Both 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees portray the Sabbath law as a central point of con- tention during the struggle over Judean law and tradition in the second century BCE (e.g., 1 Macc 1:41-50; 2 Macc 6:4-6). The Hasmonean family in particular is at times high- lighted as holding the Sabbath in high regard (2 Macc 5:27). In every available source,…[Read more]

Many scholars recognize the importance of authority in the process of scripturalization. The presence of words like “authority” and “au- thoritative” in definitions of the term “scripture” is ubiquitous. Many also identify authoritative status for a text as an important step on the way toward it becoming scripture. However, “authority”…[Read more]

The majority of interpreters conclude that in Rom 2:17-29 Paul addresses an ethnic Jew. In contrast, Runar M. Thorsteinsson has argued recently that Paul addresses a gentile, specifically a gentile who has judaized and now thinks of himself as a Jew. This article provides further support for Thorsteinsson’s argument, arguing that Paul, contrary t…[Read more]

Though the “many for one” political ideology was widespread in the first century CE, Mark 10:45 rejects this ideology. Instead, this type of rule is contrasted with Jesus’s own rule as a servant king, sacrificing himself (the one) for his followers (the many).

The lines between death and life were neither fixed nor finite to the peoples of the ancient Mediterranean. For most, death was a passageway into a new and uncertain existence. The dead were not so much extinguished as understood to be elsewhere, and many perceived the deceased to continue to exercise agency among the living. Even for those more…[Read more]

List of “Gospel Thrillers” as part of work in progress

List of “Gospel Thrillers” as part of work in progress

Lecture delivered to near eastern studies and religious studies programs.

The Lost Generation

Sordid Bodies: Christ’s Circumcision and Sacrifice in Origen’s Fourteenth Homily on Luke

Encyclopedia entry

Encyclopedia entry

Passing: Jesus’ Circumcision and Strategic Self-Sacrifice

Annotation

Dictionary/encyclopedia entry

Jews and Christians

‘Papinian Commands One Thing, Our Paul Another’: Roman Christians and Jewish Law in the Collatio Legum Mosaicarum et Romanarum

Revised version of “A Family Affair: Marriage, Class, and Ethics in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles.” Journal of Early Christian Studies (1999)

The Lion and the Lamb: Reconsidering ‘Jewish-Christian Relations’ in Antiquity.

Visible Ghosts and Invisible Demons: The Place of Jews in Early Christian Terra Sancta