There are several villas in Herculaneum where the remains of scrolls have been found, including one said to belong to the family of Julius Caesar. Two scrolls in particular have been in the possession of the French who did the original excavation of that villa in the 19th century. Today however, the scrolls are in England, and a team of experts from the University of Kentucky made the pilgrimage to England to use a diamond light source to read the... Read more

BEN: It seems clear that Michael Gorman’s work has had a big impact on the way you read Romans. For example you say “Christoformity comes to fruition in an embodied God orientation, in a Body-of-Christ orientation, and in public orientation. The fundamental core of Christoformity is ‘because you are in Christ, you are not to act according to Privilege and Power, to elective status and history, but instead you are to love your neighbor by offering your entire body daily... Read more

READING ROMANS BACKWARDS: A GOSPEL OF PEACE IN THE MIDST OF EMPIRE, Baylor U. Press, 2019. Scot McKnight, 236 pages, $17.65 paperback. It is the measure of a good book that it manages to stir up serious discussion and rethinking on a subject that is an already very heavily trod path by scholars. If the book can also manage to shoo away a few sacred cows which should have been put out to pasture long ago, so much the better... Read more

BEN: I am wondering whether you think Paul’s collection for the saints in Jerusalem successfully achieved Paul’s goals for it, as listed in Rom. 15 and elsewhere, or whether it was not well received, or at least received without the outcomes Paul hoped for. What do we make of Paul’s post-Romans correspondence where he is totally silent about the outcome, nor does Luke give any positive hints in Acts, really. SCOT: Brother, I wish I knew. I read Acts and... Read more

BEN: In Chapter 8 you suggest that Rom. 13.1ff. be read in the light of what precedes it and what follows, and I agree. But there is no hint that all of this is not a general exhortation to all Christians being addressed, and not in particular the returning Jewish Christians. After all, everyone then as now doesn’t enjoy being taxed, and there were plenty of tax dodgers amongst the Gentiles in Rome, especially dodging the indirect taxes. But I... Read more

BEN: I agree with your emphasis in Chapter 7, when you say welcoming means, among other things, sharing table fellowship. My question is how does that work today, because clearly Paul is addressing all the strong and weak in Rome on this point. There is a Weslyan Church near Hope College in Michigan that has taken this so seriously that what they do on Sundays is they go to some of the larger homes of their members and they have... Read more

BEN: On p. 36 you suggest that analogia fidei refers to the rule of faith, but Chrysostom is quite clear that this phrase is another way of speaking of the measure or proportion of faith, the phrase used just a couple of verses earlier, not some ‘rule’ or Gospel composite the audience would not know about. Comments? SCOT: I stuck out my neck on this one. Chrysostom may be right but … BEN: On p. 39 you suggest it was... Read more

BEN: I like your discussion of lived theology, though traditionally theology is about indicatives, and ethics is about imperatives. I also like your emphasis on the interconnectedness of the whole of Rom. 1-16, making clear that Rom. 1-8, or 1-11 is not abstract theologizing but rather provides foundations for what is going to be said later. Rom. 12-16 is no appendix, or ‘oh by the way’. On the other hand, Paul is dealing largely with a group of Gentiles in... Read more

Ben Witherington III Priscilla: The Life of an Early Christian Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic Available at IVP and Koorong By Laura Thierry A particularly joy-inducing trend in biblical scholarship at present is that of the biblical scholar turned novelist. In response to the reality that we are narrative animals wired for story, this inclination to teach through historical novels seems a delightfully fitting and humane move that promotes rich Scripture-vibed imaginations. It is from within this growing movement that... Read more

BEN: You say that Romans is about deconstructing privilege and power, but Rom. 13 looks like anything but such a project. To the contrary it appears to be an endorsement of the proper role of Roman authorities in governing the Empire, and various officials including tax collectors properly doing their job—administering justice. How does Rom. 13 fit into your paradigm of interpretation? Paul simply assumes a hierarchy of government that in fact was ordained by God. Furthermore, he assumes a... Read more