I just got two new books in the mail I am very excited about R.L. Maddox and J.E. Vickers, The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley (CUP, 2010) E.W. Klink III (ed.), The Audience of the Gospels: The Origin and Function of the Gospels in Early Christianity (LNTS 353; 2010). The second book is a continuation of the discussion on the Gospels audiences that took place with Bauckham’s paradigm-busting The Gospels for All Christians? In Audience, the discussion is updated since many... Read more

As I have mentioned on a few occasions, I am going to be teaching exegesis of the Gospel of John next summer and I am acquainting myself with Johannine scholarship (slowly!).  One resource I have found immensely helpful is Jan van der Watt’s Introduction to the Johannine Gospel and Letters (T & T clark, 2008).  At a concise 151 pages, it is remarkably comprehensive in its coverage of important topics, judicious in the treatment of controversial issues, and presents of... Read more

The latest Expository Times is now online. Also, a new CBQ. Eerdmans has posted their summer release schedule. Don’t forget to check out the new journal, Early Christianity (Mohr Siebeck). John Piper will no longer be one of the keynote speakers at ETS 2010, but Tom Schreiner will fill his place (according to Denny Burke). N.T. Wright will be a plenary speaker at the Institute for Biblical Research session at SBL  (Check out the minutes of the last meeting of... Read more

Andy Naselli has directly our attention to a recent essay by D.A. Carson on ‘The Trials of Biblical Studies’, which has been made available by the Gospel Coalition for free.  Thanks, Andy! See HERE. Read more

I am please to announce that my article on Colossians and a state of research has been put online (Themelios).  It is not really ground-breaking, but more of a reflection on where we are in the study of this letter.  A special thanks to Charles Anderson and Andy Naselli for working with me to get this thing out there.  I hope to write a commentary some day – for now it is just commenting on commentaries… 🙂 Read more

I left the Wheaton NT Wright conference with a few more books than I intended, but there were some really good deals. Classics I picked up three classics from Eerdmans.  First, Gordon Fee’s Philippians commentary from the NICNT series.  It is a marvelously detailed treatment which offers plenty of fresh readings and sane and competent advice on older cruxes.  I have numerous Philippians commentaries (O’Brien, Bockmuehl, Fowl, Cousar, Hooker, Reumann, Thielman, Hawthorne/Martin), but I have been waiting for a good... Read more

I briefly already introduced the issues of what Richard Hays and Marianne Meye Thompson discussed in their papers at the Wheaton conference, but now it is time to circle back and give some more detailed reflection. Hays on Story, History and Method As I mentioned before, Richard (RBH) was responding in large part to Wright’s public criticism of Seeking the Identity of Jesus (which was a theological approach to studying Jesus that also sought to reveal the problems in modern... Read more

I only have a few minutes, as I am launching in to day 2 of the Wheaton/NT Wright conference, but I wanted to give just a sense for what happened yesterday. Yesterday (Day 1) was the “Jesus” day, where there were several papers that worked through Jesus and the Victory of God and were thinking about this big book with Tom.  In the morning Richard Hays and Marianne Meye Thompson offered very well-crafted methodological critiques of JVG, especially in light... Read more

Arriving here at Wheaton was nice – especially after 6+ hours of driving.  The weather was outstanding and the campus is very beautiful.  Also, I made a pit-stop at the nearby Trader Joe’s to buy snacks! OK, there is really no need to blog on today (Thursday) because it is nothing but registration.  But the conference was offering two free books for the first 400 people to register on site (out of over 1100).  I timed my arrival so I... Read more

I have a 6+ hour drive today to Wheaton, and I am leaving here shortly.  I am going solo, so I need to keep my mind busy.  What will I be listening to in the car?  I have just downloaded a course on itunes U (free lectures through itunes) by Dr. Moises Silva (Westminster Theological Seminary) on New Testament Introduction.  Silva used to teach at Gordon-Conwell seminary, though not in my time there.  He is a master interpreter of the... Read more