The Bible, the Church, and Spirituality
Today is my birthday. It’s great to be 22 again! As it turns out, I have quite a few January 17th birthday buddies who are just a little more famous than I am. Here they are, and since I’m a church historian, I’ll start with church history: — Catherine Booth (1829 – 1890) Female preacher […] Read more…
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) If you’ve ever read a serious article on the apostle Junia, you’ve read the following quote from John Chrysostom of Constantinople (c. AD 349 – 407), which says: “’Greet Andronicus and Junia . . . distinguished among the apostles.’ […] Read more…
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) Miscellaneous hierarchist (complementarian / Christian male headship) Web sites, blogs, and articles will number Origen among the patristic witnesses who said Junia was a man. For just one example, see this 2007 article by Dr. David W. Jones of […] Read more…
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School [UPDATE 12-17-2023: I no longer believe Origen wrote these comments below on Junia. They are instead the work of Rufinus of Aquileia (AD 340–410), and I will explain why this is most likely the case in a forthcoming article. In the meantime, I […] Read more…
by Bridget Jack Jeffries, PhD Student (Church History), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Jump to Series Index) Junia is a first-century woman mentioned in the New Testament, in Romans 16:7. Paul includes her on a long list of greetings to local Christians in Rome: Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison […] Read more…
(Jump to Series Index) One would not expect a conflagration of controversy from the ending of Paul’s epistle to the Romans. The sixteenth chapter lacks the robust theology expounded on in earlier chapters, instead containing a seemingly innocuous list of salutations to local Christians at the church in Rome. Yet controversy is exactly what the […] Read more…
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is one of my favorite shows from the late 90s / early aughts. It has all of the things I like in my fiction: horror, comedy, feminism, subverted expectations, and a woman who literally kicks so much ass posterior. With that said, in honor of the fact that today is both […] Read more…
