Reviews and Notices

the modernist historical critic, Hoskyns

as a catholic evangelical. The portrait
of Dodd fits the overall argument well,
but the level of detail provided regarding Hoskyns, although quite interesting in itself, constitutes a digression far
from the books real subject. The final
chapter applies some of the suggested
methodology to the study of the historical Jesus.
In arguing that the object of hermeneutical reflection should dictate its
own appropriate method, the author
refers to some likeminded contemporaries, but he could also have referred
to some precursors who said similar
things in the high days of the historical
critical method; I just mention Emilio
Betti (Die Hermeneutik als allgemeine
Methodik der Geisteswissenschaften; Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1962; and Allgemeine Auslegungslehre als Methodik der
Geisteswissenschaften; Tbingen: Mohr
Siebeck, 1967) and Gerhard Maier (The
End of the Historical-critical Method; St.
Louis: Concordia, 1977; and Biblische
Hermeneutik; Wuppertal & Zrich:
Brockhaus, 1990).
The text is followed by 40 pages of bibliography plus the usual indexes. The
numerous footnotes are not to be neglected as they are packed with further
information and discussion; together
they provide a good overview of current
NT scholarship.
One can only wish that Bockmuehls
plea will be echoed by others and taken
seriously by all Christian interpreters
of the Word of God. I also wish that the
series which this book opens may produce many more useful and provocative studies.
Pieter J. Lalleman
Spurgeons College

EQ 83

EQ 80.1 (2008), 83-85

Roman Wives, Roman Widows: The

Appearance of New Women and the
Pauline Communities
by Bruce W. Winter
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003.
xviii+236 pp. pb. $27
ISBN 978-0-8028-4971-7
In this volume the ex-Warden of Tyndale House continues his researches
into the Graeco-Roman background
of the New Testament and draws significant conclusions for interpretation
of specific passages (for his previous
contributions see my review of B. W.
Winter, After Paul Left Corinth: The
Influence of Secular Ethics and Social
Change, in Evangel 20:3 [autumn 2002],
90f.). His thesis here, adumbrated in his
article on The New Roman Wife and
1 Timothy 2:9-15: The Search for a Sitz
im Leben, Tyndale Bulletin 51:2 (2000),
285-294, is that by the first century there
existed a new group of wealthy Roman
women who enjoyed a status and freedom, including sexual freedom, that
were at odds with the traditional understanding of the role of women. Part of
the evidence consists in the legislation
by Augustus designed to curb this phenomenon and in the upholding by philosophers of traditional mores in a way
that demonstrates that these required
to be upheld against those who were
flouting in them.
The basic evidence is given in Part I of
the book; some of it is archaeological,
and it is regrettable (though it probably
helped to keep the price down) that the
relevant illustrations are not included
in the book (but are available on a website). Here Winter is mediating to New
Testament students a picture of Roman
imperial society and responses to it that
are familiar and uncontested among
classical scholars.
In Part II these findings are related to

84 EQ

Reviews and Notices

specific New Testament texts. First,

there is a treatment of 1 Corinthians 11
which repeats and updates his treatment in the earlier book with fresh
background material.
Second, Winter discusses 1 Timothy 2.
Here there is a full presentation of the
way in which similar things were said
about the place of women in contemporary Graeco-Roman sources, demonstrating clearly that what was being
defended by Paul was essentially the
same understanding of the proper role
of women, and especially of wives in
relation to their husbands. The criticism of women expensively decked out
in a way that could be sexually enticing
is matched by the philosophers. Pauls
position, therefore, was not that of a Jew
calling women back to a Jewish way of
life but places him alongside the Hellenistic philosophers who attacked the
freedom of the new women, and the
virtues that he extolled (modesty and
decorum) were Hellenistic virtues. He
argues that such women had an aversion
to childbearing and rearing that Paul attacks in verse 15, where he assures them
that they will be kept safe throughout
the process of childbearing. The women are to participate in instruction, but
must do so in a subordinate manner
(the issue is not subordination to their
husbands, but a respectful silence in the
instructional context rather than noisy
interruptions); women teachers are not
attested in the Hellenistic world. In the
light of lexicographical evidence the
crucial verb authenteo refers to an inappropriate misuse of authority. And the
principle expressed in Titus 2:5 must
apply here also: one motive for the curbs
on women is so that the gospel may not
be discredited in the eyes of unbelievers
or newly converted men.
A similar background is invoked for 1
Timothy 5, where Winter adduces his
earlier interpretation of the passage in
terms of family members receiving the

widows dowry from her late husband

and yet not providing for her needs. The
young widows were behaving promiscuously (following the pattern that was
allowable for men!) and thus adopting a lifestyle that was incompatible
with their commitment as believers to
Christ, and they were going about gossiping, especially about the sexual affairs of other people.
Finally, there is a discussion of Titus 2
which brings greater precision to understanding of the passage by arguing
that sophronizo means more than wise
up and rather should be rendered recall to their senses. A discussion of
the Cretan background shows that the
range of sins mentioned in this passage
were common occurrences, so that the
passage is very clearly appropriate to its
context.
The final section of the book assembles the evidence for women taking
some part in public life (in commerce,
the courts and politics, against the
common view that they were totally
excluded) and augments the discussion of Iunia Theodora from his earlier
book. This material sheds light on the
possible roles of Phoebe and Junia in
Romans 16.
Overall this book provides fresh evidence from an expert for the interpretation of important New Testament
passages and I personally am grateful
for the confirmation and more careful
nuancing of positions adopted in my
own work on the Pastoral Epistles. Most
of what is developed in this book stands
on solid foundations and helps to refute
some misunderstandings of the New
Testament material (I think particularly
of attempts to water down the meaning
of authenteo). The presentation in the
book could have been helped by some
tighter editing to avoid repetition of
material. At some points there are continuing problems and questions. Thus it
remains unclear to me why the Chris-

Reviews and Notices

tian women in Corinth should have followed the example of the new women
in their improper behaviour in church:
what could have motivated them to so
demean themselves (but then the menfolk were evidently no better with their
drunken and gluttonous church meals)?
The interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:15
misses S. E. Porters contribution which
seems to me to be more in the right direction than A. Kstenbergers. And I
would judge that the interpretation of
Roman 16:7 to refer to Andronicus and
Junia as outstanding among the apostles has rather more weight than Winter
cautiously gives to it; the objection that
1 Corinthians 9:5 implies that all the
apostles were men seems to me to draw
more out of the verse than is warranted
(Paul is thinking here of the rights of
male apostles to be accompanied by
their wives, and this does not exclude
the possibility of an apostle being female). Points such as these are of small
significance compared with the value of
the light shed by the book as a whole on
an important aspect of early Christian
life and ministry.
I. Howard Marshall
University of Aberdeen
EQ 80.1 (2008), 85-86

The Preexistent Son: Recovering the

Christologies of Matthew, Mark and
Luke
by Simon J. Gathercole
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006. xi+344
pp. Pb. $34 ISBN 978-0-8028-2901-6.
A quarter of a century ago James Dunn
argued that the pre-existence of Christ
was a relatively late idea, found in the
New Testament only in the Fourth Gospel. Subsequent scholarship has not
been convinced, especially with reference to the writings of Paul and Hebrews.
But most interpreters have been much
more reluctant to find the idea present

EQ 85

also in the three Synoptic Gospels. It is

that (often tacit) reluctance that Simon
Gathercole challenges in this stimulating and controversial book.
An introductory chapter makes the
rather obvious, but seldom noted, point
that there would be nothing surprising
in finding the idea of pre-existence expressed by Matthew, Mark and Luke. After all, most scholars date those gospels
considerably later than the letters of
Paul, in which the idea is already clearly
and persistently expressed. Furthermore, Matthew, Mark and Luke make
prominent use of the title Son of God
and there are other clear indications
that their authors placed Jesus on the
transcendent side of the divide between
heaven and earth, between God and
creation. So an explicit recognition of
that Son as pre-existent would not be
an alien idea.
The bulk of the book then consists of
a detailed examination of a variety of
Synoptic material in which it may be
claimed that that idea is present. The
strength of the argument varies, depending on the type of material under
consideration. But Gathercoles strongest card, and the one to which he devotes most space (over 100 pages), is
the series of Synoptic sayings in which
Jesus says I have come (or the Son
of Man has come) for a specific purpose. The data are meticulously analysed, and presented with clarity and
single-minded conviction. But does the
argument stand up?
It depends on the nature of the idiom.
One of the most original contributions
in the book (chapter 5) is a study of
similar formulae in Jewish literature
in which angels declare the purpose of
their appearance on earth. Examples
are drawn from Daniel, Tobit, and a variety of apocalyptic and rabbinic material. The usage is clear, but it is less obvious that the 24 examples cited (out of a
very large corpus of literature), several