David DeJong

🇨🇦 in 🇺🇲; assistant professor @HopeReligion; posting about academic biblical studies; long-suffering fan of Toronto sports teams

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

AI is not improving, but for some reason all our tech companies are all in on it.

https://t.co/uL2gd0eUgF

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@GrantAKaplan It sort of reads like, "not enough people wanted to read these things I wrote and I'm resentful about that"

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@lambeth981 Married to an ordained woman (which I support) and it’s not clear that matters that seem black and white and obvious to some are in fact more complicated than they appear?

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@lambeth981 Martin Hengel was an evangelical NT scholar who held that 1 Peter was late. Fine to not understand the issues, but to assume that this means the scholar is operating in bad faith is ignorant. To go further back even Calvin had questions about 2 Peter

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@aMyron40 @steefin84 @JscottShubitz @pitchprofiler how can you tell which team is more talented in a statistically significant way?

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@alftab3 @maklelan interesting. How would they then explain the irregularity with Theudas in Acts 5?

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@MitchBannon they were 12-8 as well.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@means_podcast @SBLPress It was great to chat!

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@Philip_Goff @cheekypenguine It’s to indicate that the period of resurrection appearances is (basically) over.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

A find search: "Paul" with 103 hits (some of which are names of program unit chairs), but mostly the first-century man himself; "Jesus" with 19 hits. Is this just where the energy is in the NT side of our field? Or something else going on?

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

Browsing the SBL call for papers: there's a lot of Paul. Sections titled: "Paul and Politics," "Paul within Judaism," "Pauline Epistles," "Pauline Theology," "The Historical Paul." Not to be outdone, "Redescribing Christian Origins" is almost entirely focused on Paul.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward I think he has a "canon" in the sense of a closed list. He's in a polemical debate with apocalyptic movements (e.g. 4 Ezra), which have broader scriptures. I'm not sure what it says about Judaism overall, I think there were competing notions of the extent of Scripture.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward Yes, the sixth Mosaic book! Certainly Josephus could have been *much* clearer if that's what he meant. My point is not so much that you can't find a way to make it work, as that it's certainly not absolutely clear that his 22 are the rabbinic 24.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward I think Ag. Ap. 1.37-41 is not relevant for rabbinic canon, but does represent a second temple priestly interpretive tradition on a succession of Mosaic prophets. So I argue in 2022 Brill volume "A Prophet like Moses." But happy to be convinced otherwise! :)

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward Hard to see Job as a prophet, since for Josephus only Israelites can be prophets!

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward But this is not a distinction between "authoritative for doctrine" and "edifying work" as the canon/scripture has been taken to be. It's a distinction between scripture and more recent historical writings, but also doesn't bear on Ben Sira, Tobit, etc.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward 4 wisdom books? Job, Psalms, Proverbs, but then one has to choose Eccl or Song of Songs. It's obviously close to rabbinic canon, but not necessarily identical.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward IIRC, Mason also complicates the question of whether Josephus' canon is the same as the rabbinic one. Definition of "prophets" is very different; list of books may be slightly different.

[David DeJong @davidndejong]

@drjohnmeade @jrmcmanaway @WesleyLHuff @mlward Josephus doesn't tell us exactly what he thinks of works such as Maccabees. Not sure he regarded them as "scripture" in distinction from canon in this sense. Possibly just as historical sources upon which his work was an improvement, like Luke with his sources.