iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ryan Collman

British New Testament Society @bntsoc.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

The Paul seminar includes papers from Andrew Perriman, Crispin Fletcher-Louis, Kate Bowen-Evans, Joshua Chan and George Ford, with sessions on Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Corinthians, Galatians and Pauline interpretation. #BNTS2026

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Off to #BNTS2026. Looking forward to some good papers and catching up with friends.

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The SNP @snp.org · 06/05/2026

A re-elected SNP government will protect free prescriptions, free eye tests, free tuition, free bus travel, lower Council Tax, free school meals, the Baby Box and funded childcare, while going further to help families with the cost of living. Make it #BothVotesSNP tomorrow.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Almost exactly 5 years to the day, I finally got a “post-viva” picture with my examiners.

A photo of me with Paula Fredriksen and Philippa Townsend.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

The US badly needs democracy reform and one of the first places to start is proportional representation. It ends gerrymandering and never-ending redistricting fights, and makes sure every vote matters. Why aren’t more candidates running on this idea (other than self-preservation)?

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Always wanted my work to be described as “startling” and “unforgettable.” Really pleased that I was invited to contribute to this excellent volume.

A quote from this review of a book, which says, “In an even more startling essay, with the unforgettable title "Paul Among Pagan Penises," Ryan D. Collman argues that Paul's fixation on the politics of circumcision has been distorted by a simple mistranslation.”

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Reposted by Ryan Collman

British New Testament Society @bntsoc.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

📣 Spotlight on Paul, chaired by Andy Boakye and Ryan Collman For 2026, the Paul seminar will host three sessions: Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle; Divine Christology in Paul’s letters; an open session.

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Matthijs den Dulk @matthijsdendulk.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Ethnic Stereotypes and the Letters of Paul is now available in hardback + paperback and I happen to have some spare copies. ***Repost if you’re interested and by March 31 I’ll randomly select a few people who will get a free copy in the mail.*** Book info here: www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...

Matthijs den Dulk holds up a copy of his new book in his office

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Quick reminder to get your @bntsoc.bsky.social paper proposals in! For this year, the Paul seminar is hosting 3 sessions: Paul within Paganism, Divine Christology in Paul’s letters, and an open session. See the image for details.

For 2026, the Paul seminar will host three sessions.

Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle

This session will focus on the recent volume Paul within Paganism: Restoring the Mediterranean Context to the Apostle (Fortress, 2025), edited by Alexander Chantziantoniou, Paula Fredriksen, and Stephen L. Young. We invite papers that engage this volume directly, whether by engaging its methodological proposals, critically responding to its arguments, or interacting substantively with individual essays.

Divine Christology in Paul’s letters

This session will extend the Paul within Paganism conversation by examining questions of divine Christology in Paul’s letters. We seek papers that situate Pauline Christology within the broad landscape of ancient Mediterranean religion and that address related issues such as monotheism and monolatry, divine identity, cultic practice, and cosmology.

Open Session

The final session is open to any proposals that engage with the study of Paul.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

My contributor copy arrived the other day. This was a fun chapter to write. I wish I could have made it longer, but the word-limit led to some textual shrinkage. @tandtclark.bsky.social

The cover for the T&T Clark handbook of sexualities in the bile and its reception. It has an open pomegranate on it.

An image of the first page of my chapter in the volume: the ideal penis in the Bible and its reception.
Here is the first paragraph:

INTRODUCTION
"I was in the pool! I was in the pool!" So goes the famous line from Seinfeld as George Costanza is grected with laughter by a woman who walks in on him changing. In his mind, the present size of his penis fails to meet up to its typical ideal state due to his body's physiological response to the cold water - what he and Jerry refer to as 'shrinkage'. For George, presenting as though he does not possess the ideal penis speaks negatively to his masculinity, virility and ability to satisfy a woman sexually: While modern discussions about the ideal penis often revolve around size (Gül et al. 2023) - both length and girth - what constitutes the ideal penis shifts over time and from culture to culture.
For this present chapter, 1 examine the construction of the ideal penis in the Bible and its reception, with specific attention being given to how circumcision and foreskin are factored into conceptualizing the ideal penis. The main questions this chapter seeks to explore are as follows: how is the ideal penis constructed? Is it circumcised or does it have a foreskin? What wider values and ideas do these constructions convey?

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The things I would do for a Fruit Punch All Sport right about now… #bodyquencher

An image of a bottle of fruit punch all sport, the greatest sports beverage of the 90s.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Contemplating a giveaway if people are interested.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Contributor copies arrived just in time for me to miss SBL

A picture of a book: Paul within Paganism

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Reposted by Ryan Collman

Emily Gathergood @emilygathergood.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

All welcome to join our panel discussion of this significant scholarly book about Paul's theology of divine desire! I'll be reflecting on Christ's heartset against rape culture and other abuses of power, with implications for the academy and the church www.catholicbiblical.org/meetings/ubr...

catholicbiblical.org

Unbound Book Review: Fletcher-Louis' The Divine Heartset - The Catholic Biblical Association

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Any pandoc and zotero wizards out there? I'm not sure when this changed as I haven't exported any writing with pandoc in a while, but now my "collection-title-short" entries in Zotero aren't properly rendering in Pandoc with the SBLHS2 csl file from Zotero. #SBL Check alt-text on pics for details.

This is how it looks in Zotero. Note the extras field.

This is how it looks in the Zotero preview. Note that it has the BZNW abbreviation.

This is how it is showing up in a Pandoc generated bibliography.

This is how it is showing up in a footnote via a Pandoc generated word file (from a markdown file in Obsidian, using the obsidian pandoc plugin).

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 18/05/2025

First Jever of garden-beer season.

My hand holding a bottle of Jever in a green, sunny garden

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Just stumbled upon two recent reviews of my book. One by Zachary McNeal in Religious Studies Review and one by Haley Gabrielle in Body and Religion: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... journal.equinoxpub.com/BAR/article/...

journal.equinoxpub.com

The Apostle to the Foreskin: Circumcision in the Letters of Paul By R. D. Collman (2023) | Body and Religion

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Reposted by Ryan Collman

Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

The volume has a stellar lineup of ECRs, mid-career scholars, senior scholars, and retired professors. Together they represent a new approach to Paul come of age. Take a peek at the ToC below:

CONTENTS

Introduction
Alexander Chantziantoniou, Paula Fredriksen, and
Stephen L. Young

Part I: The Mediterranean Matrix

1. What Does It Mean to See Paul's Judaism "within Paganism"?
Alexander Chantziantoniou

2. Jews in a Pagan World
Erich S. Gruen

3. Paul and Roman Freelance Expertise
Heidi Wendt

Part II: A World Full of Gods

4. The Universal Polytheism and the Case of the Apostle Paul
Matthew V. Novenson

5. Pauline Polytheism and the Triumph of the Davidic Messiah
Paula Fredriksen

Part III: Deification and Spirit Possession

6. Paul among the Sons of God
Matthew Thiessen

7. Paul on Becoming (a) God
M. David Litwa

8. Paul among the Other Possessed
Giovanni B. Bazzana

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Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

𝘗𝘢𝘶𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘮 has a cover and a website! Conceived as a companion to PwJ (Fortress, 2015), this is the first go-to introductory resource on PwP (Fortress, 2025). The publication date is set for 4 Nov 2025, just in time for SBL. 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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Reposted by Ryan Collman

Stephen L. Young @slyprofessor.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

ON THE WAY! The volume @alexichantz.bsky.social, Paula Fredriksen, & I edited is @fortresspress.bsky.social for pre-order. TOC Below. Truly awesome contributors. Big thanks to all involved. Feels like we've been having a party and finally get to invite everyone! 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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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Wake up, kids! New Sam Perry article just dropped.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

There’s one week left to get your proposals in!

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

Quick reminder to get your proposals in!

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 26/03/2025

Wish I was still registered to vote in @repmoskowitz.bsky.social’s district. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Modc...

youtube.com

Moskowitz Mocks Signal Chat Between Administration Officials

YouTube video by Congressman Jared Moskowitz

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

The BNTS CfP is now live. In the Paul seminar we are focusing on gender and sexuality this year, but we also have one section open to any topic under our remit. Send us your proposals! bnts.org.uk/bnts-call-fo...

bnts.org.uk

BNTS Call for Papers 2025

Proposals for papers are invited for the British New Testament Society Meeting 2025 to be hosted by the University of Manchester from Monday 1 September to Wednesday 3 September 2025. Paper proposa…

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

Been cooking all day. It was worth it.

Picture of all the Indian food I made today: black daal, chicken ruby, gunpowder potatoes, pau bahji, roti…

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Reposted by Ryan Collman

Alexi Chantziantoniou @alexichantz.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

kicking off 2025 with a bang by publishing my JSNT article online today (open access)! check it out to see how paul’s iconic christ might be understood, in comparative perspective, as an ancient mediterranean cult image.

journals.sagepub.com

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

For those that forgot: Silverchair released "Tomorrow" when they were only 15 years old. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjsM...

youtube.com

Silverchair - Tomorrow (US Version) (Official Video)

YouTube video by SilverchairVEVO

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Ryan Collman @ryancollman.bsky.social · 30/11/2024

Time for the annual St Andrew's Day Flash Sale at Edinburgh University Press. The Edinburgh Studies in Religion in Antiquity Series in 50% off! edinburghuniversitypress.com/series-edinb...