Fellow blogger John Anderson asked me about my experience with WdG as far as publishing my dissertation as a monograph. While I will address John’s questions about the length of the process, I will ask make some general comments. First, I went with WdG because it is a world-class publisher and the BZNW series is excellent. I appreciate that they have monographs in both German and English and that the editors are well-respected (including James DG Dunn). On a more... Read more

I have sent the camera-ready file to the printers and they have given me a publication date of July 15, 2010. Again, you can view the description here. Read more

I just finished reading Dean Flemming’s commentary on Philippians in the New Beacon Bible Commentary series. I must admit, going into reading it, I was wondering whether anything in a shorter commentary could impress me. After all, what can anyone say that hasn’t already been said by one of the larger commentaries? I was pleasantly surprised by Flemming’s work. It is a perfect balance of insight from ancient context, literary observations, theological discussion, and ministry applications. You will not find... Read more

I had just hit the “send” button on my gmail email message when google alerted me (before sending it): “You wrote in the message ‘I have attached’ but no file is attached. Do you want to send this email without an attachment?” Ooooo….creepy…. Read more

Call me a nerd, but I love to see Eerdmans’ forthcoming titles page. They have made my day by updating their October and November publishing schedule. OCTOBER Miroslav Volf weighs in on “Theological Interpretation” with his Captive to the Word of God: Engaging the Scriptures for Contemporary Theological Reflection. It is also a big month for Jesus studies. Urban von Wahlde has written a three-volume commentary on The Gospel of Letters of John. Also, we will see an updated version... Read more

Having looked briefly at the SBL program online, these groups and papers looked very interesting: Homiletics and Biblical Studies 11/20/2010 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM Room: Room TBD – Hotel TBD Theme: Preaching From Mark This session will be a panel presentation and discussion of preaching from the Gospel of Mark. Opportunity will be provided for open discussion. Ruthanna Hooke, Virginia Theological Seminary, Presiding (5 min) Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, Bethany Theological Seminary, Panelist (20 min) Emerson Powery, Messiah College, Panelist (20 min)... Read more

Thanks to John Anderson for pointing out that the SBL meeting program is posted online. I had proposed papers for seven groups and I was rejected by all of them. This was a little disappointing because this is the first year that has happened since I began attending  SBL in 2006. It is also discouraging because I feel like my papers are getting better over time, not worse! Anyway, Mike Halcomb graciously invited me to participate in a session called... Read more

One of my favorite NT scholars, Beverly Gaventa, gives a brief review of Doug Campbell’s Deliverance of God for Christian Century (HERE). Read more

In a recent post, I polled readers regarding the best commentary on John for an evangelical-seminary exegesis course textbook.  Here are some reflections on the responses (see #6 below for my conclusions) (1) Carson received 27/67 votes – the highest number of votes. His commentary is generally considered to be rich theologically and written in a clear way that exposits the text for pastoral insight.  A few people, though, would criticize Carson’s apologetic approach to John that seeks to defend... Read more

Next summer (2011), I am teaching exegesis of  the Gospel of John for Asbury Theological Seminary and I will require students to work through a commentary (as one of a few textbooks).  I am undecided, as I want something extensive, but engages well in theology and ethics (and not just historical and philological details). I welcome you to participate in my poll (below) keeping in mind this is for seminary students (primarily training for ministry) [i.e. longer and more complex... Read more