Category: Member Publications

Cobb, Christy and Eric Vanden Eykel. Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2022.

Abstract: “Examples of sexual violence and mentions of it appear with a disturbing level of frequency in the literature of early Christianity. This collection of essays explores these occurrences in canonical and noncanonical Christian texts from the first until the fifth centuries CE. Drawing from a range of interpretive lenses, scholars of early Christianity approach these writings with the goal of identifying how their authors employ the language of sexual assault, rape, and violence in order to formulate and support various rhetorical and theological claims. Individual chapters also address how and why these episodes of sexual violence have been ignored or, sometimes, read in a way that would make them less problematic. As a collection, Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts examines these texts carefully, ethically, and with an eye toward shining a light on the scourge of sexual violence that is so often manifest in both ancient and contemporary Christian communities.”

Contributors: Tara Baldrick-Morrone, Chance E. Bonar, Christy Cobb, Jennifer Collins-Elliott, Arminta Fox, Midori Hartman, LaToya M. Leary Francis, Travis W. Proctor, Joshua M. Reno, Laura Robinson, Jeannie Sellick, Eric Vanden Eykel, Meredith J. C. Warren, Stephen Young

Contributions to Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts cover a range of early Christian literature. For NASSCAL’s audience, some of the most notable texts examined include the Acts of Andrew (Cobb) and Protoevangelium of James (Vanden Eykel), although other contributions explore canonical literature like 1 Corinthians and Revelation and patristic literature ranging from 1 Clement and Tertullian to Jerome and Augustine.

Brent C. Landau. “A Re-transcription and Analysis of a Possible Apocryphal Gospel Fragment, Papyrus Oxyrhynchus II 210, Utilizing a Digital Microscope.” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 94/3 (2018): 427–80.

Abstract: Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210 preserves a single folio of what is apparently an unknown apocryphal gospel. The recto contains references to an angel that previous editors have regarded as being part of an infancy narrative; the verso contains several sayings by Jesus. Because P.Oxy. 210 is highly fragmentary, the three most important previous editions have disagreed markedly about its transcription and reconstruction. This article presents a paleographical analysis and redating of this manuscript and an overview and evaluation of previous scholarship. It then utilizes a digital microscope to provide the most accurate transcription of this fragment thus far, and includes a detailed “transcriptional commentary” explaining the process by which the present editor arrived at this transcription. It concludes by assessing how much can be said with confidence about the contents of this fragment.

 

Rick Brannan. The Acts of Pilate & the Descent of Christ to Hades: A Greek Reader. Appian Way Greek Readers. Bellingham, WA: Appian Way Press, 2018.

The Acts of Pilate (Acta Pilati) and the Descent of Christ to Hades (Dec. Hades) are Christian Apocrypha. They are not canonical, but they do provide the traditional understanding of what happened at the trial of Jesus and what happened during his death and resurrection.

Because the Greek vocabulary of the Acts of Pilate and the Descent of Christ to Hades is similar to the Greek New Testament, it can provide the student of New Testament Greek reading experience outside of the New Testament with familiar vocabulary. Each word that occurs 20 times or less in the Greek New Testament is footnoted in this edition and given lexical information, part of speech information, and a contextual gloss.

This volume also includes:

The Greek text from Tischendorf
A lightly modernized edition of Alexander Walker’s translation from the Ante Nicene Fathers (ANF) volume 9
A Greek-English glossary of all footnoted words

Order the book from Amazon HERE.

Annette Yoshiko Reed. Jewish-Christianity and the History of Judaism. Collected Essays. TSAJ 171. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2018.

Publisher’s abstract: “Jewish-Christianity” is a contested category in current research. But for precisely this reason, it may offer a powerful lens through which to rethink the history of Jewish/Christian relations. Traditionally, Jewish-Christianity has been studied as part of the origins and early diversity of Christianity. Collecting revised versions of previously published articles together with new materials, Annette Yoshiko Reed reconsiders Jewish-Christianity in the context of Late Antiquity and in conversation with Jewish studies. She brings further attention to understudied texts and traditions from Late Antiquity that do not fit neatly into present day notions of Christianity as distinct from Judaism. In the process, she uses these materials to probe the power and limits of our modern assumptions about religion and identity.

The publisher’s catalog page includes a preview with the table of contents and introductory material and the book is viewable on Google Books.

 

Ivan Miroshnikov. The Gospel of Thomas and Plato: A Study of the Impact of Platonism on the “Fifth Gospel.” Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 93. Leiden: Brill, 2018

Publisher’s abstract: In The Gospel of Thomas and Plato, Ivan Miroshnikov contributes to the study of the earliest Christian engagements with philosophy by offering the first systematic discussion of the impact of Platonism on the Gospel of Thomas, one of the most intriguing and cryptic works among the Nag Hammadi writings. Miroshnikov demonstrates that a Platonist lens is indispensable to the understanding of a number of the Thomasine sayings that have, for decades, remained elusive as exegetical cruces. The Gospel of Thomas is thus an important witness to the early stages of the process that eventually led to the Platonist formulation of certain Christian dogmata.

Visit the Brill site for table of contents and excerpts.

Brandon Hawk. Preaching Apocrypha in Anglo-Saxon England. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018.

NASSCAL Vice-President Janet Spittler contributed an article to Ancient Jew Review entitled “Animals in the Way,” which looks at depictions of animals in Christian apocrypha. Spittler has published previously on this topic, including her monograph Animals in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: The Wild Kingdom of Early Christian Literature (WUNT II 247; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008). The article, which can be accessed HERE, begins with:

My first academic venture with animals was not driven by an interest in animals per se. Animals were, rather, standing in the way of my understanding the texts I like best: the early Christian narratives of the adventures of the apostles. Animals appear throughout these texts (bedbugs in the Acts of John, the dog in the Acts of Peter, lions in the Acts of Paul, etc.), sometimes literally standing in the apostle’s way—as does the colt of an ass in the Acts of Thomas act four, demanding that Thomas ride on his back. The apostle does not immediately agree. He has questions: “Who are you? To whom do you belong?”[i] When the colt identifies himself as a member of the family (genea) of both Balaam’s ass and the colt on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem, Thomas is still reluctant to climb on his back, but as the reader I at least have some sense of what the animal is doing here. I’ve read its relatives in similar roles.

Dario M. Bullitta. Niðrstigningar Saga: Sources, Transmission, and Theology of the Old Norse “Descent into Hell.” Toronto Old Norse-Icelandic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017. (Publisher web page; front matter on Academia.edu)

Rick Brannan. The First Apocryphal Apocalypse of John: A Greek Reader. Appian Way Greek Readers. Bellingham, WA: Appian Way Press, 2017.

The First Apocryphal Apocalypse of John, originally composed sometime between the 5th and 8th centuries, is an apocalypse structured as questions and answers with “John the Theologian” questioning the Lord Jesus. Several themes from the canonical book of Revelation are echoed. There are also several interactions with Psalms and New Testament material, and the vocabulary is largely that of the Greek New Testament.

In this Readers Edition, words from the Greek New Testament that occur 30 times or less are noted, with dictionary form, part of speech, and an English gloss. For further reading assistance, a lightly modernized version of Alexander Walker’s translation from the Ante-Nicene Fathers is included. A glossary of all noted Greek words is also included.

Order the book from Amazon HERE.

J. R. C. Cousland. Holy Terror: Jesus in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. LNTS 560. London: T. & T. Clark, 2017.

Abstract: The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (or Paidika) is one of the most unusual gospels in the Christian tradition. Instead of revealing the compassionate Jesus so familiar to us from the biblical Gospels, it confronts its readers with a very different Jesus – a child who sometimes acts like a holy terror, killing and harming others for trifling faults. So why is Jesus portrayed as acting in such an ‘unchristian’ fashion? To address this question, Cousland focuses on three interconnected representations of Jesus in the Paidika: Jesus as holy terror, as child, and as miracle-working saviour. Cousland endeavours to show that, despite the differing character of these three roles, they present a unified picture. Jesus’ unusual behaviour arises from his ‘growing pains’ as a developing child, who is at the same time both human and divine. Cousland’s volume is the first detailed examination of the Christology of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and provides a fresh and engaging approach to a topic not often discussed in representations of Jesus.