Ben Witherington, III

Summary: An imaginative rendering of the story of Priscilla, a companion of Paul, as a dictated narrative recorded by her adopted daughter Julia, as she faces possible trial before a Roman tribunal.

Priscilla (or Prisca) is one of those fascinating minor characters we meet in the book of Acts and several of the letters of Paul. Often mentioned before her husband Aquila, she is described as a tentmaker, who works with her husband and Paul to support their mission efforts. When Paul writes the show more Corinthians, he sends their greetings along with his own. Later, in the letters to the Romans and the second letter to Timothy, he sends greetings to them. Perhaps most significantly, Priscilla and her husband instructed Apollos, who became a noteworthy preacher, in the truth of the gospel.

This book is an imaginative filling out of her story, and that of the early Christian movement. As the story opens, Priscilla is a woman of 80, still proprietor of a tentmaking business in Rome. Her nightmares about the early Neronian persecution of Christians, during which she lost her husband, result in her determining to tell her whole story to her adopted daughter Julia, who takes it down on wax tablets to copy to papyrus.

She traces her Christian journey from the day of Pentecost, when she and her mother became followers of the Way, and were expelled from their home. Eventually, they take up tentmaking in Rome. Prisca meets Aquila, another believer. She describes persecutions of Jews in Rome and their banishing to Corinth, their encounter with and travels with Paul, their instruction of Apollos, to whom she later. attributes the Letter to the Hebrews.

Witherington creates an urgency to the account. Shortly after beginning the narrative, Priscilla receives a summons to appear in a month before the tribunal of Domitian, who has resumed the persecution of Christians. The theme of persecution runs through the narrative--the brutalities of Nero, who illuminated the city with burning Christians, banishments, the trials of Paul, of Peter and many others.

Priscilla's narrative incorporates descriptions of everyday life, often assumed in scripture, and makes connections that help flesh out the development of the early Christian movement--the ministries of Peter, James, and John, and their writings, along with the gospels of Luke and John Mark.

The account also chronicles the ideal of Paul about Jewish-Gentile relationships in the church, and the struggle, and ultimately failure to achieve this ideal as differences separated these two and the number of Jewish followers of the Way declined. There were both external pressures from the rest of the Jewish community, and the struggle to grasp the new covenant realities that made inclusion of the Gentiles possible.

Finally, the portrayal of Priscilla and the discussion of women and their roles in the church and the world helps us understand both cultural limits and the gospel possibilities Paul envisioned. This commentary by Priscilla, responding to a question from Julia reflects Witherington's understanding of Paul on women:

" 'That's true, but Paulus's pastoral principle was 'start with them where they are, and lead them where you want them to go.' He knew the places Timothy and Titus served were male-dominated, especially on Crete, but if you carefully read the first letter Paulus wrote to Timothy, he mentions female deacons. Those texts were never meant to exclude women from praying or prophesying or teaching or whatever they were gifted and called by God to do so. Paulus view was to change those in the body of Christus over time rather than change society at large.' "

Sadly, Priscilla probably didn't envision that two thousand years later the church would still be wrestling with this one.

There are times when the incorporation of explanations of daily life seem a bit artificial, and the use of Latin or Greek terms, and then explanation, while helpful from a historical perspective, seems unnatural in a conversation. Nevertheless, the narrative reflects Witherington's extensive understanding of the New Testament and its Mediterranean context, and helps us return to the biblical narratives with fresh eyes. The extensive use of illustrations to complement the text add to the reader's understanding and interest. The use of the impending appearance before the tribunal adds narrative tension, and offers the opportunity for a discussion of the realities of Christian hope that have strengthened believers facing persecution in every age. This is a book both to inform and encourage!

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. show less

For theologians, "The Lord's Supper" evokes memories of old battles. Arguments about Transubstantiation, Consubstantiation, Real Presence, and Memorialism all rise to the surface. For many church-going Christians, on the other hand, "The Lord's Supper" is a concept associated with seriousness, stale wafers, and lengthy sermons!

Witherington III challenges all these misconceptions by returning to Scripture, interpreting the few passages we have in light of cultural traditions, and tracing the show more threads of this understanding throughout church history. We see how the Lord's Supper is rooted in the Passover feast (although the two are not coterminous). We see how the Last Supper that Jesus ate with his disciples became celebrated regularly as the Lord's Supper, or Communion.

As church history progressed, the Love Feast (Jude 12) changed. The rise of asceticism (which certainly made a feast unwelcome) and clericalism (which insisted that a Priest had to conduct the ceremony) undermined the communal nature of the meal.

Some of Witherington's ideas are unusual. For instance, he makes a case for Lazarus being the "beloved disciple" who wrote the Gospel of John (which John of Patmos fame later redacted). This explains the unusual and lengthy Last Supper account. It was a conflagration of the meals held in Bethany the week leading up to the Passover. You can choose to agree with him or not, but his detailed and carefully laid out argument demands a thoughtful response.

Witherington III ends his book with a chapter on how we should celebrate the Meal today, in light of scripture and tradition. The greatest challenge for me was his call to reclaim the unity symbolized by one loaf of bread, in contrast to the lifeless individualized wafers we serve today.

Although this book is brief (160 pages), it is jam-packed with thoughtful observations. Making it even better is Witherington III's sense of humour and clever wordplay. Consider this closing sentence to the chapter on "Second Century Sacraments":

"The church had come a long way since the Last Supper, and much of it had involved a journey away from , and even against, its original Jewish recipe. The result was half-baked sacramental theology with too many foreign flavors overwhelming the main ingredient" (112).

Well played, Sir!

Making a Meal of It has inspired me to revisit the way I celebrate communion and has deepened my understanding of the ceremony. I highly recommend it to any thoughtful Christian. show less

I really appreciated what this book had to say about each subject. It helps bring both needed balance and correction depending on your own struggles that I know I found beneficial to the point that I’m thankful to have found this book.

These topics include things such as allowing yourself to “play” through a hobby you have (I’ve always struggled with guilt on that and his argument on the important of play majorly helped that!), or caring for your body through eating right, getting show more proper sleep, etc.

The book also mentions about how people would have learned God’s Word in the time of Jesus and the early church. That part was so helpful and made me think over my own appreciate to studying the Scriptures.

The book does pull from Rob Bell’s Sex God in the fifth chapter, but as far as I can tell, the notes and quotes from it are ones that are biblical and/or correction is brought to those that are not. So I would say, don’t let that turn you off reading this book because it’s not worth skipping it for that reason at all! I was surprised to glean so much from this chapter too despite this.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book! show less

This is really two books in one, and both are excellent. Hershel Shanks (editor of my favorite mag, Biblical Archaeology Review) tells the story of the discovery of the James ossuary, and Ben Witherington describes the person both scholars believe this limestone burial box belonged to: James, the brother of Jesus. I’ve been following Shanks’ arguments in BAR over the years, so I already know he’s a proponent of the ossuary’s authenticity.

The box itself is inscribed “James, son of show more Joseph, brother of Jesus.” The Bible agrees: Jesus’ father was Joseph and one brother was James. The box was discovered in the collection of a private collector, who had no recollection of its origin … and no idea of its potentially incredible value. It’s dated pretty accurately to the first century, so while we cannot say with any certainty that it’s authentic to THE Jesus, both authors are convinced it’s an authentic first-century bone box.

This practice of removing the bones from the tomb and burying them again in a small box was practiced only for a short time, from about 20 BC to 70 AD. This, too, points to the period of Jesus. But what are the odds that this box once held the bones of the brother of Jesus? All three of these names—Jesus (Yeshua), James (Ya’akov), and Joseph (Yosef)—were quite common back then, but it’s still possible to estimate the odds. One estimate is that about 20 such James’s (with the indicated brother and father) would have lived in that period; another estimate is between 2 and 4. But how many would have a brother so famous that his brother’s name would be indicated on his ossuary? That would be a rarity. If this is the brother of the “real” Jesus, then, as Shanks posits, this little box may be “the most astonishing find in the history of archaeology.”

Then Witherington takes over halfway through the book to tell us about James, the brother of Jesus. Who he was, what he taught, how he died. While Peter and Paul may have become the most famous apostles, James was in reality probably the most important after the death of Jesus. He was appointed as the head of the Jerusalem church, the mother church.

Among other things, Witherington goes head to head with the Catholic doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity. While the Bible lists several brothers of Jesus, Catholics maintain that Mary remained a virgin after Jesus was born, and many believe the listed “brothers” are really just cousins. This idea was promoted by St. Jerome. Witherington quotes John P. Meier, a leading Catholic New Testament scholar, as saying that if the James ossuary is authentic, it is probably the last nail in the coffin of Jerome’s view of the brothers of Jesus being cousins.

I’ve always enjoyed the writings of both these authors, and this book doesn’t disappoint. show less