{"id":3755,"date":"2021-12-22T17:10:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-22T17:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/?p=3755"},"modified":"2021-12-27T17:17:11","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T17:17:11","slug":"j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/","title":{"rendered":"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Assistant Professor of New Testament <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/academics\/jp-oconnor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">J.P. O\u2019Connor, Ph.D.<\/a> has been selected for the 2021 Regional Scholars Award from the Upper Midwest region of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sbl-site.org\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Society of Biblical Literature<\/a>. O\u2019Connor, who is in his second year of teaching at North Central University, was selected from a pool of nominees from colleges and universities throughout the region, which includes five states and four Canadian provinces or territories. The award was based on the submission of his paper, \u201cBurial Practices in Paul?\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Providing a synopsis of the scholarly paper that garnered the award, O\u2019Connor wrote:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy paper reconsiders a long-held assumption. Most assume that Paul and his earliest communities leave no evidence behind for special burial practices. In the ancient world, much like today, care for the dead was taken quite seriously. Where one was buried, how one was buried, with whom (or with what) one was buried, and even the position in which one was buried all mattered to some extent. By taking into consideration the early reception of Paul&#8217;s letters, and late antique practices of caring for the deceased, I argue that we may, in fact, have evidence of special burial customs in Paul&#8217;s letters. Places like 1 Corinthians 15, in which Paul instructs his community to &#8220;put on imperishability,&#8221; is one instance. The odd tradition where the dead are baptized in Corinth is another (see 1 Cor 15:29). And what about those strange &#8220;tents&#8221; in 2 Corinthians 5? In the literary evidence, Paul&#8217;s words were liturgized as early as the difficult-to-date Gospel of Philip. And by the time of Augustine, special burial customs became strongly discouraged. My case is that later use of Paul may point to literal rituals in early Pauline communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Significant accomplishment<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/academics\/allen-tennison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Allen Tennison, Ph.D.<\/a>, Dean of the College of Church Leadership, remarked that O\u2019Connor\u2019s selection for the award was well deserved and sets him apart as a scholar. \u201cIn receiving this award, Dr. O\u2019Connor represents all Bible scholars in the country and the largest international theological society, including all universities and major publishers,\u201d Tennison noted. He said O\u2019Connor\u2019s recognition represents a significant accomplishment in his field. In the past, awards at the regional and national levels have gone to scholars from Oxford, Wheaton, Yale, and many internationally known institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond being an academic scholar and researcher, O\u2019Connor is a teacher who has won the hearts of his students. Tennison has observed O\u2019Connor\u2019s passion for inspiring his students to persevere in courses such as Greek, which can be very difficult. For O\u2019Connor, the secret is to inspire a desire to learn vs. having students only see their courses as a requirement toward a degree.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI encourage my students to stay curious,\u201d O\u2019Connor said. \u201cI like to tell them that it is okay to be confounded, confronted, or turned upside down by the Bible. We believe Scripture is living and active \u2014so let&#8217;s engage and take it seriously. I would say this attitude is what makes the scholarly pursuit of the Bible so much fun. Biblical and theological studies are important because they help us to better understand the world in which the Bible was written. Study keeps us humble, allowing us to admit that we know far less than we think. Hopefully, it encourages us to ask good questions, to discern quality information, and, my personal favorite, to visit the TJ Jones Library.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Outstanding scholar<\/h3>\n<p>O\u2019Connor is also a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/new-ncu-professor-receives-prestigious-fellowship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Postdoctoral Fellow of the Louisville Institute<\/a>. Tennison pointed out that a condition of O\u2019Connor\u2019s postdoctoral placement was the requirement to write a book during the term of the fellowship. \u201cDr. O\u2019Connor has already written two books,\u201d Tennison pointed out proudly, \u201cand the second one was at the request of a publisher who pursued him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tennison is generous with his praise for O\u2019Connor\u2019s work. \u201cJ.P. is an outstanding scholar,\u201d Tennison said. \u201cLast month, his work was the Catholic Biblical Quarterly. If you get published once, it&#8217;s great; since Dr. O\u2019Connor started teaching, he&#8217;s been published and received recognition multiple times. North Central is blessed to have him serving in the College of Church Leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Connor\u2019s recent award also put him in contention for national recognition. While his paper was not selected this round for national honors, O\u2019Connor will remain a scholar to watch and a high-impact teacher for NCU students.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Assistant Professor of New Testament J.P. O\u2019Connor, Ph.D. has been selected for the 2021 Regional Scholars Award from the Upper Midwest region of the Society of Biblical Literature. O\u2019Connor, who is in his second year of teaching at North Central University, was selected from a pool of nominees from colleges and universities throughout the region, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":3768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,52,31,49],"tags":[150,144],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-programs","category-college-of-church-leadership","category-pastoral","category-pastors-churches","tag-college-of-church-leadership","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work - Table Salt | NCU Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"J.P. O&#039;Connor of the North Central University College of Church Leadership is selected for prestigious regional award for his scholarly work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work - Table Salt | NCU Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"J.P. O&#039;Connor of the North Central University College of Church Leadership is selected for prestigious regional award for his scholarly work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Table Salt | NCU Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-22T17:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-27T17:17:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-22T17:10:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-27T17:17:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"College of Church Leadership\",\"theology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Academic Programs\",\"College of Church Leadership\",\"Pastoral\",\"Pastors &amp; Churches\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\",\"name\":\"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work - Table Salt | NCU Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-22T17:10:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-27T17:17:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"J.P. O'Connor of the North Central University College of Church Leadership is selected for prestigious regional award for his scholarly work.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1920,\"caption\":\"JP O'Connor\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Table Salt | NCU Blog\",\"description\":\"A University blog with a Christian twist\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Table Salt | NCU Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/blog-logo.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/blog-logo.avif\",\"width\":576,\"height\":153,\"caption\":\"Table Salt | NCU Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work - Table Salt | NCU Blog","description":"J.P. O'Connor of the North Central University College of Church Leadership is selected for prestigious regional award for his scholarly work.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work - Table Salt | NCU Blog","og_description":"J.P. O'Connor of the North Central University College of Church Leadership is selected for prestigious regional award for his scholarly work.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/","og_site_name":"Table Salt | NCU Blog","article_published_time":"2021-12-22T17:10:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-27T17:17:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1920,"url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work","datePublished":"2021-12-22T17:10:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-27T17:17:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/"},"wordCount":747,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg","keywords":["College of Church Leadership","theology"],"articleSection":["Academic Programs","College of Church Leadership","Pastoral","Pastors &amp; Churches"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/","url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/","name":"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work - Table Salt | NCU Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-22T17:10:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-27T17:17:11+00:00","description":"J.P. O'Connor of the North Central University College of Church Leadership is selected for prestigious regional award for his scholarly work.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/12\/JP-Oconnor-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1920,"caption":"JP O'Connor"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/j-p-oconnor-recognized-again-for-scholarly-work\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"J.P. O\u2019Connor recognized again for scholarly work"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/","name":"Table Salt | NCU Blog","description":"A University blog with a Christian twist","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#organization","name":"Table Salt | NCU Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/blog-logo.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/blog-logo.avif","width":576,"height":153,"caption":"Table Salt | NCU Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.northcentral.edu\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}