I am reading a fascinating book by Jackson Carroll called God’s Potters which offers the results from a series of studies on the life, habits, and work of modern pastors across the spectrum of traditions (study dates back to 2001). One question asked of clergy was the authors they most often read in relation to their vocation and work. Here are the results by tradition. Catholic: Henri Nouwen, John Paul II, Raymond Brown (yay!), William Bausch, Walter Burghardt, Scott Hahn, Anthony... Read more

Some time ago I reviewed Con Campbell’s Union with Christ book about Pauline theology. It was an excellent book and I highly recommended it. Well, it is time for another contribution, this time looking at the idea of “union with Christ” in the New Testament as a whole – the author is St. Andrews’ Grant Macaskill (Oxford Univ Press, Nov 2013). Here is the description This book is a study of the union between God and those he has redeemed, as... Read more

I am embarking on research for a commentary on 1-2 Thessalonians (New Covenant Commentary) over the next couple of years. I will spend year one mostly getting my hands dirty with the Greek text and some lexical and grammatical aids. However, I will continue to collect good resources. For a shorter commentary, I cannot read every commentary cover-to-cover, so I will try and limit myself to 9  commentaries which I will examine in detail. I plan on reading Donfried’s soon-coming... Read more

 I enjoyed breezing through a nice short book today called Bringing the Word to Life: Engaging the New Testament through Performing It (Eerdmans, 2013). The authors are an interesting combination: Richard Ward is a preaching and worship specialist (Phillips Theol Sem), and David Trobisch is recognized especially for his work on canon and the study of Biblical manuscripts. What could bring them together? In this case, it is their mutual appreciation for being formed by Scripture through performance. Part of the book... Read more

I am working my way through the new Zondervan Counterpoints title The Role of Works at the Final Judgment (part 1, here) First up, Robert Wilkin (Grace Evangelical Society) who argues that “Works will determiner rewards but not salvation.” In his essay, Wilkin is concerned to argue that, for grace to be true grace, it cannot be mixed with works in judgment. All that God expects from humans is belief (as in John 3:16; see p. 27). Thus, when it comes to... Read more

I am currently teaching a course on a Biblical theology of leadership, and we have had a couple of occasions now to talk about the popular notion of “servant leadership.” While it is popular and attractive as an idea, it is hard to nail down in terms of what it actually is. In fact, some would say the phrase itself is an oxymoron (I think of Andy Bernard’s “addition by subtraction”). Well, I recently read a fantastic discussion of the power... Read more

Prof. Maarten Menken has recently been honored with a Festschrift that focuses on the subject The Scriptures of Israel in Jewish and Christian Tradition (Brill, 2013; ed. B.J. Koet, S. Moyise, J. Verheyden). At 26 contributors, this volume will undoubtedly offer a substantial examination of the interpretation of Scripture in the New Testament (and beyond) by many leading scholars. See the Table of Contents below. I have placed in bold essays I think will be particularly interesting. By the way, I appreciate the... Read more

It was during my PhD research that is really struck me – Paul talks about judgment…a lot. Then it hit me again when I read James Thompson’s excellent little book, Pastoral Ministry According to Paul where Thompson argues that Paul recognized a major part of his mission was to help prepare his people (the Gentiles) for judgment. Since that time, it has stayed with me, a concern that evangelicals are ignorant of the “judgment” texts of Scripture, or that they cannot reconcile them... Read more

For lecture preparation, I am revisiting a fantastic book by Oskar Skarsaune called In the Shadow of the Temple: Jewish Influences on Early Christianity (IVP, 2002). Here is some material on the evolution of Jewish identity in Antiquity: Before Alexander the Great and his program of ‘cultural conquest,’ there hardly existed any ‘ism’ in the old world. People defined themselves and their identities mainly by place of origin and ethnic descent… In the wake of Alexander’s conquests, a new way of... Read more

The Oct 2013 NTS issue is now online. I would like to point out that there are a number of Durham connections in this issue: Bond, Goodrich, Frayer-Griggs, and Linebaugh are all grads – yay! “Dating the Death of Jesus: Memory and the Religious Imagination” (Helen K Bond) “Sold under Sin: Echoes of Exile in Romans 7.14-25” (John K Goodrich) “The (In)frequency of the Name ‘Erastus’ in Antiquity: A Literary, Papyrological, and Epigraphical Catalog,” (Timothy A Brookins) “Neither Proof Text... Read more