Najeeb T. Haddad (‏د. نجيب حداد)

If you’re interested in methods that free Paul from the confines of the “political” do I have the book for you!

Working through the Greek of 1 Corinthians and I’m realizing that the language has a lot of legal undertones. Though it is not as explicit as 1 Cor 6:1-12, and 9. But it makes me wonder a bit more about the background of the Corinthian Church.

Worst day of travel with @AmericanAir

Check it out! A chance to win!

I submitted an article for publication and the general editor said it may take up to one year to review since they do not receive many articles in the Pauline letters! Our colleagues are likely inundated but a year for review and likely another year for publication is a terrible turn around time!

Who knew you couldn’t subscribe to individual membership for ATLA and @EBSCO religion and theology databases? 😢

A very exciting announcement on Empire Criticism. Thankful to have participated, sharing an essay on hidden transcripts.

I have been reflecting on the fourth petition of the Great Litany of Peace, especially the use of “house”: “For this holy house and for those who with faith, reverence, and the fear of God enter therein, let us pray to the Lord.” In Greek, the word used is οἶκος (oikos) — house — neither temple (ναός) nor church (ἐκκλησία). It’s a small word, yet profoundly rich. Oikos can mean both a dwelling and a household. It names not only a structure, but the living communion within it, the people of God gathered around His altar. Rubrics sometimes suggest that if the Liturgy is celebrated outside a consecrated temple we should change “house” to “place” (τόπος) or similar. Most recently a footnote in Revs. Najim’s and O’Grady’s “Hieratikon A” says, “This petition is modified when it is not a church building …” (128; Antiochian House of Studies 2025). Yet I have found myself drawn to keep “house” in every setting, a similar position held by the late Rev. Thomas Hopko. Wherever the Holy Mysteries are celebrated, that space is no longer ordinary ground; it is transfigured into the οἶκος τοῦ θεοῦ (the house/dwelling of God) among His people. Moreover, a strong argument can be made when one considers the choice of “house” over “temple” or “church,” which likely signifies a most intentional decision made to us by sacred Tradition. St. Germanus, Patriarch of Constantinople (715-730), reminds us, “The Church is the temple of God, a sacred space, a house of prayer, the convocation of people, the Body of Christ.... She is Heaven on earth where the transcendent God dwells as if in his own home and passes through, but she is also an impression made (antitypos) of the Crucifixion, the tomb and the Resurrection … (Patrologia Graeca 98, coll. 384B-385A).” The Church, expanding upon the teachings of St. Paul, is not a physical place but the spiritual reality of which believers now belong to. The “Church” is the “house” (οἶκος) of God (cf. 1 Tim 3:15; Eph 2:19–22). It is the Church that gathers, not we who gather “in” a Church. We gather “as” the Church. We gather as the “holy house,” and those who “enter therein” are those “who” make up “this holy house.” Thus to say “this holy house,” I argue, is always true. Whether the gathering occurs in a great cathedral, a small mission hall, or beneath open skies. For the Divine services themselves makes the particular place a home of divine indwelling. It gathers the faithful into the household of God. “Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth.” (Psalm 26:8) Wherever the Lord’s glory dwells, there is truly His house, the living oikos of the Kingdom.