Slides for an invited talk on the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) for the Greek Paul Project Webinar.

An entry for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception on the topic of Name Theology, how this has evolved in different Abrahamic religions from the scriptural origins.

This article examines the instruction regarding the wood offering and the festival of new oil in fragment 23 of 4QReworked Pentateuch C (4Q365), and in particular its setting at a future temple (‫בית‬) in the land. It argues that while 4Q365 23 represents a departure from earlier versions of Leviticus, it should be considered nonetheless as part o…[Read more]

This article examines the innovative focus on sabbath observance that characterizes the Holiness legislation (“H”). By comparing H’s conception of the sabbath with what is known about this sacred time from other biblical and extrabiblical sources, the article demonstrates that H creatively blends two aspects of the sabbath that were not alway…[Read more]

This article reviews the textual transmission of the ban on local butchery in Leviticus 17:3–4. It explores the importance of the manuscripts from the Dead Sea, in particular 4QLevd and 11Q19, for interpreting the plus at verse 4, attested in the Septuagint and in the Samaritan Pentateuch, as well as the change in address in v. 3, which is found i…[Read more]

In this article, I examine how the apocryphal Acts of John depicts wealthy Christian
converts as part of the “Christianization” of Ephesus. I note how the Acts of John
uses its portrayal of leading citizens not only to critique, but to preserve and
adapt prevailing expectations surrounding Greco-Roman cultic patronage. My
analysis com…[Read more]

This paper examines how the description of Aaron’s vestments in Exod 28 encodes a distinct concept of high priestly leadership. This chapter of Exodus has garnered relatively little attention in biblical scholarship, even among recent and comprehensive treatments of the high priest in the biblical and post-biblical traditions. This general n…[Read more]

Slides for a Q&A session about the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) with staff at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM).

Slides for a Q&A session about the Coherence-Based Genealogical Method (CBGM) with staff at the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM).

This essay explores Maimonides’ explanation of the Bible’s rationale behind the ritual sacrifices, namely to help wean the Jews away from idolatrous rites. After clearly elucidating Maimonides’ stance on the topic, this essay examines his view from different angles with various possible precedents in earlier rabbinic literature for such an under…[Read more]

In this paper I employ social scientific theories that conceptualize space as existing in physical, mental and symbolic fields simultaneously, and combine them with memory studies, in order to offer a new reading of how the authors of Leviticus construed Israel’s cultic origins and what aims they were pursuing with this composition.

Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters, 2018. While many scholars consider that Corinthian slogans are present in 1 Cor 6:12–20, this article argues that the attribution of slogans there is an unnecessary exegetical move based on unconvincing arguments. A reading of the pericope will be presented to demonstrate that slogans are u…[Read more]

Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters, 2018. While many scholars consider that Corinthian slogans are present in 1 Cor 6:12–20, this article argues that the attribution of slogans there is an unnecessary exegetical move based on unconvincing arguments. A reading of the pericope will be presented to demonstrate that slogans are u…[Read more]

[NB. PDF is accepted copy, not published version – to cite, please use published version, JSNT 43:3, 2021, 370-388)] A number of scholars have recognized a verbal allusion to Jon. 4.9 in Mk 14.34. However, the Gethsemane account (Mk 14.32-42) may allude to the narrative of Jon. 4 in other ways not previously observed. Some modern interpreters have…[Read more]

[NB. PDF is accepted copy, not published version – to cite, please use published version, JSNT 43:3, 2021, 370-388)] A number of scholars have recognized a verbal allusion to Jon. 4.9 in Mk 14.34. However, the Gethsemane account (Mk 14.32-42) may allude to the narrative of Jon. 4 in other ways not previously observed. Some modern interpreters have…[Read more]

This article reads Genesis 18-19 in the light of the principal of exchange at work in ancient religious belief concerning divine justice. Genesis 18.1-15 and 19.1-29, as examples of the well-worn tale of the divine visitor, are narrative expressions of confidence in a divine justice that rewards the kind and punishes the inhospitable. In the…[Read more]

This article looks at the repeated gnomic phrase in the Book of Qoheleth, “All is vanity and a chasing after wind” (NRSV) and reads it as a disjunctive parallelism in which the terms lbh and jwr denote mortality and the divine spirit, respectively, thus showing the sense of the phrase to be, “All is mortal, but strives for immortality”. Using R…[Read more]

In this article, I analyse how the Shepherd of Hermas constructs an ancient Christian reading culture through concurrent portrayals of Christian reading, copying and book production. I argue that, by portraying its protagonist Hermas as an idealised reader, scribe and auditor, the Shepherd constructs an early Christian reading culture that…[Read more]

The city of Ephesus experienced a marked civic transformation in Late Antiquity. After having centered its settlements and economic fortunes on its proximity to a deep-water harbor for over a millennium, late antique Ephesus gradually shifted to an inland, fortified settlement on Ayasoluk Hill. While several factors undoubtedly informed this civic…[Read more]

The representations of religious tension between the polytheistic humans and the monotheistic Cylons in the Sci Fi (now Syfy) channel’s hit series Battlestar Galactica (2003–2009) is nowhere more evident than in the human “convert” to monotheism, Gaius Baltar, who struggles to proselytize his minority beliefs to other humans. Ancient Jewish…[Read more]