The North Park Theological Seminary Symposium happens annually in the fall. The 2012 topic will be “Family” and the speakers have been announced. -Stephen Barton (my doctoral supervisor from Durham, now retired) -Jana Marguerite Bennett (U of Dayton) -Lynn Cohick (Wheaton) -Jim Dekker (North Park U) -Dennis Olson (Princeton TS) -Luke Powery (Prineceton TS) -Caryn Reeder (Westmont) -Julio Rubio (St. Louis U) -Mary Veeneman (North Park U) The dates are 9/27-29/2012. I have never been able to make it, but... Read more

Most interpreters of Colossians recognize that there is some kind of problematic teaching that Paul addresses in the letter (though Morna Hooker has made the strongest argument yet that it is possible this was more general than specific, and not a local threat). The most direct and clearest information is found in chapter 2 (esp 2:4; 8-9). We are given some details in 2:16-23 – the “philosophy” teaches about strict regulations regarding food and festivals, and also particular restrictions in... Read more

See here. There is an interesting article on Gal 3:28 and the women in leadership debate. Read more

Today two books landed on my desk. The first is from Baker – Opening Paul’s Letters: A Reader’s Guide to Genre and Interpretation (Patrick Gray). Now this is a short work (< 200 pages) and meant to be very introductory, but I am currently reading two other books that would challenge Gray’s approach in different ways. Firstly, I am about half way through Ben Witherington’s new commentary on Philippians and he is very insistent that epistolary-genre analysis (what Gray is focusing... Read more

After 5(ish) years of blogging under the blog-title of my own name, I have finally chosen a “proper” title. I searched the internet a bit to make sure I was not a copycat and I believe I am not (feel free to correct me if I am and I will go back to the drawing board). The title is: “Crux Sola…” which is short for Luther’s famous dictum, “Crux sola est nostra theologia” – The cross alone is our theology. Recently... Read more

I was teaching today on the subject of Jesus’ introductory message: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15). We can figure out that Jesus is not so much announcing the appearance of a realm (kingdom), but a re-established authority and rulership (kingship). I like the prophetic vision from Zech 14: On that day [The Lord’s] feet shall stand on the mount of Olives…And the Lord will become... Read more

In a previous post I discussed the thorny issue of authorship of Colossians. While there are no easy answers, I err on the side of caution and follow the principle – in dubio pro reo (which I learned from Markus Barth) – “When in doubt, side with the accused.” Very wise counsel. One commenter, Richard Fellows (see comment left here), is quite certain Paul did not write Colossians and has urged me to respond to his series of reasons. So here... Read more

Those who portray Jesus primarily or solely as a wisdom teacher or Jewish Cynic have built dubious hypothesis upon dubious hypothesis. Why? One cannot help observing that once again history is repeating itself: as has often happened in historical Jesus research, the reconstructed portrait of Jesus bears an uncanny resemblance to the researcher. (Cambridge Companion to Jesus, 65) Read more

In the spring (quarter system), I am looking forward to teaching a grad course on Paul’s Prison letters. It is an “English exegesis” course, which I think I will find refreshing b/c when I taught Greek exegesis courses in the past, we sometimes didn’t get to dig into theological questions too deep b/c we were focusing on syntax and translation issues (which are very important, but hard to get everything done in a quarter). I just decided yesterday on the... Read more

My buddy Andy Byers (PhD student at Durham) is blogging through my Prepare, Succeed, Advance (Wipf & Stock, 2011). He has now finished “Part II.” Thanks Andy for the kind words of support!  Read more