John S. Kloppenborg

John S. Kloppenborg is a Canadian professor of religion who has authored numerous books and articles based on Christian Bible scholarship. He is a member of the Department of Religion at the University of Toronto

His work includes research on the origins of and sources for early Christian writings including the Q document thought to have been one of the first written collections of the teachings of Jesus. Kloppenborg has also written and taught about the different versions of the proto-biblical texts and the meaning and uses of Jesus specific parables.

Biography

Educational Background: Kloppenborg received his M.A. (1977) and his Ph.D. (1984) from the University of St. Michael's College located in Toronto, Canada.

Professional Background: Kloppenborg has taught and conducted research in Toronto, Windsor, United Kingdom, Helsinki, Jerusalem, Cambridge, Calgary, and the United States in Claremont, California. He is one of the general editors of the International Q Project.

General Summary of Contributions to Near East and Biblical Scholarship

John Kloppenborg is an original research scholar whose work on the origins of Christianity, the ancient manuscripts of ancient Christians and the history of Second Temple Judaism is often cited by other scholars and authors. He has researched and written most substantially about the Q document, which is also known as the Synoptic Sayings Gospel. This document is thought to be one of the oldest circulating sources of the sayings of Jesus. It is thought to be prior to and have been known to all of the authors of the Synoptic Gospels: The Gospel of Matthew, The Gospel of Mark, The Gospel of Luke and also to the (non-synoptic) The Gospel of John. This work touches on The Synoptic Problem.

Kloppenborg has also researched and written about the social world of the early Jesus movement in Jewish Palestine and the societies in of the eastern Roman Empire.

Some of Kloppenborg's professional work has been focused on the parables of Jesus. Other areas of interest for his writing and publications have been the letters of the New Testament; especially the Letter of James and the culture of the Graeco-Roman world as relates to matters of religion, spirituality, cultic associations, ethnic sub-groups and their ancient organization, professional societies and the general conditions of the societies in the Near East during the time of Second Temple Judaism, the time of Jesus and the formation of the Bible as we know it.

Analysis of selected publications

Published in 2006, Kloppenborg's book, The Tenants in the Vineyard: Ideology, Economics, and Agrarian Conflict in Jewish Palestine, titled after the "tenants in the vineyard" parable attributed to Jesus by the New Testament, provides an analysis for the critical reader of the Bible of this very difficult parable. The bible citation for the parable is Mark 12:1-12 and it is also recorded in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas (65). In his book, Kloppenborg models a new approach to the parables of Jesus. He discusses the ideological interests engaged by the parable in modern times and over the history of the Christian Church. Next, he explains the conditions of the society in which the parable was first laid out, especially in regards to ancient viticulture. In his conclusions, Kloppenborg notes that the parable has ironically been interpreted from the viewpoint of those in power in politics and society rather than as a literary parable or as an "anti-power" parable as it may have read in the original texts. He shows that the editing in Mark's version of the story takes it beyond the useful idiom common to Jesus' other parables. Kloppenborg also includes a second volume documenting historical papyrus dealing with ancient viticulture and agrarian conflict.

Books

The Tenants in the Vineyard: Ideology, Economics, and Agrarian Conflict in Jewish Palestine (2006)

Apocalypticism, Antisemitism and the Historical Jesus: Subtexts in Criticism Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Supplement Series, vol. 275 with John W. Marshall (2005)

Excavating Q: The History and Setting of the Sayings Gospel

The Sayings Gospel Q in Greek and English with Parallels from the Gospels of Mark and Thomas

Contributions to Biblical Exegesis & Theology vol. 30 with James M. Robinson and Paul Hoffmann

The Critical Edition of Q with James M. Robinson and Paul Hoffmann

The Formation of Q: Trajectories in Ancient Wisdom Collections

Documenta Q edited by James M. Robinson, John S. Kloppenborg, and Paul Hoffmann, with contributions from the International Q Project

Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World with Stephen Wilson (1996)

Conflict and Invention

The Shape of Q: Signal Essays on the Sayings Gospel

Q-Thomas Reader (1988) with Michael G. Steinhauser, Stephen Patterson, and Marvin W. Meyer

Q Parallels: Synopsis, Critical Notes & Concordance (1988)

Scriptures and Cultural Conversations: Essays for Heinz Guenther at Sixty-five Pp. 211 (1992)

Early Christianity, Q and Jesus Ed. with Leif E. Vaage Pp. 265 (1991)

Articles in Peer-Refereed Journals

2006 “H.J. Holtzmann’s Life of Jesus According to the ‘A’ Source. Part 2." JSHJ 4(2):203–223.

2006 “H.J. Holtzmann’s Life of Jesus According to the ‘A’ Source. Part 1 " JSHJ 4(1):75–108.

2005 “Evocatio deorum and the Date of Mark .” ” Journal of Biblical Literature 124/3 (2005): 419-450.

2004 “Self-Help or Deus ex Machina in Mark 12.9.” New Testament Studies 50 (2004) 495-518.

2004 “Isa 5:1-7 LXX and Mark 12:1, 9, Again.” Novum Testamentum 46/1 (2004) 12-19.

2003 “On Dispensing with Q? Goodacre on the Relation of Luke to Matthew,” New Testament Studies 49/2 (2003) 210-236.

2002 “Egyptian Viticultural Practices and the Citation of Isa 5:1-7 in Mark 12:1-9.” Novum Testamentum 44/1 (2002) 134-159.

2001 with Robert A. Derrenbacker, Jr. “Self-Contradiction in the IQP? A Reply to Michael Goulder.” Journal of Biblical Literature 120 (2001) 57-76.

2000 “Dating Theodotos (CIJ II 1404),” Journal of Jewish Studies 51 (2000) 243-280.

1999 “Patronage Avoidance in the Epistle of James,” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 55/4 (1999) 1-40.

1996 “ Political Histories and Theories of Religion: A response to Burton Mack and Ron Cameron,” Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 8/3 (1996) 279-89.

1996 “The Sayings Gospel Q and the Quest of the Historical Jesus,” Harvard Theological Review 89 (1996) 307-344.

1993 “The Sayings Gospel Q: The People behind the Document.” Current Research: Biblical Studies 1 (1993) 9-34.

1993 “Filadelfia, qeodidakto~ and the Dioscuri: The Rhetorical Situation of 1 Thess 4:9–12.” New Testament Studies 39, no. 2 (1993): 265–89.

1992 “Exitus clari viri: The Death of Jesus in Luke.” Toronto Journal of Theology 8/1 (1992) 106–20.

1990 “Alms, Debt and Divorce: Jesus’ Ethics in Their Mediterranean Context.” Toronto Journal of Theology 6(2):182-200.

1989 “The Dishonoured Master (Luke 16,1-8a).” Biblica 70(4):474-95.

1987 “Symbolic Eschatology and the Apocalypticism of Q.” Harvard Theological Review 80(3):287-306.

1986 “Blessing and Marginality: The ‘Persecution Beatitude’ in Q, Thomas & Early Christianity.” Forum 2(3):36-56.

1986 “The Formation of Q and Antique Instructional Genres.” JBL 105(3):443-62; Reprinted as pp. 138–155 in The Shape of Q: Signals Essays on the Sayings Gospel. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994.

1984 “Tradition and Redaction in the Synoptic Sayings Source,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 46:1 (1984): 34–62.

1982 “Isis and Sophia in the Book of Wisdom,” Harvard Theological Review 75:1 (1982): 57–84.

1981 “Joshua 22: The Priestly Editing of an Ancient Tradition,” Biblica 63:3 (1981): 347–71.

1979 “Didache 16:6–8 and Special Matthaean Tradition,” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 70:1/2 (1979): 54–67.

1978 “An Analysis of the pre-Pauline Formula 1 Cor 15:3b–5 in Light of Some Recent Literature,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 40:3 (1978): 351–67.

1978 “Wisdom Christology in Q,” Laval théologique et philosophique 34:2 (1978): 129–47.

Chapters in Books 

2006 “Associations in the Ancient World,” Documenting Jesus (eds. A. J. Levine, D. C. Allison and J. D. Crossan; Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2004).

2006 “The Theodotos Synagogue Inscription and the Problem of First-Century Synagogue Buildings.” Pp. 236-282 in Jesus and Archaeology. ed. James H. Charlesworth. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

2005 “Didache 1.1—6.1, James, and the Torah.” In Trajectories Through the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers, edited by Andrew Gregory and Christopher M. Tuckett, 193–221. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.

2005 “As One Unknown, Without a Name? Co-opting the Historical Jesus.” Pp. 1-23 in John S. Kloppenborg, with John W. Marshall (eds.). Apocalypticism, Anti-Semitism, and the Historical Jesus: Subtexts in Criticism. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, Supplement = JSNTSup 275. London and New York: T.& T. Clark International, 2005.

2004 “The Reception of the Jesus Tradition in James.” Pp. 91-139 in The Catholic Epistles and the Tradition, ed. Jacques Schlosser. BETL vol. 176. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, and Leuven University Press.

2004 “Quotations and Allusions in Did. 1.3b—2.1: Borrowed from a finished Gospel or from a common source?” Pp. 105-30 in Huub van de Sandt, ed., The Didache and Matthew: Two Documents from the same Jewish-Christian Milieu? Assen: Van Gorgum; Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

2003 “The Biblical Critic and the Truth: A Response to D.Z. Phillips.” Pp. 103-112 in Truth: Interdisciplinary Dialogues in a Pluralistic Age, ed. Christine Helmer and Kristin de Troyer. Studies in Philosophical Theology, vol. 22. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters.

2003 “Ideological Texture in the Parable of the Tenants.” In Fabrics of Discourse: Essays in Honor of Vernon K. Robbins, ed. David Gowler and Gregory Bloomquist, 64-88. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International.

2003 “Riches, the Rich, and God’s Judgment in 1 Enoch 92-105 and the Gospel according to Luke.” In George W. E. Nickelsburg in Perspective: An On-going Dialogue of Learning, ed. Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck, 572-585. Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplements. Leiden, New York, and Köln: E.J. Brill.

2002 “Goulder and the New Paradigm: A Critical Appeciation of Michael Goulder on the Synoptic Problem.” In The Gospels According to Michael Goulder: A North American Response, ed. Christopher Rollston, 29-59. Harrisburg, Pa.: Trinity Press International.

2001 “Discursive Practices in the Sayings Gospel Q and the Quest of the Historical Jesus.” Pp. 149-190 in The Sayings Source Q and the Historical Jesus, Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense XLIX, edited by Andreas Lindemann; BETL vol. 158. Leuven: Leuven University Press and Uitgeverij Peeters, 2001.

2000 “Is there a New Paradigm?” Pp. 23-47 in C.M. Tuckett, and David Horrell, eds., Festschrift for David R. Catchpole. NovTSup vol. 99. Leiden, Boston and Köln: E.J. Brill, 2000.

2000 “Isaiah 5:1-7, the Parable of the Tenants, and Vineyard Leases on Papyrus,” Pp. 111-134 in Text and Artifact in the Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity: Essays in Honour of Peter Richardson, edited by Stephen G. Wilson and Michel Desjardins. ESCJ no. 9. Waterloo, ON: Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/Corporation canadienne des sciences religieuses by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2000.

2000 “Ethnic and Political Rivalry at Caesarea Maritima.” Pp. 227-248 in Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Caesarea Maritima, edited by Terence L. Donaldson. ESCJ vol. 8. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2000.

1999 “A Dog Among the Pigeons: The “Cynic Hypothesis” as a Theological Problem,” Pp. 73-117 in From Quest to Quelle: Festschrift James M. Robinson. edited by Jon Asgeirsson, Kristen de Troyer, and Marvin W. Meyer. BETL vol. 146. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1999.

1999 “Making Sense of Difference: Asceticism and the Jesus Tradition.” Pp. 149-156 in Asceticism and the New Testament. edited by Leif E. Vaage, and Vincent L. Wimbush. New York: Routledge, 1999.

1999 “The Life and Sayings of Jesus.” Pp. 10-30 in The New Testament Today, edited by Mark A. Powell. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1999.

1998 “Status und Wohltätigkeit bei Paulus und Jakobus.” Pp. 127-154 in Von Jesus zum Christus — Christologische Studien: Festgabe für Paul Hoffmann zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Rudolf Hoppe, and Ulrich Busse. BZNW 93. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1998.

1998 “L’Évangile «Q» et le Jésus historique.” Pp. 225-268 in Jésus de Nazareth: Nouvelles approches d’une énigme, éd. par Daniel Marguerat. Le Monde de la Bible. Genève: Labor et Fides, 1998.

1996 “Collegia and Thiasoi: Issues in Function, Taxonomy and Membership.” Pp. 16-30 in Voluntary Associations in the Graeco-Roman World, edited by John S. Kloppenborg and S.G. Wilson. London and New York: Routledge, 1996.

1996 “Egalitarianism in the Myth and Rhetoric of Pauline Churches.” Pp. 247-63 in Rethinking Christian Origins: Essays Honoring Burton L. Mack, edited by Elizabeth Castelli and Hal Taussig. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press International, 1996.

1996 “The Sayings Gospel Q: Literary and Stratigraphic Problems.” Pp. 1-66 in Symbols and Strata. Essays on the Sayings Gospel Q, edited by Risto Uro. Suomen Eksegeettisen Seuran Julkaisuja. Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society vol. 65. Helsinki: Finnish Exegetical Society; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1996.

1995 “Conflict and Invention: Recent Studies on Q.” Pp. 1-14 in Conflict and Invention: Literary, Rhetorical and Social Studies on the Sayings Gospel Q, edited by John S. Kloppenborg. Valley Forge: Trinity Press International, 1995.

1995 “Jesus and the Parables of Jesus in Q.” Pp. 275-319 in The Gospel Behind the Gospels: Current Studies in Q, edited by Ronald A. Piper. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 75. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

1994 “Introduction.” Pp. 1-22 in The Shape of Q: Signal Essays on the Sayings Gospel, edited by John S. Kloppenborg. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

1994 “The Transformation of Moral Argument in the Didache.” Pp. 88-109 in The Didache in Context, edited by Clayton N. Jefford. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Leiden: E.J. Brill.

1993 “Edwin Hatch, Churches and Collegia.” Pp. 212–238 in Origins and Method: Towards a New Understanding of Judaism and Christianity. Essays in Honour of John C. Hurd, edited by B.H. McLean. JSNTSup, 87. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993.

1992 “The Theological Stakes in the Synoptic Problem.” Pp. 93–120 in Evangelica: Essays to Honor Frans Neirynck, edited by F. van Segbroek, C.M. Tuckett, G. Van Belle, and J. Verheyden. Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 1992.

1991 “Literary Convention, Self-Evidence and the Social History of the Q People.” Pp. 77–102 in Early Christianity, Q and Jesus. = Semeia 55; Atlanta: Scholars Press.

1991 with Leif E. Vaage. “The Sayings Gospel Q and Method in the Study of Christian Origins.” Pp. 1–14 in Early Christianity, Q and Jesus. = Semeia 55; Atlanta: Scholars Press.

1991 “City and Wasteland: Narrative World and the Beginning of the Sayings Gospel (Q).” Pp. 145-60 in How Gospels Begin, edited by Dennis E. Smith = Semeia 52. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

1990 “City and Wasteland: Narrative World and the Beginning of the Sayings Gospel (Q).” Pp. 145-60 in How Gospels Begin, ed. Dennis E. Smith = Semeia 52. Atlanta: Scholars Press.

1990 “‘Easter Faith’ and the Sayings Gospel Q.” Pp. 71-99 in The Apocryphal Jesus and Christian Origins, ed. Ron Cameron = Semeia 49. Altanta: Scholars Press.

1990 “Nomos and Ethos in Q.” Pp. 35-48 in Gospel Origins and Christian Beginnings: In Honor of James M. Robinson, James E. Goehring, Jack T. Sanders, and Charles W. Hedrick, and Hans Dieter Betz, eds. Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge Press.

1990 “The Sayings Gospel Q: Translation & Notes.” Pp. 35-74 in Q Thomas Reader, John S. Kloppenborg, Marvin W. Meyer, Stephen Patterson, and Michael G. Steinhauser. Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge Press. Japanese translation by Mitsugu Shinmen. Toyko: The United Church of Christ in Japan, 1997. Pp. 49-112.