John S. Kloppenborg

John S. Kloppenborg is a Canadian professor of religion who has authored numerous books and articles based on Christian Bible scholarship. He is the Chair of the Department and Centre for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto and a participant in The Context Group. [ http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~kloppen/ ]

His work includes research on the origins of and sources for early Christian writings including the Q document thought to have been one of the first written collections of the teachings of Jesus. Kloppenborg has also written and taught about the different versions of the proto-biblical texts and the meaning and uses of the specific parables of Jesus.

Biography

Kloppenborg received his M.A. (1977) and his Ph.D. (1984) in Toronto, Canada from the University of St. Michael's College (a constituent college of the University of Toronto). He has taught and conducted research in Toronto, Windsor, United Kingdom, Helsinki, Jerusalem, Cambridge, Calgary, and the United States in Claremont, California. He is one of the general editors of the International Q Project.

General Summary of Contributions to Near East and Biblical Scholarship

John Kloppenborg is an original research scholar whose work on the origins of Christianity, the ancient manuscripts of ancient Christians and the history of Second Temple Judaism is often cited by other scholars and authors. He has researched and written most substantially about the Q document, which is also known as the Synoptic Sayings Gospel. This document is thought to be one of the oldest circulating sources of the sayings of Jesus. It is thought to be prior to, and to have been known to, all of the authors of the Synoptic Gospels: The Gospel of Matthew, The Gospel of Mark, The Gospel of Luke as well as to the author of the (non-synoptic) The Gospel of John. This work touches on the Synoptic problem.

Kloppenborg has also done original research and written on the social world of the early Jesus movement in Jewish Palestine, the societies of the eastern Roman Empire and the social significance of the parables of Jesus. Other areas of interest have been the letters of the New Testament, especially the Letter of James, and the culture of the Graeco-Roman world as relates to such matters as: religion, spirituality, cultic associations, ethnic sub-groups and their ancient organization, professional societies and the general conditions of the societies in the Near East during the time of Second Temple Judaism, the time of Jesus and the formation of the Bible as we know it.

Analysis of selected publications

The Tenants in the Vineyard

Published in 2006, Kloppenborg's book, "The Tenants in the Vineyard: Ideology, Economics, and Agrarian Conflict in Jewish Palestine", titled after the "tenants in the vineyard" parable attributed to Jesus by the New Testament, provides an analysis for the critical reader of the Bible of this very difficult parable. The bible citation for the parable is Mark 12:1-12 and it is also recorded in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas (65). In his book, Kloppenborg models a new approach to the parables of Jesus. He discusses the ideological interests engaged by the parable in modern times and over the history of the Christian Church. Next, he explains the conditions of the society in which the parable was first laid out, especially in regards to ancient viticulture. In his conclusions, Kloppenborg notes that the parable has ironically been interpreted from the viewpoint of those in power in politics and society rather than as a literary parable or as an "anti-power" parable as it may have read in the original texts. He shows that the editing in Mark's version of the story takes it beyond the useful idiom common to Jesus' other parables. Kloppenborg also includes a second volume documenting historical papyrus dealing with ancient viticulture and agrarian conflict.

The Critical Edition of Q

Published in 2000, by James M. Robinson, Paul Hoffman, and John S. Kloppenborg, "The Critical Edition of Q: Synopsis including the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Mark and Thomas with English, German, and French Translations of Q and Thomas" is a groundbreaking, though still controversial, work of scholarship.

Containing a lengthy introduction by esteemed bible scholar James M. Robinson and a foreword by the three editor scholars: Robinson, John S. Kloppenborg and Paul Hoffman, this hefty volume provides a redactionary version of what the original Q document might have looked like whether it was written in Greek or Aramaic. The Critical Edition of Q is the product of the International Q Project (IQP), a program inaugurated at the Society of Biblical Literature in 1985 that has sought to establish an accessible critical edition of the source shared by Matthew and Luke.

Their work also seeks to "document the major turning points in the history of Q research, with particular attention to the problem of establishing a critical text of Q" (xix). Putting aside "a purely hypothetical Aramaic source" of Matthew and Luke, which would mean that "Q wouldnever be more than a hypothesis," Robinson claims, in the introduction, that such approaches have been "completely replaced by objective criteria, based on empirical observation of Mattheanand Lukan redactional traits" (xix). The bulk of the text is the critical text of Q (1-561),which concludes with a concordance of Q (Greek words [563-81] ). The volume also contains a discussion of divergences from the Lukan sequence (lxxxix), text-critical notes (xc-cvi), and end-pages (cvii). The critical text itself is formatted with eight columns on facing pages presenting by column: 1) any Markan parallel to Matthew, 2) any doublets found in Matthew, 3) the text in Matthew that is deemed to be derived from Q, 4) the critical text of Q, 5) the text in Luke that is deemed to be derived from Q, 6) Luke's doublets, 7) any Markan parallel to Luke, and 8) any parallel from the Gospel of Thomas, the Coptic of which is provided but also retroverted into Greek. As footnotes, the Thomas and Q texts are translated into English, French and German.

The editors intend this volume to be functional as a standard research tool for the study of Q despite the continuing controversy over the validity of the text actually existing. This is the most comprehensive effort to provide such a tool nonetheless.

Books

*"The Sayings Gospel Q in Greek and English with Parallels from the Gospels of Mark and Thomas, Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology vol. 30" with James M. Robinson and Paul Hoffmann
*"Documenta Q" edited by James M. Robinson, John S. Kloppenborg, and Paul Hoffmann, with contributions from the International Q Project
*"The Tenants in the Vineyard: Ideology, Economics, and Agrarian Conflict in Jewish Palestine" (2006)
*"Apocalypticism, Antisemitism and the Historical Jesus: Subtexts in Criticism Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement Series, vol. 275" with John W. Marshall (2005)
*"Excavating Q: The History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel" (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000)
*"The Critical Edition of Q" with James M. Robinson and Paul Hoffmann (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress; Leuven: Peeters, 2000)
*"Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World" with Stephen Wilson (1996)
*"Conflict and Invention" (Valley Forge, Pa.: Trinity Press Int'l, 1995)
*"The Shape of Q: Signal Essays on the Sayings Gospel" (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1994)
*"Scriptures and Cultural Conversations: Essays for Heinz Guenther at Sixty-five" Pp. 211 (1992)
*"Early Christianity, Q and Jesus" Ed. with Leif E. Vaage Pp. 265 (1991)
*"Q-Thomas Reader" (1988) with Michael G. Steinhauser, Stephen Patterson, and Marvin W. Meyer
*"Q Parallels: Synopsis, Critical Notes & Concordance" (1988)
*"The Formation of Q: Trajectories in Ancient Wisdom Collections" (Minneapolis, 1987)

Articles in Peer-Refereed Journals

2006 “H.J. Holtzmann’s Life of Jesus According to the ‘A’ Source. Part 1 " JSHJ 4(1):75–108.

2006 “H.J. Holtzmann’s Life of Jesus According to the ‘A’ Source. Part 2." JSHJ 4(2):203–223.

2005 “Evocatio deorum and the Date of Mark.” Journal of Biblical Literature 124/3 (2005): 419-450.

2004 “Isa 5:1-7 LXX and Mark 12:1, 9, Again.” Novum Testamentum 46/1 (2004) 12-19.

2004 “Self-Help or Deus ex Machina in Mark 12.9.” New Testament Studies 50 (2004) 495-518.

2003 “On Dispensing with Q? Goodacre on the Relation of Luke to Matthew,” New Testament Studies 49/2 (2003) 210-236.

2002 “Egyptian Viticultural Practices and the Citation of Isa 5:1-7 in Mark 12:1-9.” Novum Testamentum 44/1 (2002) 134-159.

2001 with Robert A. Derrenbacker, Jr. “Self-Contradiction in the IQP? A Reply to Michael Goulder.” Journal of Biblical Literature 120 (2001) 57-76.

2000 “Dating Theodotos (CIJ II 1404),” Journal of Jewish Studies 51 (2000) 243-280. 1999 “Patronage Avoidance in the Epistle of James,” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 55/4 (1999) 1-40.

1996 “Political Histories and Theories of Religion: A response to Burton Mack and Ron Cameron,” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 8/3 (1996) 279-89.

1996 “The Sayings Gospel Q and the Quest of the Historical Jesus,” Harvard Theological Review 89 (1996) 307-344.

1993 “Filadelfia, qeodidakto~ and the Dioscuri: The Rhetorical Situation of 1 Thess 4:9–12.” New Testament Studies 39, no. 2 (1993): 265–89.

1993 “The Sayings Gospel Q: The People behind the Document.” Current Research: Biblical Studies 1 (1993) 9-34.

1992 “Exitus clari viri: The Death of Jesus in Luke.” Toronto Journal of Theology 8/1 (1992) 106–20.

1990 “Alms, Debt and Divorce: Jesus’ Ethics in Their Mediterranean Context.” Toronto Journal of Theology 6(2):182-200.

1989 “The Dishonoured Master (Luke 16, 1-8a).” Biblica 70(4):474-95.

1987 “Symbolic Eschatology and the Apocalypticism of Q.” Harvard Theological Review 80(3):287-306.

1986 “Blessing and Marginality: The ‘Persecution Beatitude’ in Q, Thomas & Early Christianity.” Forum 2(3):36-56.

1986 “The Formation of Q and Antique Instructional Genres.” JBL 105(3):443-62; Reprinted as pp. 138–155 in The Shape of Q: Signals Essays on the Sayings Gospel. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994.

1984 “Tradition and Redaction in the Synoptic Sayings Source,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 46:1 (1984): 34–62.

1982 “Isis and Sophia in the Book of Wisdom,” Harvard Theological Review 75:1 (1982): 57–84.

1981 “Joshua 22: The Priestly Editing of an Ancient Tradition,” Biblica 63:3 (1981): 347–71.

1979 “Didache 16:6–8 and Special Matthaean Tradition,” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 70:1/2 (1979): 54–67.

1978 “An Analysis of the pre-Pauline Formula 1 Cor 15:3b–5 in Light of Some Recent Literature,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40:3 (1978): 351–67.

1978 “Wisdom Christology in Q,” Laval théologique et philosophique 34:2 (1978): 129–47.

Chapters in Books

"Documenting Jesus"; “Associations in the Ancient World,” (2006)

2006 “The Theodotos Synagogue Inscription and the Problem of First-Century Synagogue Buildings.” Pp. 236-282 in Jesus and Archaeology

2005 “Didache 1.1—6.1, James, and the Torah.” In Trajectories Through the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers

2005 “As One Unknown, Without a Name? Co-opting the Historical Jesus.” Pp. 1-23 in John S. Kloppenborg, with John W. Marshall (eds.). Apocalypticism, Anti-Semitism, and the Historical Jesus: Subtexts in Criticism. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus,

2004 “The Reception of the Jesus Tradition in James.” Pp. 91-139 in The Catholic Epistles and the Tradition

2004 “Quotations and Allusions in Did. 1.3b—2.1: Borrowed from a finished Gospel or from a common source?” Pp. 105-30 The Didache and Matthew: Two Documents from the same Jewish-Christian Milieu?

2003 “The Biblical Critic and the Truth: A Response to D.Z. Phillips.” Pp. 103-112 in Truth: Interdisciplinary Dialogues in a Pluralistic Age

2003 “Ideological Texture in the Parable of the Tenants.” In Fabrics of Discourse: Essays in Honor of Vernon K. Robbins

2003 “Riches, the Rich, and God’s Judgment in 1 Enoch 92-105 and the Gospel according to Luke.” In George W. E. Nickelsburg in Perspective: An On-going Dialogue of Learning

2002 “Goulder and the New Paradigm: A Critical Appreciation of Michael Goulder on the Synoptic Problem.” In The Gospels According to Michael Goulder: A North American Response pp. 29-59

2001 “Discursive Practices in the Sayings Gospel Q and the Quest of the Historical Jesus.” Pp. 149-190 in The Sayings Source Q and the Historical Jesus, Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense XLIV

2000 “Is there a New Paradigm?” Pp. 23-47 in Festschrift for David R. Catchpole

2000 “Isaiah 5:1-7, the Parable of the Tenants, and Vineyard Leases on Papyrus,” Pp. 111-134 in Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Peter Richardson

2000 “Ethnic and Political Rivalry at Caesarea Maritima.” Pp. 227-248 in Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Caesarea Maritima

1999 “A Dog Among the Pigeons: The “Cynic Hypothesis” as a Theological Problem,” Pp. 73-117 in From Quest to Quelle: Festschrift James M. Robinson

1999 “Making Sense of Difference: Asceticism and the Jesus Tradition.” Pp. 149-156 in Asceticism and the New Testament

1999 “The Life and Sayings of Jesus.” Pp. 10-30 in The New Testament Today

1998 “Status und Wohltätigkeit bei Paulus und Jakobus.” Pp. 127-154 in Von Jesus zum Christus — Christologische Studien: Festgabe für Paul Hoffmann zum 65

1998 “L’Évangile «Q» et le Jésus historique.” Pp. 225-268 in Jésus de Nazareth: Nouvelles approches d’une énigme

1996 “Collegia and Thiasoi: Issues in Function, Taxonomy and Membership.” Pp. 16-30 in Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World, edited by John S. Kloppenborg and S.G. Wilson

1996 “Egalitarianism in the Myth and Rhetoric of Pauline Churches.” Pp. 247-63 in Rethinking Christian Origins: Essays Honoring Burton L. Mack

1996 “The Sayings Gospel Q: Literary and Stratigraphic Problems.” Pp. 1-66 in Symbols and Strata: Essays on the Sayings Gospel Q

1995 “Conflict and Invention: Recent Studies on Q.” Pp. 1-14 in Conflict and Invention: Literary, Rhetorical and Social Studies on the Sayings Gospel Q, edited by John S. Kloppenborg.

1995 “Jesus and the Parables of Jesus in Q.” Pp. 275-319 in The Gospel Behind the Gospels: Current Studies in Q, Supplements to Novum Testamentum 75

1994 “Introduction.” Pp. 1-22 in The Shape of Q: Signal Essays on the Sayings Gospel, edited by John S. Kloppenborg

1994 “The Transformation of Moral Argument in the Didache.” Pp. 88-109 in The Didache in Context, edited by Clayton N. Jefford. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

1993 “Edwin Hatch, Churches and Collegia.” Pp. 212–238 in Origins and Method: Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity. Essays in Honour of John C. Hurd,

1992 “The Theological Stakes in the Synoptic Problem.” Pp. 93–120 in Evangelica: Essays to Honor Frans Neirynck,

1991 “Literary Convention, Self-Evidence and the Social History of the Q People.” Pp. 77–102 in Early Christianity, Q and Jesus

1991 with Leif E. Vaage. “The Sayings Gospel Q and Method in the Study of Christian Origins.” Pp. 1–14 in Early Christianity, Q and Jesus

1991 “City and Wasteland: Narrative World and the Beginning of the Sayings Gospel (Q).” Pp. 145-60 in How Gospels Begin

1990 “City and Wasteland: Narrative World and the Beginning of the Sayings Gospel (Q).” Pp. 145-60 in How Gospels Begin

1990 “‘Easter Faith’ and the Sayings Gospel Q.” Pp. 71-99 in The Apocryphal Jesus and Christian Origins

1990 “Nomos and Ethos in Q.” Pp. 35-48 in Gospel Origins and Christian Beginnings: In Honor of James M. Robinson

"Q Thomas Reader"; “The Sayings Gospel Q: Translation & Notes” pp. 35-74 in Q Thomas Reader, with Marvin W. Meyer, Stephen Patterson, and Michael G. Steinhauser (1990)

References