I never really had much of a desire to read a book by Rob Bell. However, my institution, Seattle Pacific University, is putting on a symposium on the book Love Wins and I have been asked to respond to the ideas in the book from the perspective of his interpretation of Scripture. So, I WILL be reading the book, but I asked the university to buy a copy for me! Anyway, our session will be in a few weeks. I will... Read more

A few months ago I wrote a review of the first volume of a three-volume commentary set by Prof. Urban C. von Walhde. Prof. von Walhde recently wrote a response to my review, taking issue with a number of my comments and also the nature of my review as a whole. I thought it helpful to repost the whole discussion – see beneath my own review for the response from Dr. von Walhde. I welcome further comments. Nijay K. Gupta:... Read more

We live in an age of commentary-overload. That is good news to anyone wanting scholarly discussion of exegetical and theological issues in the Bible. It can be a nightmare for researchers who have to sift through a veritable sea of books in an attempt to be “thorough!” Given the state of things, a “new” commentary hardly makes frontpage headlines. However, a new book on Philippians did catch my eye – Dwelling with Philippians: A Conversation with Scripture through Image and... Read more

The new Zondervan Exegetical Commentary volume by Thomas Schreiner has probably been hotly anticipated by many as he is a leading conservative NT scholar and a strong voice in the debate over the legitimacy of the New Perspective on Paul. This particular commentary on Galatians allows Schreiner to engage in major issues related to Paul’s theology and especially his doctrine of law and salvation. On introductory issues, Schreiner maintains standard positions, such as a Southern Galatia approach and Jewish, Torah-centered opponents... Read more

The New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary holds a forum called the “Greer-Heard Point-Counterpoint Forum in Faith in Culture.” Previously, they have had forum dialogues on the resurrection of Jesus, Intelligent Design, Atheism, and religious pluralism. In 2008, the subject was on the textual criticism of the New Testament, the reliability of the text, and the theological implications of the issue and evidence. While, on that occasion, several speakers gave papers, the two plenary presenters were Bart Ehrman (from a viewpoint... Read more

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Do you know that Wiley-Blackwell has a “Companions to Religion” Series of books? I just discovered this and two volumes seem very useful to me: The Blackwell Companion to the New Testament (ed. D.E. Aune, 2010) and The Blackwell Companion to Paul (ed. S. Westerholm, 2011). [UPDATE: A wise and generous commenter has informed me that the Aune book is FREE for download – HERE. I checked it out – its for real! UPDATE #2: Someone has warned me that... Read more

A big congrats to Steve Mason for moving into the Kirby Laing Chair of NT Exegesis. His expertise, it seems, is not necessarily in New Testament exegesis, but I have a high amount of admiration for his historical work and keeping NT researchers honest and informed when they interact with folks like Josephus. In any case, this is a big move for Aberdeen and I hope it strengthens the research and teaching profile of the divinity college and helps them... Read more

Elizabeth Aulick Gupta, our third child, was born yesterday at 11:25am. She is healthy and mommy is doing well also. So, if my next few posts seem a bit incoherent, it is because I have the 3am-6am shift every night and Elizabeth is probably mashing buttons on my laptop as she sleeps on me!   Read more

I couldn’t help but notice the third issue of the journal Early Christianity is free for pdf download and viewing. For real – check it out (great article by Dunn) HERE Read more