The Ties that Bind: Negotiating Relationships in Early Jewish and Christian Texts, Contexts, and Reception History(The Library of New Testament Studies)

Friendship and other intimate (but not always amicable) relationships have received some attention in the greater field of research on early Judaism and Christianity, though not as much as deserved. This volume celebrates and builds upon the life-long work of Adele Reinhartz, covering the various permutations of relationships that can be found in the Gospel of John, the wider corpus of early Jewish and Christian literature, and cinematic re-imaginings thereof. While the issue of whether one can ‘befriend’ the Fourth Gospel in light of the book’s legacy of antisemitism is central to many of the essays in this volume, others address other more or less likely friendships: Pilate, Paul, Lazarus, Judas, or Mary Magdalene. Likewise, the bonds between ancient texts and contemporary retellings of their stories feature prominently, with contributors asking what kinds of relationships filmmakers encourage their audiences to have with their subjects. This volume explores some of the rich variety of relationships in the ancient world, and unpacks the intricate and dynamic processes and interactions by which human relationships and societies are generated, maintained, and dissolved.

Table of Contents:
List of Contributors Abbreviations Introduction Part I. Gospel of John Chapter One: Befriending the Beloved Disciple Requires Interventions - Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt University Divinity School, USA Chapter Two: Intimacy with Jesus: Construction of Closeness by Gender Diversity in John - Peter Wick, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany Chapter Three: Was Pilate a “Friend of the Emperor? (John 19:12)? - Ruben Zimmermann, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany Chapter Four: John among the Synoptics? Understanding the Institutional World of the Fourth Gospel in Light of Other Early Gospels - Anders Runesson, University of Oslo, Norway Chapter Five: False Friends in the First Gospel - R. Alan Culpepper, Mercer University, USA Part II. Letters of Paul Chapter Six: “Put Out of the Synagogue”: A Pauline Unpacking of a Johannine Trope - Paula Fredriksen, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Chapter Seven: Befriending Paul: The Letter to Philemon as a Test Case - Esther Kobel, University of Basel, Switzerland Chapter Eight: Paul’s “Beloved” Friends - Stephen Westerholm, McMaster University, USA Chapter Nine: “As to the Law—a Pharisee” (Phil 3:5c): Do We Have a Friend in Paul? - Kathy Ehrensperger, The University of Potsdam, Germany Chapter Ten: The Wet Nurse as a Model for Communal Relationships in 1 Thessalonians - Margaret MacDonald, Saint Mary’s University, Canada Part III. Further Texts and Contexts in Jewish Antiquity Chapter Eleven: Wine, Dine, and Bind: Sacrificial Food and Community Formation in Asia Minor - Meredith J. C. Warren, The University of Sheffield, UK and Shayna Sheinfeld, Augsburg University, USA Chapter Twelve: Socializing with the Impure (or Not): Interactions and Impurity in Late Second Temple Judaism - Cecilia Wassén, Uppsala University, Sweden Chapter Thirteen: How to be Better Neighbors: Rewriting the Conquest in Greek Terms - Albert I. Baumgarten, Bar Ilan University, Israel Chapter Fourteen: Negotiating National and Sectarian Identities in the Dead Sea Scrolls: The Case of Words of the Luminaries and the Ya?ad’s Covenant Ceremony - Esther Chazon, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Part IV. Scriptures on the Silver Screen 2.0 Chapter Fifteen: Lovers or (Just) Friends? Jesus and Mary Magdalene in the Gospel of John and in Film - Caroline Vander Stichele, Tilburg University, the Netherlands Chapter Sixteen: What a Friend We Have In Jesus: A Consideration of Jesus as Friend in Jesus Films - Richard Walsh, Methodist University, USA Chapter Seventeen: Dividing the Red Soup: An Antimodel in Bruce Almighty - Jan Willem van Henten, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Chapter Eighteen: The Quick and the Dead in Film Treatments of the Raising of Lazarus - Jo-Ann A. Brant, Goshen College, USA Collated Bibliography Reinhartz Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Esther Kobel is professor of New Testament at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany. Jo-Ann A. Brant is professor emeritus of Bible, Religion and Philosophy at Goshen College, USA. Meredith Warren is senior lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies and Director of the Sheffield Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.