Category Archives: Early Church

Nanos-broken off or damaged olive branches?

Posted on November 22, 2019 by theoutwardquest

I have read the next two essays in Reading Romans Within Judaism by Mark Nanos. The first essay was written for non-scholarly audience and is valuable for the way it more plainly states the way Nanos reads Romans 9-11.  The … Continue reading →

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Had Paul’s Roman readers already broken with Judaism?

Posted on November 12, 2019 by theoutwardquest

My new book project is a Mark Nanos book of essays called Reading Romans within Judaism.  I am reading the essays in his second volume. I have read quite a bit of the work of Nanos. I heard him lecture … Continue reading →

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Fredriksen-the apocalyptic Paul and his non-apocalyptic afterlifes

Posted on March 19, 2019 by theoutwardquest

According to Paula Fredriksen, the Apostle Paul had taught that the current age was about to end and the God of Israel was about to inaugurate a new age with the risen Jesus as the royal messiah. His coming from … Continue reading →

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Soulen–Barth, Rahner and missed possibilities

Posted on October 22, 2018 by theoutwardquest

R. Kendall Soulen, in The God of Israel and Christian Theology talks about how in the mid to late 20th century the two Karls, Barth and Rahner, attempted to modify the standard Christian model. Both of them were responding to the … Continue reading →

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Terrien-the suppression of Prisca

Posted on March 12, 2018 by theoutwardquest

During this new phase of the history of the church (A.D. 65-96), the position of womanhood was theologically and ethically altered.  The ambiguities entertained be the second generation of Christian leaders hardened into a male one-sidedness, which excluded women from … Continue reading →

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Carr-final observations

Posted on November 27, 2017 by theoutwardquest

I am finishing up David M. Carr’s Holy Resilience today. My first observation is that there are reasons to think his understanding of trauma in early Christian experience is too one-dimensional.  He emphasizes what he sees as the trauma of … Continue reading →

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Carr-survival after the Jewish War

Posted on November 22, 2017 by theoutwardquest

We have been reading through David M. Carr’s Holy Resilience, where he highlights the role trauma has played in Jewish and Christian history. Two more traumas mark the start of a new era for Judaism and Christianity.  The main one … Continue reading →

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Carr-Paul, trauma, and zeal

Posted on November 20, 2017 by theoutwardquest

David M. Carr in Holy Resilience treats Paul as the traumatized apostle. Some of his points do not convince me. He tries to suggest that Paul’s christiopanies (appearances of Christ and visions)were trauma-related. He points especially to the vision recounted … Continue reading →

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Carr-trauma, atonement, and the Jesus Jews

Posted on November 17, 2017 by theoutwardquest

David M. Carr, who wrote Holy Resilience, is a Christian.  More specifically he is a Quaker.  You might like to know that as we turn to the part of his book that looks at how early Christianity dealt with trauma. … Continue reading →

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Anderson-3 periods

Posted on October 27, 2016 by theoutwardquest

In The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel, Paul N. Anderson says there were three periods during which the Gospel of John developed within a specific community: The Palestinian Period-30 to 70 CE The First Asia Minor Period–The Johannine Community-70-85 CE … Continue reading →

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