I am a Visiting Instructor of Religion at Wake Forest University and a Ph.D. Candidate in Ancient Mediterranean Religions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before matriculating to UNC, I received a B.A. in Religion and an M.A. in Religions of Western Antiquity from Florida State University.
My research focuses on the intersections between Judaism and Christianity in the first century, particularly how each group uses and interprets the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament to make its own claim upon the heritage of ancient Israel. My dissertation, “Paul, the Gentiles, and the Restoration of Israel,” examines early Jewish expectations of Israelite restoration and how these expectations shaped the early Jesus movement, with special attention on how the apostle Paul understood his Gentile mission as a necessary component of Israel’s full restoration through the promised “new covenant.” Early returns from this research are presented in the article, “What Do the Gentiles Have to Do with ‘All Israel’? A Fresh Look at Romans 11:25–26,” JBL 130.2 (2011): 371–90. My academic work has also been published in The Journal of Religion and Film and Facts on File’s Encyclopedia of World History. My wider academic research interests include New Testament, Early Christian history, literature, and thought; Pauline Studies; Second Temple Judaism; the use of Scripture in the New Testament, the Gospels & the historical Jesus; Jewish-Christian relations; exile and restoration; apocalypticism; ancient rhetoric; Imperial Platonism; Hebrew Bible; Wisdom & Apocalyptic Literature; Apostolic Fathers; Dead Sea Scrolls; American Evangelicalism; and religion in popular culture.
I am a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion. I am also a member of the Football Writers’ Association of America and have done freelance work as a football analyst for NoleDigest.com (a subsidiary of FoxSportsNEXT and Scout.com) since 2007.
This blog focuses primarily upon topics in biblical studies (i.e. New Testament/Hebrew Bible, Paul, Early Christianity, Early Judaism, translation issues, etc.), mainly from a critical/academic perspective, though the aim is to keep each post accessible to any interested reader. Other posts may involve news items or delve into more modern subjects like current religious trends and thought, sexuality, economics, football, and miscellaneous posts on pop culture.
The title of the blog arose from the realization that most of my scholarship (and teaching/blogging) amounts to pointing out the obvious. “Captain Obvious” was already taken, leading to the multivalent “Professor Obvious.”
My full Curriculum Vitae is available here.