Is It Possible Paul Didn’t Write ANY of the New Testament Letters?
Release Date: 09/03/2025
Beyond the Canon: Why Apocrypha Matters
The Bible and Beyond
An Interview with Dr. Tobias Nicklas Professor Tobias Nicklas explores the surprising world of Christian Apocrypha — stories and traditions that continued shaping faith far beyond the biblical canon. From the Infancy Gospel of Thomas to the Acts of John and the Acts of Paul and Thecla, these writings raise profound questions about Jesus’s humanity and childhood, a suffering God, and the role of women and imagination in early Christianity. Their influence, Nicklas shows, still colors Christian memory and art today. Professor Tobias Nicklas studied Theology and Mathematics at Universität...
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Heresies, Power, and the Forgotten Voices of Early Christianity
The Bible and Beyond
Heresies, Power, and the Forgotten Voices of Early Christianity An Interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman Shirley Paulson talks with Bart Ehrman about his . Together they explore why “right belief” became a matter of life and death, how women and household voices were often silenced, and what these early debates reveal about power, diversity, and faith. Christianity is the only religion to have evolved on a foundation of right and wrong belief. Their conversation touches on Christianity’s complex origins—and why those ancient arguments still matter today. Bart D. Ehrman is an American New...
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The Council of Nicaea at 1700 Years: Why It Still Matters
The Bible and Beyond
An Interview with The Reverend Benjamin Wyatt This year marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, a turning point in Christian history. In this episode, Rev. Benjamin Wyatt, Episcopal priest and author of Christ and the Council, joins Shirley Paulson to explore the controversies that led to the Nicene Creed, Constantine’s role in enforcing unity, and why debates about Christ’s divinity mattered so deeply. Their conversation sheds light on the messy, human realities behind doctrines still shaping Christianity today. The Reverend Benjamin Wyatt is an Episcopal priest, serving as...
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Is It Possible Paul Didn’t Write ANY of the New Testament Letters?
The Bible and Beyond
An Interview with Dr. Nina Livesey After Livesey demonstrated that authenticity of the Pauline letters was inadequately and uncritically determined, she didn’t think it was possible to make a good case that the letters were authentic, even though it's so commonly assumed that they are. Once she had gone through all of that, she looked for evidence of Pauline letters. The first ones appear in the mid-second century, from the school of Marcion! Livesey was not the first to make that discovery. Dr. Nina Livesey a professor emerita of religious studies at the Oklahoma University College of...
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Thecla’s Challenge to Both Rome and the Early Christian World
The Bible and Beyond
An Interview with Dr. Perry Kea When the young teen, Thecla, heard Paul’s preaching about a new kind of life following Christ, she became infatuated with both the message and the messenger. Abandoning her fiancé and her Roman aristocratic life style, she faced two death threats, discovered her own strength and worth, and matured in her appreciation for both Paul and his teachings. She bought into the ascetic way of life and insisted on her rights as a woman with authority. Dr. Perry Kea has been an active Scholar of the Westar Institute since 1987. He served as the Chair of its Board of...
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The Complicated Lives of Enslaved Women of the Bible
The Bible and Beyond
The Complicated Lives of Enslaved Women of the Bible An Interview with Dr. Christy Cobb Bible readers tend to skip over the stories of enslaved people because they seem to be treated as props for the ‘real’ meaning or main message of the biblical account. But a closer look at the lives of these marginalized enslaved people in the stories—such as sex workers who were might have been sold to brothels against their will—enriches our understanding of the Bible. Recognizing the invisible attitudes and forces help us rethink the stories’ meanings. Dr. Christy Cobb is an Assistant Professor...
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More Connections Between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library
The Bible and Beyond
Part 2 of our interview with Matthew Goff and Dylan Burns continues the discussion we started in about the relationship between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library. Goff and Burns explain the significant differences between the two, such as their different dates and locations of origin. But they also explore the similarities, with their mutual interest in more ancient writings, such as how some important figures from Genesis—such as the Book of Watchers, with its myths of evil origins— came from Enoch; and how Melchizedek was the priest associated with the Christ figure. This...
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Is There a Connection Between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library?
The Bible and Beyond
Is There a Connection Between the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library? An Interview with Dr. Matthew Goff and Dr. Dylan Burns (Part 1) Professors Matthew Goff and Dylan Burns realized there were some surprising commonalities between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Nag Hammadi Library. Traditionally, these ancient writings are studied separately, despite their modern discoveries around the same time and relatively close locations. With Dr. Goff’s expertise in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Dr. Burns’ expertise in the Nag Hammadi Library, they could describe why both are so important for an...
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Introducing the Gospel of Philip from the Nag Hammadi Collection
The Bible and Beyond
An interview with Dr. Kimberley Fowler Dr. Kimberley Fowler explains the Gospel of Philip, one of the lesser known texts from the Nag Hammadi collection. She loves it and finds it “charmingly and remarkably weird,” even though is it does not stray too far from orthodox Christian theology. Although it includes a brief reference to Jesus kissing Mary, that kiss seems to be only one of the many ritual Christian practices explained in the rather randomly organized gospel. Kimberley Fowler is Assistant Professor of New Testament at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Her research...
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What Was Jesus’s Religious Life Like?
The Bible and Beyond
An Interview with Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren We asked Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren to describe how Jesus’s family and followers would have practiced their religion. They were probably a typical Jewish family, where the types of houses and everyday life were all intertwined with religious practices. She claims that both Jesus and his mother were probably less unusual than we have been taught to think, especially in everyday life—except that Jesus was probably more radical in his commitment to Torah teachings. Dr. Meredith J. C. Warren is a Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies at...
info_outlineAn Interview with Dr. Nina Livesey
After Livesey demonstrated that authenticity of the Pauline letters was inadequately and uncritically determined, she didn’t think it was possible to make a good case that the letters were authentic, even though it's so commonly assumed that they are. Once she had gone through all of that, she looked for evidence of Pauline letters. The first ones appear in the mid-second century, from the school of Marcion! Livesey was not the first to make that discovery.
Dr. Nina Livesey a professor emerita of religious studies at the Oklahoma University College of Professional and Continuing Studies. In addition to her specialization in Pauline letters, she’s interested in a variety of aspects of Christian emergence. She was one of the co-chairs of Westar's the recently concluded Christianity Seminar Phase II. Nina has also written three significant monographs. We discuss her newly published book, The Letters of Paul in their Roman Literary Context: Reassessing Apostolic Authorship in this podcast interview.
A complete transcript is available on the Bible and Beyond website here: https://earlychristiantexts.com/possible-paul-didnt-write-letters/