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Moore’s “Judith” and Koester and Patterson’s “Gospel of Thomas” Named Best BR Articles
Carey A. Moore’s “Judith—The Case of the Pious Killer,” published in the February 1990 issue of BR, has received the Fellner Award for the best article of 1990. The award, the fourth in a continuing series, carries a $500 prize. A second prize of $250 went to Helmut Koester and Stephen J. Patterson for “The Gospel of Thomas—Does It Contain Authentic Sayings of Jesus?” which appeared in the April 1990 issue.
The judges were Kent H. Richards, professor of Old Testament at the Iliff School of Theology, Denver, Colorado, and Sarah J. Tanzer, associate professor of Judaism and Christian origins at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois. In a joint statement, they said that Moore’s article was “balanced, well-written and informative” in its “highlighting of the great, irony, humor, patriotism and piety of the Book of Judith” and in its exploration of “possible reasons for Judith’s exclusion from the canon.” Two aspects of the article that they found “especially interesting are the various understandings of the character of Judith (from Freudian, feminist and moral viewpoints) and the possible misinterpretations of the book—most plausibly on account of its irony—which may have caused it to be excluded from the canon.”
Moore, the Amanda Rupert Strong Professor of Religion at Gettysburg College, is the author of the highly praised Anchor Bible volumes, Judith and Esther. Moore has also written “Eight Questions Most Frequently Asked About Esther,” BR 03:01 and “How I Almost Climbed Cheops’ Pyramid,” BAR 16:06.
Commenting on Koester and Patterson’s article, the judges said that “among its most engaging aspects are: its argument for an early date for the Gospel of Thomas and reflection on what that may mean—sayings that go back at least to the earliest followers of Jesus; the parallels between the Gospel of Thomas and Q; and the different foci of early Christian faith—for Paul, the significance was Jesus’ death and resurrection, but for Q and Thomas, the significance was found in his words alone.” The judges concluded that “it is a thorough piece that demonstrates beautifully how and why such seemingly intricate subjects should be communicated to a wide audience,”
Koester, a leading authority on the history of the first centuries of Christianity, is the John H. Morison Professor of New Testament Studies and the Winn Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the Harvard Divinity School. His major contributions have been studies of the Gospels and other Christian traditions, including his two-volume Introduction to the New Testament (Fortress, 1982).
Patterson is assistant professor of New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary, in St. Louis, Missouri, and the author of The Gospel of Thomas and the Jesus Tradition (Sonoma, CA: Polebridge Press, 1990).
The Leopold and Clara M. Fellner Charitable Foundation, established to perpetuate the family name, donated the funds for the awards. The foundation is administered by trustee Frederick L. Simmons of the Los Angeles law firm Simmons, Ritchie, Segal and Stark.
Moore’s “Judith” and Koester and Patterson’s “Gospel of Thomas” Named Best BR Articles
