Sunday 31 May

Arrivals at hotel Casa La Salle

6:30 pm Welcome and Opening Remarks

Including introducing ourselves

7:00 pm dinner

 

Monday, 1 June

Opening session  (9:30-10:30):

Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan

• 25 years of the Enoch Seminar
  • History and Background
  • Nangeroni Meetings
• Monotheisms and Messianisms: State of the Question
• What We Hope to Explore/Accomplish

 

Introductory Session 1  (11-12:30)

James F. McGrath, Butler University

The New Perspective on God

This opening paper by one of the conference organizers intentionally echoes the terminology introduced by James D. G. Dunn to denote the paradigm shift in Pauline studies sparked by E. P. Sanders’ study Paul and Palestinian Judaism. As in that case, numerous shifts have occurred that are relevant to the study of Christology in the New Testament: the placement of early Christianity within Judaism, the emergence of Jewish “monotheism” and the poor fit of that later term to the religiosity of this period, the problematic character of terminology such as “high” and “low” Christology and of an evolutionary view of their relationship, the relationship of Judaism and Hellenism, and the lack of a definitive “normative” or “orthodox” Judaism in the period in question. In the case of Sanders’ work on early Judaism, it was not immediately apparent how Paul needed to be reinterpreted in light of that changed understanding of his context. In this paper, a retrospective on recent scholarship on early Christian Christology and messianism will evaluate the directions scholarship has followed since the works that provide the title for this meeting. It will then explore ways that recent work on Jewish “monotheism”, including the things that make the term problematic, have yet to fully make an impact on the study of the Jesus movement and its Christologies. As with the new perspective on Paul, doctrinal and other developments within Christianity, as well as between Christianity and Judaism, continue to influence scholarship on the New Testament in ways that cause important interpretive options to be neglected. The paper will note key points of progress and suggest future directions.

 

Loren Stuckenbruck

Finding God in the Enoch Book of Parables

The paper, on the basis of a new translation of the Book of Parables and additional manuscript evidence, explores the images of God and God’s activity in the Book of Parables (wee Head of Days, as Most High, etc.) in relation to the rest of the cosmos, including other beings that populate the universe. The thesis that results is that despite the proponderence and significance of intermediary figures in the work, the latter do not in any way reduce God’s presence in and (even) direct engagement with the created world order. This has implications for understanding some aspects of early Christology in the New Testament: rather than the significance of Jesus reducing a sense of God’s presence, it in fact contributes to it – New Testament interpreters are in large agreement on this. What is left out, however, is that much the same is the case in non-Christian Jewish writings, even apocalyptic, in which mediator figures (in the Parables prominent angels or the Son of Man / Chosen One / Anointed One play a prominent role. 

 

1 pm Lunch

 

Session 2  (2:30-4:45 pm)

Chair: Loren Stuckenbruck

De la Morena, Gonzalo,  Pontificia Università della Santa Croce

The Origin of Divine Christology: A Diagnostic Map of Contemporary Scholarship.

The paper offers a diagnostic map of contemporary explanations of the origins of divine Christology. It argues that contemporary scholarship, despite its apparent diversity, can be structured around three major questions: the relation between continuity and novelty with respect to Second Temple Judaism; the meaning of “divine” within ancient Jewish monotheism, especially the boundary between YHWH and exalted intermediary figures; and the main historical locus of Christological emergence, whether in Easter experiences, Jesus’ pre-Easter ministry, or Johannine crystallization. The paper offers a heuristic map for evaluating what each position explains, what it presupposes or leaves unanswered, and where future research should focus.

Oegema, Gerbern S., McGill University

Jesus as Hero in His Greco-Roman Context

Whereas it has become commonplace to both read the New Testament within a Jewish context and to understand it as part of early Jewish history and theology, it therefore comes as no surprise that Jesus has been increasingly portrayed as a Jewish Messiah, or as this conference thematizes it: “From Jewish Prophet to a Jewish God.” This is not only the legacy of the Third Quest for the Historical Jesus, but also of Christian Theology after the Holocaust and the Interfaith dialogue, of which a student and participant I have been since the mid 1970ties.

However, as a scholar of Second Temple Judaism, one also has to acknowledge that many early Jewish texts do not speak of a Messiah at all, especially the Apocrypha, Philo as well as many of the Pseudepigrapha, and still represent important if not key currents of Early Judaism. At the same time, many New Testament and early Christian texts present messianic and Christological ideas connected with Jesus, that have no parallels at all in Early Judaism.

The following paper tries to connect some of the traditions attributed to Jesus with a much broader and still rather understudied field, namely that of hero mythology and hero cult in the Greco-Roman period. In an earlier paper I have traced some of these traditions in the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, today I will try to do the same with the portrayal of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels, the Epistles of Paul and the Book of Revelation.

 

Németh István

‘Who Is Like the Beast?’ Hosea 13, Daniel 7, and Revelation 13 between Pseudo-Divine Power and the Divine Lamb within Jewish Monotheism

This paper explores how Revelation 13 reshapes the animal imagery of Daniel 7 and Hosea 13 in order to construct a figure of pseudo-divine power that stands in deliberate contrast to the Lamb. While Daniel 7’s hybrid beasts symbolize successive empires, Hosea 13:7–8 presents YHWH himself as lion, leopard, and bear, the direct and terrifying agent of judgment against Israel. Revelation 13 fuses Daniel’s beasts into a single monster marked by these same three animals and invests it with divine attributes—throne, authority, worship, and the blasphemous claim “who is like the beast?” (echoing exclusive Old Testament language for YHWH). By reading Revelation 13 against its Hosean background, the paper argues that John intentionally juxtaposes a pseudo-divine, beastly claimant to worship with the truly divine Lamb, who elsewhere in Revelation shares YHWH’s throne and receives the worship due to God alone. This contrast illuminates how Revelation articulates a divine Messiah within a still recognizably Jewish monotheistic framework.

 

Session 3  (5:00-6:30)

Chair: Loren Stuckenbruck

DeSilva, David

John’s “Revelation of Jesus Christ” at the Boundaries of Jewish Monotheism

This paper provides an analytical survey of the data for John’s messianic theology in Revelation under the headings of the messiah’s past achievements, present state and activity, forthcoming interventions, and state and activity in the kingdom of God; the messiah and the people of God; the worship of God and the Messiah; and the messiah’s titles and descriptions.  It then engages more fully in the scholarly conversation about the ways in which, and the degrees to which, John’s messianic theology aligns with and remains within recognized bounds of Second Temple Jewish messianism.

Bühner, Ruben

How on Earth Did God Become Alpha and Omega? A New Reading of Rev 21:6 and Its Implications for Conceptualizing Early High Christology

In this paper, I would like to use the text proposed in the ECM for Rev 21:6 as an example to demonstrate to what extent some of the recent approaches to high Christology are misleading and are based on an ultimately flawed understanding of what we commonly describe as “monotheism.”

 

End for Dinner

 

Tuesday 2 June

8:15 am breakfast

 

Session 4 (9:00am-10:30 am)

Chair: Naomi Kolton-Fromm

Schenk, Ken

What Hath Alexandria to Do with Christology?

The Philippian hymn declares that Jesus received the “Name Above Every Name”—which must surely be YHWH—at the point of his exaltation. Even more curious is Paul’s insertion of the phrase “at the name of Jesus” into the hymn, creating a tension with this bold assertion. It is almost as if Paul was uncomfortable with this equation with YHWH. However, the Gospel of John shows no discomfort with it, making it a core Christological affirmation. This paper argues that John and the original hymn writer both stand within a stream of “YHWH adoptionist” Christology within the early church. Further, the paper explores the possibility that Philo’s “second god” speculation in relation to the Logos provides the most fertile ideological soil out of which such Christological innovations might have grown in the Hellenistic Jewish church.

Smith, Dustin, Spartanburg Methodist College

Wisdom Embodied and Exalted: Christ as the Incarnation of Personified Wisdom in Colossians 1:15–20.

Specialists on Colossians generally agree that the author of the Colossian hymn (Col. 1:15–20) intentionally portrays Christ in terms of YHWH’s wisdom. The precise mechanisms by which the hymn develops this identification of Jesus as the wisdom of God, however, remain a matter of ongoing scholarly discussion. This paper situates the Christ hymn of Colossians 1:15–20 within earlier Jewish traditions that depict God’s personified wisdom as incarnate in human figures, with particular attention to Proverbs, Sirach, the Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20), and Philo’s writings. By examining the Colossian hymn’s intentional embodiment of personified wisdom, the paper clarifies how the author articulates Christ’s preexistence and his relationship to the Creator of all things.

 

Session 5 (11:00am-12:30 am)

Chair: Naomi Kolton-Fromm

Fletcher-Louis, Crispin

Jesus Epiphanes, the Imperial Cult at Caesarea Philippi and Hermonian Shrines (Mark 8:27–9:13) 

This paper examines the portrayal and self-claims of Jesus in the dialogue and drama that Mark records taking place at Caesarea Philippi and at the Mount of Transfiguration, shortly thereafter (Mark 8:27–9:13 and parrs). I explore the relationship between the christological content of this material and the local context, where there was a shrine for the worship of Augustus (probably to be identified with the one recovered by archaeologists at Horvat Omrit, 2.5m south west of Banias—Caesarea Philippi) and other shrines to pagan gods. Jesus’ decision to broach the question of his identity in the villages near Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27), along with his teaching them about his coming fate as the “one like a son of man” of Daniel 7, as well as some details of the dialogue that Mark records (8:27–38) all point to evidence that Jesus believed he had a messianic and divine identity that should be understood both on analogy to and in competitive rivalry with the divine claims that were made for Rome’s emperors. The transfiguration should be interpreted, inter alia, as a claim that Jesus is the living divine cult image, the true and trustworthy divine image, whereas images in temples on and around Hermon were false.

McClellan, Daniel O.

‘My Lord and My God’: The Hybrid Logos/Image Christology of the Gospel of John

This paper argues that the Gospel of John articulates a hybrid logos/image christology. In it, I will situate the Gospel of John within a development trajectory of logos theology between Philo of Alexandria and Justin Martyr. I will also draw upon the cognitive science of religion and apply to my interrogation of the christology of the Gospel of John some of my own work developing a theoretical model for the intuitive logic of divine images. I will argue that the Gospel of John does not identify Jesus as the God of Israel but understands Jesus as the incarnation of the divine logos, who can be referred to as “God” in a qualitative sense that would be more accurately translated into English as “divine,” “deity,” or “a god.” As a species of divine image, Jesus is also in some sense indwelled by the God of Israel, and therefore bears and manifests God’s presence and power. These two frameworks represent the most parsimonious account of Jesus’s distinction from God and simultaneous identification with God, up to and including Thomas’ vocative cry, “My Lord and my God!”

 

1 pm Lunch

 

Session 6 (2:30 pm-4:00 pm)

Chair: James McGrath

Ellen De Doncker

Our Father Who Art in Heaven: Sculpting Divine Spatial Superiority in the Septuagint

This paper situates the Septuagint (LXX) within the intellectual and theological world of Second Temple Judaism, arguing that it participates in a broader development in which the divine is increasingly associated with the heavens as a privileged spatial domain (Pennington 2007 ; Moore 2023). Rather than functioning merely as a mechanical translation of the Hebrew Pentateuch, the LXX reflects interpretive and theological tendencies characteristic of Jewish thought in the Hellenistic period (Ausloos & Lemmelijn 2020).

As a case study, this paper examines the translation of divine sensory verbs in the Pentateuch (particularly verbs of seeing and hearing), as well as some verbs of movement (especially verbs such as yrd), where the Greek translators frequently employ preverbs or verbal constructions that suggest spatial elevation or distance. These translational choices subtly reconfigure the sensory relationship between God and the world, presenting the deity as operating from a position of spatial superiority, often aligned with heaven.

By analyzing these patterns, this study argues that the LXX contributes to the conceptualization of God as a transcendent yet perceptive heavenly agent, thereby participating in evolving Jewish notions of divine location and mediation. This development provides an important backdrop for later Christological claims about heavenly authority and divine sonship, situating early Christian discourse within existing Jewish trajectories of spatialized monotheism and messianism (Knibb 2006).

Litvinau, Fiodar

Problem of Divine Sonship: Miraculous Birth Narratives in Early Jewish Literature and the Gospel of Matthew

The notion of “divine sonship” is a central element of the New Testament Christology. One of the way to exemplify this theological idea are the “miraculous birth” narratives in Matt 1–2 and Luke 1–2. Already employed in the Hebrew Bible (e.g. Gen 18:9–15; 21:1–7; Judg 13; 1 Sam 1), the trope appears in early Jewish compositions. In this regard, the most important texts are 1 Enoch 106–107 and Genesis Apocryphon (1Q20 col. II–V), which describe the birth of Noah, and 2 Enoch 71–72, which contains a lengthy account of the birth of Melchizedek. It will be argued in the paper that these accounts, while sharing many common features with similar biblical narratives, follow a different pattern in the depiction of miraculous birth, which is also characteristic of the description of the birth of Jesus in Matt 1:18–25. The common elements of the accounts include the question of illegitimacy of the child’s conception, the passive role of the mother (contra HB and Luke), the supposed role of the divine entity in conceiving of the child, as well as the special reason for which the child is born, and the following acceptance of the child by the father as his own. However, there are cases where Matthew departs from this pattern. The motif of the extraordinary appearance and abilities of the newborn child (1 En. 106:2–3, 5, 10–11; 1Q20 V, 13; 2 En. 71:17–19) is completely absent from Matt 1:18–25. This is even more peculiar, noting the fact that, unlike other accounts (foremost 1 Enoch and Genesis Apocryphon), Matthew confirms the divine conception of the child, although one may see an incongruity: why should Joseph divorce Mary if the child is already known to be from the “holy spirit” from the narrative point of view (cf. Matt 1:18 and 20)? Should the meaning of the “(holy) spirit” be reconsidered in light of the parallels, at least in Matt 1:18? Another important aspect is that one would also expect Matthew to portray the newborn Jesus as the “Son of God” explicitly (cf. Luke 1:35), yet this language seems to be avoided in the Birth Narrative of Matthew: Jesus is born from the S/spirit, not from God. Thus, Matthew or most likely his source for Matt 1:18–25 had used a similar literary device found in the contemporary Jewish literature with an intention to “de-deify” the figure of the newborn Jesus. These notes will shed light on the development of the views of the authors of the New Testament on the Messiah and his relation to the divine world. 

 

Session 7 (4:30-6:00)

Chair: James McGrath

Glover, Daniel

The One and the Manifold: Divine Unity and Multiplicity in the History of Jewish Platonism

Judaism of the Second Temple era saw an explosion of interest in mediating figures, especially as an outgrowth of apocalyptic Judaism. Running parallel to apocalyptic Judaism, however, is the development of Jewish Platonism, which likewise wrestles with the question of divine unity — a unity that cascades into multiplicity. This paper traces the development of ontological reflection among Hellenistic Jews upon divine emanations (especially wisdom, image, and word), which serve demiurgic functions, from their earliest appearance in LXX Prov 8 and Aristobulus to first-century CE figures, such as Philo, Wisdom of Solomon, Paul, Hebrews, and John. It demonstrates that this distinct stream of Hellenistic Jewish philosophy, which served as crucial philosophical architecture for some early Christology, represents a coherent and distinctively Jewish philosophical tradition that not only belongs within Platonism but helped catalyze some of its most important developments. 

Porter, Christopher A.

“There Ought to be One Temple for One God”—Implications of Multiple Temples for Monotheism and Christology

In the 2nd century BCE, Onias IV—son of the murdered High Priest Onias III—fled Jerusalem and set up a temple in Egypt under the patronage of the Ptolemies, rationalised by the Isaianic eschatological foretelling that “On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt” (2 Macc. 4.34; Isa 19:19; Ant. 13.3.1). Onias IV presented his temple and community as normatively Jewish, and “found other Jews there [to] perform divine service” (Ant 13.3.3). While this Leontopolis Temple—and associated community—appears to have been aggressively monotheistic (cf. JosAs), its other Egyptian precedent at Elephantine seems to have had a looser relationship with monotheism (Winter 1983; Albertz 1983). Furthermore, even the presence of an alternative temple performing “divine service,” draws into question the diaspora commitment to strict monotheism, as expressed by Josephus condemnation—apparently drawing upon Deuteronomy 12—that “there ought also to be but One Temple, for One God” (εἱς ναὸς ἐνὸς θεος; C. Ap. II 193; Capponi 2007). Indeed, other documents stemming from Jewish diaspora communities display a variegated attitude to monotheism, be it the Sibylline gestures towards Zeus (Lightfoot 2007), Philo’s approach to λόγος as a “second deity” (QG 2.62; Runia 2019), or—as I have argued elsewhere—Daniel’s diasporic approach to the Son of Man (Porter and Porter 2024; forthcoming). It is in this theological tradition that I suggest the Fourth Evangelist locates his own Christology, blending the λόγος (John 1:1–14) and Son of Man (3:13, 5:27 etc) along with discourses regarding appropriate locations of worship (4:21–24) to argue for a monotheistic Christology within a post-70CE Temple destruction context.

 

End for Dinner

 

Wednesday 3 June

8:15 am breakfast

 

Session 7 (9:00am-10:30 am)

Chair: Pedersen, Vicki

Cahana-Blum, Jonathan

Between Judas Iscariot and Sabbatai Zevi: Messiahship and Sin in the Gospel of Judas

In the Gospel of Judas, both Judas and the other disciples are presented as performing seemingly atrocious actions with similarly good intentions. While both contribute directly to salvation, they both ultimately end up condemned for all eternity. Understandably, this has presented an almost insurmountable hermeneutical difficulty for most interpreters of the text since its very publication in 2006. What could be the purpose of a Gospel where everything seems to go so utterly wrong, yet Jesus cannot seem to stop laughing?

In this paper, I suggest that the paradoxical theology of the followers of the seventeenth-century Jewish Messiah who publicly apostatized may shed light on the theological contrivances of the followers of a first-century Jewish Messiah who was shamefully executed. Striking similarities between their master narratives present themselves. Both groups were faced with a Messiah who seemingly failed to deliver on expectations. Both groups stubbornly insisted that he did deliver, and consequently, both had to explain how the trauma of this apparent failure served as the very mechanism for elevating his messianic status – a dynamic that, for the early Jesus movement, catalyzed the emergence of a high Christology.

Did both groups perhaps devise a similar theological solution? This paper attempts to read the Gospel of Judas as an example of what Gershom Scholem termed mitzvah ha-ba’ah ba-averah, or “Redemption through Sin” theology. By applying Scholem’s five “prerequisites” for the development of such a theology, I explore whether the ancient material fits this category. When these comparative perspective is engaged, the “sinful” acts within the Gospel emerge not as errors, but as necessary transgressions meant to liberate the divine identity of the Messiah from mere earthly appearances. Ultimately, this framework situates the text’s radical theology as a reflection of the fluid and ongoing evolution of ancient Jewish messianic expectations that promulgated in the Second Temple period.

Hall, Bob

It is Human to Be Divine: Messianism, Metaphysics, and Anthropology in the Ascension of Isaiah and the Parables of Enoch.

I think for some “monotheistic” Jews, “divine messianism” may have emerged naturally from metaphysics to ground a divine anthropology. The Ascension of Isaiah has a “metaphysics of glory”: The Great Glory pours glory down through the cosmos, constituting and nourishing every righteous intelligence, both angelic and human. Participation in divinity makes someone human; it is human to be divine. Therefore, the Beloved’s humanity embodies highest glory so naturally that it accords as perfectly with what it means to be human as with what it means to be God. In the Parables of Enoch, I think I see a “metaphysics of name” that can also ground a “divine anthropology.” If  the divine messianisms visible in the Parables or the Ascension are utterly natural within their conceptual systems, the divine humanities visible in Prayer of Joseph, Aseneth, Self-Glorification Hymn, etc., and the divine messianisms of early high Christology may have grown just as naturally and uncontroversially within their ancient monotheistic Jewish conceptual worlds. If to be human is to be divine, it is hardly surprising that some ancient Jews thought of a divine messiah. 

 

Session 8 (11:00 am-12:30 am)

Chair: Pedersen, Vicki

Ibba, Giovanni

Melchizedek Traditions, Priestly Christology, and the Question of Monotheism within Second Temple Judaism

I would like to explore the development of priestly Christology in early Christianity by situating the Letter to the Hebrews within the broader spectrum of Melchizedek traditions circulating in Second Temple Judaism. Special attention is given to the emergence of exalted messianic figures and the question of Jewish monotheism. The study adopts the perspective of a “fluid” or apocalyptic monotheism, in which God’s transcendence is preserved while divine agency is mediated through highly exalted figures.

Key sources include Psalm 110, 11QMelch, and the Melchizedek birth narrative in 2 Enoch, all of which portray Melchizedek as a transhistorical, heavenly, or quasi-divine priest. These traditions articulate a form of priestly mediation that transcends genealogical succession and earthly cult, providing a conceptual framework compatible with Jewish apocalyptic monotheism. Within this context, the presentation of Jesus in Hebrews as eternal high priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” can be understood as a continuation and reconfiguration of existing Jewish priestly categories, rather than as a radical theological rupture.

Of particular interest is the uncertain dating of Hebrews, which may be placed before or shortly after 70 CE, though the balance of scholarly opinion favors a composition immediately prior to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. This temporal uncertainty adds further significance to the study, as it situates the text within a formative and transitional period, reflecting specific developments in priestly and Christological thought.

The study highlights the continuity between Second Temple Jewish thought and early Christological developments, showing how intra-Jewish debates on divine agency and mediation shaped the emergence of a messianic figure endowed with functions traditionally associated with God, yet framed within a monotheistic horizon.

Ossandón Widow, Juan Carlos

Slippery Christology: Narrative Strategy and Divine Identity in Mark 6:30–52

This paper focuses on a brief but consequential intervention by the Markan narrator in 6:52 — a verse that has received less attention than it deserves. When the disciples react with astonishment after Jesus walks on the sea, the narrator does not explain their response by reference to what they have just witnessed. Instead, he points backward to an earlier episode: the feeding of the multitude in the wilderness. This retrospective move binds two apparently distinct episodes into a single Christological argument, and challenges the reader to grasp a connection that the disciples themselves have missed. The paper traces the logic of this argument through the scriptural and cultural resonances of both episodes, showing how the typologies of new Moses and Davidic Messiah, while present, prove insufficient to account for what the narrator implies. The result is a portrait of Jesus that edges toward divine identity without ever stating it outright. This studied ambiguity, the paper argues, reflects a carefully calibrated narrative strategy — one particularly intelligible within the context of Second Temple Jewish monotheism. A concluding comparison with Matthew illuminates what is distinctive about Mark’s approach: Matthew resolves the episode into explicit devotion and confession, while Mark withholds any such resolution, leaving the reader, unlike the disciples, to draw the conclusion alone.

 

 

1 pm lunch

 

Tour of the Biblicum 3:00 pm

Public Event at the Pontifical Biblical Institute 4:00-6:30 pm

Stuckenbruck, Loren: “Celebrating the 25 years of the Enoch Seminar. The Religious and Theological Significance of the Enoch Literature: Past and Present”

Respondents will include James McGrath, Caterina Moro, Gabriele Boccaccini, Adriano Virgili, and Eric Noffke

 

Dinner

 

Thursday 4 June

8:15 am breakfast

 

Concluding Session 11 (9:00am-10:30 am)

James McGrath and Loren Stuckenbruck

 

Lunch and Excursion