The Bible and Beyond

An Interview with Dr. Paul Linjamaa
A mark in the margin, an enlarged cross, and a change in wording: ancient manuscripts hold clues to the people who used them. Paul Linjamaa joins Shirley Paulson to explore the Nag Hammadi books and their possible place in Egyptian monasteries. Discover how these manuscripts may have supported spiritual practice, why differences between copies matter, and how studying their fourth-century readers sheds light on the varied traditions of early Christianity and the lives behind them.
Paul Linjamaa is an assistant professor and senior lecturer in the history of religions at Lund University. Linjamaa's research focuses on early Christianity, in particular Gnosticism and the Nag Hammadi texts. His first book, The Tripartite Tractate in Nag Hammadi Codex I (Brill, 2019), explored the ethics of the Valentinian in the Nag Hammadi text Tripartite Tractate. His second book has the title The Nag Hammadi Codices and Their Ancients Readers (Cambridge, 2024) and explores the materiality of the collection and the way they were used by their creators. The podcast interview discusses this second book.

A full transcript is available here: https://earlychristiantexts.com/nag-hammadi-ancient-readers

An Interview with Dr. Candida Moss
Who helped make the Bible we read today? Professor Candida Moss brings overlooked enslaved workers into view, from the secretaries behind Paul's letters to the copyists and readers who preserved and interpreted Christian texts. Discussing her book, God's Ghostwriters, she explores how slavery shaped early Christianity, including stories about Jesus, martyrdom, and hell. This compelling conversation invites us to read familiar texts differently and give credit to people whose contributions have remained largely invisible.
Candida Moss is the Edward Cadbury Professor of Theology at the University of Birmingham and a prominent public scholar of the New Testament and early Christianity. Her research explores martyrdom, ancient slavery, and the relationship between bodies and power. Her book, God's Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible, won the 2026 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. It brings attention to the enslaved secretaries, copyists, and readers whose overlooked labor helped shape Christian scripture. She also contributes to major media outlets, including CBS, BBC, and National Geographic.
A complete transcript is available on the show notes page at: https://earlychristiantexts.com/candida-moss-enslaved-workers/

The category of "Gnosticism" has shaped how generations of scholars have understood a remarkably diverse collection of ancient writings. Michael A. Williams, author of the influential Rethinking Gnosticism, joins Shirley Paulson to trace the history of that category, reconsider assumptions about the Nag Hammadi writings, and explore what emerges when we read the texts individually. Their conversation offers a more nuanced picture of ancient readers, diverse interpretations, and the surprisingly hopeful worlds some of these writings reveal.
Michael Williams is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Religion and Near Eastern Languages and Civilization at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he was a faculty member since 1976. His PhD is from Harvard University, and his two highly important and influential books are The Immovable Race: A Gnostic Designation and the Theme of Stability in Late Antiquity and Rethinking Gnosticism: An Argument for Dismantling a Problematic Category. He's the author and coeditor of several other books and articles, including two volumes of essays: Charisma and Sacred Biography and Innovation in Religious Traditions.
His work has led him to an increasing suspicion of many conventional generalizations about "gnosticism." Related research interests have included scribal practices and ancient book manufacture and the cultural significance witnessed in the selection and arrangement of content in codex manuscripts that contain multiple writings.
A complete transcript is available on the shownotes page at https://earlychristiantexts.com/beyond-gnosticism/

An Interview with Dr. David Franfurter 
What did people in the ancient world mean by "magic"? And why might some have viewed Jesus as a magos—a healer who used sacred words, gestures, and ritual power? In this fascinating conversation, Dr. David Frankfurter helps us move beyond modern assumptions about magic and religion. Together we explore healing, exorcism, sacred names, vowel incantations, and the ways ordinary people sought help, hope, and power in the world of early Christianity. 
Dr. David Frankfurter is the William Goodwin Aurelio Chair of the Appreciation of Scripture at Boston University and one of the world's leading scholars of ancient Mediterranean religions. His research focuses on Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, ancient magical texts, popular religion, and religious life in Roman and late antique Egypt. Particularly known for his work on the relationship between religion, magic, violence, and cultural change, Frankfurter has helped reshape scholarly understanding of how ordinary people practiced religion in the ancient world. 
He is the author of numerous influential books, including Religion in Roman Egypt, Evil Incarnate, and Christianizing Egypt, as well as editor of the landmark Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic. His award-winning scholarship has been recognized by both the American Academy of Religion and the American Society of Church History.

An Interview with Dr. Karen Winell
Is the Kingdom of God a place, a rule, a future hope—or something more? Dr. Karen Wenell challenges familiar assumptions by exploring the Kingdom as sacred space that is lived, performed, and experienced among people. Through a rich discussion of biblical texts, embodiment, ethics, and community, she offers fresh ways of understanding one of Jesus's central teachings and why it continues to matter in everyday life today.
Dr. Karen Wenell is a Senior Lecturer in New Testament and Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK. Her research centers on biblical texts and their reception, particularly where texts become resources for ethical reflection and action. Of her three books, Locating the Kingdom of God: Performing Sacred Boundaries (The Library of New Testament Studies, Bloomsbury Publishing) is the focus of this Bible and Beyond podcast interview. Her most recent articles have appeared in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches.
A complete transcript is available on the shownotes page, https://earlychristiantexts.com/kingdom-of-god