Carmichael-Walling Lectures
Hosted by the Graduate School of Theology at ACU since 1987, the Carmichael-Walling Lectures on New Testament and Early Christianity bring eminent scholars to Abilene every autumn.
Funded through the generous support of members of the Carmichael and Walling families, the Lectures allow invited guests to present their research and to engage scholars and other interested persons from the Abilene area.
2023 — Laura Nasrallah (Yale University)
Getting Justice, Making Reparations
“How do you get justice? Righteousness, curses, and the letters of Paul”
“Paul on the Areopagus: the Furies and God’s Judgment”
2022 — Harold W. Attridge (Yale Divinity School)
The Fourth Gospel: Mystagogical Drama
“A Philosophical Evangelist? Theological Epistemology in the Fourth Gospel”
“A Feminist Evangelist? Women in the Fourth Gospel”
2021 — Nijay Gupta (Northern Seminary)
Strange Religion: How the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Attractive
“People of Faith: Why the first Christians Called Themselves ‘Believers'”
“Cult without Smoke and Blood: The Strange Worship of the Early Christians”
2020 — Vincent L. Wimbush (Institute for Signifying Scriptures)
Scriptures and Race
“‘Mystic Hieroglyphics of the Flesh:’ Scripturalization as Racialization”
“’Even the Bible was Made Over to Suit Our Vivid Imagination:’ Scripturalizing the Human”
2019 — A.-J. Levine (Vanderbilt Divinity School)
A Fresh Look at Jesus the Storyteller: How Understanding Judaism is Imperative to Understanding Jesus
“Understanding Jesus Means Understanding Judaism: a Workshop”
“Hearing the Parables through Jewish Ears: Sheep, Coins, Prodigals, and Samaritans”
2018 — John T. Fitzgerald (University of Notre Dame)
Friends and Drunks: Two Glimpses into the Social History of the Early Christians and their World
“The Testament of Jesus: Wills, Friends, and the Fourth Gospel”
“Wine and the Problem of Intoxication in the World of Early Christianity”
2017 — Mark Goodacre (Duke University)
Transforming Gospels: Exploring John’s Relationship to the Other Three
“John’s Dramatic Transformation of the Synoptics”
“John’s Christological Transformation of the Synoptics”
2016 — Father Justin of Sinai (St. Catharine’s Monastery)
Encounters in the Desert: Holy Books and Sacred Texts
“Newly Recovered Manuscripts of the Scriptures from Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai”
“‘For Moses Wrote of Me’: Reflections from Mount Sinai”
2015 — Adela Yarbro Collins (Yale University)
Scripture & Women in the Apocalypse: Revelation’s Elusive Text
“Intertextuality in the Book of Revelation”
“Women as Symbols in the Book of Revelation”
2014 — Beverly Roberts Gaventa (Baylor University)
God’s Outsized Faithfulness: Rethinking Romans
“God’s Outsized Faithfulness to Israel: Thinking Again about Romans 9–11”
“Questions about Torah, Answers about Christ: A Strange Silence in Romans 9- 11 (especially Romans 10:4)”
2013 — Carl Holladay (Emory University)
“The Church of the Spirit”
“The Spirit of the Church”
2012 — Stephen Fowl (Loyola College, Baltimore)
Faithful Reading of Scripture
“Theological Interpretation, Historical Criticism, and the Ends of the Christian Life”
“Reading Scripture in a Divided Church”
2011 — Steve Friesen (University of Texas, Austin)
Apocalypse
“Channeling John: Plot and Persuasion in the Apocalypse”
“Challenging John: Truth, Deception, and the Lake of Fire”
2010 — Gail O’Day (Wake Forest University)
Jesus as Friend
“Jesus as Friend in the Gospel of John”
“Sacraments of Friendship: Embodied Love in the Gospel of John”
2009 — James D.G. Dunn (University of Durham)
From Jesus to Paul
“In Search of the Historical Paul”
“From Jesus’ Proclamation to Paul’s Gospel”
2008 — Susan Ashbrook Harvey (Brown University)
Remembering Biblical Women in Ancient Syriac Christianity
“Liturgy, Song, and Exegesis: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Mary”
“Preaching on Women as Images of the Church: Jephthah’s Daughter, Tamar, Sinful Women”
2007 — Wayne A. Meeks (Yale University)
Reading the Bible in a Cultural Crisis
“Living by the Bible: the Bad, the Good & the Question”
“To Tell the Truth: Moving towards Greater Honesty”
2006 — Margaret M. Mitchell (University of Chicago)
Looking for Biblical Literalism—In All the Wrong Places
“Case 1: Antioch in Late Antiquity”
“Case 2: The ‘Christian Right’ in Modern America”
2005 — Abraham Malherbe (Yale University)
Indispensable Intermediaries
“Paul’s Co-Workers”
“Mutual Ministry in the Pauline Churches”
2004 — David Moessner (University of Dubuque Theological Seminary)
Reading with the Ancients: Contemporary Gospel Interpretation in the Light of Hellenistic Narrative Hermeneutics
“Losing One’s Life: God’s Saving Plan for the World”
“Gaining One’s Life: The Church’s Witness to the End of the Earth”
2003 — Ben Witherington III (Asbury Seminary)
A New View of Romans 7 and 8
“Who is the ‘I’ in Romans 7?”
“The Role of the Spirit in a Normal Christian Life”
2002 — Gregory Sterling (University of Notre Dame)
From Synagogue to Church: The Development of Christian Thought
“New Creation in Christ: The Center of Paul’s Theology”
“Newness of Life: Obedience to God according to the Spirit”
2001 — David Scholer (Fuller Theological Seminary)
Is New Testament Theology Possible Today?
“New Creation in Christ: The Center of Paul’s Theology”
“Newness of Life: Obedience to God according to the Spirit”
2000 — Klyne Snodgrass (North Park Theological Seminary)
Reading to Hear
“The Hermeneutics of Hearing”
“A Hermeneutics of Hearing Informed by the Parables”
1999 — William Abraham (Southern Methodist University)
The Logic of Renewal in Christianity
“The Advice from Conservatives and Charismatics”
“Two Voices from Across the Ocean”
1998 — David Parker (University of Birmingham, U.K.)
Manuscripts of the Christian Faith
“Manuscripts of the Gospels in the Electronic Age”
“The History of the One-Volume Collection of New Testament Books”
1997 — Larry Hurtado (University of Edinburgh)
Monotheism and Christology: Early Devotion to Christ and Its Jewish Background
“What Do We Mean by ‘First-Century Jewish Monotheism’?”
“Pre-70 A.D. Jewish Opposition to Christ-Devotion”
1996 — James Vanderkam (University of Notre Dame)
Scripture and the Dead Sea Scrolls
“Scriptural Authority in the Dead Sea Scrolls”
“Biblical Wilderness Themes and the Dead Sea Scrolls”
1995 — Luke Timothy Johnson (Emory University)
“Traveling East with James: A Chapter in the History of Biblical Interpretation”
“How James ‘Won the West’” The Canonical Acceptance of James in the Western Church”
1994 — Richard J. Bauckham (University of St. Andrews)
James at the Centre
“James and the Jerusalem Church”
“The Letter of James”
1993 — E. Earle Ellis (Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary)
“New Directions in the History of Early Christianity”
“Paul and His Co-Workers Revisited”
1992 — Joseph B. Tyson (Southern Methodist University)
“Theophilus and Other Readers: Godfearers in Luke-Acts”
“Godfearers, Jews, and Christians: the Question of Anti-Judaism in Luke-Acts”
1991 — Richard T. Oster (Harding Graduate School of Religion)
“Recent Attacks on Luke’s Depiction of the Second Temple Synagogue in Light of Archaeological Evidence”
“The Dirt on New Testament Archaeology”
1990 — Jakobus Petzer (Potchefstroom, South Africa)
“The Textual Relationships of the Latin Vulgate”
“The Textual Affinities of Tertullian’s Citations of Acts”
“The Textual Affinities of Augustine’s Citations of Acts”
1989 — Bruce M. Metzger (Princeton Theological Seminary)
“The Role of Scribe and Translator”
“The Making and Character of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible”
1988 — J. Neville Birdsall (University of Birmingham, U.K.)
“The Gospel of John in Georgian”
“The Pauline Epistles in Georgian”
1987 — Tjitze Baarda (Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht)
“The Calling of Nathaniel (John 1:43-51)”
“‘The heavenly Dialogue’ in Celsus’ Alethes Logos (Origen, Against Celsus VIII: 15–16)”
1987 — J. Keith Elliot (University of Leeds)
“The International Greek New Testament Project’s Edition of Luke: Editorial Reflections”
“Eclecticism in New Testament Textual Criticism”
