Podcasts about early christian literature

While scholars of ancient Mediterranean literature have focused their efforts heavily on explaining why authors would write pseudonymously or anonymously, less time has been spent exploring why an author would write orthonymously (that is, under their own name). The Author in Early Christian Literature (Cambridge UP, 2025) explores how early Christian writers began to care deeply about 'correct' attribution of both Christian and non-Christian literature for their own apologetic purposes, as well as how scholars have overlooked the function that orthonymity plays in some early Christian texts. Orthonymity was not only a decision made by a writer regarding how to attribute one's own writings, but also how to classify other writers' texts based on proper or improper attribution. This Element urges us to examine forms of authorship that are often treated as an unexamined default, as well as to more robustly consider when, how, for whom, and for what purposes an instance of authorial attribution is deemed 'correct. New Books in Late Antiquity is Presented by Ancient Jew Review Chance Bonar is a postdoc at Tufts University. Michael Motia teaches in the classics and religious studies department at UMass Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

While scholars of ancient Mediterranean literature have focused their efforts heavily on explaining why authors would write pseudonymously or anonymously, less time has been spent exploring why an author would write orthonymously (that is, under their own name). The Author in Early Christian Literature (Cambridge UP, 2025) explores how early Christian writers began to care deeply about 'correct' attribution of both Christian and non-Christian literature for their own apologetic purposes, as well as how scholars have overlooked the function that orthonymity plays in some early Christian texts. Orthonymity was not only a decision made by a writer regarding how to attribute one's own writings, but also how to classify other writers' texts based on proper or improper attribution. This Element urges us to examine forms of authorship that are often treated as an unexamined default, as well as to more robustly consider when, how, for whom, and for what purposes an instance of authorial attribution is deemed 'correct. New Books in Late Antiquity is Presented by Ancient Jew Review Chance Bonar is a postdoc at Tufts University. Michael Motia teaches in the classics and religious studies department at UMass Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

While scholars of ancient Mediterranean literature have focused their efforts heavily on explaining why authors would write pseudonymously or anonymously, less time has been spent exploring why an author would write orthonymously (that is, under their own name). The Author in Early Christian Literature (Cambridge UP, 2025) explores how early Christian writers began to care deeply about 'correct' attribution of both Christian and non-Christian literature for their own apologetic purposes, as well as how scholars have overlooked the function that orthonymity plays in some early Christian texts. Orthonymity was not only a decision made by a writer regarding how to attribute one's own writings, but also how to classify other writers' texts based on proper or improper attribution. This Element urges us to examine forms of authorship that are often treated as an unexamined default, as well as to more robustly consider when, how, for whom, and for what purposes an instance of authorial attribution is deemed 'correct. New Books in Late Antiquity is Presented by Ancient Jew Review Chance Bonar is a postdoc at Tufts University. Michael Motia teaches in the classics and religious studies department at UMass Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While scholars of ancient Mediterranean literature have focused their efforts heavily on explaining why authors would write pseudonymously or anonymously, less time has been spent exploring why an author would write orthonymously (that is, under their own name). The Author in Early Christian Literature (Cambridge UP, 2025) explores how early Christian writers began to care deeply about 'correct' attribution of both Christian and non-Christian literature for their own apologetic purposes, as well as how scholars have overlooked the function that orthonymity plays in some early Christian texts. Orthonymity was not only a decision made by a writer regarding how to attribute one's own writings, but also how to classify other writers' texts based on proper or improper attribution. This Element urges us to examine forms of authorship that are often treated as an unexamined default, as well as to more robustly consider when, how, for whom, and for what purposes an instance of authorial attribution is deemed 'correct. New Books in Late Antiquity is Presented by Ancient Jew Review Chance Bonar is a postdoc at Tufts University. Michael Motia teaches in the classics and religious studies department at UMass Boston

The authors of the New Testament were playing with genres, philosophies and themes that were well-known in Greco-Roman literature. Guest Robyn Faith Walsh teaches us how to read the Bible for what it was in the 1st and 2nd centuries — part and parcel of a wider literary world. Robyn's eye-opening new book is The Origins of Early Christian Literature and we can't recommend it highly enough. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINE!If you like the podcast, please consider supporting the show through the Time Travelers Club, our Patreon. We love making the show, but since we don't run ads we rely on listener contributions to cover our costs. Please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a $5/month subscription. (Think of it as $1.25 an episode!)DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a handsome Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle. BTM BOOK CLUBWe're excited to announce the first meeting of the Biblical Time Machine Book Club! Members of the Time Travelers Club are invited for a live Zoom discussion of Helen and Joan Taylor's book, Women Remembered: Jesus' Female Disciples. Grab your copy of the book and we'll see you on Saturday, September 28 at 10am EDT and 5pm UK. Support the Show.Theme music written and performed by Dave Roos

Co-host Beth Stovell speaks with Meghan Henning and Nils Neumann about their research and writing, including their new book, Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion: Ekphrasis in Early Christian Literature (Eerdmans, 2024). Meghan Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Her previous books include Educating Early Christians through the Rhetoric of Hell and Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christianity. Nils Neumann is professor of biblical theology at Leibniz University Hannover. His previous books include Armut und Reichtum im Lukasevangelium und in der kynischen Philosophie and Lukas und Menippos.

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Pastor Garrison GreeneTEXT: Galatians 4:4-7BIG IDEA: The Son of God was sent so that we would have the possession and pleasure of adoption as sons of God.OUTLINE: 1. The Process of Adoption (vs. 4-5) 2. The Pleasure of Adoption (v. 6) 3. The Privilege of Adoption (v. 7)RESOURCES: ESV Study Bible; A Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature 3rd ed. by Walter Bauer, ed. by Frederick Danker; Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in Galatians by David Platt, Tony Merida; TGC Galatians Commentary by Matthew Harmon & John Sloat; The New American Commentary: Galatians by Timothy George; Dictionary of Biblical Imagery by Leeland Ryken, James Wilhoit, and Tremper Longman; The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Epistle to the Galatians by F.F. Bruce; Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Galatians by Thomas Schreiner; Joy Unspeakable: Power & Renewal in the Holy Spirit by Martyn Lloyd-Jones

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In her book Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (Yale University Press, 2021), Meghan Henning illuminates how the bodies that populate hell in early Christian literature are punished after death in spaces that mirror real carceral spaces, effectually criminalizing those bodies on Earth. Contextualizing the apocalypses alongside ancient medical texts, inscriptions, philosophy, and patristic writings, this book demonstrates the ways that Christian depictions of hell intensified and preserved ancient notions of gender and bodily normativity that continue to inform Christian identity. Meghan R. Henning is associate professor of Christian origins at the University of Dayton. Schneur Zalman Newfield is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Hunter College, City University of New York, and the author of Degrees of Separation: Identity Formation While Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Judaism (Temple University Press, 2020). Visit him online at ZalmanNewfield.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

The world feels gray. Sometimes we sing “this world is not my home.” Other times we sing “This is my Father's world.” Which is it? The answer, of course, is “yes.” This is an important truth when discussing how to engage culture. And it helps us adopt the role of “witness.”The sermon today is titled "Bearing Witness." It is the third installment in our series "The Church Before The Watching World." The Scripture reading is from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (ESV). Originally preached at the West Side Church of Christ (Searcy, AR) on August 6, 2023. All lessons fit under one of 5 broad categories: Begin, Discover, Grow, Learn, and Serve. This sermon is filed under SERVE: Announcing the Kingdom.Click here if you would like to watch the sermon or read a transcript.Footnotes (Sources and References Used In Today's Podcast):The classic categories can be found in H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951).John Stackhouse, Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (OUP, 2008)."As one preacher noted." Matt Chandler of Village Church, Christ and Culture Series Introduction.Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace: What Ever Happened to the Good News? (Zondervan, 2014).For the definition of skēnopoios as "maker of stage properties," see A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed (BDAG), p.928.Image of an Orthodox priest standing between protesters and the police in the center of Kiev on January 22, 2014 is by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP/Getty Images available here.I'd love to connect with you!Watch sermons and find transcripts at nathanguy.com.Follow along each Sunday through YouTube livestream and find a study guide and even kids notes on the sermon notes page.Follow me @nathanpguy (facebook/instagram/twitter)Subscribe to my email newsletter on substack.

This talk was given on March 6th, 2023 at Oxford University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He specializes in the study of early Christian theology, especially the history of Trinitarian theology and early Christian exegesis. He is also deeply interested in the relationship between the shape of early Christian modes of discourse and reflection and the manner in which renewals of Catholic theology during the last hundred years have attempted to engage forms of modern historical consciousness and sought to negotiate the shape of appropriate scriptural interpretation in modernity, even as they remain faithful to the practices of classical Catholic discourse and contemplation. His publications include Augustine and the Trinity (2010) and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Trinitarian Theology (2004). He is co-editor of the Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004) and of the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (forthcoming). Professor Ayres has co-edited the Blackwell Challenges in Contemporary Theology series (since 1997), the Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity series (since 2007), and has just co-founded with Fortress Press the Renewal: Conversations in Catholic Theology series. He serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Augustinian Studies. He has also served on the board of the North American Patristics Society.

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Dr. Lewis Ayres about his latest Thomistic Institute, "Does Tradition Live? Do Doctrines 'Develop'?" Does Tradition 'Develop' Over Time? w/ Prof. Lewis Ayres and Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/does-tradition-live-do-doctrines-develop-prof-lewis-ayres For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He specializes in the study of early Christian theology, especially the history of Trinitarian theology and early Christian exegesis. He is also deeply interested in the relationship between the shape of early Christian modes of discourse and reflection and the manner in which renewals of Catholic theology during the last hundred years have attempted to engage forms of modern historical consciousness and sought to negotiate the shape of appropriate scriptural interpretation in modernity, even as they remain faithful to the practices of classical Catholic discourse and contemplation. His publications include Augustine and the Trinity (2010) and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Trinitarian Theology (2004). He is co-editor of the Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004) and of the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (forthcoming). Professor Ayres has co-edited the Blackwell Challenges in Contemporary Theology series (since 1997), the Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity series (since 2007), and has just co-founded with Fortress Press the Renewal: Conversations in Catholic Theology series. He serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Augustinian Studies. He has also served on the board of the North American Patristics Society.

This lecture was given at Trinity College Dublin on November 17, 2022. For more information, visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He specializes in the study of early Christian theology, especially the history of Trinitarian theology and early Christian exegesis. He is also deeply interested in the relationship between the shape of early Christian modes of discourse and reflection and the manner in which renewals of Catholic theology during the last hundred years have attempted to engage forms of modern historical consciousness and sought to negotiate the shape of appropriate scriptural interpretation in modernity, even as they remain faithful to the practices of classical Catholic discourse and contemplation. His publications include Augustine and the Trinity (2010) and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Trinitarian Theology (2004). He is co-editor of the Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004) and of the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (forthcoming). Professor Ayres has co-edited the Blackwell Challenges in Contemporary Theology series (since 1997), the Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity series (since 2007), and has just co-founded with Fortress Press the Renewal: Conversations in Catholic Theology series. He serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Augustinian Studies. He has also served on the board of the North American Patristics Society.

Continuing our series on Disability & Theology we are joined by Dr. Meghan Henning to talk about Hell & Disability in Early Christian Literature. Dr. Henning is Associate Professor of Christian Origins and the Director of Undergraduate Programs at the University of Dayton (in Ohio), and the author of Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature (published by Yale University Press). At the outset of our conversation, Dr. Henning shares her personal and familial experience with disability and how that led her into disability studies, and from there the bulk of our conversation is focused on the representation of damned bodies in Hell within early Christian literature, particularly apocalyptic texts from the first few centuries of Christianity. Notably, Dr. Henning highlights the way that bodies in Hell are generally depicted as effeminate and disabled, which is a distinct development within Christian texts relative to broader culture, and she explains how/why this link would have been made in the ancient world. This conversation covers a difficult topic, but it highlights the way that ableism and misogyny, among other things, affects early Christian reflection on the afterlife, which ought to challenge our contemporary perspectives on disability, gender, and eschatology. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Stephanie Kate Judd.

Hugo Lundhaug, Professor of Biblical Reception and Early Christian Literature, joins Karin Kukkonen in conversation about Coptic Apocrypha and their relationship with the canonical Bible. Learn more about the way the “Biblical storyworld” has evolved, how cognitive approaches help us navigate the historical distance to late antiquity, and how all of the above is connected to the universe of Harry Potter.  Hugo's reading recommendations David Herman, Storytelling and the Sciences of Mind Gilles Fauconnier & Mark Turner, The Way We Think Marie-Laure Ryan, Possible Worlds, Artificial Intelligence, and Narrative Theory Mark J. P. Wolf, Building Imaginary Worlds The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. James M. Robinson More New Testament Apocrypha, ed. Tony Burke Post-production: Bård Ingebrigtsen & Vera Syrovatskaya. NB: We apologise for the mismatched level of the tracks in the beginning of this episode. The sound is back to normal after 6.24. Written alternative

Fr. Khomych's handout can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mezrz8pr This talk was given on November 15th, 2022, at the University of Oxford. For more information, please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Khomych is a Lecturer in Early Christian Literature and Byzantine Theology at Liverpool Hope University. After the fall of communism, he began my theological education in Ukraine and entered the Lviv Theological Academy (later on transformed into the Ukrainian Catholic University) at the moment when the theological tradition had just been revived. Shortly thereafter, he continued his studies at the Faculty of Theology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium), where he obtained his Master in Religious Studies as well as his Master and Doctoral Degree in Theology. His research interests lie mostly in early Christian literature, the writings of the Apostolic Fathers (1st & 2nd centuries) in particular, as well as later Patristic writings of the Byzantine period, including Old Slavonic transmission of early Christian literature. As a Catholic priest, he is involved in pastoral care of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in the UK and in chaplaincy at St Edward's College in Liverpool.

One of the great ironies of the Christian religion is that the person Christians worship isn't a Christian. Jesus was born, raised, and died a Jew. He might even find it odd that an entire new religion grew up out of his short life and painful death. He is without question, the most popular person to have ever walked the earth. But what do we really know about this first century Galilean? If we are honest, not much. He was born to humble parents under sketchy circumstances, he grew to become an itinerant preacher and wisdom teacher. The poor loved him, drunks drank with him, and sex workers called him friend. Some believed him a prophet, others thought he was the Messiah. The religious elite saw him as a threat and the Roman Empire eventually murdered him as a political revolutionary. But what cannot be questioned about the historic Jesus is his Jewish identity. He was rooted in first century Judaism. He celebrated the Jewish festivals. He went on pilgrimage to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, he taught in the Synagogue. He was a miracle worker and mystic. If you grew up in the church, Jesus was presented as the first Christian, a man who dedicated his life to dismantling Judaism in route to founding a new religion. But this view is not only historically inaccurate, it fails to account for Jesus' Jewish identity. In this erudite episode, scholar Amy-Jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that our appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place. Levine's humor and informed truth-telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus in the modern world. How have we gotten him right? How have we gotten him wrong? What might we learn about him by remembering and studying his Jewish identity? What would Jesus have believed about hell, sexuality, women, and the Bible in his first century Jewish context?We've all met Jesus before. Or, have we? Meeting Jesus as a first century Jew just might change not only how you see yourself, but your faith tradition as well. BioAmy Jill Levine (“AJ”) is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, at Vanderbilt. Her publications include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi; six children's books (with Sandy Sasso); The Gospel of Luke (with Ben Witherington III, the first biblical commentary by a Jew and an Evangelical); The Jewish Annotated New Testament (co-edited with Marc Brettler), The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (with Marc Brettler), The Pharisees (co-edited with Joseph Sievers), and thirteen edited volumes of the Feminist Companions to the New Testament and Early Christian Literature. Along with Introduction to the Old Testament for the Teaching Company, her Beginner's Guide series for Abingdon Press includes Sermon on the Mount, Light of the World, Entering the Passion of Jesus, The Difficult Words of Jesus, Witness at the Cross, and Signs and Wonders. The first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome's Pontifical Biblical Institute, an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the first winner of the Seelisberg Prize for Jewish-Christian Relations, AJ describes herself as an unorthodox member of an Orthodox synagogue and a Yankee Jewish feminist who works to counter biblical interpretations that exclude and oppress.If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and a review

With the vast majority of what would call the "Old Testament" composed and edited, and with Judea under continual military and political threats from outside, the Jewish theological literature did not simply freeze in place.  In these last few centuries leading into the 1st c. CE, scrolls such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees, and Tobit demonstrate that the views of angels, demons, and the roles of these beings in everyday life are very much continuing to be developed. Books: John J. Collins.  Daniel.  Hermeneia.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 1993. Michael Heiser.  Demons:  What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness.  Lexham Press:  Bellingham, WA, 2020. Michael Heiser.  Angels:  What the Bible Really Says About God's Heavenly Host.  Lexham Press:  Bellingham, WA, 2018. John Walton, "Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel."  In Windows to the Ancient World of the Hebrew Bible.  Bill Arnold, Nancy Erickson, and John Walton, eds.  Eisenbrauns:  Winona Lake, 2014.  229-45. George Nickelsburg.  1 Enoch.  Hermeneia.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2001.  2 vols. James VanderKam.  Jubilees.  Hermeneia.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2018.  2 vols. James VanderKam.  "Demons."  In Demons:  The Demonology of the Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in the Context of their Environment.  Tübingen:  Mohr Siebeck, 2003.  339-64. James VanderKam.  "Mastema in the Qumran Literature and the Book of Jubilees."  In Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls:  John Collins at Seventy.  Joel Baden, Hindy Najman, Eileen Schuller, eds.  JSJSup 175; Leiden:  Brill, 2017.  1346-60. Karel Van der Toorn.  "The Theology of Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel – Popular Belief and Scholarly Speculation."  In Demons:  The Demonology of the Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in the Context of their Environment.  Tübingen:  Mohr Siebeck, 2003.  61-83. Géza Xeravits.  "The Angel's Self-Revelation in Tobit 12."  In Sibyls, Scriptures, and Scrolls:  John Collins at Seventy.  Joel Baden, Hindy Najman, Eileen Schuller, eds.  JSJSup 175; Leiden:  Brill, 2017.  1399-1417. Artwork: "Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre," Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647).

NT Pod 98 is a conversation with Prof. Robyn Faith Walsh, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Miami University. It is 58 minutes long:NT Pod 98: The Origins of Early Christian Literature Without Jesus (mp3) This podcast discussesRobyn Faith Walsh, The Origins of Early Christian Literature: Contextualizing the New Testament Within Greco-Roman Literary Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021)Feel free to leave your feedback below or on Twitter or on our Facebook page. Thanks to Ram2000, "Me and You", for the opening theme, released under a Creative Commons agreement.

Let's Think about Music in the Early Church: What did leaders in the early church have to say about music? Perhaps surprisingly, their general view of music is relatively low. And when they did praise music, they usually qualified their statements. Crawford and I cover the four main areas that the Church Fathers and other early church leaders address when they talk about music: musical metaphor, the academic discipline of music (ars musica), pagan music (instruments=bad!), and good/Christian uses of music in Eucharistic services, agape meals and other social settings, and private devotional life. Listener Question: Kirsten wonders how choir members can give an offering:  "It drives me nuts when choir members have no easy way to participate in the offering! Often there’s no plate (and the choir is maybe even singing during the offering); sometimes it’s possible to dash up right after the service and stick an envelope in the plate at the front, but sometimes it’s whisked away before choir members would even have a chance to get there, especially if you’re staying put and listening to the postlude." Enjoying this podcast episode? Click here to find other Music and the Church episodes, or subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Resources: Music in Early Christian Literature by James McKinnonI'm a Church Choir Director and/or Organist Facebook Group

Everett Ferguson

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. This program, featuring Prof. Hindy Najman, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, and Dean Margaret M. Mitchell, and moderated by Jonathan Soyars, PhD student in New Testament and Early Christian Literature, explores a variety of questions around the art of lecturing.  Profs. Najman and Mitchell, both seasoned lecturers, offer reflections on their experiences lecturing in different pedagogical settings.  Cosponsored by the Early Christian Studies Workshop, the Hebrew Bible Workshop, and the Bible Area Club. Recorded in Swift Hall on February 25, 2014.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. This program, featuring Prof. Hindy Najman, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Yale University, and Dean Margaret M. Mitchell, and moderated by Jonathan Soyars, PhD student in New Testament and Early Christian Literature, explores a variety of questions around the art of lecturing.  Profs. Najman and Mitchell, both seasoned lecturers, offer reflections on their experiences lecturing in different pedagogical settings.  Cosponsored by the Early Christian Studies Workshop, the Hebrew Bible Workshop, and the Bible Area Club. Recorded in Swift Hall on February 25, 2014.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. 3:00-4:00pm Welcome Margaret M. Mitchell, Dean and Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature

Marvin Meyer was one of the foremost scholars on early Christianity and texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. He was Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, where he also directed of the Albert Schweitzer Institute.