Chris Keith

Research Grantee

2012-13 Report

Positions

• Chair in New Testament and Early Christianity at St. Mary's University College, Twickenham and Director of Centre for the Social–Scientific Study of the Bible at St Mary's.

Publications 2012

1. Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne, eds. Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity. London: T&T Clark, 2012.
2. “Prolegomena on the Textualization of Mark's Gospel: Manuscript Culture, the Extended Situation, and the Emergence of Written Gospels.” In Keys and Frames: Memory and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Tom Thatcher. Semeia Studies. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, forthcoming 2013.
3. “The Scribes (and Elders) of the Pericope Adulterae: Mirror Characterization of Jesus and His Opponents by an Early Reader of John's Gospel.” In Character Studies in the Fourth Gospel: Narrative Approaches to the Major and Minor Figures in John. Edited by Steve Hunt, Francois Tolmie, and Ruben Zimmermann. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, forthcoming 2013.
4. “Writing and Book Production in the Hellenistic and Roman Period” (co-authored with Larry W. Hurtado). In The New Cambridge History of the Bible: From the Beginnings to 600. Edited by James Carleton Paget and Joachim Schaper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
5. “The Indebtedness of the Criteria Approach to Form Criticism and Recent Attempts to Rehabilitate the Search for an Authentic Jesus”. Pages 25–48 in Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity. Edited by Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne. London: T&T Clark, 2012.
6. “John 7:53–8:11: The Story of the Woman Caught in Adultery.” Bible Odyssey. Edited by Nicola Denzey Lewis. Forthcoming online project by the Society of Biblical Literature.
7. “The Fall of the Quest for an Authentic Jesus: Concluding Remarks.” Pages 200–205 in Jesus, Criteria, and the Demise of Authenticity. Edited by Chris Keith and Anthony Le Donne. London: T&T Clark, 2012.

Papers at Conferences 2012

1. “Historical Jesus Studies and Memory Theory”. Invited paper for the Historical Jesus session of the Society of Biblical Literature. Baltimore, MD, November 23–26, 2013.
2. “Social Memory Theory and the New Testament: The Past, Present, and Future of a New Methodology”. Invited paper for the Social Worlds of the New Testament session of the British New Testament Conference. St. Andrews, Scotland, August 29–31, 2013
3. “Prolegomena on the Textualization of Mark.” Paper accepted for Synoptic Gospels session at the international Society of Biblical Literature meeting. St. Andrews, Scotland, July 7–11, 2013.
4. “On the Form–Critical Indebtedness of the Criteria Approach”. Paper delivered at 2012 Jesus Conference. Dayton, OH, October 4, 2012.
5. “Response to Dale Allison's Autobiographical Study.” Paper delivered at 2012 Jesus Conference. Dayton, OH, October 5, 2012.
6. “Why Jesus' Identity as a Carpenter Was a Problem: How Christians Dealt With It”. Invited lecture at Pepperdine Bible Lectures, Pepperdine University. Malibu, CA, May 2, 2012.
7. “Literacy and the Historical Jesus”. Invited lecture at UCLA Center for the Study of Religion. Los Angeles, CA, April 30, 2012.
8. “What Did Jesus Really Do? And How Do We Know?” Invited lecture at Ohio Wesleyan University. Delaware, OH, April 26, 2012.
9. “On the Writing (and Burning) of Mark”. Invited lecture at Erinnerte und erzählte Geschichte, Workshop der Abrbeitsgruppe “Text und Geschichte” der Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft für Theologie, Johannes Gutenberg–Universität Mainz. Mainz, Germany, March 29, 2012.

Additional Fellowships/Awards/Honors

• 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.

Work Done with Funding from Memoria Romana

My essay “Prolegomena on the Textualization of Mark’s Gospel: Manuscript Culture, the Extended Situation, and the Emergence of Written Gospels” will appear soon in a multiauthor volume dedicated to the work of social memory theorist Barry Schwartz. This essay is the first published work from my Memoria Romana grant and the first step toward a larger book project on early Christian book culture. I presented this research initially at the conference “Erinnerte und erzählte Geschichte”, which was a part of the Abrbeitsgruppe “Text und Geschichte” of the Wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft für Theologie. This conference was held at Johannes Gutenberg–Universität Mainz (Mainz, Germany, March 29, 2012) and my grant enabled my participation.