Browsing by Author "England, Frank"

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    CREDO UT INTELLIGAM: Irony in John 9
    (New Testament Society of Southern Africa, 2014) England, Frank
    Many commentators read John 9, inclusive of verses 38 and 39a, within the frame of baptism, and some commentators read this passage, exclusive of verses 38 and 39a, within the same frame. Examining John 9 through a baptismal optic, this article proposes that the "corrective additions" of verses 38 and 39a to the early manuscripts of John 9, inter alia, p75 and א*, envisage readers and auditors that, ultimately, may remain as blind as the man born blind, and yet whose physical sight is restored by Jesus. It is argued that the presence of John 9:38, in particular, fails to foreground the concomitant requirement of the baptismal ritual, namely, the confession of faith in Jesus, and, as a result, actually dissipates the focus upon baptism. It is asked whether, unable to read or hear ironically, the "scribal correctors" have not suppressed, rather than highlighted, precisely what is essential to discipleship.
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    Postcolonial Anxieties and Biblical Criticism in (South) Africa
    (2009) England, Frank
    Using Francis Watson's metaphor of a "three-way conversation," this article undertakes an analysis of Paul's recourse to Deuteronomy in light of the Temple Scroll and its own engagement with Deuteronomy. After a brief introduction to the Temple Scroll, the article first explores the question of hermeneutical stance toward Deuteronomy, suggesting that both Paul and the Temple Scroll interpret scriptural passages from Deuteronomy in light of other scriptural loci and rewrite Deuteronomy with a certain amount of actualizing interpretation as a word to the present. Second, the Temple Scroll's well-known stress on halakhah is compared with Paul's letters, and several key areas of Paul's ethical engagement with Deuteronomy are shown to be engaged in similar questions, though not always with the same answers. Finally, a concluding comparison sets forth their similarities and differences as each engages in a very different act of correlation between Deuteronomy and the present.