The Bible and Beyond

An interview with Nicola Denzey Lewis Nicola Denzey Lewis helps crack the code on perplexing questions about so-called 'Gnosticism.' Where is it from? What is it about? Why the secrets? Her own story about how she got involved explains why it is appealing to some and unnerving to others. She explains why it was such an important part of the development of Christianity in the second century and how...

A conversation between Dr. Shirley Paulson and Dr. Arthur Dewey When books like the Secret Revelation of John are not in the biblical canon, questions arise concerning their worth. The conversation between Shirley Paulson and Arthur Dewey includes reasons for the Secret Revelation of John's extracanonical status as well as its intrinsic worth. They also discuss its unusual treatment of the Hebrew...

In this interview with Dr. David Brakke, he discusses his new translation and commentary on the Gospel of Judas. The basic message is that Jesus is explaining to Judas why his own terrible sacrifice is necessary for God to set the universe right. In doing so, the author of the gospel is critiquing his contemporary Jesus-followers for their ritual practices of sacrifice. Such sacrifices distort the...

An Interview with Dr. Jennifer Barry The dramatic story of Bishop John Chrysostom's two exiles and subsequent death (in the 4 th century) is tangled up with the Empress Eudoxia and her miscarriages. It was known that diseases spread the same way internal corruption spreads through communities rather quickly, so uncertainty of not knowing who is heretical and who has a disease made the easy associa...

An Interview with Dr. Deborah Niederer Saxon The story of Paul and Thecla, well-known in antiquity, indicates a diversity of viewpoints about women's roles in the early Christian years. Her resistance to the cultural norm fits with the popular attitude among Christians toward dying the "noble death,—referring to those who stood firm upon their moral principles to the end. But Thecla's willingness...

Dr. Brandon Scott interviews Dr. Shirley Paulson–the host of the Bible and Beyond podcast—about authoring a difficult chapter, "Jesus by Many Other Names," in the new book, After Jesus Before Christianity: A Historical Exploration of the First Two Centuries of Jesus Movements. Paulson speaks of her love for the noncanonical texts of the second century, and explains how they illuminate one's unders...

Jesus was an educator who taught in the Greco-Roman mode the importance of morality, virtue, and goodness. Although his own trade was a carpenter, he used the better-known Greco-Roman farming parables to teach his deeper meaning. Of course, the specifics of Jesus's education differed, but his common technique made him a recognizable teacher within the context of the educational system of the time....

James McGrath, a professor at Butler University, gives credit to several ancient thinkers for wrestling with the question of God in a messy world. Referencing Irenaeus, for example, he notes that it might be this way because we need to grow and develop. The question of evil, when we try to hold to a good God, is always with us, and we now have the privilege of building on the ideas of those early...

Marcion, a popular but controversial early Christian leader, tackles the question of how to believe in a good God in the face of evil things happening. Plato introduced the idea, and other first- and second-century thinkers drew on the idea, of a 'demiurge' – a creator god who deals with the world. The perfect and transcendent God would never create a world of bad stuff but lovingly dispatched a s...

Dr. Jason BeDuhn studies ancient Christian, Jewish, and Manichaean thinkers, and in this podcast interview, he explores their common "tipping point"—the place where all these religious groups struggled to find answers to explain a perfect God who allowed bad things to happen. All of them did so by blurring the idea of monotheism to some degree. There was some other divine influence, commonly known...

Dr. Brandon Hawk's new book, Apocrypha for Beginners: A Guide to Understanding and Exploring Scriptures Beyond the Bible , is an easy-to-read and indispensable book for people seeking to understand all the extracanonical writings—sometimes called apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, or deuteroncanonical writings. Although they are not in the Bible, they all relate to the Bible in some important way, from th...

Dr. Lance Jenott introduces the idea in early Christian writing that Adam was a victim, rather than the original sinner. As his 'helper,' Eve is Adam's savior. Although the New Testament includes very little mention of Adam, other extracanonical texts envision another source of evil determined to make Adam submissive. Although 4 th century Augustine interpreted Genesis differently, earlier writing...

Bible readers often wonder which Mary the New Testament authors are referring to. Anna Cwikla describes the seven different Marys mentioned in the New Testament (and even more Marys in extracanonical texts). At least one of the New Testament Marys plays a prominent role in some of the books outside the Bible. Cwikla draws our attention to some clues, but no promises, for identifying these Marys. S...

Chance Bonar thinks Christian accusations of 'heresy' will probably last to some degree, but the way many think about such things is changing. Branding someone a 'heretic,' and some theological ideas as 'heretical' began when different church authorities tried to preserve the status quo and maintain adherence to what they saw as original doctrine. But the discovery of the Nag Hammadi texts (and so...

In this interview, Charles Hedrick describes how he became one of the first people to work directly with the ancient manuscripts found near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. His deep religious curiosity led him from his traditional Baptist origins to the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo. There, he worked with scholars putting fragments of the newly discovered texts together and translating them. His questions led him...

Professor Janet Spittler leads us comfortably into the unfamiliar world of apocryphal texts, where we learn what happened to the apostles after the resurrection. The texts are part-history, part-entertainment, part-ethical teaching, but wholly important to our understanding of the development of Christianity. They are fascinating and multi-layered, offering glimpses of Jesus's teaching as well as...

When Idan Dershowitz broke the news last week that the extremely ancient Shapira Deuteronomy Fragments (aka Shapira Scroll or Valediction of Moses) might not be forgeries, but actually authentic, Tony Burke agreed to discuss some of the public questions and concerns about it with Early Christian Texts. Dershowitz claims the manuscript could be older than Deuteronomy. Although not directly involved...

Robert J. Miller, New Testament scholar, discusses how it is possible for modern readers to do justice to ancient texts such as the Gospel of Matthew—at home in its own world—while still seeking valuable meaning in our twenty-first century world. Ancient prophecies did not intend to provide accurate predictions of the future but to provide hints about God's presence in the world. Twenty-first cent...

Samuel Zinner and Mark Mattison, translators of the Odes of Solomon, illustrate interrelated elements of Jewish and Christian thought throughout the odes. Some examples from Isaiah demonstrate new ways of thinking about the age-old debates. People often think the Odes are a praise to Jesus. But as Zinner points out, the odes are written to represent words of Jesus in praise to God, not the worship...

Dr. Nina Livesey, a scholar on Paul and his writings in the Bible, explains what scholars think Paul must have written and what he probably didn't write. She agrees with recent scholarly consensus that these letters hold together with common theological perspectives, concepts, and vocabulary. But she pushes a bit farther, describing how Paul's rhetoric is more intentionally strategic than people h...

Shirley Paulson asks Dr. Stephen Pattison, her PhD supervisor, to discuss how Practical Theology works in our lives today when we read ancient texts. Stephen probes the relationships we establish with tradition, texts from another era, and interpretation. The point of religious faith is to engage meaningfully with the world and to become less frightened of difference. Healing work is about a bigge...

Marg Mowczko, from an evangelical church in Australia, researches the topic of egalitarianism in the Bible. She holds both a deep faith in the Bible and the essentially equal nature of men and women. She spends many hours each day answering questions about women's roles in the church. Her primary study is about what Paul and other New Testament writers say concerning Christian ministry and leaders...

Dr. James McGrath inverts the usual question about women learning from Jesus. The podcast interview highlights McGrath's new book, in which he draws on both scholarly rigor and historical fiction to address gaps in historical knowledge. Strikingly, his examples of Jesus learning from women include some women with lower status, such as a poor widow and a girl accused of adultery. McGrath addresses...

Rev. Stephanie A. Duzant is a woman of color and ordained minister utilizing extracanonical texts to inspire congregations to better use the Bible. Her womanist lens allows her to recognize the ways many extracanonical texts challenge culturally-pervasive agendas, especially those involving race, gender, and the meaning of community.  Sharing her insights with her listeners affords them an opportu...

Paul's letter to his Roman colleague, Philemon, delicately balances Roman expectations for enslaved people, their masters, and the new egalitarian ideas in the Christ communities. Learning the lifestyle of ancient Rome in families and households, listeners are invited to imagine what Onesimus, Paul's enslaved friend, must have felt when Paul's letter was read aloud to his master, Philemon. The ten...