Os Guinness Fool’s Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2015. Available at Amazon.com By Kara Martin. Os Guinness is one of the most persuasive Christians I have heard, and his work amongst non-believers (for example through the Trinity Forum), means that I am confident he can practice what he preaches in his latest book, that is, Fool’s Talk: Recovering the art of Christian persuasion. He contends that we are all apologists now, with modern communications... Read more

I spent most of July travelling around Israel, Greece, and Rome with N.T. Wright and four wonderful guys from Zondervan,  filming materials for a DVD about the New Testament and the early church. The DVD will go with a NT Intro that we’re working (don’t hold your breath, I’ve only finished the Jewish and Greco-Roman backgrounds and historical Jesus chapters!) Thoughts. The ladies who work in Israelis customs were all former “Miss Israel” contestants. Jerusalem should be called “Guns-n-Moses.” I’ve never seen... Read more

Bruce A. Ware and John Starke (editors) One God in Three Persons: Unity of Essence, Distinction of Persons, Implications for Life Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015. Available at Amazon.com This volume contains a number of essays that deal with the theme of Trinity. But the single biggest problem with this book is that it is not actually about the Trinity. It is in fact about gender roles in church and family. It is the attempt to argue that the hierarchy within... Read more

Thomas A. Noble & Jason S. Sexton (editors) The Holy Trinity Revisited: Essays in Response to Stephen R. Holmes Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Stephen Holmes’ book The Holy Trinity (UK edition) or The Quest for the Trinity (US edition) is a great volume that sets out the doctrine of the Trinity, its origins and meaning, as well as engaging with currents in Trinitarian theology. Still, it gave give grist for the mill of many scholars. Holmes questioned exactly “how”... Read more

Jason S. Sexton (Editor) Stephen Holmes, Paul Molnar, Thomas McCall, and Paul Fiddes (Contributors) Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Available at Amazon.com This book is a good summary of a debate about the “classical” view of the Trinity versus a “relational/social” view of the Trinity. It has Holmes (Baptist) and Molnar (Catholic) arguing for the classic view, while McCall (Wesleyan) and Fiddes (Baptist) advocate the relational view. There are a whole bunch... Read more

I always begin my lectures on the Trinity by showing students the clip where Benny Hinn claims that there are nine persons in the Trinity. Read more

James M. Hamilton Song of Songs: A Biblical-Theological, Allegorical, Christological Interpretation Focus on the Bible Fearn, Ross Shire: Christian Focus, 2015. Available at Amazon.com By Jill Firth James M. Hamilton Jr. is professor of biblical theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and preaching pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church. He is the author of God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment; What Is Biblical Theology?: A Guide to the Bible’s Story, Symbolism, and Patterns; and the Revelation volume in the Preaching... Read more

James R. Edwards The Gospel according to Luke (PNTC) Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015. Available at Amazon.com By Ben Sutton In the newest release from Eerdmans’ Pillar New Testament Commentary Series, Professor James Edwards (Whitworth University) follows his previous commentary on Mark’s Gospel with a commentary on the Gospel of Luke. As Edwards notes, this commentary is intended to navigate “a narrow ridge between exegesis and interpretation” (2). After an extensive list of abbreviations (xiv-xxv), there is a very helpful... Read more

I’ve been reading an excellent book recently by Richard Twiss Rescuing the Gospel from the Cowboys: A Native American Expression of the Jesus Way. At one point in the book Twiss recalls a moment when as a very young Christian he was wrestling with how his Native identity related to being a Christian. He sought out the counsel of pastor who quoted to him Galatians 3:28 where Paul said, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,... Read more

I’m having a further read through Brent Nongbri’s book Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept (New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 2013), where he argues that there is no ancient word equivalent to “religion” because modern notions of “religion” are rooted in a modern dichotomy between religion and secularism. According to Nongbri, the idea of “religion” as something separate from politics, economics, and science is a recent development in European history, one that has been projected outward in space... Read more