Research – Upcoming and Recent:
PAUL AND THE LAW: GENTILES AND JEWS
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament series, Mohr Siebeck
A collection of twelve previously published essays on these topics, along with an introduction and a new essay on the “Paul within Judaism” movement. Forthcoming.
“The One Spouse Ideal and Remarriage in the Pastorals”
An article that is a development of his remarriage research which has been accepted and is forthcoming in the journal New Testament Studies.
DINNER WITH THE DOCTOR: LUKE’S GOSPEL FOR THE HUNGRY, contracted and forthcoming from Concordia Publishing House, summer 2026
A work designed to introduce Luke both to pastors and to interested lay readers, especially those engaging the gospel devotionally and hunting for a greater depth of insight into the biblical text. After a dinner scene with Luke himself, the volume consists of an exposition of twenty-two key Lukan passages that takes advantage of the best of biblical scholarship to illumine the text–all accessible in conversational prose for popular audiences.
REMARRIAGE IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY
Wm. B. Eerdmans, June 2024
This work, the first of its kind, will offer a comprehensive examination of remarriage in the early Christian movement. An introduction will briefly survey the cultural acceptability of divorce and remarriage in the Jewish, Greco-Roman, and modern worlds. Even as historical Jesus researchers have lamented finding images of themselves at the bottom of the well, any study of remarriage must begin cognizant of the modern researcher’s social location.
Taking into account the full range of recent methodological critiques of Jesus research, the first chapter will apply a variety of criteria—traditional and refined—to offer a surer reconstruction of a “historical Jesus,” who taught very strictly against both divorce and remarriage. The Gospels of Mark and Luke convey to their audiences the same rigorous (and counter-cultural) teaching.
The second chapter will examine in detail the divorce and remarriage passages in Matthew’s Gospel, especially their exception clauses (Matt. 5:32; 19:9). Although scholars regularly consider the exceptions modifications of Jesus’ teaching on both divorce and remarriage, they likely modify only Jesus’ prohibition of divorce.
The Apostle Paul tackles divorce and remarriage in 1 Corinthians 7, the topic of the third chapter. He allows both a divorce between a Christ-believer and a non-Christ-believer and, most would contend, remarriage after divorce. Although several verses in the chapter may be construed as permitting remarriage, ultimately 1 Cor. 7 restricts remarriage to those whose spouses have died.
The final chapter traces early Christian teaching on remarriage through the Council of Nicea in the first half of the fourth century. The conclusion will summarize the book, reflect on how the early Christians navigated remarriages already in place, and track the trend in recent scholarship to expand the biblical exceptions for divorce and remarriage.
Presentations – Upcoming and Recent:
November 2025: Slavery, Resistance, and Freedom Section of the Society of Biblical Literature
In 1 Cor. 7:15 the believer is not bound when the non-Christ-believer insists on divorce. Interpreters typically overlook the discussion of slavery and freedom that follows. Also overlooked: Paul neither employs the same “bound” verb as in 1 Cor. 7:39 nor claims a spouse’s “freedom”/“permission” to remarry, a defining feature of contemporary divorce certificates.
The most suitable backdrop for “not enslaved” is not likely slavery under the Mosaic Law. The slave wife of Exod. 21 is also unlikely (Paul includes release of a believing husband). Cynic/Stoic claims were widely influential that marriage entails a “slavery” preventing one from pursuing philosophy more fully.
Verse 15’s “not enslaved” prepares for the ensuing discussion of slavery/freedom, reflecting status-conscious reversals and envisioning upward social mobility. The positive valuation of freedom in vv. 21-23 indicates that v. 15’s “not enslaved” encourages an ascetic lifestyle in the service of the Lord, unencumbered by marriage.
Public lecture – Concordia University Chicago October 2024
“…Das discusses his bold study that challenges scholars and enlightens any Christian concerned with what Scripture has to say about this perennially relevant topic.”
November 2023: Disputed Paulines Section of the Society of Biblical Literature
The Faithful Univira and Remarriage in the Pastorals
With innovative language, the author of the Pastorals requires the overseer, the deacon, and the elder to be μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ (1 Tim 3:2, 12; Tit 1:6). Correspondingly, those in the office of widow are to be wives of one husband (ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή; 1 Tim 5:8). Since Sidney Page’s 1993 essay contending that the first phrase should be translated with the NEB as “faithful to his one wife,” scholarship has reached a near consensus: The phrase refers to the quality of the candidate’s marital relationship and not to marital status per se. The criteria for officeholders are traits that are to be practiced by all Christ-believers and were likewise praiseworthy in the larger society.
This paper will therefore begin with the larger society and the Roman tradition of the univira. Literary references (e.g., the Aeneid) supplement the inscriptional evidence in understanding the tradition. Several elements are noteworthy: 1) The univira traditions are not limited to wives’ fidelity to their one husband but also include, correspondingly, husbands faithful to their one wife; 2) The univira traditions, while Roman, influenced the eastern part of the empire; 3) The univira traditions lasted into the period well after the birth of the Christ movement; 4) The univira traditions entailed a wife or husband’s lifelong faithfulness and devotion to the spouse; 5) Jews and members of the Christ-movement continued the univira tradition. The likely influence of the univira ideal on the two Pastoral phrases would point to both marital status and the marital relationship.
The primary objection lodged against this approach has been the acceptability of remarriage among early Christians. In fact, the Pastorals commend marriage and even remarriage in the case of younger widows. The acceptance of remarriage for the widow, however, is one matter. The early Christ movement’s acceptance of remarriage for the divorced is unlikely. Remarriage after divorce is repeatedly labeled adulterous, even to the point that historical Jesus researchers consider such censure one of the surest results of the enterprise. The Apostle Paul likewise sanctions remarriage for widows but not for the divorced.
Influenced by the Greco-Roman ideal and by Paul’s perspective, the Pastorals would thus be requiring the male officeholder to be the husband of one wife, that is, faithful and devoted to a single woman in the course of her lifetime. Likewise, those in the office of widow are to have been faithful and devoted to the one man in the course of his lifetime.