In the last post I engaged Josh’s second chapter in his book Christ Is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology. This is Josh’s response. Largely In Agreement Thanks, Joel, for the substantive engagement of my chapter on the law of Christ in Paul! I enjoyed your response – I suppose, in part, because we find ourselves largely to be in agreement with one another, both broadly on the importance of understanding important aspects of Paul’s language within kingship/messianic discourse and, more specifically,... Read more

I’ve been thinking what it would be like to set essay questions for students about alternative scenarios in church history. Students would answer questions on how would the history of Christianity and the Roman empire be different if … What if the Holy Family remained in Egypt? If Jesus grew up in the Jewish community in Egypt, speaking Greek rather than Aramaic, immersed in Greco-Roman culture, and from there entering Palestine, what would have been different? What if Paul went east into Bithynia rather... Read more

I am reading Joshua Jipp’s book Christ Is King: Paul’s Royal Ideologyin dialogue with Josh. I’m so thankful Josh was willing and able to engage his work with me. This has been such an enjoyable way to review a work. I also have enjoyed that this has opened up lines of conversation and connection with Josh for which I’m personally thankful. Kingship Ideology and the Thorny Pauline Questions In previous posts I wrote a response to the first chapter and... Read more

Over at Pilgrim in Narnia, Brenton Dickieson both opines and protests the lack of women in Zondervan Academic’s latest catalogue. Dickieson notes the absence of women from authored books, as contributors to books, and even as endorsers of books. In some categories, only 5% of authors are women. But then Dickieson goes on to theorize that something sinister is at work at Zondervan. He surmizes: There are other responses we could give. Many of Zondervan’s readers and contributors don’t think that... Read more

Morling College (a Baptist College in Australia) last year hosted a great event called The Gender Conversation with a variety of speakers and presenters from all over Australia. I gave a talk on the NT household codes, other people talked about egalitarianism, gender dysphoria, gender and ministry, and singleness, controversial stuff, but lots of perspectives represented. The videos for that conference are now available for renting or purchasing. But note this! EVERYONE should watch the three videos about Gender, Biology,... Read more

Amos Yong Renewing Christian Theology: Systematics for a Global Christianity Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2014. Available at Amazon.com This is an exciting volume by an Asian-American Pentecostal scholar about Christian theology (with much art and commentary by Jonathan Anderson). In this book Yong “seeks to provide a summary exposition of central teachings of the Christian faith relevant to the twenty-first-century global renewal context” (xxiii). Yong’s “wager” is that “the Christian theological tradition as a whole has something to gain... Read more

In a previous post I began to engage Josh Jipp’s new book Christ Is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology. In this post, Josh responses to my post. First of all, let me say that it is a privilege for me to have the opportunity to reflect upon the arguments of Christ is King with Joel. I’m particularly aware of his excellent work Matthew’s Messianic Shepherd-King, and I had heard from friends that he was planning to do more work on Jesus’... Read more

Joshua W. Jipp’s new book Christ Is King: Paul’s Royal Ideology perked my interest the moment I read the title. I picked up a copy at SBL last week and started reading it. Josh isn’t someone I know super well, but I have worked with him on a project and have a high respect for him as a scholar. I also have several friends who count him as among their close friends, so I feel like I know him better than... Read more

Following Romans (Feb 2016), my next book due out is What Christians ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles’ Creed available in July 2016 from Zondervan. And it is now ready for pre-order at Amazon.com. Here’s the blurb: Modern Christians have often hesitated to embrace the ancient creeds because of our “nothing but the Bible” tradition. In What Christians Ought to Believe Michael Bird opens our eyes to the possibilities of the Apostle’s Creed as a way to explore and understand the basic teachings... Read more

As many readers of Euangelion know, I couldn’t make it to ETS/IBR/SBL this year, but I’ve been coy with the actual reason why. Well, on Nov 28, I was ordained as an Anglican Priest with a cohort of 26 other deacons at St. Paul’s Cathedral by Archbishop Phil Freier. It was a joyous event, the culmination of a long journey, both theologically and ecclesiologically, yet it is one that has a strong sense of home coming. As the Archbishop laid hands on... Read more