In what is billed as Daniel-Day Lewis’last movie before retirement, Phantom Thread is a lavish Gothic style British romance about an artiste named Reynolds Woodcock who designs gowns, and becomes besotted with a serving girl he meets in a restaurant one day. The film is set in the 1950s and is filmed entirely in England in various places. At 2 hours and 10 minutes it will seem a bit long to action junkies who get fidgety when a plot unfolds... Read more

(Harper 480 pages, to be released end of Febr. 2018) Having gotten an advance copy of the proofs of Tom’s new book, I am writing a review now, which will help the reader to know whether to purchase the book or not, and I’m saying— this is a good book, one of Tom’s best. Now that that’s out of the way, the review—- It’s been a long time since we have had a good proper ‘life of Paul’ book. Indeed,... Read more

Q. In reading your biography one gets a strong sense not only of the contingency of things in Paul’s life and ministry, but also just how much his letters were indeed occasional in nature, largely words on target meant to deal with specific situations, ideas, problems. Yet somehow, these very occasional letters have continued to speak to every generation of Christians, and often speak to those who lack what might be called hermeneutical skills in transferring things from that horizon... Read more

Q. Another of the emphases in this work is the sheer energy of Paul. People just couldn’t keep up with him and may have been prone to ask— ‘Do you ever sleep’ (something I’m sure you, as I have been asked in view of our writing output!)? Perhaps some of this is just Paul’s robust makeup, but I sense that actually it mainly has to do with just how sold out he is to the Gospel, and how much he... Read more

Q. Suppose you were to have been able to interview Peter in writing this biography of Paul. What do you think Peter’s overall assessment would have been of Paul and his life and ministry? Do you think perhaps Peter’s speech in Acts 15 and 1 Peter may give us some clues? Was 1 Peter mainly written to Diaspora Jewish converts, resident aliens in what we call Turkey, or was he addressing the Gentiles that he should have been leaving to... Read more

Q. To what extent is it fair to say Paul was a deliberate agent provocateur at points in ministry, and this got him into trouble, sometimes unnecessary trouble? A. I think Paul knew perfectly well that he was often treading on the toes of the authorities. His refusal to go quietly away from Philippi in Acts 16, and his teasing of the Pharisees and Sadducees in Acts 23 (not to mention his riposte to the High Priest), shows him as... Read more

Q. I was pleased you emphasized that Paul was a difficult person to get along with in some ways. He was argumentative, had a temper, sometimes seemed to make snap judgments and later regret them, and yet at the same time he was passionate in a good way, loving and sacrificing for his converts. One never needed to say to him— ‘Tell me how you really feel Paul’. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and people keep stepping on... Read more

Q. This work eschewed footnotes, except for the bare minimum of Scripture and classics references, which suggests that the primary audience for this work is the educated laity and perhaps Christian college and seminary students, and pastors. In that regard, it’s rather different than the two books Jerome Murphy O’Connor wrote on Paul and his life and letters. Would you do anything differently if you had set about to write a detailed scholarly account of Paul’s life with lots of... Read more

Q. I would say that the last enduring life of Paul from our general neighborhood was F.F. Bruce’s Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free (American title). Bruce focuses far more on the historical particularly and context, but your biography of Paul, while not neglecting the essential historical framework and particulars, in some ways is a much more theological biography than Bruce’s. Were you consciously striving for a more theological approach to his life and work, perhaps with one eye... Read more

First of all, there is a lot of profanity in this movie. It’s R rated. But as a morality play, it’s probably the movie of the year. And it deals with fundamental issues anger, even righteous anger, and also, but to a lesser degree love and compassion and forgiveness. Anger drives the action in the movie and there are few characters that you find really very likable. Nevertheless, like watching King Lear or even Othello, this is a movie well... Read more