Dr Scott Charlesworth

Adjunct Lecturer , Early Christianity - Faculty of Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Education; School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

Scott Charlesworth

Biography

Scott is an early Christianity scholar with expertise in canonical and non-canonical gospels, textual criticism, papyrology, ancient literacy and orality, and a growing interest in Pauline studies and the epigraphy of the early Roman East. My current research project is the Colossians volume in the Papyrologische Kommentare zum Neuen Testament.

Qualifications

BA (Greek) UNE, BA Hon Class 1 (Studies in Religion) UNE, MA in Early Christian and Jewish Studies Macquarie, PhD (Greek, Early Christianity, Papyrology) UNE

Teaching Areas


My areas of expertise, plus Greek, Hebrew, early Christian and New Testament studies.

Research Interests


2002, Australasian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (Queensland), Greek Studies Scholarship, awarded in conjunction with the University of Queensland
July 2003, Keith and Dorothy Mackay Honours Scholarship, UNE
Oct 2005, Research grant, Australian Institute of Archaeology, Melbourne (AIA)
2005-2007, Australian Postgraduate Award for a full-time Doctor of Philosophy (Research) at UNE  
and Tertiary Education, Australian Government
Jan 2006, Maiben Davies Postgraduate Scholarship in Classics, UNE
Feb 2006, Keith and Dorothy Mackay Short-term (Attachment) Scholarship, UNE
June 2007, J.H. Bishop Postgraduate Scholarship in Classics and Ancient History, UNE
2010-2013, Conference travel grants
Oct-Dec 2016, Research grant, Papyrology Research Fund, University of Michigan
Oct 2016-Apr 2017, Research grant, AIA
Oct 2016-Apr 2017, Research grant, University of Divinity
Jan-Apr 2017, Margo Tytus Research Fellowship, University of Cincinnati

Research Supervision Experience


2010-2011, Thomas Davai Jr., 'Genesis 3:15: the seedbed of the theme of enmity in Genesis', MTh, 40,000 word thesis, co-supervisor.
2014-2016, Brian J. Wright, 'The public reading of scripture in the first two centuries of the common era: controlling the tradition', PhD, 100,000 word thesis, co-supervisor.
Jacklyn S. Nembai, 'A biblical theology of righteousness and the righteous in the Gospel of Matthew', MTh, 40,000 word thesis, supervisor.

Publications


A. BOOKS
1. *Early Christian Gospels: Their Production and Transmission (Papyrologica Florentina 47; Florence: Edizioni Gonnelli, 2016). See http://www.gonnelli.it/uk/papyrologica-florentina/vol-47-early-christian-gospels-their-production-.asp.


B. BOOK CHAPTERS
1. *‘Public and Private—Second- and Third-century Gospel Manuscripts’, in C.A. Evans and H.D. Zacharias (eds.), Jewish and Christian Scripture as Artifact and Canon (SSEJC 13; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 2009) 148-75.  
2. *‘T.C. Skeat and the Problem of Fibre Orientation in Codicological Reconstruction’, in T. Gagos (ed.), Proceedings of the 25th International Congress of Papyrology, Ann Arbor, July 29 – August 4, 2007 (American Studies in Papyrology; The University of Michigan Library: Scholarly Publishing Office, 2010) 131-40. Available on-line at <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/i/icp/>.  
3. *‘The Gospel Manuscript Tradition’, in A. Nobbs and M. Harding (eds.), The Content and Setting of the Gospel Tradition (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010) 28-61.
4. *‘Indicators of “Catholicity” in Early Gospel Manuscripts’, in C.E. Hill and M.J. Kruger (eds.), The Early Text of the Gospels (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 37-48.
5. *‘The End of Orality: Transmission of Gospel Tradition in the Second and Third Centuries’, in R. Scodel (ed.), Between Orality and Literacy: Communication and Adaptation in Antiquity (Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World 10; Leiden: Brill, 2014) 331-55.
6. *’The Missiological Implications of a Counter-cultural Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount: Reflections on Six and a Half Years in Papua New Guinea’, in W.K. Longgar and T. Meadowcroft (eds.), Living in the Family of Jesus: Essays on Critical Contextualization in Melanesia and Beyond (Auckland: Archer Press, 2016) 195-217 / (Point 40; Goroka: Melanesian Institute, 2016) 187-208.
7. *‘The Heavenly Jesus Reinterprets Daniel: The Apocalypse as Corrective for the Olivet Discourse’, in T.J. Kraus and M. Sommer (eds.), Book of the Seven Seals. The Peculiarity of Revelation: its Manuscripts, Attestation, and Transmission (WUNT 363; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016) 241-62.


C. ARTICLES IN REFEREED JOURNALS
1. *‘Public and Private—Second- and Third-century Gospel Manuscripts’, Buried History: Journal of the Australian Institute of Archaeology 42 (2006) 25-36.
2. *‘Consensus Standardization in the Systematic Approach to Nomina Sacra in Second- and Third-century Gospel Manuscripts’, Aegyptus 86 (2006) 37-68.
3. *‘T.C. Skeat, P64+67 and P4, and the Problem of Fibre Orientation in Codicological Reconstruction’, New Testament Studies 53 (2007) 582-604.
4. *‘Recognizing Greek Literacy in Early Roman Documents from the Judaean Desert’, Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 51 (2014) 161-89.
5. *‘The Use of Greek in Early Roman Galilee: The Inscriptional Evidence Re-examined’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 37 (2016) 1-40.
6. *’The Sermon on the Mount or Cultural Religion: Ministry Practice and Theological Education in Papua New Guinea’, Melanesian Journal of Theology 32 (2016) 37-58, available at
http://www.cltc.ac.pg/LinkClick.aspx? fileticket=9AZ52oDhChA%3d&tabid=80.


D. OTHER PUBLICATIONS
1. *‘Report on MATS 2011, the Inaugural Conference of the Melanesian Association of Theological
Schools’, Melanesian Journal of Theology, 28.1 (2012) 6-8, available at
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/articles_ melanesian-journal-theology_04.php#vol32.
2. *‘Report on MATS 2013’, Melanesian Journal of Theology 30.1 (2014) 5-8, available at
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/articles_melanesian-journal-theology_04.php#vol32.
3. *‘Report on MATS 2014’, Melanesian Journal of Theology 31.1 (2015) 6-10, available at
https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/articles_melanesian-journal-theology_04.php#vol32.
4. *‘Editorial’, Melanesian Journal of Theology 32 (2016) 1-2, available at https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/articles_melanesian-journal-theology_04.php#vol32.
5. *‘Editorial’, Melanesian Journal of Theology 32 (2016) 79-80, available at https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/articles_melanesian-journal-theology_04.php#vol32


E. BOOK REVIEWS IN REFEREED JOURNALS
1. *Review of C.A. Evans, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), Buried History: Journal of the Australian Institute of Archaeology 44 (2008) 39-40.
2. *Review of R. Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), Buried History: Journal of the Australian Institute of Archaeology 45 (2009) 31-3.
3. *Review of T.J. Kraus, M.J. Kruger and T. Nicklas (eds.), Gospel Fragments (Oxford Early Christian Gospel Texts; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, 47 (2010) 347-9, available at <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/basp/0599796.0047.001/347:42?rgn=full+text;
view=image>.
4. *Review of P. Arzt-Grabner and C.M. Kreinecker (eds.), Light from the East: Papyrologische
Kommentare zum Neuen Testament. Akten des internationalen Symposions vom 3.-4. Dezember 2009 am Fachbereich Bibelwissenschaft und Kirchengeschichte de Universität Salzburg (Philippika, Marburger alterskundliche Abhandlungen 39; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010), Review of Biblical Literature, July 2013, available at <http://bookreviews.org/pdf/8047_8800.pdf>.
5. *Review of K. Wachtel and M.W. Holmes (eds.), The Textual History of the Greek New Testament:Changing Views in Contemporary Research (Text-critical Studies 8; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2011), TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism 18 (2013), available at <http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/v18/TC-2013-Rev-Wachtel-Charlesworth.pdf>.
6. *Review of J.S. Kloppenborg and J.H. Newman (eds.), Editing the Bible: Assessing the Task, Past and Present (Resources for Biblical Studies 69; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2012), Review of Biblical Literature, July 2014, available at <http://bookreviews.org/pdf/ 8547_9367.pdf>.
7. *Review of R. Canavan, Clothing the Body of Christ at Colossae: A Visual Construction of Identity (WUNT 2/334; Göttingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012), Review of Biblical Literature, Jan. 2015, available at <http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/8759_9642.pdf>.
8. Review of C.R. Seitz, Colossians (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible; Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2014), Religious Studies Review 42 (2016) 291-2.
9. Review of G.N. Knoppers, Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of their Early Relations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), Religious Studies Review 42 (2016) 278.
10. Review of S.A. Adams and S.M. Ehorn (eds.), Composite Quotations in Antiquity, vol. 1: Jewish, GraecoRoman, and Early Christian Uses (Library of New Testament Studies 525; London, Bloomsbury T&T Clark,
2016), Novum Testamentum 59 (2017) 100-4.
11. Review of B.W. Winter, Divine Honours for the Caesars: The First Christians’ Responses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015), Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2017.05.49.
12. Review of R. Benefiel and P. Keegan (eds.), Inscriptions in the Private Sphere in the Greco-Roman World (Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy 7; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2016), Religious Studies Review 43 (2017) 161.
13. Review of L. de Ligt and L.A. Tacoma (eds.), Migration and Mobility in the Early Roman Empire (Studies in Global Social History 23; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2016), Religious Studies Review 43 (2017) 162.
14. Review of Y. Furstenberg (ed.), Jewish and Christian Communal Identities in the Roman World (Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity / Arbeiten zur Geschichte de Antiken Judentums und der Urchristentums 94; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2016), Religious Studies Review 43 (2017) 188.
15. Review of K. Stebnicka, Identity of the Diaspora: Jews in Asia Minor in the Roman Imperial Period, trans. M. Kantor (Journal of Juristic Papyrology Supplements 26; Warsaw: Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, and Fundacja im. Rafała Taubenschlaga, 2015), Religious Studies Review 43 (2017) 190-1.


F. IN PREPARATION
1. Colossians (PKNT; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht). See <http://www.uni-salzburg.at/bwkg/pknt>.
2. ‘Historicist Interpretation of the Olivet Discourse and the Sixth Seal: 1. Medieval Tribulation and Cosmic Signs’, submitted to Pacifica.
3. ‘Historicist Interpretation of the Olivet Discourse and the Sixth Seal: 2. Corrective, Reinterpretation, and Saving the Historical Jesus’, submitted to Pacifica.
4. ‘The Significance of a Correction: Orality, Literacy, and the Composition of P.Egerton inv. 2’, for TC: A Journal of Biblical Textual Criticism or Segno e Testo - International Journal of Manuscripts and Text Transmission.
5. ‘Is British Library Pap. 2053 (→ P.Oxy. 8.1075, Rahlfs 909; ↓ P.Oxy. 8.1079, P18) from a “curious Christian codex” or a Re-used Roll?’, for Buried History: Journal of the Australian Institute of Archaeology.


G. CONFERENCE PAPERS
1. *‘Nomina sacra as windows on textual authority and comparative transmission of canonical and noncanonical gospels in the second century’: presented in the Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds unit at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting held 18-22 Nov 2005 in Philadelphia.
2. *‘Literacy in the Graeco-Roman world and early Christian use of the codex’: presented at the
Australasian Society for Classical Studies conference held 30 Jan-3 Feb 2006 at the University of Tasmania.
3. *‘Nomina sacra as windows on textual authority and comparative transmission of canonical and noncanonical gospels in the second century’: presented as a Research Seminar paper at the University of New England on 31 Mar 2006.
4. *‘Standardised production of second-century gospels’: presented in the Working with Biblical
Manuscripts (Textual Criticism) unit at the Society of Biblical Literature International Conference held 2-6 July 2007 at the University of Edinburgh.
5. *‘Public vs. private: second- and third-century gospel manuscripts’: presented at the Australasian Society for Classical Studies conference held 4-8 Feb 2007 in Newcastle.
6. *‘T.C. Skeat and the problem of fibre orientation in codicological reconstruction’: presented at the 25th International Congress of Papyrology held 29 July-4 Aug 2007 at the University of Michigan.
7. *‘Textual fluidity in early gospel manuscripts’: presented in the Working with Biblical Manuscripts (Textual Criticism) unit at the Society of Biblical Literature International Conference held 6-11 July 2008 at the University of Auckland.
8. *‘Textuality and orality in earliest Christianity’: presented at the Australasian Society for Classical Studies conference held 2-6 Feb 2008 at the University of Sydney.
9. *‘Indicators of “catholicity” in second and third-century gospel manuscripts’: presented at the first Annual Australasian Christian Conference for the Academy and Church held 30 June-3 July 2009 at the Queensland Theological College, Brisbane.
10. *‘Greek literacy in first-century Palestine in light of papyrus finds in the Judaean desert’: presented in the Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds unit at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting held 20-23 Nov 2010 in Atlanta.
11. *‘Greek in first-century Galilee?’: presented at MATS 2011, the inaugural conference of the
Melanesian Association of Theological Schools held 21-24 June 2011 at Pacific Adventist University.
12. *‘Greek in Early Roman Galilee: the inscriptional evidence re-examined’: presented in the Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds unit at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting held 18-22 Nov 2011 in San Francisco.
13. *‘The end of orality: transmission of gospel tradition in the second and third centuries’: presented at Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World X: Tradition, Transmission, and Adaptation, held 27 June-1 July 2012 at the University of Michigan.
14. *‘The missiological implications of a counter-cultural Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount’: presented at MATS 2013, the annual meeting of the Melanesian Association of Theological Schools, held 25-28 June 2013 at Goroka, Papua New Guinea.
15. *‘A thoroughly literary text: the Greek papyri of the Gospel of Thomas’: presented in the Papyrology, Epigraphy, and the New Testament seminar at the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas annual meeting held 23-27 July 2013 in Perth.
16. *‘The public features of second- and second/third-century canonical gospel papyri’: presented in the joint session of the Bible in Ancient and Modern Media and the New Testament Textual Criticism units at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting held 23-26 Nov 2013 in Baltimore.
17. *’The future of theological education in Melanesia: reflections on six years in Papua New Guinea’: opening presentation at MATS 2014, the annual meeting of the Melanesian Association of Theological Schools, held 7-11 July 2014 at Christian Leaders’ Training College, Mt. Hagen, Papua New Guinea.
18. *‘The significance of a correction: orality, literacy, and the composition of P.Egerton inv. 2’: presented in the Papyrology and Early Christian Backgrounds unit at the Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting held 19-22 Nov 2016 in San Antonio.
To download selected articles see: <https://une-au.academia.edu/ScottCharlesworth>.

Memberships


Society of Biblical Literature, since 2005
Australasian Society for Classical Studies, since 2005
International Association of Papyrologists, since 2007
American Society of Papyrologists, since 2014