Sometimes the difference between a genuine ‘whodunnit’ and a spoof is very little. This movie, which is a real treat, tries to plow the middle furrow and do some of both. There’s a real mystery, there’s a death (but is it murder?) and there are laughs and absurdities along the way (not the least of which is Daniel Craig’s Foghorn Leghorn southern drawl. It’s so bad, it’s good.) This movie is one part ‘Murder She Wrote’ and one part Agatha... Read more

BEN: In discussing Rom. 5-8 you talk about Sin, Death, Flesh being causative agents in this world. What exactly does that mean? They are not personal entities, so are you saying that there are cosmic bad guys, fallen angels and such, who are plaguing humanity with these things, or are you simply saying that humanity is enmeshed in sin and it’s a downward spiral into death? Or both? SCOT: I was particulary impacted by the fine study of Agency through... Read more

BEN: pp. 120ff. It’s good to see that pistis Christou is taken to mean the faithfulness of Christ. I wonder if you agree with Sander’s latest book that when Paul says ‘righteoused’ he is not using the language of the law court, and so forensic justification, but rather discussing God setting right a human being, which includes both being given right standing and being made right, whole, holy? God wants his righteous character replicated in us. Comments? SCOT: I can’t... Read more

The Annual SBL Meeting is almost always a time for enjoyable reunions with old friends whom one seldom gets to see, and this meeting in beautiful San Diego (on which see blogs in December) was no different, in that Ann and I got to see my old college roommate and his wife— Dr. Scott and Nancy Sunquist. See the top picture above. Scott is now the new President of Gordon-Conwell Seminary, and mighty proud of him I am. He’s been... Read more

BEN: p. 120—‘works of the Law’. What 4QMMT actually says is ‘these are some of the works of the Law’, and while it is right to emphasize that Paul is referring specifically to the Mosaic Law, circumcision being the gate way into it, I don’t see any reason why Paul doesn’t mean all the works of the Mosaic law when he uses the phrase. After all, as you say Paul emphasizes that Torah-keeping is not necessary for Jews or Gentiles... Read more

BEN: p. 110 makes the important distinction between election for historical purposes and redemption, which involves moral and theological transformation. In regard to redemption and the judgment of human conduct, God is impartially judging everyone’s behavior on the same basis. “Jew or Greek, what matters is not election or non-election what matters is good and evil… what matters is deeds.” (p. 111). Amen to that. Grace does not annul the need for good behavior, indeed it enables it. SCOT: Perhaps... Read more

BEN: ON pp. 95-96 there is a discussion of the much-debated phrase ‘the obedience of faith’ and I think you are right that this does not mean faith as a form of obedience but the obedience that flows from faith. There is an interesting dissertation done by one of my former doctoral students Dr. Jason Myers, where he shows that the language of ‘the obedience of faith’ is in fact part of Imperial propaganda, the propaganda about peace=pacification, and obedience... Read more

https://www.publicchristianity.org/the-book-of-the-people-part-i/ Read more

Reading Scripture: Skepticism, Suspicion, and Trust By David F. Watson Here is a helpful summary of Wesley’s approach to Scripture, first put online by Good News Magazine. BW3 Dr. David F. Watson Last semester I taught a class called Wesleyan Biblical Interpretation. We read a considerable number of Wesley’s writings along with a couple of secondary texts. Rereading these primary and secondary sources led me to ponder anew the vast differences between the way in which Wesley read the Bible... Read more

One of the first impressions one gets from the background chapter is just how highly poetry was prized in antiquity, and how often it was the first thing that the young learned some of as part of their education, well before they read history, and long long before they read philosophy. This of course differs dramatically from most modern Western education, all too concerned with left brained studies and functions. For example, just for fun I recently took a much... Read more