Category Archives: Greco-Roman Culture

Dodson, Paul the Rabbi Philosopher

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Joseph R. Dodson, Paul the Rabbi Philosopher: Stoic and Jewish Philosophy in the Apostle’s Thought (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2026)

In this work, Dodson’s goal is to move beyond the divide that has long plagued scholarship of parsing out and dividing St. Paul’s thought into Greek and/or Jewish categories by arguing that the apostle is at the same time a Jewish rabbi and a Greek philosopher. In his words, “Paul represents a multidimensional, culturally impacted author who strategically utilizes the common vernacular, philosophies, and stories surrounding him to communicate the good news to all people in relatable, understandable, and authentic ways” (6). 

To accomplish this end, Dodson divides his work into an introduction, two parts each with five chapters, a postscript, an appendix, and a bibliography. In the introduction (“Introduction: Paul, the Man of Twists and Turns,” 1–7), Dodson lays out the above-mentioned goal and the book’s structure. The first part (“Paul the Rabbi and the Jewish Tradition”) introduces the Wisdom of Solomon (11–16) and contains five chapters that read St. Paul’s letter to the Romans alongside the Deuterocanonical work, the Wisdom of Solomon. In the first chapter (“Death, Sin, and the Devil in Wisdom and Romans,” 17–32), Dodson explores death, sin, and the devil in Wisdom and Romans, concluding that in the former death is a motivation to achieve salvation, while in the latter death explains that Christians already possess salvation. The second chapter (“The Cosmic Avenger and the Groaning Mother in Wisdom and Romans,” 33–44) examines how both Wisdom and Romans personify creation. In Wisdom, creation has fought and will continue to fight for God’s people, while in Romans she suffers with them until the eschaton. In the third chapter (“The Rebuking and Interceding Spirit in Wisdom and Romans,” 45–56), Dodson surveys the Holy Spirit in Wisdom and Romans, concluding that in the former the Spirit brings the sinful thoughts of humans before God, while in the latter the Spirit brings the prayers of Christians before God. The fourth chapter (“The Perennial Problem of Israel in Wisdom and Romans,” 57–72) chronicles the history of Israel in Wisdom and Romans. Dodson contends that in Wisdom wrath disassociates the Lord from punishing Israel and in Romans the Torah is disentangled from Israel’s salvation from it. In the fifth chapter (“The Intractable Problem of Evil in Wisdom and Romans,” 73–84), Dodson explores how Wisdom and Romans treat the rule of evil powers and the suffering of the righteous. 

The second part (“Paul the Philosopher and the Stoic Tradition”) contains an introduction to Seneca (87–90) and five more chapters in which Dodson compares St. Paul’s letters to the writings of the first century AD Stoic philosopher Seneca. In the sixth chapter (“The ‘Crucifixions’ of Seneca and Paul,” 91–104), Dodson examines Seneca’s metaphorical use of crucifixion in his On the Happy Life and the apostle’s use of it in Galatians, highlighting their similarities and most importantly for this chapter their differences. The seventh chapter (“Crucified Heroes: Seneca’s Regulus and Paul’s Christ,” 105–19) surveys Seneca’s treatment of the crucified general Marcus Atilius Regulus and St. Paul’s of Jesus the Messiah. In the eighth chapter (“Roman Feasts and Homoerotic Activities in Epistle 95 and Romans,” 120–34), Dodson reads Seneca’s invective against the degrading passions of humans in Epistle 95 with St. Paul’s in Romans 1 underscoring the similarities between the two accounts. The ninth chapter (“The Yonder Man and the Hypocrite in Epistle 59 and Romans,” 135–49) argues that Seneca’s Epistle 59 parallels St. Paul’s rhetorical hypocrite in Romans 2 and that in the latter the apostle “sounds just like the Stoics and that his diatribe fits their classic indictment of the pretentious philosopher” (138). In the tenth chapter (“The Curious Case of Apocalyptic Eschatology in Seneca and Paul,” 150–69), Dodson compares apocalyptic, by which he means works that “contain revelations of life after earth given by a celestial figure” (151), texts that are eschatological to the Senecan and Pauline corpora. 

The work’s final chapter (“Postscript,” 171–72) rearticulates Dodson’s thesis: that St. Paul is a diverse “figure who not only brings the divine message to humanity but is also able to adroitly twist and shift to faithfully interpret it to Gentiles, Romans, Greeks, and Jews” (171). And in its appendix (“Personification and Powers,” 173–77), Dodson provides a discussion of the apostle’s personification of powers. 

Paul the Rabbi is thoughtful, well-researched work that demonstrates in a sophisticated way the benefit of engaging with Jewish and pagan sources to illuminate early Christianity. It exemplifies the fruitfulness of such research that has moved beyond the older and outdated divide of whether a Jewish or pagan idea influenced St. Paul. As Dodson’s volume shows, the apostle was a Jewish rabbi and a Greek philosopher at the same time. Therefore, I recommend picking up your copy today from Hendrickson! 

I am grateful to Hendrickson for the gratis copy of this work, which in no way influenced my reading of it.  

Review of Collins, Apocalypticism as a Worldview

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John J. Collins, Apocalypticism as a Worldview in Ancient Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2026)

The goal of this work is to provide an overview of the apocalyptic worldview of ancient Judaism gleaned from early Jewish apocalypses such as Daniel, 1 Enoch, and the Dead Sea Scrolls. To accomplish this end, Collins divides his work into six chapters with an introduction, an epilogue, an acknowledgment, a bibliography, and three appendices.  

In the introduction (“Critical Issues in the Contemporary Debate,” 1–5), Collins introduces the volume, setting out his above-mentioned purpose and the ancient sources he uses to achieve it. Chapter 1 (“Genres, Constellations, and Worldviews,” 6–28) relates the history of the study of apocalyptic literature as an academic discipline; discusses the definition of an “apocalypse,” which Collins defines as “a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated  by an otherworldly being  to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it involves another, supernatural world” (12);[1] and introduces the concept of worldview, which relates to epistemological assumptions about the world, including space, time, and human existence and has implications for “human values and conduct” (25). 

In chapter 2 (“Changing Views of History,” 29–51), Collins explores a distinctive feature of the apocalyptic literature, which undergirds the ancient Jewish apocalyptic worldview: long reviews of history, often the rise and fall historical empires, that tend to be presented as prophecy already fulfilled with an unfulfilled pending act of God in the near future, which will bring about some kind of restoration. This end, however, is not final and one of the notable elements of apocalyptic eschatology is the desire for “another kind of life” not “subject to death and decay” that is “beyond human experience” (51).   

Chapter 3 (“Mythic Frameworks,” 52–74) examines the myths and symbols, often of superhuman evil in the world, in the ancient Jewish apocalyptic worldview that are drawn from other cultures around Second Temple Jews. For apocalypticists, the world is under the control of malign non-human forces and these myths and symbols help to communicate that. 

In chapter 4 (“The Open Heaven,” 75–98), Collins discusses one of the main concerns of the ancient Jewish apocalyptic worldview: the current cosmic context in which humans live and the desire for God’s people to be transformed in the near future and to live in his presence everlastingly. Much of this cosmic context remains hidden from humans and consists of a cosmic war with angels and demons, good and evil. 

Chapter 5 (“The Pursuit of the Millennium,” 99–116) looks at two concerns of the present world in the ancient Jewish apocalyptic worldview: the fact that the locus of many apocalyptic visions is some kind of distress and that the ultimate hope for this world is its transformation.

In chapter 6 (“Apocalyptic Literature Transmitted by Christians,” 117–32), Collins reviews apocalyptic literature that Slavonic, Syrian, and Ethiopic Christians transmitted but probably did not compose, 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch, 3 Baruch, for example, which revolutionized our understanding of ancient Judaism and its theological diversity. 

The epilogue (Epilogue: “The Legacy of Apocalypticism,” 133–37) explores the legacy of apocalypticism in the modern West in two areas: in fundamentalism and in secularism. Collins observes that “fundamentalist Christians continue to expect that the prophecies of Daniel and especially of Revelation will be fulfilled in the near future” (133). In the process, he discusses postmillennialism, which was prominent in the 18th century, and premillennialism, which arose in the late 19th and early 20th century, in the United States. On the other hand, secular apocalypticism, which goes back to the 18th century, is the belief that there is the end of the world is imminent and cataclysmic, but it rejects a belief in angels and demons. 

The final portions of Apocalypticism contains an “Acknowledgements” (139–40), a “Bibliography” (141–68), and three indices: “Index of Authors” (169–74), “Index of Subjects” (175–76), and “Index of Scripture and Other Ancient Sources” (177–82). 

This work is pure John J. Collins and thus it is excellent. Apocalypticism is clear, concise, and well informed (especially among non-English speaking scholarship). For this reason, this volume is and probably will remain definitive. One particular strength, which is also found in all of Collins’s voluminous scholarship, is that he takes nothing-for-granted in his discussions. Rather, he always begins with the basics of any argument or thesis and from those basics, he makes his well-reasoned and thoughtful arguments. Consequently, I encourage everyone to pick up their copy from Eerdmans!  

I am grateful to Eerdmans for the gratis copy of this work, which in no way influenced my review of it. 

[1] Collins derives this definition from his work, “Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre,” Semeia 14 (1979): 9.

Review of T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint (LXX)

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T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, ed. James K. Aitken (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015; Paperback, 2025)

This volume for specialists and non-specialists alike serves as an introduction to the Septuagint (LXX) in general and each individual LXX book in particular. Its goal is to provide the present state of knowledge of the LXX from thirty-six contributors from diverse perspectives in Septuagintal studies, especially from a younger generation of scholars, and to chart future paths of investigation in the subject area. 

It is arranged as follows: a “Preface” (ix–x), a list of “Abbreviations” (xi–xx), “List of Contributors” (xxi–xxvi), a “Glossary” (xxvii–xxx), an “Introduction” (1–12), an introduction to and discussion of all LXX books (13–567), and an “Index of Biblical References,” (568–92).

In the “Introduction,” Aitken provides a concise introduction to the LXX. In the process, he highlights that “no one Septuagint” existed in antiquity (1). He discusses: how the LXX came to be, its various translations, the provenance(s) of its translators, the importance of the LXX for the study of the Bible, the text and manuscripts of the LXX, editions and modern translations of the LXX, and finally tools for those who wish to learn more. 

For the most part, the remainder of the volume consists of a book-by-book survey of the LXX: “Genesis” (13–28), “Exodus” (29–42), “Leviticus” (43–57), “Numbers” (58–67), “Deuteronomy” (68–85), “Joshua” (86–101), “Judges” (102–17), “Ruth” (118–26), “1–2 Kingdoms (1–2 Samuel)” (127–46), “3–4 Kingdoms (1–2 Kings)” (147–66), “1–2 Chronicles” (167–77), “1 Esdras” (178–94), “2 Esdras” (195–202), “Esther and Additions to Esther” (203–21), “Judith” (222–36), “Tobit” (237–60), “1 Maccabees” (261–72), “2 Maccabees” (273–91), “3 Maccabees” (292–305), “4 Maccabees” (306–19), “Psalms” (320–34), “Prayer of Manasseh” (335–40), “Proverbs” (341–55), “Ecclesiastes” (356–69), “Canticles (Song of Songs)” (370–84), “Job” (385–400), “Wisdom of Solomon” (401–9), “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)” (410–24), “Psalms of Solomon” (425–37), “The Minor Prophets” (438–55), “Isaiah” (456–68), “Jeremiah” (469–86), “Baruch” (487–99), “Lamentations” (500–19), “Epistle of Jeremiah” (520–27), “Ezekiel” (528–43), “Daniel” (544–54), and “The Additions to Daniel” (555–67). 

Each of these chapters is structured similarly. Its author begins by providing critical editions and translations of the book in question. Then, he or she discusses the following areas of Septuagintal research associated with it: the book’s (or books’) General Characteristics, Time and Place of Composition, Language, Translation and Composition, Key Text-Critical Issues, Ideology and Exegesis, and Reception History. The last portion of every chapter contains a helpful Bibliography for those who wish to learn more about the book (or books’) in question. 

To provide an example, I highlight the chapter on the Psalms, the most quoted LXX book by the authors of the New Testament. This chapter is by James Aitken who notes that the date for the Greek translation of the Psalter is unknown, but it appears to have occurred during the second century BC (320–23). He contends that one must not think of one edition of the Psalter in antiquity because the LXX (as well as one of the scrolls from Qumran) attest to an additional psalm, Psalm 151, which is no found in the Masoretic text that stands behind most modern Old Testament translations (321; for more on the Masoretic text, click here). The location whence the Greek Psalter was produced is uncertain. While some have suggested that it was translated in Palestine, linguistic evidence supports an Egyptian provenance (322–23). Some language of the LXX Psalms, especially the term used to describe God as “Deliverer” (ἀντιλήμπτωρ), seems to derive from the administrative realm of Ptolemaic Egypt and to reflect the common spoken language of the day (324). 

The translation of the Greek Psalter appears to be the work of a single translator who followed his Hebrew source text closely. There are some modifications, which are theological such as the translator tended to avoid acknowledging the existence of any other god than the One God of Israel. For example, the translator rendered the Hebrew of Psalm 8:6 [8:5 in our English translations], which reads, “You have made him [a son of man or a human] a little lower than the gods (אֱלֹהִים; elohim), as, “You made him a little lower than angels” (ἀγγέλους) (325). The ancient manuscripts of the Psalter attests to much diversity among them. One scroll from Qumran, 11QPsa, includes Psalm 151, like the LXX (for more on 11QPsa and Psalm 151, click here). However, the individual psalms of this scroll are arranged differently than in the Greek Psalter and even includes other non-canonical psalms. Other Psalm manuscripts from Qumran differ from the LXX Psalms and the Masoretic text of the Psalter. What is more, the headings of the psalms differ among the Masoretic text, the Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, and the LXX Psalms. Finally, Aitken goes on to discuss the various proposals about the exegetical character of the Greek Psalter and its reception among Second Temple Jews and early Christians (327–30).  

In short, the T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, especially in its new paperback edition, is an indispensable tool for anyone conducting research on the LXX. Its book-by-book approach with bibliographies for further reading makes it very efficient for research, especially for non-Septuagintal specialists. Therefore, I highly recommend that, if possible, this work becomes part of your library! 

I am grateful to T&T Clark Bloomsbury for this gratis copy, which in no way influenced by review.  

Review of Greek Inscriptions by Peter Liddel

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Peter Liddel, Greek Inscriptions, Ancient Scripts (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2025)

In this excellent, short, approachable, and image filled introduction to Greek Inscriptions, epigrapher Peter Liddel aims to introduce Greek inscriptions to non-specialists and to demonstrate how one can use them to understand “ancient Greek history, society and culture” (1). To accomplish this goal, he divides his work into six chapters. The first, “Cultures of Writing” (18–35), explores the shapes of inscriptions, their language, where ancient Greeks placed them, and how epigraphers edit and date them. In the second chapter, “Human Expressions” (36–51), Liddel examines how inscriptions contain the ancient experiences of Greeks from life to death. The third chapter, “Communities and Their Inscriptions” (52–65), delves into how inscriptions reveal the organization of ancient Greek city-states, how they were expressions of authority, and how they displayed honor of certain Greeks. In chapter four, “The Supernatural” (66–79), Liddel probes how inscriptions evidence ancient cultic practices, ancient sacred accounting and bookkeeping, and the connection between writing on an object and the divine. Chapter five, “Beyond Hellenism” (80–91), looks at Greek inscriptions in Egypt and the role of inscriptions in the coming of Rome as the dominant superpower in the Mediterranean World and then the empire’s conversion to Christianity. In the final chapter, “Legacies” (92–103), Liddel discusses the reuse of inscriptions from their original context, the beginnings of the science of epigraphy, and why inscriptions still matter today. Finally, Liddel provides a helpful guide to further reading for those who wish to learn more. This work is a great resource for any novice looking to understand more about ancient Greek inscriptions! 

New Volume on Ancient Villages and the Rise of Christianity

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Recently, I received my complimentary copy of The Village in Antiquity and The Rise of Early Christianity, edited by Alan Cadwallader, James R. Harrison, Angela Standhartinger, and L.L. Welborn.

This work contains eighteen essays by seventeen different scholars ranging from specialists on second millennium BC Egypt to historians of early Christianity, Greco-Roman epigraphers, and Greco-Roman archaeologists. The scope of this volume is immense, as it examines villages and aspects of village life in Pharaonic and Roman Egypt, ancient Israel, Roman Palestine, Roman Galatia, Roman Asia, Roman Macedonia, Roman Achaea, and Roman Italy. The overall thesis of The Village in Antiquity is that the scholarly consensus that early Christianity was a largely urban phenomenon is fundamentally flawed and in need of revision. Those interested in ancient villages in general and the spread of early Christianity in them in particular will benefit from this great collection of essays. Thanks to Alan, Jim, Angela, and Larry for their hard work in producing it and for including me among its contributors!