I started this blog back in April 2012, and here we still are: fourteen years, thousands of posts later, a few million comments (some of them even on topic!), and over $3 million donated to charity later. I have to say, I never saw this coming.

To celebrate, we’re doing something we’ve never done before: a live cocktail hour. No lecture or slides or Q&A. Instead, bring whatever you drink when you’re about to engage in a lively debate (wine? whiskey? sparkling water? coffee? a nice bourbon if you’re feeling Pauline…) and join me on Zoom for an evening of questions that are too fun for a formal course and too academic for normal dinner conversation.

We’ll be tackling some of the most pressing hypotheticals in early Christian scholarship, such as:

  • Which biblical figure would make the best Misquoting Jesus podcast guest, and who would be a disaster?
  • Which biblical figure survives a modern 24-hour cable news cycle, and who is completely destroyed by day two?
  • The early church has to survive one family-style holiday dinner together. Who starts the argument? Who tries to keep the peace? Who leaves early?

I’ll go first with my answers (and I suspect some of you will disagree with me, which I heartily encourage). But then I want to hear yours. This is a salon, not a seminar, so come ready to hop on camera, drop your opinions in the chat, or just sit back with your drink (whatever it may be) and enjoy the fun.

And we want your hypotheticals too. Got a good one? Submit it using this Google Form. The best ones will make it into the evening’s lineup.

When: Friday, April 3, 7pm ET
Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87073137197?pwd=LdruDJpY7USTPe4uoVlbOYFqL0lErC.1
Meeting ID: 870 7313 7197
Passcode: 221434

Dress code: Whatever you’d wear to argue about the historical Jesus at a dinner party?