“Consider now the crimson crown the Man of Sorrows wore.”

I’m Perry L. Stepp, and this is my blog.  I’m a Bible teacher and educator.  I work with the Biblijski Institut (Biblical Institute) of Zagreb, Croatia.  I have moved to Zagreb; my wife and dog and I think we’ll be making the permanent move sometime in February 2017.

I earned a Ph.D. in New Testament from Baylor University, under doktorvater Charles Talbert.  My dissertation was on the way leadership was passed on in the ancient world (“Leadership Succession”), in the Graeco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian milieux.  I used 70-odd stories of such succession to build a phenomenological and linguistic model for analyzing the Pastoral Epistles (1-2 Timothy and Titus) and the way those letters describe Paul’s relationship with his successors.

I have taught Bible and theology at Baylor, Kentucky Christian University, and Dallas Christian College.  At those last two schools, I was also the vice president for academic affairs.

I formerly blogged at Theophiluspunk.  I’m not that guy any more; I’m putting away a lot of anger that I carried for years.  I’m also washing my hands of American politics and its peculiar blend of conservatism and evangelicalism, in part because that was a catalyst that my anger rallied around.  (And in part because I think it’s hopeless.)

So it’s time for a new chapter, and so the change in name.  I will be importing the theological content from Theophiluspunk, however, and leaving most / all of the political advocacy behind.

About the new name: “Circleslide” is the name of the watershed Christian rock albums from The Choir.  Released in 1990, it’s one of the albums I keep returning to when I think about faith, God, life, love, etc.  This record is serious greatness; you really should check it out, along with everything Daugherty and Hindalong did afterward.  And before.