Professor Laurence Welborn
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SSEC eNewsletter Newsletter 74 September 2012 Special Feature: in this issue • SSEC Recent Events • SSEC Modern Church Fathers Series Professor - Adam Smith by Professor Paul Oslington - Johannes Weiss by Rev Jeff Cayzer • SSEC Travel Report by Adam White • Accolades for Professor Alanna Nobbs Laurence • Sir Asher Joel Foundation • “The Palatine Graffito: A Mimic Interpretation” by Professor Laurence Welborn • In Print : Appreciation by Dr Christopher Forbes Welborn • Non- SSEC activities • SSEC Calendar From the President’s Desk “The unique Welcome to our September 2012 Newsletter. Thank you sincerely emphasis of our for all the emails, phone calls and comments that I received in June 2012 when found out that I was listed as a Member of the Order of Society is one Australia (AM). As you can appreciate, I was delighted to see the Society for the Study of Early Christianity named in the citation. of history. The See page 4. study of Early As for what the Society has achieved since our last Newsletter, we have had a very full & productive program of events as follows: Christianity in In June we had a fascinating topic Myth in the Near East by Dr Noel its Jewish and Weeks, formerly Sydney University & Honorary Research Fellow Macquarie University. Graeoc Roman In July, our function coincided with the Macquarie Ancient Lan- Setting.” guages School (MALS), and we welcomed many MALS participants to hear our speaker Luigi Prada (Oxford). He spoke on The Origins of Coptic: A Script Christian by Choice, Not by Birth. SSEC Newsletter SSEC Newsletter is published three times In August we had two very successful events. The first was our a year for the Society for the Study of Early lunchtime event with speaker Professor Mladen Ancic (Univer- Christianity . sity of Zadar). His topic was Change and Continuity: Christianity in September 2012 Edition : Number 74 the Northern Adriatic Region from late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Chief Editor: Prof Alanna Nobbs and this lunchtime event was very well attended. Editor: Dr Don Barker Layout & Graphic Design: Peter Eyland Graphics, Typing & Copy: BJ Eyland The Second event, in the evening, was a continuation in our Series Contributions: SSEC Members where we feature several Modern Church Fathers with a group of For further information about the Society speakers. This was chaired by Associate Professor Stuart Piggin for the Study of Early Christianity, to update with Responses by Professor Laurence Welborn your contact details or to subscribe to the • Speaker: Paul Oslington Professor of Economics, School of SSEC Newsletter then contact: Business & School of Theology, Australian Catholic University Email: [email protected] with his topic Adam Smith as Church Father, • Speaker: Rev Jeff Cayzer, Hon Assoc, Ancient History Mac- Website: www.mq.edu.au/ssec/events quarie Uni, with his topic Johannes Weiss, Telephone: SSEC office (9850 7512), • Appreciation of Professor Welborn’s recent book, An End to En- Dr Don Barker (9850 9962), mity, by Dr Chris Forbes. See page 10 for book details. Professor Alanna Nobbs (9850 8844), Ancient History Office (9850 8833) Once again, thank you to all SSEC members Cover Photo: The Palatine Graffito by L.L. who attend our events & continue to make Welborn them a worthwhile learning endeavour. Professor Alanna Nobbs AM President SSEC 2 SSEC Newsletter 74 | September 2012 of religion (surveyed by Iannaccone 1995) after a long period of neglect. Smith’s analysis is quite dif- SSECrecent ferent to contemporary economics of religion – he does not offer a model of rational choice, where See the column individuals maximize on arbitrary preferences sub- called “From the ject to income and other constraints, and his moral President’s Desk” philosophy is not utilitarian. on page 2 for full de- tails of all recent SSEC To understand Smith’s views we need to consider events. We wish to his other writings on the origin of religious senti- sincerely thank our ments – they come from our hopes and fears – our wonderful speak- Luigi Prada (Oxford). Topic The imagination. Religious sentiments are powerful ers, for their time, Origins of Coptic: A Script Christian and Smith fears fanaticism “enthusiasm” and suspi- and enthusiasm in by Choice, Not by Birth. cious of “superstition”. Smith’s ideal is “pure and putting together these insightful talks and pres- rational religion” entations. Their talks stretch us intellectually and academically, and the discussions we share over a How useful is Smith’s analysis today? There are cuppa afterwards, problems with contemporary economics of religion and the camarade- tests of Smith’s theory. Smith actually connects rie of our society market structure to doctrine not attendance. members is price- less. SSEC Modern Church Fathers Professor Mladen Ancic (University of Zadar). Topic Change and Continuity: Christianity in the Series - Johannes Weiss Northern Adriatic Region from late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, by Jeff Cayzer Summary of a paper “Johannes Weiss (1863- SSEC Modern Church Fathers 1914)– pioneer New Testament scholar” deliv- ered to SSEC in August 2012 Series - Adam Smith The son of Bernhard Weiss, a well-known New Tes- by Professor Paul tament scholar and textual critic, Johannes Weiss made his own name as a radical and provocative Oslington thinker, writer and teacher, occupying chairs of New School of Business and Testament at Marburg, then Heidelberg. Among his School of Theology, students were Rudolf Bultmann and D.M. Baillie, Australian Catholic Uni- both of whom became well-known theologians. As versity. SSEC seminar the developer of form criticism and the architect of given in August 2012. the Q documentary theory, Weiss was a major influ- ence on 20th century biblical scholarship. In 1892 Outline appeared the first edition of his notable book Die Why is Smith a mod- Predigt Jesu vom Reiche Gottes (English: Jesus’ Procla- ern Church Father? Not any particular interest in mation of the Kingdom of God) – only 63 pages long Christian doctrine such as the atonement, Christol- – which (re)introduced the theme that the kingdom ogy, Trinity, though some more general theological of God was a future hope in the eyes of Jesus, not a commitments are built into his ethics and econom- program for modern-day social reform as his father- ics (for instance Oslington 2011). Smith is a Father in-law Albrecht Ritschl and followers were saying. because he was a pioneer of naturalistic explana- tion of religious behaviour and institutions, and an This book formed a watershed in the study of Jesus instrumental view of religion. and the Kingdom: all writers who followed Weiss had to adopt a position in regard to his argument. Smith’s writings on religion have attracted inter- Weiss also produced a number of other works of est in recent years with the rise of the economics New Testament history and scholarship (few of 3 SSEC Newsletter 74 | September 2012 which have been translated), always displaying a Her accolades have been many and varied in the meticulous examination of the text, in both its im- fields of Ancient History and Classical studies. mediate and its wider historical and literary context, However, Alanna’s role as Director of SSEC needs together with a profound understanding of the to be emphasised - it has been ground-breaking. thought processes of the writers and the implica- Building the Society up from a modest beginning, tions of what they were saying. He was ever alert for she has made it blossom into the highly regarded signs of sources which may have been drawn upon body it is today. No one should underestimate her by the author and was sensitive to literary structure, input. With her legendary enthusiasm she has en- as well as to linguistic and grammatical issues. His ticed top-ranking scholars from around the world to mastery of Hellenistic sources was without equal come and speak to us, visits of inestimable value to in his time. None of his works displays these gifts staff, students and many members. more brilliantly than his superb commentary on 1 Corinthians from 1910, which is now finally being Alanna has worked tirelessly and modestly as a translated into English. Had he lived longer, there is hands-on President for the past 25 years. She has no doubt the name of Johannes Weiss would have been, and still is, indefatigable in searching out top- been far more widely known. ics and appropriate speakers. She regards this as a continuum in raising funds for overseas scholar- ships for aspiring students. The welfare of students SSECtravel has been a top priority. In congratulating you on your AM Award, Alanna, Travel Report Thanks I thank you for your dedication and enthusiasm. by Adam White Many of our Foundation Members from 1987 are Around six months ago, my paper “Paul’s Education- still with us; you have won the hearts of many in the al Imagery in Corinthians” accepted into the Graeco- community, now loyal friends of the Society. Thank Roman Society and NT session of the SBL (Society you. of Biblical Literature) conference in Amsterdam. This was not only my first SBL presentation, but also my The citation reads: first SBL conference, so needless to say I was very Professor Alanna Maree NOBBS excited. Due to a mix up my Post Graduate Research For service to education in the fields of ancient Fund (PGRF) my application never reached the re- history and the classics as an educator, and viewing committee, thus I missed out on considera- through leadership roles in professional organ- tion. A significant setback, but SSEC came to the res- isations, particularly the Society for the Study cue and very kindly gave me a $500 grant towards of Early Christianity. the trip. Alanna was awarded the Order of Australia - Mem- ber (AM) in the General Division.