Watch Gupta’s Downey Lectures on “Strange Religion” (Recordings)

Last updated on: October 16, 2020 at 5:49 am By Nijay Gupta

2020 Downey Lectures, Ambrose University I had the massive privilege of giving two public lectures (via Zoom to Youtube) for the Downey Lectureship at Ambrose University. Special thanks to my hosts, Dr. Beth Stovell, Dr. Joann Badley, and Dr. Ryan Wilkinson. We had great academic engagement after the lectures and my respondents (Stovell and Wilkinson) gave me fresh angles and new material to think about. I know that the lectures were in the evening for PST/MST, so quite late for CST... Read more

Matthew Schlimm (Univ. of Dubuque Seminary): 30 OT/HB Scholars to Read and Follow

Last updated on: October 15, 2020 at 6:05 am By Nijay Gupta

Matthew Schlimm, Professor of Old Testament, University of Dubuque Theological Seminary Why do you love teaching and researching about the OT/HB? The OT/HB contains so many things we wouldn’t expect in scripture. The characters are far from saintly. God constantly surprises readers. Everywhere we turn, there’s something puzzling. There are few things I love more than spending time with those puzzles, trying to figure out how everything makes sense when it doesn’t initially. What is one “big idea” in your... Read more

Athena E. Gorospe (Asian Theological Seminary): 30 OT/HB Scholars to Read and Follow

Last updated on: October 14, 2020 at 7:33 am By Nijay Gupta

Athena E. Gorospe, Associate Professor, Biblical Studies (Chair), Director of PhD in Contextual Theology Program, Asian Theological Seminary, Manila, Philippines Why do you love teaching and researching about the OT/HB? For me, the whole Scripture is life—it gives life to me, to God’s people, to the world. This is the main reason why I continually drink from the well that never dries up and have a lifelong commitment to teach Scripture to others. One of the great joys of... Read more

Ambrose University Downey Lecture 1 (Oct 14): “Strange Religion”: Livestream Link

Last updated on: October 14, 2020 at 4:48 pm By Nijay Gupta

Please join us tonight @6pm (PST) = 7pm MST/8pm CST/9pm EST Lectureship Topic: “Strange Religion: Why the First Christians Were Weird, Dangerous, and Attractive” Lecture One: “People of Faith”: Why the First Christians Called Themselves “Believers” Read more

Wil Gafney (Brite Divinity School): 30 OT/HB Scholars to Read and Follow

Last updated on: October 13, 2020 at 6:01 am By Nijay Gupta

Dr. Wil Gafney, Professor of Hebrew Bible, Brite Divinity School Why do you love teaching and researching about the OT/HB? I love the text. I love its richness and complexity. The stories of the Hebrew Bible are the stories that shaped me in my childhood and captured my questioning imagination in divinity school and, these are the texts to which I often turn first for preaching yet, it was the Hebrew language itself that drew me in most deeply, its... Read more

David G. Firth (Trinity College Bristol): 30 OT/HB Scholars to Read and Follow

Last updated on: October 12, 2020 at 7:23 am By Nijay Gupta

David is a great scholar! I have benefited from his work for many years. He is my “go-to” person for the Historical Books. David G. Firth, Tutor in Old Testament, Trinity College Bristol, Research Associate, University of the Free State Why do you love teaching and researching about the OT/HB? There is so much in the Old Testament that people either do not know or misunderstand. It has been my great delight to help people discover the riches of what... Read more

Jacqueline E. Lapsley (Princeton Theological Seminary): 30 OT/HB Scholars to Read and Follow

Last updated on: October 10, 2020 at 1:15 pm By Nijay Gupta

Dr. Lapsley is a fantastic scholar, so glad to be able to introduce her and her work to you! I have used her work in the classroom with students and they find her very engaging. Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Professor of Old Testament and Academic Dean, Princeton Theological Seminary Why do you love teaching and researching about the OT/HB? The Old Testament has everything in it! God’s love for all creation and all people, plus every human virtue, vice, and emotion—it’s all... Read more

Udo Schnelle, The First One Hundred Years of Christianity (English Translation)

Last updated on: October 9, 2020 at 12:40 pm By Nijay Gupta

Udo Schnelle is a respected name in New Testament scholarship. In 2016 he published the German edition of this book with Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. Thankfully, it was immediately translated into English (by James W. Thompson) so more people could benefit from Schnelle’s excellent work. The title, The First One Hundred Years of Christianity, tells you pretty much what you need to know about the purpose and content of the book. Schnelle covers (in 560+ pages) a sweep of the history, literature, and... Read more

Tim Mackie (The Bible Project): 30 OT/Hebrew Bible Scholars to Read and Follow

Last updated on: October 8, 2020 at 2:21 pm By Nijay Gupta

Excited to share this interview with my friend, Dr. Tim Mackie. Tim is a brilliant scholar and communicator. He now has in iconic voice (my kids love it). I get a chance to have lunch with Tim every now and again, always a delight to “nerd out” on the latest in biblical studies while eating good food truck fare in Portland! If you have been living under a rock and don’t already watch The Bible Project videos, go check them... Read more

The New Testament Commentary Guide—Born Today! (Oct 7, 2020)

Last updated on: October 7, 2020 at 6:04 am By Nijay Gupta

Today is the official release of my book, The New Testament Commentary Guide (Lexham Press, 2020). Here is why I wrote this little book. Almost every week a pastor or student asks me about my recommendations for “good commentaries” for a particular book of the New Testament. There are so many options out there, how do you decide which will give you biggest bang for your buck? Or which scholars are true experts? I know the commentary terrain pretty well; I... Read more