When I think of New Testament scholars who really know what they are doing and who write and teach and present papers with wisdom and wit, few people come to my mind as quickly as David deSilva. I grew up in Ashland, OH where he is Prof of NT at Ashland Theological Seminary. After I finished my PhD, David was kind enough to work towards extending to me a one-year visiting lectureship at Ashland Seminary. Over the years I have... Read more

This is a big year for David deSilva, as he has two books that have recently been published. The first is called The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (OUP). On a later date, I will do a series of blog posts on that fantastic work. His other 2012 book is called The Letter to the Hebrews in Social-Scientific Perspective (Cascade Books; Wipf & Stock). It is a short book of about... Read more

Earlier in 2012, Fortress Press published a collection of essays entitled Studying Paul edited by Joseph Marchal (Ball State). This book is not what you might think from the title. It is neither an exegetical guide to studying Paul nor is it a survey of his life, thought, and theology. The subtitle is very helpful in getting a grasp on this book’s goal: “Contemporary Perspectives and Methods.” The chapters fall into these basic categories Historical Approaches – M. Johnson-DeBaufre Rhetorical Approaches... Read more

A big congrats to Mike Bird who has accepted a post in Systematics at Ridley Melbourne. He will serve under the leadership of Ridley’s principal, Brian Rosner – a great NT scholar as well! What a wonderful opportunity, Mike. Good luck with the move! Read more

I heard recently about a new annual theology conference sponsored by Zondervan and hosted by Biola University (and coordinated with Fuller Theological Seminary). This year’s theme is Christology and plenary speakers will include Oliver Crisp, George Hunsinger, and Alan Torrance. While I don’t think it will be something I have the time or money to do, if you are anywhere near LA, this is something to put on your calender. If you have a PhD in Systematics, you are eligible... Read more

As folks are booking flights for SBL, I wanted to remind you of our new IBR working group on “The Relationship Between the Old Testament and the New Testament” which will meet officially for the first time this year on Friday Nov 16 from 4-6PM. Our specific subject of study involves the question of how later parts of the Old Testament use and are influenced by earlier parts of the Old Testament, and also what this may mean for how... Read more

The Zondervan Exegetical Commentary has been releasing new commentaries in a flurry! I have very much enjoyed engaging in the commentaries on Ephesians (Arnold) and Matthew (Osborne). Recently I worked through quite a bit of David Garland’s Luke commentary in this series. At over 1000 pages in hardcover style, it is a mammoth volume! The series has a distinctive format and agenda: good, rigorous, text-centered exposition of the text with an interest in application. Zondervan knows how to write textbooks,... Read more

I highly recommend Iain Provan’s essay in the new book Hearing the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2012). Normally I engage in conversations that talk about historical perspective and method of the gospel writers, but Provan deals with this same matter when it comes to the OT Historical Books. He is known for offering a defense of a maximalist approach, but he does make the important argument that what we have in the OT is not “pure historical reportage” (my language), but driven by... Read more

This relatively new movement of study that we call “theological interpretation of Scripture” has caught the interest of scholars from all backgrounds and persuasions, but evangelicals have been reluctant, I think, to jump in too deep. While evangelicals are all for “theological interpretation” and bringing both God and the Church into the equation of good Scriptural reading, there has been a hesitancy to accept canonical criticism with its natural side-stepping or devaluation of “historical” matters. Thus, only a few evangelicals... Read more

RBL just posted my review of Frank Thielman’s Ephesians commentary for BECNT. The short story is that it is a solid exegetical commentary, but I had a few quibbles with inconsistencies in how he addresses power/politics in Ephesians and also Greek language issues. Speaking of Ephesians, though, I am counting down the days until Stephen Fowl’s Ephesians commentary (WJK, NTL) hits the shelves – 11 days and counting baby! Read more