In working on the Hebrew text of Isaiah, for my forthcoming book, Isaiah Old and New one of the things that has certainly struck me is how often bad theology happens as a result of a mistranslation or misreading of a translation of a text, usually an OT text. One excellent example of this is what happens sometimes with Isaiah 45.7. Vs. 7 has sometimes, mistakenly been taken to mean that Yahweh is the author of everything, good and evil… Read more

There are many things that one could put on the desideratum list when it comes to swords and sandals cinematic epics involving the story of Jesus. At the top of the list would be— ‘Please dear God, let them get the story right this time’. Despite some reviews already out, it is not entirely correct to say ‘they got the story right this time’. For one thing they indulged the medieval legend that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. Nope. To… Read more

Q1.BEN: First of all thank you Gary for this stimulating new book of yours based on your study of the little known work by Xenophon of Ephesus, his ‘Ephesiaca’. It is always a good thing when we do primary source research on extant documents from the same era and social location as the NT documents. What was it that got you interested in studying this particular possibly first century A.D. romance novella in tandem with 1 Timothy? A1.GARY: After my… Read more

It is not always necessary to write a large scholarly tome to write a good one, and Gary Hoag’s Wealth in Ancient Ephesus and the First Letter to Timothy. Fresh Insights from Ephesiaca by Xenephon of Ephesus (Eisenbrauns, 2015, $49.00, 266 pages), is a good book. It approaches 1 Timothy with an attempt to read the letter in light of its likely social and religious context in a city dominated by its main temple, which was also its main bank… Read more

In 1953 a movie came out entitled The Robe which was a sand and sandals epic about a Roman centurion who had been one of the ones who crucified Jesus, and won his robe on the toss of the dice, and was thereafter haunted by the man on the cross. Unlike, Hail Caesar (which draws upon some of the premise of that earlier movie, but is a satire), the Robe, starring no less an actor than Richard Burton, was a… Read more

Maybe you did not notice, but the only references at all to actual rock n’ roll/soul/funk bands in the Grammys last night was in tributes to now deceased musicians: 1) Glenn Frey of the Eagles; 2) Maurice White founder of Earth, Wind, and Fire;3) B.B. King, the best of the tributes, with Bonnie Raitt and Gary Clark and Chris Stapelton (from Ky.) doing ‘The Thrill is Gone’; 4) an homage to David Bowie by the irrepressible Lady Gaga. There was… Read more

Witherington_44145_Excerpt Here you will find a little excerpt of our newest novel, by kind permission of Wipf and Stock. By all means enjoy….. and then get the whole thing on Kindle or in paperback. BW3 Read more

 Read more

 Read more

 Read more