How will we regather the church after pandemic? The Covid-19 pandemic is an inflection point for the church everywhere-and certainly for the Episcopal Church. The sudden flowering of creativity, connection, and collaboration is an expression of the Holy Spirit's relentless presence within the church; yet ongoing distancing creates difficulties to be overcome on the other side of the present crisis. How will we change habits of isolation and regather the church? How will we manage the impact on church finances? How is God calling us to embrace the energy and creativity of this moment-and the longing people have felt for a return to community? What challenges will we face regathering the people of God, particularly in already weakened communities? We Shall Be Changed is a gathering of brief essays from thought leaders around the church on pressing topics that the church needs to be considering now-in preparation for the end of this pandemic. The book is designed to spur conversation within parishes, fellowship groups, and clergy gatherings about how to embrace the gifts this time has given while anticipating and addressing the very real challenges the church will confront in its wake.

Death and rebirth was of vital importance to early Christians in late antiquity. In late antiquity, death was all encompassing. Mortality rates were high, plague and disease in urban areas struck at will, and one lived on the knife's edge regarding one's health. Religion filled a crucial role in this environment, offering an option for those who sought cure and comfort. Following death, the inhumed were memorialized, providing solace to family members through sculpture, painting, and epigraphy. This book offers a sustained interdisciplinary treatment of death and rebirth, a theme that early Christians (and scholars) found important. By analysing the theme of death and rebirth through various lenses, the contributors deepen our understanding of the early Christian funerary and liturgical practices as well as their engagement with other groups in the Empire.

Some early Christians used water, not wine, in the cup of their Eucharist, and avoided eating meat. This kind of avoidance, more common than previously imagined, reflected a more radical stance towards the wider society than that taken by the Christian mainstream. The discussion here throws new light on early Christianity and the ways eating and drinking have often reflected deeply-held beliefs and values.

Never before has there existed a more diverse set of possibilities for understanding the canonical texts of the New Testament, other early Christian literature, and the history of the emergent Christian movement that was to become the church. Harold W. Attridge has contributed authoritatively to many of the disciplines that underlie approaches to these questions: textual criticism, exegesis, comparative literary and historical studies, and numerous other areas. In honor of his work, this volume seeks to draw many of these methodological threads together. Readers will find discussions of both new and traditional methods of New Testament study, with numerous examples indicating how these approaches work and what insights they yield. The contributors are Gary A. Anderson, David E. Aune, James Hamilton Charlesworth, Adela Yarbro Collins, John J. Collins, J. Keith Elliott, Eldon Jay Epp, Philip F. Esler, Craig A. Evans, Everett Ferguson, Sean Freyne, Gabriella Gelardini, Mark Goodacre, Rowan A. Greer, Richard A. Horsley, Judith M. Lieu, Francisco Lozada Jr., Andrew B. McGowan, Edgar V. McKnight, Elaine Pagels, Pheme Perkins, Richard I. Pervo, David Rhoads, Kent Harold Richards, James M. Robinson, David T. Runia, Thomas D. Stegman, SJ, Thomas H. Tobin, SJ, Joseph B. Tyson, and James VanderKam.