Papers and Lectures

2024a: “From My Gospel to Our Gospel: Why Paul Shaped Galatians Around Two Revelations” (virtual paper presentation for Aberdeen’s Biblical Studies Seminar; 3pm Scotland time, March 13)

2023b: “Where Do We Go From Here in Paul within Judaism Research: A New Translation of Paul’s Letters” (Paul within Judaism session at the Socieity of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Nov. 18)

2023a: “And the Beat Goes On: Will Adoption Rather than Interrogation of Paul’s Name-Calling Ever Change?” (Rhetoric and Early Christianity section at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Nov. 18).

2021b: “New Investigations of Paul Require Interrogating the Received Translations,” Respondent to Papers in the “Paul within Judaism” session on “What do we mean by ‘within Judaism'” (Sat, Nov 20, virtual for San Antonio Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature).

2021a: “What Was ‘Revealed’ to Paul, and Why and How Does He Use This Disclosure to Instruct the Galatians? Qualifying Our Source Texts” (Enoch Seminary session entitled, “Paul’s ‘Conversion’ within Judaism: an Apocalyptic Jew and a (Former?) Pharisee,” virtual, on Oct 27). 

2020a (canceled): “‘All Israel Will Be Saved‘ or ‘Kept Safe‘?: How Evangelical Readings of Rom 11:26 Misread Paul’s View of His Fellow Jews” (SBL Pacific Regional Meeting, Hope International University, CA, March 15).

2019g: “For Paul’s Intra-Jewish Context ‘Works of Law’ Does Not Work for erga nomou, or ‘Faith [alone]’ for pistis: Why Not? What Works?” (Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 23).

2019f:  “‘All Israel Will Be Saved’ or ‘Kept Safe’? (Rom 11:26): Re-Examining Paul’s Expectations for His Fellow Jews with Regard to Israel’s Mission to the Nations” (“Paul’s Message and Jewish Eschatological Notions Concerning Israel’s Role Towards the Nations” Conference, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia, September 10–13).

2019e: “Paul: Why Bother? A Jewish Perspective” (Honorary Doctorate Lecture at Lund University, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, May 23).

2019d: “Respondent to Four Papers on the Theme of ‘Intra-Jewish Interaction and the Role of Non-Jews Within the Jesus Movement (1st century B.C.E. – 1st century C.E.)’ (“Negotiating Identities: Conflict, Conversion, and Consolidation in Early Judaism and Christianity (200 BCE–400 CE)”; An International Conference Organized by Lund University, University of Oslo and Uppsala University; Lund, Sweden, May 12–15).

2019c: “Qualifying Paul’s Position on Circumcision: ‘Do You Not Hear the Torah?’ (Gal 4:21c)” (“Circumcision from Antiquity to Today” Seminar, Oslo, Norway, May 9–11).

2019b: “For Second Temple Jewish Texts, Reading Paul’s erga nomou as ‘Works of the Law’ Does Not Work: A New Proposal” (Society of Biblical Literature Pacific Coast Regional Meeting, March 10, Hope International University, CA).

2019a: “‘The Covenant Never Revoked’: The Promising Prospects of Re-visiting the Historical Paul’s Appeal to Covenant” (“Fulfilling the Promise of a New Relationship: An Academic Roundtable on Christian-Jewish Relations,” St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, January 7-10).

2018f: “Paul the Jew: A Discussion with Mark Nanos and Gabriele Boccaccini” (Enoch Pre-SBL Colloquium at the Mezzanine Level at the I.M Pei Tower Building, Sheraton Downtown, Denver, CO, Nov. 16).

2018e: “Paul within Judaism” : a) “How Could Paul—THE Convert to Christianity—Represent Judaism”; b) “Was Paul Promoting Judaism in the Letters of the New Testament?”; c) “Did Paul Argue that the ‘Church’ Replaced (or Became) ‘Israel’?” (Gershom Lecture Series on Jewish-Christian relations at Hillsdale College, 3 lectures on Nov. 7-8). [See Videos to watch these lectures]

2018d: “For Second Temple Jewish Texts, Reading Paul’s erga nomou as ‘Works of the Law’ Does Not Work: A New Proposal” (“The Message of Paul the Apostle within Second Temple Judaism” Conference, Bratislava, Slovakia, October 25).

2018c: “Yes, And, But”: “A Response to Israel Yuval, ‘What Judaism Owes to Christianity'” (“The Present and Future of Christian-Jewish Dialogue” Conference, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, May 14).

2018b: “Reading Paul in Abraham: What is ‘Faith’? And, What Difference Does that Make Today?” (University of Oklahoma, April 12).

2018a: “Paul within Judaism: A Conversation” (Center for Advanced Theological Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Feb. 21).

2016c: “Reading Paul’s Allegory (Gal 4:21–5:1) as Haftarah: A Jewish Liturgical Explanation for Paul’s Characterization of ‘Jerusalem Presently in Slavery with Her Children'” (2016 Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Jewish-Christian Dialogue and Sacred Texts section, Nov. 19-22, San Antonio, Texas).

2016b: “Reading the Antioch Incident ‘within Judaism’: A Structured Discussion of Critical Elements in the Study of Christian Origins” (2016 Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Paul within Judaism section, Nov. 19-22, San Antonio, Texas).

2016a: “Reading Paul’s Allegory (Gal 4:21–5:1) Within Judaism: Is Isaiah 54:1 the Haftarah for ‘Hearing’ Torah on Slave (= [Adult] Foreign Male) Circumcision?” (2016 PCR/SBL New Testament: Epistles and Apocalypse section, March 13-14, 2016, Claremont Graduate University).

 2015g: “Are Jews Outside of the Covenants if Not Confessing Jesus as Messiah?: Questioning the Questions, the Options for the Answers too” (Paul Within Judaism Session of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Nov. 23, 9-11:30am, S23-132).

 2015f: “Review of The Real Paul: Recovering His Radical Challenge,” by Bernard Brandon Scott (Westar Institute at the Society of Biblical Lit. Annual Meeting, Nov. 22, 4-5pm, P22-348a) [the Westar link includes a recording of the video].

 2015e: “‘Do you not hear the Torah?’: Paul’s Allegory (Gal 4:21–5:1) in the Context of Ancient Haftarah” (Paper in the Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins [AJCO] Colloquia entitled “Reading the New Testament as Second Temple Jewish Literature,” September 24, 10:00am-12:00pm, Room 2241, Nyack College, 2 Washington, NY, NY).

 2015d: “Reading Paul in a Jewish Way.” (Lecture in the program “‘Oh be joyful all you peoples, with God’s People’: Who are the people? An ecumenical discussion,” at the German Protestant Kirchentag in Stuttgart, Germany, 11am to 1pm, June 5)(news article from World Council of Churches)

 2015c: “At the Root of Christian Replacement Theology Stands an Olive Tree (Romans 11:11-33): Can it be Saved?” (Lecture at the Centrum för Teologi och Religionsvetenskap, Lund University, Sweden, 5:15pm, June 2).

 2015b: “Paul’s Non-Jews Do Not Become ‘Jews,’ But Do They Become ‘Jewish’?: Reading Romans 2:25-29 Within Judaism, Alongside Josephus.” (New Testament Traditions in the Context of Early Judaism Seminar of the Nordic New Testament Conference, Aarhus University, Denmark, June 1).

 2015a:”How to Read Paul in a Jewish Way: A Case Study of Romans 15:10 Citing Deuteronomy 32:43″ (Nordic New Testament Conference, Aarhus University, Denmark, May 31).

 2014b: “Paul’s Position on Circumcision in Dialogue with Josephus’s Advisors to King Izates” (Paul and Pauline Lit., 2014 SBL International Meeting, Vienna, Austria, July 6-10).

 2014a: “Qualifying Paul’s Position on Circumcision in Dialogue with Josephus’s Advisors to King Izates” (Re-Reading Paul as a Second-Temple Jewish Author, Nangeroni Meeting of the Enoch Seminar, Rome, June 23-27).

 2013c: “Paul’s Non-Jews Do Not Become ‘Jews,’ But Do They Become ‘Jewish’?” (Paul and Judaism Consultation at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Baltimore, Nov., 2013).

 2013b: “Translating Paul in the Light of Nostra Aetate” (Shapiro Lecture, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Oct. 28, 4pm).

 2013a:“’Judaizers’? ‘Pagan’ Cults? Cynics?: Reconceptualizing the Concerns of Paul’s Audience from the Polemics in Philippians 3:2, 18-19” (Central States SBL, St. Louis, March 17, 2013).

 2012c:”What Does Torah Observance Mean in a First Century Diaspora Context, and thus for Interpreting Paul?: Defining the Problem” (Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Chicago, Nov. 19, 2012).

 2012b:”How Christians Talk About Jews: The Problems and Prospects of Paul’s Message in Romans 11″; and “The Translation of Romans 11 Since the Holocaust: What’s Different? What’s Not? What Could Be?”; and “Paul and Judaism: The Historical and Theological Challenge to Re-consider and Re-describe Christian Origins” (Theological Public Lecture series at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Hong Kong, Oct 12 and 14, 2012).

 2012a:”The Place of Salvation History in Galatians: A Chronometric Approach” (Paper presented at Central States SBL, St. Louis, March 19, 2012).

 2011c: “The Place of Salvation History in Galatians” (Paper presented as a guest at the ETS, San Francisco, Nov. 18).

 2011b: “The Translation of Romans 11 Since the Shoah: What’s Different? What’s Not? What Could Be?” (Conference entitled “Paul, Jewishness, and Otherness after the Holocaust,” Baylor University, Apr. 14-16)

 2011a: “Romans: To the Churches Within the Synagogues of Rome” (Central States SBL, St. Louis, March 18).

 2010f: “Locating Paul on a Map of First Century Judaism” (Paul and Judaism section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, Atlanta, Nov. 22).

 2010e: “The Greco-Roman Context of Paul’s Struggling Jewish Subgroup Community in Philippi” (Paul and People’s History pre-SBL session, Nov. 19).

 2010d: “Paul, Judaism, and Christian-Jewish Relations: Revisiting the Evidence from Romans” (MJTI Center for Jewish-Christians Relations, Los Angeles, Skirball Cultural Center, Oct. 31).

 2010c: “Images of Jews and Judaism in Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Challenging Translation Decisions That Subvert Paul’s Message” (King Lecture, Washburn University, Topeka, KS, Wed., April 14).

 2010b:”‘Callused,’ Not ‘Hardened’: Paul’s Revelation of Temporary Protection Until All Israel Can Be Healed” (Central States SBL, St. Louis, March 22).

 2010a: “Response to Pheme Perkins’ ‘The Letter to the Romans as It Relates to Current Catholic Understanding of the Relation of the Church to the Jewish People'” (Consultation on Jewish-Catholic Relations: Interpreting Scripture and Current Self-Understanding, Georgetown University, March 1).

 2009e: “Did Paul Observe Torah in Light of His Strategy ‘to Become Everything to Everyone’ (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)?” (Paper presented in the Pauline Epistles section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Nov. 22).

 2009d: “‘Broken Branches’: A Pauline Metaphor Gone Awry?” (Paper presented in the Ancient Jewish-Christian Relations section of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Nov. 21).

 2009c: “What Was at Stake in Peter’s ‘Eating with Gentiles’ in Antioch?” (Discussion at Westar Institute, Santa Rosa, Cal., Oct. 16; Voting results).

 2009b: “Paul’s Relationship to Torah in Light of His Strategy ‘to Become Everything to Everyone’ (1 Corinthians 9:19-22)” (Paper to be presented for New Perspectives on Paul and the Jews: Interdisciplinary Academic Seminar, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium, Sept. 14-15).

 2009a:”When in Rome, Would the Paul of ‘All Things to All People’ (1 Cor 9:19-23) Do as the Romans Do?” (Paper to be presented for Paul and Pauline Literature, International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Rome, Italy, July 1).

 2008f:”Paul’s Reversal of Jews Calling Gentiles ‘Dogs’ (Philippians 3:2): 1600 Years of an Ideological Tale Wagging an Exegetical Dog?” (Paper presented in the Early Jewish Christian Relations session of the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Boston, Mass., Nov. 23).

 2008e: “The Myth of the ‘Law-Free’ Paul Standing Between Christians and Jews” (Paper presented as a guest at the Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting, Providence, RI, Nov. 21).

 2008d: “Paul and the Jewish Tradition: The Ideology of the Shema” (Paper presented at Villanova University, Philadelphia, Oct. 23, as part of the Jubilee Year of the Apostle St. Paul seminar series; see Videos for video of the original presentation).

 2008c: “The Polytheist Identity of the ‘Weak,’ And Paul’s Strategy to ‘Gain’ Them: A New Reading of 1 Corinthians 8:1—11:1” (Paper presented in a Seminar at Lund University, Sweden, May 6).

 2008b: “‘Broken Branches’: A Pauline Metaphor Gone Awry? (Romans 11:11-32)” (Paper presented at an International Symposium: “Romans 9—11 at the Interface Between the ‘New Perspective on Paul’ and Jewish-Christian Dialog,” Göttingen, Germany, May 3).

 2008a: “Rethinking the ‘Paul and Judaism’ Paradigm: Why Not ‘Paul’s Judaism’?” (Paper presented at McMaster University, March 12; University of Toronto, March 13; Lund University, Sweden, May 7; Linköping University, Sweden, May 8).

 2007c: “‘Have Paul and His Communities Left Judaism for Christianity?’: A Review of the Paul-Related Chapters in Jewish Believers in Jesus and Jewish Christianity Revisited.” (Review paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, in the Jewish Christianity Consultation, San Diego, November 19).

 2007b: “‘But this knowledge is not in everyone’ (1 Cor 8:7): Who Were the ‘Weak’ in Corinth, and What Was the Harm Paul Feared They Would Suffer?” (Paper presented at an International Conference: “Saint Paul the Apostle and Corinth,” 1950 Years Since the Writing of the Epistles to the Corinthians, Sept. 24).

 2007a: “Paul’s Reversal of Jews Calling Gentiles ‘Dogs’ (Philippians 3:2): 1600 Years of an Ideological Tale Wagging an Exegetical Dog?” (Paper at Central States SBL, St. Louis, March 25, 2007. Title of lecture at University of Helsinki, Finland, May 14, 2007, and Gothenburg University, Sweden, May 22).

 2006d: “You say ‘Judaizers,’ I say, ‘Why so?’: The Context Implied by Paul’s Name-Calling in Philippians 3” (Paper presentation for discussion of the Philippians Section of the Paul and Politics Pre-SBL Meeting, Washington D.C., November 17).

 2006c: “The Dead Sea Scrolls and Christian/Jewish Relations” (Visiting Scholar Lecture Series at Rockhurst University, Oct. 24).

 2006b: “New or Renewed Covenantalism?: A Response to Richard Hays’ ‘”Here We Have No Lasting City”: New Covenantalism in Hebrews'” (St. Andrews Conference on The Epistle to Hebrews and Christian Theology, July 18-22).

 2006a: “Us and Them: The Promise and Limits of Abrahamic Descent” (KU Hall Lecture Series: “Abraham’s Children: Exploring the Shared Heritage of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,” KU Edwards Campus, Overland Park, KS, March 7).

 2005d: “How The Label ‘Jewish Christianity’ Limits Investigation of the Category We Seek to Understand” (A response to three papers in the “Jewish Christianity” session at the SBL Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, November 19).

 2005c: “A Torah-Observant Paul?: What Difference Could it Make for Christian/Jewish Relations Today?” (Annual Presentation to the Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations, sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College, June 4-6).

 2005b: “A Jewish Paul? What Difference Would It Make for Jewish/Christian Relations Today?” (Revised for Annual Lecture for the “Center for Jewish-Christian Studies and Relations” at General Theological Seminary, March 8).

 2005a: “Rethinking the ‘Paul and Judaism’ Paradigm” (Paper presented in a postgraduate seminar at Yale University, March 3).

 2004d: “Response to ‘Galatians and Images of Empire’ papers by Brigitte Kahl and Davina C. Lopez” (Paul and Politics Section, SBL Annual Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, November 20)

 2004c: “A Jewish Paul? What Difference Would It Make for Jewish/Christian Relations Today?” (Public Lecture sponsored by the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, in partnership with the Center for Arts and Letters and the Thomas More Center for the Study of Catholic Thought and Culture, Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri, October 26).

 2004b: “What Does ‘Present Jerusalem’ (Gal 4:25) in Paul’s Allegory Have to do with the Jerusalem of Paul’s Time, or the Concerns of the Galatians?” (SBL Central States Meeting, St. Louis, March 29).

 2004a: “Paul and Judaism” (SBL Central States Meeting, St. Louis, March 28).

 2003: “How Inter-Christian Approaches to Paul’s Rhetoric Can Perpetuate Negative Valuations of Jewishness – Although Proposing to Avoid that Outcome” (SBL Annual Meeting, Atlanta; Early Jewish/Christian Relations Section).

 2002: “Review of The Jesus Movement: A Social History of Its First Century.” Ekkehard W. Stegemann and Wolfgang Stegemann. Translated by O. C. Dean, Jr.. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999 (SBL Annual Meeting, Toronto; Social Science Criticism of the NT Section).

 2001b: “Life in the Diaspora Synagogues: A Response” (Respondent to Papers by Carsten Claussen, Magnus Zetterholm, and Judith Lieu on the topic of “Life in the Diaspora Synagogues,” a section of “The Ancient Synagogue: From the Beginning to about 200 CE,” An International Conference at Lund University, Sweden, Oct. 14-17).

 2001a: “The Local Context of the Galatians: Toward Resolving a Catch-22” (SBL Annual Meeting, Denver; Paul and Politics Section).

 1999: “‘O foolish Galatians, who has cast the evil eye [of envy] upon you?’ (Gal. 3:1a-b): What the dynamics of Paul’s accusation imply about the social context and message of Galatians” (SBL Annual Meeting, Boston; Social Science Criticism of the NT Section).

 1998b: “The Inter- and Intra-Jewish Political Contexts of Paul and the Galatians” (SBL Annual Meeting, Orlando; Paul and Politics Section).

 1998a: “Challenging the Limits that Continue to Define Paul’s Perspective on Jews and Judaism: A response to papers by William S. Campbell and Guenter Wasserberg” (SBL Annual Meeting, Orlando; Interpretation of Romans Section).

 1997c: “Response to N. Elliott, S. Stowers, and E. E. Johnson reviews at a session on The Mystery of Romans” (SBL Annual Meeting, San Francisco; Early Jewish-Christian Relations Section; papers and response were published in Critical Reviews in Biblical Religion, 1998).

 1997b: “Intruding ‘Spies’ and ‘Pseudo’-brethren: The Intra-Jewish context of ‘Those of repute’ in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1-10)” (International Research Consultation in Birmingham, England entitled “Ideology, Power and Interpretation”).

 1997a: “Intruding ‘Spies’ and ‘Pseudo’-brethren: The Intra-Jewish Context of ‘Those of Repute’ in Jerusalem (Gal. 2:1-10)” (Mid-Central States SBL Regional Meeting, Kansas City, MO, and North Central SBL Regional Meeting, Minn./St. Paul).

 1996c: “Some Problems with Reading Romans Through the Lens of the Edict of Claudius” (Mid-Central States SBL Regional Meeting, St. Louis).

 1996b: “Why was Gentile Circumcision so Unacceptable to Paul?: The Role of the Shema in Paul’s Gospel” (Mid-Central States SBL Regional Meeting, St. Louis).

 1996a: “Springing Luther’s Trap: The Identity of the Weak in Romans” (North Central SBL Regional Meeting, Minn./St. Paul).

 1995b: “It Takes Real Jews to Make Real Sense of Romans” (Southwest SBL Regional Meeting, Dallas).

 1995a: “Springing Luther’s Trap: The Identity of the Weak in Romans” (Mid-Central States SBL Regional Meeting, Tulsa