The sixty-fourth General Meeting of the Society was held at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria from 4–8 August 2009, under the presidency of Professor Dr Andreas Lindemann (Germany). About 365 members, spouses and guests were present. On the first evening, the Rector of the University warmly welcomed the Society to Vienna and the University with a reception.
The Academic Programme
The President delivered his Presidential Address with the title ‘… ἐκτρέϕετε αὐτά ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ κυρίου (Eph 6,4): Kinder in der Welt des frühen Christentums’ at the opening plenary session of the Society.
Main Papers in plenary sessions were read by Prof. Dr Vasile Mihoc, ‘L'Evangile visible. Les saintes icônes, “prédication silencieuse” de la Parole et guides de son interprétation’ ; Prof. Margaret Y. MacDonald: ‘Beyond Identification of the Topos of Household Management: Reading the Household Codes in Light of Recent Methodologies and Theoretical Perspectives in the Study of the New Testament’; Prof. Dr Manabu Tsuji: ‘Persönliche Korrespondenz des Paulus: Zur Strategie der Pastoralbriefe als Pseudepigrapha’; Prof. Dr Samuel Vollenweider: ‘Hymnus, Enkomion oder Psalm? Schattengefechte in der neutestamentliche Wissenschaft’.
Eighteen short papers were given in simultaneous sessions by Bradley McLean: ‘The Crisis of Historicism and the Problem of Historical Meaning in New Testament Studies’; Eve-Marie Becker: ‘Die markinischen Summarien als hermeneutischer Schlüssel zu Mk 1–6’; J. Albert Harrill: ‘God Demands Death for Forswearing : Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11)’; Folker Siegert: ‘Eine integrierte Theorie der Entstehung der vier Evangelien’; Camille Focant: ‘La paix de Dieu, celle qui surpasse toute intelligence (Ph 4,7)’ ; Jean-Claude Loba-Mkole: ‘Intercultural Exegesis of 1 Thessalonians’; Jesús Paláez: ‘A New Method of Semantic Analysis, Applied to New Testament Lexicography’; Lars Rydbeck: ‘The Disappeared Pillow: Mark 4:35–41 cum parallelis’; Dennis MacDonald: ‘Luke's Lost Source: Papias’ “Exegesis of Dominical Logia” '; Richard Bell: ‘A Theology of Mind: Reading Paul with Kant and Schopenhauer’; Seyoon Kim: ‘Rom 12:1–2 as an Antidote to Rom 1:18–32’; Norbert Baumert: ‘Eπίγνωσις bei Paulus—Ein Beitrag zur “New Perspective” ’; Bernardo Estrada: ‘The Last Beatitude: Joy in Suffering’; Mogens Müller: ‘Zur Herkunft des lukanischen Schriftbeweises’; James A. Kelhoffer: ‘The Depictions of Paul's Suffering in Colossians and Second Timothy’; Kathy Ehrensperger: ‘ “…nothing is in itself unclean”: Hospitality and Paul's Discussion of “koinos” and “katharos” in Romans 14:14 and 14:20’; Michał Wojciechowski: ‘Marriage as Ownership: An Overlooked Background of New Testament Sayings on Marriage and Divorce’; Ruben Zimmermann: ‘A Paradigm Shift in German Parable Exegesis? Opening up Horizons of Understanding’.
Fifteen seminars with the following subjects, convenors and presenters were held: (1) ‘Christliche Literatur des späten ersten Jahrhunderts und des zweiten Jahrhunderts/Christian Literature of the Late First Century and the Second Century’ (Prof. Dr F. Prostmeier and Dr H. van de Sandt): Huub van de Sandt, ‘Form and Function of Speaking about Sacrifice in the Didache’; Michael Lattke, ‘Die Rede vom Tod Jesu Christi in der Apologie des Aristides’; Ferdinand Prostmeier, ‘Formen und Functionen der Rede von der Auferstehung in Theophilos von Antiochia, An Autolykos’; (2) ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls in Relation to Early Judaism and Early Christianity’ (Prof. J. J. Collins and Prof. Dr J. Frey): Timothy Lim, ‘Scriptural Authority and the Dead Sea Scrolls’ (respondent: Christian Grappe); Armin Lange, ‘Textual Standardization and Canonical History of the Hebrew Bible: Jewish Tradition and Book Production in the First Century bce’ (respondent: J. J. Collins); Philip Alexander, ‘Criteria for Recognizing Canonical Texts: A Survey and Critique’ (respondent: Michael Becker); (3) ‘The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament: Language, Culture, Ideas’ (Prof. S. E. Porter and Prof. Dr P. Arzt-Grabner; co-adviser Prof. L. Rydbeck): Renate Pillinger, ‘The so-called Cave of St. Paul in Ephesus’; Cornelia Römer, ‘The Vienna Papyrus Collection and Its Importance for the Study of the New Testament: Past, Present, and Future’; Max Küchler, ‘“Macht euch Freunde mit dem ungerechten Mammon!” (Lk 16,9a). Sympathisantenwerbung auf jüdischen Münzen der hellenistisch römischen Zeit’; (4) ‘The Greek of the New Testament’ (Prof. Dr C. C. Caragounis and Prof. J. W. Voelz): Keith Elliott, ‘A Collection of Variants from the Greek New Testament where Questions about Authors’ Usage may be Determinative in Deciding on the Earliest Recoverable Text as well as the Possible Motives for Deliberate Change from that Text' (respondent: James W. Voelz); Jesús Peláez, ‘The semantic procedures for the construction of the definitions of words in the Greek–Spanish Dictionary of the New Testament’ (respondent: David du Toit); Fredrick W. Danker, ‘On Developing Respect for New Testament Greek: Greek Interpreted on its Own Terms’ (respondent: Adelbert Denaux); (5) ‘Inhalte und Probleme einer neutestamentlichen Theologie’ (Prof. Dr U. Schnelle and Prof. Dr M. Seifrid): Theo K. Heckel, ‘Audiatur et altera pars. Die Bedeutung der Gegner für die Exegese neutestamentlicher Briefliteratur’; Stanley Porter, ‘Method and Means of Analysis of the Opponents in the Pauline Letters’; Udo Schnelle, ‘Rivalitäten, differente Konzepte und Falschlehrer in den Johannesbriefen’; (6) ‘The Johannine Writings’ (Prof. M. M. Thompson and Prof. Dr R. Zimmermann): Harry Attridge, ‘Ritual Time and Space in John and Hebrews’; Dorothy Lee, ‘Passover Symbolism in John and Hebrews’; (7) ‘The Septuagint and the New Testament’ (Prof. Dr W. Kraus and Prof. W. R. G. Loader): Maarten Menken, ‘Allusions to the Minor Prophets in the Fourth Gospel’; Stephen Moyise, ‘Allusions to the Minor Prophets in Paul’; Siegfried Kreuzer, ‘The significance of the Antiochene text of lxx for the New Testament’; (8) ‘New Challenges for New Testament Hermeneutics in the 21st Century’ (Prof. B. McLean and Prof. Dr O. Wischmeyer): Adela Yarbro Collins, ‘The Underlying Hermeneutics of “Mark: A Commentary” ’; Daniel Marguerat, ‘Reading Acts in a Commentary’; Karl-Heinrich Ostmeyer, ‘Die neue Kommentarlandschaft als hermeneutischer Indikator’; (9) ‘The Jewish World in New Testament Times’ (Prof. S. Freyne, Prof. J. W. van Henten and Prof. W. Horbury): Günter Stemberger, ‘The New Testament and the Rise of Rabbinic Judaism’; William Horbury, ‘Current Study of the Talmud and Toledoth Jeshu on Christian Origins’; Sean Freyne, ‘The Archaeology of Israel and the New Testament’; (10) ‘The Reception of Paul’ (Prof. D. Moessner and Prof. Clare K. Rothschild): Clare K. Rothschild, ‘Hebrews as Pseudepigraphon: The History and Significance of the Pauline Attribution of Hebrews’; David Horrell, ‘Pauline Traditions in 1 Peter’; John W. Marshall, ‘Titus’; (11) ‘Shaping Traditions about Jesus’ (Prof. I. Gruenwald and Prof. Dr P. Pokorný): William R. Telford, ‘The Role of Mark in the Shaping of Traditions about Jesus’; Konstantinos Zarras, ‘ “No One Has Ascended to Heaven”: Traditions about Heavenly Ascension in the New Testament (with special reference to John 3: 13)’; Veronika Tropper, ‘Jesus the Teacher in the Synoptic Traditions and in the Framework of the Social and Cultural History’; (12) ‘History and Theology of Mission in the New Testament: Global Challenges and Opportunities’ (Prof. Dr J. Ådna, Prof. J. Kanagaraj, Prof. S. Tofană): Gosnell L. Yorke, ‘Mission Matters in the New Testament: Some Postcolonial Probings from an Afrocentric Perspective’ (respondent: Ukachukwu Chris Manus); Anders Runesson, ‘Was there a Christian Mission Before the Fourth Century? Problematizing Common Ideas about Early Christianity and Their Effects on Modern Churches’ (respondent: Martin Stowasser); Thor Strandenæs, ‘Completing the Mission: Paul's Application of the Gospel to the Faith and Life of the Thessalonian Converts in 1–2 Thessalonians’ (respondent: Scott J. Hafemann); (13) ‘Pauline Theology in Galatians and Romans’ (Prof. B. Gaventa, Prof. J. M. G. Barclay and Prof. Dr M. C. de Boer): Francis Watson, ‘Is Paul a covenantal theologian?’; Michael Wolter, ‘ “Kinder des Fleisches” oder “Kinder der Verheißung” (Röm 9,8 und Gal 4,23): Die Israelfrage nach Gal 4,21–31 und Röm 9–11’; Susan Eastman, ‘The Identity of Israel and the Mercy of God in Galatians and Romans’; (14) ‘The Acts of the Apostles and Ancient Historiography’ (Prof. Dr K. Backhaus, Prof. Dr J. Schröter, Prof. G. Sterling): Carl Holladay, ‘Hellenistic-Jewish Historians and the Acts of the Apostles’; Loveday Alexander, ‘The Shadow of Thucydides: Reading Acts with Dionysius of Halicarnassus’; Andreas Mehl, ‘Antike Historiographie und Biographie: verschieden und doch geschwisterlich’; (15) ‘Christian Apocryphal Literature’ (Prof. Dr T. Nicklas, Prof. C. M. Tuckett and Prof. Dr J. Verheyden): Enno Edzard Popkes, ‘Thomasevangelium und Judenchristentum: Eine Analyse ihrer Verhältnisbestimmungen’; Thomas J. Kraus, ‘(Unidentified) Gospel Fragments—More Questions than Answers?’; Michael J. Kruger, ‘Papyrus Oxyrhynchos 840—Workshop’.
The Business Meeting
At the Business Meeting of the Society, Prof. Adela Yarbro Collins (USA) accepted the Society's invitation to become President-Elect (to take office as President at the 2010 General Meeting in Berlin), and Prof. Armand Puig i Tàrrech (Spain) was invited to become Deputy-President-Elect (to take office as President at the 2011 General Meeting in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York). Prof. William R. G. Loader (Australia) and Prof. Angela Standhartinger (Germany) retired from the Committee and Prof. Margaret MacDonald (Canada) and Prof. Michael Wolter (Germany) were elected to serve in their places for a three-year term. Dr Andrew Clarke (United Kingdom) was appointed the new Assistant Secretary for a five-year term from 1 January 2010, replacing Prof. Ronald A. Piper (United Kingdom) who was due to complete his second five-year term on 31 December 2009.
The Society received the Treasurer's Report and formally accepted the statement of accounts as presented by the Treasurer, Dr Helen Bond.
The Assistant Secretary for International Initiatives, Prof. Bernard C. Lategan, brought three issues to the attention of the Society: (1) The work of regional committees (Eastern European Liaison Committee, Africa Liaison Committee and the planned Asia Liaison Committee), (2) plans for an electronic library (a special meeting was arranged in Vienna to discuss this proposal) and (3) promotion of scholarly study of the New Testament internationally.
The Editor of New Testament Studies, John M.G. Barclay, outlined the editorial policy for the journal and gave a report on both the journal and the monograph series. The Editorial Board nominated (and the Society approved) D. C. Allison, D. L. Balch, M. W. Holmes, M. Konradt, H. Löhr and H. Moxnes for a three-year term (1 January 2010–31 December 2012) in place of S. Byrskog, E. Cuvillier, J. B. Green, J. Herzer, J. J. Kanagaraj and P. Trebilco who were due to retire at the end of 2009.
The Society received with regrets news of the deaths of the following members: S. Agourides, James L. Blevins, H. Chadwick, B. Corsani, P. Grelot, Martin Hengel (President in 1993), J. Heriban, H. W. Hoehner, Karl Kertelge, N. Q. King, E. Larsson, E. Lövestam, H. Nakagawa, Walter Schmithals, David Scholer, Graham N. Stanton (President in 1996), K. Sullivan, John Sweet, J. L. de Villiers and E. S. Wehrli.
The following nominees for membership were elected to the Society: Dr Reidar Aasgaard (University of Oslo, Norway), Dr theol. Manfred Diefenbach, PD Dr Judith Hartenstein (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany), Prof. Dr Matthias Klinghardt (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany), Dr Todd Klutz (University of Manchester, England), Prof. Dr B. J. Koet (University of Utrecht/Tilburg, Netherlands), Prof. Dr Annette Merz (University of Utrecht, Netherlands), Prof. Dr Bernhard Mutschler (Evangelische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, Germany), Prof. Dr Heike Omerzu (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Prof. Kyriakoula Papademetriou (University of Thessaloniki, Greece), PD Dr Silke Petersen (University of Hamburg, Germany), Dr theol. Uwe-Karsten Plisch (Hannover, Germany), Dr Ilaria Ramelli (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy), Dr C. Kavin Rowe (Divinity School, Duke University, USA), PD Dr Martin Vahrenhorst (Kirchliche Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel, Germany), Prof. George H. van Kooten (University of Groningen, Netherlands), PD Dr Christiane Zimmermann (Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany).
Social Events
Social events at the conference included a reception hosted by the University of Vienna, a reception and buffet dinner hosted by the Mayor of Vienna in City Hall (with dancing), a String Quartet Concert by the Felicitas Quartet in the Auditorium Maximum of Vienna University and a Heurigen Dinner hosted by the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches of Vienna. Optional excursions on the Saturday included ‘Burgenland Impressions’ involving a tour of Austria's easternmost province around Lake Neusiedl with a stop at the Castle of Forchenstein, and ‘The Romantic Danube Valley—Wachau’, with a stop at Melk to visit the Benedictine Monastery and at Dürnstein with its Kuenringer Castle.
Future Meetings
The Society will hold its General Meeting in Berlin in 2010, in Annandale-on-Hudson (New York) in 2011, in Leuven (Belgium) in 2012 and in Perth (Australia) in 2013.
30.11.2009
