Bulletin of Biblical Studies, vol. 13, January-June 1994, year 23, p.140.
The January-June 1994 issue of the Bulletin of Biblical Studies is an anniversary tribute to the 25 years since the death of Professor Vasilios Vellas. The issue contains eight (8) articles. These are preceded by a short prologue of the tribute by G. Gratseas and S. Agouridis, where some brief biographical and ergo-graphic information of the honored person is given.
S. Agouridis refers to the sense of the ecumenical-spiritual God that Second-Isaiah elaborated. In this frame, Agouridis initially displays analytically Second-Isaiah’s perception of God, which occupies the first position in the prophet’s thinking due to the consequences of God’s uniqueness. Next, he analyses the view of the same prophet about the historical sufferings of God’s people, who are described as “Yahweh’s slaves” and now have a completely different mission in the world.
D. Kaimakis shortly presents the eschatological representation of Third-Isaiah, as this appears in Is. 65, 17-25, which radically differs from the until then eschatological representations of the previous prophets.
Elias Oikonomou presents the position and the significance of the Hebrew biblical language for the fathers of the first millennium. The writer examines this position in the texts of the fathers and the references of ecclesiastical writers. In this context, Oikonomou presents the knowledge and use of the Hebrew language by certain fathers, the rescue, on their behalf, of the Hebrew alphabet and its transcription in Greek, the translations and revisions of the Hebrew Bible they had knowledge of and, finally, the glossary of Hebrew words that is found in texts of the fathers.
I. Karavidopoulos examines the use of the passages from prophet Zachariah’s book in the N. T. and analyses the meaning of the passages Mt. 21, 5, 27, 9-10, 26, 31, Mk. 14, 27 and John 19, 37, the parallels of which are in the specific old-testament book.
F. Bovon examines ap. Paul as written text and monument, that is, as person and testimony. In this frame, he presents the way Paul, his texts and his memory were timelessly perceived. This examination starts from the position the second and third century reserved for Paul, the western world in the next centuries and, finally, in the modern years and mainly in the nineteenth century, when Paul’s position and theology were shaken.
O. Hofius attempts, on the one hand, to describe the special and unique apostolic self-consciousness of ap. Paul and his respective missionary action and, on the other hand, to present the fundamental theological knowledge that is a prerequisite so much for Paul’s self-consciousness as for his action.
G. Gratseas presents the qumranic manuscript 4QMMT, focusing mainly on the diary of the Essenes it contains. Initially, the writer refers to the history of the publication of the manuscript and then to its content as well as to its relation with other occult works.
G. Rigopoulos analyses the paradox of infidelity as this appears in John 12, 36b-43, presenting the hermeneutic positions of the fathers on the specific passage. In this first part of the article, as it continues in the next issue of BBS, the verses 36b-38 are interpreted.
Following are the book reviews of the issue.