Eldon Jay Epp

This book is probably overkill, but it's a good kind of overkill.

Romans 16:7 lists several people as apostles who are known to Paul. One of these is a person whose name is given in Greek as ΙΟΥΝΙΑΝ -- an accusative construct that, in the nominative (in Latin, since it's a Latin name), would be either IUNIA ("Junia," in English -- a feminine name) or IUNIAS ("Junias," masculine). The only way to tell which it is is by the way the word is accented -- and accents were not marked in early Greek manuscripts. In other words, there is no way, based on our earliest evidence about what Paul dictated, to know whether "Junia" or "Junias" was meant.

In recent centuries, many, thinking that an apostle could not be female, have declared that the name must be "Junias."

Against this sexist view Eldon Jay Epp takes strong exception. It takes him eighty pages to make his argument, but we can boil it down under a few header:
- The feminine name "Junia" is well-known; no one named "Junias" has ever been shown to exist (and the Romans were not the sort to invent a name)
- That the later manuscripts that mark accents without exception accent the name as "Junia"
- That such early authors are refer to this person refer to her as female

The conclusion is clear: "There Was an Apostle Junia."

Even though people continue to argue against this (Epp has a list of commentators and editions and translations that insist upon "Junias"), I don't think there can be any possible doubt. Paul was no feminist, but the early Christian church certainly made room for women -- more room than Greek or Roman society or religion. It only stands to reason that there would be female apostles. And Paul named one for us. With that, I've summed up the entire content of this book. But if you need any additional evidence to deal with the sexists out there, this book will give you all the evidence you want, and then some. I don't think this book was really necessary, but it's certainly hard to argue with.… (més)