You may be surprised at the first term in my topic: ontology. Should a biblical interpreter deal with such a topic? Is he obliged to clarif the ontological assertions and assumptions of the biblical writers? From our colleagues in other disciplines we hear differing answers to this question. Some philosophers demand from us greater concern with ontology. Others warn us against such concern. Still other philosophers, absorbed in the discoveries of linguistic analysis, repudiate even for themselves the legitimacy of ontological statements. Whether it is encouragement or discouragement that we receive from our academic colleagues, it must be admitted that few biblical scholars are willing to venture into this realm.

Everybody knows that the relation between Paul's beliefs and expectations about life beyond death and those of his contemporaries is obscure and hotly disputed. Everybody knows, too, about the debate over the origins of gnosticism and the extent to which Paul shared its dualism; and I am not so simple as to imagine that I can provide clarity and precision where great scholars, past and present, have confessed to bewilderment. In discussing Paul's attitude to the material world, all that I shall attempt is, after defining certain areas of the problem, to defend Paul's basic consistency on certain particular issues; and, in this connexion, to suggest an interpretation of certain parts of II Cor. v which, as I believe, throws light on his degree of consistency.

En 1514, le premier N.T. grec imprimé sortait des presses à Alcala. En 1516, Froben et Erasme publiaient, à Bâle, le second N.T. grec imprimé. La critique textuelle moderne et contemporaine du N.T. est donc une personne vénérable qui célèbre son quatre-cent-cinquantième anniversaire. A cette occasion, je voudrais vous proposer, à la lumière d'un bref bilan du passé, quelques réflexions sur la situation actuelle de la critique du texte et sur certains des problèmes qui sont posés par cette situation.