I stumbled upon the Baker academic website to find that they use my book review to endorse Schreiner’s NT Theology tome (see HERE). This is certainly a privilege, though it may be because I wrote it very soon after the book came out and Baker probably did not have many options. The other funny part is that neither is the book review journal that highly respected (Theological Book Review) nor was my review overall very flattering. Nevertheless, its fun to... Read more
In June 2009 my article will appear in Currents in Biblical Research: ‘The Theo-Logic of Paul’s Ethics in Recent Research’: 336-361. In this article, I argue that Vic Furnish really launched the study of the theology of Paul’s ethics and his influence can be found in the work of Paul Sampley, Richard Hays, David Horrell and others. I also point to how areas in which he adumbrated important theo-logical and ethical issues have been fleshed out by a number of... Read more
I am slowly making my way through John McHugh’s new John 1-4 (ICC; 2009). McHugh passed away on 3 Feb., 2006 quite suddenly, having worked through only the first four chapters of Gospel of John for the ICC. The NEw Testament editor of the ICC, Graham Stanton, took it upon himself to collect McHugh’s notes and compile this commentary. As a result of this situation, the commentary does not contain front matter (authorship, provenance, setting, etc…). The commentary begins straightaway.... Read more
Ok -it has only been one day, but I have thought about these (almost) three years and all that work culminating in a submission of a long (285 one-and-one-half space page) thesis. Here are some reflections 1. Durham was definitely the right place. It combined a rich history and tradition of excellent biblical scholarship with a desire to modernize, keep up with technology, etc… Now, that does not mean it is the world of the future. We put up with... Read more
The Methodist Theological Seminary of Ohio is offering, on itunes u, access for free to their conference entitled: ‘Women in the Religious and Intellectual Activity of the Ancient Mediterranean World’. See HERE. Here is a sampling of some of the topics and participants: ‘Women and the Legacy of Paul’ – Outi Lehtipuu; respondent David Hellholm ‘Becoming the Perfect Man’ – Judith Kovacs ‘Roman Imperial Family Values and Mark’s Gospel’ – Mary Rose D’angelo ‘Business Women of Pompeii’ – Carolyn Osiek;... Read more
Today I turned in my Phd thesis. From here it will be registered and then go on to my two examiners. The internal examiner is Prof. Francis Watson. My external examiner is Dr. Simon J. Gathercole. The official title of my thesis is: WORSHIP THAT MAKES SENSE: A COGNITIVE AND SOCIO-LITERARY APPROACH TO THE THEOLOGY OF PAUL’S NON-ATONEMENT CULTIC METAPHORS (it has a nice ring to it, no? Should I have added some more words?) My viva (verbal defense) will... Read more
In the last parts (see here and here), we introduced the thought of Childs (thanks to Mr. Shepherd) and we offer a review of his initial concern for the state of Pauline studies and theological hermeneutics. Now, we will venture into the argument that Childs develops regarding the actual canonical shaping of the Pauline corpus. He is clear from the start that the canon holds the key to how to interpret Paul: ‘the formation of a New Testament canon was,... Read more
I just got my copy of Beginning from Jerusalem (Eerdmans, 2009) in the mail today. This is James D.G. Dunn’s second volume in the ‘Christianity in the Making’ series. The first volume, Jesus Remembered (see Ken Schenck’s review HERE), focused on the person of Jesus. BfJ picks up at about 30 and goes to 70CE. The next volume will carry on into the second century. Of course, a more substantial review will take place in the next few weeks (and... Read more
At SBL last year I picked up David deSilva’s Sacramental Life: Spiritual Formation through the Book of Common Prayer (IVP, 2008). The book obviously has a devotion character where deSilva is thinking through a holy and upright life with the Bible in one hand and the Book of Common Prayer in the other. This spiritual exercise led deSilva to reflect on the sacraments and their theological import (especially the themes and ideas tied up in them). The first part of... Read more
By the aid of Mr. Shepherd in PART 1, we were able to get a taste of what Childs is all about. Now, I (Nijay) would like to dip into his The Church’s Guide for Reading Paul: The Canonical Shaping of the Pauline Corpus [Eerdmans, 2008] book to explore how he reads the great apostle. Childs (C.) begins by highlighting the example of the SBL group that focused on Pauline Theology from 1986-1995. C. observes that it is now widely... Read more
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