In honor of Women’s History Month, here is a sampling of resources about women, especially focused on the early Jesus followers, the New (Christian) Testament, nascent Christianity, and the ancient (Western) world. We are grateful for the scholars (both male and female) who have brought women out of the shadows over the past several decades! […]
Women in early church
Apocryphal Women in the Early Jesus Movement: Eliciting Fact from Fiction
In past posts, we have examined women in the first couple of centuries of the Common Era (CE) who may well have been real: Evodia and Syntyche mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Philippians; Apphia, mentioned in Paul’s letter to Philemon; and women mentioned in Chapter 16 of Paul’s letter to the Romans: […]
Biblical Scholarship: A Report on the First Global Virtual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature
The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) tried something new in March 2023: holding a virtual global meeting. SBL was founded in 1880 and is “the oldest and largest learned society devoted to the critical investigation of the Bible from a variety of academic disciplines.” SBL holds an Annual Meeting in North America (which now draws […]
Index to the Seventh Year
Thank you for your interest in these blog posts! Here is a listing by topic for posts since October 2021. (Some topics overlap.) Social and Racial Justice, Diversity Honoring the Wampanoags Today and Moving Toward a More Perfect Union, November 26, 2021 Suggested Readings for Black History Month: The Self-Education of White Americans, February […]
New Research on Mary Called the Magdalene
As we saw earlier, feminist scholarship has brought to light the leadership role that the woman known as Mary Magdalene from the New (Christian) Testament had in the early days of the Jesus movement. As we noted, she appears numerous times in the Christian Testament and in all four gospels: Matthew 27.55-56, 61; 28.1; Mark […]
The Letters of St. Paul, Authentic and Inauthentic: Lessons from the Household Codes
We have examined the legacy of St. Paul and his letters to the early Christian communities several times in the past. We have noted that one of the ways that Paul communicated with original Jesus followers in the first century was through his letters (epistles) and that a number of letters in the New (Christian) […]
Joanna and Susanna: Two Lesser-Known Women around Jesus
“After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna the wife of Chuza, the […]
The Women of Romans 16
In several previous posts, we have looked briefly at the women around St. Paul and his great respect for them (The Trials and Tribulations of Translating Scripture 2; Ancient Corinth II; and Paul’s Female Colleagues). Here we will examine the women of Romans 16 in more depth (the full text of verses 1-23 are copied […]
Celebrating Women’s History Month
In the United States, March is Women’s History Month. Here is a list of our past blog posts about women – with the caveat that women in antiquity, including women in the early church, have, for better or worse, greatly influenced the status of women worldwide. We will also include posts about goddesses, goddess worship […]
The Cult of Livia at Philippi: The State of Religion at a Pauline City in the Early Christian Centuries
As we have seen in other posts, the city of Philippi in northern Greece was significant in the growth of the so-called “Christ cult” in the first century. St. Paul wrote a letter to the Jesus followers at Philippi, which has come down to us in the New (Christian) Testament and is a major reason […]