(picture courtesy of CNN). The Israel Antiquities Authorities seem to have unearthed a Roman theater right next to the remains of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and underneath the famous ‘Wilson’s Arch Here is the link to the CNN article— http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/16/middleeast/ancient-theater-western-wall/index.html The theater actually is the size of a small odeon where plays would be given and the archaeologists say it was unfinished, perhaps because it was being built during the Bar Kokhba revolt in the second century A.D. and... Read more

Timothy George is a good friend and fellow scholar, and I am happy to post here the essay he sent me about today, the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. What the Reformers Thought They Were Doing FALL 2017 – VOL. 59, NO. 4 Timothy George This essay appears in the Fall 2017 issue of Modern Age. To subscribe now, go here. Five hundred years ago, on October 31, 1517, a thirty-three-year-old German professor named Martin Luther called for a public... Read more

THE PRODIGAL INFLUENCE OF THE PRODIGAL SON PARABLE One of the problems with some Biblical stories is that they are too familiar, and have gone through a myriad of adaptations and interpretations. Certainly one such story is the parable of the prodigal son. Recently, in working through the classic Methodist sermons of C.K. Barrett, my mentor, a not very surprising outcome was observed. Of the some 5,000 times Barrett preached over seven decades, the sermon he preached most often, some... Read more

Here is a positive and helpful article on church growth in the UMC, and where and how it is happening. Note that the majority of these churches are in the Southeast region of the UMC, and a good 40% of the senior pastors of these churches went to Asbury. Of the rest, another 30% or so are Evangelical pastors as well. None of these churches are in the Western Jurisdiction. Fastest-Growing UMC Congregations Led by Evangelical, Southern, Asbury-Educated Pastors Here’s... Read more

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBklQN2vjGc Read more

Here’s an excellent follow up blog to the ones posted previously here, a post by my friend and colleague Larry Hurtado. See what you think. BW3 by larryhurtado The discussion of Andrew Loke’s new book in which he proposes that Jesus saw and spoke of himself as “truly divine” reminded me of some interesting Qumran fragments and the discussion about them.[1] These fragments are often referred to by scholars as portions of a “Self-Glorification Hymn” in which an unidentified human... Read more

It was one of the great and most important features of Methodism from the beginning— its connectionalism. It distinguished Methodism from the polity of Presbyterians, Baptists, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and indeed most all non- Wesleyan Protestants of whatever stripe. Unlike Baptist polity, Methodists made their decisions at the conference level, not at the local church level. And certainly they made no major decisions about significant theological and ethical issues at the local church level. Those things needed the wisdom of the... Read more

“Divine Christology”: Loke Replies by larryhurtado After my posting yesterday pointing to the new book by Andrew Loke, and offering some reasons for my inability to assent to his argument, he sent me a reply. For the purposes of scholarly dialogue and public information, I agreed to post his reply. I have added a few comments in return, these enclosed in square brackets and identified by “LWH”. Dear Professor Hurtado, Thank you for posting your review of my book. It... Read more

Here is an excellent discussion of a recent important book on Jesus’ self-understanding, by my friend Larry Hurtado. by larryhurtado A new book presents the argument that the key reason that Jesus became a recipient of worship in earliest Christian circles is that he claimed divinity and the right to receive worship: Andrew Ter Ern Loke, The Origin of Divine Christology, Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series,169 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017). As it appears that I am Loke’s... Read more