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Reassessing Junia: A Review ofEldon Epp’s Junia: <strong>The</strong> First Woman ApostleMichael BurerAssistant Professor of New Testament StudiesDallas <strong>The</strong>ological SeminaryDallas, TexasEpp, Eldon Jay. Junia: <strong>The</strong> First Woman Apostle.Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005.Often my friends tease me about my academicwork, usually making the argument that scholarstend to think too much about minor details. Iwould agree that scholars as a whole regularly make“mountains out of molehills.” (Indeed, anyone whohas written a doctoral dissertation recognizes thisas a professional necessity!) <strong>The</strong>re are many times,however, when extreme depth of investigation isimportant and even vital for proper interpretationand appropriate application of the biblical text.My response to this critique changes the metaphorslightly in order to drive this point home: Insteadof a molehill, think of an anthill. It is not very big,but ignore it and you can be in a world of hurt ifyou misstep. (With fire ants, common in the regionof Texas where I live, a misstep can even be dangerous.)Certain issues or texts that on first blush mayappear to be quite ancillary or tangential becomevery important upon closer investigation and havean impact far beyond that which one might initiallysuppose. Such is the case with Rom 16:7.To begin, allow me to cite this verse in twodifferent English versions: (1) “Greet Andronicusand Junia, my compatriots and my fellow prisoners.<strong>The</strong>y are well known to the apostles, and theywere in Christ before me” (NET Bible). (2) “GreetAndronicus and Junias, my kinsmen and my fellowprisoners; they are men of note among the apostles,and they were in Christ before me” (RSV). A quickcomparison reveals two of the “anthills” underthe surface of this verse: the gender of the namevIounian (the spelling given in both NA 27 and UBS 4 ,the current standard critical editions of the GreekNew Testament); and the relationship of the twonamed individuals to the larger group called “apostles.”A review of technical literature on this versereveals two more issues: the identification of thisperson vis-à-vis Andronicus, the other person mentionedin the verse, and the identity and functionof the larger group. <strong>The</strong>se interpretive issues couldvery well remain esoteric and out of sight except forthe way this passage has been used in discussionsof the role of women in the church. Many scholarshave argued that the best interpretation of thisverse is that Junia was a woman and that she wasconsidered to be an esteemed apostle, and that thisinterpretation provides support for the egalitarianviewpoint and a justification for leadership roles forwomen in the ministry of the church. Understandably,then, this verse has received a great deal ofattention in scholarly literature.Because of the multiple issues which comeinto play in determining the proper interpretationof Rom 16:7, it is rare to find works which areexhaustive and discuss all of the issues at length.<strong>The</strong> majority of the scholarly work has been doneon the gender of the name in the biblical text, usuallywith the attendant assumption that the namedindividuals in the text are counted among the apostolicgroup. Next in line for attention would be thenature of the apostolic ministry referred to by theterm “apostle.” My own contribution in an articlecoauthored with Daniel B. Wallace (“Was JuniaReally an Apostle? A Re-Examination of Rom16.7,” New Testament Studies 47 [2001]: 76–91)addressed the question of whether the named56 JBMW | Spring 2008