Jeremy W. Barrier
Professor of Biblical Literature
Dr. Barrier is a Professor of Biblical Literature at Heritage Christian University and a missions minister for the Madison (AL) Church of Christ. He encourages and strengthens churches throughout Europe, Asia and South America on a regular basis. Annually, he teaches in various schools, institutions, and leadership training programs in places such as India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Germany, the Netherlands, and Peru. He and his wife, Robin, have two children, Samuel and Sophia. For hobbies, Dr. Barrier enjoys running, biking, swimming, camping & hiking, and early American woodworking & timber framing. His research interests include the Pauline Epistles (especially Corinthians and Galatians), Ancient Physiology & the New Testament, 2nd century ancient Christian novels (such as the Acts of Paul and Thecla), Coptology, and Gnostic Christianity. Following several research fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2012-13, 2018, 2023, & 2026) at the University of Regensburg (Regensburg, Germany), he is presently working on a series of articles related to the Gospel of Judas. He is a member of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas (SNTS, i.e., an international society of New Testament scholars, since 2021). He primarily teaches graduate and undergraduate courses related to the New Testament and Early Christianity, Early Christian Missiology, Methods of Biblical Interpretation, Advanced Greek Courses, and Old Testament Studies.
Education
Ph.D., Biblical Interpretation, Brite Divinity School, Texas Christian University, 2008
M.A., New Testament, Freed-Hardeman University, 2002
B.S., Mathematics and Natural Science, Freed-Hardeman University, 2000
Devotional Publications
Annual Contributor of Articles for the Berean Study Series (2015–2025) with Heritage Christian University Press.
I AM: A Study of the True and Living God. Edited by Jeremy W. Barrier and Charles R. Webb. Florence, AL.: Heritage Press, 2010).
Recent Academic Publications
Books:
Witch Hunt in Galatia: Medicine, Magic, and Ritual and the Occasion of Paul’s Letter to the Churches of Galatia. (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020).
Articles:
Author (article). “Physiology and the Material Pneuma in the Gospel of Judas,” Studia Patristica (Leuven: Peeters, Forthcoming in 2026/2027); Proofs were finalized in October 2025.
Author (article). “The Divine Mother: The Name of Thekla and Theoklia in the cave of the hidden virgin of Ephesus,” НАУКОВІ ЗАПИСКИ Українського католицького університету or Analecta of the Ukrainian Catholic University 12 (2025): 239–58. DOI: 10.47632/2075-4817-2025-12-239-258.
Author (article). “Middle Platonism in the Wisdom of Solomon: A Comparison of Wisdom to Plutarch of Chaeroneia,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 32.3 (2023): 244–69. https://doi.org/10.1177/09518207221140559.
Author (article). “The Stoicheia Tou Kosmou Again: Interpreting Cosmos in Gal 4.3 and 9 as Prepuce (or Foreskin),” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 114.1 (2023): 102–22.
Author (article). “A Cainite Invocation of Thecla? The Reception of the Acts of Paul in North Africa as exemplified in Tertullian’s de Baptismo,” in Thecla and Medieval Sainthood: The Acts of Paul and Thecla in Eastern and Western Hagiography. Edited by Ghazzal Dabiri and Flavia Ruani. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022).
Contributions to Reference Works:
Author (article). “Corinthians, Third Epistle to the”, pages 580–82 in Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity: Authors, Texts, and Ideas. Volume II: Bib – Div, eds. David G. Hunter, Paul J.J. van Geest, and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2024).
Author (article). “Paul, Acts of”, pages 179–86 in Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity: Authors, Texts, and Ideas. Volume V: Ori – She, eds. David G. Hunter, Paul J.J. van Geest, and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2024).
Author (article). “Paul and Thecla, Acts of”, pages 268–73 in Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity: Authors, Texts, and Ideas. Volume V: Ori – She, eds. David G. Hunter, Paul J.J. van Geest, and Bert Jan Lietaert Peerbolte (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2024).
Author (article). “Thekla,” columns 117–136 in Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum: Sachwörterbuch zur Auseinandersetzung des Christentums mit der Antiken Welt (RAC), Edited by G. Schöllgen et al. Band 32; Lfg. 250/257 (Nordrhein-Westfälischen Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Künste: Bonn, 2024).
Current Projects: Presentations, Writing Projects, and Conference Organization:
Editor (book). Jesus: A Historical and Theological Approach, written by Armand Puig I Tarrech, in collaboration with Marcos Aceituno Donoso, WUNT 1/Series no. TBD (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, Forthcoming in 2026).
Author (article & presentation), “Physiology and Medicine in Earliest Christianity: Further Test Cases in the Gospel of Judas,” presentation for the Beyond Canon Research Colloquium from 10:00am–12:00am on June 3, 2026 in Regensburg, Germany.
Author (presentation), “Physiology and Medicine in Earliest Christianity: Further Test Cases in the Gospel of Judas,” presentation at the Universität Wien (University of Vienna) for the Institut für Christentumsgeschichte mit Protestantismusgeschichte Österreichs on June 9, 2026.
Author (article & presentation), “Holy Words, Sacred Lexicon: The Unpublished Correspondences of Frederick W. Danker with F. Wilbur Gingrich and the University of Chicago from 1957–2010,” presented at the International Society of Biblical Literature “Hellenistic Greek Language and Linguistics Section program unit”, July 5–9, 2026 in Adelaide, Australia.
Academic Presentations:
“Physiology in the Gospel of Judas,” to be presented on November 25, 2024 for the “Nag Hammadi and Gnosticism” unit of the Annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) in San Diego, California.
“Physiology in the Gospel of Judas,” presented at the XIX. International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, U.K., 5–9 August 2024, for the “Pseudepigrapha” section of the ‘short communications’ taking place in room 12 of the ‘East’ Examination School from 9:00am–1:00pm.
“Physiology and the Material Spirit in the Gospel of Judas,” presented on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 at the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas General Meeting “Simultaneous Short Papers — Session I” from 17:30-18:15, on the campus of Australia Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia.
“An Examination of ta stoicheia tou kosmou: Considering Galatians 4:3 as a Reference to the Foreskin,” presented on Thursday, July 28, 2022 at the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas General Meeting “Simultaneous Short Papers — Session IV” from 15:30-16:15, on the campus of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Leuven, Belgium.
