In the fourth and fifth centuries CE, Christian artistry began to flourish, as elite patrons sponsored decorative initiatives for basilica churches throughout the Mediterranean basin. But what about the first three centuries? Living prior to the Constantinian age of tolerance, did Christ followers of that period engage in artistic expressions that ......
Tradition, Identity, and Christianity's Mother Tongue
Aramaic, one of the great international languages of antiquity, left an indelible mark on the New Testament. Jesus and his first followers knew it because for centuries Aramaic had been a primary means of communication in the Middle East, and it remained current long after their time. Usage of Aramaic within Jesus' movement, initially with or ......
This book is a clarion call to proclaim that, in all things, women and men follow Christ and pursue the callings that God alone invites us to. We all alike go where Jesus sends and serve how he instructs. If women were prohibited from participating in all parts of kingdom work, why would God equip women with so many gifts and talents in those ......
Preaching is typically considered to be a practice confined to ministry within the institutional church. Studies of preaching are often filtered through the lens of the pulpit, with Black women rarely positioned as central figures in this discourse. Proclamation Beyond the Pulpit lifts up Sojourner Truth, Nannie Helen Burroughs, and Fannie Lou ......
Literary and Philosophical Investigations of the Apocalypse of John
The book of Revelation is strange, to put it mildly. An informed reading reveals John's pastoral intent is very much in keeping with typical New Testament instruction regarding God, Jesus, and the life that Christ followers are meant to live in the face of seductive idolatry and intense oppression. With a message so simple, why would John cloud it ......
Paul's Ethnicity Between Continuity and Discontinuity
The assertion that Paul remained a Jew throughout his life requires little further justification. However, questions remain, including, How can his relationship with Judaism be positively articulated? and How was that relationship influenced by Paul's belief in Jesus as the Messiah? A particular difficulty arises here: reconciling the sometimes ......
The devil-styled by Calvin as "God's adversary and ours"-is ubiquitous in the witness of the New Testament. Yet contemporary Christian doctrine generally remains dumbfounded about what to do with him. At the same time, our present is marked by a resurgence in the language of the "demonic"-that is, invocation of pervasive, radical, and perhaps ......
Scholars today tend to view the birth narratives of Jesus as substantially less reliable than the rest of the canonical Gospel accounts. Indeed, many recent studies of the historical Jesus pass over his birth altogether or provide only scant commentary. A primary reason for this skepticism is intent oriented: ancient birth narratives (so the ......
Ecclesiastes and the Man Who Outshone the Sun King
This is an unusual book, rich with intrigue. It is, foremost, a book about Ecclesiastes-not a commentary, not another scholarly monograph, but rather a guide to understanding the angle of vision the ancient text asks us to see: that is, how to live our lives within proper limits, how to surrender ourselves to God, and finally how to learn to die. ......
