The Pillar New Testament Commentary series has had some good volumes to its credit (particularly 1 Corinthians, 1-2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, Philippians), so I was excited to see the latest offering by Mark Seifrid on 2 Corinthians. I disagree with Seifrid on not a few things about Paul (particularly related to law and gospel in Romans and Galatians), so I was curious to see what he had to say in this work. (NB: Mike Bird, Linda Belleville, Seifrid and I were... Read more

Several months ago Broadman & Holman kindly sent to me Mark Taylor’s new (2014) “New American Commentary” on 1 Corinthians. I waited until I was lecturing on 1 Corinthians to devote time to reading portions of this commentary. First, I would like to note that it is an up-to-date and exegetically competent commentary. When it comes to some of the key themes of 1 Corinthians, e.g., Paul’s theology of the cross and mutual upbuilding, Taylor offers thought-provoking discussion. Taylor tends... Read more

You can now go to Amazon and see a bit about Prof. John MG Barclay’s forthcoming tome, Paul and the Gift (Eerdmans) – coming, fall 2015. It will be 688 pages! Here is the description: In this book esteemed scholar John Barclay explores Pauline theology anew from the perspective of grace. Arguing that Paul’s theology of grace is best approached in light of ancient notions of “gift,” Barclay describes Paul’s relationship to Judaism in a fresh way. Barclay focuses on divine gift-giving,... Read more

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Holloway has recently expressed deep disappointment with his institution’s (Sewanee) awarding of N.T. Wright an honorary doctorate. Now, Holloway has every right to disagree with this, he is also entitled to protest this, but what concerned me was his basis for his protest – he claims N.T. Wright is not a scholar of the New Testament. In Holloway’s own words: My complaint is that Sewanee has recognized Wright as a scholar in my discipline, when in fact he is little more... Read more

Sounds like Houston Baptist is the place to be April 16-18, 2015. NB: John Barclay is always worth hearing! The Department of Theology at Houston Baptist University is pleased to host a conference on “The Church and Early Christianity” on April 16-18, 2015. You can find out more details at hbu.edu/theologyconference. Our keynote speakers are John Barclay (Durham University), Everett Ferguson (Abilene Christian University), Ben Witherington (Asbury Theological Seminary). In addition, we will have a number of short papers presented... Read more

In May of 2014, Dr. Rodney J. Decker passed away. He taught at Baptist Bible Seminary (PA) and specialized in the study of Greek. He had completed a new textbook which has now been published by Baker called Reading Koine Greek.  I have always been interested in Greek, and I have taught Greek a number of times, having used four different textbooks. Often it seems that the best writers often don’t have the in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of linguistics. Decker is a... Read more

A few months ago, I eagerly started a series of review posts on James W. Thompson’s new book The Church According to Paul (Baker, 2014), but (alas) I could not keep up with posting during the holidays. So, in lieu of several posts, I am just going to touch upon what I think is one of the best contributions of his new work. In ch. 6 (“‘Missional’ May Not Mean What You Think”), Thompson addresses the question regarding whether or not... Read more

Galatians and Christian Theology is the latest volume in a series of proceedings from the St. Andrews (Scotland) conference on Scripture and Christian theology (Baker, 2014; ed. M Elliott, SJ Hafemann, NT Wright, and J Frederick). At 23 chapters (and just about that many contributors!), this book really gives you a sense of the richness and diversity of the ongoing study of Galatians. I won’t take the time to comment on each essay, but allow me to make a handful... Read more

Every first day of the month, I expectantly head over to see what free monthly book is given away by Logos Bible Software. I was stoked to see that the February 2015 offering is Stephen Westerholm’s nice little book – Justification Reconsidered. This is a very valuable book and I recommend downloading it before you forget! Also, as a bit of bonus, if you spend just 99 cents extra, you can also get Doug Campbell’s massive Deliverance of God volume. If you want to dive... Read more