This past academic year, I have been participating in the Scripture and Ministry Lectureship series sponsored by the Henry Center. There have been 5 lectures so far (click on the lecturer name for each video)…
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Intertextuality in the New Testament Section SBL Denver 2018
Invited Plenary Speakers for the Intertextuality in the New Testament SectionTheme: Ancient Exegetical Methods inGreco-Roman Discourse and the New TestamentSBL Denver 2018 It’s been quite some time since I revisited my blog but I have…
Paul’s Use of Precious Metals to Describe Pastoral Ministry in 1 Cor 3:11-15
It just so happens that the antiquities exhibit at the Getty Villa affords an opportunity to give a photo-by-photo commentary on Apostle Paul’s use of precious materials to describe the building blocks of pastoral ministry….
Once Again the Brutality of Ancient Boxing: Lessons from the Getty Villa Museum
It’s back to business and the main focus of this blog: interpreting the Apostle Paul in his Greco-Roman context. In the past, I had done a series of posts on athleticism in the Mediterranean world…
The Irritating Bite vs. the Sting Which Kills
It’s been hard to blog with the start-of-the-semester madness, but finally, I can get back to my previous post on Philodemus’ treatise On Death (Book IV). There I wrote about how the Epicurean sage manages…
The Sting of Death according to Paul
In a previous post on common popular fears surrounding the afterlife (here), I commented on Virgil’s depiction of Hades in the Aeneid and showed pictorially one anonymous artist’s rendition of the three judges of Hades…
Before MMA, There Was the Pankration
Lately, I’ve been trying to get myself back to the gym and into shape. So athletic training has been on my mind. Today, I thought I would write a blurb about the pankration (Greek παγκράτιον; Latin…
Ministry Can Be More Brutal than Boxing
Continuing from my last post on Lucillius’ epigrams satirizing the viciousness of ancient boxing, I turn to 1 Cor 9:24-27 where Paul makes an explicit comparison of the athlete (runner, boxer) with the challenges of…
The Brutality of Boxing in the Greco-Roman World
I’m reading through some ancient Greek and Latin epigrams from the Roman period for fun as a way to treat myself after an intense week of grading. Some of them are really humorous, since many…
The Earth Is the Lord’s… and a Beautiful Day in Chicago Can Be Miraculous
Just when I blogged in my previous post about giving up my rights for the sake of serving others, I was also reminded that I need not rupture the theological tension between an ethics of…