I am very excited about the planned dictionary set from Mohr Siebeck called Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint. Here is the description: Edited by Eberhard Bons and Jan Joosten (Université de Strasbourg) This large-scale collective and interdisciplinary project will aim to produce a new research tool: a multi-volume dictionary giving an article of between 2 and 10 pages (around 500 articles in all) for each important word or word group of the Septuagint. Filling an important gap in the... Read more

Don’t miss the March 2017 free Logos book  – This Risen Existence, where Paula Gooder goes through the theology of the resurrection. I really enjoy the writing style of Gooder and she does great theological work – very rich and also accessible. Worth getting this free book! (CLICK HERE) Read more

In celebration of their 25th anniversary, Logos is giving out a $25 coupon code which requires no extra money spent. That’s pretty generous! The offer ends March 1. The code is: 25YEAR (use at checkout) You can pick up my 1-2 Thessalonians commentary ($19.99) with a few bucks left BTW!   Read more

A handful of years ago a blustery (American) megachurch pastor commented that England has failed to produce a decent preacher/teacher in our time. Obviously this was a ridiculous comment. There are many outstanding Christian leaders in the UK; one such was John Stott (who passed away in 2011). Stott exhibited that kind of quiet strength that drew many to him. He was also a gifted and winsome writer. I read his The Cross of Christ in college, and I enjoyed his The... Read more

In the past six months or so we have seen the publication of several interesting and noteworthy works on John. Here are some of my brief comments. Character Studies in the Fourth Gospel (ed. Hunt, Tolmie, and Zimmerman; Eerdmans). This is a massive, exhaustive study of all the people (named and unnamed!) who appear in John’s Gospel. The contributors are a veritable who’s who of Johannine studies including Catrin Williams, Paul Anderson, Mary Coloe, Harry Attridge, Marianne Meye Thomspon, Gail... Read more

At SBL 2016 I was excited that Wipf & Stock interviewed me regarding my 1-2 Thessalonians commentary. Here is the video (below) which I think could serve as a nice little introduction to these epistles. Read more

As of January 9, 2017, my institution – George Fox Evangelical Seminary – has become “Portland Seminary.” This is a very exciting development that goes along with some changes to our programs and great ideas that have come out of a major self-study for accreditation. Before explaining my perspective on why the name change is a good idea, I want to make two clarifications. #1: We are still embedded within George Fox University, so the official title of the seminary... Read more

This may have been a book release that flew under the radar at the end of 2016. This multi-contributor work (ed. S.J. Wendel and D.M. Miller) is something of a Festschrift in honor of Stephen Westerholm (see preface). The main topic of the volume raises this key question: “in what ways did the Mosaic law continue to serve as a positive reference point for Christ-believers regardless of whether they thought Torah observant was essential?” The book is divided into three... Read more

The news has just come from Eerdmans that the NIGTC commentary series has named two new editors: Mark Goodacre and Todd Still. Todd I know very well – a first-rate Paulinist –  and I have followed Mark’s blog and his research for many years. These are outstanding choices for the series leadership. The NIGTC has a great reputation, under the previous editorship of Donald Hagner and Howard Marshall. I think of RT France’s Mark, Thiselton’s 1 Corinthians, Dunn’s Colossians, and... Read more

**Book Notice** Today is my first day back in the office after break, and I was greeted by Michael Gorman’s new edition of his Apostle of the Crucified Lord (Eerdmans, 2017; hereafter ACL). Sitting down with this book this morning transported me back to my days as a seminary student. The first edition came out in 2004, and I was about halfway through seminary. ACL was one of a handful of books that inspired me to enter into Pauline studies – others included Wright’s What... Read more