Conference Presentations by Anthony Daw
Biblical scholars have long debated the identity of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Most Chri... more Biblical scholars have long debated the identity of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. Most Christians identify the servant as Jesus and interpret Isaiah 53 as a description of Jesus’ unique, substitutionary death. However, Isaiah 40–55 repeatedly identifies God's servant as Israel. Was Isaiah 53 about the unique experience of a future individual, or was the passage about what all of God’s people would experience? The aim of this paper is to determine how best to understand the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 from an exegetical (rather than a modern theological) standpoint. The thesis is that the suffering servant was to be both the forerunner to and the paradigmatic exemplar of the ideal people of God—a paradigm the people of God were called to conform to. Thus, in light of the ancient conception of corporate solidarity, the answer to the question of whether the servant was to be an individual or a group is: “both.”
The relationship between Achan and Israel in Josh 7 has puzzled commentators for thousands of yea... more The relationship between Achan and Israel in Josh 7 has puzzled commentators for thousands of years. Achan sinned, yet the anger, judgment, and punishment of the Lord came upon the Israelites at large, and the result was the death of dozens of Israelite soldiers. Why would God’s judgment come upon the whole nation in response to the sin of one individual? Various explanations of the Achan-Israel relationship have been proposed over the past century, including “corporate personality,” the concept of “taboo,” and “corporate solidarity.” The question is: which, if any, of these proposals are correct? The goal of this paper is to determine the actual relationship between Achan and Israel in Josh 7.
After an introduction to the problem, the paper proceeds in three sections. In the first section, four current proposals are examined. All four are found to be inadequate, establishing the need for a new proposal—one which better matches the actual text of Josh 7. As a first step toward this new proposal, the second section provides an exegetical examination of the relevant passages (Josh 7:1–5, 10–15). In the third section, a new explanation is proposed which better accounts for the exegetical data. The new proposal is that the Achan-Israel relationship in Josh 7 is best explained in terms of Israel’s covenantal commitment to be a properly functioning community before God—a commitment Israel was failing to uphold at the time of the divine punishment. Thus, Israel was not punished for Achan’s sin but for their failure to uphold their covenantal obligation. The term corporate responsibility is ultimately found to be a fitting description of Israel’s relationship with Achan.
The purpose of this paper is to explore the corporate dimension of the NT presentation of the Spi... more The purpose of this paper is to explore the corporate dimension of the NT presentation of the Spirit as a corrective to individualistic interpretations of the Spirit in the NT. The body of the paper consists of seven sections, covering the reception of the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, the spiritual gifts, the presence and power of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit’s role in bringing Scriptural truth, and the Spirit in Christ and the Church. In each section, the individualistic theology of the Spirit is shown to be inadequate. The paper concludes with a call to modern interpreters to pursue a more corporate theology of the Spirit.
The purpose of this paper is to show that sonship in the NT served as a metaphor for the OT conce... more The purpose of this paper is to show that sonship in the NT served as a metaphor for the OT concept of corporate solidarity. Part 1 explains the corporate anthropology of the OT authors and provides a definition of corporate solidarity. (The section also draws a distinction between corporate solidarity and other related concepts, such as corporate personality and corporate responsibility.) Part 2 surveys the relevance of corporate solidarity to NT interpretation generally and to passages about sonship specifically. Part 3 establishes that sonship in the NT served as a metaphor for likeness (or solidarity). Part 4 demonstrates through comparative study that NT sonship was a metaphor for corporate solidarity.
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide a sound exegesis of Psalm 44 and to discuss the... more The purpose of this paper is twofold: to provide a sound exegesis of Psalm 44 and to discuss the implications of this exegesis for both biblical scholarship and for the Church. Of particular interest is the way in which the psalmists intentionally confuse the singular and the plural, suggesting that our modern categorization of the Psalms as either “individual” or “communal” is mistaken. Instead, readers ought to view the “singular” as the community’s expression of its singular, corporate identity, and the “plural” as the community’s expression of corporate solidarity. In other words, both the singular and the plural were corporate expressions. One of the implications of this for the Church is that Christians should view themselves not as individuals, but as a corporate entity with corporate solidarity.
Masters Thesis by Anthony Daw
In 1 Timothy 2:15 Paul makes a very perplexing statement to the effect that Eve will be saved th... more In 1 Timothy 2:15 Paul makes a very perplexing statement to the effect that Eve will be saved through “the childbearing” if they exercise good judgment and remain in the Christian way. This statement has puzzled commentators for two thousand years. The purpose of this Masters thesis is to help clarify Paul's meaning by explaining his reference to “the childbearing.”
Chapter 1 carefully considers the relationship between the term and its immediate literary context. Chapter 2 establishes the conceptual domain of the noun. Chapter 3 discusses the classification of the article. Five prominent interpretations are then assessed in chapter 4 in light of the evidence presented in the first three chapters. Finally, in chapter 5, a new solution is proposed which better accounts for the actual wording of the Greek text.
Book Reviews by Anthony Daw
Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies, 2019
This is my review of Joshua Jipp's 2015 book, Christ is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology. The review w... more This is my review of Joshua Jipp's 2015 book, Christ is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology. The review was published in the Spring 2019 issue of the Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies.
Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry, 2017
This is my review of Matthew Bates' 2017 book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, W... more This is my review of Matthew Bates' 2017 book, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King. The review was published in October 2017 in the Journal for Baptist Theology & Ministry.
Employment by Anthony Daw
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Conference Presentations by Anthony Daw
After an introduction to the problem, the paper proceeds in three sections. In the first section, four current proposals are examined. All four are found to be inadequate, establishing the need for a new proposal—one which better matches the actual text of Josh 7. As a first step toward this new proposal, the second section provides an exegetical examination of the relevant passages (Josh 7:1–5, 10–15). In the third section, a new explanation is proposed which better accounts for the exegetical data. The new proposal is that the Achan-Israel relationship in Josh 7 is best explained in terms of Israel’s covenantal commitment to be a properly functioning community before God—a commitment Israel was failing to uphold at the time of the divine punishment. Thus, Israel was not punished for Achan’s sin but for their failure to uphold their covenantal obligation. The term corporate responsibility is ultimately found to be a fitting description of Israel’s relationship with Achan.
Masters Thesis by Anthony Daw
Chapter 1 carefully considers the relationship between the term and its immediate literary context. Chapter 2 establishes the conceptual domain of the noun. Chapter 3 discusses the classification of the article. Five prominent interpretations are then assessed in chapter 4 in light of the evidence presented in the first three chapters. Finally, in chapter 5, a new solution is proposed which better accounts for the actual wording of the Greek text.
Book Reviews by Anthony Daw
Employment by Anthony Daw
After an introduction to the problem, the paper proceeds in three sections. In the first section, four current proposals are examined. All four are found to be inadequate, establishing the need for a new proposal—one which better matches the actual text of Josh 7. As a first step toward this new proposal, the second section provides an exegetical examination of the relevant passages (Josh 7:1–5, 10–15). In the third section, a new explanation is proposed which better accounts for the exegetical data. The new proposal is that the Achan-Israel relationship in Josh 7 is best explained in terms of Israel’s covenantal commitment to be a properly functioning community before God—a commitment Israel was failing to uphold at the time of the divine punishment. Thus, Israel was not punished for Achan’s sin but for their failure to uphold their covenantal obligation. The term corporate responsibility is ultimately found to be a fitting description of Israel’s relationship with Achan.
Chapter 1 carefully considers the relationship between the term and its immediate literary context. Chapter 2 establishes the conceptual domain of the noun. Chapter 3 discusses the classification of the article. Five prominent interpretations are then assessed in chapter 4 in light of the evidence presented in the first three chapters. Finally, in chapter 5, a new solution is proposed which better accounts for the actual wording of the Greek text.