I recently came across Mark Shaw’s 10 Great Ideas from Church History which highlights key ideas from important theologians including Calvin, Baxter, Jonathan Edwards, Wesley, Wilberforce, and Bonhoeffer, among others. Luther heads off the group and I was particularly impressed with how cogently Shaw explains his theology of the cross. Here are two helpful tidbits. In all God’s other works, such as creation and providence, God shows himself as infinitely powerful. But in the cross he shows himself as apparently weak,... Read more

link to Tyndale website. The Definition of the Term ‘Canon’: Exclusive Or Multi-Dimensional? Michael J. Kruger (Reformed Theological Seminary) p.1 There has been an ongoing debate amongst biblical scholars about how to define the term ‘canon’. In recent years, one particular definition­that canon can only be used to refer to books in a fixed, final, closed list­has emerged as the dominant one. Moreover, some scholars have argued that this is the only legitimate definition that can be used. This essay... Read more

Well folks, it is that time of year again! I am very excited to attend the PNW SBL/AAR meeting which will be at Concordia College in Portland this year. The preliminary program is here. I am excited to catch up with folks I met last year, especially my friends at George Fox. Speaking of which, my own paper will be on Sunday morning just before Paul N Anderson’s paper. The funny thing is that I am going to focus on... Read more

J. Patout Burns Jr. is the editor and translator of the latest volume in “The Church’s Bible” series by Eerdmans (general ed. Robert L. Wilken). This text brings together select lengthy excerpts from early Christian writings on Romans from such Patristic authors as Origen, Rufinus, Pelagius, Chrysostom, Ambrosiaster, Augustine, and Theodoret. The purpose of this volume is to allow “readers today to benefit from the church’s rich treasure trove of commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Romans.” I found interesting that... Read more

With my grad students, I have been studying Ephesians. I had to admit that this is the first time in my life I have really thought about and studied deeply this letter. Recently, my research has been consumed with Colossians, but it is refreshing to turn to Ephesians and find so many similarities as well as differences. There are many challenges to reading Ephesians. Authorship. Provenance. Literary integrity issues. The ethnic make-up of the first recipients. These are important issues,... Read more

I will be doing some reviews this summer on the books I am about the mention, but I thought I would briefly introduce them as “new releases” for any that might not have heard about them yet, or had not known they were released. Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT; Eerdmans, 2012). This one is hot of the presses – I got it in the mail yesterday. I met Gareth at IBR last fall and he is a... Read more

I am currently reviewing an Ephesians commentary and I am just now through the introduction and getting into the commentary notes. Writing a review of a commentary is very difficult because there is so much information and it is more of a reference work than a monograph (how do you review a dictionary, for example?). There are many things to mention regarding Ephesians in general – authorship, purposes for the text, “Paul and Politics” issues, engaging with the “New Perspective,”... Read more

See here. NT Wright’s article “Paul in Current Anglophone Scholarship” is a nice, short survey of trends in Pauline research from someone who has had a massive influence on it. He defends his views on the New Perspective. He jabs apocalyptic scholars. He wonders about the possibilities of comparing Paul with the ancient philosophers. He hopes for a more robust approach to studying Paul theologically. It is a very easy and interesting read. My favorite comment: responding to Pamela Eisenbaum’s... Read more

A few weeks ago I mentioned the release of Craig Evans’ Matthew volume in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary Series (2012; ed. Witherington). Having now read the commentary, I am happy to commend it to students, pastors, and scholars interested in this Gospel as well as Jesus studies. Obviously, this commentary is consistent with Evans’ previous work – Jesus is best understood within his Jewish background and context, the Gospels offer reliable historical portrayals of the life of Jesus, etc…... Read more

Scot McKnight announced today that he is leaving North Park for Northern Seminary. Best wishes Scot! Read more