St. John’s College (Univ of Durham) just announced that Richard Hays will present the very first annual CK Barrett Lecture on November 5th at 7.30 PM in the (new) Barrett Lecture Hall near the university library.  Lecture title to be announced. Read more

As I look to the future and think about teaching, I am curious which NT Survey I might use and/or recommend to others.  I am instructed with Robert Gundry’s New Testament Survey (Zondervan) which was good but not especially impressive.  I am hoping you, the readers, could help me by voting for your favority NT survey for instruction in seminary/bible college.  Now, I am not tech-savvy so I don’t have a nifty polling program, so please note the options I... Read more

I just finished reading Thomas Schreiner’s new New Testament Theology (2008) which is a massive work of nearly a thousand pages.  At the same time, I was reading F. Matera’s new NT Theology and I must say that I liked Schreiner’s approach more.  S. chose a primarily topical approach (in contrast to Matera’s quasi-historical/canonical approach) which prioritizes a heilsgeschichtlich perspective and a covenantal framework.  All good.  One thing that Schreiner is insistent upon is the Trinitarian dimension of NT theology... Read more

I have said before that when it comes to doing a good PHD, ‘the magic is in the method’ – that means that just doing exegesis of a passage is not enough (anymore). We need ‘fresh’ approaches to the NT, largely because it is well-worn ground. How can you find something original? Now, not every thesis will be original in its method, but that is a great area to express the ‘originality’ of your thesis statement – ‘My study will... Read more

When I taught Greek at Gordon-COnwell Theological Seminary (Boston campus) I taught a night course to about two dozen students who worked full-time in their other jobs and studied at night and on the weekends.  This was exciting, as these students tended to be dealing directly with pastoral leadership questions and were passionate about learning.  However, when it came to Greek, by the end of the first semester, we went from 23 registered students down to 9.  Believe it or... Read more

I have thought a lot lately about how I do research. It seems so often I end up accidentally stumbling onto the most formative essays and articles for my research. This is fortuitous, but how can I research in a more systematic and effective way? Well, I don’t know, but I feel it is worthwhile to tell you how I go about it and see if you (all) have something to add. So, when I begin research on a chapter/section... Read more

My penultimate chapter that I am working on deals with Paul’s self-conception of his apostleship and where he derived this understanding from and how it developed in the articulation of his status and ‘calling’ in his letters. The only thing I know of that is substantial is Shutz’s Paul and the Anatomy of Apostolic Authority.  Does anyone know of other good resources?  I am more interested in the generation and development of his apostolic identity, rather than more current interests... Read more

My thesis research is on how Paul used metaphors to reshape identity and ‘convert’ the imagination (as Hays would say) of his churches.  One can see an early attempt to explicate this in Paul Minear’s Images of the Church in the NT. I just saw announced a new book that goes even further than Minear to also look, not only theologically, but rhetorically at how Paul used ‘images’ or word-pictures to form his communities’ symbolic universe.  See below. In his... Read more

I began my blog about 20 months ago, and I am happy celebrate today getting just over 40,000 hits.  In light of this occasion, I decided to gather together some of my more popular ‘how-to’ posts for academic research onto one page for easy accessibility and review.  See the page above ‘Guide to Researchers’. Also, you may have noticed that I changed the picture at the top.  What you are now looking at is the beautiful Durham cathedral and some... Read more

As I am in the process of applying for academic jobs, I am confronted with the important matter of who to ask for a recommendation and why.  This raises an important issue: what are references for?  What kind of reference is most useful or impressive?  I don’t have the answers since I have only been on the applying side and not the hiring side, but I do have thoughts.  My hope, though, is that others who may know more than... Read more