Rediscovering Junia of Rome: The Female Apostle in Chains
My Pepperdine University Public Lecture (Nijay's Private Files)
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The following is the manuscript for one of the Frank Pack Lectures I gave at Pepperdine University (CA) in March, 2024. I have slightly edited the manuscript for a better reading experience. Also, I want to acknowledge that this essay overlaps partially with material from an article I published with Christianity Today.
A couple of years ago, my fifth-grade daughter (my youngest) brought home a project she did for school. She showed me a figure of a person which she made out of a 2 liter-drink bottle, decorated with paper clothing, hair, eyes, and other facial features. I knew she was learning about the Revolutionary War, and the figure appeared to be dressed as a soldier, so I asked the natural question: who is he? My daughter immediately corrected me—You mean, who is “she”! “She” is Deborah Sampson. Now, I wondered at that moment what you are probably wondering—how could it be that a woman fought in the Revolutionary War? There is quite an interesting story to tell!
Born in 1760, Deborah Sampson was inspired to fight for freedom, but knew she could not do so as a woman, so she disguised herself as a man, and she called herself Robert Shurtleff.
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