Table Of ContentAndrie du Toit
Focusing on Paul
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die
neutestamentliche Wissenschaft
und die Kunde der älteren Kirche
Herausgegeben von
James D. G. Dunn · Carl R. Holladay
Hermann Lichtenberger · Jens Schröter
Gregory E. Sterling · Michael Wolter
Band 151
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Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
Andtie du Toit
Focusing on Paul
Persuasion and Theological Design in Romans
and Galatians
Edited by
Cilliers Breytenbach and David S. du Toit
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DE
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Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York
© Printed on acid-frcc paper which falls within the guidelines
of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.
ISBN: 978-3-11-019512-5
ISSN 0171-6441
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Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Berlin
Editors' Preface
On November the 19th 2006 Andrie du Toit turned seventy five. On
occasion of his 60th birthday in 1991, his colleagues and former students
published a wide ranging volume Teologie in Konteks.1 The twenty six
Afrikaans essays dedicated to Andrie du Toit cover the theologies of
almost all New Testament writings. The jubilee's curriculum vitae and
publication list concluded the volume. Remarkably, almost a third of
the contributions were written by former students of Andrie du Toit.
His 75th birthday did not pass unnoticed either. In a volume dedicated
to him Jan G. van der Watt edited eighteen essays on the soteriology of
the New Testament.2 This time, ten of du Toit's former students were
amongst those who joined forces to present a comprehensive view on
the topic.
Andrie du Toit who studied biblical languages and theology at the
University of Pretoria finished his doctoral studies under Oscar Cull-
mann in Basel 1959 with a dissertation titled Der Aspekt der Freude im
urchristlichen Abendmahl.3 After a decade as minister, during which he
finished his master's degree in Greek (1964), he became professor for
New Testament at the University of Pretoria in 1971. Until his retire-
ment in 1993 he acted as mentor for a generation of South African New
Testament scholars, supervising 21 doctoral dissertations.
His appointment resulted in a change of direction in South African
New Testament scholarship. For decades South African New Testament
scholars did their doctoral studies in the Netherlands at the Theological
University of Kampen or at the Free University of Amsterdam. Andrie
du Toit introduced his students to historical critical exegesis in the
German world. Under his tutelage the introduction to the New Testa-
ment of Werner Georg Kümmel, the theology of Leonhard Goppelt,
Günther Bornkamm's books on Jesus and Paul, the commentaries of
1 J.H. Roberts, W.S. Vorster, J.N. Vorster and J.G. van der Watt, eds., Teologie in Konteks
(Pretoria: Orion, 1991).
2 J.G. van der Watt, Salvation in the New Testament (NovTSup 121; Leiden: Brill, 2005).
3 A.B. du Toit, Der Aspekt der Freude im urchristlichen Abendmahl (Winterthur: Keller,
1965).
viii Editors' Preface
Ernst Käsemann on Romans and Rudolf Schnackenburg on the Gospel
of John became compulsory reading for all pre-graduate students of the
New Testament at the University of Pretoria. He strongly advised his
doctoral students to study in Germany. Several of them spent decisive
initial periods of their careers with Rudolf Schnackenburg in Würzburg
and Ferdinand Hahn in Munich. Locally Andrie du Toit joined forces
with Johannes R Louw, who became professor for Greek at the Univer-
sity of Pretoria in 1972. Whilst Louw introduced students to the linguis-
tics and semantics of New Testament Greek, du Toit integrated such
linguistic insight into traditional exegetical research, inaugurating a
paradigm shift within historical critical methodology.
In 1965 du Toit co-founded the New Testament Society of South Af-
rica (NTSSA). For fifteen years he played a seminal role as the society's
first secretary and editor of its journal Neotestamentica. Through the
NTSSA and his students who held and hold teaching positions in New
Testament Studies at several South African universities he exerted pro-
found influence on the development of New Testament Studies in
South Africa4 and can rightly be called the doyen of modern South Afri-
can New Testament scholarship.5
The role Andrie du Toit played in opposing apartheid within the
Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa and in persuading its synod to
move from the support of apartheid in 1974 to its condemnation of it in
1986 and 1990 deserves to be told elsewhere. Suffice it to say that he
always understood his scholarship in service of the ecumenical church
and strongly supported the process of church unification amongst the
Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa.
The academic publications of Andrie du Toit cover almost all the
writings of the New Testament and aspects of early Judaism.6 Genera-
tions of South African students of theology are grateful for his efforts to
provide them with an original, affordable and reliable series of guides
4 Cf. P.G.R. de Villiers, "Turbulent Times and Golden Years. The First Twenty Five
Years of the New Testament Society of South Africa (1965-1990) - Part One," Neot
39.1 (2005): 75-109; id., "Methodology and hermeneutics in a challenging socio-poli-
tical context. The first Twenty Five Years of The New Testament Society of South Af-
rica (1965-1990) - Part Two," Neot 39.1 (2005): 229-253.
5 Cf. du Toit's modest review with the focus on the work of others in his article "Die
opkoms en huidige stand van die Nuwe-Testamentiese wetenskap in Suid-Afrika.
Deel 1," HTS 49 (1993): 503-514; "Deel 2," HTS 49 (1993): 786-809; "Deel 3," HTS 50
(1994): 531-545.
6 Cf. his bibliography in this volume, pp. 405ff.
Editors' Preface ix
to the New Testament.7 The main focus of his own research however
was and still is on Paul, especially on the letters to the Romans and the
Galatians. At various occasions he addressed either the NTSSA or the
international SBL or the SNTS focusing on Paul.
Andrie du Toit cordially supported our proposal to publish this se-
lection of his essays and suggested the title. In numerous other ways he
facilitated the publication and in the final stages of the process he read
the manuscript with great care. The readers and the editors are in-
debted to him and to Matthias Müller who prepared the camera ready
copy of the manuscript and, together with Ines Luthe, the registers. The
editing process included some modification of the original articles,
which consisted mainly of rectifying some obvious corrigenda and sty-
listic improvements. Occasionally the author added a postscript indi-
cating how his mind has changed. Since these articles appeared in vari-
ous periodicals, each with its own orthographical requirements,
standardizing them was possible only up to a point. In order to achieve
the greatest possible measure of uniformity in this respect, abbrevia-
tions had been standardized according to the SBL Guidelines.8 We
thank the editors of the journals and monograph series in which the
original publications appeared for the permission to republish them in
this volume. We also express our thanks to the editorial board of the
BZNW, especially Jens Schröter and Michael Wolter, for their willing-
ness to incorporate this volume in the series. Furthermore we thank
Carsten Burfeind of Verlag de Gruyter for his competent technical assis-
tance in producing this volume.
It is with great personal gratitude for the way in which Andrie du
Toit introduced us to Pauline exegesis that we share the fruits of his
focus on Paul with an international audience. With our colleagues in
South Africa we take great pride in our former teacher being elected to
preside, deo volente, over the forthcoming 63rd general meeting of the
Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas in Lund in 2008. We wish him good
health in the joy he characteristically takes in life - the study of the
New Testament included.
Berlin, Spring 2007 Cilliers Breytenbach and David du Toit
7 Cf. A.B. du Toit, ed., Guide to the New Testament I, IV and V (Pretoria: NG Kerkboek-
handel, 1978-1990) and II and VI (Pretoria: Orion, 1993-1998); vol. Ill is in the press.
8 P.A. Alexander et. al., eds., The SBL Handbook of Style. For Ancient Near Eastern, Bibli-
cal, and Early Christian Studies (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1999).
