The SMH reports Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen’s article on marriage where he claims that same-sex marriages will lead to incest and polygamy. Jensen supports legislation that extended the economic rights of married people to same-sex couples, but said religious leaders needed to defend marriage or risk losing the right to do so. My [...]

Scot McKnight The Letter of James NICNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010. Available at Amazon.com Scot McKnight is Karl A. Olsson Professor in Religious Studies at North Park University and writes the award-winning Jesus Creed blog at patheos.com. McKnight recently fulfilled a lifelong dream when he wrote a volume for The New International Commentary on the New Testament series [...]

I still have many connections with Scotland folks in the Church of Scotland and Free Church of Scotland. So I’m naturally interested in news and current affairs in the Kirk there. Recent news is that Rev. Dominic Smart of Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen is leading his congregation out of the Church of Scotland in [...]

In light of my friendly disagreement with Brant Pitre’s rather wave of the hand dismissal of a non-eucharistic interpretation of John 6 in his recent book Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the Last Supper, I want to quote  J. Ramsey Michael’s (2010) new commentary on John’s Gospel: While [...]

Eerdmans publishers has four books about Judaism that have come out in the last year or so. Anathea E. Portier-Young, Apocalypse Against Empire: Theologies of Resistance in Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011). This volume looks at how sections of 1 Enoch and the Book of Daniel represent responses – political, religious, cosmological, and [...]

Awhile back, before the end of the academic semester and a trip to Greece and Turkey,  I began a series of posts working my way through Brant Pitre’s really good and accessible book on the Jewish background of the Lord’s Supper called Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist: Unlocking the Secrets of the [...]

Just been reading a bit of Anselm’s Cur Deus Homo (Why Did God become Man?) and found this gem of a quote from the Canterburian bishop. For, as death came upon the human race by the disobedience of one man, it was fitting that by another man’s obedience life should be restored. And, as sin, [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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