Thanks to Lee Martin McDonald and the fine folks at Baker, I recently received a copy of The World of the New Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts edited by Joel Green and McDonald (Baker, 2013). With 44 chapters and a veritable “Who’s who of New Testament scholars” (such as Cohick, Perrin, Fitzgerald, Bartchy, Witherington, Dunn, deSilva, Gurtner, Green, Bird, Chilton, Charlesworth, Trebilco), this is a very handy resource. Anyway, a more substantial review is coming, but here I just wanted... Read more

The Book: Five Views on Biblical Inerrancy The Opponents: Mohler, Enns, Bird, Vanhoozer, and Franke The Month: Nov 2013 The Size: 300 pp. Here are the “views” “When the Bible Speaks, God Speaks, The Classical Doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy” (Mohler) “Inerrancy However Defined, Does Not Describe What the Bible Does” (Enns) “Inerrancy is Not Necessary for Evangelicalism Outside the USA” (Bird) “Well-Versed Inerrancy–Literary Meaning, Literal Truth, and Literate Interpretation in the Economy of Biblical Discourse” (Vanhoozer) “Recasting Inerrancy–The Bible as Witness... Read more

As I was working on some lectures on Genesis for a biblical theology course I am teaching, I remembered that Genesis and Christian Theology (Eerdmans, 2012) has sat collecting dust on my shelf for about a year. I picked it up last week and spent a good bit of time in it. Edited by Nathan MacDonald, Mark Elliott, and Grant Macaskill, this volume comes out of a yearly study at the Univ of St Andrews on Scripture and theology based on a... Read more

I am still enjoying Willimon’s Pastor. I loved this particular anecdote so much! The clergy’s representative burden can also be a great blessing, a source of pastoral wisdom and power. A parishioner emerged from a little church on a Sunday, muttering to her pastor, ‘You are not even thirty, what could you know?’ Her pastor drew himself up to his full height, clutched the stole around his neck, and said, ‘Madame, when I wear this and I climb into that... Read more

In Genesis 1:26-28, we are presented with language of rulership and subduing of nature in relation to the role of humankind in the world. This idea of the crowning of humans with divine governorship has sometimes led to abuse of creation, as authority means authorization to subjugate, weaken, and destroy. In a very good article by Raph Klein entitled “Liberated Leadership,” (Currents in Theol and Mission, 1982: 282-290), this analogy is given. “An ancient cylinder seal…shows a man with his foot... Read more

I am enjoying reading William Willimon’s Pastor in preparation for the leadership and Scripture course I am teaching this fall (class begins tonight, actually!). Here is a truly inspiring and challenging word from Willimon about the pastor’s role as Biblical interpreter We must live in the text, keeping it constantly before us. This is not so difficult for pastors who preach on the text each week. However, we must read Scripture as more than a source for sermons, something to be... Read more

Leave it to John Goldingay to pose the provocative, but necessary, question to Marcionite Christians: Do we need the NT? Love this stuff! Check out this video sample (~ 20 min) from St Johns Nottingham. Read more

When I went to seminary, one of the most popular courses at that time was exegesis of Revelation, taught by Dr. Sean McDonough (who studied Revelation at St Andrews under Richard Bauckham). When I finished seminary, I was sometimes asked, what is your view on the end times and the millennium debate? My reply: I don’t know, we didn’t talk much about that? You might wonder, how could you study Revelation and not get into the nitty-gritty of the end times? Simple: we were interested in the theology... Read more

A good while back, in 2012, I received a copy of the book Unity and Diversity in the Gospels and Paul: Essays in Honor of Frank J. Matera (SBL), edited by Christopher W. Skinner and Kelly R. Iverson (front matter and introduction is offered free here). I have a special place in my heart for Matera, since he is one of a small group of scholars who has dedicated time to studying New Testament ethics. This volume, though, attempts to... Read more

The more I delve into Old Testament scholarship (an occupational hazard since I teach OT as well as NT here at Northeastern), the more I realize – Christians simply don’t know what is in the Old Testament. We don’t bother to study it, let alone look at it closely. I was sufficiently convicted of this (in a good way!) by the recent IVP book by Aaron Chalmers, Exploring the Religion of Ancient Israel: Prophet, Priest, Sage & People (2012). This is a short... Read more