglas Moo’s 1996 commentary on Romans quickly became a standard reference on Paul’s longest and most important letter. Pauline studies have blossomed in the last twenty years since the first edition was published. Many important monographs and commentaries on Romans have appeared as well as several important Pauline theologies. Many important responses to the New Perspective on Paul were published, such as the two volume Justification and Variegated Nomism (Baker, 2004). Some of these nuanced and expanded Sanders others sought a return to the traditional view of Paul and Judaism. N. T. Wright’s Justification generated various responses, culminating in Wrights massive Paul and the Faithfulness of God (Fortress, 2013) and a collection of essays in response to Wright, God and the Faithfulness of Paul (Fortress, 2017). Since these developments in Pauline Theology often center on key texts in the book of Romans, an update to Moo’s NICNT commentary is welcome.

Enregistrer les confidences d'un vampire... Lire ces confidences... En sortirez-vous indemne ? Sans doute, votre regard sur vos proches sera-t-il changé lorsque vous réaliserez l'appétit cruel qui se dissimule peut-être dans leur amitié. Et qui sait ? Il en ira peut-être de même pour votre regard sur vous-même dont vous pourrez devenir le bourreau, à l'instar de Baudelaire :
"Je suis de mon coeur le vampire,
- Un de ces grands abandonnés
Au rire éternel condamnés
Et qui ne peuvent plus sourire !"
Les vampires d'Anne Rice vous provonquent, vous conduisent à la question : "Qui suis-je ?"

Two protestant and two catholic theologians, two exegetes and two ethicists rediscover the state for theology. Democracy needs a theology that supports rather than deconstructs the power of the state. My contribution deals with Rm 13:1–7 (pp. 103–138).

I attach the preface and a flyer from the publisher.

This paper provides a diachronic overview of the history of the Djerdap Gorge (Porþile de Fier, Iron Gates) and the civilizations that have been associated with it from prehistory to modern times. The Djerdap Gorge had a very troubled history. In antiquity, it was thought to have divided the river into Danubius and Ister. Both banks of Djerdap were inhabited. The north was mostly inhabited by Dacians, and the south was eventually ruled by the Romans. From Emperor Trajan to Emperor Aurelian, the Romans held both banks of the Danube in that area. After the retreat of the Romans, numerous peoples took turns on the banks of the Danube: Byzantines, Slavs, Avars, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Romanians, Ottomans. The Danube was more often a border than a path to cooperation. With the establishment of modern states on its banks, the Danube was allowed to become a vector of trade and cooperation. The efforts of Romania and Serbia, later Yugoslavia, to
regulate Djerdap were crowned with the construction of the Djerdap I and Djerdap II systems in the second half of the twentieth century.

In Rom 10:13, to “call on the name of the Lord” (ἐπικαλέω τὸ ὄνομα κυρίου) involves more than simply invoking the Lord, but expresses a prayer for deliverance with cultic connotations, that is “to worship Jesus as Lord.” Paul’s use of ἐπικαλέω in Rom 10:13 resonates with strong liturgical overtones, draws on a long OT tradition of employing such language in cultic settings, parallels closely other NT texts that are cultic in orientation, and coheres with our earliest evidence about the worship practices of the early church. These observations, in turn, suggest a tighter thematic relationship between Rom 10 and Paul’s description of humanity’s fundamental predicament as false worship in ch. 1, his exhortation for renewed spiritual worship in ch. 12, and his vision for unified Jew/Gentile worship in ch. 15.

Old, New, and Early Perspectives on Paul

Paul's "Works of the Law" in the Perspective of Second-Century Reception by Matthew J. Thomas examines how second-century readers understood Paul's writing that we are justified by faith apart from "works of the law." This disputed term represents a fault line between "old" and "new" perspectives on Paul. Was the apostle reacting against the Jews' good works done to earn salvation, or the Mosaic law's practices that identified the Jewish people? Matthew J. Thomas examines how Paul's second-century readers understood these points in conflict, how their readings relate to "old" and "new" perspectives, and what their collective witness suggests about the apostle's own meaning. Surprisingly, these early witnesses align closely with the "new" perspective, though their reasoning often differs from both modern viewpoints. They suggest that Paul opposes these works neither due to moralism, nor primarily for experiential or social reasons, but because the promised new law and covenant, which are transformative and universal in scope, have come in Christ.

Originally published in 2018 by Mohr Siebeck, Paul’s “Works of the Law” in the Perspective of Second-Century Reception is now available in North America in a beautiful new edition from IVP Academic. The IVP Academic edition features the original text by Thomas and now includes a new preface by Thomas and a foreword from Alister McGrath.

Este conflicto comienza en el siglo V a.C., en el que patricios y plebeyos eran grupos opuestos. Los patricios englobaban a la élite de la ciudadanía romana, y acabó configurándose como una nobleza de carácter selectivo que se transmitía por herencia. Mientras que los plebeyos eran un grupo no privilegiado. Se produjo una discriminación no solo social, sino también política, en la que los plebeyos en un principio podían desempeñar cargos políticos y paulatinamente sus posibilidades decrecieron; es en este momento cuando se produce la Serrata del Patriciado (585 a.C.) que consiste en que los patricios cerraron filas impidiendo que ni los plebeyos ni las élites plebeyas pudieran desempeñar cargos públicos. Así comenzó el régimen republicano presentado como una Liberares Publica. • La Plebe: sus orígenes, en cuanto a categoría social y naturaleza se refiere, son inciertos. Las diferencias entre patricios y plebeyos residen en que los primeros tienen condición de noble, que según avanza la historia adoptó diversas formas: primero Equites, que corresponden a la primera clase serviana; después Nobleza Senatorial hereditaria y por último Nobleza Consular y exclusiva (Nobilitas). los plebeyos tenían derechos pero no privilegios, este grupo se componía por ciudadanos no aristocráticos pero pertenecientes al populus romanus, en otras palabras, ciudadanos acogidos al Ius civium romanorum y protegidos por la Lex Romana. La plebe se constituye en el siglo V a.C. como un grupo político, con organización interna, programa de reivindicaciones e instituciones propias. Estos se reunían en el Concilia Plebis, que era una asamblea en la que elegían a sus propios magistrados " tribunos de la Plebe ". Según un texto de Livio, en esta etapa se produjeron discusiones entre Patricios y Plebeyos por el monopolio que los patricios ejercían sobre los magistrados y sobre

Despite widespread agreement on the significance of Rom 1.16-17,  agreement on its meaning has been elusive. This study focuses on one disputed phrase, ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν, suggesting that it should be read, in the light of Greek idiom, as indicating growth. In the context of Rom 1 the growth Paul is celebrating is not individual faith. Rather, in the gospel — the prophetic announcement of the arrival of eschatological salvation in Christ — the righteousness of God is revealed, resulting in the growing faith of the Gentiles. Paul does not cite Hab 2.4 in Rom 1.17 as a messianic prophecy but as scriptural confirmation that faith is the appropriate response to the gospel.

Romans 1.1-5 provides contextual evidence that Paul cites Hab. 2.4 in Rom. 1.17 as a reference to Christ. Within the rhetorically and epistolographically significant expansion of the letter opening, Rom. 1.1-5 introduces the εὐαγγέλιον θεου̑ as being about Christ and, more specifically, his resurrection – as promised beforehand ‘through the prophets in the holy writings’. Given certain recognizable correspondences between 1.1-5 and 1.16-17 and Paul’s continued association of Christ with the gospel in 1.9, Rom. 1.1-5 prepares the reader to hear ὁ δὲ δίκαιοϛ ἐκ πίστεωϛ ζήσεται in 1.17 as a prophetic reference to Christ, the Righteous One who will live because of his faithfulness.

It is clear that strong creational themes run through the heart of Romans chapter eight, particularly 18-26, and that these themes provide a narrative substructure to Paul’s overall argument. Yet, curiously, in my review of commentaries on Romans, when it comes to the discussion of Romans 8:28-30, there is often scant discussion regarding how vv. 28-30 connect to the creational themes in vv. 18-27.  Instead, one typically finds a leap into extended discussions on the topic of predestination and the inevitable challenges this topic carries with it. 
What, in fact, is the connection between vv. 28-30 and vv. 18-27 of chapter eight with regard to creational themes—and further to the thrust of Paul’s argument leading up to this point?  Does Paul simply drop his argument regarding creation in vv. 18-27 and switch to a new topic in vv. 28-30?  Or do creational themes extend into vv. 28-37?  And if so, what is the significance of those themes to Paul’s argument?  This study will, first, review Paul’s purpose in writing the letter; second, trace the argument of Paul from chapter one through eight; third, explore the creational themes connecting vv. 18-27 with vv. 28-39; and finally examine how these creational themes inform Paul’s use of predestination language in vv. 28-39.

A critical review of The Day the Revolution Began by Tom Wright.  Key words:  N T Wright, The Day the Revolution Began, critical review, atonement theology, OT narrative & allusion, propitiation, divine wrath, Gospels, substitutionary atonement, Wright’s treatment of the terms hilastērion and dikaiosynē, and the need for ‘whole Bible theology’.

This paper aims are simply a polemic against Romanization.. To answer questions regarding the present  understanding of the term Romanization. To explain the colonialist roots or origins it has and to diacritically explore where the debate has to move. The paper offers New Materialist perspectives. This paper critiques Journals of Archaeological Science and other articles whom continually litter our academic community with the plague or Romanization and even propagate it's continued use. This debate should end because it is holistically dogmatic.This paper sets out a new platform of methods for archaeologists and anthropologists who study cultural hybridity through analysis of objects to set foot in.

To put it simply this paper is a rejection of Romanization and a propagation in favour of using globalization as a theoretical concept for discussing the Roman world. This paper is an unpublished piece of work I wrote in my spare time to reconsider the historiographical context of the colonial term and approaches we should be taking to discuss the Roman world.

An overview study of the territory of Slovakia (with emphasis on southwestern Slovakia) in the period of the 1st - 4th century in the exhibition catalogue Romans and Slovakia. The text was published simultaneously in Slovak and English. /
Prehľadová štúdia o území Slovenska (s dôrazom na juhozápadné Slovensko) v období 1. - 4. storočia v katalógu výstavy Rimania a Slovensko. Text vyšiel súbežne v slovenskom a anglickom jazyku.

Abstract. Maramureş Depression represents a distinct region which occupies the north- eastern parts of the Carpathian Basin (Map 1). As land, is a closed, bounded on all sides by mountains. The main access was the river Tisza and pass that it does in the west part of the region. Today we know a number of 31 Dacian period findings dated from the IInd century BC to the IIIrd century AD (Map 2). Of these, 24 (77 %) are monetary findings (isolated coins or hoards), six are cemeteries (19%) with a total of over 110 burial mounds, three are settlements (10 %), and two are Dacian fortifications (6%). Although few in number, archaeological findings provide a fairly large amount of information about the Dacian civilization. In total there were discovered a number of 20 to 23 dwellings (containing a rich inventory, especially pottery, but also tools and weapons), numerous household (barns or storage pits supplies) and one single house of worship (typical Dacian buildings with an apse). The developments of Dacians who remained outside from the Dacia Roman provinces, seems to be uniform in this reion, slightly disturbed by the Roman conquest of a large part of the territory inhabited by Dacian. Elements of climate and relief, and the existence of trade routes (river valleys and mountain passes) facilitated the predilection of certain economic activities, production and trade over long distances. Evidence of this are some roman imports goods, but especially the thousands of Roman coins found in this geographic area.

Kris Vallotton's materpiece of spiritual insight into the inner life of the Christian is reviewed here. The powerful contribution to the field of understanding the nature of the saint and his warfare is a brilliant insight into the Bethel phenomena which is spreading across the globe and producing what some understand to be the last great revival. Many commentators of the revival have asked the question:Why so much laughter? How do Bethel do deliverance? What is Vallotton's understanding of Roman's 7 and 8? With at times astonishing insight Vallotton's addresses each of the issues bringing to bear above 40 years of insight.

In Chapter Four of Dead Men Rising, author Jonathan Williams explores the meaning of "old man," in Romans 6. Countless expositors have identified him with something internal to the human make-up, something like an old sin nature that causes people to sin. But interpretive problems arise from this perspective. If the old man is something that is part of our sinful human nature, and if, as the passage says, the "old man" was crucified, why is there still sinful activity within us? Whatever it is inside us that is causing us to want to sin is very much alive! Ingenious ideas have been presented to explain this experience. Upon close examination, Jonathan Williams shows that the old man is not something within us. It is something about us, a status that we have as descendants of Adam and a status that is replaced by our union with Christ in his death and resurrection.

Please note that the footnotes begin with 91 based on the preceding three chapters published on this site.

The use and misuse of Christian liberty has been an issue in the church since the time of the apostles. Several early churches were struggling in this area, and Paul, in his epistles, discusses this critical topic in some detail. The goal of this study is to analyze Paul’s statement in Romans 14:15 in regard to the misuse of Christian liberty in the church and its consequences. In this passage Paul warns a so-called “strong” believer that by the insensitive use of his Christian liberty and knowledge he can “destroy” or “ruin” the one who is weak in faith.  The present paper will focus specifically on examining the meaning of the above mentioned admonition and its theological and practical implications.

Prior to engaging interpretive problems in the selected passage it is necessary to address its setting. This step cannot be overlooked since it allows the interpreter to take into account both the broad context of the book and the immediate context of the text under consideration. Hence, after greeting his recipients and introducing the theme of the epistle to the Romans,  which is the gospel of God’s righteousness that can be experienced by faith (1:1-17), Paul delves into rich discussion of the gospel as God’s righteousness by faith (1:18–4:25), as God’s power for salvation (5:1–8:39), the gospel of God’s righteousness in its relation to Israel (9:1–11:36) and its relation to the transformation of life (12:1–15:13), before concluding his letter (15:14–16:27).

Schreiner correctly underscores the importance of remembering the occasional nature of Paul’s letters,  as well as the importance of reconstructing the situation that Paul addressed.  This reconstruction of the problem addressed in the immediate context of the passage in question is not without difficulties. In fact, Cranfield in his commentary lists as many as six suggestions in relation to the problem with which Paul is concerned in this section.  Morris adds, “[t]he arguments are endless, but no one has been able to come up with convincing evidence for any one position.”  Yet, while the exact situation may be impossible to deduce from what is contained in the text, we are not completely ignorant as to what was going on in the church. A careful reading of Romans 14:1-15:13 shows that the two groups of genuine believers in the church, i.e. the “strong” and the “weak,” disagreed on a specific point that falls into a broad category of Christian liberty. The heart of the problem is identified by Paul in 14:2 and can be summarized as “[t]he strong believed that they were permitted to eat anything (meats as well as vegetables); the weak were vegetarians.”  Paul’s attitude toward the two groups was that, first, while he agreed with the strong that nothing (no food) is unclean in itself (14:14, 20; 15:1), he exhorted each to lay aside strife and pursue peace and mutual edification (14:19; 15:2, 3), and, secondly, “he is especially emphatic in denouncing the attitude of some strong people toward the weak (14:14–21), and he admonishes the strong lovingly to bear with the failings of the weak (15:1).”

Now with the background of the passage in mind it is appropriate to consider the problem at hand, namely Paul’s admonition in Romans 14:15, which reads: “Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.”  Undoubtedly, the interpretive crux of the matter is the meaning and implications of the Greek term ἀπόλλυμι (“destroy”) in this passage.

This article focuses on Trois femmes puissantes by Marie NDiaye. The novel, which won the Goncourt Prize in 2009, includes three stories, each of which portrays an African woman: Norah, Fanta and Khady Demba. The article investigates in which way these women are strong. It also attempts to measure the novel's impact on the evolution of the representation of African women in literature. It appears that the notion of strength is, in this case, not associated with the notion of power. These women are strong because they have been able to stand against the process of dehumanization while claiming the right to have happy lives. Furthermore, these representations of women by Marie NDiaye seems to follow the general portrayal of African women figures in literature – the woman as victim, the poto mitan woman and the misovire – while at the same time contesting some of their features.

This is the syllabus for a Romans course taught at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary during the Fall 2020 semester. The course itself was subdivided between four sections: Greek Exegesis Online, Greek Exegesis Residential, English Exegesis Online, and English Exegesis Residential. Students in the class were predominately MDiv Students and many were taking the class not only to fulfill an exegesis course requirement but also in preparation for the exegesis portion of ordination exams for the PCUSA.

Warriors, Martyrs, and Dervishes. Moving Frontiers, Shifting Identities in the Land of Rome (13th-15th Centuries) focuses on the perceptions of geopolitical and cultural change, which was triggered by the arrival of Turkish Muslim groups into the territories of the Byzantine Empire at the end of the eleventh century, through intersecting stories transmitted in Turkish Muslim warrior epics and dervish vitas, and late Byzantine martyria. It examines the Byzantines’ encounters with the newcomers in a shared story-world, here called “land of Rome,” as well as its perception, changing geopolitical and cultural frontiers, and in relation to these changes, the shifts in identity of the people inhabiting this space. The study highlights the complex relationship between the character of specific places and the cultural identities of the people who inhabited them.
ISBN: 978-90-04-41584-3

(From the introduction by the editors:) Volker Rabens considers how Paul approached his mission, to make Christ known, in the urban settings of the first-century Roman Empire, analyzing how Paul chose the cities he visited and how he acted once he arrived in a city. Rabens argues that Paul was no mere pragmatist, but that his highly flexible practice and missiological principles were closely interlocked.
- Includes discussion of scholars such as Tom Wright, Rodney Stark, Thomas Robinson, Robert Sack, Ksenija Magda, Rainer Riesner -

Among the different understandings of the Spirit in the New Testament, Paul's Spirit language stands out for being at once dynamic and sometimes impersonal—inviting comparison with the Stoic notion of spirit (pneuma) as a substance. Volker Rabens re-examines Paul’s statements about the Spirit in the widest possible contexts and argues that the alleged parallels with Stoic conceptions are at best ambiguous. Paul understands the work of the Spirit relationally, Rabens argues, and it is through intimate relationships that the Spirit transforms and empowers people's lives.

By Dr. Andy Cheung (who has kindly given permission to post this dissertation for personal study and research purposes)
ABSTRACT:
This thesis considers the practice of Bible translation from the perspective of contemporary translation studies and provides a fresh translation and accompanying commentary of aspects of Paul's Letter to the Romans.
The emergence of functionalism, particularly skopos theory, in the latter part of the 20th century is seen as a key moment in the development of translation theory. The thesis argues that it has significant advantages over source text orientated approaches which have traditionally dominated Bible translation practice. An essential history documents this evolution of theoretical developments in translation study. The advantages of skopos theory over equivalence-based approaches are discussed with particular reference to Bible translation theory and the work of E. A. Nida.
The functionalist approach increases the range of possible translations, with this thesis adopting a foreignising purpose in a new translation of Romans 1:1-15, 15:14-16:27. The foreignising approach owes its origins to F. Schleiermacher (popularised more recently by L. Venuti among others) and involves rendering a text so as to preserve or heighten the sense of otherness of the source text, thereby retaining something of the foreignness of the original. An accompanying commentary is provided to explain the translator's choices.