Isaac T Soon
Biographic Data
| ID | 1483681 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Isaac T Soon |
| GIVEN NAMES | Isaac T |
| FAMILY NAME | Soon |
| SIGNATURE | SOON I T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Crandall University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4708-2384 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 16 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Self-Made ‘Men’
This article analyses how Flavius Josephus presents the conquests of Asinaeus and Anilaeus, two robber-bandits who established a fiefdom in first-century Babylonia. In dialogue with common Roman tropes about gender and his previous writings on the notable physical features of men in times of war, this article focusses on how Josephus progressively effeminizes Asinaeus and Anilaeus. Although their military feats abound, their increasingly risky be…
Apostle to the Machines? Paul’s Euangelion and the Salvation of Artificial Intelligence
This article is a thought experiment that asks, given the requisite circumstances, whether Paul the Apostle’s gospel could have any bearing on artificial intelligence. It finds that a reading of Paul’s gospel leaves the possibility open that sentient machines could be recipients of the salvation envisioned in the Apostle’s letters without the need for becoming human themselves
The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Self-Parody
Against the near-universal consensus that it was created by a pagan (non-Christian) in order to satirise Christian worship, this article contends that the Alexamenos graffito can plausibly be read as a Christian self-parody, created by the enslaved Alexamenos himself. It is the first full-length treatment of the authorial origins of the Alexamenos graffito . The article first provides an overview of the visual and scholarly histories of the image…
Christ’s Cosmetic Hydrotherapy
This article argues that the washing that removes blemishes and wrinkles in Eph 5:26–27 is intelligible against wider ancient Graeco-Roman and early Christian conceptions of transformational waters. Ancient Mediterranean traditions tell of special waters that change human skin complexion, prolong life, and remove impairment. Ancient Graceo-Roman medicine indicates that for many women in the Mediterranean, blemishes such as freckles and wrinkles w…
The Politics of Ear Mutilation
This article challenges a slaveholder perspective of the treatment of the high priest’s enslaved agent in the canonical gospels. It seeks to demonstrate how ancient traditions and practices of ear cropping and facial mutilation, especially of enslaved folks, give insight into the significance of the enslaved agent’s treatment in the gospels. Far from being a mere plot device, the enslaved person who is maimed is a site of political knowledge that…
A Previously Overlooked Life of Jesus by Martha Louisa ‘Lily’ Watson (1885)
This article provides an overview and analysis of a previously overlooked nineteenth-century Life of Jesus by Martha Louisa ‘Lily’ Watson. It takes as its starting point metacriticism as a vital task of present scholarship on the historical Jesus of Nazareth – in particular, the contributions of women and other scholars on the margins. This study provides a biographical overview of Watson and analyses the sources, methods, and historical approach…
Before Deception
This article problematizes the conception of forgery as intrinsically deceptive. It argues that while deception is one valid way of understanding some ancient Christian forgeries, it is by no means the only way. The presence of forgers like the presbyter from Asia who wrote the Acts of Paul and Salvian who did not view their work as deceptions should give us pause about blanket generalizations about the authorial intent of forgers and whether suc…
The Little Messiah
New Testament scholars almost universally understand Zacchaeus to be “short in stature” (τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν) in Luke 19:3. I argue that it is just as plausible, if not more so, to understand Jesus as “the short one” instead. I problematize three approaches scholars use to justify Zacchaeus as “the short one” in Luke 19: (a) that the canonical gospels do not contain physical descriptions of Jesus, unlike other ancient bioi; (b) that the syntactic…
Little James
This article argues that, based on a close reading of the ancient textual, documentary and epigraphic evidence, the expression ὁ μικρός in Mark 15.40 is most likely a nickname regarding this James’ particular height or potentially an affectionate indication that he is a child. The expression ὁ μικρός is not an indication of comparative age to another person (‘younger’). The evidence from ancient epigraphy and the LXX, initially provided by Adolf …
A Visual Depiction of Jewish Circumcision at Dura-Europos
This short note argues that the Ezekiel cycle on the frescoes of the Dura-Europos synagogue displays the only known ancient image of circumcision on a Jewish body. The cycle, modelled after the vision of dry bones episode in Ezek 37, depicts a body that is circumcised. Although there is only one body that displays circumcision, it is intelligible in the wider visual context of bodily reconfiguration, as separate limbs and heads form full bodies, …
Absent in Body, Present in Spirit
This article analyzes the phenomena that arise when the images of New Testament authors are placed before, alongside, and within the titles and incipits of New Testament texts in ancient manuscripts. Such images facilitate encounters with "specters" of the authors, invoking their bodily presence in the absence of their physical body. They are encodings of collective memory but also participants in perpetuating and sometimes modifying the physical…
The Short Apostle
Paulus war wahrscheinlich nicht sehr groß oder sogar kleinwüchsig. Einen ersten Anhaltspunkt bietet der Ausdruck σαργάνη in 2Kor 11,33. Neutestamentler haben das Fassungsvermögen dieses »Korbs« bisher eher überschätzt. Eine Analyse antiker Quellen zeigt, dass ein σαργάνη das Durchschnittsgewicht eines Mannes nicht hätte tragen können. Diese Einsicht konvergiert mit der ältesten Beschreibung der körperlichen Merkmale des Paulus in den Akten des Pa…
Her Body Healed
This article revives an accentuation of ιαται present in a number of medieval minuscules that has been neglected by most critical editions of the Greek New Testament since Erasmus. It argues that there is good external and internal evidence for reading ιαται in Mark 5:29 as the present tense-form ( ἰᾶται ) rather than the universally accepted perfect tense-form ( ἴαται ). The accentuation in medieval Greek witnesses provides both the present and …
Disability and New Testament Studies
This article offers a survey and assessment of the state of New Testament scholarship and disability studies. It provides some critical reflections on the current trends and trajectories of the field and potential futures for it to progress further. While some work has been done on the Catholic Epistles, Revelation, and Paul, the majority of focus has been on the canonical Gospels. Studies often encompass meta-critical, historical, literary, or t…
Satan and Circumcision
This study argues that the ἄγγελος πονηρός in Barn 9.4 was Satan. James Carleton Paget, Adolf Hilgenfeld, Ferdinand Prostmeier and Geza Vermes gestured toward this interpretation, but none offered evidence for this identification other than assertion. In Barnabas, there is a constellation of ideas that connect circumcision with Satan, namely circumcision with pagan idolatry (9.6), idolatry to demons (16.7), and finally idolatry and demons to Sata…
“In strength” not “by force”
This article challenges the dominant reading of 1 Macc 2:46, both that (a) the syntagm ἐν ἰσχύι means coercion and that (b) the literary context of 1 Maccabees understands the circumcising of the uncircumcised in 2:46 as coercive. An analysis of the lexical semantics of ἐν ἰσχύι in ancient Greek literature shows that it never referred to coercion, but primarily referred to the means by which an action was accomplished (“by strength/might/power”).…
Disability and New Testament Studies
This article offers a survey and assessment of the state of New Testament scholarship and disability studies. It provides some critical reflections on the current trends and trajectories of the field and potential futures for it to progress further. While some work has been done on the Catholic Epistles, Revelation, and Paul, the majority of focus has been on the canonical Gospels. Studies often encompass meta-critical, historical, literary, or t…
“In strength” not “by force”
This article challenges the dominant reading of 1 Macc 2:46, both that (a) the syntagm ἐν ἰσχύι means coercion and that (b) the literary context of 1 Maccabees understands the circumcising of the uncircumcised in 2:46 as coercive. An analysis of the lexical semantics of ἐν ἰσχύι in ancient Greek literature shows that it never referred to coercion, but primarily referred to the means by which an action was accomplished (“by strength/might/power”).…
The Short Apostle
Paulus war wahrscheinlich nicht sehr groß oder sogar kleinwüchsig. Einen ersten Anhaltspunkt bietet der Ausdruck σαργάνη in 2Kor 11,33. Neutestamentler haben das Fassungsvermögen dieses »Korbs« bisher eher überschätzt. Eine Analyse antiker Quellen zeigt, dass ein σαργάνη das Durchschnittsgewicht eines Mannes nicht hätte tragen können. Diese Einsicht konvergiert mit der ältesten Beschreibung der körperlichen Merkmale des Paulus in den Akten des Pa…
Her Body Healed
This article revives an accentuation of ιαται present in a number of medieval minuscules that has been neglected by most critical editions of the Greek New Testament since Erasmus. It argues that there is good external and internal evidence for reading ιαται in Mark 5:29 as the present tense-form ( ἰᾶται ) rather than the universally accepted perfect tense-form ( ἴαται ). The accentuation in medieval Greek witnesses provides both the present and …
Disability and New Testament Studies
This article offers a survey and assessment of the state of New Testament scholarship and disability studies. It provides some critical reflections on the current trends and trajectories of the field and potential futures for it to progress further. While some work has been done on the Catholic Epistles, Revelation, and Paul, the majority of focus has been on the canonical Gospels. Studies often encompass meta-critical, historical, literary, or t…
Satan and Circumcision
This study argues that the ἄγγελος πονηρός in Barn 9.4 was Satan. James Carleton Paget, Adolf Hilgenfeld, Ferdinand Prostmeier and Geza Vermes gestured toward this interpretation, but none offered evidence for this identification other than assertion. In Barnabas, there is a constellation of ideas that connect circumcision with Satan, namely circumcision with pagan idolatry (9.6), idolatry to demons (16.7), and finally idolatry and demons to Sata…
A Visual Depiction of Jewish Circumcision at Dura-Europos
This short note argues that the Ezekiel cycle on the frescoes of the Dura-Europos synagogue displays the only known ancient image of circumcision on a Jewish body. The cycle, modelled after the vision of dry bones episode in Ezek 37, depicts a body that is circumcised. Although there is only one body that displays circumcision, it is intelligible in the wider visual context of bodily reconfiguration, as separate limbs and heads form full bodies, …
Absent in Body, Present in Spirit
This article analyzes the phenomena that arise when the images of New Testament authors are placed before, alongside, and within the titles and incipits of New Testament texts in ancient manuscripts. Such images facilitate encounters with "specters" of the authors, invoking their bodily presence in the absence of their physical body. They are encodings of collective memory but also participants in perpetuating and sometimes modifying the physical…
Before Deception
This article problematizes the conception of forgery as intrinsically deceptive. It argues that while deception is one valid way of understanding some ancient Christian forgeries, it is by no means the only way. The presence of forgers like the presbyter from Asia who wrote the Acts of Paul and Salvian who did not view their work as deceptions should give us pause about blanket generalizations about the authorial intent of forgers and whether suc…
The Little Messiah
New Testament scholars almost universally understand Zacchaeus to be “short in stature” (τῇ ἡλικίᾳ μικρὸς ἦν) in Luke 19:3. I argue that it is just as plausible, if not more so, to understand Jesus as “the short one” instead. I problematize three approaches scholars use to justify Zacchaeus as “the short one” in Luke 19: (a) that the canonical gospels do not contain physical descriptions of Jesus, unlike other ancient bioi; (b) that the syntactic…
Little James
This article argues that, based on a close reading of the ancient textual, documentary and epigraphic evidence, the expression ὁ μικρός in Mark 15.40 is most likely a nickname regarding this James’ particular height or potentially an affectionate indication that he is a child. The expression ὁ μικρός is not an indication of comparative age to another person (‘younger’). The evidence from ancient epigraphy and the LXX, initially provided by Adolf …
Christ’s Cosmetic Hydrotherapy
This article argues that the washing that removes blemishes and wrinkles in Eph 5:26–27 is intelligible against wider ancient Graeco-Roman and early Christian conceptions of transformational waters. Ancient Mediterranean traditions tell of special waters that change human skin complexion, prolong life, and remove impairment. Ancient Graceo-Roman medicine indicates that for many women in the Mediterranean, blemishes such as freckles and wrinkles w…
The Politics of Ear Mutilation
This article challenges a slaveholder perspective of the treatment of the high priest’s enslaved agent in the canonical gospels. It seeks to demonstrate how ancient traditions and practices of ear cropping and facial mutilation, especially of enslaved folks, give insight into the significance of the enslaved agent’s treatment in the gospels. Far from being a mere plot device, the enslaved person who is maimed is a site of political knowledge that…
A Previously Overlooked Life of Jesus by Martha Louisa ‘Lily’ Watson (1885)
This article provides an overview and analysis of a previously overlooked nineteenth-century Life of Jesus by Martha Louisa ‘Lily’ Watson. It takes as its starting point metacriticism as a vital task of present scholarship on the historical Jesus of Nazareth – in particular, the contributions of women and other scholars on the margins. This study provides a biographical overview of Watson and analyses the sources, methods, and historical approach…
Apostle to the Machines? Paul’s Euangelion and the Salvation of Artificial Intelligence
This article is a thought experiment that asks, given the requisite circumstances, whether Paul the Apostle’s gospel could have any bearing on artificial intelligence. It finds that a reading of Paul’s gospel leaves the possibility open that sentient machines could be recipients of the salvation envisioned in the Apostle’s letters without the need for becoming human themselves
The Alexamenos Graffito as Christian Self-Parody
Against the near-universal consensus that it was created by a pagan (non-Christian) in order to satirise Christian worship, this article contends that the Alexamenos graffito can plausibly be read as a Christian self-parody, created by the enslaved Alexamenos himself. It is the first full-length treatment of the authorial origins of the Alexamenos graffito . The article first provides an overview of the visual and scholarly histories of the image…
Self-Made ‘Men’
This article analyses how Flavius Josephus presents the conquests of Asinaeus and Anilaeus, two robber-bandits who established a fiefdom in first-century Babylonia. In dialogue with common Roman tropes about gender and his previous writings on the notable physical features of men in times of war, this article focusses on how Josephus progressively effeminizes Asinaeus and Anilaeus. Although their military feats abound, their increasingly risky be…
Biblical Studies and Interpretation (12 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · History (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Literature (8 works) · Theology (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Historical and Linguistic Studies (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Archaeology (4 works)