The next issue of Biblical Archaeology Review<\/em><\/a> will be out in a few days. It includes an article by me about the story of the woman accused of adultery found in John 8 in some manuscripts. I repeatedly found in working in my forthcoming book that asking what Jesus learned from women, both his family and friends and those he only met briefly, unlocked possible meanings in the text that not only I but interpreters in general had missed. I don\u2019t know whether I have come up with the definitive explanation of Jesus writing with his finger in the story. But I believe I offer one that makes excellent sense of the details of the story against the backdrop of that time, that has never to my knowledge been proposed before. When stories have been studied for almost 2,000 years that is an extremely rare occurrence indeed.<\/p>\n I obviously want you to read the article, while also saying enough here to make it seem worth your while to do so even if it requires going to your local library or otherwise getting access to a magazine that you don\u2019t subscribe to. Part of me just wants to give you the last sentence and see what you can deduce from it. I think the story is, ultimately, a bit like a detective story, in which Jesus has been presented with a case that has at once too many and too few clues. Here\u2019s the last sentence of the article: \u201cJesus\u2019s action makes sense when\u00a0considered in its context\u2014not only the\u00a0historical, cultural, and geographical\u00a0context, but the architectural context\u00a0as well. His action has puzzled readers\u00a0because interpreters failed to observe\u00a0the things to which archaeologists\u00a0dedicate so much of their professional\u00a0attention. We failed to notice the floor,\u00a0even when Jesus\u2019s finger was pointing\u00a0directly to it the entire time.\u201d<\/p>\n Does that give you, my blog readers, enough clues to figure out what I suggest? Here are some other questions that I think are important keys to unlocking answers to why Jesus \u201cwrote\u201d on the ground or floor in the way John 8 says:<\/p>\n What did were the Pharisees known for emphasizing, and what does that suggest about their aims in bringing the case to Jesus? What does it allow us to conclude about the precise situation when they specify that the Law required her to be stoned? What have antisemitic misrepresentations of the Pharisees and of Judaism more generally caused us to miss or misinterpret?<\/p>\n What setting have you seen the story depicted in in movies and on TV? How does the actual location of the story specified in the Gospel of John require a rethinking of what is going on and what Jesus\u2019 action might have indicated? What ground or floor was he in fact drawing his finger across? Where does that specific floor or ground get mentioned elsewhere in the Bible and how is that potentially relevant to this story?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Are those enough clues to lead you to see where I go with this? If not, then you\u2019ll just have to read the article, and\/or the book.\u00a0Here is what I say about the story after a lengthy exploration of it in\u00a0What Jesus Learned from Women<\/em>:<\/p>\n Rereading this familiar story again, now as part of an investigation\u00a0of what Jesus learned from women, I feel ashamed, being suddenly made\u00a0aware that I had not truly seen and heard the woman at the center of\u00a0this story before now. Not really. All the pieces of the puzzle I have assembled\u00a0in this chapter were there in the evidence available. They are\u00a0insufficient to solve the case, but they are more than adequate to bring\u00a0the woman into clearer focus than we do. We allow the camera angle of\u00a0the ancient director, as it were, to lead our eyes to the male protagonists.\u00a0The woman is brought before us, probably naked, and even so we fail\u00a0to see her\u2014and not because we, like Jesus, keep our eyes on the ground\u00a0in the interest of modesty and respect. Jesus stoops down and remains\u00a0quiet, and even so we pepper him with questions like the woman\u2019s accusers,\u00a0and yet never call for her testimony, never piece it together from\u00a0the few details provided in the story and in relevant sources of cultural\u00a0and historical information. I wish Jesus could have done more for this\u00a0woman, but he did better by her than I ever have as a reader of her story.\u00a0He subtly yet clearly made room for us to hear her. We, like the ancient\u00a0court that was deciding her fate, have refused to listen, focusing our attention\u00a0instead where the male accusers direct it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It sounds as though\u00a0What Jesus Learned from Women<\/em> will also be out within the next few days. The book can currently be pre-ordered through the publisher\u2019s website<\/a>. I am hoping to see the book used in university and seminary courses, church discussion groups, book clubs, and other contexts, as well as read by interested individuals. I genuinely think it is the most important and worthwhile book I have written thus far, and I cannot wait to find out whether others feel the same way. If you\u2019d be interested in having me do a Zoom visit with a class or other group that decides to read and discuss the book together, please let me know!<\/p>\n Also related to the book, I doubt that there is anyone else quite as eager as me to have a copy of the amazing cover art from my book on their wall. But even if you cannot match quite my level of enthusiasm, you can still get yourself one and be happy! Artist Macey Dickerson now has prints for sale in multiple sizes and forms. Take a look at what is on offer on the Society 6 art website<\/a> \u00a0and get yourself one!<\/p>\n Here are some other items that may be of interest (not only about Jesus and women but also other biblical women, women in subsequent Christianity, and the historical Jesus and Christology more broadly):<\/p>\n First, let me mention Nathan Shedd\u2019s talk that is coming up on John the Baptist<\/a>. Also don\u2019t miss what Larry Schiffman recently shared about John the Baptist and purity<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jesus Invited Women to Take Their Place<\/a><\/p>\n Janelle Peters on Ancient Corinth, Women, and Veils<\/a><\/p>\n Mothers on the Margins<\/a><\/p>\n Abba Father<\/a><\/p>\n The Kingdom of God is In Your Midst<\/a><\/p>\n Google Jesus<\/a><\/p>\n The De-Mystification of Christian Origins<\/a><\/p>\n What Is The Book of Judith?<\/a><\/p>\n Is Judith Historically Inaccurate?<\/a><\/p>\n The Ethics of the Book of Judith: Sex, Lies, and Murder<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n