Theology

Through the analysis of twenty Easter sermons from the late Enlightenment period, Maike Peyrer explores how the resurrection of Jesus was preached in an era marked by the struggle to define the relationship between reason and revelation, and in which belief in miracles - such as the resurrection of Jesus - was increasingly questioned.

Ruben van Wingerden explores how early Christians interpreted Jesus' call to »carry one's cross« and shows how early Christian readers, operating within diverse cultural and theological contexts, expanded and reshaped the meaning of cross-bearing from its New Testament origins into a rich and multifaceted tradition.

The Hebrew text of Jeremiah utilizes infelicitous or symmetric elements to produce puns demonstrating a contextual theme. While previous studies have largely ignored this type of pun in the Hebrew Bible, Josiah D. Peeler illustrates that it was a common device in ancient Near Eastern textual production.

Melissa J. Barciela examines the place of the suffering body in Paul's letter to the Philippians. She brings together three key angles of inquiry - Paul among ancient philosophers, embodiment in antiquity, and the theme of suffering - to offer a new reading of the embodied language in the letter.