In his recent book The Revelatory Body: Theology as Inductive ArtLuke Timothy Johnson presents a remarkable thesis: Our human bodies are the fulcrum of God’s revelation. He contends that even Scripture itself points beyond itself to our human bodies as the “preeminent place of God’s self-disclosure.” The argument of this book is thoroughly phenomenological by emphasizing embodied and lived experience as the source of our perceptions about reality. Johnson argues that we need to pay attention to what our bodies... Read more

In some promo pieces for the Greer-Heard Forum in New Orleans, Steve Morgan has an excellent interview with Simon Gathercole, Larry Hurtado, and Jennifer Knust about what to expect. Hope you are all coming, it starts this Friday! Read more

Over at Sola Crux, my buddy Nijay Gupta interviews me about “How I Do Research.” This is first in a series that Nijay is doing and I’m sure it will be great. Step One: Dress like a lumber jack and drink over-priced coffee. Step Two: Play a ukulele while organizing your notes in Zotero. Step Three: Invade Poland. Read more

Zondervan has posted an excerpt from my Romans commentary, the “Live the Story” section on Romans 12.1-2. Yes, it includes a reference to Oliva Newton-John. Read more

Glad to see that Kevin Emmert at CT lists my Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, and Romans as one of the must read theology books of 2016! An Anomalous Jew: Paul among Jews, Greeks, And Romans, by Michael Bird (Eerdmans, October). Paul was a complex figure who held a strange mixture of beliefs that brought him into conflict with the socio-religious world around him. His beliefs about Jesus brought him into conflict with non-Christian Jews. Even Jewish Christians regarded him as... Read more

John Goldingay Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs for Everyone London: SPCK, 2014. Available a Amazon.com By Felicity Clift If I was to attempt to summarise my first thoughts on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs prior to reading John Goldingay’s study on these books “for Everyone” they may be something like this: – Proverbs. An almost random collection of sayings for the purpose of teaching young men how to live wisely and prosperously… and a token chapter about... Read more

Is the Marcan Jesus identified with Yahweh? Brant Pitre draws on recent research to give an emphatic “Yes.” Is Jesus Merely a “Human Messiah” in Mark? Are Meier, Marcus, Yarbro-Collins, Boring, and Hays off base to see Jesus’ egō eimi saying in Mark 6 as a reference to the divine name? If so, how does one explain the multiple connections between Jesus walking on the sea and key OT theophanies? Photo from The Jesus Blog. Read more

From Jimmy Kimmel, Jesus reads quotes from Republican Candidates. Hillarious! Read more

Preamble: Read Peter Lampe, Christians at Rome from Paul to Valentinus, 120-122. Bishop Callistus of Rome (217-22) had a problem. Many women from the Roman upper classes (senatorial and equestrian) had become Christians. However, there was a shortage of male Christians of the same social rank. So these women had a choice: either marry a pagan man of the same social rank or marry a socially inferior Christian.If the women married below their station (plebs, freedman, or slaves) they would... Read more

Over at RBL is my review of Lionel Windor’s volume on Paul and the Vocation of Israel: How Paul’s Jewish Identity Informs his Apostolic Ministry with Special Reference to Romans. Sadly, SBL membership required in order to read it (grrhhh). Read more