Esler, Philip F. 1952–

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Esler, Philip F. 1952–

(Philip Francis Esler)

PERSONAL:

Born 1952. Education: University of Sydney, B.A., LL.B., LL.M.; Oxford University, D.Phil.

ADDRESSES:

Office—St. Andrews University, St. Mary's College, South St., St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9JU, Scotland. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, editor, historian, theologian, attorney, and educator. St. Andrews University, St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland, vice- principal for research, currently professor of history. U.K. Arts and Humanities Research Council, chief executive, 2005—. Worked as a litigation solicitor and barrister.

WRITINGS:

(Under name Philip Francis Esler) Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Lucan Theology, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 1987.

The First Christians in Their Social Worlds: Social-Scientific Approaches to New Testament Interpretation, Routledge (New York, NY), 1994.

(Editor) Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context, Routledge (New York, NY), 1995.

Galatians, Routledge (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor) Christianity for the Twenty-first Century, T & T Clark (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1998.

(Editor) The Early Christian World, Routledge (New York, NY), 2000.

Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter, Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN), 2003.

(With Jane Boyd) Visuality and Biblical Text: Interpreting Velazquez' "Christ with Martha and Mary" as a Test Case, L.S. Olschki (Florence, Italy), 2004.

New Testament Theology: Communion and Community, Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN), 2005.

(Editor) Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in Its Social Context, Fortress Press (Minneapolis, MN), 2006.

(With Ronald A. Piper) Lazarus, Mary, and Martha: Social-Scientific Approaches to the Gospel of John, Augsburg Fortress (Minneapolis, MN), 2006.

Contributor to books, including Ethnicity and the Bible, edited by Mark Brill, E.J. Brill (Leiden, Netherlands), 1996; The Oxford Bible Commentary, edited by John Barton and John Muddiman, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 2001; The Social Setting of Jesus and the Gospels, edited by Bruce J. Malina, Wolfgang Stegemann, and Gerd Theissen, Augsburg Fortress (Minneapolis, MN), 2002; Jesus in History, Culture, and Thought: An Encyclopedia, edited by Leslie Houlden, ABC-Clio (Santa Barbara, CA), 2004; Iconography and the New Testament, edited by Annette Weissenrieder and Friederike Wendt, Mohr Siebeck (Tubingen, Germany), 2005; The Nature of New Testament Theology, edited by Christopher Rowland and Christopher Tuckett, Blackwells (Oxford, England), 2005; and Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church, edited by W. Mayer, P. Allen, and L. Cross, Volume 3, St. Paul's Publications (Strathfield, New South Wales, Australia), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals and journals, including Biblical Theology Bulletin, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, New Testament Studies, Biblical Interpretation, Cosmos, Scottish Journal of Theology, Journal of Religion and Culture, Biblical Theology Bulletin, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, and Neotestamentica.

SIDELIGHTS:

Philip F. Esler is a writer, editor, historian, and theologian who "has a particular interest in the reading of biblical texts using the tools provided by social-scientific research," commented a biographer on the St. Andrews University, St. Mary's College Web site. He is the vice-principal for research and a professor of history at St. Andrews University, St. Mary's College in St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland. Esler is also an attorney who has worked as both a litigation solicitor and a barrister in Great Britain. His research interests cover a wide range of theological and biblical subjects, including the social-scientific interpretation of biblical texts; Paul and images of Paul in the Bible and elsewhere; development of early Christian identity; hermeneutics and interpretation; and modern ethics and related contemporary issues. He has contributed many articles and essays to journals and books in areas such as international relations, law and ethics, and the Bible and theology.

Esler is the editor of Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context. The book contains a collection of papers from a 1994 conference in St. Andrews on New Testament interpretation and the social sciences, noted Peter Oakes in the Journal of Theological Studies. "Here we see what a good range of the leading scholars have been working on recently, what their views have in common, where they differ, and how their thinking is being modified," Oakes remarked. Mostly concentrated in the New Testament, the papers cover topics such as Christian group formation and maintenance; the seeming contradiction between the prevalence of the Evil Eye in Mediterranean culture and its absence in the text of the New Testament; concepts of family and honor; and the interpretation of Luke 4:1-30 as comprising two tests of honor.

In Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter, Esler seeks to reconsider and reframe the context and message of the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans. He believes that "in Romans Paul is attempting to reshape the identity of the congregation in Rome in the wake of ethnic tensions between Judean and non-Judean Christ believers," commented Raymond Pickett in Interpretation. Esler suggests that Paul's intent was to "navigate carefully the tensions between his Judean and Greek readers (or listeners), to ‘recategorize’ them in one superordinate identity (being in Christ), while still acknowledging previous ethnic identities," observed Caroline Johnson Hodge in the Catholic Bible Quarterly. Esler argues that "creating a common identity of being ‘in Christ’ does not erase the previous identities of the subgroups," and thus reduces or eliminates conflicts that would arise from adopting Christian principles and turning away from previously held identities or faiths, Hodge remarked. Esler finds the key to this argument in "social identity theory, which holds that one's self-concept is always made up of multiple components, making it possible for individuals to occupy several different identities, shifting among them depending on the context," Hodge noted. "All over Esler's book there are thought-provoking perspectives on issues," commented Peter Oakes in the Journal for the Study of the New Testament. Esler's work "should form an important basis for discussion of the letter for a considerable time to come," Oakes concluded. Walter F. Taylor, Jr., writing in the Trinity Seminary Review, called the book "a major contribution to our understanding of Romans."

New Testament Theology: Communion and Community contains Esler's new approach to New Testament theology and interpretation in which he "stakes a middle ground between those who believe that NT theology should only be done in service of the church and those who believe that NT theology should have no necessary relationship to the church," commented Eric Stewart, writing in the Biblical Theology Bulletin. "In other words, Esler's book is an attempt to deal with the NT from a Christian standpoint, but he also accepts the usefulness of viewing the NT from the standpoint of its relationship to Western civilization more broadly," Stewart continued. Among his goals, Esler looks for ways in which New Testament theology, and biblical scholarship in general, can be applied to the normal, day-to-day experiences of practicing Christians. He looks at how individuals in the New Testament can be known even given the vast gulf of time separating them from modern Christian readers. He presents an essay in which he argues that New Testament texts are "non-literary," and are instead intended to instruct and ignite faith in those who read or hear them. Esler also offers the foundations of a mode of communion in which modern Christians and New Testament-era Christians can connect over time. The book "is interesting and insightful at every turn," Stewart commented. Interpretation reviewer Timothy B. Cargal observed that Esler's book on New Testament theology and interpretation "seeks not only to alter the genre of such works but also fundamentally to change the character of the enterprise." Cargal concluded that Esler's is an "approach to the NT that holds promise for creative results."

Esler edited Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in Its Social Context, another collection of conference papers, this time from a 2004 gathering at the University of St. Andrews. The collection "showcases the strengths and benefits of social-scientific criticism for illuminating the [Old Testament] against its social background," commented Uriah Y. Kim in Theological Studies. The contributors "use various models (sociological, anthropological, cultural, economic, and others) to provide more informed understandings of the biblical world, and to practice a more responsible interpretation of the biblical texts," Kim continued. E.W. Davies, writing in the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, called the book "essential reading for those interested in the use of social-scientific models in biblical interpretation." Catholic Biblical Quarterly reviewer Michael S. Moore found it to be "an up-to-date, well-edited, and generally accurate representation of the field of social-scientific interpretation of the OT in English." Kim concluded that the book "must be read by anyone interested in the new insights that the social-scientific criticism can bring to our understanding of ancient Israel and the OT."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Biblical Theology Bulletin, fall, 2006, Eric Stewart, review of New Testament Theology: Communion and Community, p. 135; winter, 2006, John L. McLaughlin, review of Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in Its Social Context, p. 186; winter, 2007, Derek Tovey, review of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha: Social-Scientific Approaches to the Gospel of John, p. 190.

Catholic Biblical Quarterly, January, 2005, Caroline Johnson Hodge, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans: The Social Setting of Paul's Letter, p. 141; January, 2007, Michael S. Moore, review of Ancient Israel, p. 172; January, 2008, Ben Witherington, review of New Testament Theology, p. 146.

Choice, June, 2006, J.W. Wright, review of Ancient Israel, p. 1840.

Expository Times, February, 2007, Holly J. Carey, "The Social Context of Ancient Israel," review of Ancient Israel, p. 251.

Interpretation, July, 2004, Raymond Pickett, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 296; October, 2006, Timothy B. Cargal, review of New Testament Theology, p. 477; April, 2007, review of Ancient Israel, p. 238.

Journal for the Study of the New Testament, June, 2004, Peter Oakes, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 512; Volume 27, issue 5, 2005, Peter Oakes, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 94; Volume 28, issue 5, 2006, Alan Le Grys, review of New Testament Theology, p. 6.

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, June, 2006, E.W. Davies, review of Ancient Israel, p. 35.

Journal of Biblical Literature, spring, 1989, A.T. Kraabel, review of Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts: The Social and Political Motivations of Lucan Theology, p. 160.

Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, Volume 7, 2007, Patricia Dutcher-Walls, review of Ancient Israel.

Journal of Religion, January, 1990, Ross A. Christensen, review of Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts, p. 141; July, 2006, Mark Reasoner, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 455.

Journal of Theological Studies, April, 1998, Peter Oakes, review of Modelling Early Christianity: Social-Scientific Studies of the New Testament in Its Context, p. 281.

Modern Theology, January, 2007, A.K.M. Adam, review of New Testament Theology, p. 150.

Renaissance Quarterly, winter, 2005, Mindy Nancarrow, review of Visuality and Biblical Text: Interpreting Velazquez' "Christ with Martha and Mary" as a Test Case, p. 1336.

Review of Biblical Literature, Volume 8, 2006, Margaret P. Aymer, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 483.

Theological Studies, March, 1989, Richard J. Cassidy, review of Community and Gospel in Luke-Acts, p. 199; March, 2002, A.M. Casiday, review of The Early Christian World, p. 170; March, 2007, Uriah Y. Kim, review of Ancient Israel, p. 172.

Theology, May-June, 2007, Sean Freyne, review of New Testament Theology.

Theology Today, July, 2005, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 248.

Trinity Seminary Review, winter-spring, 2005, Walter F. Taylor, Jr., review of Conflict and Identity in Romans, p. 45; summer-fall, 2007, David K. Delaney, review of Ancient Israel, p. 133.