Part of Paul’s baptismal teaching was that there should be “neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.” Yet early Christian records, including the New Testament, attest to the challenges of bridging those racial, economic, and gender divides. In our divisive society, a study of the models of peacemaking in earliest Christianity might help us to gain different perspectives and to acquire healthier practices.

PATHWAY GUIDE

Curt Niccum in collaboration with ACU’s Center for the Study of Ancient Religious Texts (CSART)

GUIDEBOOK

Click below to flip through a digital guidebook, view recordings of each session, and explore resources to extend your learning. Additionally, the session videos are accessible in the Summit 2020 playlist on the Siburt Institute’s YouTube channel.

SESSIONS

NEITHER JEW NOR GENTILE: Paul’s Gospel of Ethnic Inclusion

Christopher Hutson

The Hebrew Bible anticipates that in God’s glorious future all nations will turn to the God of Israel. They will not convert to Judaism but will recognize the God of Israel as the one, true God of all nations. This presentation will survey that doctrine in the Old Testament and show how it functions as a key element of Paul’s gospel. Anyone who asserts the privilege of one ethnic group over other ethnic groups is violating “the truth of the gospel.”

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY: Rich and Poor Worlds in the New Testament

John Boyles

“The poor you will always have with you” has proven to be a deeply true saying from Jesus. Recent years have highlighted divides in our society between the so-called “rural poor” and “urban elite” that motivate political and cultural divides. Even further, the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic have raised profound questions about money, threatening to divide communities further. What were the socio-economic divides in the ancient church? How did early Christians build bridges across those divides?

MALES AND FEMALES AS ONE IN CHRIST: Dream, Delusion, or Nightmare?

Kathy Pulley

Why was the Apostle Paul interested in being a bridge-builder in his first-century context, specifically between men and women? Do his reasons have validity and significance in our own churches’ battles for the mutual embracing of men and women?

Speakers and Pathway Guide

JOHN BOYLES

John Boyles is an assistant professor in the Department of Bible, Missions, and Ministry and a member of the Highland Church of Christ. His current research focuses on the social history of the ancient Mediterranean as it can inform the study of the New Testament, especially the lived experience in groups and associations. He teaches courses in biblical interpretation and biblical languages. He and his wife, Lauren, live in Abilene.

CHRISTOPHER HUTSON

Christopher Hutson is professor of Bible, missions, and ministry at ACU, where he has taught since 2010. His primary research area is the New Testament, especially the Pauline letters and Luke-Acts. He also studies the Stone-Campbell movement, race relations in America, and the application of biblical texts to contemporary social issues. He is interested in Jewish-Christian relations and is an associate member of Temple Mizpah in Abilene.

CURT NICCUM

Curt Niccum is professor of Bible at ACU where he also serves as CSART’s assistant director. He preaches at the South 11th & Willis Church of Christ. He is co-editor for the Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior (ECM) Colossians Project; a collaborator with the ECM Mark, John, Pastoral Epistles, and Revelation Projects; and a member of the International Greek New Testament Project Committee.

KATHY PULLEY

Kathy Pulley teaches in the Religious Studies Department at Missouri State University and is a member of the East Sunshine Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri. Her teaching schedule includes courses in religion and politics, women, religion, and violence, and modern religious thought. A primary focus area of her work has been the socio-historical and theological dimensions of conservative Protestant institutions and women. She is pleased to have contributed a chapter on civil rights and the religious right in Slavery's Long Shadow: Race and Reconciliation in American Christianity.