James Petitfils
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James Petitfils

Associate Professor of New Testament

DepartmentsDivision of Biblical and Theological Studies
Talbot School of Theology
Biola AffiliationsFaculty

Documents

CV Document (PDF)

Degrees

  • PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
  • MA, University of California, Los Angeles
  • MA, Talbot School of Theology
  • BA, Biola University

Member of

Biography

Dr. James Petitfils completed his doctorate from UCLA in 2013 and joined the undergraduate New Testament department at Biola in 2014. Trained in both New Testament exegesis and the socio-cultural history of the Roman Mediterranean, he researches and publishes on a variety of subjects including storytelling in the Roman world, ancient Christian martyr texts, and leadership in Mediterranean antiquity. Along with research and teaching, he has been a pastor in the South Bay for over 20 years, currently serving as the Beach Pastor at the River Church. He’s been married to his love and partner in ministry, Braelyn, for 15 years and together they have a beautiful daughter and two beach boys. They are also foster parents and have fostered four cute-as-can-be little angels over the last 2 years. James enjoys surfing, family beach days, and burritos.

Publications

Books

  • Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership. Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum/Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 99 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016).

Articles

  • “Apparently Other: Appearance and Blasphemy in the Ancient Christian Martyr Texts.” Journal of Religion and Violence 5.3 (2017), 253–273.
  • “The Maccabean Martyrs,” Dictionary of the Bible and Western Culture. Eds. Michael Gilmour and Mary Ann Beavis (Sheffield Phoenix Press: 2012).
  • “The Zealots,” Dictionary of the Bible and Western Culture. Eds. Michael Gilmour and Mary Ann Beavis (Sheffield Phoenix Press: 2012).
  • “Martial Moses in Flavian Rome: Josephus’ Ant. 2–4 and Exemplary Roman Leadership.” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 10 (2014): 194–208.
  • "A Tale of Two Moseses: Philo's On the Life of Moses and Josephus's Jewish Antiquities 2–4 in Light of the Roman Discourse of Exemplarity." In Reading and Teaching Ancient Fiction: Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman Narratives. WGRWSup 11. eds. Sara R. Johnson, Rubén R. Dupertuis, and Christine Shea, (SBL Press, 2018), 153–164.

Presentations

  • “Beauty and the Blasphemers: Appearance, Dress, and the Martyrs of Lyons,” presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 2019: San Diego, California. (oral presentation)
  • “Dying in Style: Physiognomic and Sartorial Discourse(s) in Eusebius’s Martyr Stories,” presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 2019: San Diego, California. (oral presentation)
  • “Apparently Other: Appearance and Blasphemy in the Ancient Christian Martyr Texts,” presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 2017: Boston, Massachusetts. (oral presentation) 
  • “Josephus' View of Moses as an Exemplary Leader in Light of Cicero's De Officiis," presented at WECSOR (Western Commission for the Study of Religion, Pacific Coast regional meeting for SBL), March 2010: Tempe, Arizona. (oral presentation)
  • “Paul and Honorable Leadership in the Ancient Mediterranean World," presented at the annual Far West Regional Meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, April 2010: La Mirada, California. (oral presentation)
  • “The Martyrs of Lyons as Exempla of Christian Leadership," presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 2010: Atlanta, Georgia. (oral presentation)
  • “1 Clement and the Roman Discourse of Exemplarity," presented at WECSOR (Western Commission for the Study of Religion, Pacific Coast regional meeting for SBL), March 2012: Santa Clara, CA. (oral presentation)
  • “A Tale of Two Moseses: Philo's De Vita Mosis and Josephus' Ant. 2-4 in light of the Roman Discourse of Exemplarity," presented at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, November 2012: Chicago, Illinois. (oral presentation)
  • “Re-socializing Paul in Rome and Gaul: Pauline Humility and Roman Exemplarity in 1 Clement and the Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons," presented at the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion Conference, “The Social Science Interpretations of the New Testament," April 2013: Los Angeles. (oral presentation)
  • “Mos Christianorum: M.Lyons and Roman Exemplarity," presented at the annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society, May 2014: Chicago, Illinois. (oral presentation)

Books

Mos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of LeadershipMos Christianorum: The Roman Discourse of Exemplarity and the Jewish and Christian Language of Leadership

Areas of Expertise for Media Interviews

  • Bible
  • Bible Interpretation
  • Bible Languages
  • Church
  • Church History
  • Death
  • Gender and Sexuality
  • History
  • Leadership
  • New Testament
  • Pastoring
  • Religion
  • World History
  • Ancient Martyrdom
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