About

I’m a PhD student in the Ancient Mediterranean Religions program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I received my MA in Religions of Western Antiquity (with two concentrations: Early Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity) from Florida State University, where I also did my undergraduate work. My CV can be accessed here. I am also a strong INTJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (see here and here).

My research focuses on early Jewish expectations of a pan-Israelite restoration and the impact of these expectations on earliest Christianity, specifically dealing with Paul’s letters.

During football season, I also provide weekly football analysis for http://www.noledigest.com.

This blog focuses primarily upon topics in biblical studies (i.e. New Testament, Paul, Early Christianity, translation issues, etc.), mainly from a critical/academic perspective, though my aim is to keep each post accessible to any interested reader. Other posts 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 derives from a conversation with Stephen Carlson in the halls of Duke University when we were still in coursework. I had mentioned how much I enjoyed working with a particular faculty member because he (like me) thinks outside the box—to which Carlson wryly observed, “You’re not outside the box, you’re outside the building that contains the box.”

(Privacy Policy: Should I ever decide to put any sort of ads on this site, the ads would obviously be third-party and likely include some sort of cookie, just as with any other site using ads.)