Tuesday 20 April 2010

Two Articles for Publication


Time flies - next week marks the final week of class for the seminary. In terms of my personal research,I managed to squeeze in some time over the past few weeks to get two articles ready for publication . I am glad that the articles are now out of my way, and I can move on to other research project.

The first article is on "Paul's Use of Temple Imagery in the Corinthian Correspondence: The Creation of Christian Identity" that will form a compendium of essays to be published by T&T Clark, hopefully in time for SBL Annual Meeting in November. In this article, I argue that Paul creatively draws on the symbolic universe of the Christ-community by employing the temple imagery in the Corinthian correspondence. By doing so, Paul uses the temple imagery powerfully in his appeal to realign the community to the ethos of the gospel of Christ in the formation of a distinct Christian identity. What emerges then from a the use of the temple imagery is a vivid and extraordinary image that holds together a number of different notions such as community identity, the building up of community, and the appearance of the community to the outsiders.

The other is a short article on "οἵτινες καταγγέλλουσιν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν σωτηρίας (Acts 16:17): Is Paul Proclaiming The Way or A Way of Salvation?" This article argues that the absence of the article before the phrase ὁδὸν σωτηρίας should be taken seriously. Such construction can be taken to indicate either a definite or an indefinites nuance, as suggested by the Apollonius' Canon. A close examination of how the word ὁδός and σωτηρίας are used in Acts demonstrates that the phrase ὁδὸν σωτηρίας should rightly be translated as "a way of salvation" and not "the way of salvation" (as translated in the many English translations such as the ESV, KJV, NASB, NET, NIV, NKJV, and RSV, amongst others). Seen from this perspective, I argue that the slave girl was in fact proclaiming in her shouts that Paul was merely preaching a way of salvation, and NOT the way of salvation. This would have been confusing and misleading, to say the least, to the hearers. It is tantamount to a complete distortion of the content of Paul's message. As such, Paul has no choice but to perform exorcism on her. As such, Paul was not merely deeply troubled by the source of the proclamation which is from Satan, as understood by most commentators. Rather, Paul was deeply troubled over the content of the message of the slave girl that directly challenged the gospel and thereby caused confusion among the hearers.

17 comments:

jedibaba said...

Interestingly the NRSV has it right!

Perng Shyang Teng said...

Well done, sir!

Paul Long said...

Wow. If the summaries are so clear, I can only imagine that these academic articles will be very readable.

For the second, I think it is a good example (and challenge to me) to take very seriously the importance of good exegesis of the original languages.

Kar Yong said...

Hi Soo Inn,
Yes, apparently NRSV is the only translation that got it right, at least in my opinion

Kar Yong said...

Thanks, PS, and Paul.
Paul, someone commented that these articles are so much more readable compared to my book. Is this sign that I am losing my academic touch?

逍遥子 Odysseus said...

Hi sir, I am proud of you as one of the STM faculty...

Do produce more papers,,,,

Publish or perish,,,

Paul said...

haven't read your book nor your articles so I can't comment! whew! What a timely excuse! :-)

Kar Yong said...

Odyssues,
If only I have more time and less work and a generous sabbatical, I would be able to produce more publication. As it is now, it is almost impossible to do any significant research unless I sacrifice my personal time.

Kar Yong said...

Paul,

Don't bother about my book ...:-)

Paul Long said...

I have no intention of reading your book LOL! unless I am called by God to do serious further studies on Pauline studies.... but I do not think that will happen anytime soon! *whew* :-)

Right now I am enjoying (slow and steady) C. Blomberg's Interpreting the Parables and K Bailey's Jesus through Middle Eastern eyes. Bailey is very readable :-)

Edward Pothier said...

Unless your learning has made you crazy, I think you have an incorrect clause in your first paragraph;
"I am now glad that the articles are not out of my way ..."
The "not" could be changed to a "now" and the earlier "now" dropped.

Congratulations on completing your articles.

Kar Yong said...

Thanks, Edward. I think it is possible that I am a bit "crazy" now...:-)

Lee Chee Keat said...

Congrats, u must b a real discipline man or a genius man...teaching, almost full time pastoral work in EFC,and yet got time to write articles academically. Wish we, STMers, could read them and interact with your findings. anyway, congrats, again:)

Kar Yong said...

Hi Chee Keat,
It's the passion for scholarship and the unwillingness of sitting down and kiao kah :-). You are more than welcome to see me for copies of my writings.

blogpastor said...

Congratulations.

Kar Yong said...

Thanks, Blogpastor!

P. Sakthivel said...

Congrats. Hope to see more