This summer Jean Stevens, wife of Greek and New Testament professor, Dr. Gerald Stevens, said to him, “I sure will be glad when classes get started so you can get some rest.”
The irony of her statement is that Stevens has been on sabbatical since August 2009. For those who know him, however, the idea that he would work harder on sabbatical than when teaching may not come as a surprise. During his break from teaching, Stevens has produced a third edition of his textbook New Testament Greek Primer; reformatted the majority of his class slide presentations to a new software program, edited and contributed to a collection of essays on the book of Revelation which will be published this fall; and made an extensive tour of western Turkey for New Testament research.
Now that he has resumed his regular teaching schedule, Stevens spends his days drilling students on Greek verb paradigms and giving daily quizzes in his New Testament class. But at home, he is steadily working to process and index research from his recent travels in western Turkey.
Stevens and Jean traveled to approximately 40 cities and ancient sites and 19 museums in the spring of the year. The trip was made possible when he received two grants, one from the prestigious Lilly Foundation, administered by the Association of Theological Schools, and the other a portion of the Ola Farmer Lenaz Grant from NOBTS. In the course of their explorations, Stevens made almost 4,000 photographs which he is now in the process of indexing for future research projects. He also intends to publish a blog chronicling his day-to-day account of the trip.
He stressed the importance of museums to New Testament research. “I think museums have more to teach us than just walking around an ancient site,” Stevens said. “Studying museums is like getting a box of crayons to color in the lines and make a beautiful picture.”
Most of his explorations fall into three categories: cultural, historical, or social. As an example of social insight, Stevens related his findings that in Perge, a woman of the Plancii family not only was the city administrator, she also was the priestess of both the Artemis cult and the imperial cult, all of which were crucial business, religious, and political functions of that ancient city. “At Perge we see that a successful business woman could be a patron of the city and have significant influence in the city,” he said.
Though he notes that much of Greco-Roman culture placed restrictions upon women, there were important exceptions. This background information from Perge adds color to the biblical record of Lydia who is represented in the book of Acts as a successful and influential business woman from Thyatira, a city of western Turkey, whom Paul encountered in Philippi. “Lydia’s commercial activity and patronage of Paul could happen in Philippi because Philippi is in Macedonia, and Macedonia had a different social structure for women than Greece or Rome,” Stevens said.
He explains how such examples help reinforce what one reads in the New Testament. “This kind of illustrative background material hammers home how really dynamic the ancient world was,” Stevens said, “and sometimes when we’re struggling with issues we think are so modern, they’re only modern because we don’t read.”
Stevens also says he had his share of deeply moving moments during his travels. “There were a couple of times in the travel in which I was walking down a Roman road that Paul would have traveled and the stones have survived and are still there , and even after 22 years of teaching I can still be overwhelmed by that,” he said. “The most appropriate thing to do is be quiet and let the experience overwhelm me.” Stevens calls these occasions moments with God, “and they’re neat because they drive me back to the classroom to help someone discover the joy of studying the New Testament and its background.”
Despite the whirlwind activity that characterized his sabbatical period, Stevens says he feels incredibly refreshed academically, though he is physically very tired. He also acknowledges what a blessing it is to teach at an institution that supports professors in this way. “A sabbatical is a huge investment in a teaching career, and we are lucky here at NOBTS to work at a place that makes such an investment in its professors.”
The unwritten story
Dr. Gerald Stevens attributes much of the success of his recent research in western Turkey to the efforts of his wife Jean. When writing his grant proposal, he was careful to include Jean in his plans, identifying her as his administrative assistant.“She planned the whole trip,” he said, “and became essentially my travel agent, my booking agent, and my general manager.”
Jean not only made the travel arrangements, but also traveled with him. She took care of many other details along the way. Once back in the United States, she continues to assist with the ongoing work by carefully setting up a database of the nearly 4,000 photos Stevens took during their tour. And the database will be the key to all of his future research projects.
“It’s the database that will pull things together for me,” he said. “The database is the huge unwritten story behind the story. But then, that’s Jean’s story, too. She’s always the huge unwritten story behind the story of my life.”