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Some lessons from a beachside run


Okay, some lessons from three beachside runs, actually. Because I’ve had three wonderful ones in the last seven days, one at dusk/sunset, and the other two shortly after sunrise.

As I ran along the beach a couple times this week, here were some things I thought about, in no particular order:

The ocean is awesome. Duh. But, really, look at it, if you can, for a long, long time. Just watch. It’s amazing in its vastness. It both sustains life and can completely destroy life in a second.

It changes constantly. I still can’t get over how different a beach looks at low tide versus high tide–it’s like a different landscape altogether. Those rocks that my 5-year-old son and I climbed up on the other day at low tide? Almost completely submerged this morning when I ran by them.

There are lighthouses where you didn’t notice them before. Yes, this could be on one of those cheesy motivators posters. But in the last week, with each run, I’ve noticed a new lighthouse off in the distance that I hadn’t seen before. The application to the life of following and trusting God has been quite clear to me.

There are more lessons. But I’ve got to go to bed now, so we can get up early in the morning. Tomorrow is my wife’s turn for a beachside run. (I get the kids.)

Scholarly skepticism toward “Jesus’s Wife” fragment

Source: Bill Greene/Boston Globe

A solid piece from The Boston Globe today, a week after the announcement of the “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” fragment discovery.

The news was arguably the biggest story regarding early Christian history in recent memory and generated a massive response, from obscure biblical blogs to late night television and Twitter.

See my earlier post here, in which two Gordon College professors weigh in. The Globe writes:

Several religion blogs ­reported Wednesday that the Harvard Theological Review had decided not to publish King’s paper. But King shared a statement she received Wednesday from the Theological Review saying her research will be published in January, assum­ing that testing on the fragment is complete. The scholarly publication also plans to include King’s responses “to the vigorous and appropriate academic debate engendered by the discovery of the fragment.”

(Thanks to Dr. Mark Goodacre for the tweet that pointed this article out.)

Junia

My wife and I just gave birth to our third child, Junia. The name Junia comes from Romans 16:7–she was an “outstanding” apostle, as noted by the apostle Paul.

There is nothing else about Junia in the New Testament except for the rest of what Paul says about her in that verse, the full text of which is, “Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was.”

What we know about Junia from Paul is:

  • She was a fellow Jew;
  • She is mentioned alongside Andronicus, presumed to be her husband and ministry partner;
  • She was in prison with Paul at some point;
  • She and Andronicus were “outstanding among the apostles”;
  • She and Andronicus were “in Christ” before Paul was.

There is a little bit of literature about Junia. She is the source of a short but dense scholarly study by Eldon Jay Epp (the cover is pictured above). Epp explores the difference that comes up in some English translations–i.e., why Junia occasionally (but incorrectly, according to him) appears as a male “Junias.” There is also an investigative journalist’s take on Junia, exploring some of the church’s history as to how and why the apostle Junia has sometimes been understood in the text (incorrectly, she also says) as a male Junias.

Finally, Scot McKnight has just come out with a short Kindle-only monograph called Junia is Not Alone, which explores Junia’s contribution to the church, as well as other “overlooked” women in Scripture and church history. (The publisher’s description unfortunately calls the essay “fierce.” I’ve not yet read it, but all that I’ve read and heard from Scot is anything but fierce. (UPDATE: I review it here.) He is a gentle and caring Biblical scholar, not polemical. Unless they mean “that’s fierce” in a Project Runway sense.) He posts about his e-book here.

UPDATE: Read all my Junia posts here.