Reviews of

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Early Christian Epistolarity

In Brill, Early Christianity, Epistolography, Jonathon Lookadoo, Judith LIEU, Matthijs den Dulk on August 10, 2026 at 5:54 pm

2026.08.06 | Judith M. Lieu and Matthijs den Dulk. Early Christian Epistolarity. Critical Approaches to Christianity 5. Leiden: Brill, 2026. Pp. x + 380. ISBN: 9789004746145.

Review by Jonathon Lookadoo, Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary, Seoul, Republic of Korea

Judith Lieu, Lady Margaret’s Professor Emerita at the University of Cambridge, delivered the Radboud Prestige Lectures at the University of Nijmegen in 2022. The volume under review contains the revised version of those lectures and follows the format of prior publications in the series by making available not only the lectures but also a collection of essays interacting with her work. This volume unfolds with an introduction by Matthijs den Dulk (chapter 1), in which he provides context for the volume. This is followed by Lieu’s three revised lectures (chapters 2–4), nine essays interacting with her work (chapters 5–13), and an epilogue in which Lieu responds to her interlocutors (chapter 14). Indexes of ancient sources and subjects round out the volume. Since Lieu’s lectures form the heart of the book, this review will highlight her work and interact with other contributions more sparingly.

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Early Christian Widows

In Aogu Suzuki, Bloomsbury, Book of Acts, Luke-Acts, NT social setting, Widows, Yurong Zhao on May 1, 2026 at 10:15 am

2026.05.05 | Yurong Zhao. Early Christian Widows and their Social-economic Situation, Support, and Contribution to the Church. Library of New Testament Studies 687. London: T&T Clark, 2025. pp. xvii + 242. ISBN: 9780567721365.

Review by Aogu Suzuki, University of St Andrews.

Wayne Meeks, in his The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul (1983), stated: “To write social history, it is necessary … to discern the texture of life in particular times and particular places. After that, the task of a social historian of early Christianity is to describe the life of the ordinary Christian within that environment.” The last four decades of New Testament scholarship have benefited from an increasing number of illuminating granular works attempting to clarify particulars of the early Christian milieu, and Yurong Zhao’s Early Christian Widows and their Social-economic Situation, Support, and Contribution to the Church is a welcome addition within this current. While the marginalized in general have garnered much discussion, Zhao argues that “the social-economic situation of widows in the early church, their means of support, and their role in the church have not been sufficiently studied” (p. 1). A published version of her doctoral dissertation completed in Durham under John Barclay, this monograph synthesizes social-economic data with the analysis of early Christian literature in order to provide a nuanced understanding of widows in the early church.

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1 Enoch: An Ethiopic Reader’s Edition

In 1 Enoch, Geʿez, Kai Akagi, Society of Biblical Literature, Vladimir Olivero on March 25, 2026 at 6:00 pm

2026.03.04 | Vladimir Olivero. 1 Enoch: An Ethiopic Reader’s Edition. Resources for Biblical Study 110. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2025. pp. viii + 359. ISBN: 9781628377606.

Review by Kai Akagi, Rikkyo University.

While 1 Enoch is among the scriptures of the Ethiopic Orthodox Church and Geʿez serves as the liturgical language and language of scripture for various Ethiopic ecclesial traditions, in many parts of the world study of texts in Geʿez has long been limited to a very small number of specialists. Even in many specialist research works, use of 1 Enoch and other literature written preserved in Geʿez long was often limited to use of these texts in translation. The few who ventured into the study of Geʿez often did so through the introductory textbooks of either Lambdin or Mercer. While Mercer’s text had the advantage of simplicity and conciseness, its brevity left much to the student, particularly in becoming accustomed to reading through texts beyond its small number of short practice exercises. Lambin’s textbook, despite its general accessibility, ease of use, and a greater number of practice exercises, left reading in Geʿez script rather than transliteration to the discipline of the student, and many students never made the leap of reading longer texts in Geʿez script at all. 

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