What Happened to the Apostles?

Christian History magazine's latest issue addresses the issue of apostleship and lives of the Apostles. You can read the issue or access a free PDF of the issue here. Several friends have contributed to this volume.

HT: Rex Butler

An Evaluation of After Jesus Before Christianity

Michael Kruger takes on three important arguments in the recent book, After Jesus Before Christianity here. There are a number of important takeaways but for me this underscores what is at stake in discussions of Canon and pseudepigraphy.

Misunderstanding American Religious History

American religious history was a new course that I taught this semester. I learned a lot and trust that my students did too. In any case, I found this article from Thomas Kidd on some common misunderstandings about American religious history to be interesting.

Online Medieval Psalms Commentaries

Willem-Jan de Wit has compiled a helpful list of online Medieval Psalms commentaries on here.

Resources for Researching Early Christianity

Stephen Presley provides a helpful list here of some resources for researching early Christianity.

Five “Fake News” Stories Related to Early Christianity

Michael Kruger identifies five “fake news” stories that many people believe about early Christianity here.

Hurtado on Coins and Early Christianity

Larry Hurtado has an interesting post here on "Coins and Early Christianity." It looks like defacing money goes way back.

The Early Christian Use of the Codex

Larry Hurtado here identifies seven key points regarding the early Christian use of the codex form.

Four Aspects of Early Christian Belief

Paul Barnett suggests that there are “four aspects of early Christian belief that can only be explained by the radical influence of Jesus.”

• His Followers Called the Preresurrection Jesus “Lord”/Kyrios.
• The God of Israel Was Now Redefined as Abba, “Father.”
• Access to God through a New Temple.
• Atonement Was through His Death, Not Temple Sacrifices.

This seems like a pretty good list. What would you add to that list?

Paul Barnett, Finding the Historical Christ, After Jesus 3 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 252–56. 
  

Free Martin Luther Audio

  

To celebrate Reformation Day, Christianaudio.com is offering Martin Luther: In His Own Words as a free audiobook download through October 31. (They also made this offer last year.) This is a compilation of many of Luther's most important writings, including the Ninety-Five Theses and six other works.
 

Feast Day for Jesus' Transfiguration

Thanks to Christianity.com, I now know that today is the feast day to celebrate Jesus' transfiguration. You can read more about it here.
 

J Gresham Machen's Birthday

J Gresham Machen was born in Baltimore, Maryland on this day in 1881.

Hurtado on Defining Christian Origins

Larry Hurtado takes a stab at defining and delineating the discipline of Christian origins here.

New Journal: Early Christianity

The first issue of the new journal, Early Christianity, is now available as a free pdf here. This issues theme is new directions in Pauline theology.

New Directions in Pauline Theology
Michael Wolter: Die Entwicklung des paulinischen Christentums von einer Bekehrungsreligion zu einer Traditionsreligion 15–40
Judith M. Lieu: “As much my apostle as Christ is mine”: The dispute over Paul between Tertullian and Marcion 41–59
Matthias Konradt: Die Christonomie der Freiheit. Zu Paulus’ Entfaltung seines ethischen Ansatzes in Gal 5,13-6,10 60–81
John M. G. Barclay: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy”: The Golden Calf and Divine Mercy in Romans 9-11 and Second Temple Judaism 82–106
Jonathan A. Linebaugh: Debating Diagonal Δικαιοσύνη: The Epistle of Enoch and Paul in Theological Conversation 107–128

New Discoveries
Peter Arzt-Grabner, Neues zu Paulus aus den Papyri des römischen Alltags 131–157
Claire Clivaz, A New NT Papyrus: 126 (PSI 1497) 158–162

New Books
Robert Jewett, Romans (Mark Reasoner) 165–174
Martin Vahrenhorst, Kultische Sprache in den Paulusbriefen (Martin Meiser) 174–179
Douglas Campbell, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul (Francis Watson) 179–185

New Projects
Rainer Hirsch-Luipold, Ratio Religionis. Religiöse Philosophie und philosophische Religion in der frühen Kaiserzeit 189–191

New Discoveries
Peter Arzt-Grabner, Neues zu Paulus aus den Papyri des römischen Alltags 131–157
Claire Clivaz, A New NT Papyrus: 126 (PSI 1497) 158–162

Too Rich for Heaven?

ChristianHistory.net has posted an interesting article by Brian Matz entitled "Can You Be Too Rich for Heaven? How the early Christians explained Mark 10:21."

Top(?) Ten Christian History News Stories of 2009

Ted Olsen at ChristianHistory.net has an article on the "Top(/) Ten Christian News Stories of 2009." You can read the article here.

The Christian Fish Symbol

See this short but interesting article at ChristianHistory.net on the ubiquitous Christian fish symbol.