Check out these newly-released biblical commentaries 1-2 Thessalonians, by Andy Johnson, Two Horizons (Eerdmans, 2016). There are a number of very good volumes in the THNT series including Marianne Meye Thompson on Colossians and Stephen Fowl on Philippians. Johnson’s work on 1-2 Thessalonians meets that high bar of excellence. Perhaps what drew my interest the most is the way that Johnson puts together the ideas of sanctification/holiness and the Missio Dei, and how both of these drive Paul’s theological message in... Read more

Not long ago I grabbed a copy of the new book How I Changed My Mind about Evolution: Evangelicals Reflect on Faith and Science (ed. K. Applegate and JB Stump; IVP, 2016). The book offers short anecdotes by a variety of scientists, theologians, Christian leaders, and biblical scholars on this subject (including, e.g., John Ortberg, Tremper Longman, Scot McKnight, NT Wright, and James KA Smith). These essays are not full-blown theological arguments in favor of (theistic) evolution. They are stories about... Read more

Be on the lookout for Mike Bird’s latest offering, An Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans (Eerdmans, Oct 2016). This book is a mix of some previously published material on Paul and also some original work. Unlike some other collections of this kind, this one hangs together pretty well, and several essays are extraordinarily lucid and rich. Here is my official blurb: Paul was a maverick apostle, an inimitable thinker, and anomalous Jew. Bird cogently sets Paul within his... Read more

Truth be told, there are too many study Bibles. A quick Amazon search came up with thousands of study Bibles, over 400 just for the NIV. I tend not to recommend study Bibles, as the notes and other information are hit and miss. But last week I recommended to my Gospels course students the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible. Three things I really like about this Study Bible are as follows: -Craig Keener is the editor for the NT portion, and John Walton the editor... Read more

“Of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12) I have heard it in person, I have been questioned on Facebook, I see it all the time on blogs: does the world need more commentaries? Truth be told, I myself have never had a problem with the proliferation of commentaries because I am that rare odd duck that likes reading them! But the question is fair. Before I get to why I think the fresh writing of commentaries is a good thing,... Read more

In 2003, David Gushee and Glen Stassen published the first edition of Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context (originally with IVP). This year the second edition was released (now with Eerdmans). A lot has happened in the last decade or so, not least in the area of New Testament ethics. In 2014 Stassen passed away, which means Gushee did the majority of work on the second edition with aid from students of his and Stassen’s (see preface). This second edition... Read more

  When you buy Hays’ Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels, get another Hays book FREE See details HERE. For my money, I would get the Revelation book – several excellent essays! Sale ends Sunday, September 4th (Code B1G1) (Code B1G2) (Code B1G3) Read more

Truth be told, Dan Wallace taught “intermediate Greek” to a generation of students including myself with his Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. It was well-organized, and pretty much the only book of its kind. It was a natural follow-up to Mounce. In 2016, times are different. While many of us cut our teeth in Koine Greek on Mounce and Wallace, Biblical Greek studies has interfaced significantly with the study of linguistics in recent years, and it is time to bring those... Read more

What is the research “sweet spot”? First let’s talk about what doesn’t work with research. Here are two mistakes. (1) Arguing a thesis or idea that has been done already. Sometimes students have an idea that they think is new, but it is not – it is simply new to them. They are excited about what they discovered and firmly believe that if that idea caught on, it would change the world. Yes indeed, but a good dissertation or thesis must be more than a... Read more

This was, in many ways, a “Paul” summer for me as I worked through a good number of books on my shelf that had to wait until the teaching year was over. Here are some highlights of new and noteworthy books on Paul. Anthony Thiselton, Discovering Romans: Content, Interpretation, Reception (Eerdmans,2016). Thiselton is always a good read. The most useful chapters, I think, are the ones early on. He has a chapter on methods, where he highlights “the big 3”: historical-critical, rhetorical,... Read more