New Testament Review: Recent Episodes
New Testament Review
How did the first readers of the gospels think about their relationship to one another? A discussion of Ian's first book, The Hypothesis of the Gospels: Narrative Traditions in Hellenistic Reading Culture (2025).
Where did all the pagans go? A discussion of Christian persecution of pagans from Ramsay MacMullen's book, Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth to Eighth Century (1999).
Was Marcion an ancient textual critic? A discussion of Ian N Mills, "Marcion as Textual Critic? The Conventions of Roman Scholarship and Heresiological Rhetoric" (JECS 2025).
Was Jesus crucified for claiming to be the Messiah? Or did Christians only attribute this title to Jesus after his resurrection? A discussion of Nils Dahl's "The Crucified Messiah."
How does the Gospel of John tell its story? A discussion of Margaret Davies, Rhetoric and Reference in the Fourth Gospel with Mark Goodacre.
Who was Junia? And was that really her name? A discussion of Bernadette Brooten's "Junia Outstanding among the Apostles (Romans 16.7)."
Did Josephus talk about Jesus? A discussion of a chapter from John P Meier's The Marginal Jew about the Testimonium Flavianum, featuring T.C. Schmidt.
Does the aramaic word "abba" mean "daddy"? A discussion of James Barr's "Abba isn't Daddy."
How did religious institutions and practices affect the lives of women in the ancient Mediterranean? A discussion of Ross Shepard Kraemer's Her Share of the Blessings.
What are the infancy gospels? A discussion of Ronald Hock's edition, translation, and commentary with Tony Burke.
Who was responsible for Jesus' death? How do artistic adaptations of the gospel story represent Jesus' Jewish opposition?https://therevealer.org/crucifying-the-musical-christ/
What is the relationship between Paul's Judaism and his faith in Christ? A discussion of James Dunn's "The New Perspective on Paul."
What is the symbolic significance of gender in the Gospel according to Matthew? A review of Janice Capel Anderson's "Matthew: Gender and Reading."
Did copyists intentionally change the text of the New Testament? A discussion of Bart D. Ehrman's Orthodox Corruption of Scripture.To register for the New Insights into the New Testament conference, use the following link: http://ntconference.org/
What is the Syriac Bible? A discussion of Sebastian Brock's The Syriac Bible with Nathan Tilley.
What made gnostics different from other Christians? And did it matter? A discussion of Elaine Pagels' 1979 monograph, The Gnostic Gospels.
Did Paul self-censor his anti-imperial sentiments? A discussion of Laura Robinson's "Hidden Transcripts?: The Supposedly Self-Censoring Paul and Rome as Surveillance State in Modern Pauline Scholarship" (NTS 2021).
Why do scholars ignore 1 Peter? A discussion with Shane Patrick Gormley of John H. Elliott's essay, "The Rehabilitation of an Exegetical Step-Child: 1 Peter in Recent Research." John H. Elliott, "The Rehabilitation of an Exegetical Step-Child: 1 Peter in Recent Research" Journal of Biblical Literature 95.2 (1976) 243-54.
How did Matthew rewrite one of Mark's miracle stories? What is reaction criticism? A discussion of Günther Bornkamm's "The Stilling of the Storm in Matthew" (originally published as "Die Sturmstillung im Matthäus-Evangelium") with Ian Mills and Laura Robinson.
What is the Eusebian Apparatus? How have readers throughout history navigated the four-fold gospel? A discussion of Harvey McArthur's "The Eusebian Sections and Canons" with Jeremiah Coogan.
Did Paul become a Christian? What are conversion narratives for? A discussion of Paula Fredriksen's "Paul and Augustine: Conversion Narratives, Orthodox Traditions, and the Retrospective Self".
What traditions about Jesus survive outside of the gospels? Did Jesus have a sense of humor? A discussion of Paul Coleman-Norton's "An Amusing Agraphon."
What is Clement's Letter to Corinth? A discussion of Adolf von Harnack's A Letter of the Roman Church to the Corinthian Church from the Era of Domitian: 1 Clement.
What is the Magnificat? Our fourth annual discussion of Raymond Brown's The Birth of the Messiah.
What is the relationship between the gospel and the gospels? A discussion of Annette Yoshiko Reed's "Euangelion Orality, Textuality, and the Christian Truth in Irenaeus' Adversus Haereses" with Jeremiah Coogan.
What kind of books are the gospels? How much do they tell us about the sequence of Jesus' life? A discussion of KL Schmidt's Der Rahmen der Geschichte Jesu with Brandon Massey.
What does the "family" look like in the ancient world? Does Christianity reinforce or undermine traditional family roles?
How did Christianity "triumph"? What made Christianity different from paganism? A discussion of James Rives' "Christian Expansion and Christian Ideology."
Who were the Magi? The third annual New Testament Review Christmas episode. A discussion of yet another chapter from Raymond Brown's The Birth of the Messiah.
How have Black Christians interpreted Paul on the topic of slavery? A discussion of Allen Dwight Callahan's "Brother Saul': An Ambivalent Witness to Freedom" from Onesimus, our Brother.
Can letters, shopping lists, and receipts from antiquity help us to read the New Testament? A discussion of Adolf Deissmann's Light from the Ancient East.
How can studying ancient notions of health inform our reading of the gospels? A discussion of Candida Moss' "The Man with the Flow of Power."
Candida Moss, "The Man with the Flow of Power: Porous Bodies in Mark 5:25–34" Journal of Biblical Literature 129.3 (2010): 507-519.
What is a scriptural canon for? A discussion of David Brakke's "Canon Formation and Social Conflict in Fourth-Century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria's Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter" published in HTR in 1994.
What is Second Temple Judaism? How did Jews who were roughly contemporary with the earliest Christians interpret the Hebrew Bible to apply it to their changing situations? A discussion of Hindy Najman's Seconding Sinai.
Did John know the Synoptic Gospels? A discussion of Percy Gardner-Smith's Saint John and the Synoptic Gospels with Mark Goodacre of the NT Pod.
What is "sin" in Romans? Is it an abstraction for bad things people do or a cosmic force? Why does it matter? A discussion of Beverly Gaventa's "The Cosmic Power of Sin in Paul's Letter to the Romans: Toward a Widescreen Edition."
Why does Matthew have "zombies" at Jesus' crucifixion? A discussion of Donald Senior's "The Death of Jesus and the Resurrection of the Holy Ones."
How do historians treat sources, build arguments, and evaluate explanatory claims? How is that different from apologetics? A discussion of Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ.
We're social distanced and self-quarantining... and that's just to finish our dissertations! Also, there's a pandemic. We asked you to tell us about your favorite pieces of New Testament scholarship.
What is "Gnosticism"? A discussion of Michael Williams' Rethinking Gnosticism along with scholarship by Karen King, Christoph Markschies, and David Brakke.
What role did envoys and emissaries play in Paul's ministry? What cultural conventions influenced early Christian talk about envoys? A discussion of Margaret M Mitchell's 1992 essay, "New Testament Envoys in the Context of Greco-Roman Diplomatic and Epistolary Conventions."
Our second annual Christmas episode! Who was Quirinius? Was there a census? Where is Joseph from? Discussing Luke's nativity with Raymond Brown's The Birth of the Messiah.
Are heresies always and everywhere secondary and subsidiary? How did the mainstream church of the fourth century achieve dominance? A discussion of Walter Bauer's Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity.
Laura and Ian preview their papers for the annual Society of Biblical Literature conference.
What is the "Righteousness of God" in Romans? A discussion of Richard Hay's 1980 article "Psalm 143 and the Logic of Romans 3" with Jon Depue.
Did pagans read Christian scripture? A discussion of Ian Mills' first peer-reviewed publication.
How did early Christians understand suffering -- their own and others? A discussion of Judith Perkins, The Suffering Self.
For whom were Gospels written? A discussion of gospel audiences in light of Richard Bauckham's important article.
Who was Marcion? How was the New Testament created? A critical discussion of Harnack's little book on Marcion.
What did Jews expect of Gentiles? Was there a Jewish mission? Who were Paul's opponents in Galatia? A discussion of Paula Fredriksen's article and an introduction to "Paul within Judaism."
How did the earliest Jesus followers understand their relationship to wider Judaism? Joel Marcus delivers his retirement lecture at Duke Divinity School on the "Parting of the Ways" between Judaism and Christianity.
How does the Gospel of Mark end? There's more than one answer! A discussion of Burgon's The Last Twelve Verses of Mark for our Easter episode.
Why were the Early Christians persecuted? A discussion of GEM de Ste Croix's work by the same name.
Does Luke's use of Matthew require an implausible composition procedure? A discussion of Downing's influential argument for the two source theory.
Is the Gospel of Luke history? Who is Theophilus? A discussion of Loveday Alexander's The Preface to Luke's Gospel.
Were early Christians poor? How did economics influence early Christianity? A discussion of Wayne A Meeks' The First Urban Christians
What is the point of genealogies in the gospels? Are there differences? Why? A special Christmas-themed discussion of a chapter from Raymond Brown's The Birth of the Messiah.
How many letters did Paul write to Corinth? How many of them are in the New Testament? How did Paul offend the Corinthian church? A discussion of Margaret M Mitchell's "The Interpretive Intertwining of Literary and Historical Reconstruction."
When did Christians separate from the synagogue? Is John a "two-level drama"? A discussion of JL Martyn's History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel.
A special episode discussing the annual Society of Biblical Literature and American Academy of Religion meeting. #SBLAAR18
Why is the Gospel of John so weird? A discussion of Wayne A Meeks, "The Man from Heaven in Johannine Sectarianism."
Are there good reasons to think that Matthew and Luke had a common source other than Mark? A discussion of "On Dispensing with Q" by Austin Farrer.
Who were Paul's opponents in Colossae? We discuss Morna Hooker's important essay arguing that there are no false teachers addressed in Colossians.
What is Matthew's relationship to Judaism? A discussion of one essay from Graham Stanton's A Gospel for a New People: Studies in Matthew.
What is the center of Paul's theology? Did Paul and the Jewish people have a problem with the law? A Discussion of EP Sander's paradigm shifting monograph, Paul and Palestinian Judaism.
When was Revelation written? Who wrote it? AY Collins "Dating the Apocalypse of John" guides us through the relevant considerations.
Do the gospels belong to a recognizable genre of literature from antiquity? What is a genre anyways? A discussion of Richard A Burridge's What Are the Gospels?
With whom was Paul arguing in the letter to the Galatians? How can we know? A discussion of JL Martyn's classic article "A Law Observant Mission to the Gentiles."
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are suspiciously similar. Who copied from whom? Did Matthew and Luke share a source that hasn't survived? Our first synoptic problem episode featuring Ken Olson! A discussion of BH Streeter's The Four Gospels.
Special Episode: Richard Hays and Joel Marcus discuss literary and historical approaches to New Testament Studies and the relationship of both to Christian theology. Live recording of a discussion at Duke Divinity school.
What was the role of women in the Jesus movement, Pauline churches, and earliest Christianity? How did the men who composed and transmitted our earliest evidence shape the tradition? How does modern scholarship perpetuate their androcentrism? A discussion of Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza's In Memory of Her (1983).
Why is Jesus so secretive in the gospel of Mark? How did the evangelists shape their stories of Jesus? A discussion of William Wrede's The Messianic Secret (1901).
Did Paul struggle to keep the law? As a Christian, did Paul have a sin problem? A discussion of Krister Stendahl's "Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West" (1963) and its impact on the study of Judaism and Paul.