Rafael Rodríguez

Dr. Rafael Rodríguez has taught New Testament for nearly 20 years, and he participates actively in professional societies associated with multiple ecclesial traditions. Dr. Rodríguez serves on The Catholic Biblical Quarterly editorial board, the Life, Letters, and Legacy of Paul (SCJ) steering committee, and the Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus editorial board, and he holds membership in the Institute for Biblical Research, The Catholic Biblical Association, the Society of Biblical Literature, and Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. He has previously served on the Mark in Ancient Mediterranean Context (SCJ) steering committee and co-chaired The Bible in Ancient and Modern Media (SBL) steering committee.

Dr. Rodríguez is the author of The First Christian Letters: Reading 1 and 2 Thessalonians (Cascade, 2024), Jesus Darkly: Remembering Jesus with the New Testament (Abingdon, 2018), If You Call Yourself a Jew: Reappraising Paul's Letter to the Romans (Cascade, 2014), Oral Tradition and the New Testament (T&T Clark, 2014), and Structuring Early Christian Memory: Jesus in Tradition, Performance, and Text (T&T Clark, 2010) and co-editor of The So-Called Jew in Paul's Letter to the Romans (Fortress Press, 2016). He has published numerous articles in journals such as The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, The T&T Clark Jesus Library, Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, and Review of Biblical Literature. 

Dr. Rodríguez’s areas of expertise include the Apostle Paul, the Epistle to the Romans, the Epistles to the Thessalonians, Paul within Judaism, and Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins. He also specializes in social memory approaches to the Bible—hermeneutics which account for realities such as changing societal structures, migration, and overlapping collective identities as present and significant in the formation and reception of biblical texts. “What is interesting about the New Testament is not just thinking about what the words on the page say, but thinking about the people behind the words,” he says. “I try to bring these experiences into the classroom, so it's not just, ‘What does this text mean?’, but also ‘What did it feel like to hear this story?’”

For Dr. Rodríguez, the study of the Bible a relational practice, to be engaged wholeheartedly, with curiosity, and alongside others. The ongoing work of bringing the current, changing context into conversation with scripture, he says, is always needed, always new, and an act of worship.

 

Books

Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus (Cascade, 2024)

Jesus Darkly: Remembering Jesus with the New Testament (Abingdon, 2018)

If You Call Yourself a Jew: Reappraising Paul's Letter to the Romans (Cascade, 2014)

Oral Tradition and the New Testament (T&T Clark, 2014)

Structuring Early Christian Memory: Jesus in Tradition, Performance, and Text (T&T Clark, 2010)

Co-editor, The So-Called Jew in Paul's Letter to the Romans (Fortress Press, 2016)

Book Chapters, Articles, and Essays

"The Ἰουδαá¿–ος in Romans: First to the Gentile-Become-Jew, Then Also to the Gentile-as-Gentile." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 86, no. 1 (2024): 124-143. https://doi.org/10.1353/cbq.2024.a918373. Project MUSE.

“Text as Tradition—Tradition as Text: Early Christian Memory and Jesus’ Threat against the Temple.” Svensk Teologisk Kvartalskrift 99, no. 2 (2023). https://doi.org/10.51619/stk.v99i2.25192.

“Father Abraham Had Many Sons: Paul and the Outside-In Family of Abraham.” The Beginning of Paul’s Gospel: Theological Explorations in Romans 1–4, edited by Nijay K. Gupta and John K. Goodrich, 284-305 (Cascade, 2023).

“Your Will Be Done: Remembering Jesus’ Submission to the Father.” To Recover What Has Been Lost: Essays on Eschatology, Intertextuality, and Reception History in Honor of Dale C. Allison, Jr., edited by Tucker S. Ferda, Daniel Frayer-Griggs, and Nathan C. Johnson, 294-318 (Brill, 2021).

“Mark.” T&T Clark Social Identity Commentary on the New Testament, edited by J. Brian Tucker and Aaron Kuecker (T&T Clark, 2020).

“Zeal that Consumed: Memory of Jerusalem’s Temple and Jesus’ Body in the Gospel of John.” Biblical Interpretation in Early Christian Gospels, Volume 4: The Gospel of John (2020).

“Betwixt Past and Present: Jesus and John in Tradition, Text, and History.” Bridges in New Testament Interpretation: Interdisciplinary Advances, edited by Neil Elliot and Werner H. Kelber (Fortress Academic, 2018).

“Paul and Social Memory.” Paul in the Greco-Roman World: A Handbook, edited by J. Paul Sampley (T&T Clark, 2016).

"’According to the Scriptures’: Suffering and the Psalms in the Speeches in Acts.” Memory and Identity in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity: A Conversation with Barry Schwartz, edited by Tom Thatcher, 241-262 (SBL Press, 2014).

“Textual Orientations: Jesus, Written Texts, and the Social Construction of Identity in the Gospel of Luke.” The T&T Clark Handbook to Social Identity in the New Testament, edited by J. Brian Tucker and Coleman A. Baker (T&T Clark, 2014).