It has long been noted by interpreters of Luke 2.1–3 that by the reference to Caesar Augustus and his decree Luke opens up a worldwide horizon in order to underline the universal importance of Jesus’ birth. While the recent discussion of this short passage is largely concerned with explaining the historical background of the decree and its initiator Augustus, the present study, in which Luke-Acts is read as a narrative, provides a detailed analysis of the Lukan picture of Caesar Augustus. By use of a narratological approach it examines how Luke characterizes the figure of this Roman emperor and what role he and the decree play in the narrative in Luke 1–2, especially in relation to the characterization of God and Jesus Christ. At the end of this study its results are related to the geographical orientation of the world presented by Luke in the first two chapters of his Gospel.

This article explores the interconnection between intellection and life in ancient theology and philosophy by means of a reexamination of Paul's famous Areopagus discourse. Instead of reading the speech as an attempt at theological rapprochement, this essay interprets the speech as a place where fundamentally different grammars for the whole of life come into conflict.

Historical reconstructions concerning Philemon consistently illustrate an overwhelming tendency to see Paul as operating with the most innocuous and transparent of motives. In contrast, my (mildly playful) reading of Philemon posits a Paul engaged in power negotiations with his addressee. Though Philemon acts as Paul's would-be patron, Paul resists the gesture and opts instead to assign Philemon a carefully proscribed role vis-à-vis himself. Paul relies on rhetorical techniques of tact to coerce Philemon to adopt this role ‘voluntarily’. Onesimus emerges, then, as a pawn in a negotiation for power and status in the community.

From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s New Testament scholars produced groundbreaking work illustrating that the household code had its origins in discussions of ‘household management’ among philosophers and moralists from Aristotle onward. Despite this general consensus, many points of disagreement remained, especially with respect to the function of the codes in particular New Testament documents and what the codes reveal about the relationship of Christians with the wider world. This article revisits some of the initial debates and traces their influence on subsequent scholarship. The recognition of the household codes as a type of ‘political’ discourse is of particular interest, as well as its impact on subsequent feminist, political and postcolonial interpretation. The conclusion suggests five promising directions, closely tied to the study of early Christian families, for future analysis of the codes leading to a more complete understanding of household management in a house-church setting.

Usually, the three Johannine Letters are dated after the Gospel of John without extended discussion. The following essay will argue that all three Johannine letters were written before the Gospel of John marking the starting point of the Johannine line of tradition. Beside linguistic analyses two major arguments will be given: (1) 1 John is much more than simply an aid how to read the Gospel of John. 1 John establishes its own theological line of reasoning. It is necessary to understand that letter as a piece of theological thought on its own. Any dependence on the Gospel of John cannot be proved. (2) Dating 2 John and 3 John after the Gospel of John and 1 John needs to explain the far-reaching reduction of theology (and especially of Christology) in contrast to the other two Johannine writings. A convincing explanation for such a development has not been established until now. On the contrary, 2 John and 3 John represent the beginning of the development of Johannine theology.

This article argues that Luke influences the Gospel of Thomas, on the basis of an examination of those places where redactional material in Luke not in Mark is found in Thomas. This has been argued already by various scholars, but the present study aims (a) to refine further the method used to argue this position and (b) to expand the catalogue of those Thomas sayings which can be shown to indicate Lukan influence. Furthermore, it proposes (c) to respond to recent scholarship arguing that Thomas influences Luke, as well as to scholars maintaining the independence of Thomas and the Synoptics.

The authors propose a new translation of James 2.1. This is based on a grammatical construction which does not force to such a degree the sense of certain expressions, and which integrates the verse in a context which insists on the vanity of eternal signs of glory. This interpretation underlines the relevance of Christology for the phrase and for the totality of the passage.