NB: For those in Northeast England Ben Witherington III will be giving a paper at Leech Hall, St. John’s College (of Durham University) January 18th at 2pm on the topic: ‘Oral Texts and Rhetorical Contexts: Rethinking the “Letters”’ Witherington is an advocate of applying classical rhetorical terms and methodology to the NT epistles.  Some have criticized this tendency in scholarship with the concern that one cannot apply such labels and tools to written texts when they were meant originally meant... Read more

On Ben Blackwell’s blog he just posted his thoughts on the Tyndale House visit we took just before Xmas.  I thought I would add my two cents. I had heard so much about the Tyndale House over the years I felt I had to experience it for myself.  So, I stayed with my good friend David Nystrom who just started at Cambridge and studied at the Tyndale House with him for a couple of days.  First of all, Cambridge as... Read more

My wife is from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Heard of it?  Whenever we travel back to the US we make a visit to her parents.  And, as our Durham library is all but useless when it comes to theology holdings, I try to pop in to Concordia Theological Seminary to see what they have there.  You may have heard the name because they have their own periodical (Concordia Journal).  Well, last time I was there I noticed that this small Lutheran... Read more

This edited volume of essays involves two important subjects: holiness and the church/people of God.  The general orientation of the contributors is towards a view of holiness that acknowledges the communal dimension of the biblical message of sanctity.  And, the list of authors is quite impressive: George Brooke (DSS), Richard Bauckham (Gospel of John), I. Howard Marshall (Acts), Robert Wall (Paul in Acts), Michael Gorman (Paul, cruciformity, and holiness), Peter Oakes (Romans), Bruce Winter (1 Corinthians), Troy Martin (Galatians), J.... Read more

Recently, as I was perusing a book on Paul’s temple imagery in 1 Corinthians, I was struck by a couple of trends in how scholars approach his letters.  The first is the matter of determining authorial intent.  Call me old fashioned, but a reading that takes no interest in what Paul actually intended is doomed to be damaging.  The author of this monograph, John Lanci, writes: ‘The goal [of this study] is to construct a plausible reading of the text,... Read more

Beverly Gaventa is one of my favorite pauline scholars – clear, balanced, exegetically-skilled and knows her primary sources well. This book is no exception in that regard. One is almost always disappointed to discover, though, that the chapters of the book have been (more or less) published previously as essays and articles in other volumes. In this collection, only about 3 out of 11 chapter are ‘original’. Now, I have not read a ton of Gaventa’s previous work, but I... Read more

Seeing scholars wander through the vast book exhibition hall is like seeing children let loose in a massive candy shop – drool and all! Well, I drool with the best of them! Of course, it was my birthday recently so I had some money to spend, but I was not as lucky as Mike Bird with the freebies! Anyway, I want to make mention of my top ten best picks (obviously catered to my interests) 1. Pauline Christology (Gordon Fee,... Read more

Part of the fun of going to SBL is seeing some scholars in person whom you have always wanted to hear. This summer at SBL Vienna I got a chance to hear Gerd Theissen, Beverly Gaventa, and James Charlesworth. In San Diego I heard papers by Lou Martyn, John Barclay, Tom Wright, Loveday Alexander, Richard Hays, Ralph Martin, Douglas Moo, and Dennis MacDonald. But, what is also enjoyable is to see and meet those scholars who are now making waves... Read more

Well, after 16 hours of journeying I made it home safely from San Diego back to Durham’s crisp air and cloudy skies. In any case, it is good to be home! I wanted to give some thoughts on the conference, but in order to make it more manageable to read, I am writing a series of reviews on different aspects of the conference. This one, on sessions, will be mainly focused on NT. I arrived a 5.30pm on Friday in... Read more

In my pauline research, I am working through Paul’s letters (chronologically, hypothetically as they were written) and looking at how cultic metaphors are used.  My last couple of months have been in 1 Thessalonians.  Compared to Galatians and Romans there is very little good research on 1-2 Thess., but that is slowly changing.  As far as commentaries go,  my favorite has been Charles Wanamaker, in many ways because his attention to social and rhetorical aspects are well balanced with the... Read more