Crucifixion in the Roman World: Ideology Behind the Brutal Practice

Recently, I found myself in the company of several people. At one moment the discussion moved toward the question of crucifixes in schools and other public buildings. Should we allow crucifixes to be hung in public school classrooms or Read more

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Did all the Apostles Die as Martyrs?

There are a dime a dozen apologists today. From evangelical to Catholic. From Orthodox to Anglican. And most of them used Social Media as a platform to defend the Christian faith by using reason and arguments. During my student Read more

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Was Jesus Buried in a Tomb? A Historical Look at the Evidence

Romans crucified thousands of people. For them, it was a “normal” thing to do. They were known for this ruthless model of punishment (If you know what the victims actually died of on the cross, I’m buying a Read more

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William Lane Craig and the Resurrection of Jesus: A Recent Post That Brought Up Memories

As one popular quote reminds us: Life is a story. What does yours say? In my case, it’s a story of discoveries, intellectual pursuits, and challenges. Since my freshman year, I was fascinated with the big questions of life: Read more

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Early Christianity through the Eyes of Greeks and Romans: Celsus

This semester I teach a course on Early Christianity at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities. It’s the same faculty I got my Ph.D. from. My (I guess: ex) mentor is on a sabbatical so he asked me Read more

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Gnostics: The Truth Behind the Secret “Christian” Communities

Nag Hammadi codices discovered in 1945

In one of my earlier posts, I started to talk about the diversity of early Christianity. As it turns out, Christianity was a diverse phenomenon in the ancient world. There were different groups Read more

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Words that Jesus Never Said? A Historical Inquiry into the Early Christian Imagination

The famous conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus

As the center of the Christian faith, early Christians didn’t hesitate to bring all sorts of stories about Jesus and his life. These stories were floating around during the first several centuries Read more

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Lost Voices of Christianity: Marcionites (Christians Who Wanted Nothing to Do with the Jews)

Student years are meant to be amazing! In my case, they truly were! Besides traveling and partying (and studying of course!), I became, for the first time in my life, interested in the big questions of life. Sooner than Read more

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Essay Assignment. A Glimpse into my Course on Roman History: Jesus and other “Divine Beings” in Antiquity

As one author once wrote: “The past is a foreign land, they do things there differently”. This semester I teach a course on the Roman civilization (from the end of the republic up to the “end” of the Western Read more

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