Understanding What One Reads

In the course of his long and distinguished scholarly career, Jan Lambrecht has been a prolific writer from both an academic and a pastoral perspective. Since 1994, attempts have been in process to collect as many as possible of his shorter writings into volumes that would be more accessible, resulting in four publications up to this point. In 1994, many of Professor Lambrecht's writings on Paul appeared in Pauline Studies (BETL, 115) and, together with some from his former student, Reimund Bieringer, in Studies on 2 Corinthians (BETL, 112). In 2001, upon completion of his teaching at the Biblicum, he was honored with a volume of Collected Studies (AnBibl, 147) representing his then more recent works. This volume, as its full title indicates, consists for the most part of studies on Pauline literature and the Book of Revelation, but it also includes a short article on Christian freedom in 1 Peter. In 2002, a collection of articles in Dutch, some that had appeared previously and some new, was published as De kracht van het geloof ("The Power of Belief"). Nonetheless, there remain some of his works that have not yet been brought into a collection, and important articles in the recent Dutch collection are not available to a wider audience. This present offering attempts to address that situation. Although the twenty-two studies in the present volume have all been written or published relatively recently, they are reflective of Professor Lambrecht's academic and pastoral interests over his entire career, ranging from Mark's use of Matthew, and possibly Q, to the Book of Revelation, and including Luke, Acts, and Paul. Some of the writing is less technical because of the audience for which it was intended. Thus within this volume there will be some writings that will challenge scholars to rethink some positions and others addressed to a more general audience. This work is offered in the hope that the dialogue will continue and be fruitful in bringing forth old and new out of the treasure of the biblical writings.