Friday, March 11, 2011

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Letter Carriers in Marburg

Just got back from attending the Facharbeitsgruppe Neues Testament in Marburg. This is a research seminar/conference associated with the Arbeitskreis für evangelikale Theologie (seems basically like an equivalent to the Tyndale Fellowship Study Groups). Anyway I presented a paper on: The Ancient Letter Carriers and their Relevance for the Study of the New Testament. This seemed to be well received and provoked some interesting questions and discussion. In this paper I offered a general overview of the evidence as I see it, and some reflections on the relevance for Romans, Philippians, and Colossians (with briefer comments on some other texts). The trip was too quick, I don't really cope with one hour lectures in German (except with a full script - that was really helpful), and my travel arrangements meant I didn't get to do much sightseeing. But I met up with some good people (old friends and new), and have plenty to think about.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Doering on 'Paul and Ancient Jewish Letter Writing'

Justin Mihoc at RBECS provides a helpful summary of Doering's presentation at Durham on 29.11.2010. Broadly focusing on form and content.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Olson on Embedded Letters in Josephus

Ryan S. Olson, Tragedy, Authority, and Trickery: The Poetics of Embedded Letters in Josephus. Hellenic Studies 42. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University, 2010.

Helpful review (by L. Zollschan) at BMCR.