NTT Journal for Theology and the Study of Religion - Volume 51, Issue 4, 1997

This is the first part of an article that reviews recent developments in the study of first century Judaism. While focussing on the pros en cons of the notion of ‘common Judaism’ as developed by E.P. Sanders, the author discusses various types of archaeological evidence that have been collected by M. Hengel and R. Deines in a critique of Sanders’ work. Analyzing archaeological evidence bearing on synagogues, Jewish burial customs, and notions of ritual purity as reflected in the use of miqvaot and chalk stone vessels, the author maintains that there is no good archaeological or literary evidence to argue that the Pharisees formed the single most important group in Jewish society during the first centuries B.C. and A.D.

For various theological, moral and particularly exegetical reasons the interpretation of the death of Jesus as a sacrificial death is nowadays seriously criticized. According to a widely shared opinion salvation takes place ‘in spite of’ the cross of Jesus in stead of ‘due to’ his death on the cross. In this article some of the common objections made against the sacrificial model are discussed, and an attempt is made to reinterpret the concept of the atonement.

This article deals with the clarification of theological hermeneutics from an ecological point of view: a ‘theo-ecological’ interpretation. The relevance of classical texts of Scripture on anthropological and creational issues is dependent upon the ecological framework of the interpreter. I distinguish three types of reading: an anthropocentric, a biocentric and a theocentric way of reading Scripture. The relation between human creatures and the rest of creation can be described respectively in a dominion, a monistic and a servant model. The first one neglects that human beings are simply part of creation. In a biocentric model there is no criterion for the moral assessment of actions. In a theocentric model the reference to the Creator relativizes the absoluteness of the other models and extends the moral community of the human species to include other creatures as well.