Franklin Graham, the Bible and the Gay Issue, Part II: Scholarly Evidence for Same-Sex Relationships

In our last post, we discussed the Rev. Franklin Graham’s negative attitudes toward same-sex relationships, especially in the context of his criticisms of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Graham’s use of Bible verses to support his stances. Here we will outline some of the scholarly research concerning same-sex relationships in the early church (from […]

Same-sex Unions in Antiquity

The issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other alternative lifestyle rights has been prominent in the US and throughout the world for the past 30 or 40 years. The related issue of same-sex marriage has come even more to the fore in American culture since the Supreme Court ruled in late June 2015 that same-sex […]

Primaries to Watch: Part II

In Part I of our examination of upcoming primaries, we looked at Illinois, North Carolina, and Texas, since those elections were coming up in March. The results are now in for NC and Texas (the Illinois primary is on March 17). Democrat Roy Cooper, who is very popular, will go up against Michael Whatley for […]

New Testament Basics: Counteracting Biblical Literalism

We have often engaged in discussions of various aspects of the New (Christian) Testament of the Bible; in fact, most of the posts in the Past category have something to do with either the Christian Testament or the social context of the early Jesus movement. We have pointed out the important role of women in […]

Understanding the Far-Right Mindset

Those of us who have been paying attention since January 20th, and who believe that convicted felon and four-times-indicted psychopath Donald Trump should never have been elected President, know full well that our country is in a dangerous place. Some legal analysts believe we are in a Constitutional crisis, which seems abstract but actually affects […]

Valerie A. Abrahamsen Select Publications

Books Paranormal: A New Testament Scholar Looks at the Afterlife. Self-published 2015; printed by Shires Press, Manchester Center, VT Goddess and God: A Holy Tension in the First Christian Centuries. Marco Polo Monographs 10. Warren Center, PA: Shangri-La Publications, 2006 Women and Worship at Philippi: Diana/Artemis and Other Cults in the Early Christian Era. Portland, […]

Unnamed Women in the Christian Testament: Celebrating the Contributions of the Invisible

In earlier posts, we have highlighted women whose names and some of their roles in the Jesus movement we know, many of whom have long been ignored in the history of New (Christian) Testament scholarship (and Sunday School stories): women from Paul’s letter to the Romans, Chapter 16 (the apostle Junia, the deacon Phoebe, the […]

Uncovering Nympha: Scholarship and Female Leadership in the Early Jesus Movement

When one reads standard reference works about the New (Christian) Testament and the early Jesus movement one would almost never know that there is a woman mentioned in the letter to the Colossians. It has taken recent research by female scholars to uncover yet another woman who served the movement in the same ways that […]

Senate Races to Watch – and Candidates to Support – in 2024

Since shortly after the 2020 election, Democrats have held a slim majority in the Senate. This has allowed the Biden-Harris Administration to confirm 175 federal justices all over the country and pass significant legislation that would not have passed under a GOP-controlled body. Furthermore, gaining control of the Senate conferred majority leadership on New York […]