Welcome back to the discussion of Francis Watson’s Gospel Writing. As I mentioned in the earlier part, I had a chance to interview and dialogue with Prof. Watson (FW) over the telephone last week and ask him about, not alone what he wrote in his book, but also about the whole concept of the act of writing and re-writing “gospels” as it happened in the first two centuries after Christ. As discussed in the previous post, FW argues that the process... Read more

Ok, every few years I look at WordPress’ list of search terms and phrases that got readers to our site (Crux Sola). Its 11PM, and I am bored, so this should be fun. I will show the phrase that was searched on Google, and then I will respond to it (as if I am helping the searcher). What are the resources behind the gospel of john ANSWER: move your gospel of john book on the shelf and see if there... Read more

I am very excited to announce that Chris Skinner and I are now teaming up here at the blog Crux Sola. As of today (Jan 22, 2014), he will be posting from here and I am looking forward to working with him: Watch out Mike and Joel and Anthony and Chris– there is a new “Brangelina” in town (did I just say that?). Here is what Chris posted on his own (former!) blog: I am happy to announce that as... Read more

Over at Logos’ Academic blog, I am starting a series on “New Testament Scholarship: 50 Books Everyone Should Read.” It is a very personal and subjective list, but you may be interested. The first post is on the gospels. Read more

Recently I had the delightful opportunity to have a long chat with Professor Francis Watson (Durham University) about his stimulating new book, Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective. I would like to share that conversation with you through mostly summary with occasional quotes from particular statements Professor Watson (FW) made that I found especially rewarding or interesting. The Beginning of the Journey towards Gospel Writing We started off our conversation with my question how did you come to be interested in the subject matter... Read more

Due the hustle and bustle of the holidays and SBL chaos, I did not have a chance to mention the excellent fall 2013 issue of Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters (edited by Mike Bird and myself). This is truly a “must-have” issue (and please let me remind you that a yearly subscription is merely $30 for US individual, $35 otherwise; $40-45 for institution): Brian Rosner, “Written for Our Instruction: The Law as Wisdom in Paul’s Ethics” – Brian... Read more

I was pleased today to find out my Review of Biblical Literature review of the Festschrift in honor of both Profs. Fitzmyer and Murphy-O’Connor (jointly) has now been published. An outstanding line-up of contributors, and they managed to get essays from the honorees as well. Some essays were better than others, but a few were really helpful (esp. Murphy-O’Connor). Read more

Recently Baylor University Press released The Apocalyptic Paul: Cosmos and Anthropology in Romans 5-8, a collection of essays based on a Princeton conference called “Creation, Conflict, and Cosmos” (May, 2012). While the book is a concise 8 chapters, the contributors are a veritable “who’s who” of Pauline studies: Martinus C. de Boer, Stephen Westerholm, John M.G. Barclay, Beverly Gaventa (also editor), Susan Eastman, Philip Ziegler, Neil Elliott, and J. Louis Martyn (and also theologian Benjamin Myers). What is meant by “apocalyptic”... Read more

The last view in the book Four Views on the Historical Adam is that of William Barrick (The Master’s Seminary), and he represents the “Historical Adam: Young-Earth Creation.” (see here for earlier posts). Here is Barrick’s view in his own words: In my view Adam is the originating head of the entire human race. Adam’s historicity is foundational to a number of biblical doctrines and is related to the inspiration and authority of Scripture. This traditional view of Adam rejects accommodation... Read more

For my “Teaching Doctrine in the Church” course I am working on, we will begin the class by talking about why Scripture needs “doctrine,” and why churches and Christians need theology. I am going to put forward this hypothetical pastoral situation to my students – how would you respond? Suppose you, Jane or Joe Pastor, make it a point to chat with a particular church attendee after the service. He has been going to your church for a couple of... Read more