My forthcoming book with Paternoster, Jesus is the Christ: The Messianic Testimony of the Gospels, examines the theme of “messiah” and “messianism” in the christological fabric of the four Gospels. Basically I’ve reworked over a couple of articles I wrote for Reformed Theological Review on Mark and Luke, added some material Matthew and John, and included an introduction about when faith in Jesus as Messiah first arose in the church. It is a sequel to my earlier volume, Are You the One… Read more

Nachfolge is the German word “discipleship”. This summer I started a theology reading group with CRAVE, the college ministry that I lead as pastor at Christ Community Church. I decided to offer a theology reading group this summer because I’m committed to the idea that the church should encourage and engage in theological inquiry. As one of the students said, when asked at our first meeting why did he want to participate, “I want to love God with my mind!”… Read more

Two publishers you may not have heard of are: 1. David C. Cook. This is a non-profit publishing company that specializes in Sunday School resource materials and popular level books. They publish Francis Chan’s stuff. You can get Anglican, KJV, or Reformation themed Sunday school materials! 2. Cruciform. This is a new publisher that was jointly founded by Pastor and Blogger Tim Challies. They specialize in books around 100 pp. long in hard copy, e-book, and audio form. Read more

Here are some cool quotes on evangelism. Guess who said them? “If we are engaging in the work of new creation, in seeking to bring advance signs of God’s new world into being in the present, in justice and beauty and a million other ways … then at the centre of the picture stands the personal call of the gospel of Jesus to every child, woman, and man.” “The proper model is not (1) to see mercy as the means… Read more

Good old James McGrath, who is something like the Lady Gaga of the biblioblogosphere if  blog rankings are anything to go by, has been preaching against some sacred evangelical relics. First, James has a post comparing the defence of the inerrancy of the Bible with the tactics used to defend Sarah Palin’s recent blunder on Paul Revere (though I think Stephen Colbert has proved beyond all reasonable doubt that her case is faultless!). My default setting is to adhere to… Read more

Pauline guru and beer-maker extraordinaire, Timothy Gombis, author of such cool books as The Drama of Ephesians and Paul:A Guide for the Perplexed, teaches at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, is now blogging at Faith Improvised. Tim’s a great chap and I’m sure he’ll have much to say. Read more

Just saw the trailer for Blue Like Jazz, looks great, I’ll be taking my eldest daughter to see it. Read more

I’ve writing a 15K essay on Romans for a forthcoming volume and getting ready to teach Romans for the first time in two years. In want of trying arouse the interest and attention of students, I’ve composed these first few paragraphs: Paul’s letter to the Romans stands arguably as the pinnacle of Pauline thought. It is the longest letter in the Pauline corpus. Not only that, but it is arguably his most theologically erudite and pastorally applicable set of teachings… Read more