I came cross this wonderful quote from Chesterton today as I prepare for my Matthew course. I especially love the last line where I added the emphasis. “If I say ‘Suppose the Divine did really walk and talk upon the earth, what should we be likely to think of it?’ I think we should see in such a being exactly the perplexities that we see in the central figure of the Gospels: I think he would seem to us extreme... Read more

See here. Some interesting articles, especially on intertextuality, and also Lukan soteriology. Read more

I mentioned recently that I had obtained the Common English Bible Study Bible (Abingdon, 2013). Instead of offering a full-blown review, I am going to do several “soundings” in various parts of the study Bible. In this “sounding” I am going to explore the introductory materials and front/back matter. First, what is the Common English Bible? In my view, it is a fresh translation especially geared towards ease of understanding for those that did not grow up in the church,... Read more

Yesterday was an especially happy day because my copy of the second edition of the Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels arrived (IVP, 2013). When I was in seminary, the IVP “black dictionaries” were treated as the gold standard of Biblical scholarship. I bought several of the volumes in seminary simply because they were required as textbooks. Even now, I have assigned some of these dictionaries as textbooks. There is hardly another way to get some much information (1) by the best... Read more

I got quite a lot of interaction on my earlier post on this subject (did Matthew try to replace Mark?). It just happened that today I read a relevant section of Francis Watson’s new Gospel Writing: A Canonical Perspective (Eerdmans, 2013). Watson argues that “redaction criticism” appropriately treats the evangelists as creative authors in their own right (not merely cut-and-paste specialists). But in the minds of many scholars, according to Watson, their authorial interests are limited to “situational factors.” Watson proposes a... Read more

Recently I finished reading Joe Hellerman’s Embracing Shared Ministry: Power and Status in the Early Church and Why It Matters Today (Kregel, 2013). The book of nine chapters is comprised of 3 sections: Power and Authority in the Roman World (chs. 1-3), Power and Authority in the Early Church (chs. 4-6), and Power and Authority in the Church Today (chs. 7-9). In my view, this book synthesizes and brings together in one place a number of interests Hellerman has regarding Biblical... Read more

I have mentioned before the new Festschrift for Dr. G.K. Beale entitled From Creation to New Creation: Biblical Theology and Exegesis, ed. by D.M. Gurtner & B.L. Gladd (Hendrickson, 2013). I will offer now the breakdown of essays as well as a few statements on chapters I have already read. David F. Well writes a very appreciative foreword, and a preface and brief introduction are supplied by the editors. The 14 chapters are divided into 3 sections: Old Testament (chs. 1-4),... Read more

Mark Allan Powell writes this regarding Matthew’s redaction of and improvement on Mark: Matthew appears to have regarded Mark’s Gospel as theologically inadequate in at least three ways: (1) Mark does not present Christ as currently present among his followers, and thus the locus of God’s continuing presence in the world is ambiguous; (2) Mark offers little insight with regard to the discernment of God’s will for contemporary situations; and (3) Mark’s portrait of discipleship does not address the possibility... Read more

I am revisiting Eddie Adams’ Parallel Lives’ of Jesus (WJK, 2011) – a nice little introduction to the Gospels. Here is his very basic statement on the distinctiveness of each Gospel: Matthew’s Gospel is the most Jewish of the four and the one that is most clearly oriented toward the Old Testament… Mark’s Gospel is the most action packed of the four Gospels, with much more space given to the deeds of Jesus rather than his words… Luke’s Gospel is the most social oriented of... Read more

The Fall Word & World journal issue is focused on the theme of “bread.” There are a number of good contributions (Brueggemann makes an appearance). I want to point out Susan Hylen’s essay on “Seeing Jesus John’s Way: Manna from Heaven.” Here is the abstract for her article. By using manna as a metaphor for Jesus, John points backwards to understand Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection as part of the Jewish story that begins with the exodus; John also points forward... Read more