Did Jesus Have Brothers and Sisters?
We are left wondering. A few other important texts not as well-known as the canonical texts provide more information about Jesus’s family identity.
Inspiration for Keeping a New Year’s Resolution
The phrase from the Thomas Saying, “become like me,” is what caught my attention while I was thinking about my New Year’s resolution. I know I am not alone having made resolutions that don’t quite succeed.
Dealing Under the Table: Ritual Negotiation of Women’s Power in Early Christ People’s Gospels
This Bible and Beyond Discussion addresses two gospel texts with a woman and Jesus at their center. Both texts have gender controversy with Jesus and both display complex gender power. Presenter: Dr. Hal Taussig (with host Dr. Shirley Paulson)
Jesus at His Trial in the Gospel of Mark
Jesus stands before the chief priest powerless and humiliated. Yet he claims to be the Anointed, the son of the Blessed One. His lack of power in the face of the chief priest’s evident power constitutes blasphemy
Sophia/Wisdom/Jesus/God in the First Three Centuries CE
We'll examine the key character of Sophia/Wisdom in the development Jesus peoples of the first two hundred years of the Common Era, the development of Second Temple Judaism, and initial development Rabbinic Judaism. Presenter: Dr. Hal Taussig (with host Dr. Shirley Paulson)
The Gospel of Mark: The Good News of Transgressing Boundaries
Our author has provided us with new eyes with which to view the story, the good news. Use those eyes, and the story will open up in amazing ways.
Noncanonical Texts Illuminate the Bible
"This is the biggest thrust from After Jesus Before Christianity. How will we end up talking about those first two centuries, now that you’ve exposed that these words don’t work right?" An interview with Dr. Shirley Paulson.
How After Jesus Before Christianity Could Rewrite History
The book challenges the general public, many churches, and most scholars to re-consider how to think about Jesus and these hundreds of years before there were ‘Christians.’
What Did Jesus Teach about Healing Violence?
The first time I read the relatively unknown text called the Letter of Peter to Philip from the Nag Hammadi collection, I was stunned with its overall message of guidance in the face of violence.
What Really Happened When Jesus Healed Someone?
The lessons he taught concerning the realm of God may well have touched the soul and caused the kind of awakening that actually healed the sick.
How Many Baby Jesuses are There?
"The names of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph are almost the only things that are the same in the respective infancy narratives."
How Do Jesus and Sophia Reveal God’s Gender?
"One of the most intense controversies emerged when some of us pointed out that in the biblical books of Matthew and Luke, Jesus himself talked about Sophia in intimate and positive ways."