Philip F Esler
Biographic Data
| ID | 1034337 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Philip F Esler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Philip F |
| FAMILY NAME | Esler |
| SIGNATURE | ESLER P F |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Gloucestershire |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4889-4889 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1994 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
The Nabatean law of debt: New light from P.Yadin 8 and 9
This article contains a fresh analysis of P.Yadin 8 and 9, both from 122 ce , with new readings of the Judean and Nabatean Aramaic texts. It argues that both documents are closely related and that each records a creditor’s seizure of property from debtors who failed to repay their loans. The procedure adopted, which included in the case of P.Yadin 9 the creditor informing other creditors of his intention to seize the debtor’s property to gain the…
Babatha's first marriage contract: Hiding in Plain Sight
Babatha's archive of 35 richly informative legal documents from the period 94-132 ce contains only the contract for her second marriage, not her first. This omission invites investigation, in this article from a microhistorical perspective. Admittedly, Greek 'unwritten marriages' were known in Egypt during this period, and there is evidence for the influence of Greek practices in the Dead Sea region. Nevertheless, this article argues, first, that…
Babatha’s Final Days: New Light from Papyrus Starcky
Babatha, a Judean woman from the early second century CE, hid a satchel of thirty-five legal papyri in a cave in Wadi Ḥever on the Dead Sea around 135 CE. This article argues that she brought two other papyri, in Nabatean Aramaic, into the cave (P.XḤev/Se Nab 1, also called “P.Starcky,” and P.XḤev/Se Nab 2), but culled her documents, hiding most in the satchel, while discarding these two. Initially, P.Starcky is analyzed as a title document relat…
The Righteousness of Joseph: Interpreting Matt 1.18–25 in Light of Judean Legal Papyri
This article seeks to explain Matthew's description of Joseph as righteous (δίκαιος) by investigating Matt 1.18–25 within its ancient context, especially Judean practices of marriage and divorce as illuminated by Judean legal papyri from the Dead Sea region in the first and second centuries ce and from the Judean politeuma of Herakleopolis in the mid-second century bce . The examination will demonstrate the importance of these papyri for understa…
Paul’s Explanation of Christ-Movement Identity in 2 Corinthians 6: 14–7:1: A Social Identity Approach
This article deploys a social identity approach to argue that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 as an integral part of 2 Corinthians to elucidate Christ-movement identity at a key point in an integrated letter. First, I will critique arguments that the passage is an intrusion based on its alleged awkward positioning between 6:13 and 7:2, proposing instead that it is carefully sited within the larger unit of 6:11–7:4. Secondly, I will critically a…
Painting 1 Enoch: Biblical Interpretation, Theology, and Artistic Practice
This article inaugurates a new approach to biblical interpretation that involves close collaboration on a particular text between a biblical interpreter (Philip Esler) and a practicing artist (Angus Pryor), culminating in the production of works of art that generate a new understanding of the text in question. This approach reflects the recent scholarly interest in how artists who paint biblical scenes are active interpreters of biblical texts. H…
“All That You Have Done … Has Been Fully Told to Me”: The Power of Gossip and the Story of Ruth
The literary qualities of the book of Ruth are the subject of considerable scholarly attention. The aim of this article is to contribute to this research with particular reference to what Boaz says to Ruth, “All that you have done ... has been fully told to me” (2:11), where what he has learned has clearly been in Ruth’s favor. Boaz can have gained such information only through what we call gossip. I will first outline social-scientific research …
Babatha’s Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and an Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold
In 1961 archaeologists discovered a family archive of legal papyri in a cave near the Dead Sea where their owner, the Jewish woman Babatha, had hidden them in 135 ce at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt. This book analyses the oldest four of these papyri to argue that underlying them is a hitherto undetected and surprising train of events concerning how Babatha’s father, Shim‘on, purchased a date-palm orchard in Maoza on the southern shore of the …
The Early Christian World
At the beginning of the second century, Ignatius, bishop of the church of Antioch, was travelling through Asia Minor to Rome, where his zeal to die for the sake of Christ was soon to be satisfied. Prior to his arrival in the capitol, however, he composed several letters, seven of which survive (see Chapter 27 of this volume), and one of which - his Epistle to the Magnesians - preserves a fascinating image of the relations that obtained at this ti…
Babatha's Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and an Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold
Babatha's Orchard' tells a story that has gone untold for nearly two thousand years. It is a story that would have perished with the last person familiar with its details-the Jewish woman Babatha, daughter of Shim'on ben Menahem. Babatha was probably killed or enslaved by Roman soldiers at the end of Shim'on ben Kosiba's revolt in 135 CE, when they captured a cave in a wadi running into the western shores of the Dead Sea in which she and other Je…
Archelaus Rescinds his Purchase
Here it is argued that, since in P. Yadin 3 Shim‘on purchased from ’Abi-‘adan an enlarged version of the property Archelaus purchased from her one month earlier (as recorded in P. Yadin 2), Archelaus must have rescinded his purchase. This chapter seeks to explain this rescission. It argues that shortly after his purchase, Archelaus’s father, ‘Abad-‘Amanu, died and ’Amat-’Isi requested repayment of her loan from Archelaus, his heir. She could do t…
Early Christian World
Judaean and Christ-Follower Identities: Grounds for a Distinction
In NTS 62.3 (July 2016) David Horrell argued that certain passages in 1 Corinthians 7 and 1 Peter 3 showed ‘ethnicising’ traits among the early Christians. He set this result against an alleged trend in scholarship that would distinguish and disparage a closed ethnic Judaism in relation to a new spiritual-universal Christianity. The present authors’ work was proffered as representative of this trend, even though no evidence was cited for such a c…
Paul and Stoicism: Romans 12 as a Test Case
The recent resurgence of interest in ancient Greco-Roman ethics has prompted many studies of NT ethical thought in the light of Aristotelian and Stoic approaches to ethics. The purpose of this article is to compare Rom 12 with Stoicism. Rather than looking for similarities between Stoic ethics and Pauline moral teaching, however (as Troels Engberg-Pedersen does in Paul and the Stoics ), it is argued that a comparison between Paul and the Stoics i…
The Early Christian World
List of Illustrations. List of Contributors. Preface. List of Abbreviations Volume 1. Part 1: The Context Part 2: Christian Origins and Development Part 3: Community Formation and Maintenance Part 4: Everyday Christian Experience Part 5: The Intellectual Heritage Volume 2. Part 6: The Artistic Heritage Part 7: Extrenal Challenges Part 8: Internal Challenges Part 9: Profiles. Index of Biblical References. Index of Classical References. Index of Je…
“Keeping It in the Family”: Culture, Kinship and Identity in 1 Thessalonians and Galatians
"Talking to "Terrorists: Towards an Independent Analytical Framework for the Study of Violent Substate Activism
Terrorism Studies" as a specific discipline is a comparatively recent addition to the social sciences and is still grappling with questions relating to a proper or appropriate methodology. This article argues that research within the field is often based neither on primary sources nor set within an independent analytical framework. Rather, it is characterized by an "aligned" position dependent on a research hermeneutic of crisis management, which…
Models in New Testament Interpretation: A Reply To David Horrell
D. Horrell et P. F. Esler reconnaissent tous deux la necessite d'utiliser les sciences sociales pour l'interpretation des textes bibliques. Ici, Esler repond a Horrell sur la question de l'utilisation des modeles. Ces derniers representent les moyens les plus utiles dans l'etude car ils offrent la meilleure strategie pour apprehender la distance culturelle entre nous et les textes bibliques. Esler se base sur le passage de Galates 2 : 1-14. Pour …
Ethnicity and the Bible
Contemporary social theory has been much concerned with the re-assertion of ethnic identities in both Western and non-Western politics. This international collection of twenty-one essays contributes to the wider conversation by examining the construction and contestation of ethnic identities both within the Bible itself and in biblical interpretation. An introductory essay brings into focus the main themes of the book - ethnocentrism, indigenity,…
Mirrors, Not Windows: Semiotic Approaches to the Gospels
"Talking to "Terrorists: Towards an Independent Analytical Framework for the Study of Violent Substate Activism
Terrorism Studies" as a specific discipline is a comparatively recent addition to the social sciences and is still grappling with questions relating to a proper or appropriate methodology. This article argues that research within the field is often based neither on primary sources nor set within an independent analytical framework. Rather, it is characterized by an "aligned" position dependent on a research hermeneutic of crisis management, which…
Mirrors, Not Windows: Semiotic Approaches to the Gospels
Ethnicity and the Bible
Contemporary social theory has been much concerned with the re-assertion of ethnic identities in both Western and non-Western politics. This international collection of twenty-one essays contributes to the wider conversation by examining the construction and contestation of ethnic identities both within the Bible itself and in biblical interpretation. An introductory essay brings into focus the main themes of the book - ethnocentrism, indigenity,…
Models in New Testament Interpretation: A Reply To David Horrell
D. Horrell et P. F. Esler reconnaissent tous deux la necessite d'utiliser les sciences sociales pour l'interpretation des textes bibliques. Ici, Esler repond a Horrell sur la question de l'utilisation des modeles. Ces derniers representent les moyens les plus utiles dans l'etude car ils offrent la meilleure strategie pour apprehender la distance culturelle entre nous et les textes bibliques. Esler se base sur le passage de Galates 2 : 1-14. Pour …
“Keeping It in the Family”: Culture, Kinship and Identity in 1 Thessalonians and Galatians
"Talking to "Terrorists: Towards an Independent Analytical Framework for the Study of Violent Substate Activism
Terrorism Studies" as a specific discipline is a comparatively recent addition to the social sciences and is still grappling with questions relating to a proper or appropriate methodology. This article argues that research within the field is often based neither on primary sources nor set within an independent analytical framework. Rather, it is characterized by an "aligned" position dependent on a research hermeneutic of crisis management, which…
The Early Christian World
List of Illustrations. List of Contributors. Preface. List of Abbreviations Volume 1. Part 1: The Context Part 2: Christian Origins and Development Part 3: Community Formation and Maintenance Part 4: Everyday Christian Experience Part 5: The Intellectual Heritage Volume 2. Part 6: The Artistic Heritage Part 7: Extrenal Challenges Part 8: Internal Challenges Part 9: Profiles. Index of Biblical References. Index of Classical References. Index of Je…
Paul and Stoicism: Romans 12 as a Test Case
The recent resurgence of interest in ancient Greco-Roman ethics has prompted many studies of NT ethical thought in the light of Aristotelian and Stoic approaches to ethics. The purpose of this article is to compare Rom 12 with Stoicism. Rather than looking for similarities between Stoic ethics and Pauline moral teaching, however (as Troels Engberg-Pedersen does in Paul and the Stoics ), it is argued that a comparison between Paul and the Stoics i…
Babatha’s Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and an Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold
In 1961 archaeologists discovered a family archive of legal papyri in a cave near the Dead Sea where their owner, the Jewish woman Babatha, had hidden them in 135 ce at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt. This book analyses the oldest four of these papyri to argue that underlying them is a hitherto undetected and surprising train of events concerning how Babatha’s father, Shim‘on, purchased a date-palm orchard in Maoza on the southern shore of the …
The Early Christian World
At the beginning of the second century, Ignatius, bishop of the church of Antioch, was travelling through Asia Minor to Rome, where his zeal to die for the sake of Christ was soon to be satisfied. Prior to his arrival in the capitol, however, he composed several letters, seven of which survive (see Chapter 27 of this volume), and one of which - his Epistle to the Magnesians - preserves a fascinating image of the relations that obtained at this ti…
Babatha's Orchard: The Yadin Papyri and an Ancient Jewish Family Tale Retold
Babatha's Orchard' tells a story that has gone untold for nearly two thousand years. It is a story that would have perished with the last person familiar with its details-the Jewish woman Babatha, daughter of Shim'on ben Menahem. Babatha was probably killed or enslaved by Roman soldiers at the end of Shim'on ben Kosiba's revolt in 135 CE, when they captured a cave in a wadi running into the western shores of the Dead Sea in which she and other Je…
Archelaus Rescinds his Purchase
Here it is argued that, since in P. Yadin 3 Shim‘on purchased from ’Abi-‘adan an enlarged version of the property Archelaus purchased from her one month earlier (as recorded in P. Yadin 2), Archelaus must have rescinded his purchase. This chapter seeks to explain this rescission. It argues that shortly after his purchase, Archelaus’s father, ‘Abad-‘Amanu, died and ’Amat-’Isi requested repayment of her loan from Archelaus, his heir. She could do t…
Early Christian World
Judaean and Christ-Follower Identities: Grounds for a Distinction
In NTS 62.3 (July 2016) David Horrell argued that certain passages in 1 Corinthians 7 and 1 Peter 3 showed ‘ethnicising’ traits among the early Christians. He set this result against an alleged trend in scholarship that would distinguish and disparage a closed ethnic Judaism in relation to a new spiritual-universal Christianity. The present authors’ work was proffered as representative of this trend, even though no evidence was cited for such a c…
“All That You Have Done … Has Been Fully Told to Me”: The Power of Gossip and the Story of Ruth
The literary qualities of the book of Ruth are the subject of considerable scholarly attention. The aim of this article is to contribute to this research with particular reference to what Boaz says to Ruth, “All that you have done ... has been fully told to me” (2:11), where what he has learned has clearly been in Ruth’s favor. Boaz can have gained such information only through what we call gossip. I will first outline social-scientific research …
Painting 1 Enoch: Biblical Interpretation, Theology, and Artistic Practice
This article inaugurates a new approach to biblical interpretation that involves close collaboration on a particular text between a biblical interpreter (Philip Esler) and a practicing artist (Angus Pryor), culminating in the production of works of art that generate a new understanding of the text in question. This approach reflects the recent scholarly interest in how artists who paint biblical scenes are active interpreters of biblical texts. H…
Paul’s Explanation of Christ-Movement Identity in 2 Corinthians 6: 14–7:1: A Social Identity Approach
This article deploys a social identity approach to argue that Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 as an integral part of 2 Corinthians to elucidate Christ-movement identity at a key point in an integrated letter. First, I will critique arguments that the passage is an intrusion based on its alleged awkward positioning between 6:13 and 7:2, proposing instead that it is carefully sited within the larger unit of 6:11–7:4. Secondly, I will critically a…
Babatha’s Final Days: New Light from Papyrus Starcky
Babatha, a Judean woman from the early second century CE, hid a satchel of thirty-five legal papyri in a cave in Wadi Ḥever on the Dead Sea around 135 CE. This article argues that she brought two other papyri, in Nabatean Aramaic, into the cave (P.XḤev/Se Nab 1, also called “P.Starcky,” and P.XḤev/Se Nab 2), but culled her documents, hiding most in the satchel, while discarding these two. Initially, P.Starcky is analyzed as a title document relat…
The Righteousness of Joseph: Interpreting Matt 1.18–25 in Light of Judean Legal Papyri
This article seeks to explain Matthew's description of Joseph as righteous (δίκαιος) by investigating Matt 1.18–25 within its ancient context, especially Judean practices of marriage and divorce as illuminated by Judean legal papyri from the Dead Sea region in the first and second centuries ce and from the Judean politeuma of Herakleopolis in the mid-second century bce . The examination will demonstrate the importance of these papyri for understa…
Babatha's first marriage contract: Hiding in Plain Sight
Babatha's archive of 35 richly informative legal documents from the period 94-132 ce contains only the contract for her second marriage, not her first. This omission invites investigation, in this article from a microhistorical perspective. Admittedly, Greek 'unwritten marriages' were known in Egypt during this period, and there is evidence for the influence of Greek practices in the Dead Sea region. Nevertheless, this article argues, first, that…
The Nabatean law of debt: New light from P.Yadin 8 and 9
This article contains a fresh analysis of P.Yadin 8 and 9, both from 122 ce , with new readings of the Judean and Nabatean Aramaic texts. It argues that both documents are closely related and that each records a creditor’s seizure of property from debtors who failed to repay their loans. The procedure adopted, which included in the case of P.Yadin 9 the creditor informing other creditors of his intention to seize the debtor’s property to gain the…
Biblical Studies and Interpretation (10 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Archaeology and Historical Studies (8 works) · History (8 works) · Art (6 works) · Law (5 works) · Political science (5 works) · Sociology (5 works) · Aesthetics (4 works) · Biblical studies (4 works)