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Here is a helpful blog post on Revelation by my friend and colleague Larry Hurtado. See what you think. BW3 Prompted by a recent guest lecture on the Book of Revelation given here, I pondered to myself again how unusual the book is. We (scholars) typically associate Revelation with a body of ancient texts that we classify as “apocalyptic” writings. But, actually, Revelation stands out in a number of interesting features that may signal something historically significant. Typically, for example,... Read more

Q11. BEN: I wonder if you have had occasion to read John Barclay’s masterful study Paul and the Gift, as he has quite a lot to say about Paul’s views on grace and benefaction, not always agreeing with you. You push hard for the view that the author of the Pastorals is rejecting the notion of human benefactors and wants to insist that only God is a true benefactor. I take it that this is part of your equally hard... Read more

Here is an excellent sermon by one of our best Methodist preachers….. which I happened to be present for at the Woodlands UMC…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TJqcnLbDxg&feature=youtu.be Read more

If you’ve been to the South, but never been to a swamp shack, well…. you haven’t truly been to all the South. I mean at a swamp shack the ‘gators don’t do the eating, they get eaten, much to their own chagrin. Now Buzzard Billy’s is not unique to Waco, it’s something of a chain, and it is a chain that has roots in Cajun and Creole country, and the cooking down on the Bayou and in New Orleans. Can... Read more

After the Bible, the book, or collection of books most read, studied, performed around the world, whether in English or not, is of course Shakespeare. And the impact has been, and continues to be enormous. If you don’t know the Bible and Shakespeare, and you’re an English-speaking person,then you are a functional illiterate when it comes to the history of the English language and the formation of Western culture. This is not a judgment, it’s just a fact. So here,... Read more

Here is an offer you absolutely should not refuse. Available on Kindle already (cut and paste this link into your browser—https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FTEBDFM), my brand new summer beach reading special ‘Southern Discomfort’, available at only $9.99. In the wake of my bestseller, A Week in the Life of Corinth, I turned, in this novel, to what I know even better than Biblical studies, namely the South, and Southern fiction. If you like Grisham, you will love this. If you like the Southern... Read more

Here are some thoughts about Pentecost I recently wrote up for Missio-Alliance. See what you think… In the process of figuring out next steps when it comes to evangelism and mission work, there is a tendency on most people’s part to look for new techniques, plans and processes that work, strategies whether long or short term that lead to success and so on. We like to be hands-on and feel like we are in control. But alas, when it comes... Read more