ANDREA LORENZO MOLINARI
andrealmolinari@netscape.net

EDUCATION

Ph.D., in Theology (NT and Early Christianity), Marquette University (1996)
M.A. in Biblical Studies, Providence College (1991) 
B.A. in Theology and Journalism, Franciscan University (1989)

Certificate, Diocesan Educational and Catechetical Leadership Institute, Baltimore, MD
December 2000 (NCCL; NCEA; USCC)

PUBLICATIONS

Books:

1) Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC 6.1): Allegory, Ascent and Ministry in the Wake of the Decian Persecution (SBL Dissertation Series 174; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2000).

Review: Harold Attridge, JR 81 (2001): 638-40.

Review: Theodore A. Bergren, CBQ 64 (2002): 174-75.

Review: Jean-Daniel Dubois, Apocrypha 15 (2004): 339-340.

2) ‘I never knew the man’: The Coptic Act of Peter (Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4), its Independence from the Apocryphal Acts of Peter, Genre and Origins (Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi Section Études 5; Québec, Paris and Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval and Peeters, 2000).

3) Climbing the Dragon’s Ladder: The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2006).

Review: Heather Felton, Florida Catholic March 2-8, 2007: A27.

Review: Aída Desançon Spencer, Priscilla Papers 22/1 (2008): 29.

4) Romans and Christians AD 64: An Early Church History Educational Module for Teaching the Experience of Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009).

Audio Courses:

Legends of the First Apostles: A Twelve-part Audio Course with Study Guide (Chevy Chase, MD: Now You Know Media, 2009). http://store.nowyouknowmedia.com/apocryphal-acts-apostles-.html

“Arrayed in Crimson”: Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church, A Fifteen-part Audio Course with Study Guide (Chevy Chase, MD: Now You Know Media, 2010). http://www.nowyouknowmedia.com/Martyrdom_and_Persecution_in_the_Early_Church_p/0132.htm

Scholarly Articles:

1) “The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles: A Reconsideration of the Source Question,” in John D. Turner and Anne McGuire, eds., The Nag Hammadi Library After Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration (NHMS 44; Leiden: Brill, 1997), 461-83.

2) “The Existence of a Unique, Non-canonical Petrine Resurrection Appearance: Evidence from the Gospel of Luke, Ignatius of Antioch, the Epistula Apostulorum and Nag Hammadi,” Proceedings, Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies (1998): 123-36.

3) “Canonical and Noncanonical Petrine Traditions in the Acts of Philip,” Proceedings, Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies (1999):137-51.

4) “Augustine, Contra Adimantum, Pseudo-Titus, BG 8502.4 and the Acts of Peter: Attacking Carl Schmidt’s Theory of an Original Unity between the Act of Peter and the Acts of Peter,” SBL Seminar Papers 38 (1999): 426-47.

5) “Petrine Traditions in the Acts of Philip: Letter of Peter to Philip, a Variant of a Q Saying Found in Matthew 18:21-22, Act of Peter and the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles,” SBL Seminar Papers 39 (2000): 1-23.

6) “Apostles, Epistle of the,” “James, Apocryphon of,” “Jesus Christ, Wisdom of,” “Legion,” “Peter and the Twelve Apostles, Acts of,” “Philip, Gospel of,” “Praetorian Guard,” and “Truth, Gospel of,” in David Noel Freedman, ed., Eerdman’s Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 79; 670; 707; 799; 1041; 1048; 1076; 1339.

7) “The Apocalypse of Peter and its Dating,” in Louis Painchaud and Paul-Hubert Poirier, eds., Coptica, Gnostica, Manichaica: Mélanges offerts à Wolf-Peter Funk (Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi Section Études 7; Québec, Paris and Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval and Peeters, 2006), 17-39.

8) “More Catholic than thou: One Man’s Journey Through Roman Catholic Fundamentalism,” in G. Elijah Dann, ed., Leaving Fundamentalism (Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008), 137-150.

9) “Climbing the Dragon’s Ladder: Perpetua, Felicitas, Graphic Novels and the Possibility of Writing Modern Hagiography” SBL Forum 5/2 (2007). (http://sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=624)

10) “Women Martyrs in the Early Church: Hearing Another Side to the Story” Priscilla Papers 22/2 (2008): 5-9.

11) “The Parable of the Lost Sheep and its Lost Interpretation: A Proposal for Gospel of Thomas 107 as Stage 1 in an Early Christian Jesus Trajectory,” in Louis Painchaud and Paul-Hubert Poirier, eds., Colloque International “L’Évangile selon Thomas et les texts de Nag Hammadi” (Québec, 29-31 mai 2003) (Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi Section Études 8; Québec, Paris and Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval and Peeters, forthcoming 2008), 295-317.

12) “The Significance of the Theme of the Stranger in the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC 6.1),” in Madeleine Scopello, ed., Cheminements de l’Etranger dans la Gnose (Leiden: Brill, forthcoming 2008).

Popular Theological Articles:

1) “Ministry to Adults: A Lesson from Philip and the Eunuch,” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Spring 2003): 1, 12.

2) “St. Anselm versus Pink Floyd,” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Fall 2003): 1-2.

3) “Jesus and Me... and Fr. Giles, Mary and Jacob Marley,” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Spring 2004): 1-2.

4) “Listen Up – It might be God talking!” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Fall 2004): 11-12.

5) “No need to fear failure – God can use it,” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Spring 2005): 1, 9.

6) “What does it mean to be a martyr?” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Fall 2005): 1, 8.

7) “The bar Timaeus at Jericho: Street People and Ideal Discipleship,” St. Joseph Educational Center Directory of Courses (Spring 2006): 1, 9-10.

8) “Romans and Christians A.D. 64: An Experiment in Church History,” Ministry & Liturgy 33/ 6 (2006): 5-8.

9) “The Life and Ministry of Paul: Piecing Together the Clues,” Florida Catholic June 20-July 3, 2008: A4.

TELEVISION PROJECTS

1) Consultant and Interviewee; “Peter: Jesus’ Fisherman” Ancient Evidence Programme 5; British Broadcasting Corporation/ Discovery Channel; first aired October 29, 2003

2) Instructor; “Martyrdom and Persecution in Earliest Christianity, parts 1-3” The Catholic Hour; Des Moines Public Television; first aired Fall 2002

SCHOLARLY PAPER PRESENTATIONS

Dr. Molinari has presented scholarly papers on a number of topics in the field of New Testament and early Christian studies. The venues to which he has traveled to engage with his colleagues in scholarly dialogue include: Washington, D.C., Québec City, Québec, Nashville, Boston, Cincinnati, St. Paul, Milwaukee, San Francisco, and Philadelphia.

MEMBERSHIP IN SCHOLARLY SOCIETIES

Society of Biblical Literature (SBL); North American Patristic Society (NAPS)

Advisory Council Member for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, Archbishop’s Consultation on Theological Issues (ACTI); theological advisor to: Archbishop Rembert Weakland and Bishop Richard J. Sklba – 1998-2001

Languages: Koine (NT) Greek, Sahidic Coptic

TEACHING

Areas of Interest

Primary: New Testament; The Nag Hammadi Library, Gnosticism and the Heresiologists; Martyrdom and Persecution: From Stephen to Diocletian; Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles

Secondary: Greco-Roman Backgrounds to the NT (culture, history, philosophy and religions); Early Christian Liturgy and Sacramental Development; Carthage: Tertullian, Perpetua and Cyprian

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

In addition to his extensive work in adult faith formation, Dr. Molinari has had formal university-level teaching experiences with Barry University, Miami, FL; and Creighton University, Omaha, NE.  He now holds the rank of associate professor with Barry University. The classes he has taught include:

• The Early Christian Writers (graduate)

• Scripture Studies: The Pauline and Catholic Epistles (graduate)

• Reading the Old Testament (undergraduate)

• Reading the New Testament (undergraduate)

• Gospel of Matthew (undergraduate; graduate)

• The Gospel of Mark (undergraduate; graduate)

• Introduction to the New Testament (graduate)

PROFESSIONAL MINISTRY EXPERIENCE

Dr. Molinari has nineteen years of professional ministry experience, ten of which were spent in direct parish-level ministry (two years as a director of religious education and eight years as a youth minister).  The past nine years have been spent in diocesan and regional level adult faith formation/ ministry training, his two most recent posts being: Director, St. Joseph Educational Center, West Des Moines, IA and now, President, Blessed Edmund Rice School of Pastoral Ministry, Arcadia, FL.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF BOOKS BY DR. MOLINARI

1) Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC 6.1): Allegory, Ascent and Ministry in the Wake of the Decian Persecution (SBL Dissertation Series 174; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 2000). This book offers the first full length treatment of the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles, a Nag Hammadi text discovered in 1945. It applies source, form and redaction criticism to consider such issues as genre and redactional composition. In addition, the author breaks new ground by postulating a communal setting and provenance, providing a meticulous and specific experiment in dating a Nag Hammadi text. The study proposes a Sitz im Leben for the text, attempts to reconstruct the community that produced it, and postulates a date and location for the final redaction of the text-Alexandria in the years immediately following the infamous Decian persecution of AD 249-51. This work will interest those in the areas of Nag Hammadi, gnosticism and Christian origins. The author addresses scholarly issues in a clear, simple and orderly manner accessible to non-experts as well as specialists.

2) 'I never knew the man’: The Coptic Act of Peter (Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4), its Independence from the Apocryphal Acts of Peter, Genre and Origins (Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi Section Études 5; Québec, Paris and Louvain: Les Presses de l’Université Laval and Peeters, 2000). The Act of Peter, Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.4 was discovered in Egypt some years before the end of the 19th century and subsequently published in 1903 by Carl Schmidt. Since Schmidt’s study, much of the overall debate has centered on this text’s relationship with the apocryphal Acts of Peter (preserved in the Latin manuscript, Actus Vercellenses). Schmidt viewed the Act of Peter as part of the long-lost first third of the Acts of Peter, a position which has since attained general acceptance. Molinari contends that scholars have been hasty in their acceptance of Schmidt’s position, which under scrutiny reveals itself to be built on assumptions that are tenuous at best. Molinari makes his argument in two parts. The first part refutes Schmidt’s theory that the Act of Peter was originally part of the Acts of Peter. The second part discusses the issue of genre and origins.

3) Climbing the Dragon’s Ladder: The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2006). Perpetua was a martyr (d. March 7, 203), a mystic and, interestingly enough, the first known woman Christian writer. She left behind a diary that outlined her personal experiences, feelings and visions as she languished in prison, awaiting her execution. Sometime after her death, a Christian eyewitness to these brutal events edited her journal and appended additional relevant materials such as a vision recorded by one of her companions and a ‘blow by blow’ account of the martyrs’ final moments in the arena. This work is known as the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas.

Climbing the Dragon’s Ladder, is a fictional attempt to expand on the Martyrdom account in a way that is historically, theologically and culturally sensitive to the early third century A.D. For example, the scene that depicts an early Christian baptismal ceremony is directly dependent on Tertullian’s treatise, On Baptism (ca. A.D. 205) and the ancient Christian liturgical source, Apostolic Tradition (ca. A.D. 215). Tertullian, a theologian and Church father, lived in Carthage during the exact period in which Perpetua’s life and death took place. Apostolic Tradition represents the first extant baptismal ritual of the Christian Church and agrees in many ways with the information found in On Baptism.

In short, this novel presents actual historical events – both the events of Perpetua and her companions’ life and martyrdom and those of the larger historical period – and weaves a believable back-story of ordinary men and women who are caught up in events that test their faith in God, their commitment to Christ and their relationships with those around them. This is a story of faith under fire, of courage in the face of terrible loss and deprivation and of the human will to hope, even when things are at their darkest.

4) Romans and Christians AD 64: An Early Church History Educational Module for Teaching the Experience of Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009). Romans and Christians AD 64 is an experiential learning module for use by youth ministers, campus ministers and teachers of Church history. It is designed to be used to present the subject of martyrdom and persecution in the early Church. It has been extensively play-tested and has proven very effective with junior high, high school and even college age students. In its current form, it invites young people and their parents to play and learn together, utilizing an intergenerational catechetical model.

Romans and Christians AD 64 has three component parts that help its users. First, it provides a general introduction to the subject of martyrdom and persecution in the early Church, complete with specific analyses of several important ancient documents and lists of primary sources such as apologies, martyrologies and exhortations to martyrdom.

Second, after laying this historical groundwork, the game portion of the module explains how to play a role-playing game that offers its participants a chance to reenact the famous Neronic Persecution of AD 64. By this ‘experiment in experiential learning’, the students are allowed to work through the historical dynamics faced by the early Church in an entertaining and memorable format. Included in the game portion of the module are three things:

1) the Rules and explanation of exactly how to play Romans and Christians AD 64;

2) a series of helpful checklists for the organizers of the event; and

3) a complete collection of character cards that are distributed to the participants on the night of the event.

Third and lastly, a DVD has been created in which the Rules are presented visually. This DVD is intended for use on the night of the event so as to present the rules of the game in a logical and organized fashion. The DVD is approximately 33 minutes in duration.