I am currently working on a book called The Gospels of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus (forthcoming with Eerdmans in 2013). So I’m reading a stack of books on the formation of the Jesus tradition, social memory, eyewitnesses, orality, and so forth. I’ve already written a bit on these topics in previous articles in BBR and WTJ back in the mid naughties. But now I’m exploring them anew and revising stuff in light of the avalanche of studies on the Jesus tradition.

Along the way, I’ve reading, of course, Dale C. Allison’s Constructing Jesus: Memory, Imagination, and History. There is a very good review that has just come out in Themelios by Michael J. Thate.

As I argued in my BBR piece, Allison confirms the observation that a major impetus towards the preservation and integrity of the Jesus tradition was that: (1) Many Jesus’ sayings were short, sharp, and memorable; (2) Jesus was itinerant and broadcast his message by travelling around which meant a repetition of his sermons and speeches; and (3) Jesus probably enlisted people to spread is message and teachings during his own life time (pp. 24-25).

Also the best quote of the book has to be: “our choice is not between an apocalyptic Jesus and some other Jesus; it is between an apocalyptic Jesus and no Jesus at all” (pp. 46-47). So the last surviving profs of the Jesus Seminar need to be told to turn the light off before they exist the building!

I have given into requests from friends and I have opened a twitter account.

@mbird12

This bird will finally tweet!

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you might to save; through Jesus Messiah your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, non and for ever. Amen.

The Gospel reading for the first Sunday of Lent is taken from Matthew 4:1-11, the story of Jesus temptation in the wilderness. In the first full week of Lent we are invited to reflect on the gospel of Jesus’ temptation and the victory over the devil secured by the Word of God. The opening line of the story, which provides the setting, is very telling.

Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, he was starving. (Matt 4:1-2 CEB)

Is that disturbing to you at all? Jesus was led “by the Spirit” (hypo tou pneumatos) into the wilderness to be tempted. While there are different levels of interpretation upon which to meditate, the church has always taught that like Jesus God leads us to the wilderness to face the devil. He wants us to face the devil and win. God wants us to experience the restorative power of the gospel of the Word of God that comes by the naked vulnerability the wilderness.

We spend much of our lives avoiding the wilderness. We spend a good deal of our time trying to make sure we don’t put ourselves in places of naked vulnerability. That we do everything right so we don’t have to feel pain of weakness. Because, like the first parents, in such a place we feel shame, the exposure of our selves to ourselves and to those around us. But like Jesus, God calls us; He leads us to enter the wilderness to be tempted. This is brutal grace. It is brutal because it is so painful. It is a grace because it is only here that we will truly experience the saving power of the Gospel.

Lent is a time in the cycle of a year to be reminded of this call to brutal grace. It is an invitation to enter the wilderness into which the Spirit of God leads. It is a call to boldly walk into the situations that will strip us bare, strip us down, strip us clean.

Into what wilderness is God leading you this week?

Stuff to note around the biblioblogosophere

D.A. Carson offers and evaluation of Theological Interpretation of Scripture.

The CSCO gives the top ten books for graduate students in NT to read.

Joel Watts is again nearly persuaded by the progressive reformed view on justification.

Nijay Gupta reports on a conference/festschrift for Anthony Thiselton, Eckhard Schnabel of TEDS is going to Gordon-Conwell as reserach prof,  and ponders about the Colossian heresy.

Mark Goodacre also podcasts on the criteria of authenticity in historical Jesus research.

At our Crossway College Chapel I lead a short devotional for lent speaking from Galatians on Three Crucifixions (approx 12 mins).

You can listen to the whole thing at the Crossway resources page. But note, for some reason, I can only get it to work using the Firefox browser (Google Chrome won’t take it for some reason).

Don’t forget the St. Andrews Conference on Galatians with some top speakers.  It is scheduled for 10-13 July 2012. It’s a lovely place in Scotland to visit. The Cathedral ruins are fantastics, lovely cafes, and some good papers to attend. Main papers include:

Main Papers

• Jean-Noël Aletti
• Lewis Ayres
• John Barclay
• Ivor Davidson
• Beverly Gaventa
• Bruce McCormack
• Volker Rabens
• Thomas Söding
• Kendall Soulen
• Timothy Wengert
• Simeon Zahl

So wish I was going, but I’m having a sabbatical year from international travel!

In the words of the Book of Common Prayer,

I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.