S. Scott Bartchy | |
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Born | |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Biblical scholar |
Title | Emeritus Professor of Christian Origins and the History of Religion |
Board member of | The Context Group, Academy of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies |
Academic background | |
Education | Milligan College, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University |
Academic work | |
Discipline | New Testament studies |
Institutions | University of California,Los Angeles |
S. Scott Bartchy (born 9 November 1936 in Canton,Ohio) is a New Testament scholar and member of The Context Group,a group of biblical scholars committed to using social-scientific interpretative methods. He is also a member of The Society of Biblical Literature,the Catholic Biblical Association,and the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (Society of New Testament Studies). Bartchy is Emeritus Professor of Christian Origins and the History of Religion in the Department of History,University of California,Los Angeles,where he taught from 1981 until his retirement in 2013. At UCLA,Bartchy was integral to the founding of the Center for the Study of Religion and served as its director for many years. [1] [2] Under his leadership,the Center began offering UCLA's first undergraduate major in religious studies.
Bartchy attended Milligan College in the 1950s,where he majored in social science and religious studies and minored in Hellenistic Greek. Bartchy states that it was at this liberal-arts Christian school in east Tennessee where he had a religious awakening. He retells an account of preaching at a local church while attending Milligan:
I had some great teachers that one year and I was preaching at a church full of farmers,mostly,in the early sixties when the Cold War had really set in. People were holding Christ Against Communism Crusades and things like this. So,the elders in my church asked me if I would preach a sermon against communism. I was still idealistic enough that I thought I'd rather preach for something rather than against something so I literally stumbled over Matthew 25. I had never paid much attention to it before. I had never heard a sermon on it. I had gone to church-related undergraduate schools and had never heard of this passage before. So,I decided to preach on that text and the elders and the rest of the people came to me and said they had no idea that was in the Bible. I never did preach that sermon against communism. [3]
Bartchy graduated Milligan College in 1958 cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts. Not long after his time at Milligan,he was ordained to teaching ministry in the First Christian Church,Canton,Ohio (December 1959).
He earned his Bachelor of Theological Knowledge (M.Div. equivalent) at Harvard Divinity School (1963) and his Ph.D. in New Testament at Harvard University (1971). His advisors while at Harvard were Helmut Koester,Krister Stendahl,Glen Bowersock,and John Strugnell. Among other notable New Testament scholars,he attended Harvard with the late David M. Scholer of Fuller Theological Seminary,with whom he remained a close friend for several decades.
In the late 1960s and the 1970s,Bartchy taught in the internationally renowned theological faculty of the University of Tübingen,Germany,and directed the Institut zur Erforschung des Urchristentums there. Bartchy also taught New Testament studies at Emmanuel School of Religion (now Emmanuel Christian Seminary,and later joined the efforts of the Westwood Christian Foundation in establishing a resident New Testament scholar at UCLA:
Following accepted academic search procedures,the Department of History appointed the foundation's resident New Testament scholar,S. Scott Bartchy,to teach such a class. Student and faculty response was positive. When the university expressed the desire to repeat the class the following year,the foundation once again made a grant to the university to cover the professor's salary. From those early beginnings a unique partnership developed. The curriculum in early Christianity grew apace,developing into a major —all of which the Westwood Christian Foundation funded. In 1990 UCLA undertook steps to establish a fully funded Chair in Early Christian History in the Department of History. After a significant international search,Bartchy was chosen from among a number of eminent finalists. [4]
Bartchy's courses on Christian origins have consistently remained popular choices among upper division undergraduate students,enrolling well over 100 students each time it is offered. [5] Bartchy has also spearheaded a graduate program in Christian origins. [6]
Bartchy is also a current board member of the Academy of Judaic,Christian,and Islamic Studies.
Bartchy is also a professional jazz pianist,playing with The Scott Bartchy Quartet. [7] He has also been noted for his commitment to renewable energy,particularly in the building of his "earthship" home in Southern California. [8] [9]
Bartchy is well-known and widely cited for his published dissertation on the role of slavery in early Christianity,specifically dealing with 1 Corinthians 7:21. [10] In this work,Bartchy contradicts many English translations of the Greek κλῆσιςand maintains that it does not refer to "condition" or "station in life," but rather to Paul's "theology of calling." He seeks to argue against those who believe Paul was a social conservative,imploring slaves to remain in their position. Instead,Bartchy suggests the following translation of 1 Corinthians 7:17-24:
In any case let each one live his life in accord with the fact that the Lord has distributed [faith] to him and that God has called him. That is what I teach in all our congregations. Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not try to change his condition with an operation. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not become circumcised. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision makes any difference. But keeping the commands of God is what really counts. Each person should continue in that calling into which he was called. Were you a slave when you were called? Don't worry about it. But if,indeed,you become manumitted,by all means [as a freedman] live according to [God's calling.] For a slave who has been called in the Lord is the Lord's freedman. Likewise,a freeman who has been called [in the Lord] is Christ's slave. You were bought with a price:do not become slaves of men. Each one should continue to live in accord with his calling [in Christ]--in the sight of God. [11]
More recently,Bartchy has focused his attention particularly upon gender roles and ancient patriarchy. [12] [13] His research in this area will be further published in his forthcoming work,Call No Man Father.
Bartchy's former doctoral advisees from UCLA include Rick Talbot (Associate Professor of and Department Chair for Religious Studies at CSUN) and Joseph H. Hellerman (Professor of New Testament Language and Literature at Biola University). Both of these former students bear marks of Scott Bartchy in their work through social history within Christian origins,particularly in family and gender issues.
The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events relating to first-century Christianity. The New Testament's background, the first division of the Christian Bible, is called the Old Testament, which is based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible; together they are regarded as Sacred Scripture by Christians.
Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally regarded as one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, and he also founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD.
Frank Stagg was a Southern Baptist theologian, seminary professor, author, and pastor over a 50-year ministry career. He taught New Testament interpretation and Greek at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary from 1945 until 1964 and at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky from 1964 until 1978. His publications, recognitions and honors earned him distinction as one of the eminent theologians of the past century. Other eminent theologians have honored him as a "Teaching Prophet."
No one...has ever taken the New Testament more seriously than Frank Stagg, who spent his entire life wrestling with it, paying the price in sweat and hours in an unrelenting quest to hear the message expressed in a language no longer spoken and directed toward a cultural context so foreign to the modern reader.
Charles Hodge was a Reformed Presbyterian theologian and principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878.
Liberal Christianity, also known as liberal theology and historically as Christian Modernism, is a movement that interprets Christian teaching by taking into consideration modern knowledge, science and ethics. It emphasizes the importance of reason and experience over doctrinal authority. Liberal Christians view their theology as an alternative to both atheistic rationalism and theologies based on traditional interpretations of external authority, such as the Bible or sacred tradition.
The Christ myth theory, also known as the Jesus myth theory, Jesus mythicism, or the Jesus ahistoricity theory, is the view that the story of Jesus is a work of mythology with no historical substance. Alternatively, in terms given by Bart Ehrman paraphrasing Earl Doherty, it is the view that "the historical Jesus did not exist. Or if he did, he had virtually nothing to do with the founding of Christianity."
There are a number of passages in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament that have been interpreted as involving same-sex sexual activity and relationships. The passages about homosexual individuals and sexual relations in the Hebrew Bible are found primarily in the Torah. The book of Leviticus chapter 20 is more comprehensive on matters of detestable sexual acts. Some texts included in the New Testament also reference homosexual individuals and sexual relations, such as the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Luke, and Pauline epistles originally directed to the early Christian churches in Asia Minor. Both references in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament have been interpreted as referring primarily to male homosexual individuals and sexual practices, though the term homosexual was never used as it was not coined until the 19th century.
The gospel or good news is a theological concept in several religions. In the historical Roman imperial cult and today in Christianity, the gospel is a message about salvation by a divine figure, a savior, who has brought peace or other benefits to humankind. In Ancient Greek religion, the word designated a type of sacrifice or ritual dedication intended to thank the gods upon receiving good news.
Criticism of Christianity has a long history which stretches back to the initial formation of the religion in the Roman Empire. Critics have challenged Christian beliefs and teachings as well as Christian actions, from the Crusades to modern terrorism. The arguments against Christianity include the suppositions that it is a faith of violence, corruption, superstition, polytheism, homophobia, bigotry, pontification, abuses of women's rights and sectarianism.
The roles of women in Christianity have varied since its founding. Women have played important roles in Christianity especially in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, and parachurch organizations. In 2016, it was estimated that 52–53 percent of the world's Christian population aged 20 years and over was female, with this figure falling to 51.6 percent in 2020. The Pew Research Center studied the effects of gender on religiosity throughout the world, finding that Christian women in 53 countries are generally more religious than Christian men, while Christians of both genders in African countries are equally likely to regularly attend services.
Robert E. Van Voorst is an American theologian and educator.
Jerome Murphy-O'Connor was an Irish Dominican priest, a leading authority on St. Paul, and a Professor of New Testament at the École Biblique in Jerusalem, a position that he held from 1967 until his death.
Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative history of Christianity from the start of the ministry of Jesus to the death of the last of the Twelve Apostles and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age. Early Christianity developed out of the eschatological ministry of Jesus. Subsequent to Jesus' death, his earliest followers formed an apocalyptic messianic Jewish sect during the late Second Temple period of the 1st century. Initially believing that Jesus' resurrection was the start of the end time, their beliefs soon changed in the expected Second Coming of Jesus and the start of God's Kingdom at a later point in time.
Mark Allan Powell is an American New Testament scholar and professional music critic.
Pheme Perkins is a Professor of Theology at Boston College, where she has been teaching since 1972. She is a nationally recognized expert on the Greco-Roman cultural setting of early Christianity, as well as the Pauline Epistles and Gnosticism.
Richard A. Horsley was the Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and the Study of Religion at the University of Massachusetts Boston until his retirement in 2007.
Beverly Roberts Gaventa is Distinguished Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Baylor University and Helen H.P. Manson Professor of New Testament Literature and Exegesis Emerita at Princeton Theological Seminary.
Jennifer A. Glancy is a scholar of New Testament and Early Christianity and The Rev. Kevin G. O’Connell, S.J., Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Humanities at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY. Her expertise lies in the cultural history of early Christianity, with a special emphasis on corporeality and Christian anthropology, women’s history in antiquity, gender theory, and comparative studies of slavery. Her book Slavery in Early Christianity (2002) was chosen as a History Book Club selection.
Galatians 3:28 is the twenty-eighth verse of the third chapter in the Epistle to the Galatians in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is a widely commented biblical passage among Paul's statements. It is sometimes cited in various Christian discussions about gender equality and racism.
Mitzi J. Smith is an American biblical scholar who is J. Davison Philips Professor of New Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary. She is the first African-American woman to earn a PhD in New Testament from Harvard University. She has written extensively in the field of womanist biblical hermeneutics, particularly on the intersection between race, gender, class, and biblical studies. She considers her work a form of social justice activism that brings attention to unequal treatment of marginalized groups.
and Politics Sections of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 22, 2008.