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I want to very briefly introduce you to three biblical women we hear very little about: Anna, Sarah and Deborah. No, not the prophetess that blessed Jesus, the wife of Abraham or the judge of Israel. I’m talking about three women from a piece of ancient Jewish literature, The Book of Tobit, part of the Catholic canon. Fragments of Tobit were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls, an indication that the book was circulated among Jewish readers in the second century BCE. The fantastical story relates the adventures of the Israelite Tobit raised by his grandmother Deborah who taught him the Law of Moses. When Tobit went blind, his wife Hannah supported the family as a seamstress. As the narrative progresses, we meet Tobit’s daughter-in-law, Sarah, who sought out God in the depths of her despair after seven unsuccessful marriages. Although Tobit is by no means a feminist textbook, its portrayal of non-traditional gender roles make for an interesting read. Since some of the characters of Tobit are also characters in my novel Judith: The Wise Woman of Bethulia, I’ve studied the text in the past. Recently, the story leaped back into my life. Let me explain.

My sister and I woke up one morning last fall in Amman, Jordan with the intention of finding the site where archaeologists believe John the Baptist preached and practiced the immersions for which he received his nick name. Prior to the trip, I’d spend hours online trying to get driving instructions via Google Maps but always came up empty handed. It seemed there were no roads that connected point A to point B. But the baptismal site is considered one of the biggest tourist attractions in Jordan. There had to be signs pointing the way, right? So with a very sketchy and small map from the hotel, Shawna and I started driving in the right direction. Oh, did I mention that the GPS in the rental car stopped working?

An hour or two later Shawna and I came to a screeching halt at the end of a dirt road, having exhausted all the other roads heading west out of Amman. Now what? I just stared out the front of the car with no clue where to go next. Our only option seemed to be to return all the way back to Amman and start over again. That would break a deeply held family rule against backtracking. An adventurous person does not go back the way she or he came. It’s just not done.

Then I finally looked at the sign at the end of the road and read the word “Tobiad.” “I know where we are!” I shouted while rummaging through my notes. “We are in the Land of Tob!” My sister, who is not a bible freak like me did not share my excitement. This bit of information did not impress her in the least. Undaunted I continued, “This could be the remains of the town of Thisbe from the Book of Tobit.” There are a variety of guesses about the location of the biblical Land of Tob mentioned in Judges 11:3-11 but generally it is agreed that it is in the region of the Ammonite kingdom, present day Jordan. It was the ancestral territory of the Tobiad family of Judean nobles who had strong political connections with the Judean royalty. The main characters of The Book of Tobit were members of this distinctive family.

I pulled out my typed notes I’d prepared and brought with me on the off chance that we could somehow squeeze in just one more biblical site to our jam-packed schedule. Shawna stared at me, incredulous that I knew the history of our accidental destination. Then she started laughing at me. I think I joined her. After we calmed down, I read what I’d written:

“The small but impressive Qasr al-Abad, west of Amman, is one of the very few examples of pre-Roman construction in Jordan. Mystery surrounds the palace, and even its precise age isn’t known, though most scholars believe that Hyrcanus of the powerful Jewish Tobiad family built it sometime between 187 and 175 BCE as a villa or fortified palace. Although never completed, much of the palace has been reconstructed, and remains an impressive site. The palace was built from some of the biggest blocks of any ancient structure in the Middle East – the largest is 7m by 3m. The blocks were, however, only 20cm or so thick, making the whole edifice quite flimsy, and susceptible to the earthquake that flattened it in CE 362. Today, the setting and the animal carvings on the exterior walls are the highlights. Look for the carved panther fountain on the ground floor, the eroded eagles on the corners and the lioness with cubs on the upper story of the back side.”

My notes mentioned I should ask the gatekeeper to open the interior. Until that moment, Shawna and I had been the only people around but suddenly a man appeared. We had to assume he was the aforementioned gatekeeper. With hand gestures and big smiles he unlocked the gate and we stepped into the ruins of the massive palace. We spent a good 45 minutes exploring and upon exiting we thanked the gatekeeper. Just then the call to prayer sounded. The time had arrived for the site to be shut down for Friday afternoon services. It wouldn’t be opened again for several days. We had found the Land of Tob just in time.

By the way, we ended up returning to Amman and eventually found the baptismal site. It was worth breaking family tradition.

For Further Reading

You can find The Book of Tob online here.

Eskenazi, T. – “Tobiah” Anchor Bible Dictionary (Doubleday, 1992)

Gera, Dov – “On the Credibility of the History of the Tobiads” in Greece and Rome in Eretz Israel: Collected Essays, Aryeh Kasher, ed. (Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1990)

Goldstein, J.A. – “The Tales of the Tobiads” in Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults, J. Neusner, ed. (Brill, 1975)

Ji, C.C. – “A New Look at the Tobiads in ‘Iraq Al’Amir” LA 48 (1998); http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA48/48417CCJ.pdf

Mazar, Benjamin – “The Tobiads” Israel Exploration Journal 7 (1957) 137-147.

McCown, C.C. – “The ‘Araq el-Emir and the Tobiads” Biblical Archaeologist (1957,3) 63-76.

Miller, Geoffrey David – Marriage in the Book of Tobit (Walter de Gruyter, 2011)

Porter, Adam – “What Sort of Jews were the Tobiads?” in The Archaeology of Difference: Gender, Ethnicity, Class, and the ‘Other’ in Antiquity: Studies in Honor of Eric M. Meyers, D.R. Edwards and C.T. McCollough, eds. (Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2007) 141-150.

Spiro, Abram – Samaritans, Tobiads, and Judahites in Pseudo-Philo: use and abuse of the Bible by polemicists and doctrinaires (New York : American Academy for Jewish Research, 1951)

Eskenazi, T. – “Tobiah” Anchor Bible Dictionary (Doubleday, 1992)

Gera, Dov – “On the Credibility of the History of the Tobiads” in Greece and Rome in Eretz Israel: Collected Essays, Aryeh Kasher, ed. (Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi, 1990)

Goldstein, J.A. – “The Tales of the Tobiads” in Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults, J. Neusner, ed. (Brill, 1975)

Ji, C.C. – “A New Look at the Tobiads in ‘Iraq Al’Amir” LA 48 (1998); http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/Books/LA48/48417CCJ.pdf

Mazar, Benjamin – “The Tobiads” Israel Exploration Journal 7 (1957) 137-147.

McCown, C.C. – “The ‘Araq el-Emir and the Tobiads” Biblical Archaeologist (1957,3) 63-76.

Miller, Geoffrey David – Marriage in the Book of Tobit (Walter de Gruyter, 2011)

Porter, Adam – “What Sort of Jews were the Tobiads?” in The Archaeology of Difference: Gender, Ethnicity, Class, and the ‘Other’ in Antiquity: Studies in Honor of Eric M. Meyers, D.R. Edwards and C.T. McCollough, eds. (Boston: American Schools of Oriental Research, 2007) 141-150.

Spiro, Abram – Samaritans, Tobiads, and Judahites in Pseudo-Philo: use and abuse of the Bible by polemicists and doctrinaires (New York : American Academy for Jewish Research, 1951)

I try to not read too much into coincidences. Weird stuff happens. I get that. But still, they are interesting. For instance I had one today that I’d like to share. While reading Ute Eisen’s Women Officeholders in Early Christianity: Epigraphical and Literary Studies, I came across the following about my favorite Jewish female apostle, Junia:

“In the Liturgikon, the missal of the Byzantine Church, Junia is honored to this day in the Menologion as an apostle…” (p.48).

In a quick flip to the footnote I discovered that Junia is honored on May 17. Umm. That would be today, right? How odd to read this bit of information on May 17 itself!

But what does this mean? Has this Byzantine Church (that I know nothing about) accepted Junia as a female apostle for eons while all the other Christians forgot about her? Boy am I curious. However, as a Jew raised by a Mormon mother and a Presbyterian father, I am way over my head when it comes to the nuances of the Catholic vocabulary. But I’m curious so I start with some definitions.

First, a missal or liturgikon is a book containing all the instructions and texts necessary for the celebration of Mass throughout the year. You know, the book in the pew you grab to follow along with what’s happening. I know what Mass is, but don’t be shy to look that up if you don’t know the term. We’re all learning here together.

Next up, the Byzantine Church. This refers to an Eastern Orthodox Church that uses the customary practices of public worship known as the “Byzantine Rite.” (I think I have that right, but for any Catholics out there who wish to correct me, jump right in and set me straight.) The Eastern Catholic Church together with the Roman Catholic Church make up the Catholic Church as a whole, by the way.

With me so far? So what is the “Menologion?” It’s a book arranged according to the months of the year. Unfortunately, I am unable to determine how long St. Junia has been honored in the Byzantine Church’s Menologion.

This all means that today is the day that some Catholics honor St. Junia, the only named female apostle mentioned in the New Testament. Here’s a link to get into the mood for the celebrations.

Orthodox Wiki calls Junia: “The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Junia of the Seventy,” the “Seventy” referring to the disciples Jesus sent forth to preach (Luke 10:1).

“Junia is the subject of debate within the academic world concerning the implications of a female apostle leading within the early Church, that it might suggest the ordination of women. In Orthodox tradition, however, the title of apostle does not necessarily confer the kind of position that the Twelve had from Christ. Rather, especially when used in reference to the Seventy, it designates someone who served as a missionary for the Church, especially in its first generation. Apostle (from Greek apostolos) literally refers to one who is ‘sent out,’ and its origin is in military usage. Subsequent centuries’ saints who significantly spread the Orthodox faith are often referred to as equal to the Apostles, and this title is given without reference to gender.” (http://orthodoxwiki.org/Apostle_Junia)

Fancy footwork there. Yes, Junia was an apostle (without any debate whether she was a woman or not). But apparently “apostle” doesn’t mean that you have any leadership authority in the Orthodox tradition. Did the twelve apostles get that memo?

Still, I like the title “The holy, glorious, all-laudable Apostle Junia.”

Enjoy St. Junia day!

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For Further Reading

“Junia Gets a Sex Change” 

“Was Junia a Historical Person” 

“Who Was Junia?”

“Junia the Apostle”

My handy-dandy Rome and Environs: Archaeological Guide states that the Church of Saint Prisca on Aventine Hill in Rome is one of the oldest Christian sites of the city. Of course I wanted to know if there was any possibility this could be the site of Prisca and Aquila’s house mentioned by Paul. “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus…greet also the church at their house” (Romans 16:3, 5). Obviously, the edifice standing behind me in the picture above does not date from the first century C.E. Keep in mind, however, that typically Roman churches were built above the houses of the saints to whom they were later dedicated. Could the current 5th century C.E. structure have been built over a home dating back 2,000 years?

There are two schools of thought about who the church was named after. One tradition identified her with Paul’s co-worker whom he met in Corinth. Prisca and her husband Aquila fled to the Greek city after Emperor Claudius expelled the leading Jewish and Christian leaders in 49 C.E. We have to guess that they returned to Rome after Claudius died because of Paul’s mention of them in his letter to the Romans. Scholars have concluded that the letter was written around 56 C.E. so if we expect to find evidence of their home, we should look for a structure built before or about that time.

The other tradition claims that the Prisca for whom the church was named was the daughter of the afore mentioned couple. This younger Prisca was martyred in the time of Claudius who ruled from 41 – 54 C.E. If true, this would make her Rome’s earliest martyr.

So what can my old friend Archaeology tell us about what lies beneath this church? In 1933, construction for the purposes of strengthening the foundations unearthed a mithraeum, a small underground hall used for the purposes of worshipping the Persian god Mithra. Though this cult was all the rage in Rome in the early centuries of the C.E., what is most interesting for our purposes is that the cultic shrine was built using the walls of a house dating back to the first century C.E. Could this pagan site have been cobbled out of the old house of Prisca and Aquila?

Every source I consulted states that neither the mother nor daughter Prisca can be identified with the site. I’m still looking for a good explanation for this conclusion. In the meantime, I’m assuming that brick stamps dating the first century house to around 95 C.E. means that neither Prisca could have lived there. The timeline is close, but no cigar. Nice try, Robin.

In the grand scheme of things, as fun as it is trying, it doesn’t really matter if we walk in the exact physical footsteps of the women of the Bible. It is far more important that we learn to be better people by studying their powerful stories.

For Further Reading

Coarelli, Filippo – Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide (Berkley/Los Angels/London: University of California Press, 2007)

Terrien, Samuel – Till the Heart Sings: A Biblical Theology of Manhood and Womanhood. Biblical Resource Series. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985)

Vermaseren, M.J. and C. C. Van Essen – The Excavations in the Mithraeum of the Church of Santa Prisca in Rome (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965)

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How do we know if Junia, the only named female apostle named in the New Testament, was actually a woman?

For my Jewish friends, this may not be a question keeping you up at night. But if you knew that most of the women of the Christian Bible considered themselves to be Jewish, and that many of them held positions of leadership in the early church, and then you discovered that their very existence was covered up, perhaps you’d have a few moments of insomnia. This is an injustice in Jewish as well as Christian history.

Her true identity makes a big difference in the debate over whether women should currently hold positions of authority in the Catholic and many Protestant denominations. This subject has real consequences in the real world.

Most Christians I meet have never heard of Junia and when I tell them that she’s in plain sight, sitting there quietly in the New Testament (Romans 16:7), they run to their Bibles to have a look-see. Then it gets weird and confusing. Some translations use the male form of the name: “Junias.” Others do not. Some bibles reference the two names using footnotes. None of them explain what’s going on here. So was Paul talking about a woman apostle or not?

It’s time to answer this question once and for all. In preparation for writing my historical novel Junia: The Forgotten Apostle, I read everything I could lay my hands on regarding the biblical figure. After careful analysis, I came to the conclusion that her name had been altered. I also discovered a blog that describes how this change in translation came about. It’s the easiest evaluation of the facts that I’ve run across. I highly recommend following Brant Clements’ six part series outlining the deception. He also provides a comprehensive list of which bibles use the latest research with the correct spelling and which do not. Each section of the series is fairly short and to the point so don’t be scared. Go ahead click the links below. You’ll be glad you did.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

I’ve been asked if there is any historical or archaeological evidence for Junia’s ministry and life. On a strictly scientific basis, no. Based on the standards of plausibility, we might have something to work with. We can’t identify Junia as a historical person outside of her mention by Paul in Romans 16:7. However, if Junia was the same person as Joanna mentioned by Luke in (cf. Luke 8:3 and Luke 24:10), then there is a possibility that she might have been a historical figure. So let me begin by explaining why there is a probability that Junia = Joanna.

Paul describes Junia as “in Christ before I was.” In other words, she believed that Jesus was the Messiah before Paul was converted to the same idea on the road to Damascus in approximately 34 C.E., just after Jesus died. Junia then, would have been, at the very latest, a member of the band of disciples awaiting the Messiah’s return, probably in Jerusalem. Since the writer of Luke tells us that Joanna was an eyewitness of Jesus’ death and resurrection, this places Junia and Joanna in close proximity in time and perhaps place.

Paul also described Junia as an “apostle among the apostles” by which he means that she was well known among the members of the apostolic body. (For many decades there has been a great deal of debate over whether Junia was a woman’s name and how the phrase “apostle among the apostles” should be translated. Currently it is widely accepted in the scholarly community that Junia was a woman and that she was indeed a prominent apostle.) Paul uses the term “apostle” in a broader sense than that of Matthew, Mark and Luke who use the term to refer to the “twelve.” Other wise, how could he consider himself an apostle? By the term, he meant someone who had been commissioned by the risen Jesus to spread the Gospel. Paul also emphasized that he was the last of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:9; cf. 9:1). Once again we learn that according to Paul, Junia was an apostle before 34 C.E. and she was commissioned personally by Jesus. As an eyewitness to the crucifixion and resurrection, according to Luke, Joanna matches this description perfectly.

It turns out that the name Joanna (Hebrew:  Yehohanah) would have been pronounced “Junia” in Latin. Those within the sphere of the Herodians would have been known by their Latin names. However, in humbler settings (such as traveling on the road with an itinerant preacher?), few Palestinian Jews would have wanted to use a name that “proclaimed allegiance to Rome” (Bauchman, p. 182). Thus, if Joanna/Junia was a historical person, she would have used both names in different settlings, especially since the two names were audibly equivalent.

Based on these observations, I feel confident in equating Joanna and Junia as the same person. So if we can find epigraphic, textual or archaeological evidence supporting the historicity of Joanna, then we will have also found evidence for the authenticity of Junia.

The trail starts with the ossuary of Yehohanah brought to my attention by my friend Robin Jones. Ossuaries are Jewish secondary burial containers commonly found in Jerusalem dating from 100 B.C.E. to 100 C.E. By their very definition, ossuaries can be dated to a fairly narrow timeframe which includes the time of Jesus and the nascent Christian church.

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Previously I’ve briefly mentioned that the ossuary of Yehohanah, granddaughter of the High Priest Theophilus, might be the burial box of Joanna mentioned in Luke. The Israeli Department of Antiquities acquired the box in 1984. As Professor Mykytiuk noted in my discussion regarding Jezebel’s seal, “Of course, it is risky to buy anything on the antiquities market… if an item is of unknown origin (provenance) it cannot be used to draw conclusions. It could be a forgery or a fake.” As far as I know, the authenticity of the Yehohanah’s ossuary has not been questioned, so the possibility that this stone box might be the final resting place of the Joanna noted in Luke’s gospel is not impossible, just not archaeologically verifiable.

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Inscribed on the front of the ossuary were the following words written in Aramaic (the everyday language of Judea at the time):

“Yehohanah

Yehohanah daughter of Yehohanan

Son of Theophilus the high priest”

For quick reference here is the genealogy of Yohahanah’s family as depicted by Barag and Flusser:

As you can see, Yohahanah was related by marriage to Caiaphas, the high priest involved in Jesus’ conviction.

So what are the chances that this Yohahanah is the Joanna of the New Testament? Using Tal Ilan’s study of all known Jewish women’s names from 330 BCE to 200 CE in Palestine, we discover that there are eight occurrences of the name Joanna (aka Johanna), making it the fifth most common name at that time. For the purposes of making sound historical identifications, Professor Ilan established the following criteria:

1)    If the person is mentioned in a dated document, there can be no discrepancy in chronology. In other words, if the document says that so and so lived in first century C.E., the historical person with the same name must also have lived at that time.

2)    If both the historically established person and the person of the same name under question are from the same geographic area, the certainty of the identification is increased.

3)    Just because someone has the same name as a historical person, it doesn’t mean that they are identical. However, if the name is rare, if the title of both entities are given and the family names match, it is more likely that a correspondence can be found between the two names.

Not all of these criteria must be met for a solid identification to be made, but the more boxes that can be ticked on this list, the more certain the proof of identity. In the case of Joanna, both the chronology and geography of Joanna of the Gospel of Luke and the Yohahanah of the ossuary match.

In addition, the Gospel of Luke was dedicated to an unidentified Theophilus, a rare Jewish name according to Ilan’s research.

“…when the two name combination of Johanna and Theophilus appearing together on the ossuary and also appearing together in the Gospel of Luke (and only in the Gospel of Luke) when considered together with the rarity of the Theophilus name in Palestine is strong circumstantial evidence that the proposed identification is correct.” (Anderson, Kindle Locations 694-698)

The writer of Luke addresses his intended audience as “most excellent Theophilus,” a title or designation consistent when referring to a high priest of the Jerusalem temple. “Thus, the conclusion that Luke is addressing ‘most excellent Theophilus,’ the High Priest, is warranted.” (Anderson, Kindle Location 706-707).

In addition, only the wealthy could afford burial in an individual ossuary (Tzaferis, p. 30). As the wife of Herod Antipas’ right hand man responsible for the tetrarch’s financial affairs and all of his properties, Joanna and her husband belonged to the wealthy retainer class of a royal household (Hoehner, p. 304). “Thus, the facts establish both Johanna, the granddaughter of the High Priest, and Johanna, wife of Chuza, are persons of means” (Anderson, Kindle Locations 753-754).

So I have to ask myself, what are the chances that all of these markers of identity are just coincidences? For historians, the bridge between the ossuary and the Gospel of Luke can’t be crossed with certainty. But for the historical fiction writer intent on probability and plausibility, the bridge is sturdy enough for me.

For Further Reading

Anderson, Richard –  “Theophilus: a Proposal [as to his identity in Luke 1:3 and Acts 1:1],” The Evangelical Quarterly 69.3 (July-Sept. 1997): 195-215.

Anderson, Richard – Who are Johanna and Theophilus?: The Irony of the Intended Audience of the Gospel of Luke. Kindle Edition, 2010.

Barag, D. and D. Flusser – “The Ossuary of Yehohanah Granddaughter of the High Priest Theophilus”, Israel Exploration Journal, 36 (1986), 39-44.

Hoehner, Harold W., – Herod Antipas, (Cambridge [Eng., University Press, 1972).

Ilan, Tal, A Lexicon of Jewish Names in Late Antiquity: Part I: Palestine 330 BCE-200 CE, (Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 2002).

Tzaferis, V., “Jewish Tombs at and near Giv’at ha-Mivatar, Jerusalem,” Israel Exploration Journal 20 (1970) 18-32.