Session 1
Dorothea H. Bertschmann, College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, ‘The interceding Spirit: Prayer and the limits of knowledge in Romans 8:26-27’
In Romans 8:26-27 Paul describes the pneuma twice as interceding for the believers. Though the idea might have parallels such as in Wisdom (Dodson) the statement is unique in the Corpus Paulinum in its description of the spirit as acting and speaking beyond inspiring human speech. The passage has been duly noted as strengthening the notion of the spirit as a person (Fee), which makes it easier to see it in parallel with Christ, who is also said to intercede for the believers in 8:34. This paper will explore the similarities and differences in both acts of interceding, arguing that unlike Christ in 8:34 the spirit’s interceding deals with a communication impasse at the limits of knowledge. The spirit’s interceding kata theon does not so much improve the believers’ prayers but shows the act of interceding as pleasing to God. In both instances of interceding Paul creates a ‘static dynamic’ between Father, Son and Holy Ghost, which navigates the tension between fully assured salvation and the concretely experienced threats to it.
Joshua Chan, University of Oxford, ‘When the Spirit Prays and the Mind Falters: Ancient Exegesis and the Question of Tongues as Languages in 1 Corinthians 14:14’
A central argument against interpreting the Corinthian tongues as actual human languages appeals to 1 Cor 14:14: “My spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” If, as recent scholarship (e.g., Tupamahu) contends, Paul regards tongues as human languages, how did early interpreters reconcile this verse with such a view? This paper explores the reception history of 1 Cor 14:14 to illuminate how ancient exegetes navigate this tension. One interpretive strand links the unfruitful mind to the lack of edifications (or fruits) produced among hearers. Another invokes linguistic hierarchies in antiquity, whereby languages such as Greek and Hebrew were deemed sacred and used without comprehension by non-Greek/Hebrew speakers. Notably, most Greek patristic commentators interpret “spirit” not as the human spirit or the Holy Spirit per se, but as a synecdochic reference to the spiritual gift (i.e. tongues) imparted by the Spirit. These early readings challenge modern assumptions and offer a more theologically nuanced understanding of tongues within early Christian thought.
Session 2: Joint Session with Early Christianity on “The Four Last Things: death, judgement, heaven and hell”
Irene Barbotti, Trinity College Dublin, ‘“This being so, this is the judgment of God” (Ps.-Cl. Hom. 12,29). Exploring the Judicial Background of Couplings of Beatitudes and Woes in Early Christian Writings’
This paper examines the judicial framework underpinning the pairing of beatitudes and woes in early Christian literature. By analysing these paired sayings, it traces the development of the eschatological judgment motif, structured around the contrast between the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. Building on prior observations of the link between beatitudes and woes in Second Temple Jewish and New Testament texts (cf. Pogor 2022), the study advances the discussion in two key directions. First, it expands the textual corpus to include lesser-studied early Christian writings—such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Didache, the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, the Book of Thomas the Contender, and the Apostolic Constitutions and Canons—where this literary form also plays a significant role. Second, it argues that the beatitude–woe pairing constituted a distinct literary form already in Second Temple literature and retained, in early Christian usage, its original focus on the expectation of imminent eschatological judgment, thus offering fresh insights into the Jewish roots and theological evolution of this motif in early Christianity.
Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski, King’s College London, ‘Valentinus’ Harvest: Chasing the Shadow of a Theologian’
In the early third century work the Refutation of all Heresies we find a poem, whose author is identified as Valentinus. The hymn depicts a positive, not frightening, climax of the visible reality as a collection of the fruits. In my discussion, I place this cosmological hymn close to some parallel motifs of harvest in the New Testament, but also, I reaffirm its setting within the second century philosophical mind of the author, especially influenced by the eclectic Middle Platonic cosmology. Looking through this poem, we can see that Valentinus, while wishing to ground his poem in the New Testament metaphors, eliminated their apocalyptic connotations and creatively and succinctly combined them with his philosophical position. The hymn does not allow any speculations about other aspects of the philosophical position of the author (such as e.g. ethics or anthropology), but his understanding of salvation linked with the image of a baby/Saviour. It offers a very positive comprehension of the final moment of the current world.
Tyler Hoagland, Independent Scholar, ‘Judgment and Consequences: The Shepherd of Hermas and the Gospel of Matthew in Conversation’
The ninth parable of the Shepherd of Hermas provides a convoluted collection of spiritual possibilities. The vision and its interpretation describe at least thirteen possibilities for the state of an individual’s relationship to church and Christ, with both positive and negative outcomes for some failings in the preliminary judgment of the Son of God. And while some errors, like apostasy and false teaching, have dire consequences, others, even the dreaded double-minded, are redeemable. This paper places this parable in conversation with the Gospel of Matthew, particularly the passages concerning judgment from the Sermon on the Mount (7:1–5) and the parable of the sheep and the goats (25:31–46). By including Matthew in the conversation, several things become clearer in the Shepherd. First, the established concern in the Shepherd regarding the activity of the wealthy reinforced. Second, judgment considers the impact of errors on the community and the potential for community restoration and reparations. Finally the identity of the judge as the Son of God points the reader towards the final judgment.
Session 3
Jonathan Rowlands, St Mellitus College, ‘The Spirit-led Interpretive Community: Reading Scripture in Conversation with Robert Jenson’
This paper offers a defence of Robert Jenson’s ‘creedal-critical exegesis’ (outlined in his 2009 Burns Lectures) by engaging issues of interpretive communities and pneumatological ecclesiology. Recent developments in literary theory have prompted much discussion about the nature of ‘interpretive communities’ and textual meaning. Rather than texts possessing a fixed, universal meaning, textual interpretation is contingent upon the shared assumptions and reading strategies of social groups. Elsewhere, much has been said about the church’s pneumatological ground; that the church is a creature of the Spirit. What does it mean to think of the church as a pneumatologically-grounded interpretive community with regards to Scripture? I argue the pneumatological ground of the church allows us to think meaningfully and substantively of the catholic church across time and space as the same ‘interpretive community’, with the creeds of the catholic church therefore providing the ‘shared assumptions’ of the church’s reading strategy as interpretive community. In other words, as Jenson argues, the creeds are the ‘critical theory’ of Scripture.
Laura J. Hunt, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, ‘Check for Breathing: The Metaphor of Birth John 3.1–21, 34’
This passage in the Gospel of John uses the word πνεῦμα six times. The NRSVue translates it four times as “Spirit,” once as “spirit,” and once as “wind.” But in the context of a metaphor about childbirth, it seems that translating πνεῦμα as “breath” ought to be considered, particularly in verse 8. Furthermore, attending to the metaphor of new birth throughout this passage clarifies the theology of flesh and spirit in John, not as antagonists but interdependent. Finally, the ancient use of “to come into the light” to describe birth (e.g. Plutarch, Mor. 496B) suggests that vv. 20–21 might best be read within the birth metaphor of the larger passage. Doing so gives this translation: For anyone who practices evil hates the light and refuses birth, so that his works might not be exposed, but he who does the truth is born, so that his works might be revealed because they are accomplished in God.