Tyndale Fellowship NT Conference (Summary and Review)

This year’s NT study group for the Tyndale Fellowship (Cambridge) recently ended and it was a delightful time in an intimate setting with a good mixture of research students, scholars, and other interested parties.

The theme was “Peter in the New Testament” with a view towards the Peter of the NT epistles, the Peter of the Gospels, and even apocryphal perspectives on Peter.

Recognized scholars who offered papers included Richard Bauckham, Markus Bockmuehl, Michael Bird, and Tomas Bokedal.  Other scholars (that I recognized) in attendance included Howard Marshall, Peter Head, Simon Gathercole (for a session or two), Andrew Clarke, David Wenham, Peter Oakes, and Steve Walton, among others.

Richard Bauckham made a contribution and advancement beyond his Jesus and the Eyewitnesses by turning his attention to the Mark of the second Gospel.  Though it was a common name in antiquity, our extant evidence shows few Jews went by that name.  Thus, if we surmise that the Gospel-writer Mark was a Jew, that narrows the field as to whether it is the same Mark as we find in other parts of the NT.  This is only one bit of his argument, but a useful one.

Mike Bird gave the public NT lecture on how to conceive of the relationship between theology and Christian origins.  He attempts to use the master concept of ‘New Covenant’ to capture the umbrella theme that can associate a number of important aspects of Christianity.

Markus Bockmuehl reassessed what appears to be a common consensus among interpreters of the Pseudo-Clementines that Peter opposes a Simon Magus, the latter name being a cipher for the Apostle Paul.  Markus has been working hard to deconstruct the common assumption among modern scholars that Paul and Peter were antagonistic.  This was just one small chip at that massive rock of an assumption.  Markus showed that the so-called evidence for linking Simon Magus to Paul in the early church is slimmer than we once assumed (though not entirely absent).

In terms of the themes and tenor of the papers overall, in 1 Peter many of the paper presenters were interested in the ‘theology’ of the letter, whether in terms of the scriptural framework, the origin of the theology of suffering, the theology of proclamation, and (my paper) the rhetorical purpose(s) of the cultic language.  We all felt the papers were helpful, but I think we need to explore further how to mine the theology of a short letter from an author that we have a hard time reconstructing (even if it is Peter).  There are so many more unknowns here than with Paul, I think.

In terms of 2 Peter, all of the papers in this area were on authenticity or reception history of the letter.  That goes to show that this is still a hot issue among evangelicals, even if the wider scholarly society has closed the book on it.  We are in need of more work on this.

As for the Peter of the Gospels, little was said about this.  We could have used more work on this subject.

Overall I had a wonderful time in the beautiful city of Cambridge.  The college we stayed at (Newnham) was glorious.  The food was impressive.  Best of all, it was a good environment for discussion.  I had some chats with David Wenham, Mike Bird, and Howard Marshall.  All from different theological camps, so to speak, it was a beautiful thing to see the unity of purpose and passion for the sake of the gospel.

For those who feel as if the conferences are not ‘on their topic’, keep in mind that diversification is a good thing.  I am studying Paul, and I still got a whole lot out of the conference.  Also, it is fun to go to a conference where the spirit of the gathering is one of worship to God and prayerful reflection.  This, I think, is helped by David Wenham’s pious disposition and humility.  Next year the theme, I believe, will probably be NT ethics.  I hope no Christian NT researcher will feel this too peripheral for their studies!