In this note, we introduce readers to St Paul of the Thorns, a painting by Elizabeth Tooth, which is part of an exhibition entitled Reimagining Paul. Using visual arts interpretive methodologies, disability studies, exegesis of 2 Corinthians, and exhibition visitor feedback, we consider the distinctive contribution of visual art to discussions of…[Read more]

Within Johannine texts, impairment carries associated meanings to the point that the narrative figure is reduced to the impairment rather than having an independent and/or complex identity. A metanarrative of disability exists within these texts, regarding assuming that attitudes, capabilities or attributes relate to particular impairments. This…[Read more]

A surprising consensus among scholars working on 3 Maccabees is that the story of Philopator’s supernatural intervention appears strikingly similar to an epileptic seizure. Likewise, the same observations have been made by others about Heliodorus’s episode in 2 Maccabees. Surprisingly, none of these scholars appear to be self-aware that this is…[Read more]

Royal illness and disability recur as motifs within the accounts of the Davidic monarchs provided in the books of Samuel and Kings. Recent work done on the intersection of disability studies and the Hebrew Bible provides a framework for tracing this motif throughout the history of the southern kingdom in 1 and 2 Kings. Under this framework, kings…[Read more]

In Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s 1990 comic novel Good Omens, names act as important signifiers of role and function; the act of naming can be an expression of power so strong and significant that it can literally shape reality. Here, I propose a reading of Good Omens that explores human agency through the process of naming. Focusing on the c…[Read more]

Matthew R. Anderson’s walking explorations through North Dublin help him reflect on colonisation, decolonisation, and Land in both Ireland and North America.

Few of the parables found in the gospels have received more attention than the parable of the man with two sons, commonly known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. In this paper, I argue that discourses of queer futurity can help make new sense of the parable, highlighting its use of family structures and its assumptions about time, and attending…[Read more]

Christian merchants, artisans, and service providers were explicitly targeted by early critics of the movement, who felt, in line with contemporary prejudices, that such people were dirty, ignorant, and prone to the vices of greed and deceit. Detractors hoped to attack Christianity on two intersecting fronts: that the faith was morally bankrupt…[Read more]

In ancient Hebrew, the word for “hand” can also refer metaphorically to personal power—or be innuendo for the phallus. This observation serves as a key to the many appearances of “hands” in the book of Esther, from the king’s superlative “hand” to the ever-active “hands” of eunuchs. This abundance of hands has an ironic significance, alter…[Read more]

In ancient Hebrew, the word for “hand” can also refer metaphorically to personal power—or be innuendo for the phallus. This observation serves as a key to the many appearances of “hands” in the book of Esther, from the king’s superlative “hand” to the ever-active “hands” of eunuchs. This abundance of hands has an ironic significance, alter…[Read more]

The language Luke uses to depict conception in his infancy narrative calls upon established medical discourse for fertilisation. My argument in this philological study is that ancient gynaecology prompts us to give full weight to the literal meaning of Gabriel’s term sullambanein (“to conceive/grasp”) and to ask what grammatical and material objec…[Read more]

This article offers a new interpretation of the phrase “Jewish weight,” especially as it is used in the Greek papyrus known as CPJ 3.519. The Roman-era papyrus preserves part of a work of otherwise unknown fiction, probably a script of a comedic mime about an athletic contest in a gymnasium. Contrary to previous interpreters, a new reading of the…[Read more]