In this episode of The Two Cities podcast we are joined by Dr. Beverly Roberts Gaventa, who is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Baylor University (Waco, TX), and the author of When in Romans: An Invitation to Linger with the Gospel According to Paul (Baker, 2016). Over the course of our conversation we talk about Dr. Gaventa’s current research on Romans for the New Testament Library series, noting some distinctive features of her reading...
In this episode Dr. John Anthony Dunne, Grace Emmett, Grace Sangalang Ng, and Rev. Daniel Parham are joined by Dr. Lisa Bowens, associate professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, and the author of African-American Readings of Paul: Reception, Resistance, and Transformation, which was published by Eerdmans in 2020. In this episode Dr. Bowens talks to us about her research on the primary sources from the 18th century on through the Civil Rights movement,...
In this episode, Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Grace Emmett are joined by Dr. Valérie Nicolet, Associate Professor of New Testament at the Protestant Institute of Theology in Paris, to continue an earlier podcast conversation on Paul and masculinity. Our conversation begins with Paul’s self-presentation, esp. in Galatians, and then extends to address the fuzziness of gender categories in antiquity, as seen with Thecla from the Acts of Paul and Thecla. Dr. Nicolet...
Kicking off a discussion on gender in the Bible and how this syncs up the Western Church and broader culture, Amber Bowen, Dr. John Anthony Dunne, and Dr. Logan Williams chat with Grace Emmett, a PhD Candidate in New Testament at King’s College, London, who recently submitted a thesis entitled, “Becoming A Man: Unmanly/Manly Self-Presentation in the Pauline Epistles.” In this episode we discuss masculinity as presented in the Pauline epistles and reflected in ancient...
This past Sunday I had the privilege of preaching at my local church here in Minneapolis—Mill City Church. We’ve been reading through and preaching through the New Testament this year as a church, which in hindsight feels really appropriate in 2020. In this sermon I tried to provide a concise overview of the main issue in Galatians (Should the Gentile males in Galatia be circumcised?) and how Paul addresses it (Nope!). Summarizing a single text...
Bethel Seminary, where I have the privilege to serve as assistant professor of New Testament, recently started a brand new podcast called Whole & Holy. The podcast is primarily intended to serve the church, especially pastors and alumni of Bethel Seminary. So far there have been a number of interesting episodes about hiring and firing, children’s ministry, disability ministry, political involvement, Christian leadership, and more. If you’re keen to subscribe, you can find it wherever...
Recently my new article on Ephesians 5.18–21 was published in the Polish Catholic Theological Journal, Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia. The article is called “Filled with the Spirit: Wine and Worship in Levitical Light (Ephesians 5.18–21).” In this piece I try to make sense of a number of intriguing issues related to Ephesians 5.18–21 in its literary context which, in my opinion, have not been addressed in a fully convincing manner. This piece represents something of a signpost...
One week ago I had the privilege of presenting Prof. N. T. Wright with a Festschrift (German for ‘celebration writing’), which is a sub-genre of scholarly books comprised of essays from former students, colleagues, and long-time friends. This kind of book celebrates the contributions of a particular scholar, typically on the occasion of a major birthday or retirement. Festschriften are usually intentionally broad, containing a hodgepodge of essays that contributors choose to submit in honor of a particular scholar...
My new article in Journal of Biblical & Theological Studies is now officially out. The paper is entitled, “Eschatological Emphases in 1 Thessalonians and Galatians: Distinct Argumentative Strategies Related to External Conflict and Audience Response.” In this article I am addressing a couple of different issues at once. To begin, there is the issue of the chronological ordering of Paul’s letters. Most scholars tend to think that 1 Thessalonians is the earliest and most primitive example of...
Reading through Susan Eastman’s wonderful little study Paul and the Person over Christmas break has afforded me a chance to re-examine the kind of anthropology Paul takes for granted in his first letter to the Corinthians. The task of reevaluating traditional concepts of anthropology as a whole is enjoying something of a moment in biblical studies (e.g., the Los Angeles Theology Conference just concluded their annual meeting this weekend covering the theme of Theological Anthropology)....
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