Next week I am going to lecture on two early and important Pauline letters: 1 Thessalonians and Galatians. As for the latter, I resonated with this quote from James Dunn’s outstanding 1993 Theology of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. In no sense is Galatians an ivory tower tract remote from real life, the dispassionate statement of one high above the battle. Rather, it is a cry from the heart of one at the very front of the line of Christian advance,... Read more

In the past few weeks, I have received a slew of new and exciting books. Reviews will be coming, but here are some initial thoughts. (in no particular order) Common English Bible Study Bible  – I will have more to say next week, but for now I will share that I have poked around in Galatians, 1-2 Thessalonians, and Matthew, and I have appreciated both the translation as well as the scholarly study notes. I have already recommended this study... Read more

Colossians and Philemon. Baylor Handbook on the Greek Text. Baylor Univ Press, 2013. A hearty congratulations to Con Campbell as he is getting started at TEDS this year. I had the privilege of supping with Con at SBL last year. I reviewed his book Union with Christ back in February. More recently, I finished a review for Themelios of his commentary on Colossians & Philemon for the Baylor Handbook on the Greek Text series. It is a short work (~100 pp.) and... Read more

I am one of “those people” who thinks that God created us to do good works (read Eph 2), so it is not a contradiction or problem at all that we are saved by grace, but are expected to do good works. Yet some might read into Rom 4:4-5 the idea that God doesn’t want our works, he wants to give us mercy and grace, and he just wants our “faith” (whatever that means). Now to one who works, wages... Read more

I love showing students the creativity expression of exegesis and theology in good Biblical art. I intend to show my students this brilliant 17th century oil painting by Matthias Stom. This work portrays St. Luke writing with his symbol, the ox, by his side. St. Mark is resting on the lion, his own symbol, and facing the viewer. The words on the book say: “Pax tibi, marce, evangelista mea” — “Peace be with you, Mark, my evangelist.” Supposedly, Christ spoke... Read more

Regular readers of my blog will know that I am preparing to teach a course on “Teaching Doctrine in the Church” next term. One question that will obviously come up is – why catechesis? Isn’t it enough that I love Jesus and read my Bible and pray? Leave it to Pope Benedict XVI to bring exquisite clarity and insight to this matter. He shares a story about sending a piece of scholarship to Hans Urs von Balthasar at one point.... Read more

When I was in seminary, I took an exegesis course on the Gospel of Matthew (about a decade ago!). Our main textbook was the two volume Word Biblical Commentary set by Donald Hagner, published in the mid 1990’s. We all found it very stimulating, exegetically and theologically. I still appeal to it regularly for my own research. Now, a couple of decades later we have Hagner’s 2012 The New Testament: A Historical and Theological Introduction (Baker). No doubt he has thought... Read more

HBU sponsoring “Paul and Judaism” conference: Wright, Gaventa, Wagner… Read more

Lee Martin McDonald (Acadia Divinity College) is well known for his work on canon and the origins of Scripture. In this book, The Story of Jesus in History and Faith: An Introduction (Baker, 2013), McDonald seeks to talk reflectively about the Historical Jesus from the perspective of both history and faith (as the title implies). In his own words: My primary focus in telling the familiar story about Jesus is to provide something for serious students who are unfamiliar with the critical issues... Read more

At long last, we have reached the final “view” in the book Four Views of the Role of Works at the Final Judgment (Zondervan, 2013). So far we have looked at views from Robert Wilkin, Tom Schreiner, and James D.G. Dunn. The last “view” is the Catholic one, represented well by Michael Barber. His view is this: “Our works are meritorious at the final judgment because of our union with Christ by grace.” Barber knows well that most Protestants don’t really... Read more