The Bible and Culture

(This is the last pre-Christmas post in this series. We will pick up the thread again on Dec. 26th). RETHINKING NT THEOLOGY AND ETHICS AND POST-MODERN EPISTEMOLOGY In a provocative essay, Leander Keck suggests that tracing a history of ideas and their development is not really doing theology. He puts it this way: NT theology as theology cannot be pursued simply by extending, correcting or refining the history of early Christian theologies even when limited to those in the NT. … [Read more...]

The following is a re-post of a blog post by Peter Berger. My own observation would be that while Wesleyan theology does owe something to Jacob Arminius' thought, it does so in the same way that Brahms owed something to Beethoven, while producing new creative works of art (or in the case of Wesley, works of theology). Wesleyan theology is certainly not a variation of Calvinism any more than the Anabaptist pacifistic ethic is a variant of Lutheran two realm theology. … [Read more...]

While the cognoscenti may not need this insider tip, for everyone else, I trust this post will be helpful. For some years now, I have been doing several series of small books. There was the sacraments series I did for Baylor--- Troubled Waters, Making a Meal of It, and The Living Word of God. These books were meant to be read together to help conceptualize an overall approach to the sacraments in the Protestant tradition. Another series of small books is the Kingdom perspective … [Read more...]

The Prolegomena to the discussion of Biblical Theology in God of the Living is far from perfunctory. It sets up the discussion in various ways. From the outset the authors make clear that God is not knowable in himself by mere human inquiry, only as God reveals himself to us. This means that the doctrine of God is inevitably linked to a doctrine of revelation. But that is not all. This volume is not merely Karl Barth all over again. The authors stress that God must be experienced to be … [Read more...]

Let's start the New Year off with a bang---- an extended review and critique of one of the most important books written on Biblical Theology in many years. Reinhard Feldmeier and Hermann Spieckerman have produced a $60, 620 pages salvo of monumental proportions which has already been favorably reviewed at the SBL by several major scholars. At the end of this series of posts, I will post several of their briefer reviews, so you can hear other voices chiming in other than mine. Needless to say, … [Read more...]

One of the real problems which has plagued the Protestant movement from Day One is bad or weak ecclesiology. What I mean by this is that in various cases it is both unBiblical, and it is also often unworkable. It is unBiblical because there definitely is a hierarchy of leadership in the early church that extends beyond a particular local congregation, and furthermore, there is a concept of 'church' and its leadership structures which transcends a particular local expression of the church say … [Read more...]

C. The Scope of Scobie Reading Scobie is a cautionary tale for this writer because too few people have read him because of the girth of his study on Biblical Theology--- over 1,000 pages! It is in some ways appropriate that we end this long odyssey with a discussion of his work, which really is the only full dress comprehensive Biblical Theology available these days which is conversant with most of the relevant literature and approaches the subject with a critical rigor to produce competent … [Read more...]

You're allowed to go a little over the top at your 60th birthday. You may blame my sister Laura for the hat and the glasses. Yes, I am also wearing a Jerry Garcia tie. The picture was taken by that intrepid OT scholar---- Bill Arnold. … [Read more...]

Dr. Witherington is resting on his laurels today and celebrating having survived 60 years of living. He is listening to the Beatles prospective classic 'When I'm 64' and thinking about the future. He will return to his blog tomorrow, an older, but hopefully wiser man. ----- Jeff James of Ichthus fame has sallied forth with a bit of verse for birthday BW3-- Here it tis..... Throughout the world there 're few we've found Whose thoughts are published all around In blogs and books … [Read more...]