Praise for The Lost Apostle

"Pederson a former editorial page editor at the Dallas Morning News . . . presents the linguistic, historical, and theological rationales used to justify displacing the biblical reference to a female apostle. What she finds is fascinating! Not only about Junia, but also about two other little-known female leaders of the Jesus movement . . . Ms. Pederson's constant surprise at her discoveries gives the book an authentic appeal."
Dwight A. Moody, Dallas Morning News

"Engagingly written and intelligently documented, this book is recommended as a worthy contribution."
Library Journal

"Thanks to Rena Pederson for digging into The Case of the Missing Apostle like a good police reporter. Junia the apostle was one of the first victims of identity theft. Restoring her name is a service to women everywhere."

Linda Ellerbee, award-winning television producer, journalist, and best-selling author of Take Big Bites, Move On, and And So It Goes

"As a clergywoman, I am strengthened by Rena Pederson's work. She has done what should have been done years ago. Junia is the role model we've been searching for."
Dr. Sheron Patterson, senior minister, Highland Hills United Methodist Church; newspaper columnist; and author, Sisters: A Mile in Her Shoes, Lessons from the Lives of Old Testament Women

Rena Pederson's distinguished career in journalism includes serving for sixteen years as editorial page editor of the Dallas Morning News. She is a former finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and was a member of the Pulitzer Prize board for nine years. A winner of multiple writing awards, Pederson is the author of two books―What's Next? Women Redefining Their Dreams in the Prime of Life and What's Missing? Inspiration for Women Seeking Faith and Joy in Their Lives.

The Lost Apostle

Searching for the Truth about Junia Paperback ReprintBy Rena Pederson

Jossey-Bass

Copyright © 2008 Rena Pederson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780470184622

Chapter One

Cherchez la Femme

All stories are true. Some of them actually happened. Ron Wetherington, archaeologist, Southern Methodist University

The questions kept nagging me after I learned her name: Who was Junia? Why did her name disappear from the Bible? Might she really have been one of the apostles? I wanted to find out more about Junia but wasn't sure where to begin. How do you find someone who's been missing for hundreds of years?

There wasn't much to go on. The basic facts are these: The name "Junia" appears in the last chapter of Paul's theological masterpiece-his letter to the young Christian church in Rome. Specifically, in Romans 16:7, Paul sends greetings to Andronicus and Junia. He then provides a sprinkling of clues about them:

He says they are his "kinsmen," or relatives. This has led analysts to believe they were Jews, like Paul.

They became Christians even before Paul did, which means they were among the very earliest of believers.

They were in prison with Paul, which means they were in the forefront of the Jesus movement, and authorities knew about their activism.

They helped start the Christian church in Rome, which means they kept venturing out bravely after their imprisonment to spread the good news.

They were considered outstanding, or "of note," among the apostles.

The clues offer just a brief glimpse, albeit a tantalizing glimpse. I could already see that finding out who Junia was, once and for all, could be important for biblical scholarship. But was it feasible for me to pursue the answers? Would it make a difference to anyone else?

Why is finding Junia important? I decided that the search was worthwhile because "finding" Junia would establish an important precedent for women preaching and teaching. And since Paul often has been viewed as someone who wanted to keep women quiet, his praise for Junia seems to show that he was much more broadminded in practice.

If nothing else, establishing that Junia existed should provide a psychological boost for women of many Christian denominations. After all, women come to faith differently from the way men do. They have to reconcile a religion that says, on the one hand, that we should love everyone equally and generously-and, on the other, that women aren't exactly full members of the church. It seems counterintuitive. How can women be "less than" men in church standing-less worthy, less qualified to spread God's word-when Paul says, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28 NRSV)?

It is to women's credit that they have kept the faith for centuries and have done much of the hard, hands-on work in caring for the sick and needy, in spite of restrictions in many denominations that they cannot be full participants in the front office and in the pulpit. It is not surprising that women today still yearn deeply for indications that their faith counts fully, that they are not secondary in God's eyes and in his house. Reclaiming the stories of early women of faith, such as Junia and the other women in Romans 16, could be a great comfort to today's women. It would be more affirmation that God wants women to do his work in the world, hand-in-hand with men.

But how do we find out more about Junia? I didn't feel qualified to conduct the search myself because I'm not a religious scholar. I'm just an ordinary believer-a moderate Methodist with Presbyterian roots. But I was always the kind of kid who would peek behind doors or pick up something in the road to look at it more closely and wonder, How did it get there? What did it mean to someone else?

Perhaps it would be helpful to have someone look with fresh eyes. Having been a journalist for three decades, I knew how to poke around and take notes. In newsroom circles, the adage is, "If your mother tells you she loves you, check it out." In theological circles, this is called the "hermeneutics of suspicion. "You challenge information. The asking of pesky questions helps you get to the core of the matter.

To find traces of Junia, an obvious first step was to check what information was available about her on the Internet. Surprise! There were dozens of articles about Junia. There apparently has been a lively dispute going on about her in theological circles for some time. Yet that debate has gone on largely outside the notice of the general public. Most churchwomen still have not heard of Junia. It seemed time they did.

My next stop was to check out more Bible translations to see if they identified Junia as a woman. I gathered the motley assortment of Bibles in my house to check their rendition of Romans and then went browsing at the closest religious bookstore, taking notes Bible-by-Bible, smiling gamely when a clerk walked by to see what I was doing. It turned out that some Bibles had the female name and some didn't.

Those that used "Junias" to refer to a male apostle in Romans included:

Revised Standard Version (1946)

Amplified Bible (1958)

New English Bible (1961)

New American Standard Bible (1963)

Living Bible (1971)

New International Version (1973)

Harper Study Bible (RSV with notes, 1976)

New Jerusalem Bible (1985)

Those that referred to "Junia" as a woman apostle included:

King James Version (1611)

Good News Bible (1966)

New King James Version (1979)

New Century Version (1987)

New Revised Standard Version (1989)

HarperCollins Study Bible (NRSV with notes, 1993)

Oxford Study Bible (NRSV with notes, 1994)

New Living Translation (1996)

New Interpreter's Study Bible (2002)

Holman Christian Bible (2004)

Today's New International Version (2004)

It was almost evenly split, with newer translations tilting toward "Junia." The Catholic Study Bible acknowledged, "The name Junia is a woman's name. One ancient Greek manuscript and a number of versions read the name Julia." But the study Bible added, "Most editors have interpreted it as a man's name, Junias." In other words, "The name is a woman's name, but most editors have said it's a man anyway." It was as if those editors were saying it was a man with a woman's name, like a boy named Sue. But that was a stretch. To its credit, the Catholic Study Bible, unlike the editors it cited, resisted the boy-named-Sue contortion and used the feminine name Junia in its text.

To get a feel for other scholarly views, I went back to the bookstore and brought home an armload of commentaries on the book of Romans. All were written by men. Three out of the four said it is probable that Paul was referring to a woman, although it's difficult to be certain. Whether she was really a bona fide Apostle, they said, was another matter. Still, this was encouraging. Three of the authors agreed that Junia, most likely, was a "she." Theirs was not a warm embrace of Junia, mind you, more like having to kiss your sister on the cheek on her birthday, but it was recognition, nevertheless....