Q. One of the major arguments in your Galatians commentary, about which I think you are fundamentally right, is the issue is ecclesiology, though there are sub-themes involving soteriology and eschatology and Christology. The thing that strikes me about this is how ill-prepared post-Enlightenment folk, and especially Protestants are, to think about Galatians as NOT mainly having to do with how the individual gets saved or justified. Sociologists talk about corporate identity in that world, about how group identity is... Read more

Q. Early on you make the point that the term ‘Judaizer’ does not refer to what the agitators were up to in Antioch and Galatia, but rather to what Gentiles might or could do to join Judaism. They were Judaizing their lives. I wonder then what we should call ‘the men who came from James’ who were insisting not only that Peter not have table fellowship with Gentiles, but, if they are the same folk who went on to bewitch... Read more

What happens to a young girl who thinks she has a normal family including a younger sister, and the whole thing turns out to be a deep fake, so the parents can act as spies for a foreign government.  Then, what happens when one of these ‘sisters’ joins the Avengers and they sort of become her new family.  The story of Natasha (very ably played by Scarlet Johansson)  the super hero who left the dark side for the Avengers is... Read more

Q. I completely agree with you that Galatians is an early letter maybe even Paul’s earliest of the extant letters we have, and it seems clear it was written before the Acts 15 council. He seems to be swimming upstream, whereas if Acts 15 had already happened, he could simply have cited the decree to the Galatians and said— ‘see, the apostles all agree Gentiles don’t have to get circumcised and become Jews in order to be part of Jesus’... Read more

Q. I am very glad that you make clear at various points that Galatians is not in the main about later Protestant issues with Catholicism, such as faith vs. works, or salvation by faith alone, and that there is nothing in Galatians that encourages antinomianism, an allergic reaction to obedience to God’s commands as necessary to living out the Christian faith. One of the major problems with reading Galatians is the legacy of Luther, and subsequent Lutheran divines, we’ve inherited... Read more

What follows here is a long running Q.A. with Tom about his new Galatians commentary. Buckle up as it will be an exciting ride. Q. Let’s talk for a minute about spiritual formation, a buzz word phrase if there ever was one. One of the things I have found so puzzling is the attempt to place spiritual formation in one category, and profound study of God’s word in another. Sometimes it even sounds like a sort of gnostic de-historicizing of... Read more

Though Tom Wright has written many fine monographs, a good biography of Paul, a whole series of William Barclay like small commentaries for the laity, what he had not done thus far is write major stand alone commentaries on NT books (he did write a helpful mid-level Romans commentary for the New Interpreter’s Bible series in 2002).  But now he has written a very fine, clearly written mid-level commentary on Galatians, and the only problem is we wish he had... Read more

This is a very fine sermon on Jonah and Peter by our seminary chaplain, Rev. Jessica LaGrone.  The sermon begins at 42.12 into the service.   Read more

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    Now more than ever we need the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, a man born right here in Kentucky and married to a woman who lived in Lexington Ky…… Here’s a famous excerpt from his address at the second inauguration…. followed by the Gettysburg Address….   A speech given by AbrahamLincoln at his inauguration for a second term as president, a few weeks before the Union victory in the Civil War.  It concludes with this appeal for reconciliation: “With... Read more