In chapter four of The Historical Jesus: Five Views (IVP), I was looking forward to reading what Prof. Dunn had to say about Jesus.  His chapter, as you might have guessed, follows his approach which he laid out in Jesus Remembered (Eerdmans, 2003).  In this ongoing discussion, he presents several points. 1. Dunn argues that the faith of the disciplines in carrying on the Jesus tradition and its eventual inscription does not obscure our knowledge of Jesus.  Rather, we see... Read more

In a previous post I mentioned that a group of us have begun preparing short essays on the work of N.T. Wright in preparation for the upcoming Wheaton conference on his work in April. The first essay, by myself, was discussed here. I am pleased to announce that Kyle Fever has now posted the second essay on the subject of Wright on Biblical theology (HERE).  Kyle is a doctoral student at Loyola University (Chicago) and has written a fine piece... Read more

See previous parts One and Two. Luke Timothy Johnson’s chapter on ‘Learning the Human Jesus’ was both highly interesting and attractive, but also left me with too many questions about the “historical Jesus.” Johnson articulates that in the past he has espoused a position that ‘Jesus is best learned through practices of faith in the church’ (pp. 154-5) – ‘Jesus is not a dead man of the past but a living Lord of the present’ (155); ‘…not an object of... Read more

I have caught up on several chapters now of The Historical Jesus: Five Views (IVP, 2009).  The previous part was on the introduction and the chapter by Robert Price (“Jesus was not a real historical person…probably”).  This chapter is on the views of John Dominic Crossan and “Jesus and the Challenge of Collaborative Eschatology” (pp. 105-32). Crossan is insistent that Jesus must be understood in the context of the Roman Empire: after all, we must remember that before Jesus there... Read more

As some of you know, I wrote ‘N.T. Wright for Everyone: the Apostle Paul’ as a (very brief) summary of the Bishop’s views on Paul in preparation for the Wheaton conference in April in his honour (the British spelling is also in his honour!). A couple of notes: 1. I emailed Bishop Tom and let him know of this, though I felt there was about a 1% chance (maybe less) that he would have a chance to respond.  Well, the... Read more

My personal book budget is quite limited so I kept myself to a meager upper limit of $15 at the Midwest SBL regional conference.  Eisenbrauns and Eerdmans actually showed up and sold books, while Baker (and SBL?) had books just on display.  I must mention that Eisenbrauns had my friend Douglas Earl’s Reading Joshua as Christian Scripture monograph out and it looks quite good (in the Journal of Theological Interpretation Supplement Series).  Though I already own it, I must make... Read more

This weekend I attended the Midwest regional SBL which met at Valparaiso University.  Unfortunately, I could only attend the Saturday sessions, but I am glad that I did because there were several outstanding papers.  I attended the Gospels and Acts group in the morning – I confess that I know little about the scholarship of these NT books, but I like to try and stay current with some basic issues and debates. I particularly liked Brian Dennert’s presentation that re-assessed... Read more

I find it strange when a journal of such high recognition as Biblical Interpretation only has two articles (but has several book reviews).  Is that because of a lack of submissions?  Is it just timing of issues?  Both?  In any case, the new issue has an interesting piece on Paul and visions. See HERE. Read more

As promised, I have developed a very brief guide to N.T. Wright’s thoughts on Paul (main text is less than 2000 words).  Two other texts are in production (by other fine writers) on Wright on Biblical theology and Wright on the Historical Jesus. My essay can be found HERE. This essay was prepared especially for those who will attend the upcoming Wheaton theology conference which offers a dialogue with Wright.  See HERE. Please share this scribd link with others who... Read more

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