Gender and the Trinity: A Medieval Perspective
| | | | | |

Gender and the Trinity: A Medieval Perspective

ByBeth Allison Barr

Very recently, on June 16, Christianity Today published the article Gender and the Trinity: From Proxy to Civil War. Author Caleb Lindgren writes that the current debate over the nature of the Trinity is especially significant because it involves like-minded theologians dividing over a core Christian belief: the nature of the Trinity. Is Jesus, the…

Silenced Women–Modern Lessons from an Ancient Murder
| | | |

Silenced Women–Modern Lessons from an Ancient Murder

ByBeth Allison Barr

In the second century A.D., the pregnant wife of a prosperous Greek politician died from a vicious assault. Appia Annia Regilla Atilia Caudicia Tertulla, or Regilla, was born into an affluent Roman family in 125 A.D.; she married the Greek politician Herodes Atticus, also from an affluent family, around 140 (when she was 15); and…

Banning the Bible: Did It Really Happen in the Medieval World?
| | | |

Banning the Bible: Did It Really Happen in the Medieval World?

ByBeth Allison Barr

Yes, it did. But not the way you were taught in Sunday School. Let me explain. Last week I stood under the Tudor arch of St. Bartholomew the Great in London (unfortunately still marred by scaffolding). If it had been the 16th century, I would have looked out over an open grassy field just outside…

Did Medieval Christians Accommodate Paganism?
| |

Did Medieval Christians Accommodate Paganism?

ByBeth Allison Barr

The Roman Pantheon is awesome. And I mean “awesome” in the sense that my good-English-professor-friend would approve: it evokes feelings of awe and wonder. I caught my first glimpse of this 2000 year-old building after stepping from a stone-paved street into the Piazza della Rotonda. We were on our way back from the Roman Forum…

The Christian History of “Pagan” Easter
| |

The Christian History of “Pagan” Easter

ByBeth Allison Barr

I bought Easter candy for my students. It was a mistake. Although the students made a valiant effort to eat as much as possible, they left a few Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs (a particular weakness of mine) in the candy basket. Needless to say, they didn’t last long. Reese’s eggs are just one of many…