Amos Yong The Future of Evangelical Theology: Soundings from the Asian American Diaspora Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Amos Yong, a theology professor at Fuller Seminary, in this volume offers some reflections on the future evangelicalism from a Asian-American and Pentecostal framework. He notes that for Asian Christians, American Christianity is both a blessing and a bane. He is tremendously grateful for the American missionaries through whom he and his parents became Christians, but they also bequeathed... Read more

Ben C. Blackwell, John K. Goodrich, and Jason Maston (eds). Reading Romans in Context: Paul and Second Temple Judaism Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015. Available at Amazon.com This is a very helpful volume about the Jewish background to Romans which shows how parts of Romans can be read against diverse backdrops including the Psalms of Solomon, Jubilees, 4QMMT, Epistle of Enoch, Sirach, 1QS, Philo, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Life of Adam and Eve, Tobit, 1 and 4 Maccabees, Josephus, and... Read more

Matthias Henze (ed.) A Companion to Biblical Interpretation in Early Judaism Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2012. Available at Amazon.com This is a very useful volume about Jewish interpretation of the Hebrew and Greek Bibles. The introductory chapter by James Kugel describes the origins of biblical interpretation in post-exilic Israel. Interestingly enough he points out that all biblical interpreters, despite their diversity, shared four basic tenets: (1) The Bible is a cryptic document that needs to be explained; (2) The Bible... Read more

Sean Freyne The Jesus Movement and Its Expansion Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014. Available at Amazon.com The late Sean Freyne is best known for his work on Jesus and the Jesus movement in Galilee. This book, published posthumously, includes great summaries of the Hellenism of Galilee and the Romanization of Judea. He treats Jesus as a prophet of Jewish restoration eschatology and more apocalyptic than Cynic. He locates Mark and Matthew as written in Coele-Syria. Freyne touches on several aspects of... Read more

Peter H. Davids A Theology of James, Peter, and Jude BTNT; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Peter Davids is one of those brave and rare individuals who has decided to specialize in the study of the Catholic Epistles. His various commentaries on James, 1-2 Peter, and Jude are among the best in the NT studies guild. This volume in Zondervan’s Biclal Theology of the New Testament series edited by Andreas Kostenberger is a great resource for those... Read more

Michael Graves The Inspiration and Interpretation of Scripture: What the Early Church Can Teach Us Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2014. Available at Amazon.com Michael Graves’ book on patristic views of inspiration and interpretation is a particularly informative study of what we can learn from the church fathers on reading and studying the Bible. In a nutshell, Graves pursues what ancient views of inspiration entail about Scripture and what we can learn from patristic interpretive strategies.  He covers the areas of... Read more

Michael W. Goheen Introducing Christian Mission Today: Scripture, History and Issues Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014. Available at Amazon.com This is a wonderful book and is a worthy replacement to David Bosch’s brilliant but dated work Transforming Mission. It covers biblical and theological reflections on mission, reflections on the history of missions, and current issues in mission. I thought there was great analyses of contextualization, religious pluralism, urban mission, and mission to new frontiers. The book comes across as a hybrid... Read more

Matthew R. Malcolm (ed). All That the Prophets Have Declared: The Appropriation of Scripture in the Emergence of Christianity Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2015. Available at Amazon.com This volume examines how Jesus and the New Testament writers use their Scriptures in ways that may seem foreign to those who use those same Scriptures today.The authors consider how the identities and missions of Jesus and his earliest followers were informed by their various readings of the Scriptures. Contributions include: Larry Hurtado, Core... Read more

There’s a few good Romans commentaries coming out soon. Richard Longencker (NIGTC), Frank Thielman (ZECNT), and Beverly Gaventa (NTL). For those interested, February 2016 will see the release of my forthcoming volume on Romans in the SGBC series.   I’ll be honest, this is not a technical volume. I was not trying to write something to compete with the judicious volumes of Cranfield, Dunn, Jewett, or Moo. However, I think the exegesis is robust and yet accessible. What is more – and... Read more

Richard Horsley & Tom Thatcher John, Jesus & the Renewal of Israel Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013. Available at Amazon.com This is a bold book about how the Gospel of John contributes to the picture of the historical Jesus as a prophet of Israelite restoration hopes. The authors “offer a new reading of the Gospel of John as a story of Jesus’ mission in the historical context of early Roman Palestine”and argue that “the Gospel of John portrays Jesus engaged... Read more