- Anarchism, Philo of Alexandria, Theological Education, Academic Writing, New Testament, Textual Criticism, and 65 moreContextual Theologies, Theology from Below, Political Theology, Theological Hermeneutics, Biblical Studies, Liberation Theology, Pacific Island Studies, South African Politics and Society, Eschatology and Apocalypticism, Book of Revelation, The Apocalypse of John, Anabaptist Theology, Anabaptist Studies, Anabaptism, Radical Reformation, Apostle Paul and the Pauline Letters, Orality-Literacy Studies, Parables, Luke-Acts, Gospel of Luke, Acts of the Apostles, Parables of Jesus, Walter Brueggemann, Peasant Studies, Resistance, James C. Scott, Everyday Resistance, Moral Economy, Anarchist Studies, Paul, Simon Critchley, Lila Abu Lughod, Christian Pacifism, Postcolonial Studies, Fragmentary Greek Historiography, Ecumenism, World Council of Churches, West Papua, Homi Bhabha (Cultural Theory), New Testament Apocrypha, Apocrypha/Pseudepigrapha, Early Christian Apocryphal Literature, Greek Papyrology, Papyrology, Early Christian Papyri and Inscriptions, Papyrology & Epigraphy, Fiji Islands, Micronesia, Polynesian Studies, Indigenous Religions of Polynesians, Melanesia (Anthropology), eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius, Eusebio De Cesarea, Eusebius of Casaraea, Palaeography, Greek Palaeography, Greek manuscripts, Progressive Islam, New Testament and Christian Origins, Kaupapa Maori Research, South Africa, See Judge Act, Ecumenical and Interfaith Dialogue, and Ecumenical Theologyedit
- I was born and grew up in Germany (1965-1987), and started studing theology there (Wuppertal, Bochum, Heidelberg). La... moreI was born and grew up in Germany (1965-1987), and started studing theology there (Wuppertal, Bochum, Heidelberg). Later, I moved to South Africa (1987–1998) where, amongst other things, I completed postgraduate work in Biblical Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (BA(Hons), MA, PhD) and taught at several universities. In 1998 I went to Fiji for three years, teaching New Testament Studies at the Pacific Theological College; I also directed the College's extension studies unit for a while. From 2001 to 2009, I was a lecturer with the Eastern Region Ministry Course in Cambridge, UK, mostly teaching Biblical Studies to students preparing for ordained ministry. I returned to the South Pacific in 2010, once again joining the faculty of the Pacific Theological College, first as Senior Lecturer in New Testament & Hellenistic Greek, and later as Professor of Biblical Literature and Languages. From July 2012 till April 2016, I also took on the role of Academic Dean at PTC. I left PTC in July 2021 and moved to the Western Pacific, where I now work as a theological educator for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Papua New Guinea: for the first 18 months at the rural Senior-Flierl-Seminary in Logaweng/Finschhafen; now, since April 2023, at the Martin Luther Seminary in the city of Lae. "God, Bikpela bilong mipela, ol arapela bikman i bin bosim mipela, tasol mipela i save givim biknem long yu wanpela tasol. " (Aisaia 26:13)edit
- Draper, Jonathan A.edit
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Szesnat, Holger. 1998. "Sexual Desire, ‘Deviant Behaviour’, and Moral Discourse in the Writings of Paul and Philo: An Historical-Exegetical Study of the Moral Problematisation of Sexual Desire and Behaviour in First-Century Hellenistic... more
Szesnat, Holger. 1998. "Sexual Desire, ‘Deviant Behaviour’, and Moral Discourse in the Writings of Paul and Philo: An Historical-Exegetical Study of the Moral Problematisation of Sexual Desire and Behaviour in First-Century Hellenistic Judaism and Christianity, With Special Reference to the Work of Michel Foucault." PhD dissertation, University of Natal (August 1998). Supervisor and internal examiner: Prof. J.A. Draper (University of Natal); external examiners: Prof. L.W. Countryman (CDSP, Berkeley, USA), Prof. S.E. Fowl (Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore, USA).
This study is concerned with the moral problematisation of sexual desire and intercourse in two Jewish / Christian writers of the first century of our era, namely Philo of Alexandria and St.Paul. A detailed methodological chapter argues for a fundamental re-thinking of the analysis of Jewish and Christian writings of this period in line with the theoretical discussion which is taking place in cognate disciplines like classics, philosophy, sociology and history: the author argues that a social constructionist perspective on the study of 'sexuality' in antiquity is called for in the study of Philo and Paul, that is, an approach which regards sexual desire and behaviour as a social phenomenon rather than a 'natural given'. This methodological part is followed by an extensive summary and review of the critical responses to the historical proposals of Michel Foucault on the history of 'sexuality' in antiquity, which are taken as the focus of this study. Rather than an extensive critique of Foucault's proposals themselves, however, the focus of this study is on reading two important authors representing strands of first-century Hellenistic Judaism, which Foucault's work ignores altogether. The author presents an extensive study of Philo and Paul, analysing their moral problematisation of desire and intercourse, and comparing Foucault's historical suggestions with the results. The study suggests that reading Hellenistic Jewish texts would help to correct and sometimes explain some of Foucault's suggestions with regard to this historical period in the 'history of sexuality'.
This study is concerned with the moral problematisation of sexual desire and intercourse in two Jewish / Christian writers of the first century of our era, namely Philo of Alexandria and St.Paul. A detailed methodological chapter argues for a fundamental re-thinking of the analysis of Jewish and Christian writings of this period in line with the theoretical discussion which is taking place in cognate disciplines like classics, philosophy, sociology and history: the author argues that a social constructionist perspective on the study of 'sexuality' in antiquity is called for in the study of Philo and Paul, that is, an approach which regards sexual desire and behaviour as a social phenomenon rather than a 'natural given'. This methodological part is followed by an extensive summary and review of the critical responses to the historical proposals of Michel Foucault on the history of 'sexuality' in antiquity, which are taken as the focus of this study. Rather than an extensive critique of Foucault's proposals themselves, however, the focus of this study is on reading two important authors representing strands of first-century Hellenistic Judaism, which Foucault's work ignores altogether. The author presents an extensive study of Philo and Paul, analysing their moral problematisation of desire and intercourse, and comparing Foucault's historical suggestions with the results. The study suggests that reading Hellenistic Jewish texts would help to correct and sometimes explain some of Foucault's suggestions with regard to this historical period in the 'history of sexuality'.
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Nokise, Feleterika, and Holger Szesnat, eds. 2015. Oceanic Voyages in Theology and Theological Education: Reflections and Reminiscences in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Pacific Theological College. Suva, Fiji Islands: Pacific... more
Nokise, Feleterika, and Holger Szesnat, eds. 2015. Oceanic Voyages in Theology and Theological Education: Reflections and Reminiscences in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Pacific Theological College. Suva, Fiji Islands: Pacific Theological College. iv+168pp
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This paper revisits Richard Rohrbaugh's chiastic interpretation of the non-canonical, third version of the story of entrusted money. To this end, it analyses its nature as a summary; the understanding of the story by Eusebius (if indeed... more
This paper revisits Richard Rohrbaugh's chiastic interpretation of the non-canonical, third version of the story of entrusted money. To this end, it analyses its nature as a summary; the understanding of the story by Eusebius (if indeed he is the source for our text); the double triplet structure of the story; and the relationship between these triplets.
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This paper offers a revised Greek text of the non-canonical version of the story of entrusted money (cf. Matt. 25:14–30; Luke 19:11–27) extant in Nicetas of Heracleaʼs Catena in Lucam, commonly attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea. The... more
This paper offers a revised Greek text of the non-canonical version of the story of entrusted money (cf. Matt. 25:14–30; Luke 19:11–27) extant in Nicetas of Heracleaʼs Catena in Lucam, commonly attributed to Eusebius of Caesarea. The paper includes a fresh diplomatic edition of the text as found in Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1611 as well as—for the first time—Athous Iviron 371, Monacensis Graecus 33 and Parisinus Coislinianus 201; discusses textual and translation issues as well as some matters relating to the lemma; and adds suggestions concerning appropriate referencing for this non-canonical early Christian text.
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This paper is a reponse to Alice Whealey's proposal concerning the authorship of certain fragments traditionally assigned to Eusebius of Caesarea, arguing that they are more likely the work of his pupil, Eusebius of Emesa. The paper... more
This paper is a reponse to Alice Whealey's proposal concerning the authorship of certain fragments traditionally assigned to Eusebius of Caesarea, arguing that they are more likely the work of his pupil, Eusebius of Emesa. The paper considers the manuscript evidence, specifically the lemmata in Vat.gr. 1611, in relation to the internal evidence considered by Whealey.
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Szesnat, Holger. 2016 [2017]. "Bible Study on Economic Justice: Luke 19:11–28." Pacific Journal of Theology Series II, 56:19–29.
(Journal date is 2016, but it actually appeared in late 2017.)
(Journal date is 2016, but it actually appeared in late 2017.)
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Szesnat, Holger. 2015. "Gender-Based Violence and Ephesians 5: Reflections on the Ethics, Hermeneutics and Didactics of a Community Bible Study in Suva, Fiji." In Oceanic Voyages in Theology and Theological Education: Reflections and... more
Szesnat, Holger. 2015. "Gender-Based Violence and Ephesians 5: Reflections on the Ethics, Hermeneutics and Didactics of a Community Bible Study in Suva, Fiji." In Oceanic Voyages in Theology and Theological Education: Reflections and Reminiscences in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Pacific Theological College, edited by Feleterika Nokise and Holger Szesnat, 133-168. Suva, Fiji Islands: Pacific Theological College.
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Bible Study on Ecological Justice, March 2017
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[This is a paper I presented in various forms in the late 1990s and 2000. I never got round to publishing it. Since I have now seen it floating around on the internet even though I do not recall releasing it, I thought I might as well... more
[This is a paper I presented in various forms in the late 1990s and 2000. I never got round to publishing it. Since I have now seen it floating around on the internet even though I do not recall releasing it, I thought I might as well post it here. Please note that the Greek font is messed up. REVISION NOTE: I have now tried (and hopefully succeeded) in getting the old non-unicode fonts back into the PDF.]
The Christian religious debate concerning same-sex relationships frequently centres on two related items: the Biblical text, Rom 1:26-27, and the division of different types of sexual relations in 'natural' or 'unnatural'. The latter issue also has a strong bearing on non-religious discourse concerning same-sex relationships. This 'natural sex argument', as I would like to call it here, has been tackled by a number of studies in the recent past, especially in the emerging field of gay and lesbian studies, with very different arguments ranging from the claim that homosexuality is in fact natural, to the questioning of the very category 'natural', as also in feminist analysis. Broadly speaking, this essay is located in this latter way of responding to the 'argument from nature'. I focus on the use of the category of the 'natural' in the New Testament, since the Biblical witnesses, directly and indirectly, play a large role in public discourse. This was also evident in the furore surrounding the discussions at Lambeth 1998, not to mention the scenes reported to have taken places outside of the meeting halls. In this contemporary discourse on human sexuality, one can distinguish different, though often overlapping and confused uses of the concept of nature: nature as a modern scientific principle (the totality of observed, not humanly produced phenomena: a universal law or set of laws to be discovered by modern science); nature as a normative principle (eg. 'biology' as norm); nature as a religious
principle (created order); etc. Such confused and confusing concepts of nature, while evidently more often and openly used on the past, are still important in public discourse, and more specifically so in the theological debate: among formally theologically trained and certainly among those not initiated into the arcanae of theological education, talking about homosexuality in church and society is often related to the 'argument from nature'. Certain sexual acts / relations (usually homosexuality) are categorised as 'unnatural' -- understood as 'against God's created order' -- and are hence seen as falling under divine condemnation. After all, does not Paul speak about certain forms of sexual intercourse as 'against nature' (Rom 1:26-27)? I should like to address some aspects of this issue by discussing the use of the term fu&siv in Rom 1:26-27. I argue that the common, isolated use of this concept in contemporary ethical discussions misunderstands the meaning of the term fu&siv in the literary and historical context of this Pauline passage and hence leads to an improper use of Paul's 'argument from nature'. To do this, I stress the
closely related use of fu&siv in 1 Cor 11:14-15a, drawing attention to recent work on the meaning of the concept of fu&siv with respect to 'matters sexual' in antiquity. However, the purpose of this article is decidedly not to 'apologise', as it were, for Paul. Rather, the aim is to investigate the ideological context in which a particular argument arose, how it was subsequently used in a particular language
and culture, and question the use of such ancient arguments without careful analysis.
The Christian religious debate concerning same-sex relationships frequently centres on two related items: the Biblical text, Rom 1:26-27, and the division of different types of sexual relations in 'natural' or 'unnatural'. The latter issue also has a strong bearing on non-religious discourse concerning same-sex relationships. This 'natural sex argument', as I would like to call it here, has been tackled by a number of studies in the recent past, especially in the emerging field of gay and lesbian studies, with very different arguments ranging from the claim that homosexuality is in fact natural, to the questioning of the very category 'natural', as also in feminist analysis. Broadly speaking, this essay is located in this latter way of responding to the 'argument from nature'. I focus on the use of the category of the 'natural' in the New Testament, since the Biblical witnesses, directly and indirectly, play a large role in public discourse. This was also evident in the furore surrounding the discussions at Lambeth 1998, not to mention the scenes reported to have taken places outside of the meeting halls. In this contemporary discourse on human sexuality, one can distinguish different, though often overlapping and confused uses of the concept of nature: nature as a modern scientific principle (the totality of observed, not humanly produced phenomena: a universal law or set of laws to be discovered by modern science); nature as a normative principle (eg. 'biology' as norm); nature as a religious
principle (created order); etc. Such confused and confusing concepts of nature, while evidently more often and openly used on the past, are still important in public discourse, and more specifically so in the theological debate: among formally theologically trained and certainly among those not initiated into the arcanae of theological education, talking about homosexuality in church and society is often related to the 'argument from nature'. Certain sexual acts / relations (usually homosexuality) are categorised as 'unnatural' -- understood as 'against God's created order' -- and are hence seen as falling under divine condemnation. After all, does not Paul speak about certain forms of sexual intercourse as 'against nature' (Rom 1:26-27)? I should like to address some aspects of this issue by discussing the use of the term fu&siv in Rom 1:26-27. I argue that the common, isolated use of this concept in contemporary ethical discussions misunderstands the meaning of the term fu&siv in the literary and historical context of this Pauline passage and hence leads to an improper use of Paul's 'argument from nature'. To do this, I stress the
closely related use of fu&siv in 1 Cor 11:14-15a, drawing attention to recent work on the meaning of the concept of fu&siv with respect to 'matters sexual' in antiquity. However, the purpose of this article is decidedly not to 'apologise', as it were, for Paul. Rather, the aim is to investigate the ideological context in which a particular argument arose, how it was subsequently used in a particular language
and culture, and question the use of such ancient arguments without careful analysis.
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An 'interactive Bible Study' on Eph 5:21-33 with an ecumenical gathering of Christians (women and men), meeting in Suva, Fiji Islands, on 4 December 2014, as part of "16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence" programme organised by the... more
An 'interactive Bible Study' on Eph 5:21-33 with an ecumenical gathering of Christians (women and men), meeting in Suva, Fiji Islands, on 4 December 2014, as part of "16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence" programme organised by the Suva Christian Network (Talanoa).
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Written almost 20 years ago, but for what it's worth...
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Unterrichtsmaterial für eine Gastsitzung im Seminar "Armut und Reichtum im Neuen Testament", auf freundliche Einladung von Prof. Dr. Claudia Janssen und Prof. Dr. Carsten Jochum-Bortfeld, an der Kirchlichen Hochschule Wuppertal (17. Dez.... more
Unterrichtsmaterial für eine Gastsitzung im Seminar "Armut und Reichtum im Neuen Testament", auf freundliche Einladung von Prof. Dr. Claudia Janssen und Prof. Dr. Carsten Jochum-Bortfeld, an der Kirchlichen Hochschule Wuppertal (17. Dez. 2019). Nach dem Modell der Contextual Bible Study (Ujamaa Institute, Südafrika).
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Course outline "Studies in the Letters Ascribed to Paul", MTh course, 2019, Pacific Theological College, Suva
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Course Outline "Biblical Interpretation and Hermeneutics 2", MTh programme, Pacific Theological College, Suva, 2019
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Course Outline "Biblical Interpretation and Hermeneutics 1", MTh programme, Pacific Theological College, Suva, 2019
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Outline of a n introductory 'social analysis for social justice' workshop held in Emua Village, Efate, Vanuatu, for the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu. In the tradition of contextual theology at grassroots level (Latin America; South... more
Outline of a n introductory 'social analysis for social justice' workshop held in Emua Village, Efate, Vanuatu, for the Presbyterian Church of Vanuatu. In the tradition of contextual theology at grassroots level (Latin America; South Africa), adapted to local context and conditions.
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Course outline for a Master of Theology programme at the Pacific Theological College, taught in February/March 2019.
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Course outline for a joint Master's of Theology course (half-semester) in research skills, to be taught at the Pacific Theological College in April/May/June 2019.
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Document & Referencing Style Guide for the Pacific Theological College (2018)