iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

cambridge elements in pauline studies buddies! very excited about this new volume from my colleague. i couldn’t be happier to be in the same series alongside works like this one. paulinists will surely benefit from having more septuagintalists lend the field their insights and expertise.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

looks like i’m joining the cambridge elements crowd at CUP. 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 will be coming your way in the new cambridge elements in pauline studies!

the top half of the first page of my author agreement with cambridge university press, which names the relevant parties (CUP and yours truly), the element series (“elements in pauline studies,” edited by ryan collman and matthew novenson), and the title of the work (“paul and magic”).

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Tony Burke @tonyburke.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Seven (?) years in the making, submitted to my editors yesterday. 624 pages, covering almost 400 texts but 100 or so pages over my page limit. Happy to leave this in the hands of the editors for a while and move on to something else (or just get more sleep). My thanks to all who helped along the way

Draft of opening page to Introduction to Christian Apocrypha by Tony Burke

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Candida Moss @candidamoss.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

If you are a scholar, grad student, or post doc at an institution where there you do not have seminars in Biblical Studies and you'd like to attend/participate in the Birmingham Biblical Studies Seminar let me know! (Those who do have seminars are welcome to come too)

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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Very pleased to hear the news that I received a two-year SSHRC Insight Development Grant from the government of Canada for my research project on the importance of death by suicide in early Christianity.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

✨proofs✨ honoured to have an essay in a volume dedicated to the late Jim Aitken. the essay is a sequel of sorts to my JSJ article, “Are Eidōla Idols?” basically, if eidōla aren’t idols in the traditional sense, is eidōlolatria still idolatry? if not, then what?

a screenshot of the first page of my essay, “The Unextraordinary Life of Eidōlolatria: Morphology, Neologism, and the Invention of Idolatry,” chapter 23 in _Postclassical Greek and Cultural Identity in the Septuagint: In Memoriam: James K. Aitken (1968–2023)_, ed. Andrew T. Keenan and Robert S. Walker (Berlin: De Gruyter, forthcoming).

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Andrew T. Keenan, PhD @andrewtimkeenan.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

PROOFS!!! Robert and I finally got the proofs for our edited volume dedicated and in memory of the late James Aitken. Over the moon to be at this stage! If everything goes smooth, the book should be published November 2026! Keep your eyes peeled and your book budgets ready!

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Canadian Society of Biblical Studies @csbssceb.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

McMaster University invites applications for a one-year, full-time Contractually Limited Appointment (CLA) position at the rank of Lecturer or Assistant Professor in the Department Religious Studies. For more information, see here: www.academicwork.ca/jobs/jo-7642...

academicwork.ca

One-Year Contractually Limited Appointment (CLA) - CAUT | Academic Work

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

very pleased to share that my achtemeier award paper, “the politics of paul’s image parodies,” was published in the new issue of NTS today! even more pleased to have my work on jewish image parodies appear alongside @isaactsoon.bsky.social’s work on christian self-parody.

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Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Was just informed by @katgelk.bsky.social that _From Slave to Saint: Onesimus Throughout Christian History_ now has a page on @fortresspress.bsky.social's website! Consider pre-ordering for Jan 2027 to learn more about Onesimus from the 1st–20th centuries www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

fortresspress.com

From Slave to Saint: Onesimus Throughout Christian History

In this book, Chance E. Bonar offers a reception history of Onesimus from the first century until today in order to demonstrate the value of apocryphal Christian traditions. Bonara? TMs book highlight...

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Nathan Leach @nathanleach.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

My first book is coming out this year! It analyzes Revelation as a divinatory performance, situated within the broader spectrum of divinatory performances in Roman Asia and Achaia (in oracles, mysteries, and associational settings). edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-revelat...

Book cover: A black background, top half of the cover taken up by a stone relief carving of the goddess Leto holding child Apollo, with child Artemis at her side, fleeing left. To their right is a giant snake, Python, exiting a cave mouth and pursuing them. Both Artemis and Apollo have their hands raised in fists towards Python (presumably firing painted bows/arrows that have now worn off). The bottom quarter of the cover is filled by another, uncarved fragment of the same block of stone as the upper carvong. Book title: Revelation as Divination: Divine Presence and Knowledge in Oracles, Mysteries, and the Apocalypse of John. Edinburgh Studies in Religion in Antiquity.

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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Yayyyyy! Partridges get a bad rap! Come read the fruit of a very strange rabbit hole I went down in the Fall of 2024. Thanks especially to the reviewers and the editorial team at JECS. Probably one of my favourite publication processes I've been through.

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Stephen L. Young @slyprofessor.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Holy crap. "Paul Within Paganism," the book I co-edited w/ Paula Fredriksen & @alexichantz.bsky.social, got a long review essay in The New Yorker! Still sifting through the disparate threads Gopnik tries to tie together. Well earned shout-outs in it to @ryancollman.bsky.social @zafulotus.bsky.social

newyorker.com

St. Paul Remade Human History. How Did He Do It?

New scholarship reconsiders the apostle who turned a Jewish sect into a world religion—and whose legacy remains contested two millennia later.

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Maia Kotrosits @maiakotro.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

@philharland.bsky.social ‘s book has arrived!

A beautiful new book with a blue cover that says: Ethnic Relations in the Ancient Mediterranean: Social Life Under Empire by Philip A. Harland

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Meira Kensky @meirazk.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Just a reminder that it costs you absolutely nothing to be kind or neutral in an email

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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Pleased to see that my latest article, entitled "The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Self-Parody," is now out in NTS. In it I argue against the widely held view that this graffito is non-Christian in origin and that it could very well have been written by an enslaved Christian.

The first page of the journal article entitled "The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Parody." Abstract: Against the near-universal consensus that it was created by a pagan (non-Christian) in order to satirise Christian worship, this article contends that the Alexamenos graffito can plausibly be read as a Christian self-parody, created by the enslaved Alexamenos himself. It is the first full-length treatment of the authorial origins of the Alexamenos graffito. The article first provides an overview of the visual and scholarly histories of the image since the nineteenth century. Then it addresses evidence for and against reading the text as non-Christian or Christian in origin, focusing on the apparent sexualisation of Jesus, early Christian receptions of satirical depictions of Jesus, the graffito's use of a titulus, the solidarity of the image with enslaved workers and the relevance of nearby Christian graf-fiti. Finally, it places the graffito in conversation with ancient self-parody practices from wider Greek, Roman and Christian sources. While it is impossible to argue definitively about the identity of the graffito's creator, this article contends that scholarship cannot exclude the possibility and potential likelihood that it may be Christian in origin.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

i was elated to hear that my article, “When Is Idolatry Idolatry? Paul’s Pneumatic Pagans among Other Possibilities in Early Judaism,” was accepted for publication in Harvard Theological Review! coming early 2027 to a journal near you

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Jennifer Barry @jennisifire.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

The new JECS editor @emuehlbe.bsky.social is on 🔥🔥🔥 the next issue has been sent to press (with an exciting piece in line from @isaactsoon.bsky.social on deck!). Stay tuned!

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Matthijs den Dulk @matthijsdendulk.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

Available now in Open Access — free to browse and download. I’m thrilled that this book is finally seeing the light of day. It’s been quite the journey. Many thanks to all the friends and colleagues who helped me along the way!

cambridge.org

Ethnic Stereotypes and the Letters of Paul

Cambridge Core - Biblical Studies - New Testament - Ethnic Stereotypes and the Letters of Paul

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Evan Vossman @evanvossman.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

My dissertation proposal (tentatively titled "Invisible Hands: Despotic Fiction and Enslaved Labor in Early Rabbinic Literature") has been approved! Time to keep reading and writing. Also time to submit a condensed version of my work to SBL for November.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

for those looking for a temporary reprieve from *waves hands at everything*, i’ll be giving a paper on a new project at birmingham’s biblical studies seminar on 18 Feb at 11am ET. the paper’s entitled, “the enslaved seer: slavery and literate labour in the book of revelation.” DM for the zoom link!

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

PROOFS DAY i'm still a bit bewildered this paper won the achtemeier. i've presented its basic content so often that it feels slightly old to me. i'm just glad it's finally coming out so i don't need to present it or write about it anymore! but i hope someone else out there finds some use in it.

screenshot of the first page of proofs for my forthcoming NTS article, "The Politics of Paul's Image Parodies: Material Epiphany, Human-Divine Reciprocity, and Social Power." Abstract: "Early Jewish parodies of ancient Mediterranean cult images have long been taken as a point of categorical difference between Jews and non‘-Jews. The basic logic can be stated with maximal brevity: Jews were ‘aniconic’, indeed ‘anti-idolic’, while Greeks and Romans were iconic. When it comes to the question of so-called ‘idolatry’ and Jewish polemics against it, Jews were ostensibly ‘unique’ within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean religion. In this article, I interrogate such claims specifically as they relate to the apostle Paul, as one such Jewish polemicist who wrote to a predominantly gentile audience well accustomed to image piety and sensitive to its internal politics. I argue that early Jewish image parodies, including Paul’s own, are better understood to be situated within an iconopolitical strategy of cultural production that was otherwise common among Greeks and Romans, no less than Jews. By caricaturing cult images as non-existent, disabled or dead, it is my contention that Paul operated within and innovated upon a widespread tradition of ancient Mediterranean image politics, which configured social power relations between humans and their gods by abducting, mutilating or destroying their images, and that Paul’s parodies were intelligible and recognisable as such among his gentile followers. After outlining the comparative problems of ‘idolatry’, I draw from classical and art-historical scholarship to theorise the epiphanic and reciprocal dynamics of images in ancient Mediterranean religion, and then redescribe Jewish image parodies in Paul’s letters as operating within these same dynamics in the very process of polemicising against them."

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

SOMEONE PUT THIS GUY ON A TENURE TRACK ALREADY HE CANNOT BE STOPPED

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Dan McClellan @maklelan.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

Just needed to see these three wonderful people’s names on the cover to know I needed to pick this book up. Looking forward to digging into this. www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

OMG look what was on my doorstep! i haven’t seen the print version yet, but it’s prettier than i expected!!

Picture of the box of author’s copies of my new book, _Smoke & Mirrors_.

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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

My short Elements book "Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature" is now available on Cambridge Core. It was a lot of fun to learn from the exciting scholarship that's been happening and I hope that it's a useful resource for people. www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature

Cambridge Core - History of Religion - Literate Workers and the Production of Early Christian Literature

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David W. Congdon @dwcongdon.com · 16/11/2025

It also appears in the offshoot from the PWJ school known as Paul Within Paganism (PWP). Adam's analysis would lead one to think that PWP must be somehow at odds with PWJ, but in fact these are two complementary programs of analysis. Many scholars overlap. www.fortresspress.com/store/produc...

fortresspress.com

Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle

Leading and rising scholars introduce a burgeoning new approach to the study of Paul, which situates the Jewish apostle to gentiles within the wider world of ancient Mediterranean religion.

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Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Religion and Slave Revolts in the Roman Mediterranean is under contract with the @uwiscpress.bsky.social! Looking forward to sharing thoughts on the roles of religious cultures in catalyzing & suppressing slave revolts + how Roman writers selectively characterized the religiosity of the enslaved.

Memorandum of Agreement. The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, within which is incorporated the University of Wisconsin Press ("the Publisher"), is pleased to enter into this Agreement with Chance E. Bonar ("the Author") for the publication and other exploitation of the work tentatively titled Religion and Slave Revolts in the Roman Mediterranean ("the Work"). This agreement is effective as of the date of the last signature below.

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Dr. Chance Bonar @chancebonar.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

🗣️ PLEASE SHARE 🗣️ I'm writing an intro & sourcebook on late ancient Gazan literature for Dar al-Kalima University Press. The press and I plan to produce an Arabic translation to make Gazan literature more accessible to Palestinians. Help me compensate the Gazan translator! spot.fund/dn8t744sc

spot.fund

Click here to support Chance Bonar's story *AncientGazanLitTranslation

*spotfund is the easiest place to create beautiful and free online fundraisers. It takes just minutes to start raising money today.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

IT’S ALIVE! today i received my advance copies of 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 ahead of publication next month. it just dawned on me last week that people might actually buy and read this book. which is mildly terrifying. yay?

my hand holding a hardcover book, entitled 𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮: 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦, edited by Paula Fredriksen, Stephen L. Young, and an unknown, insignificant scholar who happens the have the exact same long greek name as mine.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

this book just came out and i *already* cannot stop talking about it with students! it’s become a staple in my book of revelation course. (i literally referred to it again in class this morning.)

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Joshua Alfaro @joshuaalfaro.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

At a Coldplay concert reading the 8th volume of Gerhard Kittel’s Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament and shaking my head the whole time so the people who see me on the Kiss Cam know I disagree with it.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 04/10/2025

Proofs.

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Shaily Patel @vox-magica.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

my book_smoke & mirrors_ is out on oxford scholarship online. i have many feelings, mostly good! this was a difficult write for many reasons. so i hope you find something useful in it if you read it.

academic.oup.com

Smoke & Mirrors: Discourses of Magic in Early Petrine Traditions

Abstract. Smoke & Mirrors: Discourses of Magic in Early Petrine Traditions is a book about how magic disappears from early Christian texts that feature

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Matt Thiessen @mattthiessen.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

One of the most hotly anticipated biblical studies books of 2025 drops today! Mark Goodacre's *The Fourth Synoptic Gospel John’s Knowledge of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.* @goodacre.bsky.social @eerdmansbooks.bsky.social www.eerdmans.com/978080287513...

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Maia Kotrosits @maiakotro.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Duke UP has put the Introduction to my book online! See here: bit.ly/42yhObv

bit.ly

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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

My second album, "The Flutters and the Feels," comes out this Friday and I'm very excited to share it with you all! You'll be able to find it everywhere music can be found, but if you follow me on Spotify or Apple Music (or YouTube Music) you'll get the album on your new music playlist automatically

Four images in four panels. One of a painting of an octopus holding a mirror. On the foggy mirror a smiley face has been drawn. Another image is of a track list of songs on the album. Another image is of sound waves from a voice note recording. The last is of tracks on music software.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

this one’s a doozy folks! massive congrats to Dr. Soon for making a really exciting contribution to such an important topic.

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I.T. Soon @isaactsoon.bsky.social · 30/08/2025

Friends who work with old (and illegible) manuscripts: Do you know of software where I can put in PDF digitizations of manuscripts where I can play with contrast/tone/saturation etc globally (not just page to page)?

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Durham Theology and Religion @durhamtheology.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Annalisa Phillips Wilson (back) to the department! Dr. Phillips Wilson completed her PhD at Durham in 2021, so it’s a pleasure to have her back with us from September. A specialist in Pauline studies, Dr. Phillips Wilson will join our New Testament team.

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 22/08/2025

was thrilled to find that @paultsloan.bsky.social's new book finally arrived in my office this morning! cannot wait to read ahead of my life of jesus course this semester. it has all the markings of a game-changer.

A picture of my hand holding Paul T. Sloan's new book with Baker, entitled Jesus and the Law of Moses: The Gospels and the Restoration of Israel within First-Century Judaism.

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Eric J. Harvey, Ph.D. @blindscholar.bsky.social · 01/08/2025

It's out, and now free to download for the next 2 weeks! Go give my new book a read (it's short enough to finish in a sitting) and then share it far and wide to your friends who live for the connections between myth, ritual, and economics (all of them)!

cambridge.org

Reading Creation Myths Economically in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel

Cambridge Core - Archaeology: General Interest - Reading Creation Myths Economically in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel

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Candida Moss @candidamoss.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

Excited to announce that after a lot of editorial work our volume "Writing, Enslavement, and Power in the Roman Mediterranean, 100 BCE - 300 CE" is out now. @jeremiahcoogan.bsky.social @illdottore.bsky.social academic.oup.com/book/60683

Book cover. The background in sepia tones Showa man dictating to scribes. A cream box in the center has light brown writing that contains the title (Writing, Enslavement, and Power in the Roman Mediterranean) and the words "Edited by Jeremiah Coogan, Candid R. Moss, and Jospeh A. Howley.

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Eric J. Harvey, Ph.D. @blindscholar.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Hey, it's here! My weird little Cambridge Element is here! Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the open access download is working right, but go take a look if you have institutional access!

cambridge.org

Reading Creation Myths Economically in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel

Cambridge Core - Economic History - Reading Creation Myths Economically in Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel

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Andrew Jacobs (he/him) @drewjakeprof.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

it's here! it's here! @vox-magica.bsky.social's amazing new Element in Religion in Late Antiquity is live and ⚡free⚡ to download for the next two weeks! get it! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

Magic and Heresy in Ancient Christian Literature

Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Magic and Heresy in Ancient Christian Literature

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