Marks of Great NT Scholars #1 and #2

This is a new series I am doing that reflects on what makes great scholars ‘great’.  Disclaimer – this is subjective and you will be getting my opinion on who is great and why.

#1: An eye for detail

Many great NT scholars have the gift of having excellent skills in observation.  They can read a text – one that we all read all the time – and questions come to their minds that never occur in ours.  I have noticed this, for instance, in the work of Gordon Fee – especially in his commentaries.  He picks up on the way Paul crafts a phrase, or the way he quote Scripture.  Unfortunately these skills are not usually learned, though we can all try and enhance our own ability to make good observations by reading slowly (and reading the NT in Greek!).  It takes discipline to ask good questions of the text and see what is out of place, unusual, odd, etc…

#2: Master of the literature of the ancient world

While in the first scenario, it is usually an innate skill, this second one primarily comes from intense study of the literature.  Someone like Joseph Fitzmyer or F.F. Bruce comes to mind.  They can make connections and relate ideas and themes because of their wide and deep base of knowledge.  This marks a great scholar because they know their field and can make competent decisions about meaning based on the thought-world of the text.  They can discriminate also based on how to differentiate, for instance, Paul’s thoughts on something in comparison to Philo or 1 Enoch or Seneca.  This takes time, and some people’s mem0ries are better than others, but once in a while you find a person that can absorb information like a sponge.  These people can be propelled into the high ranks of scholarship quite rapidly with a careful crafting of this skill.  For the rest of us, it takes patience to just sit and read non-biblical literature.  On my reading list right now is Tacitus, Josephus, and Valerius Maximus.  I anticipate needing some coffee to work through some of the more tedious portions of these (though Valerius has some really interesting things to say!), but I believe it will pay off!